She must have read my expression for exactly what it was, because she seemed only too happy to take the upper hand again. She slid her fingers into my messy hair, using it to pull me forward. Instead of toward her lips, though, she guided me to the hem of her skirt.
God, I love this girl.
I darted my gaze from what was clearly her goal to her eyes, unable to help my reaction to her. I fell for her more each time she took control like this, when I could shut off my brain and just fell. She lifted her eyebrow like a challenge, and I smirked before sliding her skirt up to fully expose her.
Her schedule was already behind for the day…
Might as well make her a little more late.
* * * *
Brax
I can’t believe I’m waiting for a woman.
I was a berserker, I put fear into almost any person I met, and yet here I was, sitting in my office because Hera was over an hour late.
I’d hate the woman if I didn’t love her so damned much.
I sighed and fought the urge to tap my foot on the ground. I had plenty of work to do, and I could have canceled with Hera, but the ability to see her wasfartoo tempting. After missing her over the past few days, I wasn’t about to lose out on my chance to see her now.
When she finally arrived, rushing into my office as if we were still in the old Larkwood and she might get in trouble for being late, I made my opinionperfectlyclear with my glare.
She peered around the empty office and frowned.“I thought we had a meeting with someone.”
“We did. An hour ago.” I crossed my arms and said nothing else.
“Sorry,”she signed back. She didn’t go on, didn’t try to explain it away or make excuses for her behavior.
Then again, Hera wasn’t the type to make excuses. She owned up to what she did, took responsibility for it.
And I was pretty damned sure Wade had a part in her lateness, given she’d had a meeting with him before and she had the glow of a woman who had been enjoying a few orgasms.
I snorted but didn’t call her out on it. Instead, I kept on topic about why she’d come to my office. “I dealt with the meeting. It was a representative from Jasmine Academy out of Texas.”
“What did they want?”
“I think they’re hoping to get our approval.”
She frowned.“I thought they’d be trying to threaten us.”
“Public opinion is changing. The laws are next to change. They want to get us on their side so when that all happens, they’ve got alliances. They want to not get in trouble when everything comes to light and maybe even keep their jobs.”
Just talking about it made me rub my temples to ease the headache that worsened with each word. I’d taken over a position whose name I’d already forgotten. I handled missions that occurred outside of Larkwood, running and training a group of shades who could handle about anything the world threw at them.
It meant I handled it when we found an illegal shade holding area, when we got word about shades who needed help. While humans weren’t allowed to hold shades normally, there were far too many private ‘collectors’ who enjoyed showing off rare types in what amounted to a zoo. So far, we’d avoided hitting academies to keep us off the bad side of the law, but I had no doubt that was where we’d get to eventually.
I had no doubt that in time, we’d have to face the other academies, because people in power never gave it up without a fight.
Working in a group, leading a team, they were skills I’d never had before. I’d always looked out for myself and Knox and cared little beyond that, but I couldn’t deny a strange sense of fulfillment when I worked with others. I liked them relying on me and I liked feeling as if they had my back.
“I hate politics,”Hera signed.
“Me too,” I admitted. “That guy even setting up an appointment withmeinstead of Knox says he was hoping for something underhanded. Otherwise he’d have stuck with the PR department.”
“So why did he come to you?”
I leaned back in my chair, rolling my shoulder to ease an ache there. I’d gotten back the day before from one such mission, and I’d spent a little time in Medical afterward.