One night stand with my daddy's best friend
79

Dane

I sat at my desk feeling like a fucking failure. The meeting with Bran didn't go well yesterday even though I was able to stand my ground. I knew my father wouldn't feel that refusing Bran's offer would be enough. He expected me to take charge and have Bran bend to my, or my father's, will.

That mixed with the image of Bran touching and looking at Bridget like he could see through her clothes, and then Bridget calling me out for being a jerk, I couldn't get focused.

I checked my watch. It was past five thirty. I wasted a day lost in my thoughts giving my father another reason to be disappointed in me. I scraped my hands over my face wondering why I'd even agreed to come back to help him. I suppose I thought it wouldn't be too hard. For one, I'd risked my life regularly as a SEAL. There wasn't much that scared me now. Second, I'd worked for my father during high school, so it wasn't like I didn't know anything about the business. I knew enough to keep it running while my father recovered, but clearly not enough to bully Bran Erickson into a deal.

I looked down at the papers on my desk. I needed to make copies for the file, accounting, and for my father. That was something I felt fairly confident I could do. I rose from my desk, picking up the papers and heading down to the copy room. I put the stack of papers into the feeder and poked the button for double-sided copying. Nothing happened. The machine was on. It hummed and a red light flashed around the copy button. Knowing red was a sign of something wrong, I looked over the machine trying to determine the problem.

"Fucking Christ," I muttered.

I sensed I wasn't alone, a skill I developed in the military. I looked over my shoulder to find Bridget standing outside the copy room. She looked so young and innocent...well, maybe not innocent. She had fire in her green eyes. Not angry or confrontive. She had an energy, a life that sizzled in those eyes. It made me feel dead inside.

"Do you need something from me?" My voice was terser than I would have liked.

She shook her head. "I'm just waiting my turn."

"Do you know how to use this thing?" How pathetic that after being here for months, I was being bested by a copy machine, while she'd been here only two days and I was asking for her help.

She entered the room and looked at the machine. She checked my paper and then looked over the series of lights and buttons. Why a copy machine needed to look like an airplane cockpit I didn't know. Shouldn't it just be a matter of putting the paper in the machine and pressing start?

She pointed to something on the screen and then lifted the document cover. "Someone left a paper on the scanner. It can't feed the papers with that there." She removed the paper, glancing at it and then setting it on her stack. "I'll give it back to the person who accidentally left it."

Irritated at how inept I looked, I put the document cover down and poked the copy button again. The papers started feeding through the machine.

With that finally going okay, I took a deep breath and turned to Bridget. Good Christ, she was something. How could a woman have such a compelling mixture of sweet and sensual? She wasn't dressed provocatively and yet, her clothes accentuated her sublime curves. Her wild red hair was tamed back into a loose messy bun, as if she pulled it back on a whim simply to get it out of her way while she worked. Her green eyes studied me and in them I saw wariness. I couldn't blame her. When we met, I was a bumbling but friendly fool. Yesterday I was a jackass.

I blew out a breath. "I'm sorry for yesterday. I know you weren't doing anything to encourage Erickson."

She tilted her head to the side. "I know I'm young and new, Mr.

MacLeod, but I'm not a wide-eyed innocent."

I hated how she said Mr. MacLeod. It made me feel like an old man, which I suppose I was in her eyes. "I'm sorry I implied that."

Her lips pursed as if she was working hard to keep from saying something that might get her in trouble. The problem was, it made me notice her lips, how plump and soft and sweet they looked. It reminded me of how I blatantly raked my gaze over her body yesterday. I was revolted at myself for such an act.

"You need to be careful around men like Bran Erickson," I said. She might not be a wide-eyed innocent, but I was certain she didn't have experience with wolves like him. I could see him using her to get to me or my father. "He's dangerous." "It seems to me you're dangerous to him. I'm told you could kill him with your pinky finger."

I arched a brow. "Who told you that?"

"Is it true? Do they teach you the Vulcan nerve pinch in SEAL school?"

My lips twitched upward despite my attempt to remain serious. "You're a little young for a Star Trek reference, aren't you?"

She rolled her eyes. "With the Internet, people my age have access to the entire history of pop culture. But you haven't answered my question."

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She was being intriguing again. The irritation of my job was gone, but now was replaced by the agitation of attraction.

"I learned many things in SEAL training." Although nothing about how to manage the urge to kiss a woman who worked for me. I crossed my arms to keep from touching her. Behind me the copy machine continued to whir. I wished it would finish before I did something stupid.

"Then I should be safe when Mr. Erickson is here." She studied me and I had the urge to squirm. It felt like she could see all my inadequacy. "If you don't like it here, why are you here?"

"Who says I don't like it here?" Her boldness was both annoying and exciting. I felt challenged in a way I hadn't in a long time.

"It's written all over your face. Mr. Erikson might be a lech, but that's not why you hate him."

"Hate is a strong word." Although not inaccurate. "He represents something you hate."

"You sound like a shrink. Perhaps you've missed your calling."

She shrugged. "You can't take it out on him, so you took it out on me. I suppose I need to learn to take it. I'm not in a position to call my boss out. I suppose I should apologize for saying your head was in the gutter." Is that what she thought was going on? That I was taking out my anger on

her because I couldn't take it out on Bran Erickson?

I stepped closer to her, releasing my arms and clasping my hands behind my back. As I stepped into her space, her eyes lit up with fire.

"You think I was angry at him and took it out on you?" I asked. She nodded. "Am I wrong?"

"Not exactly." My gaze dropped to her lips again. When I looked back into her eyes, I saw wonder and a little confusion. "Do you know why I was angry?"

"Because he's making it difficult to get the deal your father wants done."

I guess I shouldn't be surprised she knew about that. Everyone at the office did. Lane or Ethan could have told her.

"He is doing that, but that's not why I took my anger out on you."

"Oh?" The word made her mouth round into an O shape that made me think of orgasms.

I shook my head as I moved closer to her, even as warning bells blared in my brain.

I expected her to move back, but she lifted her head, her green eyes stared up at me defiantly.

"Why then?" she asked.

Back down, Dane, my conscience chanted like a mantra. "Because I didn't like that he had his hands on you. That his eyes looked at you like you had no clothes on."

Surprise flashed in her eyes. "So, your mind was in the gutter."

I shrugged. "Do you think sex is dirty?" I really was going to hell. Or at least be sued for sexual harassment.

Her breath hitched. "Not necessarily. It still doesn't explain why you took it out on me."

"Because you didn't stop him. As I said, he's dangerous."

She leaned in as if she was daring me. "I thought you were the dangerous one."

Her scent swallowed me whole. My neurons fired on all cylinders. I was helpless against the need for her.

"I'm not as dangerous as you are." I slipped my arm around her waist and tugged her against my body, covering her mouth with my lips. The minute her taste hit me, I groaned. Like everything else about her, her taste was sweet and spicy. Her body heated against mine. She was warm and soft and the thought of another man having her made me crazy.