Page 43 of Heat Me

As I stretched, I reminded myself that tomorrow would be even busier and definitely crazier. All things considered; I hoped Damien's heat wouldn't carry over into the third day.

Just as I finished closing all the files, I noticed Damien standing in the doorway, watching me. His expression made it clear he needed me.

"Tomorrow, I’ll need to head out for a few hours," I told him. "I’ve got to meet with the clients to convince them to join the fair. I can’t handle this over the phone—it’s too delicate, especially since they’ve signed contracts specifying, they wouldn’t participate in fairs or auctions. I need to figure out a way to… well, persuade them. No idea if I’ll even pull it off."

Damien nodded slowly, uncertainty written all over his face.

"But," I added hesitantly, "if your heat’s still going tomorrow, maybe you could come with me? When the wave starts, we'll figure something out on the way…"

His smile broadened, and he nodded again. "Sure. Thanks for thinking about that. I don’t want to mess up your work, especially since you’ve just started. I’d be happy to tag along if it comes to that."

I relaxed. At least that part was sorted.

"And now…" I stood and offered him my hand. "Shall we go to the bedroom?"

He blushed and nodded.

We spent the next hour tangled together, his heat wave still in full swing. At one point, I just lay on top of him, moving slowly, our eyes locked. It was intense, deeply intimate. Part of me so desperately wanted to say something—to confess that I wanted more than just this heat. But, of course, I held myself back once again.

When the wave eased up, I made us some lunch. Damien worked on his laptop in the meantime—coding. Over lunch, I noticed he was eating more than before, which made me think the heat was starting to taper off.

After that, we went back to the bedroom for another hour. This time, it was even slower, gentler, very tender. And yet again—I had to fight with all my strength not to ask him to be mine. It was getting ridiculous. The sex became kinda bothersome, I felt like I had a suffocating gag in my mouth, preventing me from declaring what my heart wanted.

Later in the afternoon, I decided to call Mr. Ren Ragu to update him on the planned meetings. But as soon as I picked up the phone, it rang.

It was Mr. Ragu himself!

Convenient timing.

The moment I answered, I knew something was up. His voice sounded raspy, and I could hear his breathing—it was quick, almost panicked.

"Storm, I hate to ask you this, but I need you to get here ASAP," he blurted out.

I blinked. "What?"

"Yes, yes, it’s urgent!"

"I told you I’m assisting a friend. You know what that means, right?"

"Of course, which is why I’m fine with you bringing him along. We’ve got resting rooms here—four of them in the administrative building. Bring him. You can stay with him almost the whole time, but I need you for a few crucial minutes."

"I don’t get it."

"Listen, you know the company’s trying to come up with better ways to identify if someone’s a Low Mate or incompatible. We’re about to sign a deal for an experimental testing program with Malden Pharmaceuticals. It’s groundbreaking. And confidential. If this goes through, we’ll be the first agency to filter out incompatibles during matchmaking. Every match would be at least Low Mate, if not higher. And Blue Lowen himself is arriving in… forty-five minutes!"

I yawned, losing interest. "What does that have to do with me?"

"A lot. Time’s tight, and Lowen’s safety is crucial. He’s probably the most targeted man in this country. He’s survived multiple assassination attempts. So many groups hate him—for his strong suppressants, for the Beta Activation program, and God knows what else. Last time, he barely made it out alive. He’s paranoid now—but with good reason. This meeting is top secret. Nobody knows about it. But here’s the problem… His condition for showing up was that we provide extra security. He demanded four people, but we only have three on duty, and now there’s… forty-two minutes left."

"You didn’t think to hire someone extra earlier?"

"I did! I hired three extras, just in case! But today, all of them mysteriously resigned. All of them. Do you get it?"

I blinked. "That’s… impossible. Someone got to them."

"Exactly. Someone threatened them, warned them, something like that. I’m sure of it."

"Then call the police! There could be an attack—"

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