Andrea sighed, “It’s nothing. Just something the guys in Level 2 said.”
“Don’t worry about them,” Athena said, sounding all-knowing when it came to the shenanigans the scientists in the second floor were capable of.
“They talk big but are pretty harmless. The only person down there you shouldn’t mess with is Sally. Everyone else you can push off easy enough.”
“They aren’t being mean or anything,” Andrea admitted, rubbing her arms, wishing she had brought jacket to wear over her sundress. “It’s nothing. Really.”
Athena shrugged, “Alright.”
For a moment, Andrea considered actually speaking to her, telling her about the thing that happened when she worked after hours with her boss. About the small moments where she swore she felt Dom’s eyes on her, or how whenever she dropped off his coffee, he no longer expected her to leave it on his desk but he accepted it into an open palm. Or how whenever their skin brushed or he peered over her shoulder, she felt like she was growing hot, as if he had become the sun and she was scalding beneath him. How sometimes when he was giving her instructions, she couldn’t help but stare at his lips as they curved out the words.
It was almost hypnotic how they did that… how his voice curled and lilt through certain words in an accent that felt foreign but sounded natural to her. Andrea didn’t realize she was daydreaming until Athena was standing before her, clearing her throat.
“You alright there?” Athena asked, giving her a wry smile.
Andrea flushed pink, nearly stumbling as she slid off the high chair to accept the documents Athena held out to her.
“Yeah,” Andrea muttered. “Thanks.”
“Take it easy, Andrea,” the woman said with a chuckle, and the look she gave her was one of understanding. Andrea frowned, but shrugged it off until she was in the elevator.
The elevator let out a soft ding when Andrea realized what the look meant and she felt a wave of mortification rush over her hands that made the documents fall to the ground in a rain of sheets.
“Dammit,” Andrea swore softly, gathering the documents and ignoring odd stares. When she hurried back into the office, Mr. Rhys was waiting for her by her desk.
When she met his gaze, he was taking a sip from a water bottle, and his expression was so unguarded that she paused to stare in surprise. He blinked at her, not with a glare but with equal surprise.
Shaking her head, she approached him, extending the documents toward him.
“Here, Athena says they’re all here.”
Mr. Rhys nodded, accepting the papers. His fingers brushed hers and Andrea jerked her hand away, as though she had been electrocuted. Her reaction was so sudden that she saw him raise a brow at her curiously.
Clearing her throat, she looked away, muttering about schedules before she shuffled away in the direction of the bathroom.
Something was wrong with her.
Chapter 5
“Maybe you like him,” Stephanie’s voice was teasing over the speakerphone of her phone one Saturday evening.
Andrea felt the cap of her nail polish nearly slip from her grip, a thin streak of purple smearing over her thumb. Letting out a sharp hiss, Andrea placed the cap in its place before reaching for a napkin to clean up the mess on the digit.
“I don’t like him,” Andrea insisted.
“He’s my boss.”
“Never stopped people before,” Stephanie giggled. Andrea threw her phone a black glare, as if hoping her friend would receive the full brunt of it.
“Stop frowning, it’ll ruin your face.”
“Shut up,” Andrea muttered.
“So what, he’s attractive. Big deal.”
“Yeah, but you’re also experiencing tingles right?” Andrea bit her lower lip, focusing on reapplying nail polish on her thumbnail.
“No.”
“Any dreams?” Yes.
“No.”
“Daydreaming in the middle of work?” All the time.
“Not even.”
“Fantasizing?” Dom caught her in the middle of a fantasy once. It had been humiliating trying to explain why she looked feverish.
“Nope.”
“What about accidental touches? Any of those?”
It had almost become a norm, how much they exchanged small touches. While most were innocent, simple nudges whenever she was in the wrong place in the office and he needed to pass, others were questionable.
Like the one time Andrea had nearly tripped over a cable in his office and he caught her hand from falling over and instead of letting go, he had sort of brought her close to his chest before meeting her gaze. She could still remember feeling his voice against her chest through his when he said, “Be careful, before you ruin something.”
The pause made Stephanie giggle.
“Seems like there might be some mutual interest at play.”
“No, there isn’t.” Andrea huffed, but could feel her stomach open up a new can of worms—different and worse than her first day.
“Well, you never know. But, if there is something going on between you two, I hope you don’t run away from it, Andy.” Stephanie’s voice grew somber, “You deserve to be happy.”
Andrea stopped for a moment, picking up her phone and turning off speakerphone to bring the receiver to her ear.
“Thanks, Steph. I appreciate it… but there’s nothing going on.”
“Keep telling yourself that, hon. Break time’s over. I’ll call you tomorrow?”
“Yeah, thanks.”
“Bye, Andy. Be naughty.”
“Shut up, Steph.”
Chapter 6
Two months in and Andrea wasn’t exactly sure about her certain statement to Stephanie that night during the phone call. It was as if with every passing day whatever tension was brewing between them was becoming more and more palpable.
