Her surprise and shock were so palpable he could taste it. A part of Samuel wanted to chuckle at her expression and another was glad to see her face to face. The little exchange of words they had over the phone earlier only served to heighten his interest further. Maybe, he would get bored with seeing her every single workday and the infatuation he had with her would die. He could hardly catch her scent save for the subtle lavender perfume she wore. Samuel felt a growl form in his throat. Living three years in this city had taught her a few tricks. Masking her scent with perfume just enough to throw a nose off. Not his nose though. He caught just a whiff of maple syrup and pancake–her breakfast–and cinnamon. That was all he got and it irked him to no end.
It had been an hour and forty-five minutes since he entered Nexion. He had an appointment to get to in the next thirty minutes. Then a business flight to Washington. All a bit daring considering what took place last night. No doubt Irina’s work. She had managed to get a hit on him this time. Getting the bullets had been a pain, made even worse with them being silver. Irina’s agents had been easy to deal with. They would not be reporting anything back.
He had to explain to his family with Xander and Silas present that there was nothing to worry about. They had all felt when he had physically weakened, every shifter in the pack had. The connection had seen to that. They had all come to the agreement that Samuel would be back in Astoke in three months. No more, no less.
He was still a bit down, one bullet made it uncomfortably close to his spine. Irina was proving to be a risk he could not afford. He would have to give Max a call today.
Samuel’s right hand went for the office phone for the second time today. His schedule had already been sent to her email. The moment he picked it up, a knock came at the door. The Lavender perfume from an hour ago mocked his nose. He did not like it.
“Come in, Rita.” He called. The door opened and the perfume raged into his office as Rita walked in, hips swaying with every stride. Her voice was stern and all business. “Sir, you have an appointment with the Vice president of Sehone in twenty four minutes. We should get going.” Samuel was puzzled. “I thought I had thirty minutes?”
“His assistant called to say the appointment had been moved up.” She replied. The same neutral tone in hei voice.
Samuel stood up from the chair, easily towering over her. He buttoned his suit, discomfort flooding his back and his arms with the action. “Well then, let’s go.”
Samuel thought it was bad in the office, he was mistaken. Horribly. The elevator was a nightmare. He was this close to telling her not to wear it ever again. The perfume, he meant. Even with how close Rita was he still could not get her full scent. All he could get were just trace amounts of cinnamon and mint candy she popped in her mouth when they were still in the office.
She stayed Infront of him on the ride down. The air was just like that of the office they had left. Full of tension and that annoyingly secretive perfume. With an addition of awkwardness. It was clear. She wanted out the second those doors were open. There were notes of anger, maybe not notes. A jug of it would be more accurate. Her heart was beating fast for someone who looked so calm. Not something he was not used to himself. Samuel wondered if he could still make that calm façade shatter like he used to.
The calming breaths she took, that did not seem to be working, made her chest rise and fall in a sequence his eyes were all to happy to watch with the same focus as when he was out hunting.
His eyes slid down her back, brushing over the long black braids and lingering on her hips before they landed on her ass. Samuel’s purr of appreciation nearly escaped his throat. No, it partially did. And, it was all he could do to reign back the gold in his eyes before Rita turned her head to look at him.
Samuel gave her a blank look. Her eyebrows crinkled and she turned back to facing the door puzzled. What was wrong with him? Since when had he gone back to being a teenager? His eyes wandered back to Rita and started their journey back before he pulled his stupid eyes away and pinned them to the door straight ahead. Damn it! Was this thing not fast? Or had it decided to slowed down in the last ten minutes?!
Finally, the elevator signaled their arrival and the gold doors opened. Rita remained a stride and a half ahead of him, according to her leg span anyway. She only stopped when the car was brought around.
Samuel scowled at the extra bodyguards lining their way out and the thought of the ones no doubt seated in the rows of cars that headed and ended the entourage. No doubt his mother’s doing. This was too much. He could handle himself just fine.
He did not like this many people being in his space right now. All dressed in black with dark sunglasses to match. Trained or not, none of could beat him in a fight. Even if it was ten against one. Samuel knew that some of the bastards were not keeping their eyes where they should be. Unlike Rita’s perfume, the smell of cotton, leather, copper, gunpowder, aftershave and skin–human or supernatural, could not hide the men’s actually scents or their arousal. It was a small number but for some reason, that bothered him. It bothered him a lot. More than he would like to think about.
Samuel made a mental note to hire female bodyguards for Rita. He blocked the body guards’ view of Rita as she got in, a subtle move to make sure it looked unintentional before rounding the car and getting in himself. While they were out, the offices would be redesigned and fixed in with further requirements.
Did he really need so many bodyguards? Could Alphas not hold their own in a fight well enough on their own? Rita knew they could because she got stuck a year in Highschool because of it. Six months for when the world went haywire and six more months to learn about living with their now more out in the open members of society. Princeton could not be that of a show off, could he? She got alpha’s had this territorial and ego problem but seriously?
The meeting with the vice president of Sehone was everything Rita thought it would be. Dreadfully boring and draining. She had taken down notes and listened like a good personal assistant. Forty five minutes past two pm the meeting ended. It went much farther than planned. Rita was starving and after the endless discussion in Sehone’s meeting room she wanted a big glorious lunch and out of her shoes. She was not getting either.