Jace (River Pack Wolves 2)(29)

She let out a small chuckle. “No, just his usual grumpiness. I think his wife is holding out on him again. That boy really needs to get laid on a regular basis or he just makes everyone’s life hell.”

“Sounds like need to know information, and I did not need to know that.”

Shelley laughed, and it was a good sound to hear. Piper trusted her to give a little heads up—or insist that Piper come into the office—if anything serious was going down. Which, if Simpson had any clue what she had been up to, would constitute a major crisis.

“All right,” Piper said, “let me know if anything comes up. I’ll be taking the next few days for some personal business. Hope to wrap it up really soon. Can’t wait to get back in the field.”

“You got it.” The line clicked off.

Piper strode down the hallway, making the last few turns to reach Michael’s office, which was adjacent to Krepky’s larger, official Senate office. She didn’t bother knocking, just opened the door, right on time. Michael sat at his desk, peering at something on his screen, but he looked up when she closed the door behind her.

A smile lit his face. He was young—probably no more than 30—and not terribly unattractive, but he had a smarmy way about him. His smiles were the kind that were calculated to either win votes for his boss or threaten people into backing him. Everything served a purpose in his grander scheme.

“Piper!” he effused, rising from his chair. “Can’t tell you how glad I am to see you.”

“I’m sure you could tell me,” Piper said in a voice that invited the flirtation she knew he enjoyed. “But I don’t really have time for flattery right now. This is just a quickie visit, Michael.”

He gave her an exaggerated pout as he rounded the desk, then strode forward for one of his patented, far-too-familiar hugs, the kind he gave all the pretty assistants and interns. She allowed it, but couldn’t help comparing it to Jace’s quick embrace: where Michael left her feeling chilled, Jace had set every part of her on fire.

She shoved that thought out of her mind. Focus, Piper.

When Michael released her, she said, “Look, I know you’re busy, so I won’t waste any of your time.”

He gave her a flirtatious smile. “Time with you is never a waste, Piper Wilding. Still waiting to find out if you live up to your last name.”

So… that’s how it was going to be. Piper held in her sigh. “Not sure I have time for that today, Michael.” She hadn’t slept with him—yet—but that had always been dangled as a possibility. And before today, she probably would have used this opportunity to initiate Michael into her list of “not-definitively-bad” guys who she slept with to score information necessary to her job. She drew the line at sleeping with the definitively bad guys, as a general rule, unless necessary... but in her line of business there were often a lot of gray areas. And an orgasm was an orgasm. Didn’t really matter who it was with. Until… until Jace River cruised into her life and held out the promise of more. A whole lot more. And suddenly the Michael’s of the world got shoved off the “maybe” list onto the “no way in hell” list.

Which made the idea of sleeping with him now give her the creeps.

Michael leaned forward and swept a lock of her long, black hair over her shoulder, a touch as calculated as it was shudder-worthy. “Oh, come on, Piper. You’ve been teasing me so long, I’m not sure I can withstand a rejection at this point.”

She forced a flirtatious smile onto her face and leaned into him, fussing with his collar and giving him a long, hot look straight in the eyes. “I’m not saying never… I’m just saying I don’t have time to do it properly right now.”

He took that as a license to pull her closer, sliding his hands around her waist and yanking her body up against his. His erection poked her stomach, and she had to force herself to keep the smile and not actually throw up in his face.

It was so obvious that Jace River had already ruined her—bad—for anyone else. And she hadn’t even slept with him. Damn him.

“I hear shifter women are extraordinarily hot and dirty in bed.” Michael leered and came close to kissing her, but held back. “How about a taste as a little down payment?” Then he kissed her, forcing his tongue into her mouth and digging around like he was searching for some kind of buried treasure.

God. Noah had better survive whatever trouble he was in, so she could beat the shit out of him for putting her through this. She made a mental note to replay all the gory details for him once he was safe again. Thinking about that got her through the kiss. When it was over, Michael pulled back and gave her a little space. Thank God.