Marcus reached out to shake my hand. He didn’t smile, but it seemed like his eyes were smiling as I took his big hand in mine and shook. I felt immediately charmed by him.
Dominic stepped forward and to the side, subtly cutting off the handshake and putting himself between me and Marcus.Was he jealous?
“Nice to meet you, Little C,” Marcus said. That time hedidsmile.
“You too,” I said.
“Is there a reason you haven’t checked your email? You’ve been at work nearly fifteen minutes,” Dominic asked.
“Hardass,” Marcus muttered under his breath.
“Well, I was trying to get used to having someone’s desk practically on top of mine,” I said. “It looks like my boss is renovating his office to massage his ego and he tossed one of my co-workers in my lap.”
Tristan looked like he was biting back a smile. “She’s got spunk. Think you can handle her, Dom?”
“She’s got an addiction to insubordination,” he said. “And I think I could simply fire her.”
I folded my arms. “Believe it or not, this job is really important to me. That guy you put across from me would have a million HR complaints against him if we had human resources here.Everybody in the office knows it. He also smells terrible. I’ve spent my time so far today trying not to pass out, alright?”
Dominic took a look toward Steve, who had already broken into a bag of sour cream and onion chips. I was surprised to see how hard he was glaring. Did he really not know anything about Steve before moving his desk across from mine? I assumed it was some kind of prank.
“Jasmine Marshall didn’t do anything about him?” Dominic asked, still staring hard in Steve’s direction.
Steve, completely oblivious, bit another chip and then wiped the crumbs on his shirt.
“She couldn’t,” Elizabeth said. “He’s the son-in-law of one of the big bosses.Er, well, he was. I guess he’s not now that you two guys bought them out.
Dominic’s lip curled. He looked toward me. “Has he made a pass at you before?”
“A few times. Not today, but he–” I trailed off, shrugging as Dominic stormed toward Steve’s desk. “What’s he doing?” I asked.
Marcus tapped a finger to his chin. “Not sure. Probably nothing good for Stinky Steve.”
Elizabeth laughed a little too loud, throwing her head back. She cut herself off abruptly and stuck a hand towards Marcus. “Hi,” she said, batting her eyelashes. “My name’s Elizabeth.I’m single.”
Marcus smiled easily, but looked away when Dominic leaned in to speak to Steve.
Steve looked up at him, listened a few seconds, then seemed to bristle with indignation. I guessed he was starting his self-important speech about his right to smell terrible and talk to “the ladies”, but Dominic cut him off. This time, I could hear his voice from across the office.
“It’s not up for discussion,” Dominic said. “Learn some fucking hygiene habits, leave your co-workers alone, or lose your job. And if I hear so much as a rumor that you bothered Darcy McClain, you’re done. Understand me?”
For some reason, chills ran across my skin when I heard that. He clearly wanted me gone, so why was he going out of his way to protect me?
Steve bolted to his feet, though he was nearly a foot shorter than Dominic. He slapped a palm on the desk. “This is smellism! I’ll report you. You know my father-in-law was one of the founders ofThe Squawker.I can speak to him about this.”
“Great,” Dominic said. “Move your things over there.” He pointed to a corner of the office where a fake tree and a cheesy motivational poster hung crooked on the wall. The light above that corner was also dim and flickering.
“Nobody’s desk goes there,” Steve said.
“Perfect. You’ll have plenty of space.” Dominic turned and headed back towards us with his lips curled in disgust. “You,” he said, pointing at me. “My office.”
“Your office is covered in fresh paint and chemicals,” Marcus said. “They told us to stay out for a few hours, remember?”
Dominic looked like he wanted to punch Marcus, but he settled for making a low noise in his throat.
“We can talk here, can’t we?” I asked, maybe a little too sweetly.
“The smelly one is moving his desk. If you don’t impress me by the end of today, consider yourself on a short fucking leash.”