Chapter 3

Exhaustion and dry mouth were the two prevailing sensations flooding Nola when she woke up Monday morning. Too much Black Friday retail therapy and too many germs at the mall were the likely culprit so she took several deep breaths while she waited for the nausea to pass. When it did, she took a quick hot shower which made her feel normal again. Mostly. She applied ointment to her tattoo and put on a pot of coffeeto make her feel better, and went in search of toast and an apple. “Oh god,” she groaned as the scent of coffee wafted under her nose and sent another wave of nausea making her stomach flip.

Nola dumped the whole pot of coffee down the sink and put on the electric kettle for tea. Ginger peppermint tea. And toast. She couldn’t be sick, not today when there was so much to be done at work. She trashed the toast and ate the leftover club sandwich before rushing out the door with a bottle of seltzer water in her hand. It was already gearing up to be a crap day and Nola knew she was in no way prepared to deal with people today.

After rushing into the office—on time, thank you very much—she fired up her computer and made coffee for Brooks as she did everyday. Only today, Brooks had shown up earlier than usual which meant her usual thirty minutes early was, in fact, late. “Here you are.”

Brooks sighed heavily. “Where have you been, Nola? I need to go over those government contracts again. Before my meeting next week. I’m expecting a call from the General this morning and I need them before then.”

She rolled her eyes at his tone, like she didn’t know he had a call scheduled with General Howard. She’d been the one to set the meeting. “Yes Brooks, I know. Sorry my being under the weather is inconvenient for you. I’ll get those contracts for you now.”Already feeling unreasonably agitated, she snatched the folder that held the contracts and slid it in front of Brooks.

“Thanks.”

“Sure,” she answered without looking back, settling at her desk and getting back to work. Mondays were always busy with answering emails so the first thing she did was pull up her to do list for today—for the party that was two months away, and one for the rest of the week. She had a full plate which meant it should be easy to sip her soda pop and keep her head down.

“You totally threw me under the bus,” Gabriela whined as she cast a shadow over Nola’s desk.

So much for that. Nola looked up at Gabriela who was dressed like office assistant Barbie in a sleeveless candy pink dress that stopped above her knees. Well above her knees to make sure not one single man in the building could look away from her. “I don’t have time for this, Gabriela, I actually have work to do.”

Of course, she kept on talking because Nola didn’t have a penis. “Too bad. Like it would have been so hard for you to just-,”

Nola stood and pointed a finger in her face, despite the five-inch height difference. “Shut up! You know what, Gabriela? You want credit for work then do some goddamn work! Don’t half ass the smallest job and come to me because your pea brain couldn’t even do that right.” Her outburst had drawn the attention of more than a few coworkers so she pulled her finger back and sat down, smoothing her blonde bun to calm her. “Like I said, I have work to do so go away.”

“All you had to do was open the door!” Her high pitched whine didn’t work on Nola.

“No. All you had to do was answer your phone. Tell me why you didn’t, Gabriela. Were you in the tournament? Or were you too busy shoving those titties in the face of the new guys?” She didn’t answer and Nola shook her head. “Yeah, that’s what I thought.” Shaking her head, she refocused on the screen before her and clenched her jaw. She hated being mean to people, yelling and berating others. But she was cranky, catching some kind of bug and sick and tired of…everything.

Gabriela gasped in outrage. “You can’t speak to me that way! I’ll file a complaint,” she shot back with a smug grin.

“Go right ahead. There’s a map beside the elevator in case you don’t know how to find HR. That stands for human resources.”

“Everything okay out here?” Brooks stuck his head out of his office, blue eyes darting back and forth between the two women, looking tense and uncertain.

“Just peachy,” Nola answered without looking up or acknowledging either of them. “Did you need something?”

“Uh, no. What’s going on?”

She opened her mouth to speak but Gabriela beat her to the punch. “Your assistant was just saying some really inappropriate things to me, Mr. Corona.”

“Yeah, I expected her to actually do one tiny part of the job she wanted credit for. I’m such a bitch.”

“Nola! Are you okay, really?”

“I’m fine,” she said, her words clipped but still dripping in frustration. “Do you have a preference for where the next party is held? Or should I do everything and leave that small detail to Gabriela?” She felt a small measure of glee when the woman finally stomped off in a huff.

Brooks frowned at her but answered. “You know I don’t.”

Yeah, she knew he didn’t because Brooks so rarely attended any of those social events. He spent most of his free time criss-crossing the globe drumming up new business. “Great,” she said in a tone that indicated it was anything but.

Finally, Brooks ducked back into his office and she was left on her own. Finally. Sweetly. Twenty seconds later, she cursed her boss and friend for leaving his cup of ice cold coffee on the edge of her desk as her stomach heaved and she darted to the bathroom at the end of the hall.

When she returned to her desk, Nola groaned. It wasn’t even noon yet.

* * *

“You made my assistant cry.” The words felt odd on his tongue. Hell, he had a hard time believing Nola to be capable of making anyone cry, let alone a viper like Gabriela.

“Not my problem,” she told him dismissively, green eyes not bothering to look up at him.

Seriously? “What’s got your panties in a twist?” The one thing everyone at B&B Solutions could count on was a cheerful and kind Nola Boudreaux.

Her fingers stopped their movements across the keyboard and she looked up at him, normally soft green eyes were dark with frustration and something he couldn’t quite decipher. “Was there something you needed?”

He blew out along breath instead of reminding the little spitfire exactly who she was talking to. “Yes. You made my assistant cry.”

“And how is that my problem, exactly? The next time she wants credit for something, maybe you should just make her do it. All of it.” Her piece spoken, she turned back to her screen typing faster than he’d ever seen anyone who wasn’t the programmer type. For some reason, her dismissiveness irritated the hell out of him.

