Page 27 of Fierce

Staying on Track. Or Not.

I was late to meet Hemi. It had taken me a while to find the right elevator to go to the roof, and I hadn’t wanted to ask Nathan. I didn’t need to answer any more questions today.

I looked around uncertainly, holding my box of lunch. It was high up here, which wasn’t my favorite thing, but surprisingly lush. Potted trees cast dappled pools of shade over long wooden benches that curved in sinuous shapes, offering a welcome respite from the warmth and humidity that still lingered in September. Other planters held flowers and greenery, and a chest-high balustrade ran around the entire area, to my relief.

A few late lunchers were scattered around, some of them glancing up at my approach. Was it all right for me to be up here? I looked around for Hemi, but couldn’t see him. But I did see one person I recognized.

Hemi’s assistant Josh was heading over from a seat on one of the benches. To tell me Hemi wasn’t coming, probably. Or that I was in trouble again for being late.

Note One: Maintain dignity.

“Hi,” he said. “This way.”

Oh. Maybe not.

He led me around the high central structure through which I’d entered, and I realized that the garden extended farther than I’d thought. All the way around the roof, in fact. One entire section in a back corner was set up as a sort of grotto, with a fountain bordered by palm trees providing delicate water-music, containers of ferns resting in the trees’ shade, all managing to look surprisingly natural, like a piece of tropical paradise transplanted into midtown Manhattan. Flat rocks provided resting places by the edge of the pool, and it was on one of those that a man was seated.

Hemi. Of course.

He rose at my approach, and I found, when I turned my head to say goodbye to Josh, that he’d already melted discreetly away.

“Thanks for coming.” Hemi gestured me to a shady spot on the rocks beside him. “Please. Sit.”

“I didn’t know this was here,” I said, more to make conversation than anything else, because the sight of him, as usual, took my breath away. He could rock a white dress shirt and dark slacks like no man I’d ever seen. And his sleeves were rolled up again.

I sat, tucking my dress under me, then took off my jacket and set it on the rocks beside me, trying not to notice the way his gaze lingered on my bare shoulders. “Is it for anybody?” I asked. “I mean, anybody to use? Am I allowed?”

“Yeh. You’re allowed.” He gave me a faint smile that was really just a softening of the eyes. “I’d like to say it’s because you’re with me, but I have to admit that you’re allowed anyway. Although some of my team say it should be strictly an executive perk. What d’you reckon?”

“I reckon they’ve got some perks already, and maybe the rank-and-file need it more. I also reckon that somebody at the top agrees with me.” I glanced at him from beneath my lashes, smiled just a little, and saw the instant response. I felt rather than saw his indrawn breath, the tightening of his muscles, and just like that, my heart had begun to pound even harder.

All he said, though, was, “Not polite to mock my Kiwi ways.”

“No? How about if I say that I kind of like your Kiwi ways, if one of them’s about treating people the same, even if they don’t have a lot of money or a private office?”

“Then you can mock a bit after all, because that’s pretty much the definition of a Kiwi. You brought your lunch, I see.” He reached for a deli container of his own and pulled out a sandwich. “How’m I going so far? Any better?”

“Very nearly human,” I conceded, and this time, he actually grinned before he took a bite of sandwich, showing off some very, very white teeth.

But this time, it didn’t make me feel quite so nervous. It was hard to stay anxious with the sound of water purling gently down the rocks, the sight of silver streams cascading over greenery.

There were even a few carp in the pool, and I nodded at the fish as I opened my box. “I feel a little guilty eating this here. Like a cannibal.”

“They eat their young. Just making them feel at home, aren’t you.”

That made me laugh, and at last, I tasted my salmon. It was as good as I’d imagined, even reheated. I may have had to close my eyes again, too.

“Extra points for me,” I heard Hemi murmur.

I opened my eyes again to find him watching me. “Pardon?”

“Not making any moves, even with you showing off your pretty legs again, not to mention showing me how much you enjoy…new experiences. Yeh, I’d call those major points.”

“Especially now that I’ve let you know about the experiences I haven’t had,” I said, choosing a few green beans and popping them into my mouth.

“Unfair,” he complained.

I smiled, and not just from the taste of the fire-roasted green beans. I wasn’t a butterfly anymore, or a deer, either. I was in the power seat today, and he was letting me know it.

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