She was at a loss. Their last two exchanges had consisted of a phone conversation and a very pretentious lunch at a Japanese restaurant where she’d been forced to sit with her legs crossed for hours. When she’d tried to stretch, he’d explained that sometimes discomfort was good for the soul. It had seemed to her that discomfort just sucked. But she hadn’t said it.
“Did I do something wrong?” Serena asked. The panic that normally accompanied that question wasn’t there this time. She wasn’t terrified she’d made someone mad or done something awkward. She was merely curious. Days spent with Jake and Adam seemed to have had an effect. She’d learned rapidly she could be awkward around them and they just laughed it off. Well, Adam laughed, and Jake’s normally stern face would turn up in a little uptick that let her know he was amused.
“You didn’t do anything wrong,” Adam insisted.
Jake sat down on her couch and tugged her down beside him.
Master Storm’s brows rose over his gray eyes. “I thought you said he was your employee, dear.”
She rolled her eyes. “Don’t call him that. It makes him mad.”
“She isn’t paying me. Her agent is. She’s my trial and tribulation. Little brat.”
Somehow when Jake said it she got a warm, gooshy feeling inside. Like he was teasing her with affection. “I am so easy.”
Jake shook his head. “She’s not easy. Do you know what I had to do yesterday? I had to take her and her friends to lunch. Sounds great, huh? Easy. Eat a little Mexican food. Relax. Those three spent the whole time talking about how to murder their characters. And then they talked about three-ways. And four-ways. And five-ways. After three margaritas, I’m pretty sure they talked about how to work a goat in.”
Serena giggled. “You thought it was going to be some boring discussion of the craft didn’t you?”
Jake’s head shook. “All I know is you ran off like five families, and I had to run off a whole table of asshole men who sat listening to you.”
Adam held a hand out, giving his partner a high-five. “They were wimps. All we had to do was flash a piece and they took off.”
Serena felt her jaw drop. “You showed those men at the table beside us your guns?”
Jake shrugged, obviously comfortable with his inner caveman. “It did the trick.” He turned to Master Storm. “Would you like to see my gun?”
“I don’t need a gun,” Master Storm replied. “My body is a weapon.”
Serena could feel the whole room go on testosterone overload. If she didn’t handle this, and quickly, Master Storm was going to get a demonstration of what the Green Berets taught their men. “I’m afraid I’m confused, Sir. I was under the impression you were happy with my progress in our last talk.”
She’d thought she would get an invitation to a demonstration. She’d been looking forward to it, and then her world had cracked open.
“I was referring to the rather bratty tone of your last two e-mails. I asked you if you would like to come to my house to play this weekend, and I was told to play with myself, though you used rougher terms. I’m rather wondering if that was you at all, dear.”
She turned to Adam.
“I actually told him to fuck himself. And that if he needed an ass to paddle, he should look in the mirror.” He sat back without a single look of remorse on his face.
She took a long breath and nodded back at Master Storm. “Obviously I didn’t send that e-mail. I had asked Adam to send me any mail that needed my direct attention.”
“And I was to handle anything that didn’t,” Adam explained. “I did exactly what you wanted me to. I handled the unimportant things.”
They would have to have a talk about that later, but for now she simply sent him her most stern look. It seemed to bounce right off him. He winked at her.
“I am so sorry, Sir. I apologize for any discourtesy.” Just because Adam had decided to act like an ass didn’t mean she couldn’t save the relationship. After Adam and Jake were gone, she doubted they would have the time to answer her questions. She would be alone in her fictional world, and she would need Master Storm. Jake and Adam might not see it that way, but she knew how it would work. They were interested because she was the only woman available. They were being paid to be with her twenty-four seven. When they didn’t have to be, they would find a woman in their league, and she would be out in the cold.
Master Storm finally sat down. He seemed to ignore the men in the room, his eyes focusing on her. “I’m glad to hear that, little one. I have to admit I was more hurt by that e-mail than I would have expected to be.”