Protecting Her

Unfortunately, crying isn’t going to solve anything. All I can hope for is that she takes a damn good photo and that in real life, she’s a troll. Maybe she has a bad personality. She’s attractive enough she could be a total demanding bitch, and that will wilt my hard-on immediately.

I cycle through the database of available staff, discarding a few that are qualified but too attractive. It’s not that I’m jealous or anything; I don’t want them to be an on the job distraction. I opt for Harry, or Hydro as he’s called, Hoganson, Laura Snyder who was rumored to have crushed a man’s windpipe between her thighs, and Fred Applebaum who looks a little like Slenderman. Satisfied with my team, I drive off to meet one Miss Catriona Hennessy.

Chapter 2

Catriona

“Time?”

“Three, two, one.” Carrie counts down for me. I grab the test tube, extracting enough for my slide. Carrie takes the tube from my hand as I slip the slide into the microscope. “Glasses,” Carrie says right before I lean down to look. I push them up into my hair then take a peek. There is no change to the cells.

“Told him it wouldn’t work,” I mumble to myself. There went another thirty minutes wasted. Carrie hands me the clipboard so I can make my notes.

“Let me send the email to Eric.” I glance up at Carrie. She’s smiling at me, her blond hair in a high ponytail. Today she’s got on black lipstick. I always find her makeup choices interesting. Yet no matter what she wears she looks gorgeous. She holds her hand out to take the clipboard back. “Nathan wants to see you in his office.”

“Fine. You send the email.” I hand it over to her. She reads over my notes. I watch her fight a laugh.

“You know he only sends these little ideas down here for you to check on to get your attention.”

I scrunch my nose. “Really?” She shrugs one of her shoulders. “You always think that.” I shake my head, making my glasses fall off. Carrie catches them before they can hit the ground. That was close.

“That would have been the third pair in the last two months.”

“Oops?” I smile, sliding them back on. Carrie is the first assistant that I’ve had that works well with me. Oftentimes she is already doing something I need before I can even ask. I’m so glad I’d pushed Nathan to let me do the interviews the last time. It was easier for me to pick someone that I thought worked. I know for a fact he wouldn’t have picked her. Carrie is part of the reason I’ve been progressing so quickly these past few months. She is often my right hand, and I trust her.

“Go up and see Nathan. I’ll close us down.” I pull my gloves off, tossing them into the trash before heading to the sink to wash my hands. Once finished, I look down at my watch to see how I’m doing on time.

“Crap.”

“Oh, it’s date night, isn’t it?”

“Yes.” I sigh. “I don’t know why I let you talk me into this.”

“It’s good for you.” That’s what she keeps telling me. Carrie set me up on a dating app two months ago. I agreed to go on a few dates. I’d set time aside for Wednesday nights. All of them have been a bust so far.

“It doesn’t feel good.” I pull my lab jacket off.

“That’s because you haven’t found the right one to make you feel good.” She wiggles her eyebrows.

“Feel good as in sex?” I try not to cringe.

“Yes. That’s what the eyebrow wiggle was suggesting.” She snorts a laugh at me.

“Did you know a French kiss can spread 80 million bacteria between mouths?”

“That’s one of those things we talked about.” She points her pencil at me. “People do not want to know that shit.”

“I told my last date that and he didn’t seem to mind. He still tried to kiss me.”

She laughs more. “Go see Nathan. I think he got you a bodyguard.”

“Well, that was fast.” It’s going to be weird having someone follow me around. I spend most of my time alone. So having someone around all the time will take some getting used to. Nathan mentioned this would be a home detail too.

“Someone trashed your office,” she reminds me. I still don’t understand how that happened. This place is loaded with security. “Let’s not forget about your car.”

“We don’t know if that’s related.” My window was busted out. They didn’t take the car. It could have been a coincidence.

“They were looking for something. Then there was the scariest one of them all. When someone tried to break into your condo last night while you were asleep in bed.” I swallow. That was the reason I’m not fighting Nathan anymore on this security thing. That scared the crap out of me. It was different having things happen at work, but danger has never been on my doorstep before. Last night changed everything.