Except that I make the necklace glow. And I’m not in love. And Kirian’s also not in love with me.
I never said it was logical or not creepy or otherworldly. I also never said Kirian’s theory or whatever pledge he made with his cousins would work. It got two of them already, so maybe it doesn’t work.
Then there’s me. I don’t know how to define myself. I’m not afraid of commitment; I just don’t want it, especially since I don’t like people. I never have and probably never will. It’s mostly due to unresolved trauma from my past, but I don’t know. Everyone says the stuff that happens to people when they’re kids can really affect them later in life and mess with their heads. Then there was Phil. He’s a good reason not to trust men, even if he never did anything more than look at me funny.
Computers are just so much less complicated since they don’t come with baggage. Also, they don’t need to be unpacked, unraveled, or coddled. And cats. Cats can be more demanding, but they’re also easier to love than most people. They’re more loving, too, albeit with a few scratches here and there.
“Lindy?” The way Kirian says my name breaks me out of the funk of contemplation I’ve been in all morning. I guess he just says it normally like how anyone would say my name, but also not in the usual way because I don’t know why hearing him say my name in his deep, silky voice makes the panties I’m not wearing damp.
“Sorry.” I have no idea why I’m thinking about these things. Oh, right. Because apparently, I might be cursed. Yeah, that will get the old brain churning even when it’s usually going into a mushy sleep state.
“That’s fine.” Kirian hesitates. His hands slide into the pockets of his pants, which causes his pants to tighten deliciously across his crotch. Just a brief glance at it makes my nipples peak so hard that I’m glad I’m wearing a padded bra to hide my nipples. “Uh, call me if you need anything?”
I have to smile wryly at that because he knows I don’t have his number, but he also knows I can find it in under two minutes flat if I want to. “Do you have an office line? Or do you prefer your personal phone?”
He breaks into a grin, and god, it does things to me. My nipples and jeans aren’t the only things getting hard, or err, wet. Now my chest is doing something weird, where it feels tight in spots. It could be a medical emergency, maybe like the precursor to a heart attack. The universe might finally be striking me down for the bad things I’ve done. Or perhaps this is the curse?
Focus. Concentrate. Just fix the damn software.
“My personal phone.” Kirian proceeds to leave just like that, leaving me—a stranger, burglar, and hacker—alone in this office in the heart of his organization without a backward glance, but then, all of a sudden, he turns around and gives me a backward glance that’s enough to send me into another tailspin. I swear I don’t think men in suits are hot. I do not. I certainly do not have a thing for that. “It was short notice, but I did manage to get my cousins to agree to come over to my place at two. I thought that would give us time. Until five, that is. You said you’d give me until five today.”
“I did say that, yes.”
“Because at five, you turn into a pumpkin.”
It takes me a second to get the reference because I seriously lacked popular culture growing up with my childhood from hell. “Uh, yeah, I might. Or maybe a cucumber. I like cucumbers. They’re my favorite vegetable.”
Kirian gets this sudden look on his face that I can’t decipher. See? Computers are easy. Ciphering and codes? Piece of cake. But Kirian Cromwell? Not a piece of cake and not easy to decipher or decode. I don’t know why he’s looking at me like that, and I don’t know why his eyes are burning or why he has that expression. Because at the moment, it seems like he might want to taste me too.
Honestly, if he did, I might be okay with it.
If he wanted to push all these things off the desk before throwing me on top, ripping my jeans away, and dining on me for brunch, I’d be okay with it too.
Holy banana splits! No! No, I would not be okay with that. For one, the walls are glass, and glass is see-through. I’m not into that kind of kink. Secondly, there are lots going on in here, and it’s the middle of the day. Thirdly, vanilla. I’ve never allowed a guy to go down on me because it’s not vanilla in my books.