Six weeks ago, they’d practically fucked in an identical cab, but she didn’t think there had been nearly as much sexual tension as there was now. They sat properly, each of them on their respective seats, and they didn’t even touch. Seeing his hand lying right there, though, she was itching to extend hers, and touch his fingers.

“This’s me,” she said when the cab arrived in front of her building.

Bryant looked past her, towards her home, and frowned. It wasn’t anywhere close to the sort of house they’d been looking at.

“I’ve been here since college. It’s not too bad inside.”

“It doesn’t look very safe,” he said, and she knew better than to tell him that there had been a bunch of break-ins just down the road.

Tori shrugged. “It could be worse. It’s rent controlled, so I’m not giving it up before I buy somewhere.”

She opened the door, and the cool evening air burst into the car, surprising her. It hadn’t been that cold a few minutes ago.

“Well, tonight was…” she searched for her word. Enlightening? Frustrating? Both would have worked. “Nice?”

He chuckled. “See you in the morning, Tori.”

The rest of the week passed at a snail’s pace, and, at the same time, there weren’t enough hours in the day. Her workload was ungodly, making her wish she was back in a cubicle, not having to worry about any account except for the ones assigned to her.

One of her associates, Langdon, came to her with his well-researched, elegant presentation.

“I need help,” he confessed, although he visibly had a hard time getting the words to come out of his throat.

He’d never been one to gossip and, to his credit, she didn’t think she’d ever seen him send her any hostile looks, but, while he hadn’t joined the crowd in their “we hate Victoria” campaign, he wasn’t friendly, either. Two, maybe three years older than her, Langdon had been hired at the same time as her; he kept to his hours, did his thing and went out the door, a little like Lexi.

Tori envied that. The ability to disconnect and have your life on top of work. She wished she didn’t feel like she had to stay there after hours most days, but the need to prove herself was written in her DNA. Not only did she have to prove to her colleagues they were wrong about her, she also had to do it to tell herself her mother was wrong; she could amount to more than her vagina.

She’d believed that she’d feel a little less stressed after her promotion, but no such luck.

“What’s the matter?”

Tori knew Langdon was the only one on her team to have finished his three main accounts so far; he was on to his extra ones, and what she’d seen so far suggested he’d at least score one.

“You gave me Woodrow Entertainment,” he handed her a file she opened up. “I discovered last night that they produce the videos for my daughter’s favorite band. I won’t ever win dad of the year, so I need to get this. She said it would be, and I quote, ‘so cool’ if I worked with them.”

Tori blinked, surprised; she had no idea the guy had a daughter. He spoke of her with so much fondness she had to doubt what he’d said, though: he probably made a decent contender for dad of the year.

“Sure. Let’s take a look.”

His presentation was just fine, but she did tweak the slides he’d made, changing the color scheme and rewording a few things.

They got to the mock-up of their campaign, and Tori sighed. She was going to have to spill her secret.

“Okay, so this doesn’t get out of this room, alright?”

Langdon considered it, before slowly nodding, careful, as if he expected her to confess to a coldblooded murder.

“These mock-ups the design department sends us are good - very good. They also review them every other month to make sure we stay on top of the trend. But it’s never their best work.”

On that note, she wrote a quick line to Emma down in design through their internal messaging system, and waited for a response.

Once she got it, she turned her monitor and let Langdon see it.

Hey, can you sex up the Woodrow slider? I’ll owe you an ice chai latte.

On it. Make it a Venti, with whipped cream on top.

Langdon chuckled. “So, that’s how you get ahead? Bribing designers?”

“Guilty as charged. You should see what she did for me for H.T. - a whole manga with characters using the toys we promoted. That cost me a week of Starbucks, but it was worth every penny.”

He got up, extending his hand. “Well, your friend’s coffee is on me this time, and I also owe you one.”

“Carmel pecan latte.”

He rolled his eyes. “What’s wrong with a damn espresso?”

Tori considered that for all of one second, all the while wincing. “Everything. Who actually wants to taste coffee?”

She unhooked her coat from its hanger, and moved to leave her office at the same time as him; after spending an hour with Langdon, it was now time to head to her own presentation.

They opened her door to find Bryant standing there, and Tori felt her cheeks reddening.

She couldn’t help it after the previous evening. He’d opened up, letting her see the man behind the wolf, making her understand what hid behind the smiles, and she hadn’t been able to get it out of her mind. Not last night, when she’d tossed and turned, unable to sleep, seeing his hazel eyes and his delightful, skilled mouth. Now he was standing right in front of her, and her muscles tensed, aware of him at every level.

His eyes went from her to Langdon.

“Hey,” she said awkwardly, as the two men stared at each other.

Langdon smiled. “Thanks for the advice, boss,” he told her, before getting out of there.

“Did you just have a pissing contest with one of the guys on my team?” she asked for clarification.

“I did,” Bryant replied, utterly shameless. “I won it, too. You’re going out?”

She acquiesced.

“Yep, I’m presenting to Harper Tech at eleven.”

That was her favorite part of the job; she loved researching the projects their clients wanted to advertise, seeing what their competition offered, making sure to show off why their products were better - but speaking with the clients, showing them her work, was the fun part. Anyone could do the leg work; presenting it was another matter altogether.

“Good. Let me grab my coat.”

Tori grimaced.

Okay, so, she rocked at that part of the job; it didn’t mean that she wanted Bryant to see her doing it.

“You’re going to ignore whatever protest I come up with and accompany me, regardless,” she guessed.

“You’re rather astute aren’t you, luv?”