While Dom’s attitude didn’t seem to change much throughout their regular interactions, his expressions had. It was a subtle glance that now seemed to sear into her whenever she walked into the room. He stood much closer now, asking her opinion on stuff that she was becoming more and more familiar with.
She had become able to pick up on some patterns in the work they did and while she still didn’t understand a huge part of it, some of it began to make sense and when she pointed stuff out, Dom paused to look at her with a strange look that made her feel warm.
He did not speak a lot, keeping to himself and focusing on his work a lot. Yet those moments where he lowered his guard around her began to appear more and more frequently.
Andrea was surprised one day, three months into working for Dom Rhys when she walked in to the office with his usual morning coffee and found him sitting on his chair, body reclined with an arm over his forehead. She wondered if he was frustrated about something, considering since she had never seen him like that before.
Instead, she was shocked when she heard his breathing, slow and even, as she approached to place his coffee on the desk.
He’s…sleeping? Caught between wanting to see him a little more closely and between giving him his privacy and allowing him to rest, Andrea stood by the desk staring at him.
Eventually, the more curious side of her mind won and she couldn’t resist inching closer to try to peer at him. The gray lighting was a little poorer that day due to cloudy weather and the promise of rain, yet it painted him in a different view that seemed more… tragic, if that made any sense.
Andrea never considered herself to be creative or artistic in any sense, but seeing him sitting like that, resting, with an arm crossed over his eyes, it reminded her of a traveler who had been away from home for too long.
The edges and lines of his figure looked less rigid, as though slumped with an exhaustion she couldn’t fully understand or come to comprehend. Upon closer inspection, she noticed how as he breathed, he looked younger, softer even.
It wasn’t until she realized this that she understood that she had been intimidated greatly by him for
a long time, but now it didn’t seem like she was quite scared… rather she felt entranced by him.
She didn’t know how close she had gotten until he suddenly moved his arm and he was staring at her with those violet eyes. There was no malice nor aggravation for interrupting this moment of respite, rather, there was a curiosity and even something deeper churning within his gaze.
Andrea stiffened, knowing full well she was caught and that he was staring at her now. All that mattered now was whether or not she ran or tried to explain herself.
He beat her to it.
“You know,” he murmured and Andrea swallowed.
“You can always send me a message to wake me up.”
“Ah, right… sorry.” Andrea apologized, straightening and pulling away.
To her immense surprise, she felt his fingers wrap around her wrist, gently, almost imperceptibly.
When she looked back down at him, he was pulling his arm off his head and shifting to straighten in his seat.
“You make me curious,” he mused aloud. Andrea blinked.
“I… I do?”
“Yes,” he said, and his thumb was caressing the inside of her wrist and making her feel strange and hot.
“You’ve been here a lot longer than the other assistants I’ve hired. By all means, you should have quit ages ago. Instead, you’ve stayed. Why?”
She didn’t understand his question, nor why he would ask such a thing. Swallowing, she licked her lips but felt her breath catch when his eyes caught the motion and honed in on her lips.
“Be…because I like working here,” she admitted quietly.
“It’s a good place.”
“You like working here?” he parroted, and she caught a hint of humor in his tone. “That’s interesting.”
“It is?”
He tilted his head, looking at her with a different kind of appraisal. Suddenly, he was standing and she had to crane her neck upwards to follow his eyes. He towered over her, barely a few inches of space between them and her wrist still caught between his fingers.
“I must ask a question you are free to not answer.”
Andrea searched his gaze, feeling her body tense with anticipation the more his eyes fell to her lips.
“It’s very simple. In fact, it’s more a request rather than a question.”
“Yes…?”
She saw his eyes narrow for a moment, the violet in his gaze darkening, as she saw his pupils expand and the touch in his hand become more smoldering.
His voice was low, rumbling and she swore she could feel it in her throat.
“I would like to kiss you, Andrea.”
Andrea’s mind went blank, all rational thought escaping her as she felt herself surrender to the sensations of being caught beneath his gaze, of all the fantasies she had had several times during work and how none of them could ever make her heart race quite like his words did then.
“May I?”
Andrea swallowed hard, feeling her eyelids flutter as he lowered his chin slightly. The air that passed from his mouth ghosted over hers, making her skin feel electrified with every effervescent thrum of energy between them.
Finally, she nodded, small and minute in case a more sure movement discouraged him or made him change his mind.
“Good,” He murmured, and she felt the way his tongue worked over the word. From the back of the throat before sounding that last consonant with a gentle flick over his teeth.
Andrea shuddered, her mind spinning when his lips finally closed over hers, a soft and velvety texture that felt both bizarre and satisfying.
Andrea tilted her chin, turning it slightly to better accommodate an angle for their lips to better press close. His other hand rose to cradle her jaw, his fingers digging past the curve of her neck to grip beneath her head.
He pressed closer and Andrea surrendered to his grasp, nearly falling into his chest as she felt his mouth work against hers in a series of suckles that left her feeling tingling all over.
Andrea parted her lips, taking in his lower lip and sucking it into her teeth and gently nibbling on it. A low rumble passed from his chest and into hers and he was pulling away for a moment—their lips smacked apart deliciously and Andrea gasped—before crushing hers to his mouth once more. This time the second kiss was powerful, and at one point, she felt her tongue meet his past their glued lips.
