“Looks like you’re already making quite the impression.” I said.
“Just doing my job. Coffee?” She asked.
“Sure, why not? Black, no sugar.”
“I’ll be back in a few minutes. Why don’t you look around the room and see if there’s anything you can take photos of? The quicker it’s done the better.”
“Oh, I’m only here for preliminaries today.” My brow creased. “It’s not point and shoot. We’ll go around, you tell me what you’re looking for and I’ll take a few snaps. Then I’ll need to return with my proper equipment, set up lighting etc. Otherwise you may as well just go round with your cell phone camera.”
Serena chewed on her lip. “Of course. Sorry. I should have realized there was more to it than that. You must excuse me, it’s my first week on the job, and I’m still learning the ropes.”
“It’s fine. I just needed you to realize that you’ll need to factor in some time to spend with me this week if we’re going to get this done right.”
God, it sounded like I was making a play for the woman which I so wasn’t. Or was I? Carter was right. She definitely had something, but we’d agreed, this time it was all about friending her, no sex to be brought into things at this stage.
She returned with the coffees and indicated for me to take a seat at the end of the conference table.
“So how are you settling in? Carter said you were staying in the hotel?”
“Carter appears to have a big mouth. You one of his friends then?”
“Yeah. There are four of us: me, Carter, Jayden, and Smith. You’ll meet the others soon enough I’m sure. They’re like my brothers. Been together since we were young and, well, they’ve always had my back.”
I took a sip of coffee while a silence descended. I was grateful for the drink as Serena’s blood appealed to my vampire nature, the scent of her hitting my nostrils and the back of my throat. The coffee was a welcome distraction.
“Had your back about Rose?”
“You know about her?”
“Like you said, people gossip. I know more about you than I feel I should seeing as we just met.”
“Well, it’s not necessarily the truth. That’s the deal with Carbon Beach. Lots of people come here just to take advantage and then leave taking salacious stories with them that might hold 5% actual truth.”
“Must be difficult.”
“It’s life. You know my parents then, right? I’ve grown up with it all. You learn to protect yourself. Not let people in, not really.”
“So, I’m talking to the ‘official’ Flynn, not the real one?”
“Yeah. Are you showing me the real Serena?”
She laughed. It lit up her whole face. Those green eyes sparkled and her mouth revealed beautiful white teeth and a tongue I wanted rolling around the tip of my cock.
What the fuck?
“Of course you’re getting official Serena. We just met and you’re here for business.”
“Hmm, sounds interesting. Maybe I’ll have to show you around the place and see if I can get through to unofficial Serena. I reckon she’s fun.”
“I don’t date people I do business with.” She said tersely.
“Oh, I don’t want to date you, just could use a new friend.”
Those green eyes stared at me a beat too long. “What’s with you and Carter and the friends thing? He said the same.”
“We’ve had a lot of woman trouble. We’re all taking a break—the four of us. So, sorry if you decide you’ve fallen for one of us, or all of us—because we’re off the market for now. You’ll have to go on a wait list.”
Her mouth dropped open, her lips forming a perfect ‘O’ shape that I tried hard not to think about. Unfortunately my dick tried hard too. My dick won and so I moved myself further under the table so Serena wouldn’t notice it was trying to punch through my zipper.