Protecting Her Heart (Seals Security Book 3) (15 page)

Evie was glad because she wasn’t ready for the type of relationship he was suggesting. Despite having had sex with him two times, she knew that she was not the leap first type of girl. She needed a clear set path or she’d end up with her heart broken.

“I know we said this was a bad idea,” he continued, his hands shifting as he leaned back against the desk crossing his legs. Evie looked up and was caught in his dark gaze. His blue-green eyes were trained on hers and his body shifted slightly as he seemed to think hard about what he was saying. “But maybe it’s a worse idea for us to give up some really great sex. It’s up to you and there will be no repercussions no matter the choice you make.”

Evie couldn’t breathe as she stared into his eyes, her heart in her throat and a pulsing roar in her ears. She didn’t know what she should say. She wanted to jump at the chance to continue their sexual relationship because Luke and the orgasms he bestowed on her went to her head every time. Only she knew it was a very bad idea and not just because he was her boss. Evie looked down staring at her hands, which were folded in her lap, her mind running in circles as she tried to figure it out.

“I don’t kn—” she began, but he cut her off.

“Don’t decide now, think about it. We can just see what happens from here on out but I think it’s going to be really hard for us to work together with all the sexual tension that will be between us if we don’t work this out of our system,” Luke finished, his voice firm.

Evie knew that for her it wouldn’t be working it out of her system. She would grow more attached instead and that was why she couldn’t do this with him.

“I don’t think that will work. I don’t think sleeping together is a good idea,” she stated, her hands shaking where they rested on her knees.

“Why not?” he demanded and Evie felt her cheeks heat and her insides quiver as she tried to articulate her thoughts. She knew herself well enough to know that if she continued this, she would end up with a broken heart and no job. She couldn’t work with him if she were torn up by the fact that he was with another woman once he had
‘worked it out of his system’
. She winced and tried to find her voice to tell him it just wasn’t a good idea but she couldn’t.

Luke stepped towards her when she stood up, shaking so hard she almost thought her legs would give out. She took a step away from him and tried not to turn and run from his office but she was holding on by a thread. She needed to say something because he was moving forwards and a scowl was on his face. She knew that if he kissed her again they would end up having sex in his office again and she didn’t think she would be able to handle that twice in one day.

She was saved from finding out by a hard bang on the door to the office. They both turned to look at it. Luke let out a little growl and jerked at his tie, putting it back on. Luke’s phone began to ring and she turned back to look at him as he finished adjusting his tie and lifted the phone.

“Luke Stewart,” he barked into the phone, his scowl dark as he strode over to the door. “I don’t know. It must have been locked accidentally. I was just about to open it to see why someone was banging on it when you called.”

Evie smoothed her hair and her clothes hoping it wasn’t obvious what they’d been doing only moments before. She felt her cheeks heat and she knew it would be unlikely whoever was on the other side of the door wouldn’t notice. Luke jerked the door open to find Eric and Wyatt standing on the other side. Wyatt wore a stony expression and Eric raised a brow at them before Luke ushered them out.

“Let’s go, we have that meeting in fifteen minutes,” Luke commanded, his body moving in front of hers to block her from sight. Evie watched them all file out after a nod from Eric and breathed a little sigh of relief as they turned and headed to the door.

“Evie, we will continue this discussion tomorrow,” Luke threw over his shoulder, his eyes meeting hers to let her know she wasn’t getting out of the discussion. Damn. She’d hoped he would let it go but as she watched his retreating back she knew that wasn’t going to happen.

Evie walked into the office the next morning warily. She was about halfway to her office when she was stopped by Tina. Tina wore a delighted expression and she almost shook with excitement as she spoke.

“Laney just said that you were a CPA. Is that true?” she asked, her brow raised.

“Yes, I am,” Evie said hesitantly as she stood in the hall holding a cup of coffee and a bagel.

“Please tell me you’re still certified,” Tina begged, her eyes wide and a happy grin still on her face. Evie eyed her carefully.

“I am.”

