by Viola Grace
She took a step, and he grabbed her arm and took her hand in his. “If I can’t touch you during the day, I will touch you now.”
They walked out of the dining room. When they were in the hall approaching the main entrance, she smiled. “Holding hands does it for you?”
He exhaled slowly. “Not even close, but the question arises, what is it doing for you?”
She didn’t understand what he meant until she felt a flutter of heat inside her. “Whatever you are doing has to be forbidden by a labour union somewhere.”
“You are not on the clock—”
She shut him down. “I am salaried; I am always on the clock.”
“We are going to have to do something about that. Give me a workup on your rates for a nine-to-five placement with overtime.” He murmured it.
She blinked as she entered the car and scooted for him to sit. Reese barely raised an eyebrow when she exited the house with the boss. Normally, he picked her up near her house, and they picked up the boss.
Once in the car, she pulled up the itinerary, and things were back to normal except for Stovos’s hand on her knee and the slow burn that was starting in her.
She shuddered and kept to the briefing about mineral rights.
He asked her a few questions about the company’s representatives and the permits and local governments. She answered the questions as she always did.
When they arrived at the office, she tucked him into his office and let her hair down at her desk, brushing through it with relief, fluffing her hair out to dry it before she started working on a loose braid.
His voice came calmly from her desk. “Orvis, come in here for a moment.”
She swallowed. “Just a minute, Boss.”
“Now, Orvis.”
She got up, and her braid was two-thirds done.
She walked into his office, and he looked up at her.
“Your hair is down.”
“It was wet, and I couldn’t find a hairbrush. I have pins and things in my desk.” She continued her braid. “You summoned me?”
“Yes, I wanted to warn you that there may be comments coming your way. Apparently, there was someone with a camera at the wedding.”
She blinked. “Oh. We did have a glamour filter around the event.”
“Right. That is why this is the image they got.”
He turned his monitor, and she saw that it had been snapped at the moment when he had picked her up but before she was over his shoulder. “It could have been worse.”
The intense look in his gaze was unmistakable, and the magical filter had translated his black leather to a tuxedo. He looked amazingly strong.
She cleared her throat. “We can simply say that you were carried away by the sight of your son finally getting married. It can be passed off as an enthusiastic hug if folks would believe that.”
“I am looking at you like you are edible, but if you think that the members of the company won’t mention it, you are mistaken. Those trolls love this kind of thing.”
She paused. “I have a plan to deal with anything that arises, but you will have to participate.”
“If you are thinking I am going to accept your resignation…”
Orvis swallowed, “Then, I have a second option, but it will be a lot more embarrassing.”
“Whatever you feel is best. I don’t suffer by the idea of me dallying with you, but we both know that is not my goal.”
She nodded and headed back to her desk and muttered, “Right, we both know it. What the fuck is going on then?”
“Orvis, your com is open.”
“Of course, it is. That is just the kind of day I am having.” She finished her hair, pinned it up in a looser arrangement than she had done every day since being hired. She loosened tendrils around her face to give her a softer look and prepared to deal with a business meeting where she would be sacrificed for the sake of the relationship unless she took steps.
She got the briefs assembled and met the team in the boardroom on the executive level.
They looked at her and chuckled. “So, Twilight has finally made a move, huh? A pity. You were on my radar, Orvis.”
She smiled. “What a shame. Well, things have been managed without your intervention, so that is all’s well that ends well.”
She put one of the briefs in front of each of them, and the VP in charge of project development muttered, “It’s a shame that you are getting your panties wet over Twilight. I could show you a much better time.”
She smiled and said, “Oh. I don’t wear panties. Never have. All that sliding and rubbing of lace on sensitive skin, it is just irritating. So, I will just go and fetch the CEO.” She clapped both of her arms on the troll’s shoulders and left the room.
She exhaled slowly and walked up the steps to the boss’s office. She knocked, and when he said, “Come,” she stepped in.
He was watching the CCTV of the boardroom, and he glanced at her. “That was how you handled it?”
“Yeah. Trolls are freaked out by sexually competent females, so that is what I pretended to be. I based it on truth and then made it a bit trashy. Did it work?”
“They haven’t spoken since you left. They are still locked in their mental image.”
He got to his feet. “Right. Ready to face them again.”
She sucked in some air and nodded. “Yes, Boss.”
He got up, squeezed her hand for a moment, and then, he nodded. “Now, off to the meeting.”
She nodded. “I will have refreshments brought up after two hours. There is already coffee and pastries set out.”
“Oh, no. You are coming in. Hector and Tynan are busy, and I need someone I trust.”
She blinked. “I have stuff to do.”
“Tough. My two best men are banging my daughter-in-law, and I need someone in there whose mind is not on sex.”
She frowned. “Then stop projecting it.”
He grinned. “I will try.”
They walked to the elevator and went down a floor. “You didn’t take the elevator back to our floor.”
“Um. No. Why?” She took the stairs. She always took the stairs if she was alone.
