Page 20 of The Beast's Baby
“Shouldn’t be a problem,” she said. “I’ve absolutely no clue what to say.”
He gave her a look, then headed down the hallway, letting go of her hand to instead put his hand against the small of her back, gently ushering her. For a second she looked about ready to tell him off, but then she realized that it made it look as though he was bringing her somewhere.
“You’re going to lie us out of here?” she asked when they rounded a corner. “What if you’re challenged?”
“I might be,” he agreed, both of them stiffening when one of his colleagues appeared down the corridor, approaching them with what looked like a slight frown.
Jay could feel Isobel stiffen, but he brushed his thumb over the soft fabric of the top, hoping it was reassuring. He smiled as he passed the other analyst, giving him a nod in greeting. The colleague did the same, her eyes barely lingering on the two of them.
Good.
“Then again,” he said. “I might not be.”
She turned her head to look up at him, a slight roll of her eyes telling him she didn’t want to show him that she was impressed by his brazenness, even though he could tell that she secretly was.
He’d thought about it all afternoon. The only way to do this was to do it without hesitation. It was important that the cameras were shut off so that their first steps out of the room wouldn’t be questioned. Once they were in the corridors, out of sight of anyone who had any clue to what they were supposed to be doing, if they ran into anyone, he’d figured it would be a fairly easy sell that he was acting on orders from Cora. That he was bringing Isobel… the subject… to wherever.
And that was what he was banking on now.
They rounded a second corner and practically ran into two more of his colleagues stood idly chatting. “Bill!” Jay exclaimed. “And Thayer,” he added. “Weird meeting you two here at this time of day. Snack break, am I right? Did you take yourselves as far away from the cafeteria as possible to do a bit of gossiping?”
“You know it. Did you hear about Baird?” Thayer asked, eyes drifting to Isobel’s braless chest. “Apparently, he messed up with the third quarter. He is in deep doo-doo. God, I wish we could go for a smoke but it’s fucking freezing.”
“Yeah,” Jay said, trying to ignore the staring though he wanted to snap his fingers in front of Thayer’s wandering gaze to raise his attention back to eye level.
“Who’s this?” Bill asked, referring to Isobel.
Bill worked in accounting—alongside Baird—and had absolutely no clue about any of the subjects.
“This is Isobel,” Isobel replied.
“Gorgeous,” Thayer said with a slow smile, eyes finally leaving her chest for her face as he clarified, “The name, I mean.”
And though he wasn’t ogling her anymore he looked about ready to reach out both hands and squeeze her breasts. What the fuck was it with men? Then Jay remembered that it washer, wasn’t it? It was the fact that she was in heat. It was drawing them in. Including him.
The attraction he felt, the way he wished they could find a quiet room and have a go at each other—properly this time—that was all her wolf.
He swallowed. “Right, well, we’d better be off,” he said as though they were just concluding a dinner party and he and the missus needed to brave the oncoming snowstorm.
“Sure thing,” Bill said.
“Leaving so soon?” Thayer asked Isobel.
“Looks like,” she replied. Her tone was so flat Jay almost wanted to laugh at how Thayer was making a fool of himself. Clearly, Isobel being in heat didn’t mean she’d throw herself at just anything. At least, not yet… Would it get to that stage? The way Cora had warned her? He thought it was better they didn’t linger to find out and it seemed she agreed. “See you around,” she added, heading passed the two men. “Coming, Jay?” she asked, the suggestion not lost on him.
“Yes,” he said. “Coming.”
Thayer smirked knowingly, as though that word held a double entendre he was enjoying, his eyes trailing them.
There would, of course, be no cumming of any kind. They were going to get in Jay’s car and get to safety and then they’d decide exactly what to do next. Preferably they’d find Olive somehow. That was what Jay hoped, anyway.
“Hey,” Isobel said. “Hand.”
It was a reminder that he should be touching her to really sell the fact that he was the one bringing her somewhere and not the other way around. Though he was grateful for the reminder, a part of him hesitated. The way she was affecting him meant that he had thought more than once about snaking his arm around her, sliding his finger up to whichever breast was most readily accessible. They were big but natural. They would weigh heavily in his hands if he got that top off her. He could imagine licking her until her nipples were erect and hard underneath his fingers.
“Fuck,” he muttered, shifting to get his budding erection under control.
“What?” she asked, his hand still not touching her.
