Page 18 of Illicit Education
I glanced over my shoulder. “Headed to the restroom?” My lips quirked up on a smile. “Seems you’re well hydrated today, Ms. Blake.”
Her mouth dropped open and the surprise in her eyes was quickly replaced with that spark of indignation I’d been thinking about all morning. But she ran her tongue over her teeth, holding herself back this time.
With a quick bow of my head, I said, “If you don’t mind,” and motioned to her blocking my way.
Nostrils flaring on a deep breath, Rylan gave a curt nod, then slipped past me, brushing against my body and sending a rush of heat to my cock. I closed my eyes, willing the lust away, then turned to catch her staring at me with wide eyes once more.
I cocked an eyebrow and tilted my head. She’d felt that too.
She slipped into the bathroom and I nearly followed her inside.
“You alright?” Travis said, appearing by my side.
I nodded and followed him through the restaurant.
Not as enticing as following the little intern into the bathroom and fucking her senseless, but that would be precisely the scandal Roderick needed to rip my empire from my grasp.
And I would never let that happen.
Chapter Nine
Rylan
The afternoon flew by as I spent the second half of my first day at Reed Romance getting acquainted with everyone from the seventy-third and seventy-fourth floors. As I followed the head of HR from office to office, I met more people and learned more than I’d ever be able to retain in my brain.
By the time four o’clock rolled around, I’d developed a small headache at the base of my skull.
Still, I was just as excited now as I had been this morning, and though I wouldn’t be able to remember all of their names, the people I’d met so far had been friendly and welcoming.
Now, standing beside editorial director Blanca Arroyo in the elevator, a tingly sense of apprehension settled into my gut as we rode up to the top floor of Reed Tower.
I would soon be face to face with the man I lectured in the elevator.
The man who’d set my veins on fire with an accidental touch in the hallway of that restaurant.
A man who, from what I’d been told, was a formidable, terrifying presence.
He was also deliciously attractive.
And he’d sent me a gift.
I’d been racking my brain all day and was no closer to understanding why he’d done so, or what the gesture meant. Or, how to rectify it with what I’d learned about him at lunch, because the two versions of him were in stark opposition with themselves.
But none of that mattered because I was a lowly intern and he was about to be CEO of all of Reed Enterprises. We had literallynothingin common.
The gift didn’t mean anything. Itcouldn’tmean anything.
I was here to learn all I could; that’s what mattered. When the internship was over in three months’ time, I would obtain a job in the industry, whether within Reed Publishing or elsewhere. That was it. Nothing more. I certainly didn’t have the time to entertain thoughts about the man behind the gift–monster or otherwise.
Honestly, if I was a truly good person, I’d return the book.
Oh well. Nobody’s perfect.
The doors opened and Blanca smiled as she motioned for me to go ahead. “Welcome to the seventy-fifth floor, Ms. Blake.”
Like the few floors I’d already visited below, there was a circular reception desk smack in the center of this level, opposite the elevator bay, but that was where the similarities in layout ended. This floor consisted of massive offices, and a conference room that could probably hold the entire two-hundred-plus employees, rather than smaller rooms and tightly-packed cubicles like the floors below.
“Here’s where you can find the bigwigs.” She winked as she motioned toward a large corner office on the right side of the space. “The CFO’s office is that one. Mr. Wilder has only recently taken this position, but from what I’ve learned of him, he is quite competent and incredibly kind. One of the good ones, you could say,” she whispered.