“Your scent was missing from the space.”
They stepped out of the elevator, and she blinked in consternation. “You have been sniffing me?”
He grinned, and then, his face sobered into business lines.
The trolls in human seeming were still sitting quietly, and they all sat up as Mr. Twilight entered and took his seat. “Ms. Orvis is acting as the proxy for the VPs of operations and development. Speak to her as you would to them.”
One of the younger members said, “Yeah, they are busy with that new piece of theirs.”
The boss was about to speak, but Orvis rapped her pen on the table. “Before you speak about Nessa Twilight, I would like you to know that Mr. Wells is in negotiation with her for her assistance in a delicate matter, and I would hate to tell Mrs. Twilight’s spouses that she is being referred to in this matter. It might cause Mr. Wells some difficulty, don’t you think, Mr. Bridges?”
She looked at the man who had mentioned her underwear. He swallowed. “We would not want to cause Mr. Wells any difficulty.”
“Right. Mr. Twilight? Would you care to begin?” She smiled and lined her notepad up to record information as it came in.
He looked at her in amusement, and he began the meeting.
Anytime the conversation skewed from the topic, she rapped her pen against the table, and things got back to the business at hand.
It was a three-hour meeting that concluded in an hour and a half. Mineral rights were being acquired, new deposits of gemstones were being investigated, local governments and rural populations were being compensated, and the ground was set for reclamation.
The contracts were set to be drawn up by the legal departments, and hands were shaken all around.
Mr. Bridges smiled as he left.
“Interesting assistant that you have there, Stovos.”
“You only know part of it, Kiilor. Have a nice day.”
She gathered her documents and sent the recording of the meeting to her desk to type up the minutes and notes.
She headed toward the stairs and was stopped by a snagging arm. “Elevator.”
She blinked and stood next to him as they waited for the lift. When they entered and the door closed, he lifted her against the wall and kissed her. She knew that there were cameras in the elevator, but she didn’t particularly care.
When the doors opened, he reached out with his hand to hold it and let her slide down the wall. She stared up at him. He smiled. “I seem to have an opening in my schedule.”
She looked at him and gave him a sultry smile. “I don’t. I just got three hours of work.”
She eased past his incredulous expression and headed for her desk, firing up her computer and putting on her headset.
She smiled brightly at him as her fingers started to whir over the keys.
“Don’t you normally do that during the meetings?” He paused next to her desk.
“Yes, but I didn’t have time to type it as it was spoken today. I was expected to participate, so that changed my job for the moment, and now, I have to catch up.”
He sighed in disappointment. “Let me know when you are done.”
She nodded. “Yes, Boss.”
When he left, it was like a thundercloud had passed her office. He had not liked that at all.
Chapter Nineteen
Cale arrived as she was finishing the notes half an hour later. She smiled and said, “I was expecting your call.”
“I was told to go directly into Mr. Twilight’s office. Can I just go in?”
She smiled and hit the com. “Mr. Twilight, Cale is here to see you.”
“Good. Send him in. We will call you if we need you.”
She nodded to Cale. “Go ahead.”
Cale smiled and headed in with his portfolio and a tablet tucked under his arm.
She went over her files for typos, attached necessary geographic and geological scans, and sent the file to the boss. He would authorize it for legal when he had gone over it.
She stretched with her arms high and kicked off her shoes to stretch and wiggle. She was still sore in a few places, but it was the same kind of sore that she would have gotten from a workout, but how she would have lifted a barbell between her thighs was something she didn’t want to think about.
She blinked when she got a text from Nessa.
The guys are worried about the mineral meeting. Did everything go okay, Tolly?
She rapidly typed with her thumbs. Meeting was fine. Trolls were pleasant eventually. Minutes of the meeting and details for legal have been assembled and are waiting for authorization.
There was a pause. He did the meeting alone?
Took me with him. I did the minutes.
Ah. How are you doing? You looked a little nervous.
Work-life balance is always difficult. Dude, are you sore?
There was another pause. Little bit. It fades fast though. I am guessing you are in difficulty?
How can anyone do that so many times in a row?
Lol. Hector will be smug that he carries those genes. Take a hot bath when you can. It will help relax things.
Okay. Tell Hector and Tynan I will send them the files as soon as Boss has a look at them.
“You can send them now.” His voice was in her ear. She screeched, and her phone flew.
He caught the phone and read the conversation with a frown. “You are sore?”
“Of course I am. Twit. Gimmee that.” She reached for the phone, and he kept it out of her reach until he had gone over the texts a few times. “Now I know where Hector gets his attitude toward phones.”
He handed her the flat tablet. “Come into my office and take off your shirt.”
“I beg your pardon.”
“You have my pardon, but Cale needs your measurements.”
“Oh. Right. Well, he has most of them.”
He shook his head. “You flatten most of your curves on a daily basis. The only thing that I want you to hide is the colouration and the wings. The shape needs to be your shape.”
