by Raven Scott
“Yes. Yes, I can back it up. I can prove they’re all my designs, all my suggestive add-ons. I can prove the notes on the schematics are my handwriting.” Casting Oran an exasperated scoff, I drummed my fingernails on the table when he stared back levelly. Anxiety bore deep in my gut, and I sat up a little straighter and inhaled sharply as I turned back to Malcom. “So, are you telling me the . . . the promotion David told me I was being looked at for . . . is he the one? Is he the one it was offered to?”
“I’m unable to discuss another employee’s positional fluidity with you, Ms. Hart.” That was basically a ‘yes’! Licking my lips heavily, I sniffed as the enormity of the betrayal clogged my throat and nose. “Launching an investigation into these claims means your entire team will be investigated for theft and fraud. All six of your co-workers will be immediately removed from the office and won’t be allowed back until the investigation ends. If you lodge this complaint against your team leader, you all will endure the investigation on unpaid administrative leave.”
“Yes, I understand. I want to lodge the complaint— officially. This is my work and I want my name on it.” Leaning back to tap my fingers against the edge of the table, I didn’t hesitate to answer, and my mind worked furiously— almost too furiously. This was ridiculous! Of course, I was going to fight it. It wasn’t like I was popular on the team, anyway, so why not give them a ’real’ reason to dislike me. I was better at my job than they were, and I wasn’t ashamed of it.
“Let me get this straight, Don.” Speaking up for the first time the entire meeting, Oran leaned his forearms on the table to steeple his fingers. His brows set seriously, his mouth dragged down at the corners, and he pursed his lips thinly before parting them. “May spent the past half-hour explaining something that I, personally, didn’t understand all, but that’s beside the point. At what point did you suspect her team lead was passing her projects off as his own?”
The executive, Don, sat back in his chair to rub his chin thoughtfully, and I held my breath. I wasn’t sure what kind of weight Oran held, but he clearly had a lot of it judging by the uncertainty on Don’s face.
“We suspected he didn’t know the exact particulars of his projects since our first meeting, but there was no reason to suspect theft or fraud. It’s not uncommon for these teams to be on four or five projects at a time. I decided after our third meeting, this being our fifth, that unless we had cause not to trust his word . . . ” My eyelid twitched in agitation, and Don cast me a tilt of his head without looking away from Oran. “As for the promotion, I don’t know what David said, but I know that I explained it was a salary and resource bump for the team, not a personal promotion.”
Exhaling a shaky breath through my nose, I closed my eyes briefly as anger boiled my blood. That ass! That stealing, cheating, egotistical ass! Running my hands through my hair and down to circle my neck, I tensed when someone cleared their throat, and Oran shot me a questioning look.
“No. David said the promotion I was being spotted for was for a bonus, three extra yearly vacation days, and a two-dollar personal salary increase.” Oran actually seemed surprised at my confession, and I inhaled a calm, stabilizing breath as I struggled to keep my cool. I was in shoes I didn’t like, that hurt my feet, and I was already less than happy coming into this meeting feeling like a minnow in a fish tank. Damnit!
“Typically, we do not award more vacation days, dependent on a person’s position. Regardless, that’s nothing like what we were proposing, so I apologi—"
“Do it anyway.” Oran cut Don off, and my breath left my lungs as Oran slumped in his chair. The atmosphere suddenly became calm, like a blanket had fallen over us, and he still managed to be the biggest person in the room. “I’ve texted my assistant to send an audit team to the office of one Ms. May Hart to clear the equipment and place the team on administrative leave pending an investigation. In the meantime, you’re going to turn over all the information on all projects David presented before you. Seeing as Ms. Hart was falsely informed of a promotion that doesn’t exist, and no one else has been offered this promotion, there’s no one to contend it from her.”
“O-of course.” My mouth dried when Don turned to me, and goosebumps washed under my shirt and across my chest. “Assuming the investigation concludes that it is your innovative property, Ms. Hart.”
