Page 74 of The Ice Queen in the Corner Office

The guy next to Fin squeezed past him and into the entryway. He gave me a sad smile. “I’m Bert.”

He was followed by another, smaller, guy with a kind smile, who introduced himself as Lee.

Fin stepped inside and shut the door behind him, but he didn’t go into the living room with the others.

He stepped into my space and grinned down at me. I didn’t back down, didn’t want him to think he scared me.

“You with Alex?”

“No. And if you want to keep your eyes and your hands, you’ll keep them to yourself.”

His grin widened, and he gave me a small salute as he walked around me. “I like you, gorgeous.”

“My name’s—”

“Leave her alone, Fin,” Alex shouted. “Or I’ll kick your ass myself.”

Fin halted, turned, and wrapped an arm around my shoulders, just as I was thinking I ought to get the hell out of there.

I’d done enough for one day and I could go back to work with a clear conscience now that Alex had friends with him. The trouble was, I didn’t want to leave, I wanted to find out what was really going on. Wanted to make sure those guys weren’t there to cause Alex any more harm.

That was why, when Fin pulled me into the living room, I didn’t stomp on his insole or punch him in the balls like I would normally do to a guy who put his hands on me uninvited.

Nope. I let him pull me forward into that room.

“What the hell is wrong with you, Alex?” Fin asked. “You got a gorgeous girl like this and you haven’t claimed her yet?”

I slipped under his arm and away from him. “I’m not a coat he checked.”

“Fin,” Lee said. “Quit fucking around. Every minute we aren’t figuring out how to get that money, Willow is alone with those animals.”

“Who’s Willow?” I should have kept my mouth shut and not reminded them I was there, because four sets of eyes turned my way and Alex’s hardened.

“You should leave,” he said.

Maybe I would have left, if he hadn’t demanded it. Him telling me what to do belonged to the bedroom, belonged to a relationship that was over.

Maybe I was mad at him and wanted to piss him off, or maybe I just wanted to find out what he’d walked away for, or maybe I saw the pain and the panic on his face and wanted to help.

I was in no mood to analyze my motives too deeply. I took a seat on the couch next to Alex. “I helped you move a body, I’m not leaving until I’m sure the cops won’t be knocking on my door with an arrest warrant.”

Alex’s friends stared at me like I had two heads.

Before they could say anything, Alex spoke up. “The guy was unconscious, not dead. Jill helped me move him to the hall before the cops showed up.”

“What guy?” Fin asked. He narrowed his eyes at Alex. “Now that you mention it, you have been worked over but good. I couldn’t tell at first since your normal mug is so damn ugly.”

“The crew sent a couple of guys to motivate me to make the drop tomorrow.”

“You got the money?” Lee asked.

Alex’s face pinched and he shook his head. “I put the condo on the market this morning. The bank won’t loan me the money by tomorrow and my savings and checkings are both tapped. Other than stealing from my own company, I’ve got nothing.”

“So, fucking steal from your own company, man,” Lee said. “What the hell are you waiting for?”

I held up my hand. “Hey there. We haven’t been properly introduced. I’m Jill Reynolds and I’m the CFO for Alex’s company. If you’re going to talk about stealing from the company, you might want to wait until I leave.”

“So, leave,” Alex said, his expression hard, his tone curt.

---