Everything, baby. Any man with any sense would be making sure every other man in the vicinity knew better than to lay a hand on you.
“If I was your boyfriend, I'd be leaving marks all over you,” I murmured, “just to make sure every other man who got near you knew you were mine.”
Her mouth dropped open again as her hand tried to move back up to her neckline, probably to cover herself back up, but she didn’t go through with it. I was about to tell her to button she shirt back up when her vibrating phone at her hip made itself known. She didn’t move.
“Are you going to answer that?” I asked pleasantly.
“No…um…should I?”
“Maybe you should at least look to see who it is,” I suggested.
“I know who it is,” she said.
“Do you now?” I had to smile again.
“It's Elissa,” she told me.
“And Elissa is…?”
“The receptionist.” She never even glanced down at her hip as the thing kept on buzzing in its little clip-on holster at her waist. “She knows I'm up here.”
I was mildly curious but not enough to delve into it. If the receptionist was out with the general populace of the building, that meant she could be near Kender, and I had the need to gloat.
“By all means,” I told her with a wave of my hand, “answer the phone before it goes to voicemail and she assumes the worst.”
Her hand was shaking a little as she pulled the phone out. She greeted her friend and sounded amazingly calm, given the circumstances. I could hear the mumblings of a woman’s voice on the other end but not the words. Olivia looked to my eyes, and I just watched, wondering exactly what she would say.
“I'm…um…in Mr. Kender's office…I know, but…”
While she blabbered, I stood quietly and took a step forward. I reached up and placed my hand over hers and pulled the phone away.
“Hello there, Elissa,” I said sweetly.
“Who is this?” The woman’s voice growled at first and then softened. “She’s just a kid—don’t hurt her.”
“Tell me, is Mr. Kender near you?” I asked, ignoring her comment.
“He’s standing a few feet away from me,” she said.
“Hand the phone to him now, without a word, or I'm going to start removing body parts from your friend here.”
“Fuck!” she said in a voice mixed with anger and fear. At the same time, I heard Olivia gasp. I glanced up at her eyes, and I saw the panic in them. Shit, I really hadn’t meant to do that. I wasn’t a monster, and I didn’t hurt innocents. Of course, then I had to think about the definition of a monster and realized I did kind of fit the bill, regardless of my motivations. Still, I wanted her to know she was safe—I wasn’t going to hurt her. I would never hurt her.
Shaking my head sharply, I placed my finger over her lips, silencing her gasps. I touched her jaw and stroked her cheek softly. She shivered a little. I won’t hurt you, baby…
“This is Mr. Kender…” The son-of-a-bitch was actually talking to me.
“Mr. Kender, so nice to speak with you again,” I said. I had to move away from the distraction that was the little PA and sat down in his chair again. I took a deep breath and watched the progress of the file copy on the screen. More than halfway done. I rested the heels of my shoes on top of the bastard’s desk.
“Lebourn, you little shit.” Kender’s voice growled back at me. “What the fuck do you think you’re doing?”
“I've been enjoying the company of your PA,” I responded innocently. “She's been very informative—with a little persuasion.”
I winked at her. Couldn’t help myself. I heard Kender snort in the background.
“I'm a little surprised, actually. She's a lot older than your usual tastes. She's probably out of high school at least, you sick little fuck.”
“Listen to me, you vigilante little cocksucker! You’ve got nothing—nothing—on me! No matter what you think, there’s no one who gives a shit that’s ever going to listen to you!”