“A date!” Nathan says in a half-growl, half-shout, making both Rachel and me jump in surprise.
“Yeah, with my Kindle.” I snort a small laugh. Okay, he might have not lost interest already. He sounded angry at the idea of me going on a date.
“That’s my kind of date.” Her lips pull into a smile as her eyes bounce between Nathan and me as we all walk. When we near the breakroom, Nathan gets closer to me. When we enter, I see about ten people. I realize that I haven’t really met anyone else that works here. I spend all my time in Nathan’s office. He even has a personal bathroom.
“Everyone, this is Kayla,” Rachel introduces me. She starts going around the room to everyone, telling me their names. Nathan shifts so that he’s standing right behind me. I can feel the warmth of his body. Being this close to him and breathing in his masculine scent has me getting turned on again. I want nothing more than to lean back and press my body against his. I could simply drop my head back so he could kiss me. How the heck does he keep doing this to my body?
“How is Dr. Amherst treating you?” one of them asks. I missed all the names because Nathan stole my attention. Before I can answer, Nathan answers for me.
“I treat her well. She’s mine.” I know he means I’m his as in I’m his assistant, but my mind takes it elsewhere. Then he pushes the rest of the way into me, and I can feel that he is hard. I bite the inside of my cheek to keep from moaning. I have no doubt I’m flushed. Everyone is staring at us looking the same way I feel: confused.
“Nathan has been wonderful. I’ve learned a lot already.” I smile.
“Nathan?” one girl says, seeming surprised that I used his first name.
“Nathan, you say.” The man smirks.
“Cake, Jack. No candles. It's disgusting to blow on a cake,” Nathan barks out. “And next time, address me correctly. It’s Dr. Amherst to you.”
I turn my neck to look up at Nathan. He’s glaring at Jack. At least I’ve got one name down. I think Jack and Nathan have beef. Oh, it’s my first piece of office gossip! I’ve never gotten to experience that before. I’m going to get it out of Nathan when we get back. Find out why we dislike this Jack guy so much.
“No candles,” Rachel agrees. She walks over to the table where the cake is set out with the two number candles on top. At the same time she starts to sing “Happy Birthday,” and everyone joins in and claps at the end.
“I need a corner piece,” Nathan demands over the clapping. I have to hold back a laugh.
“I’ve got it,” a pretty brunette says as she starts to cut the piece. She only cuts one piece and heads our way. She’s staring right at Nathan with hearts dancing over her head. Not really, but I can see the interest in her eyes.Get in line.
I should move aside as she gets to Nathan, but I don’t. He easily reaches over and takes the plate from her hand. I don’t miss the small glare the woman gives me before heading back toward the cake.
I turn around, and Nathan gives me the plate with the corner piece. “See all the icing?” I say. I grab the fork on the plate and take a bite. I let out a happy moan. It’s not the stupid whipped icing you get sometimes. This is the real deal. I break off another piece, but this time I lift it to offer a bite to Nathan.
The chatter that had been going on dies out as he leans down and takes the offered bite of cake. “We should eat this in our office,” I say in a whisper—one that sounds way too breathy even to my own ears.
“Yes,” he agrees immediately. Score. I’m going to get all the office gossip from him. I start to make my way back out of the room. I watch as he steals us another corner piece. That man really is brilliant, and I’m as turned on as ever.
nine
DR. NATHAN AMHERST
“So about Jack,”she says when we get back to our office.
“Jack?” There’s a tiny spot of icing on the corner of her mouth. I want to lick it off, and she’s talking about the jackhole studying how reducing carbon emissions is actually bad for the environment.
“Yeah, why do we hate him?”
“Because he’s dumb.”
“That’s it?” She moves behind her desk where there’s no space for me. Why don’t I have a table in here? Why do we have desks? Desks are dumb like Jack.
“Is there a better reason to dislike someone?”
“I thought it would be something like Jack took someone’s research and passed it off as his own or Jack and Rachel had an office romance, but he cheated on her with an undergrad.”
“He’d be fired then.” If I moved a couple of these piles of papers, I could slide my chair over next to hers. It wouldn’t be comfortable, but I’d be closer to her.
“Is there any good—and by good, I mean juicy—gossip here?” She forks in another bite of the cake and frosting sticks to her lips.
This is torture. I force myself to concentrate on her words. Juicy gossip? I cast about trying to come up with something, but I don’t pay much attention to the other people in the department. There was that one incident, though. “Rachel brought in—”