“Assuming it does, yes. For now, we’re going to adjourn this meeting until after the investigation concludes.” Oran stood up, and I hastily followed suit as he waltzed out of the conference room. His back was straight and tall, and I gazed at him through glassy eyes as the situation just . . . hit me. Punching the elevator button, Oran turned to me, took off his glasses, and tucked them into his shirt pocket. “May, would you mind taking a little trip with me up to the thirty-fifth floor?”
“Um, okay. Why?” Turning to me fully, Oran’s lips quirked up and amusement twinkled in his eyes as heat slithered up my neck. “I’m sorry. I can’t . . . I can’t believe that just happened. I’m still a little shocked.”
“You presented yourself very well in there. I was impressed.” The compliment struck me, and my heart fluttered as Oran squinted at me faintly. “I see how you do it now.”
“Do what?” Oran was definitely flirting with me, and his smirk widened before the elevator gave a shrill ping. The doors slid open, and I rolled my lips between my teeth to hide my smile when he gestured me in first. Shouldering my purse, I huffed a small, stabilizing breath, and he punched the floor button before speaking up.
“How you manage all that on those delicate shoulders.” He put the sleek, thin-framed glasses back on, and my cheeks flamed even as he rocked back on his heels and stuck his hands in his pockets. “You’re much more than you first appear, aren’t you, May?”
“To be fair, you haven’t seen much of me so far.” The clap back earned me a suggestive hum, but the conversation halted when the elevator jostled to a stop, and the doors slid open. Shuffling out of the way as nameless faces flashed in front of me, I turned to Oran when he cleared his throat. “So, why are we going to the thirty-fifth floor?”
“Let’s just say getting an appointment with me is not something you forfeit, and I believe you’re going to want to sit in on this one.” Curiosity stained my tongue, and my brows furrowed when Oran’s eyes twinkled with mischief. “You’re lucky. Not only did you get one meeting with me, you got two, and you didn’t have to wait nine months in between.”
“So, are you a VP or something? Clearly, you like to boss people around, and they don’t push back. This is the big office, but I really don’t know much about it, considering I work for a subsidiary.” Oran barked a laugh, and my brows rose in surprise when he covered his mouth to hide his smile. His shallow dimples made an appearance, and my abdomen tightened as the elevator became a smidgen smaller.
6
May
“Huh . . . ” To say he was surprised was wrong, but Oran clearly didn’t expect the waiting room outside his office to be empty. Glancing at his watch, he inhaled deeply and frowned as he turned to his secretary behind her desk. “Malory, where the hell is my nine-thirty?”
“Oh, he never showed. I sent him a message confirming, but he replied that he sent one of his subordinates, a woman named May Hart.” My brows nearly flew off my face at that, and Oran shared a questioning glance with me before I shook my head. “I explained to him that either he shows up or the meeting is canceled. He reminded me, ‘as per my last email’ that his subordinate is more than capable.”
Malory rolled her eyes at the desk lingo, and I clenched my jaw at the absolute mess this day had become. Nothing had gone the way I expected, and she propped her elbows on the desk on either side of her keyboard. Her pretty model face scrunched up in distaste, and I could see Oran frown out of the corner of my eye.
“Direct that glare somewhere else, Oran. Your morning is free. By the way, I heard from this cute guy on the twenty-ninth floor that the Hanford meeting did not go well.” Oran nodded before
taking my elbow to lead me into his office, and I glanced around as I crossed the threshold. I could barely wrap my head around how David would jumble things up so damn bad, but I had a pretty good idea why.
“You know, Oran, I’m the youngest on my team by fifteen years or more. I think this was a setup to create a cause to fire me.” Perching on the sofa against the wall, I clasped my hands together with a tired sigh. “This wasn’t how I expected my morning to go.”
“Regardless, you’d still be missing a meeting. If you ask me, it’s a good thing you picked the right one. My meeting with David was to discuss an appropriate dry-dock expansion. Unless you feel like impressing me again?”
“Didn’t you just open a dry-dock a couple days ago?” Dropping down next to me, Oran made himself comfortable and crossed his knees, and I twiddled my thumbs a little as the left side of my body tingled excitedly. “Why do you need more?”
