Corrupted Chaos (Tarnished Empire)(41)

She just needed to figure that out for herself. And as her hand fisted, I knew it wouldn’t be tonight.

“Did you hear a word I said? I’m one of your best employees, and that’s all I’m going to be from now on. We’re not sleeping with each other while we’re working on national security. It’s irresponsible.”

“That right? Even if you’re in a cabin with Rodney?” I shouldn’t have said it. I should have left it alone, but I’d watched her eye him up and I’d seen red.

“Yeah and about Rodney. You can’t go around changing accommodations, Cade. That’s so unprofessional.”

I didn’t deny it.

She pulled at her hair and growled. “The fact that you moved me to this cabin just because of Rodney is ridiculous, Cade. You realize that?”

“I do need you here to work. It’s easier that way. And now you won’t have to deal with Rodney either.”

“Deal with Rodney? Deal with him?” Her voice got higher and higher. “What if I wanted to deal with him?”

“You just said we shouldn’t be fucking around.”

“Yeah, me and you. You’re my boss. Rodney isn’t even on our team!” She started to storm off to the bedroom, but then she came back to point her finger in my face. “You don’t get to dictate my accommodations and manage my personal life.”

“Well, actually I do.” I was just stating a fact.

Her eyes widened like she couldn’t believe I’d double down on that. Clearly, she didn’t understand that I’d go round and round with her all day. That I loved seeing how her hair got messier and messier as she combed her hands through it, how her clothes became more rumpled, and how she raised her voice after working so hard all day to speak softly.

“You’re an entitled dick, you know that? I don’t care if you’re in the mob, and I don’t care if you’re my boss. I’m getting through this election, then I’m going over your head to Jett to get a different position. This”—she motioned between us—“toxic back-and-forth is over.”

“If you say so,” I murmured just to rile her further.

Izzy Hardy didn’t disappoint. When she got pissed, I practically saw steam come out of her ears. She stomped back to the bedroom. I wasn’t stupid enough to think that we’d ever be more than fuck buddies, but I’d at least teach her that she didn’t have to worry about other people’s expectations of her. It was probably hindering her life in some way; she’d thank me later.

Or so I thought.

Until I heard a rattle and then a hiss that sounded a lot like spray paint. And there she was.

Izzy fucking Hardy. Not disappointing for a second as she sprayed a big-ass red line along the center of our room, up the bed, over the comforter, across the middle of the frame, ending on the wall as high as she could reach.

Whipping her head my way, she had a smile that was genuine on her face, and her eyes shined a more vivid green and gold than I’d ever seen, sparkling with so much life that I knew this was the phoenix in her—the version of her I wanted to see always. She looked like she did when I took her breath away, like she was dancing with death, and it turned her on more than bumbling around aimlessly living.

“You’re going to stay on that side, and I’m on this side, Cade. Want to know why? Because I do say so.” She lifted her chin in triumph.

A normal person would have called the event coordinator and sent her insubordinate ass home. I chuckled, though, and leaned on the doorframe, putting my hands in my pockets. “Maybe you should put my name above the headboard so we’re clear. I don’t think the big-ass red line is enough.”

She stomped over to my side and painted Entitled Dick.

Then she grabbed her bag and went to the spare bathroom in the living room, most likely because the en suite bathroom was on my side.

I let her fume for the rest of the night, went back to my computer, and got to work on the code she’d used to break through JUNIPER.

A few hours in, the silence of the wilderness closed in on me. My mind wandered to her. I was losing my edge, and I wasn’t sure I wanted it back.

While she slept soundly, I rummaged through her luggage and found her spray paint. I put Dollface above her head. She woke on the last letter and squinted up at me, leaning on her side to do it. Then she smiled like I’d made her whole life, like this was normal behavior.

No words were spoken between us. She rolled over under the comforter on her side of the damn red line and snuggled in.

I stared at her for far too long before I growled and went into the bathroom to get ready for bed. If I was going to indulge the red line down the bed and across the room, I was happy that the bathroom was on my side. I knew I’d be jacking off to her more than once on this retreat. My dumbass split-second decision to have her stay with me was already backfiring. Indulging the jealousy that coiled through me at seeing her with someone else should have been an indicator to back off.

I turned out the lights as I entered the room and pulled the blankets up over her shoulder, staring at how her dark hair fanned out across the light pillow, how her lips parted with a breath, how her small neck was so delicate that I could steal her life in a second and make sure she enjoyed the feeling the whole damn time. And I fucking wanted to do the latter instead of the former more often than not now.