Claim Me (Stark Trilogy 2)

“I heard through the grapevine that you were working on something similar at C-Squared,” he says, referring to Carl’s company.

“I was,” I say, then decide to take the plunge and tell him the truth about what happened. It pisses me off, but it’s not as if I’m the one who did anything wrong. “I was on the team that pitched the C-Squared product to Damien.”

“Is that how you two met?”

“No,” I say. “We actually met years ago in Texas. We reconnected at one of Evelyn’s parties.” I don’t mention that Carl had sent me into the party with the specific goal of attracting the attention of Damien Stark. That had been my first clue that Carl was an asshole. And many more clues followed in quick succession. “At any rate, the pitch went great, but Damien declined to invest because he knew about this Israeli product, though he didn’t say his reason at the time. By then, he and I had gone out.” Once again, my cheeks heat, because “gone out” doesn’t even begin to describe the things I had done with Damien.

Bruce, thankfully, doesn’t appear to notice my blush. “And Carl blamed you.”

“And fired me,” I say with a thin smile. “He’s not high up on my favorite people list.”

“To be honest, Carl Rosenfeld isn’t high on anyone’s favorite people list.”

I smile, immediately more at ease.

A moment later, Cindy steps into my office with an envelope from a local messenger company. There is no address. I, of course, am certain it’s from Damien. Considering the way Cindy hovers by my desk, she must think the same thing, and she’s curious about what the world’s sexiest billionaire sends to his girlfriend.

I’m curious, too. But since this is Damien we’re talking about, I’m not opening it with Bruce and Cindy standing there. I set it firmly on the corner of my desk right next to where I have put the framed picture of Damien and me. “Insurance paperwork,” I say nonchalantly, before turning back to Bruce and rattling off the first relevant thing I can think of about the Suncoast meeting last week.

Finally they are both out of my office, leaving me to, supposedly, settle in to work. I immediately reach for the envelope.

I open it, peek inside, and find my own pink scarf.

Okay …

Then again, at least now I have an excuse to call him. Not that I actually need an excuse.

Unfortunately, I only get his voice mail. “Hey,” I say. “It’s me. Thanks so much for the scarf. It suits me perfectly. How on earth did you know? I had a great time yesterday,” I add, then hesitate a moment before continuing. “And I thought you might want to know—I’m wearing a denim skirt, a purple T-shirt under a denim jacket, and absolutely nothing else.”

I’m grinning when I end the call, and it takes some doing to focus on the specs that I pull up on the laptop I’ve been issued by Innovative. After a while, though, I get into a groove, and it’s not until one of the guys on my team pokes his head in my door that I realize I’ve been engrossed for hours.

“I’m going down to grab a sandwich,” he says. “Want anything?”

“Alex, right?”

He nods.

“Mind if I tag along?”

“Oh. Well, sure. Okay. Yeah. I mean, I’m just gonna get something downstairs and bring it back.”

“Sounds perfect to me.” I grab my purse and follow him to the elevator. He’s tall and so skinny that I’m guessing I have at least ten pounds on him. His hair is cut short, almost into a military buzz, and he’s wearing a T-shirt announcing that Pluto is still a planet. On that, I agree wholeheartedly, and I tell him so.

It is as if I have opened the conversational floodgates. By the time we reach the lobby, I know everything about him except his Social Security number and have been invited to join his World of Warcraft guild anytime.

“So you’re dating Damien Stark,” he adds, as we cross the lobby to the small cafeteria. “That’s cool.”

“I think so,” I say politely, but I can’t help but cringe a little. I am starting to realize that by being Damien’s girlfriend I have taken on more than just Damien. I have parked myself under a microscope. For someone who has lived most of her life behind a mask of polite indifference, it is not the most comfortable place to be.

“Yeah, so the sandwiches here are pretty good,” Alex says, and I am grateful for the change of subject. “The pizza kind of sucks, though.”

“Salads?”

“Beats me,” he says. “I don’t do rabbit food. Meet you back here?”

I nod, then head toward the rabbit food area. I’m waiting for the server to put together a Cobb salad for me when a familiar-looking Asian woman steps into line behind me. I’m trying to place where I’ve seen her before when she points at me and says, “Innovative, right? You’re the new girl.”

“Nikki Fairchild,” I confirm. “I’m sorry, I’ve been introduced to about a million people, at least it feels that way. I don’t remember your name.”

“No, no, we haven’t met. I work in the building. Lisa Reynolds. I’m a business consultant, and I’ve known Bruce for years.”

I suddenly remember where I’ve seen her. “You were in the lobby on Friday,” I say. “At one of the tables.”

“I usually am at least once a day. I can’t live without coffee, and I like to get out of the office. Here,” she adds, then digs in her purse for a business card. “If you ever want to sneak downstairs for a latte, give me a shout.”

“Thanks,” I say, genuinely pleased. I haven’t met that many people since I moved to Los Angeles, and I’m psyched to have a potential friend in the building.

I promise Lisa I’ll give her a call this week, then head upstairs with Alex. I want to get back to work, but I also know I should get to know my team. I suggest that we eat in the break room, but I have to confess that I am relieved when he tells me that he’s going to eat at his desk so that he can play WoW.

I’ve finished the salad and am deep into an analysis of some troublesome code when Damien calls. “Hey,” I say. “Did you see that article in Tech World?”

“Talking shop, Ms. Fairchild?”

I laugh. “What else should I talk about? The scarf you sent me? Your skill at picking out gifts has become a little rusty, but I guess there is some logic. If I already own it, I probably already like it.”