Page 82 of Possession

Nutty chicken is not the correct name.

Sure, it is. You knew exactly what I was talking about.

Blake

Regardless, the lunch will be welcome. Are there any fires to put out?

I have everything well in hand.

Blake

Of this, I have no doubt.

The warm glow hit me low, and I curled my fingers away from the keyboard. This was the second time he had actually complimented me—well, sort of. A Blake compliment.

When there were no other messages forthcoming, I lost myself in the piles of work that had somehow multiplied like gremlins. Handholding with engineers on job sites, a new order for a skyscraper in Seattle under the Chapel Enterprises’ purview, and another client thanks to Donovan Lewis.

I was hip-deep in spreadsheets and another bottle of Pepsi Max when Jack dropped the bag of Thai on my desk and took three months off my life. “Jeez. Warn a girl, would you?”

“I’ve been calling your name for five minutes, Blondie.”

“Oh.” I pushed my seat back. Somehow, I’d crept up until the screen was about six inches from my nose. “Sorry. What time is it?”

“Half past starving.”

I swiveled to face him and stretched my fingers before I laid them against my growling stomach. “Yeah, no kidding.” I pulled the edge of the bag open. “What did you get me?”

“What else?”

My mouth watered. “Any appetizers?”

“Everything is buried.”

“Damn.”

Jack held out a sleeve of spring rolls. “Like I wouldn’t give you your candy.”

I snatched it out of his hand and took a bite. “Oh, yeah. That’s the stuff.”

“Should we go feed the bear?”

I finished off the spring roll and licked my thumb. “Probably. Though he doesn’t seem to be feeling very bear-ish.”

“Are we talking about the same guy?”

I stood and grabbed my blazer off the back of my chair. “This was a few hours ago.”

“Sounds more like it.”

We took the elevator down to the darkened hallways of Research and Development. We got to the doors and Jack tried his card, but the doors didn’t unlock.

Hmm. That was new and different.

I knocked on the door, but there was no reply. I moved over to the control panel and pressed my card to the reader, and it buzzed open.

“Really?” Jack asked.

“I…” What the hell was I going to say? Blake’s CEO didn’t have the code to his lair, but the girlfriend did? That probably wasn’t going to go over well.

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