She sighed and brought her phone with her, sending copies of the file to Hector and Tynan while glancing at Cale. She smiled. “What do you need?”
“All of you. His Majesty states that you have not been forthcoming with your actual measurements.” She looked at Stovos. “Lock the door, or this is the last view you will have before my fist is in your face.”
Cale blinked and then nodded in respect. She shucked out of her skirt, blazer, blouse, and then the breast band. Letting her body go to full curves was difficult, but when she finally finished relaxing all the small bindings she had on her body, Cale nodded and got to work.
“This is just proof that I am right and Acker is wrong. I do see more naked women than he does.”
He was precise with his measurements, and the whole thing was over in a few minutes, and she tried to pull her skirt on. “Damn it.” She inhaled, exhaled, and the skirt went on when she resumed her more neutral shape. While her hips cooperated, her breasts outright refused to be subdued.
Stovos looked at Cale. “See?”
She went through the same thing with her breasts and shrank them before she was able to get the binding on. “This is really tricky to do with you watching.” She got herself flatish again and reached for her blouse.
“Getting dressed should not involve a lot of constriction unless you are into that sort of thing,” Cale murmured.
Stovos watched her tuck in her blouse and then zip up her skirt. She put on her blazer, buttoned it, and snapped up her phone.
“If that was everything?”
Stovos nodded. “That was all. You will have a new dress by the art gallery opening. And the accompanying underpinnings.”
She was walking out. “Another word folks don’t use anymore, Boss.”
She sat at her desk and went through her daily tasks and moving Stovos’s schedule around so that every moment of every day was crammed full of work.
Cale left cheerfully, and Stovos called her through the com. “Orvis, why is my schedule so full that there isn’t room to breathe in it?”
“Um, because Hector and Tynan aren’t here?” She was glad that she had thought of that and not admitted to rage-scheduling him.
There was silence before his voice spoke from behind her. “You wouldn’t perhaps be the teensiest bit irritated with me, would you?”
She couldn’t turn her head, or she would be nearly kissing him. “Of course not. There is no reason for it, after all. You are an adult. I am an adult. Cale is an adult. What’s a little sudden unexpected nudity between adults?”
“You have gone for fittings before.”
“And everything fits over my binder with the hips that make the chest look balanced. That means that no one has seen me properly naked but you.”
He chuckled. “No one is ever properly naked. It’s an oxymoron.”
“Only if you do it right,” she mumbled and then tapped her forehead against her desk. She did not want to play with him.
“What is essential on my calendar?”
“Your meeting with accounting to discuss the budget being lined up for next quarter, and that is it for today. The rest is phone calls.” She grimaced.
“Good, we have time for lunch.” He murmured, “Why don’t we go to that teahouse you are always talking about?”
She whirled, and he was looming in close. “We can’t.”
“Whyever not?”
“Um, it’s closed on Mondays?”
“You don’t sound convinced. Is it perhaps that it is a barbeque restaurant manned by very attractive-looking young men and patronized by socially elite women?” He smiled.
“Um, maybe?”
“Who
do you think would own such a place?”
“Um, either a perv or someone who likes to listen to women chatter.”
He stroked her lower lip with his thumb. He rocked his head slightly. “A bit of both.”
He kissed her softly, slowly, and she was leaning up for more when he leaned back. “I will call ahead and make arrangements for us to use the private entrance.”
She was about to offer to make the call, but he unlocked his phone and spoke in elvish. Oh, that explained the hot waiters.
He pulled her into the office, and he looked at her concerned expression. “What is it?”
“I have to call relief to my desk. It isn’t right to leave it empty. I have to call Meredith for cover.”
He sighed. “Go ahead then.”
She called Meredith and got her up to the desk. Meredith looked tired, but she smiled. “Hey, Orvis. How long will he be gone?”
“Until the meeting with accounting at two. He will return by then.”
“You are going with him?” Meredith blinked as if she just put it together.
“Yes. My job is taking a few turns, and we have to discuss the likely outcome. It is something best done away from the office. Talk to you later.”
She walked into Stovos’s office, and he wrapped an arm around her. A wall of shadows appeared, and he walked them through from the clean and open office to the private dining room that Orvis had taken Nessa to.
He smiled and set her on the table, kissing her while trying to slide a hand between her thighs. She laughed against his mouth. “Pencil skirt. Impossible to get past in this situation.”
He flexed his fingers at her knee. “I can get past it, but you won’t have anything to wear.”
The door opened, and a male came in with two menus that he set down. “Good day, Boss.” It would have been fine if he hadn’t tilted his head and said, “Ms. Orvis!”
She hid her face against Stovos’s chest.
“Perhaps you could do what is best for your health and pretend that you did not recognize the lady.”
The server nodded. “I will be back in a few minutes.”
The door closed, and Stovos lifted her chin and kissed her softly. “Embarrassed to be seen with me?”
“Not with you, wearing you. There is a difference.” She stroked her hand down his dark shirt. She found his nipple beneath the fabric and caressed it with her thumb. He tensed.