Page 35 of Sin

I fold my arms. “Which line?”

His gaze drops to my mouth. Just once. Then returns to my eyes.

“The one where I keep pretending this is only about the prototype.”

My heart kicks hard against my ribs while the prototype continues humming on the table between us, soft and steady and obscene in the sudden silence. I should say something smart.

Instead, I say, “Mason.”

His name comes out quieter than I mean it to. His jaw flexes.

“Call me Sin, Laurel.”

My lips part at the same time his phone vibrates on the table. We both look down. Jenna’s name glows on the screen like a slap.

I push back from the table and stand.

“Take the call,” I say.

He looks up at me. “Laurel.”

“No.” I grab my notes. My hands are steady, which feels like a miracle. “We’re not doing this again.”

“We’re not doing anything.”

“Exactly. Let’s keep it that way.” I tuck my laptop under my arm and nod toward the prototype. “Run the next sequence without me. Send me the results.”

“You’re leaving?”

“I have a meeting with Owen.”

His expression tightens, as if he doesn’t like that.

So I do the only thing I can. I get the hell out of there.

7

Sin

Owen comes into my office at five. I wait until he closes the door before I say anything.

“What’s up?” he asks.

I motion for him to sit. He does, looking more amused than concerned, which only irritates me more.

When he’s seated, I ask, “Why did Laurel Cross have a meeting with you?”

His dark eyebrows lift. “Not what I was expecting.”

“Owen.”

His expression shifts at my tone. Owen is the Chief Compliance Officer. He’s over HR and helps guide employees and management through compliance processes and programs. Which means there are a lot of reasons Laurel could have met with him. Most of them bad. Some of them catastrophic. The worst of them have been sitting in the back of my mind since I saw her walk out of that conference room this morning with her spine straight and her mouth set like she was trying not to fall apart.

Owen leans back in his chair. “I asked her to look over some policies for her department. We’re trying to update the policies and procedures before the end of the year.”

Relief hits so fast I almost hate it. That makes a hell of a lot more sense than what I feared, which is that Laurel went to my brother to tell him she couldn’t work under me. Or near me. Or alone with me.

I nod once, like I didn’t spend the last forty minutes pretending to review quarterly projections while imagining every way this could blow up in my face.