Harmony Evans - When Morning Comes

Hopefully neither of those injuries would occur on this case. But Autumn wasn’t so sure about what would happen to her heart. Over the past few years, she’d been in some pretty scary situations, but none of them made her heart beat as hard as it did when she looked at Isaac, or when he looked at her.

The raw power that he exuded, even when he was relaxed, made her unabashedly wet between the legs.

She smiled with pleasure. It wasn’t until the end of the meeting, when she had stood before him and his hot gaze sent a jolt of fire down her body, that she’d realized his hunger was for her.

Sadly, she’d almost laughed. The man had no idea that she was there to potentially destroy him.

It had been a while since she’d seen that look in a man’s eyes, and even longer since she’d welcomed it.

But Isaac? He was different. If she were to be truly honest with herself, there was something about Isaac that made her want to run into his arms. Yet, for the good of the case, she knew she would do well to remind herself on a daily basis that she was there to learn the truth, not hop into bed with the most gorgeous man she’d seen since—well...ever.

What she needed right now was a distraction. A nice cup of tea would make her forget about Isaac’s tawny-brown eyes and help her refocus on the investigation.

She was just about to try to find the Paxton cafeteria herself when she heard a voice calling her name. She turned to see Felicia walking toward her. How she didn’t manage to trip in those stiletto heels was an unfortunate miracle in itself.

“There you are. I’ve been looking all over for you, and here you are exactly where I left you.”

Felicia’s voice was so syrupy sweet that it made Autumn want to gag.

She opened the door to the conference room, peered inside and quickly shut it. “Where’s Isaac?” she demanded.

Autumn pasted a smile on her face. “He had to run to a meeting.”

“You mean he left you here without giving you a tour?”

“No. He gave me the tour,” she lied. “We stopped back at the conference room because I accidentally left my paperwork on the table.”

Autumn grasped the wad and waved it in Felicia’s face so hard her eyes blinked. “See?”

Felicia pushed the paper away with annoyance. “All I see is that it’s not filled out. You’d better get to your desk and get started.”

“Sure. I would be happy to do so if I knew where my desk was located.”

Felicia touched the back of her hair. “All analysts are housed in the cubicles on the second floor. Didn’t Isaac show you?” she said impatiently.

Autumn shook her head. “No, that was our last stop but then he was suddenly called into a meeting.”

Felicia let out an exasperated breath. “Come on, I’ll show you.” She started down the hall, muttering under her breath. “I guess if you want something done right around here, you’ve got to do it yourself.”

“Wait,” Autumn called out. “Sterling wrote down the location of my work space. He said it was somewhere on this floor.”

Felicia swiveled on her heels, her eyes narrowing. “Are you sure? This floor is for members of the Paxton executive team only.”

Autumn accidentally dropped the scrap of paper Sterling had given her earlier. She bent to retrieve it and when she stood, Felicia rudely snatched it away.

“Let me see that.” Felicia’s cheeks reddened and she crumpled the paper into a ball.

Autumn bit back a smile. She had no idea where her work space was located, but it was obvious the woman didn’t like it.

They walked down the carpeted hallway, in the opposite direction from where Isaac had run, and through a small corridor. A few minutes later, they stopped in front of a door with no nameplate. It was constructed of heavy wood and there was a thin plane of glass running vertically down one side of the door, the view through which was obstructed by cardboard.

“I think my father has made a mistake. We use this room for file storage.”

Felicia’s hand shook a little as she placed it on the knob and turned. “I don’t understand this,” she shrieked.

Autumn stepped into the small but clean room. Two rusty gray file cabinets lined one wall, one of which was graced with a plastic houseplant that had lost most of its leaves. The old-fashioned metal desk had a couple of beat-up chairs in front of it. On the desk was one of those spotlight lamps, the kind with the lightbulb that burned so hot it could singe anything that got to close to it.

Clearly, the room had been hastily furnished with some vintage finds from somebody’s attic or basement. A laptop was the only modern thing in the whole place.

Autumn walked around the desk and set down the stack of papers she was lugging around, as well as her purse. Then she sat in the vintage wooden chair and spun around to face Felicia, who was still by the door.

“It’s perfect!” she exclaimed with a broad smile. “What’s wrong with it?”

“It’s...it’s...ugly,” Felicia sputtered. “The furnishings are horrendous, not at all what we have in the other offices. Not to mention the fact that this is a file room and no one but me is supposed to be in here.”

Felicia looked out into the hallway before she moved deeper inside the room and looked around. “But where are all the files?” she wailed, her eyes wide to the whites. “This room was nearly filled with boxes and now there are only about half left.”

Hopefully, only the ones I need for the investigation, Autumn thought, snickering inwardly.

Sterling may be a grump, but he was turning out to be very, very handy.

Felicia walked up to the desk and planted her hands on her hips. “I’m sure this is only a temporary office,” she said with a note of derision. “There must be some issue with getting your cubicle ready on the second floor. I’ll speak to my father and we’ll get this matter straightened out right away.”

Autumn nodded and tugged on the middle drawer of her desk. “Sounds good.” The drawer stuck, so she tugged even harder and when she finally managed to pull it open, the metal on metal scraped together so loudly that Felicia covered her ears.

The drawer was well stocked with office supplies. Another plus for Sterling. She grabbed the first pen she saw and quickly uncapped it. “I’ll get started on that paperwork now and will have it to you by lunch, okay?”

“Fine,” Felicia snapped, looking over her shoulder again, as if she was expecting someone. “I should have this work space issue corrected by then.”

Autumn rose and went to the door, feigning eagerness to finally start her first day on the job, in the hopes that Felicia would leave. “Thanks for all your help. I’ll drop by your office in a couple of hours.”

She leaned against the jamb and watched as Felicia suddenly hurried down the hall as fast as her stiletto heels could take her. The woman seemed genuinely distraught and confused about the whole situation. She was about to shut the door when she looked up and suddenly realized why.

Isaac Mason’s office was directly opposite hers.

* * *

Isaac smoothed one hand over his close-cropped hair and then got to work reknotting his tie. It was almost noon and he’d made it through his morning meetings, his clients were happy, and there were no frantic phone calls from his children.

Like one of his favorite rappers once said, “It’s been a good day.” But Isaac knew it was long from over.

He wasn’t happy about what Sterling had asked him to do, but if he wanted to make partner, he had no choice.

With his tie neatened to his satisfaction, he took one last glance in the mirror, ignoring the rumble in his belly and hammering of his heart.

It’s just lunch, he told himself, and Autumn’s just another coworker. But he knew she was more than that, or at least he wished she could be.