“She reported you to HR.”

Nola scoffed. “I’m surprised she was able to find an entire department with no men.”

Someone was in rare form today. “What is your problem?”

Unbelievably, she growled. At him! “Fine, Bronx, you want to yell at me because your assistant is a useless waste of space? Go right ahead,” she taunted, sitting back with her arms crossed and her green eyes blazing fire. She looked beautiful. Goddammit. “Well, let me have it.”

He wouldn’t let big lush breasts deter him from her blatant disrespect. “My office. Now.”

With a huff she pushed her chair back and followed him the short distance to his office. “What is it?”

Bronx didn’t know what came over him. Fuck that, he knew. Nola. She’d been on his mind, stirring his body for months. And ever since Halloween, no one but her would do. “This,” he cupped her face at just the right angle and kissed her. Hard and hot and hungry. She resisted at first before submitting to this thing between them. This uncontrollable fire that remained at a steady simmer until they came within five feet of each other and it raged, turning into a deadly inferno threatening everything in its path. He felt like he’d slayed a dragon when her hands wrapped around his shoulders and her fingers wound through his hair, taking his tongue and sucking it, sending a dagger of desire straight to his cock.

Nola was first to break the kiss, searching his eyes for something that she obviously didn’t see because her shoulders stiffened and she stepped back. “Right. Duly noted.” With a terse nod she brushed past him and right out the door less than five minutes later.

Duly noted? What the fuck did that mean, anyway?

His thoughts were interrupted by Gabriela’s voice. “Mr. Corona, your brother wants to speak to you.”

Seriously? She couldn’t have possibly said anything to Brooks about that kiss. Not so soon. Right? “Okay. Hold my calls until I get back.” He walked the same path and found Nola’s seat empty. His stomach sank as he entered his brother’s spacious, modern office. “Look, I know what you’re going to say Brooks.”

A look of surprise crossed his brother’s face but he quickly blanked it. “You do? Good, then you know why you need Nola with you instead of Gabriela.”

He felt the frown form on his face. “Wait, what are you talking about?”

Brooks grinned and dropped his feet on his desk, crossed at the ankles. “The better question is, what are you talking about?”

Nope. He was not doing this with his brother. Not after that kiss that still made his lips tingle. Crossing his arms, he threw a menacing glare at his brother. “I asked you first.”

He chuckled at that, shaking his head in amusement. “Your answer sounds more interesting.” Brooks fought the laugh for as long as he could but Bronx could see it was a losing battle and soon they were both laughing. “Fine. I’m talking about the meeting with the General. I’ve just spoken with him for the past hour and you need to take the meeting.”

“What? Why me? You’re the suit, you handle suit shit.”

Brooks shook his head, mirth still shaking his shoulders. “No can do, baby brother,” he grinned at his favorite joke but Bronx refused to remind him it was only ten goddamn minutes. “He needs the nuts and bolts of how the software works, real world applications and all that stuff. That’s all you.”

Bronx scraped a hand over his day-old stubble and nodded. His brother was right. He’d created the software, with the help of several psychologists and anthropologists, that would help interrogators determine the easiest method of extracting information based on every bit of data they could recover on a person. He could geek talk with the best of them and the General would accept nothing but the best. Still, that didn’t answer his other question. “I don’t need to take an assistant with me, old man. I am perfectly capable of making it to meetings on time without a babysitter.”

Clear blue eyes shot him a skeptical look. “Even if you meet another weekly and spend the entire night, ahem, auditioning her?”

“Weekly?” Maybe he had talked to Nola who’d used the same expression on Thanksgiving.

Brooks nodded as though it were no big deal. “Yeah, because none of your women ever last longer than seven days.”

“That’s not true.” It couldn’t be. Could it?

Brooks only laughed, not at all offended by his brother’s harsh tone because he’d grown used to it over the years. “It is and you know it. The question is why are your panties in a bunch over it all of a sudden?”

Bronx opened his mouth to answer but quickly snapped it shut. “None of your business. Now tell me why I need your esteemed assistant instead of my own?”

His brother gave him a look that said he was either mentally disabled or just plain crazy. “Your assistant is useless. She was over here earlier yelling at Nola for not coming back to the office on Thanksgiving when she wouldn’t answer her phone.” Always Nola’s protector, Brooks narrowed his gaze, waiting for a response.

“What? That’s not what Gabriela said.” And Nola hadn’t said a word because of course, she wouldn’t. As far as she was concerned, it had been handled.

“Of course, she didn’t,” he scoffed, shaking his head in disgust. “Doesn’t matter. Nola handled it. Hell, Gabriela must have really pissed her off because I’ve never heard her speak to anyone like that.” His eyes flashed with pride. “Anyway, we have a few more meetings with the alphabet agencies in D.C., and Nola is who you need. She’s talked to these people, knows what the deals are and she can keep you on schedule.”

Damn. He clenched his fists and he wanted to argue but he knew it was all true. Nola was a damn good assistant, should probably be the Vice President instead of an assistant. He did need her. She would be an asset to what he needed to accomplish. Everything he wanted to accomplish. And they would be on the other side of the country. Away from Brooks and away from the company. Just the two of them. Alone. Together. “All right. When?”

Brooks smiled. “Nola will get with you on the details,” he said, but he already pressed the button to speak with her. “Nola.”

“She’s not at her desk,” he said at the same time she said,

“Yes?”

“You’ll be going to D.C. with Bronx instead. Send him the details as soon as possible.”

“Fine.” She bit the word out icily and severed the connection.

Brooks glared up at him once again. “Whatever you’ve done, fix it.”

Fix it. Like he even could.