Coalition Reckoning

by Cassandra Chandler

  “Dammit, Craig,” Dane hissed.

  “Who’s Craig?” Brigid twisted in his arms as she tried to turn to the doorway.

  Crap.

  Dane had to keep her attention on him and didn’t have time to think. He leaned forward and kissed her.

  The moment their lips touched, heat flooded through his body. His head spun, his skin felt electrified. He expected her to pull away, but instead, she barely hesitated before kissing him back. She let the frozen peas fall to the ground, gripping his cheeks with her chilled hands.

  Dane pulled her closer, one hand sliding down to her ass and the other gripping her neck to tilt her head to the side and deepen the kiss. She gasped, and he used the opportunity to slide his tongue into her mouth. She let out a little moan, tentatively meeting his explorations.

  How had this gotten so far out of control?

  Brigid shifted on his lap, bringing her legs to either side of him and straddling him. She pressed her chest against his.

  He wanted to feel her breasts in his hands, in his mouth, under his teeth. Instead, he gripped her hips tighter, pushing her down on his erection. Damn, she felt so good.

  The moan she let out was anything but little. He swallowed the sound, kissing her harder, plunging his tongue into her mouth. There was nothing on the table but some boxes—supplies Brendan must have ordered for her to use, not Dane.

  He didn’t care at the moment. All he cared about was that the table looked sturdy enough to hold their weight. He grabbed her ass and was just about to lift her onto it when someone cleared their throat.

  Brigid jolted back in his arms. Dane held on to keep her from falling.

  She twisted around to see Brendan standing in the doorway.

  Brendan’s eyebrows were about as far up his forehead as they could go. He cocked his head to one side, his mouth opening and closing as he gestured toward them.

  “I…um…” Brendan said. “I see you’ve met Dane.”

  Chapter Three

  Brigid flailed an arm as she tried to scramble off Dane’s lap, half-catching herself on the table. Lucky for her, Dane didn’t seem eager to let her go, and helped her stay semi-upright. She managed to get to her feet, quickly brushing the hair that had fallen in front of her face back behind her ear.

  “Yes, we’ve met,” she said.

  She glanced down at Dane. He squirmed a bit in his chair and pulled at the pantleg of his jeans. Probably trying to give himself more space for—

  Holy wow.

  No wonder she’d been so carried away, grinding against that.

  Oh my God. I was grinding against this guy I just met in front of my boss. In my kitchen. My workspace.

  Her cheeks were stinging. They must be beet-red.

  “I’m so sorry,” she said.

  Brendan shook his head. “Two consenting adults. None of my business.”

  “I promise you, sir, that won’t happen again,” she said.

  Brendan shivered. “Never call me ‘sir’. It’s Brendan.”

  “Right,” she said. “Brendan.”

  Brendan smiled at Dane, and said, “Henry was a little worried when you didn’t come back with the peanuts.”

  “I was occupied.” Dane’s voice had dropped about an octave, and both the rasp and the sexy accent were even more pronounced.

  Brigid shook herself, trying to keep her focus. “Peanuts?”

  “Yeah.” Brendan stepped further into the kitchen and peered into the pantry. She hurried to stand next to him, wanting to learn more about their culinary needs.

  The pantry was half filled with twenty-pound boxes…of peanuts. Most of the lower shelves had been removed to make room for them. That must have been how Dane hit his head. The pantry was pretty deep, and he could have been leaning in to take inventory.

  “I’m sure you’re wondering why we have so many,” Brendan said.

  “I was actually wondering if the person who designed this pantry had ever used a kitchen.” She remembered too late that Brendan had said he designed this house himself. “I can’t seem to get my foot out of my mouth today.”

  Brendan just smiled. “I have to admit, the kitchen wasn’t at the top of my priority list.”

  He reached in and picked up one of the boxes, hefting it on his shoulder, then grabbed another and managed to pile it on the first.

  “Let me help you,” Brigid said.