“Perfect! Come with me,” Tina crowed, her smile spreading from ear to ear. She hooked her arm into Evie’s and she was suddenly being dragged towards her office. Evie was a little confused but she went willingly, wondering why Tina was so excited. She was pulled past her desk and into Luke’s office. He was behind his desk and looked up at them as they entered. Tina pulled her right up to his desk, her arm still in Evie’s.

“I need you to find a new assistant,” Tina said speaking quickly. “I’m stealing Evie.”

“The hell you are,” Luke said, his eyes narrowing and his fist smacking the edge of the desk loudly. Evie jumped, a little worried about the way he was glaring at them.
What the heck was Tina going on about?

“Look, I am sure we can find you someone just as good as Evie but I need her in my department. You must know she’s a certified accountant and I have been looking for one for months,” Tina explained and Evie felt her heart rate pick up. She might actually get to do what she trained for. She also knew that she would get a pay raise if she was transferred because she was sure an assistant was paid less than an accountant.

“No,” Luke said flatly, his scowl now cold and unyielding, and Evie felt her heart sink. Damn, despite her having busted her ass for him for over ten months now he wasn’t going to trust her with his accounts. She shouldn’t have gotten her hopes up; she knew how this worked. It was impossible to imagine that she would ever be allowed to do a job she’d trained for.

“Why the hell not?” Tina demanded, her confusion clear in her angry voice.

“Because I said no and that’s the best damned reason I can think of. Evie is my assistant,” Luke growled.

“Luke, you’re being unreasonable. Finding a CPA is next to impossible and we can hire an assistant much more easily. Evie can even help with that from my department and train whoever you hire so they will do things just like she does. It makes sense to do it that way. We’ve had two applicants and neither of them were certified and Evie is,” Tina informed him, her hands on the desk as she leaned forward glaring at him.

“I don’t care. I don’t want Evie in the accounting department,” Luke growled angrily, confirming Evie’s suspicions about his refusal. She felt tears sting her eyes as she took a step back. Her hand holding the coffee trembled and she almost dropped the cup but managed to hold onto it.

“I think I will be at my desk,” Evie finally said and rushed toward the door without waiting for either of them to respond. Her face red and her eyes stinging, she dumped her stuff on her desk and rushed to the bathroom down the hall before she started crying.

Entering the bathroom, she felt the tears start and hid inside until they finally stopped flowing. She washed her face and stared at her runny make-up wishing she’d brought her purse with her so she could have fixed it. Using a paper towel, she began washing it off and ended up spilling water all down the front of her shirt in the process.

Realizing this wasn’t going to be a great day, she let out a little sigh and headed back to her desk, anger stirring inside her. She had worked hard for Seals and she deserved to get the credit for her hard work. Luke had been upset with Kirkland for insulting her yesterday but he’d just hurt her more by not trusting her. She let out a little growl and stomped back to her desk, sitting down to start typing out a report.

She needed to calm down before she had to deal with Luke again because she wasn’t too happy about his outright refusal of her working in a department she was more than qualified for, damn it. She turned around briskly when Tina shut the office door and almost tumbled from the chair when it leaned back of its own accord. She reached out and grabbed the edge of the table wildly as she did so trying to stop herself from falling. Tina snorted out a little laugh that made Evie’s cheeks heat.

“Damn, don’t throw yourself out of the chair, Evie. I tried to get him to see reason but he’s being a jerk because he’s a big baby. I’ll work on him though,” Tina said, her voice filled with determination.

“Yeah, I’m not sure that he will allow it. I suppose it’s what my father did,” Evie told her, finally managing to right herself and turn to look at Tina.

“No, it’s that he doesn’t want to deal with training someone new after the issues he had last time. I get why he’s acting like a jerk but I don’t like it. I’ll talk to Laney about it too. She might be able to talk to him about it and convince him. She’s actually pretty good at calling him on his bullshit. One of the things I love about her.” Tina’s smile was wide and she winked at Evie.

“Well don’t expect it to work this time. I can tell you from past experience that he isn’t likely to change his mind about what my father did,” Evie said, shaking her head.

