Page 4 of Office Intrigue (Office Intrigue Duet 1)
Rein it in, Luci.
“And these are my partners,” Ben noted, turning toward the others but not releasing my hand. He pointed to the blond. “Justin Parker.” His hand swiveled over to the twins. “Landon and Langston Moore.”
“Very nice to meet you all.” With a smile on my face, I reached out and shook each man’s hand once Ben released me. I kept my grip firm but feminine. I didn’t want them to think I was trying to overpower them or anything.
That, of course, got me to thinking about being overpowered by them. Don’t ask me why.
And suddenly, the room had heated about fifteen degrees.
Should’ve nixed the blazer.
Two
“IF YOU WOULD FOLLOW US, we’ll set you up in the conference room,” Justin said, his voice deep but clear, with an authoritative ring to it. I didn’t detect an accent of any kind.
I met his smoldering blue eyes and nodded.
Turned out, I only ended up following Justin while the other three pulled up the rear. They resumed their conversation from the elevator, which, from what I could tell, was a rundown of their meetings for the day. I briefly wondered whose calendar the interview was on.
Justin stopped at a tall glass door, inserted a key to unlock it, then pushed it open. He allowed me to precede him, so I stepped into the room.
I was right about the windows. They ran the length of the room—floor to ceiling—and didn’t have blinds to obstruct the view. The awesome view, I might add. The conference table that sat in the center and filled about three quarters of the space looked to hold roughly fifty people on a good day. I’d never seen anything like it. It was very modern with an opaque-glass top that appeared to be several inches thick. The chairs were black leather, all executive style. I had to wonder how many clients they had in there at a time. That seemed like a lot to me.
“A few times a year, we fly all of our managers in for meetings,” Justin informed me, apparently reading my mind.
A lot of employees, then. I nodded and tucked that information away for later use.
Landon—I could tell the difference because he was wearing glasses and his twin was not—pulled out a chair and I mumbled my thanks as I slipped into it, careful to keep my skirt from riding up too far. As it was, I was baring quite a bit of thigh and the last thing I wanted was for them to think that I’d done it on purpose.
“Can we get you anything? Coffee? Tea? Water?” Langston offered. Now, he did have an accent, a sexy twang that hinted at his down-home roots. It wasn’t local, I knew that much.
“I’m good, thank you.” I felt as though I should’ve been offering them something, but I refrained. I would save that for my first day on the job. And no, I wasn’t talking about offering up my body. Although…
“Would you mind giving us a few minutes?” Justin requested.
“No, not at all.” I kept my tone sweet, meeting each of their eyes in turn.
I watched as all four men then walked out of the room.
“D-ay-um, Kristen. Where have you been hiding these guys?” I whispered to myself, then quickly jerked my gaze up to the corners of the room.
I was wondering if they had surveillance cameras. And yep, lookie there. They did. Several, in fact. Which meant I should probably stop ogling and undoubtedly stop muttering to myself.
Keeping my back straight and my hands tucked into my lap, I continued my perusal of the room. Aside from the ginormous table, there were three couches in this room also. These were black leather with neatly squared cushions, set in the same U formation as those in the lobby. Rather than facing a desk, though, they were positioned in front of a projection screen on the wall. Seemed like a good place to go through presentations to me.
Unlike the lobby, where the tiled floors were a dark gray rectangle in an offset pattern, the floors in here were big, oversized squares, neatly aligned and gleaming white.
Black, white, and chrome seemed to be the theme in this room.
It seemed a little sterile to me. On the other hand, it was professional. If it were mine, I would’ve decorated it with a few bright-colored floral decorations. Something to draw the eye and give a little life to the place.
Several minutes passed and I fought the urge to fidget, hyperaware of the cameras. I wanted to make a good impression, not look like I was ready to bolt at a moment’s notice.
When the door opened again, Ben was the one who stepped inside. His smile was still firmly on his face, and I was still transfixed by it. He carried himself like a man who was comfortable in his own skin. The smile came across as warm and friendly, which instantly put me at ease.
