Page 47 of Hell Hath No Fury
"What's not what?" Alex Rios, partner number two, asks as he walks in without knocking.
"Close the door," I tell him. The last thing I need is Jamie overhearing this and running to Ms. HR to fry my ass. Jamie's already dealing with my rejects and has vocalized her unhappiness—multiple times.
He takes a seat in the other chair across from my desk. These two guys have been with me since the beginning. We were juniors in college when we opened DPE. Since I was fronting most of the capital, I got to choose the name—with their agreement. It was funny at the time. Now, not so much. But dammit if Audra Sullivan didn't rub it in every chance she got.
"Derrick here thinks Sullivan hates him," Mark tells Alex.
Alex laughs. Hard. I just stare.
"Oh, that's great," Alex says catching his breath.
"I'm not amused by this," I tell them.
"I can see that," Alex agrees.
"There is nothing fun in my interaction with Audra. She's always so… well, you've seen her."
"She wants you, man. Are you blind?" Alex asks, waving a hand in front of my face.
I slap his hand. "No, I'm not blind, but I think you're both full of shit."
Mark sighs. "She's hot for you."
"But she bites my head off—"
"One word," Alex says, interrupting me. "Foreplay."
"What?" I ask with a chuckle.
"No lie, foreplay. All the sexy tension building between you two," Mark agrees.
I still don't see it and my expression must say it all.
"Does she put some extra wiggle in her step on her way out after the steamy sparring of words?" Mark asks.
"Well, now that you mention it."
Mark nods. "Does she look back to see if you're looking?"
I raise my brows. "She does, and then she calls me 'Sir' with a breathy voice."
Mark and Alex look at one another, then back to me.
"You mean this whole time…?"
Alex smirks. "Not the whole time, but for a while now. You could ask Jamie. Pretty sure the two are in some kind of girl gang of secrets."
Well, hell. Now what?
"You just asked yourself, 'now what', didn't you?" Mark asks.
I nod. "I'm kinda dumbfounded here."
Mark smirks. "Those are the best kind. The ones that throw you off your game. She's gonna knock you to your knees, pal."
"No way."
Alex laughs. "Way. You're done for. Let's call the wedding planner."
