There was a note of respect in Gabriel's voice, one she hadn't heard very much from him. She wasn't sure if it was directed at her, or Garrett, or both. After a moment's thought, she decided on the latter. She was trying hard to make an impression on Gabriel and by extension the Kedyn brothers as well. She needed this job.
Which means you can't let yourself get too close to him.
"So, I'm thinking we'll meet tomorrow evening."
"Sounds good. I have some paperwork to catch up on anyway," she agreed.
"Excellent. Meet me at Shift on Main for seven thirty, okay? And dress nicely, it's a classy place."
Caia froze. Shift on Main. She had heard of it. It was a fancy place. A very fancy one, in fact. One that you didn't go to for dinner meetings. It was where people in town took dates. There was no other high-end establishment in town, so everyone knew of it.
"Uh, Gabriel. Listen. I don't know if-"
"Nonsense. It's the perfect place for a business meeting. They've got a private room. I'll get it reserved for us so we can talk without being bothered."
Private room? This just keeps getting better and better!
"I don't know if this is such a good idea," she told him, though her heart was definitely not as against the idea as her brain was.
"It'll be fine. All business. Trust me."
Caia sighed, giving up. It really wasn't in her to fight the idea. "Fine, I'll be there."
Besides, she liked the way he looked at her when she dressed for work. It was a mixture of appreciation for the effort she put into it, and something else. Something far more raw, and primal, filled with hunger and desire. Gabriel did his best to keep it hidden and tucked away, but she could still see it from time to time, and it made her shiver at the thought of finding herself alone and at his mercy.
Part of her very much wanted to find out how he would look at her if she dressed up for him. Would he be able to contain that animalistic hunger, or would his eyes feast upon her, sending her wild with desire?
Caia took a deep, shuddering breath as she envisioned several different scenarios of what might happen, each of which ended with an explosion of pleasure. Pleasure that she knew she would have to deny herself, both for his sake and hers. Both of them would find themselves in extreme jeopardy if they got involved. It would be worse for Gabriel, because he would find himself at the mercy of the Kedyns, and they didn't take it very well when a shifter broke the rules in Genesis Valley.
Caia would simply be dismissed from service, but if it was bad enough, Gabriel could find himself on the courtyard out behind of the mansion, which is where Caia knew they ended any shifter deemed unreliable. She shook her head, snatching herself from the increasingly morose path her thoughts were heading down. She had work to do. Work that while not overly fun, was at least a little less depressing.
If she had to daydream, she would come up with various outfits to wear for the next day, and picture Gabriel's reaction to them. Now that sounded a lot more fun, especially if she wore the –
The black multi-line phone on her desk buzzed and Marcus's voice sounded, asking her to come into his office.
"Right away Mr. Kedyn," she said, stabbing her finger to end the connection before she sighed with frustration. Couldn't a girl be allowed just a minute to fantasize around here?
The leather chair under her rolled back easily as she rose. The door to his office was behind her and to the right, allowing her desk to be interposed between anyone who entered from the main offices of the mansion into her room. The only other door in or out of Marcus's office led into private areas of the mansion where she wasn't allowed. So if anyone wanted to see him, they had to go through her.
Marcus's desk was situated in the middle of the room, facing the door she had just entered, positioned in the center wall. Her legs worked quickly to bring herself across the floor, stopping smartly in front of his huge, arcing desk. Despite the hulking size of the wooden behemoth, it always seemed cluttered and covered in paperwork.
Right now, however, everything had been pushed to the side to make room for the folder he held in his hand.
"What can I do for you?" she asked politely, though her attention was focused on the folder and its contents.
The parts of your attention that aren't focused on Gabriel, you mean. On what you picture he's going to look like tomorrow. Is he going to wear a suit? I think he would look good in a suit.
Marcus was looking at her expectantly.
"I'm sorry sir," she said, flushing bright red as she realized he was waiting for an answer to a question she hadn't even heard. "Could you please repeat that?"
"Everything okay Caia?"
"Yes sir, sorry sir."
She had completely blanked out on her boss speaking, all because of the good-looking shifter who happened to be her partner! How embarrassing. Caia just wanted to run into a closet and hide until the day was over. But she couldn't. The part of her that refused to give up and hated being defeated rose up, overwhelming her initial urge to flee the room.
Caia straightened, focusing in on Marcus as he looked up, as if evaluating her.
"Very well then. I asked how your little excursion went this morning."
"Rather less productive than we had hoped, unfortunately."
She wondered just how much Marcus knew about what had happened. Was she about to get reamed out for simply showing up at the Sapphire apartments?
"Do you know why I assigned you to be Gabriel's partner on this?" There was a dangerous undertone to Marcus's voice that she didn't like.
Any doubt as to whether he knew the exact goings-on from earlier that day were erased from her mind as he slowly flipped open the folder in front of her. It showed the destruction of the lobby that had occurred when Gabriel had "taught his lesson" to the Sapphire who had been on lookout duty.
"Because you valued my insight and body-language analysis sir?"
His black eyebrows narrowed dangerously, and she couldn't help but think that made the long angry scar on his face stand out even more.
"I paired the two of you together because I knew that Gabriel could get a bit straightforward at times, and I was relying on you to be somewhat more subtle. This," he gestured at the smashed glass and broken walls, "is exactly the opposite of what I wanted to see from you. What the hell happened?"
Great. Now she would have to defend the man who had just angered her boss, all while pretending that she didn't find Gabriel utterly desirable. Perfect.
"The man in the lobby was warned, Mr. Kedyn. Gabriel made it very clear that he was not to communicate with Ben that we were present. But he disobeyed that, so Gabriel was forced to follow through with his promise."
"Do you have any idea how much damage those two bears caused? Fighting indoors in animal form is not exactly conducive to our pocketbooks. It's one thing if they brawl outdoors and nothing but the ground gets damaged. But this, this has to be fixed! Next time control that beast Miss Rowan, or I'll find someone who can!"
Caia blinked in confusion.
"What, is there something you don't understand?"
"Yes sir," she said, ignoring the dripping sarcasm. Marcus was clearly in a foul mood over something else, because he had never addressed her in such a tone before. Or anyone, at least for the few weeks that she'd been around. "You said two bears."
"I did. Gabriel and this other one, Morgan, I think his name was."
"Sir, Gabriel never changed into his bear. He didn't even consider it. The other shifter panicked, and in an attempt to overpower Gabriel I suppose, he shifted. But, as much as I don't want to defend him any more than I already have, Gabriel didn't do anything wrong. He was perfectly content to beat the other man in his human form, without resorting to shifting. Even when the Sapphire shifted, Gabriel didn't."
The scathing retort she knew had been ready died on Marcus's lips as she explained what had happened.
"You're positive?" he asked sharply. There was still anger in his voice, but she could sense that it was no longer directed entirely at her.
"Yes sir. I watched it all happen from start to finish. I never thought that a human, even a bear shifter in human form, could take out such a huge animal. But Gabriel did it with such ease. It's kind of scary, knowing how proficient he is."
Caia stopped short of asking the question she was dying to know.
Why did Gabriel have the training and skills to be so deadly? What was his normal job that he required that knowledge and experience?
It chilled her to the core. The only reason that she could come up with for Marcus to need someone like Gabriel around was either as an assassin or a bodyguard. Gabriel had too much life in his eyes, however, which made her think he was a bodyguard. But he did not spend much time around Marcus or Valen.
So who, or what, was he guarding, and what was he protecting it from?
Something much bigger than she was being led to believe was going on in Genesis Valley.