Page 8 of Indecent Demands

He really was annoyingly big. I watched as he stayed hunched over the computer—or, well, not really hunched. Unlike us mere mortals, Seth kept his back ramrod straight. Probably all that military training. But when you talked about a security expert, you expected a meathead. And when you talked about a computer expert, you expected some scrawny nerd. Seth was neither, and it was disconcerting. He could’ve gone into modeling if he wanted. Underwear ads would’ve gone crazy for him.

And now I was thinking about him in his underwear, which was a dangerous line of thought. The idea of seeing the bulge of his cock underneath the fabric… outlined and thick and…

Hands landed on my shoulders and I yelped in surprise. Tony took a step back, palms in the air, laughing. “Whoa, didn’t realize you were daydreamingthathard.”

“I wasn’t daydreaming,” I muttered irritably, because I’d been doing just that. “I was just thinking about something.”

“Right,” he drawled knowingly. “And you definitely weren’t staring at the six feet plus of annoying hotness in the conference room.”

“Annoying?” I replied.

“Well,Idon’t think so. I’m happy to have some eye candy around here, but he’s going to distract people in the office and you know it. In fact, you’re an example of it.”

I frowned. “I’m not distracted.”

“Ariana. Please. Iknowyou,” he said, his tone amused. “You don’t let anything divert your attention from work and now you keep looking over at that guy.”

Damn. I’d been caught. “Well. Keep it to yourself,” I grumbled. “He’s not sticking around and I don’t have time to date.”

Tony snorted. “That’s what I once said—that I didn’t have time to date. And then I met Justin and now I have a great boyfriend. You gotta take opportunities when they present themselves, Ariana, trust me. You never know what good thing might come your way. And if that guy’s worth your time, then he’ll make space for himself in your life and give you the time you need, just like Justin does for me.”

It was good advice, if I was actually hoping that Seth would ask me out. But I sure couldn’t afford that. “I’ll think about it.”

Tony patted me on the shoulder. “Good. Because he seems like a really nice guy.”

Yeah, that was the problem.

I tried not to let out a sigh of relief when Tony left me alone. Now, how to get close to Seth without causing too much suspicion?

I stood up and went to the break room and made a cup of coffee, then grabbed a couple sugar packets and one of those mini creamers and went over to the conference room door. “Knock, knock.”

Seth looked up from whatever he’d been doing on the laptop as I entered.

I smiled. “Hey, thought you might want this for a little afternoon pick me up. I don’t know how you take it, so…”

His eyes warmed appreciatively. “Thanks, Miss Kent, this is really sweet.”

I set the coffee, sugar, and creamer on the table beside his laptop. “We had lunch, I think you can call me Ariana.”

“Ariana.” He smiled. “Call me Seth.”

My stomach flipped over, and I did my best to ignore my attraction. “I hope that everything’s going well?”

He nodded. “I think I’m just about finished for the day, but I’ll enjoy this coffee and then head up to speak to some of the C-level people. Tomorrow I’ll be using your login to double-check some things, so if you have a weird activity log or get odd questions about things, that’s me.”

“Good to know, thanks,” I said, then added, “But I’m not sure what you’ll find under my credentials that you won’t under your own. The system is the same for everyone.”

If this was about finding a thief, though… he would need my credentials. Nosing around as an established employee would help him stay under the radar of suspicious executives. Of course,ifit was an executive who wasn’t stealing instead of me.

At least he’d told me when he would start using my credentials. I had until tomorrow morning to get everything rerouted and covered up.

“Well, I’ll let you get to it. Don’t let me keep you.” I turned to go.

“I don’t mind you keeping me,” Seth replied, his voice light and teasing.

I looked back at him, my face heating up—something that seemed to happen way too frequently around him. I smiled, and I could tell it was a bit more embarrassed than I would’ve liked it to be. I wished I could flirt easily and professionally, but there was one true thing in what I’d told Seth: I was a massive nerd and always had been.

The rest had only been half true.

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