  “I’ve got it.” Brendan shifted the weight of the boxes. “They’re not that heavy, but they’re awkward to carry. When you’re done with Dane, could you send him down with a couple of boxes?”

  “Done with…?” Her cheeks started stinging again. “I’m… That’s over. I mean, it was a lapse in judgment.”

  “Hey,” Dane said. “I’m sitting right here.”

  “I know, and I’m sorry.” She felt bad, but at the same time, this was damage control. She shouldn’t have been messing around with him in the first place.

  “As much as I’d love to watch you two sort this out, I need to get back downstairs,” Brendan said. “Just maybe don’t get too carried away where we all eat and prepare food. Your bedrooms are right across the hall from each other.”

  “Great,” Dane said.

  Brendan nodded at Dane, and said, “Make sure you put in another order. We’re running way too low.”

  “I did put in an order.” Deep furrows had appeared between Dane’s eyebrows. “It’s late.”

  Brigid stepped forward. “I can help with that. Ordering food should be part of my job.”

  “That’s a good point,” Brendan said. “I’m sure Dane can get you all set up with that.”

  “Oh… Sure.” Hopefully she’d be able to keep her hands off of him long enough to learn any quirks to their ordering needs. She smiled at Dane, trying to smooth things over with him. She really hadn’t meant to hurt his feelings. “Maybe you can show me when we start our cooking lessons.”

  “Cooking lessons?” Brendan nodded. “That’s a good idea.”

  “You could have told me I needed to work on it,” Dane said.

  “I suppose,” Brendan said. “But then you wouldn’t have had a chance to meet Brigid.”

  Dane just scowled back.

  Brendan paused as he turned toward the door. Leaning a little closer to Brigid, he said, “And about that ‘it won’t happen again’ thing—you shouldn’t make promises you don’t want to keep.”

  “I—” She stammered, trying to come up with a professional response.

  “Your references said you’re really big on boundaries,” Brendan said.

  “I assure you, I am,” she said. “Usually.”

  “Yet you made a connection that crashed right through them.” He shrugged his free shoulder. “Maybe you should give that some thought.”

  “I… I will.” She glanced over at Dane. He was staring out the window, tapping the fingers of one hand on the table.

  As Brendan headed out of the kitchen, he said, “Looking forward to dinner.”

  “Great,” Brigid mumbled. She had no idea what to make.

  With her new boss gone, she turned back to Dane. He glanced at her from the corner of his eyes.

  “This isn’t the best way to start a new job,” she said.

  “Forget it. I’m the one who got carried away and kissed you.”

  She felt a pang in her chest both from his words and his sullen expression. Broken boundaries or not, that had been the best kiss of her life. Even now, she was tempted to crawl back in his lap and pick up where they’d left off.

  “Well, I’m the one who kissed you back.” She smiled, hoping to ease the tension between them. His expression remained sullen.

  Maybe another angle would help. She walked closer and said, “I’m still getting my bearings here. Any ideas on what I should make for dinner?”

  “My ideas on food are what prompted Brendan to try to get me out of the kitchen.”

  “I like you here.” She felt her eyes widen, her mouth dropping open. Dangit, what
was it about this guy that slipped right through her defenses? “I mean…”

  “Don’t worry about it.”

  Dane lifted his hand to his forehead and rubbed at it, shielding his eyes. She remembered she hadn’t brought him those painkillers yet. She hurried over to him and picked the bag of frozen peas up from the floor.

  “Here,” she said, handing him the bag. “Put this back on your head and I’ll get you those painkillers.”

  “No thanks.” He tossed the peas on the table.

  “They’ll help.” She picked up the bag and put it on his head herself, holding it in place.

  “I was mostly talking about the painkillers. I don’t use those.”

  She cocked her head to the side. “You’re a doctor, yet you don’t want to take medicine that will help you feel better?”

  He snorted. “Not that medicine. I’ll be fine.”

  “Of course you will. But you’re suffering needlessly.”

  “That’s the least of my problems right now.”

