Can You Feel It?

14.

EREX

The silence in the car was punctuated only by the occasional taps of Kaya's manicured nails on the armrest as she bobbed her head to some song, earphones in.

Her hair was tied up in a ponytail again, high and shiny as spun gold. Her blue and white checkered shirt fit her frame flatteringly, just like the pair of tight black jeans she'd donned. I internally shook my head, back to focusing on the road.

I'd been a fool.

I didn't like it. 

Not one bit. 

That interaction was meant to be a heavy strike on Kaya, not something she'd turn around on me. Two days in, and I'd already realized what a big mistake I'd made. For the sake of my pride, I'd gladly agreed when she goaded me. I got the last word in, and yet I knew I'd lost to her masterful steering of the conversation.

And now I was stuck carpooling every day with her.

I liked my space but now she was invading it. Granted, I was curious about her, but this crossed a line I didn't like. And yet, to deny her would be to admit defeat. Damnit.

She took out her earphones as I parked the car, turning to smirk at me and rub her win in my face without saying a single word before she elegantly got out of the car.

I cut the engine and closed my eyes, exhaling, tamping down the urge to rebuke her look, to say something that would end up spelling doom for me again.

If I tried provoking her, she'd give back as good as she got. 

If I tried to use charm and seduction, she'd just flip the tables on me with one curl of those morphine red painted lips and a blink of kohl lined multicolored eyes and I'd have to tell myself to calm down because god knew she wasn't someone I could just grab and kiss. 

And the urge was there. Sometimes out of the blue, sometimes persistent. The internal battle was not something I was enjoying.

Human biology sucked sometimes.

Because that's what this was: plain and simple biology.

I took my sweet time to get myself back on track before leaving the car.

Climbing into the elevator once Kaya was well and truly out of my sight, I hoped there'd be a new case to distract me. That's mostly all I thought about as I went through the security check, getting scanned and putting my briefcase into the scanner. Once I was through, I unbuttoned the top of my short and breathed a little easy as the familiar scent and environment of the office surrounded me.

As soon as I entered the office lobby, though, I realized God must have heard my plea for once.

Jung Ae-Ra and Jared Abernathy were here, and that spelled destruction and doom in a whole different font.

I guess I got my distraction.

—🎭—

KAYA

I tilted my head slightly, watching as the Korean woman pressed down on her tie, head held high, her hair sleek and straight, and a midnight black.

She sat in the lobby, completely at ease, and yet not. Her back was ramrod straight, her eyes intense.

And she had a magnetic presence.

But more than that, I recognized her.

Someone whistled next to me, and Callie chuckled at Zeke's rare antic. I glanced at the two, having stopped at Zeke, Finn, and Erex's work cubicles because they had a pretty good view of the lobby, and I wanted to see.