“I promise that’s not his objection. He’s just damned babyish about things that interrupt his schedule. I’m sure I don’t have to tell you about that,” Tina said with a grin.

Evie couldn’t argue with her there because it was true, Luke didn’t like anything that messed with his schedule. She wasn’t sure that Tina was correct about his reasons but she didn’t want to argue with her so she just nodded.

“Well if you get him to agree, then I would love to work in your department. I’ve always found working with numbers soothing,” Evie replied.

“Me too,” Tina said before she waved and headed out the door. Evie watched her leave, wondering if she was right and it wasn’t that Luke didn’t trust her but that he didn’t want to deal with replacing her that made him refuse her request to transfer Evie to her department.

Luke watched Evie’s retreating back feeling like a dick. He knew after all the times she’d been passed over for jobs that she probably thought his refusal to allow her to work in the accounting department was about what her father had done, but it wasn’t. It was because he didn’t want to not be able to see her at her desk every morning.

He knew it was selfish after all she had been through but it didn’t stop him from glaring at Tina. Tina glanced at the door as Evie closed it behind her before turning back to him with a heavy scowl on her face.

“Tell me this isn’t because of her father’s stupidity because if it is, I am going to Eric and Craig about this. She had nothing to do with—” Luke held up his hand to stop her flow of words.

“It’s not. I refuse to train another assistant when I’ve finally managed to train a decent one. We’ve just gotten everything up to date last month and I don’t want to deal with a huge mess like before,” he growled, standing with his hands pressed to the desk, leaning forward slightly. Tina glared at him as she leaned in on the other side, her eyes narrowed and her nostrils flaring. 

“You realize you’re being unreasonable. Evie can train the replacement so they know how to handle the office. She’s a certified accountant and they’re harder to find.” Tina threw her hands up and began pacing in front of his desk, her arms waving wildly as she continued, “And you know damned good and well she is able to help you hire competent staff because you had her do it for the Texas office a few days ago. Why you’re being so stubborn is beyond me.”

“I am not being unreasonable,” Luke uttered through his clenched teeth and glared at Tina, even though he knew he was being just that. He didn’t care. He wanted to have her in his office so he could see her every day. If she moved to Tina’s department, he wouldn’t have an excuse to watch her like he did in his office.

Tina wasn’t too happy with his answer and she frowned at him before throwing her hands into the air again. “Damn it, Luke, this is damned stupid. She is an accountant and she
already
works here so it would be easier than hiring someone and seeing how they do.” Tina stormed towards the door. Her hand on the handle, she glared back at him. “You aren’t being fair to her either. She would be paid more if she were in my department and she’d being doing what she was trained for. It might also help her get a job in her field later if she ever decided to leave the company. You’re being selfish.”

Tina didn’t say anything else as she stomped out of his office, her head high and her steps quick. Luke watched her stop to talk to Evie, who still looked hurt, before she headed out the door. Damn, he hadn’t meant to piss Tina off or make Evie feel like he didn’t trust her. Now he didn’t know how he would talk about their relationship like he’d planned this morning. Sitting down in his chair, he turned to stare out the window at the blue sky, his mind running in circles trying to figure out what to do. He didn’t want to give her up but Tina’s parting shot about it not being fair to Evie was true.

Luke steepled his hands and leaned back in his chair, his frown deepening. He really wasn’t sure what to do about the situation. Maybe he should give her a raise so she would be making the same in either department; that way he wasn’t being unfair to her. She could work for him and be paid as if she worked as an accountant.

He stared at the clouds floating by, his head pounding from the headache thinking about not seeing Evie every day caused. Luke knew he was becoming way too attached to Evie. Maybe he should let her go to Tina’s department because it might lessen his growing addiction to all things Evie. He needed to get a handle on his emotions where she was concerned. He was constantly horny any time he was near her and he wanted to know where she was and who she was with at all times. He’d found himself checking the tracker at least six times a night to be sure she wasn’t out with anyone and it was frankly driving him nuts. He needed to get a damned grip.