“It’s for a private port up the coast, not the one in Seattle. The wharf is being built right now, but I have a feeling the project will be delayed a good few months because David’s probably going to get fired if the audit team finds what you think they’re going to find.” He shot me a questioning look, and I held my breath in expectation as he propped his cheek on his fist. “You went to an architectural program, assuming you did extremely well to get hired so young, allow me to pitch you an idea.”
“Okay.” Twisting to face him fully, I nodded, and Oran sat up to rest his forearms on his knees as thoughtfulness drenched his handsome, sharp features. “I’m . . . just fair warning, I suck at buildings. That’s why I do boats.”
“It’s not a building. What do you think of an aesthetic nautical vessel, one with ‘wood’ and sails and all that, with only the essential modern amenities like bathrooms and proper sanitation and safety installations and a fairly weak engine?” My brows rose in surprise, and Oran pursed his lips thinly as he cocked his head. “It would probably be a coastal vessel, but it’s really just a whimsical notion at this point.”
“Um . . . I’d have to do some research, but it sounds plausible. Why do you want to do something like that?” For a long moment, Oran simply stared at me, his gaze more intense through his lenses, and heat crept up my neck. The silence rang in my head, and I reached nervously to tuck my hair behind my ear before he spoke up.
“I just thought it was a cool idea, to be honest. A ship like that not stuck in the harbor as a memorial or showpiece, even if it didn’t make money, it’d still be really, really cool. There’d be certain safety regulations we just can’t get around, of course, but . . . ” Trailing off, Oran inhaled deeply as he straightened, and I nodded firmly in understanding. “There are uses for it— RenFaire and weddings and other practical reasons to rent an aesthetically accurate period ship. But how cool would it be to just look at something like that?”
“You know, Oran, it’s not out of the realm of possibility to just build you a boat in your backyard.” He smirked with a huff of a laugh, and I smiled wider as my cheeks heated. “I wouldn’t mind looking into it, seeing as I’m going to have at least a week of free time on my hands.”
“I appreciate it, May.” I had a feeling Oran really, really liked boats— like a kid with a model, except much bigger and more comprehensive. His dark brown eyes sparkled with gratitude. The air stilled, and my chest tightened while my heart beat faster, harder against my ribs. Leaning the short distance between us, I cupped his hard jaw, and strong hands immediately wrapped around my sides. Electricity skittered across my face and down my neck when my lips touched his, but my breath hitched when he pulled back and squeezed my sides.
Apprehension gripped me in a vise as surprised eyes locked on mine, and my heart hammered hard when they narrowed into slits. Butterflies assaulted my abdomen, but Oran didn’t protest when I craned my neck to kiss him again. Shuffling to straddle his lap, I pulled up my skirt a little before gripping the back of the sofa, and the taste of him stained my lips.
Calloused palms slid down to grip my ass, and I moaned with a shudder. Goosebumps washed over my entire body under my clothes when Oran tangled his hand in my hair, and a gasp escaped me when he flipped me onto my back flat on the sofa. Grinding against my lace thong, he tore his lips from mine to trail heat down my neck, and I closed my eyes to savor his mouth on my skin.
But a bucket of frigid water dumped on us when my cell phone started to blare, and I tensed as the generic ringtone burrowed into my scope of comprehension. Above me, Oran’s hot, frustrated exhale flowed under my shirt and down my belly, and I groped around blindly for my purse.
“It’s my team lead.” Clearing my throat of its huskiness as Oran ground his forehead against my sternum with a harsh grumble, I frowned darkly at my phone. Thumbing the green button, I took a huge, stabilizing breath before holding the device to my ear, and the taut hunk of man on top of me started quietly unbuttoning my shirt. “Yeah, David?”
“What the hell is going on, May! I sent you to a meeting, and you fucking get them to audit us! They’re taking all the equipment, the computers, the schematics, the models— everything! What did you do?” Pulling the phone away from my ear, I scrunched up my nose in disgust when David practically whined like a baby. I mean, what did he expect? He lied to a whole bunch of people, for a long time, and then sent me, the butt of his lie, to a meeting with them. Arching slightly as I waited for David to stop screaming into the phone, I sucked my bottom lip between my teeth when Oran kissed the swell of my breast.
