Page 34 of Tempt

“Why are we here?”

He glanced at me in the mirror. “This is where Mr. Sutherland has been for the last two weeks. He hasn’t left once.”

Oh.That was… well, that was a lot of work. Maybe he wasn’t avoiding me after all. “I think I’m starting to understand why you look so tired, Martin.”

He smiled weakly before coming around to my door. I’d walked into the iON building more times than I could count at this point, but never quite like this. Nine in the evening on a Wednesday was apparently a dead time for the building. My offices cleared at precisely five each and every day, but many other offices worked much later, some even around the clock. I guess I just assumed the building would always look alive.

Right now, it did not.

Two security guards sat quietly behind their desks. The atrium was deafeningly quiet. All the lights were muted. My heels clicked and echoed as we walked across the floor, past the security desks, and to a back hallway I didn’t realize existed. Martin waved a badge at a security panel before opening the door and handing me a different badge from his pocket.

“This is yours. You’ll need it to operate the elevator and again to gain access to the penthouse floor. I’m needed in the security offices right now. Do you think you can make it up on your own?”

I gave him the stink eye. “Yes, Martin. I do believe I can work an elevator.”

“Good, good,” he said with the wave of his hand. Almost as if he hadn’t actually heard me at all. The man was seriously tired. Then he turned and disappeared down the other end of the hallway where I could only assume the rest of Theo’s black-clad posse worked.

When you ride an elevator straight to the top of an eighty-story building the ride is really long and freaky. It gives you just the right amount of time and constant speed to really realize that you’re in a tiny metal box going straight up in the air.

But then the ride stops just in time.

Thank God.

I waved the security badge at the glowing panel. The doors slid open and standing in front of me was the most handsome, exhausted looking, rumpled business genius I knew.

“Well hello there, stranger.” I stepped out and kissed him lightly on the lips. To my surprise he didn’t move or make a comment—just wrapped his arm around my waist as my hand caressed his face.

“It’s good to see you.” His voice was rough with exhaustion and the unmistakable hint of need. Anddamn,did it sound good. He smelled like soap, and as my fingers tangled in his hair I realized it was damp. His light blue button-up was freshly pressed. The collar was open and the sleeves were rolled. When taken together with the dark blue pants and black dress shoes, Theo looked like he was ready for a fresh day of work at the office. Except that it was late, and instead he’d just showered off the day and probably put on a clean set of clothes.

“You look tired,” I whispered.

His eyes dropped to my lips and my stomach fluttered. Tired or not, Theo was ready to work. On me. “You look beautiful.”

I swallowed. Having him so close again was making me heady. My head spun and my feet just barely touched the floor. At least that was how it felt. “Thank you.” I wanted to drink him in, inch by inch. They say absence makes the heart grow fonder, which might be true, but really it makes you appreciative. Two weeks without smelling or touching him. Two weeks without a chance to memorize the way his eyes looked when he was with me.

The way they darkened and focused.

I appreciated every single bit of Theo Sutherland and the opportunity to be near him. “Show me where the genius happens.”

But he didn’t move. Not right away. Instead we stayed just like that—his arm around me, mine around him. He took his sweet time studying my lips and my eyes. It was so intense I thought I might combust, but I didn’t squirm away. Instead I drank it in.

Then the corner of his lip twitched up and he gave me a slight nod. “Right this way.” His hand never left my back as he guided me past the abandoned reception desk and down a long hall of private offices. In a way it reminded me of his apartment: dark woods and bright lights. Either he liked everything to be the same, or his designer was very unimaginative.

“How many floors?” I asked.

“iON? We use three here. Our R&D facility is just outside the city and that’s where most of my engineers work. This is headquarters.” Then we stepped into an open round room with a sunken seating area. Off to our left was a wall of windows with an unobstructed view of London. It was the most breathtaking sight I’d ever seen—and I’d been to the top of a lot of buildings. “That’s a million dollar view right there,” I breathed.

“Closer to a billion, actually.”

There was a difference in Theo I was just beginning to understand. It wasn’t that he was tired—though that was clearly affecting him—he seemed unsure of himself. Maybe even of me. The differences were subtle, but there. His shoulders were hunched instead of straight and broad. He held his chin down slightly instead of looking directly into my eyes with that cocky confidence I usually attributed to him. He stood just a few inches further away. It made me feel like I needed to burrow into his chest and just hold him for a few minutes.

That emotional reaction was the one I’d been trying so hard to avoid. It had gotten progressively easier in the time we spent apart, but now that I was standing beside him it was back and stronger than ever.

He slid his hand into mine and gave it a squeeze. “Come.”

On the other side of the circular room was another short hallway. At the end of this was a large reception area in front of two massive wood doors. Theo led me around the reception desk and pushed open the left door.

“Welcome tothe attic.” He said it with a sad laugh, like he knew what people like Margaret said about it.

---