“Yeah, and now that Ellie, Gerry’s saint of a bartender,” he added with a scowl, “is gone, I’m trying to take up the slack. You would think the club couldn’t exist without her the way Gerry’s been carrying on. Granted, she was a hell of a hard worker, but I’ve worked my ass, I mean, butt off to make the transition a smooth one.”
“It must have been a shock for them to have you taking over. I mean, Marcus seemed larger than life when I first met him. But seeing the three of you together really shocked me.”
“Ah, actually, they think I’m Darius. It was easier for him to leave and me to slide into his ‘personality’, so to speak.” He looked uneasy. “I don’t like pretending to be who I’m not, but with the wraith threat what it is, it’s better they think I’m him so that he and Samantha can settle in at home. Soon enough, word will leak out Darius has returned. But until he’s ready, I’m him.”
Cadmus scowled and glared at her. “Dammit, Cadmus, you’re not funny. Stop making jokes. Life’s a serious matter.” When she looked at him in puzzlement he sighed. “It’s a much better impression if you know Darius, and if I could throw a fireball you’d laugh your ass—I mean, head off.”
She grinned. “I think it’s just as much fun to see how often you can curse and correct yourself. Geez, Cadmus, give it a rest already. I have an older brother, and I’ve worked with men for the better part of my career. A few ‘asses’ won’t do irreparable harm.”
He sighed with relief. “Good, because trying to follow the rules Marcus set out before he left is killing me. I can take swearing off the list.”
“List?” She grinned. That was so Marcus.
He grinned back. “I’m not to touch you, sit more than a foot near you, flirt with you, curse around you, do anything perverse—though I’m not really sure what that entails—or annoy you.”
She laughed, she couldn’t help it. “You’ve got to be kidding me.”
“Marcus is totally anal retentive, not that you didn’t already know that.” Cadmus rolled his eyes. “I love him, but he’s such a pain in the ass it hurts.”
She shook her head. “Maybe to you he is because you provoke him.” At his disbelief, she relented with a smile. “Okay, he can be hard to handle, sometimes. But since getting to know him, I see a very likable person. I can now understand why everyone at Tomanna loves him.”
“So what is he like at work? And speaking of work,” he said quickly to stifle her questions. “He told me to tell you nothing happened at all. No one is looking for you, and it’s like the threat against your career doesn’t exist. He’ll give you the details when he gets home.”
She nodded, unhappy to have to wait for answers. “Did he say when he’d be back?”
“The usual time.”
Damn. That meant another four hours before she could pester him with questions, not to mention she actually missed the conceited sex maniac.
“Tell me about Marcus,” Cadmus prodded.
“At first I thought he was a cold fish.” Tessa smiled at Cadmus’ grin “But even so, I couldn’t deny he was an incredibly talented cold fish. He’s amazing at his job. He has a knack for knowing what sells. Add to that his charm and polish and our clients practically beg to work with him.”
She thought about him, how everyone kowtowed to the blue-eyed manipulator and couldn’t help a small sigh. “The women love him and the men all want to hang out with him. He’s unfailingly polite and courteous, if a little distant.” She shook her head, thinking about Marcus and all his redeeming qualities she’d always before tried to ignore. “And with a face and body to kill for, that, uh,” she faltered, realising what she’d just said and to whom.
Cadmus gave her a wolfish grin and winked. “Thanks, Tessa, you just made my day.”
She blushed and he laughed.
“Amazing how sexy you can look when you blush. Wouldn’t have thought that would look good on a redhead, but, wow.”
“Shut up, Cadmus,” she grumbled, irritated but not the least uncomfortable with his comments. Talking with Cadmus was like talking with Tom, and she wondered that she didn’t feel a bit more attracted to him, considering his likeness to Marcus.
She paused and stared at him, making him wary.
“Um, Tessa? I was just kidding.”
“Hmm.” She inched closer and watched him scramble back in dismay.
“You feeling alright?”
“Yes. In fact, I feel just fine.” Leaning closer to him made her feel nothing. She didn’t want him at all, and the fact he didn’t want her attentions made her feel that much better. The Storm brothers obviously didn’t poach. She liked their ethics.
“You sure?” He looked ready to flee at her slightest movement.
Feeling mischievous, she jerked towards him and watched him lose his balance off the couch in his haste to keep his distance.
She laughed so hard she cried, and when she saw him glaring at her from across the room, she laughed some more.
“Glad one of us is enjoying this,” he muttered as he regained his feet.
“Problem?” Marcus asked from the hallway. He stared at them in curiosity.
Cadmus shook his head. “Your girlfriend is more like you than I’d thought.” He backed out of the room. “Evil woman,” he mumbled and left her and Marcus alone.
“What did you do to him?” Amusement laced his words as he leant down to drop his briefcase. She told herself being referred to as his girlfriend meant nothing. No reason for her pulse to race, her insides to turn to mush.
“I was messing with his mind.” She shrugged and waited for him to sit beside her on the couch. “What are you doing here? I thought you weren’t coming home ‘til later.”
He sat down and flowed into her, one moment settling into the cushions, the next plastering himself to her body with a mind-stealing kiss.
After a breathless moment, he pulled away, leaving her stunned and vaguely annoyed he’d stopped.
“Do you want to hear about work?” he asked calmly, a glint in his eyes.
“What? Yes, yes I do,” she said, trying to grab hold of her rampant hormones.
Male satisfaction darkened his gaze, and he smiled before detailing his day.
Everything had been so normal. “…So now we know it’s relatively safe to come in tomorrow. I need your help on a few items at work, especially since I’m behind from this weekend and now doing the job of three men.” He gave her a measuring glance, one that made her flush.
“Hey, it’s not my fault.” She tried to dismiss the heat staining her cheeks. “You really wouldn’t have gotten Conklin’s go-ahead using so many employees on one account. Besides, you needed to be taken down a peg.” Her eyes narrowed at the memory. “You were deliberately cruel mentioning Davis, who, by the way, will never come within ten feet of me without losing a year of his life.”
Marcus glanced away and she knew she’d hit a nerve. “I apologised for that already.” He sounded stiff, and she pushed again.
“Not only were you rude then, you made a complete idiot of yourself yesterday when I did that teleportation thing into your room,” she reminded him, more curious than angry. “Care to explain that? Why are you so warm one minute, so cold the next?”
He looked agitated and she regretted, if only for a moment, she’d confronted him right as he returned from work—at three in the afternoon?
“And why are you home so early?”
“I had wanted to be with you,” he said coolly and made to rise.
“No, not this time.” She forcibly tugged him back down to sit next to her. “Explain it to me, Marcus. I want to understand you.”
Sighing, he pulled at his tie. Might as well tell her. He had been a bastard about Davis. “I apologised about Davis, and I really am sorry. But Tessa, you had me so stirred up,” he paused, the sincerity in his eyes unmistakable. “I wanted you so much that day in the office.” He clearly recalled his first taste of her, and incredibly, he was hard as a pike. “I wanted to fuck you right there on my desk,” he said hoarsely, shocking her with his crude language.