“You stole my work and passed it off as your own, and you outright lied about the promotion, and you weren’t nearly as clever as you thought trying to get a reason to fire me.” The angry tendrils of smoke steaming from my boss’s ears seeped through the phone at my reply, and it took everything in me to remain professional and not blast him. “You know what happens now, right? You’re going to be fired for fraud and theft, David, and anyone on the team who knew about it or was involved in it is going to get fired, too. Which, let’s be honest here, everyone knows about it, and the partners on my projects probably knowingly signed off your name as lead concept designer, which means . . . the team is getting shut down if I’m the only one left.”
“You bitch.“ David hissed the slur, and Oran paused kissing down my abdomen to glance up at me through narrowed eyes. Shaking my head slightly, I frowned and mouthed an apology, but he simply sat up, and I inhaled deeply, following suit. “I’m going to sue you for professional slander. Every project, I was involved with. And if I get fired, I’m taking you to court!”
“Oh, no. I’m so scared.” The deadpanned reply made my ear burn against my phone speaker, and I ran my hand through my hair and closed my eyes to take a deep, calming breath. “Also, you do know I’m currently in your meeting with Mr. Santino, right? And because you didn’t show up, he’s considering contracting me independently instead of our whole team. You screamed loud enough that he heard everything you just said.”
Oran snorted, covering his mouth to stifle his laugh, and I winked at him as satisfaction tore through my chest at David’s stunned silence.
“I’m going to my lawyer. I’ll see you in court.” David hung up on me in a huff, and I set my phone in my lap to heave a massive sigh. There was no doubt in my mind that my boss would really take me to court. He wouldn’t win, but he’d make my life very difficult. As if I needed it. As if I could handle anything else.
“Would you like me to escort you downstairs?” The offer surprised me, and Oran reached to start buttoning up my blouse with a small, knowing smile cresting his cheeks. “I’m not that much of a Neanderthal. You should get home and prepare, May.”
“You think he’s really going to sue me?” My tone heightened, and I frowned under furrowed brows as I rubbed my cheek roughly. “But won’t he just be found out, and it’ll blow back on him?”
“I think he’ll really sue you, yes. He’ll try to bully you into it, most likely. If he’s aggressive enough . . . ” Trailing off to cast me a look, Oran lea
ned back to adjust my collar, and my frown deepened. “Also, you should get to work on that idea I proposed. Chances are, your job won’t be available when you get back, if what you say is true. You’ll have to be transferred to another team.”
“Can I have your number?” Blurting out the question, flames licked my cheeks when Oran’s smile morphed into a huge, shit-eating smirk, and I puffed out my lips in a huff. “Don’t look at me like that.”
“You’re cute, May. Of course, you can have my number.”
7
Oran
The gun in my hand was heavy, and distaste soured my tongue as I examined the action and pretended I was interested. I hated guns, but they were about sixty-five percent of what I shipped around for whoever wanted to buy them. Nodding absently, I held out the piece, and one of my dock workers took it to put it back in the crate.
I had to resist the urge to wipe my hands on my jacket, and the hairs on the backs of my palms bristled in disgust.
“What am I really here for? If you brought me here for a shipment of standard assault rifles . . . ” Trailing off expectantly, I frowned under furrowed brows as Candice smiled with a little half-shrug. She wasn’t too ambitious with her stupid millennial shirt and beanie, but I didn’t hire her for her ability to claw up the oiled pole. I guess she’s my version of Illya.
“I have some things I need to run by you since you decided to stay in the States.” Her noticeable South London accent reminded me of the place. Candice stuffed her hands in her jeans to lean on a crate of what I thought were explosives. “We need to talk about the next big auction in India. I’ve set everything up, as usual.”
“If you set everything up, why are you telling me about it? Your work reflects in my bank account, Candice. It’s like STD testing— if nothing’s wrong, don’t contact me.” That comparison got me a laugh, and Candice shook her head even as I rocked back on my heels. “What are your concerns?”