Chapter Six

 

Scottie walked to the ladies’ room as fast as she could. Humiliation was too soft a word to describe how she felt. Konrad overhearing her conversation was mortifying to say the least.

He wouldn’t understand. She doubted he’d ever had financial problems in his life. Where would she turn? She refused to track down her father, wherever he was. He’d been nonexistent to her. No, she needed to do this on her own. No banks. No begging for handouts. She’d have to make some serious decisions. She was an adult and needed to stand on her own two feet. Not that she’d ever had anyone else to stand on.

When she returned to her cube, Konrad was waiting for her outside of his office. He’d been talking to another employee, whom Scottie didn’t know, pointing at a piece of paper. On her approach, his eyes met hers, and there was something softer in them. Something that oddly soothed her.

“There she is,” he said, sending tingles down Scottie’s legs with his surprising words. He directed to the older women, “Let’s pick this up later.”

The woman nodded, retrieving the document and pivoting in the opposite direction.

Is he going to say something about my personal call?

“Off we go.” He walked down the hall, with Scottie on his heels.

In the elevator, Scottie stood across the small vestibule from Konrad. When their eyes met, she smiled nervously, looking away. Hyperaware of herself, she could count her heartbeats. One. Two. Three. Dear God, the two-floor descent shouldn’t have lasted that long.

He smelled so good, though. Like fresh laundry. And a spice she couldn’t identify. Or bergamot, maybe? His whole house probably smelled like that. His sheets … his towels… And why was she thinking about his towels?

“What’s on your mind, Scottine?”

His electric words moved her, soaring through her flesh. She could feel each syllable in her stomach, and it spiraled in response. The conversation she’d had with the bank was worlds away.

She shook her head. “Nothing.”

He chucked low, but it sounded as if his mouth were only inches from her ear. “Don’t be nervous. The Solutions crew is much more fun than me.” She looked up in time to catch him wink at her. His blue eyes glistened in the fluorescent lighting that normally made everything look hideous. He was far from hideous.

“That can’t be easy to accomplish.”

His laugh was deep and succulent. “Cheeky.”

Just then, the elevator opened. Thank God. Being in such close proximity to Konrad was dangerous. It was both disconcerting and exhilarating—exactly what she’d felt about him thus far.

Glass doors with Korr Solutions spelled out in wide chrome letters faced them. It was modern, not traditional with dark woods and brass grommets on distressed leather seating like Korr Properties. Both suites were gorgeously decorated. Konrad spared no expense.

He pulled open the door with the chrome handle. “After you.”

His scent enveloped her as she slipped by him to enter the suite. Inside, the reception area was done in white with dark slate-gray carpet and white modern leather chairs with chrome frames. Black and white abstract art prints lined the walls.

“This is really nice.” Scottie marveled, only to be caught off balance when Konrad’s fingers pressed against her back. She jumped, and his hand fell away.

“This way.” He pointed past the long white marble reception desk. As they approached, he greeted the attractive blonde donning a headset. “Sandy, love. How are things?”

Scottie was sure he shouldn’t be calling his employees “love.” This guy was an HR nightmare. Sandy seemed to like it, though. She blushed, her dark eyes sparkling like polished onyx stones. Who wouldn’t like it, though? A pang of unwelcome jealousy shot through her. God, she needed to stop her ridiculousness.

“Fantastic!” Sandy answered—too brightly in Scottie’s opinion.

“This is Scottie, the temporary Marisol.” He glanced back to Scottie, grinning.

Scottie frowned. What woman wasn’t temporary to him? “Hi.”

Sandy waved. “Nice to meet you.”

“All right then, let’s get to it.” He opened the doors leading into the suite, and Scottie passed through.

Inside, the suite was exactly like the reception: sleek, slate-gray, white tiles, abstract line art along the walls. Scottie liked the private cubes, considering what happened earlier with her interrupted private call. She needed privacy around him.

“Down this hall are the servers for our KCloud service for data storage.” He pointed to double doors with a sign: IT Only. Just as they turned the corner, a man, a cute-ish man, nearly crashed into them with his sharp turn.