  “How can I help?” She shifted a little closer.

  He arched an eyebrow at her, then let out a long sigh. She could feel the warmth of his breath rustle her hair. Maybe she’d stepped a little closer than she’d thought.

  Dane dropped his gaze to her chest. Which was…yeah, way closer than she’d thought, but she had to lean forward to keep the peas in position without putting too much pressure on his head.

  A muscle in his cheek started to twitch. His lips parted as he stared at her.

  Then he looked down at her thighs, right between his own. She was practically in his lap again. And his lap was still very impressively ready for action.

  He glanced at the bulge in his pants, then back to her.

  “Maybe you should think about baseball?” she said.

  “What’s baseball?”

  She snorted. “Be serious. I’m trying to help, here.”

  “Standing that close and giving me this view isn’t helping my situation at all.” He looked at her chest briefly, then pointedly shifted his gaze away.

  “Then you hold the peas in place.”

  “No thanks.”

  “You’re not being very cooperative.”

  “It’s not that I don’t want to cooperate,” he said. “If I take the bag, then you’ll move away. And I’m not quite ready for that, either.”

  She was suddenly very aware of her heartbeat—the way it pounded on her ribs, as if asking her to open them so it could go to him.

  What the heck is wrong with me?

  It was just the sleep deprivation. She would get through dinner, have a good night’s sleep, and tomorrow this would all be an embarrassing memory. She still wasn’t sure what to do about Dane, though.

  “About what I said earlier,” she began. “I didn’t mean that I regret anything. Or that I blame you or don’t want to…you know.”

  He looked up at her, a wicked gleam in his eye. “Maybe you should spell it out for me, just so we’re clear.”

  She scowled at him. “This is my job. I don’t want to mess it up.”

  “I know the feeling,” he murmured.

  “Brendan doesn’t seem to care, though. About us…fraternizing.”

  “Is that what you call it?”

  A dimple appeared in his cheek as his smile deepened. She wanted to run her fingertips over it.

  “I have a strict policy about not getting personally involved with the people I work for or with,” she said. “I’m just here to cook.”

  “Just here to cook? You’re going to be living here and your plan is to what? Cook and hide in your room?”

  That was what she normally did. Experiments in the kitchen, research in her room, and frequent calls to her twin sister, Caitlin. Calls that Brigid wasn’t sure how to handle, with that strict NDA she’d signed.

  “I read a lot,” Brigid said. “I don’t usually need much social interaction. The fact that I’m talking so much is just because I haven’t slept in too long, so my boundaries are down and my filters are off—not that I would share anything I’m not supposed to when I’m tired, just… I’m rambling. I ramble when I’m tired.”

  He kept smiling at her. “You’re cute when you’re tired.”

  “You’re…just…cute.”

  His low chuckle vibrated through her body, making her toes curl. She really wanted to kiss him again or run her fingers through the sandy-brown hair that fell across his forehead.

  He must have been feeling something similar, because he gripped her hips and pulled her onto his leg. She braced her elbows on his broad shoulders, trying to keep the frozen peas in place.

  At least she wasn’t straddling him this time.

  He wrapped his arms around her waist and stared at her. “So, what are we going to do about this situation we have here?” he said.

  “I don’t know. I’m hoping I’ll have more willpower to resist you after I sleep, but I’ve never reacted to anybody this way.”

  “I was talking about dinner, but if you’d rather talk about how irresistible I am, I’m up for it.”

  “Oh.”

  Was she ever going to get her foot out of her mouth? She didn’t know how she was going to recover from all this—or if she even could.

  After how badly her last job had ended, she needed to be at the top of her game. Higher than that. Instead, she’d humiliated herself in front of her new boss and thrown herself at a near total stranger.

  Except, no one but her seemed to mind. In fact, Brendan had given her that really sweet bit of advice before he left. And Dane…

  Dane really was irresistible. She’d only be around him for a month, and then she could go back to her routine and her boundaries and her normal workaday life.

