Especially when my task list was empty.
“Juda, I don’t have any tasks listed. You having the same problem?”
“Um, no. My task list is very full. I was going to ask you about it because it seems you’ve added items back onto my list that I’ve already assigned you.” He scratched his thinning brown hair. “That’s unacceptable—”
“Izzy is strictly on IT today, Juda,” Cade said from across the hall as he made his way over from the elevators.
Every head in the office whipped toward his voice. I think I even heard Penelope gasp.
Cade Armanelli in a three-piece suit—black and pressed like he’d walked off the set of a photo shoot—was a sight for any fashionable woman, let alone for our motley team who barely attempted to dress anywhere close to business casual for work.
Cassie wore a damn T-shirt most days, and Juda was currently in shorts.
Thank God for my pencil skirt because at least he couldn’t look down his nose at me for not putting in the effort. And I needed that boost of confidence to let the furious question fly out of my mouth. “Strictly IT? You’re kidding me, right?”
“Why would a boss ever kid about assignments, Izzy? Your job title is IT specialist, isn’t it?”
Hands on my hips, I faced off with him. “We all do IT here, and most of us do more than that, including me.”
I don’t think anyone talked back to Cade, ever. Granted, we mostly communicated through emails or phone calls because he was never in the office, and none of those calls or emails were ever directed at me. Still, I got around my IT title because Juda passed most of his work off to me. He knew I wanted more than technical difficulty problems. I wanted to code and set up security infrastructures. I wanted to use my education, especially considering I was good at what I did.
Cade’s attempt to control this was ridiculous, especially since he was never present, and I was shocked that my team didn’t jump in immediately to back me up. Cassie and Penelope simply sat there, staring at him with dreamy eyes, and the guys all stood straighter, like they had to compete with his presence.
Didn’t anyone remember this was the guy whose office desk was collecting dust? Except for this last weekend when I was spread-eagle across it.
My mind was not going there. Even as he smirked at me.
He didn’t have an established presence here like he was supposed to. Still, despite that, the moment Cade walked in, this was his floor, and even the Stonewoods knew it.
I chewed on my cheek as I stared at him, but he looked straight through me. His emotion—the pure lust and passion he’d had for me a few nights ago—was gone. It was like his gaze pierced a hole in me, gutted me, and moved right on.
I hated that he had that power over me, that he controlled my job, that he knew exactly how furious I would be about the change.
I flipped my ponytail and continued. “I’m not sure you understand that I help with a lot of the infrastructure that Juda handles.”
“I’m sorry, are you saying I don’t understand the team, or are you saying that Juda can’t handle his own duties?” Cade tilted his head.
“I assure you I can, sir.” Juda stepped up and threw me right under the bus. He knew I’d been doing his work for over a year now.
“So I guess Izzy’s saying I don’t understand this team then.”
This guy. He wanted me to snap. If he could make me resign, he wouldn’t have to deal with the potential HR hell storm I could cause just from our little elevator fling.
“Is this about—”
He cut me off. “If you’d like to discuss this further, you can see me in my office.”
Penelope’s eyes bulged, and Cassie’s head snapped back to her computer as Cade glanced around. Braxton hadn’t even looked up to begin with. Our team didn’t want to interact with the boss. Over this past year, we’d gotten the message loud and clear. Cade operated alone. He assigned certain projects, but not the big ones, nuclear ones, ones that could cause destruction if not handled correctly.
Lucas, the freaking best friend anyone could have, cleared his throat. “I’m happy to help Izzy with the team structure if—”
“I’d like to see you in your office,” I announced quickly, not willing to have Lucas step in for me. Dude was in advertising and not even supposed to be on this floor. He was the only one ready to walk the plank with me, my ride-or-die. But my loyalty to him was too strong to let him do that.
I was more than ready to face Cade’s wrath alone because I had some fury of my own.
7
Izzy
When Cade motioned for me to lead the way, I tried to hide my eye roll. He appeared to be a gentleman with that suit, its tapered fit, and his gold cuff links that matched the large gold ring he wore. I wondered if it was a family one, not that I’d ever ask. We’d never been the type to exchange life stories and we weren’t going to start now.
The Data Security floor of Stonewood Enterprises was sleek. Each large oak office door touted beautiful trim. I knew that trim was hard because of the indentations in my back from when Cade had me pressed up against it. The bruising had faded to the point I thought I could forget how he and I had just fucked in here.
Except as he shut the door behind us, he stepped so close that I had to back up against the door to avoid touching him. One side of his mouth kicked up, like he enjoyed seeing me stumble over myself.
“Scared of something, Izzy?” he whispered against my ear. Instantly, my body reacted, and I shivered before leaning away.
I lifted my chin. “Only that I might have to spend more time with you.”
He chuckled, and the sound held menace—like he was determined to bring me to my knees, but this time my mouth wouldn’t be wrapped around his cock.
I cleared my throat as he turned to walk over to his desk. “Can you explain why my tasks have been moved back to Juda’s list?”
“I can, but I don’t need to.” He shrugged and then pressed a privacy button that fogged his office windows. I watched as the outside world disappeared around us and he sank down into his leather chair, moving a mouse around to wake up the four monitors in front of him as if he was so comfortable at the office he never visited.
Sitting at those monitors was a direct disregard of my presence. I lost sight of him behind the four screens and then he simply kept quiet. Had he forgotten I was in his office? Could I stand here all day and not be a bother to him?
Almost a whole minute passed as I watched him. I literally counted. Shocked at his lack of elaboration—like, no further explanation whatsoever—the awkward silence grew.
Finally, I threw up my hands. “Cade, I didn’t come in here to watch you work.”
“Oh, great. Then you should probably leave.” He cracked his neck to the side and reached for something on his right.
When I saw they were glasses and he slipped them on effortlessly, I couldn’t help but blurt out, “You wear glasses?”
He sighed, closing his eyes for a second before opening them to glare at me. “Izzy, what do you want?”
“You told me to come in here to discuss why you’re changing everything around.” I walked toward his desk in irritation. “You’re never here, but you’re acting like this place doesn’t operate perfectly fine without you.”