Konrad gave him a playful whack on the shoulder. “Jeff, you sneaky bastard!”

Jeff laughed nervously, Scottie noted. His brown gaze shifted to Scottie for a moment, a half smile on his lips. “Konrad! I didn’t know you were coming down here.”

“I need to keep you lazy asses on your toes.” Konrad grinned.

Jeff rubbed his shoulder, grunting. He turned his eyes to Scottie, an obvious appreciation in the way he looked at her. “Who did you bring with you?”

Scottie glanced at Konrad, catching a furrow at his brow. He answered less casually, sharper and more professional. “This is Scottie Roberts. She’s my temp while Marisol is out.”

“Right.” Jeff’s gaze was fixed on her. He offered his large palm to her. “Nice to meet you, Scottie. I’m Jeff—”

“The sneaky bastard,” she said, finishing for him. “Yeah, I heard.” She took his hand, the heat of their contact making her feel woozy. Or maybe it was because Konrad had suddenly become very interested in her every move.

Jeff laughed heartily. “I like her.”

“Yes.” Konrad’s one word was a bit clipped. “That is obvious.”

If Scottie didn’t know better, she’d think Konrad had an issue with the way Jeff looked at her. Because he did have a hint of interest dancing in his eyes. The way Konrad had looked at her at the dinner party.

Scottie said, “I’m taking the grand tour of Korr Solutions.”

“Cool.” Jeff didn’t stop flirting, though Konrad’s objection to it was clear. He continued, “Want me to show her around, Kon?”

“No, I’ve got this under control, thank you, Jeff.” Again, his hand pressed against Scottie’s back to push her in the opposite direction. That time, however, she didn’t jump away from him.

“No worries. Oh, hey, it was nice to meet you, Scottie.”

Scottie pulled her attention from Konrad, which was no little feat considering the heat of his hand burned her flesh. She was breathless. Stumbling over her words, she said, “Nice to meet you too, Jeff.”

Jeff didn’t walk away, though, but hesitated. Then he said to Scottie, “So, every Thursday the software team goes to happy hour at Bowie Brew a couple of blocks from here. Want to join us?”

She glanced at Konrad, who didn’t hide his emotions about that. And he also didn’t remove his hand, which had been on her too long to not be noticed.

Why would he hate the idea of her joining Jeff for happy hour? It shouldn’t matter. She didn’t need his approval. He didn’t control what she did after work hours. In fact, she wasn’t his to control, period. He had enough women under his control.

Scottie stepped forward, Konrad’s hand falling from her back, leaving her abandoned without his touch. But it needed to be done. She lifted her chin in silent defiance. “Sure. Sounds fun.”

“Already trying to corrupt my temp, Jeff?” Konrad likely said it in jest, but there was no humor underneath.

Jeff grinned, seeming triumphant. “That’s not part of my job description.”

“No, it’s not. Now get back to what is your job description.” Konrad practically shoved Scottie until they were halfway down the corridor.

“He seems nice.”

Konrad grunted. They turned yet another corner of the ice-cold labyrinth of the suite. “Here is where the data magic happens. This is the software engineering department. Out of curiosity, do you have any coding experience? I know some BBA programs require a computer science credit.”

“Uh…” Scottie had to get her bearings. He was distant again. Nothing like he was seconds ago. “I took two semesters of software development in college, so I do understand how to write and read basic code.”

“Excellent. We lost someone this morning, and we are a bit shorthanded. I may have you do some software debugging.”

And just like that, he went back to not caring about what she did.

The rest of the afternoon flew by without much from Konrad, who’d shut himself in his office. Scottie busied herself with ordering lunch for some upcoming meetings later in the week. Also, she’d received an email from Anisette, thanking Konrad for the Chanel scarf. She didn’t seem as pissed off as Tamsin. Maybe he was being ethical in telling the women what they were getting themselves into?

Scottie wondered where Pilar was in all this. She also wondered if she could theoretically agree to his conditions of non-commitment, to have him just for a night. The thought jolted her to reality. No. A casual thing wasn’t her game. She needed all or nothing from a man.