She felt like she had licked a battery. The flavor of his mouth was strange, sizzling, and completely intoxicating. She didn’t know she had her legs wrapped around his waist and his arms were pulling her flush against him until one of the machines in the room let out a series of beeps and blips that made him pull away.
Andrea panted, her eyelids fluttering lazily as he panted against her. She saw him glancing down at her with a look of torn amusement.
“I’m afraid we’ll need to conclude this another time,” he said, his arms pulling away from her.
Andrea felt extremely reluctant to part from him, but she did so anyway, noting vaguely that her hair was falling from her bun.
Dom pulled away, straightening his clothes before he walked around the desk in the direction of the monitors. Andrea stood against his desk, feeling her legs quiver shakily from the passion surging violently through her system.
“Andrea,” he called.
“Yes?”
“Did you reschedule the meeting with the Executives from Branch H?”
Andrea frowned, “Yes. I even sent out an email to confirm.”
He let out a short sigh of irritation, “Seems like they didn’t get the memo. Go. Settle this with Athena. I’m much too busy to be entertaining them today.”
Andrea nodded, walking out the door and preparing herself to go meet with the woman in question.
“Oh and Andrea?” Andrea paused to look over her shoulder and felt her body grow alight with fire when he gave her a look that was certainly… seductive.
“I’ll be needing you to stay until 9 tonight.”
“Ah,” Andrea gasped softly before nodding, feeling her body grow increasingly heightened with anticipation.
“Yes, sir.”
“Dom,” he said.
“Call me Dom.”
“Yes… Dom.”
“Shoo.”
Chapter 7
That evening, to Andrea’s dismay, was comprised of work that was similar to what he had made her do whenever she stayed after hours. He would dictate or ask for information and she would do what she did best, keep up with him.
She kept expecting him to do something, like sweeping her into another kiss, pushing her against a wall, hell—have his way with her on his desk… literally anything.
Instead, he had asked her to take information and she waited, throwing glances at him every once in a while and wondering if he was going to make a move. Instead, he resumed doing things that once made her tense, and now made her go mad.
He would approach and peer over her shoulder, rest his hands on her waist to guide her out of his way while he stormed back and forth between his desk and one of the appliances. The more it happened, the more Andrea felt herself want to scream, throw the tablet on the ground, or lunge at him.
Instead, she controlled herself, keeping her breathing as steady as she could and most certainly not replaying the events of their kiss over and over again in her head. It was 8:30 by the time they managed to complete the work and Andrea felt her anticipation make war with disappointment.
She found herself wanting him to make a move, to take her into his arms again and kiss her with that same ferocity that made her nearly forget her own name.
“Good work today,” Dom muttered as they began to head out, tugging on his lab coat and securing a few last documents into a briefcase.
Andrea gave him a half-hearted ‘thank you,’ fidgeting inwardly as he led her toward the door of the office.
The tension was high strung as they walked, their footsteps padding softly over the marble floors. It was slightly colder now that there was
no one around save the occasional janitor or late night worker.
Andrea waved at one of the scientists that had disappeared into the staircase, and he gave her a small smile and a wink.
“Are you making friends now?” Dom’s voice took her by surprise. Andrea looked up at him before smiling somewhat.
“Sort of,” she admitted.
“He’s one of Simon’s friends. We just know each other, I guess.”
“Hm.”
When they entered the elevator, the tension seemed to skyrocket. The pressure of gravity as they descended rapidly made her light headed, but this time it seemed to make her want to do something stupid.
Swallowing nervously, Andrea glanced at the dial where the numbers flickered passed. It let out a soft ding once it stopped on the main floor. The reception foyer was dark and empty, as it usually was this time of night and for once, Andrea wished there was someone around, so that at least the tension could be broken in some way.
Finally, they reached the main doors, pausing for a moment while Dom pulled out a set of keys to unlock the doors. He pulled it open and walked out, and Andrea followed out with growing surprise.
She had half-expected him to walk back inside and leave her to walk to the metro as usual. Instead, he held the door open for her and she nearly tripped on her way out.
“Thanks,” she muttered lamely. Dom shrugged and closed the door behind them.
“I’ll, uh,” Andrea began already feeling her stomach fall into disappointment, “See you tomorrow.”
To her surprise, Dom turned around to look at her with a baffled expression, “You want to leave now?”
Confused, Andrea tilted her chin, “Well… we’re done now, aren’t we?”
“With work, yes.” Dom replied.
“I was thinking we could… do something else.”
“Oh,” Andrea said, not entirely understanding.
“I can’t exactly kiss you here, Andrea,” Dom said simply, as if it made the most sense.
“It’s much too complicated.”
“Wait so…” Andrea continued, feeling her heart begin to swell and thrum in her chest with newfound thrill.
Alien Romance: Rusneon Mates Boxed Set: A Scifi Alien Abduction Romance (Alien Romance, Alien Invasion Romance, BBW) Page 8