  She let go of the bag with one hand so she could run her fingers over the dark stubble on his cheek. There was a lot of it. His scruffy hair was long enough to brush his shoulders. She wondered what it would look like when he woke up in the morning.

  “This isn’t normal,” Brigid said. “I mean, I don’t react this way to people usually. Even when I haven’t slept.”

  “Well, it’s a problem we share, because I’m having at least as much trouble resisting you.”

  Chapter Four

  Dane wanted to kiss Brigid again. And again, and again.

  “That table is looking mighty fine,” he said.

  “We can’t.” She shook her head briskly. “I mean, I need to make dinner.”

  “You need a nap.”

  “I’ll catch up on sleep later. I just have to figure out what’s simple enough that I can make it safely and still impress Brendan.”

  “Let me help you.” Dane let out a sigh when she cocked her head at him. “Apparently, my cooking is bad enough that he’ll be impressed if you can get me to make something edible.”

  “It couldn’t have been that bad,” she said. “What were you going to make for dinner tonight?”

  “Baked beans over boiled pasta.”

  Her eyes widened and her jaw dropped. “Baked beans over… No, no, no. You can’t double up starches like that. I mean, not without adding some vegetables and a ton of fresh greens. But even then, with baked beans…”

  She shivered.

  “I guess it is that bad,” he said.

  It all tasted great to him. After a lifetime of nutrient bricks, what wouldn’t? But the more he thought about it, the more he realized that Henry and Brendan’s plates always had food left after meals. And Dane had caught them in the kitchen tons of times getting snacks or eating cereal.

  “We’ll keep the pasta idea,” she said. “Spaghetti and meatballs. We’ll have to use canned tomatoes, but I think we can make it work with what I’ve found in the cupboards so far.”

  “Sounds like a plan. I need to run downstairs for a few minutes, then I’ll be back to help.”

  He reached up to take the bag of frozen peas from her and tossed it on the table. Before he could think better of it, he gripped the back of her neck and pu
lled her close for another kiss.

  Bad idea.

  Once he had a taste, he didn’t want to stop. Her lips were impossibly soft, and this time, she was the one deepening the kiss. He grabbed her thigh, intent on getting her to straddle him again, when Barbara let out one of her high-pitched screeches.

  Brigid broke the kiss, eyes wide and terrified as she pressed herself against Dane’s chest and looked all around the room.

  “What was that?” she said.

  “Nothing for you to worry about.”

  “Are you kidding me? It sounded like it was coming from inside the house.”

  He sighed, not sure what to tell her. He still didn’t want to lie to her, but doubted she’d take it very well if he confessed that there was a hormonally challenged Lyrian in the basement.

  “That’s just Barbara,” he said.

  “Barbara? Vay said that it was a mountain lion.”

  “Did she, now?” Dane chuckled. “Barbara’s not a mountain lion.”

  “Then what is she?”

  He opened his mouth, then closed it again and sighed.

  Brigid rose from his lap and started pacing along the kitchen island. Her gaze kept roaming to the knives.

  “She’s not dangerous,” he said. “At least, not to anybody but Zemanni.”

  “The helicopter pilot?”

  Among other much more dangerous things.

  “They have a history. Barbara doesn’t like him. Just be nice to Henry and you’ll be fine.”

  “This is crazy. You’re really not going to tell me what she is.”

  “It’s not for me to say. Brendan will have to be the one to tell you.”

  “This is about the NDA, isn’t it?” Brigid said, still pacing.

  “NDA?”

  “The one I had to sign to come work here. The one that says everything I see and hear in this place is classified. I can’t even tell my family where I am.” She paced faster, interlacing her fingers and pressing her palms together. “I mean, I know the drill with non-disclosure agreements. But I usually work for people in the entertainment industry. Producers, actors. I thought this was the site of a super-secret new film project they didn’t want anybody to know about.”

  Dane stood and crossed over to her. He gripped her arms gently, making her pause and look up at him.