Page 20 of Illicit Education

I shuddered. My name on his lips created a physical reaction in my body. Fire roared through my veins. It pooled deep in my belly. As our gazes remained locked, my mouthwatered.

And then the Smirker was back, watching me in that amused way of his as if he followed every thought, could read every reaction in my eyes.

Hell, maybe he could.

“Welcome to Reed Publishing, Ms. Blake.”

I cleared my throat, pushing aside the unwelcomed desire he stirred in me. “Thank you. It’s a pleasure to be here. I’ve really been looking forward to–”

His cell phone buzzed on the table and he picked it up, bringing it to his ear. “Roderick. What an unpleasant surprise.” Reed spun slowly back around, leaving me staring at his thick head of hair over the top of the black leather chair, my mouth open on the words he’d so rudely cut off by answering a phone call halfway through my sentence.

The fucking nerve of this guy.

Blanca brushed her fingers over my arm and nodded toward the door.

I’d known immediately that he wasn’t a likable man, and now I had proof. That, combined with the warnings from my new friends, was enough to strengthen my resolve. This physical reaction to the head of Reed Publishing was problematic, and now I had plenty of reasons to ignore the hell out of it. Self-preservation was all I could think about, all that mattered, and feeling this attraction toward my boss was no way to self-preserve anything.

Thankfully, his beauty was only skin deep. He was truly the jerk I’d originally pegged him for, so ignoring my body’s reaction to him would be a piece of cake.

As Blanca and I returned to the elevator bay, she gave the receptionist a little wave.

Sure enough, the woman ignored her.

Apparently, Mr. Reed wasn’t the only person on the seventy-fifth floor with a stick up their ass.

The doors opened and we stepped inside, then Blanca turned toward me. “I’m sure you’re anxious to learn all you can, and the best way to do that is to work in as many aspects of publishing as possible, right? So, you’ll work with our marketing team, acquisitions, and eventually you’ll shadow one of our executives for a day or two. But first, you’ll be working with me and will get a taste of what it’s like in the editorial department. I’m excited to show you as much as I can.”

I grinned. “Thank you. That sounds wonderful.”

“Eventually you’ll probably spend some time with Stella, but with the way things might change around here over the next few months, well… I don’t want you to get overwhelmed with all that. You’ll be with me until well into your internship, and may not even work with Mr. Reed and Stella at all.”

I sighed as relief coursed through me. With the way my body reacted to him, even as cold and standoffish as he was, I certainly wasn’t prepared to spendanytime with Cabot Reed.

And I certainly wasn’t in a hurry to spend any time with his awful receptionist.

In a perfect world, I could avoid the entire top floor of Reed Tower for the extent of my time here.

I don’t know what I’d expected, but the man who sent me the gift was not the same man that had just dismissed me so rudely in his office. Although,thatCabot Reed was definitely the same man as the one I’d interacted with in the elevator, so, once again, rectifying these two versions of the Smirker proved to be an impossible task.

“Is he a twin?” I blurted without thinking.

“What?”

“Mr. Reed. Does he have a twin brother?” That was the only logical explanation for the dueling personalities.

Smiling awkwardly, Blanca tilted her head. “Not that I’m aware of…?”

“Oh, okay. Just wondering.” I shrugged and the conversation was dropped.

Well, without an evil twin–or, in this case, agoodtwin–there was no explanation. But I’d certainly seen enough of Cabot Reed in our two interactions to know that he wasn’t a nice man. The next time I saw him, I would be prepared. Ready to work for him and be completely unaffected by him.

Which, thankfully, wouldn’t be for some time. Hopefully the transition from one Reed to the next wouldn’t go all that smoothly and all the kinks would push me into the hands of literallyanyone elseat Reed Publishing.

Fingers crossed.

Chapter Ten

Cabot

---