Chapter 47: Mint Can Be Quite a Delicious Flavor

“Mr. Kentworth wants to see you in his office,” Adelaide informed Octavia. “Now.”

Octavia frowned, a bagel in one hand and a knife coated with peanut butter in the other. “Now?” she repeated.

“That’s what I said,” Adelaide said curtly.

“Like…now as in now?” Octavia said.

Adelaide sneered at her, turned, and walked off.

Octavia grinned to herself and took a bite of her bagel. She wondered whether Adelaide would treat her differently when she assumed her new role as Software Design Consultant.

The news had yet to be announced; so far only herself, Indira, and Raemon knew.

It was strange. Back at the mountain resort, only a few weeks ago, Octavia had fallen asleep in Raemon’s arms (a reality she was still processing) and woken up in the resort medical room.

Apparently, a search-and-rescue team had gone after them once the storm died down.

She was immediately airlifted from the place and flown back to the city—on Raemon’s orders. The doctors found nothing seriously wrong with her besides the twisted ankle. Also, she came down with the flu.

She spent the next few weeks on the couch in her apartment, her leg propped up and bowls of take-out chicken soup filling up the spaces without empty video game cases.

Gracie came by a lot, and they’d play the games together. Once, she even brought Octavia a bar of chocolate.

“Aww, Gracie,” Octavia said, “thanks!”

Gracie shrugged. “I found it in a drawer at the store. I would have eaten it, but it has almonds. I hate almonds.”

Octavia just stopped short of rolling her eyes. “And here I was thinking my best friend cared about me enough to bring me a present in my time of physical affliction.”

Gracie smirked. “Why the hell would I do that?”

Honestly, the two of them are friends.

Once Octavia was able to, she called Indira and excitedly voiced her acceptance. Indira responded with the same enthusiasm and assured Octavia that she would be the one to talk it over with Raemon.

If he was still against it, Indira would let Octavia know what their next step would be. But all Octavia received was a cheery email from Ms. Bhandari informing her that it was all worked out.

She heard nothing from Raemon, and as far as she knew, she was still employed as his assistant until she’d take on her new role in a few weeks’ time.

It was Octavia’s first day back at work. She hadn’t seen Raemon since getting caught in the snowstorm. When she first arrived, he’d been in some super confidential meeting all morning.

She’d sat at her desk in the adjoining office, quietly working away. Adelaide finding her in the building cafeteria and giving her that curt command had been the first she’d heard from Raemon.

Octavia wolfed down the rest of the bagel and dusted the crumbs off her Wonder Woman T-shirt.

She had paired the shirt with a pair of black, high-waisted, flared pants—and of course, her beloved Converse shoes.

All the clothing items Mrs. Santos had purchased had found their way back to Octavia’s home. That day she was wearing the bright-yellow pair of shoes.

Once she was at his door, Octavia let herself in. The doors slid open, she stepped in, and the doors slid shut behind her.

Raemon was standing behind his desk with his back to her, staring out of the window. His suit jacket was draped over the back of his chair.

The sleeves of his light-gray shirt were rolled up on the arms that were clasped behind his back.

“You called?” Octavia said.

“Yes,” Raemon said.

He didn’t turn around. Octavia was puzzled. She walked over to the desk, stopping right before it. The large, expertly crafted piece of furniture was the only thing between them.

“Well,” Octavia said, “here I am.”

That was when Raemon turned around. He fixed his intense gaze on his assistant, not moving or speaking for the next few seconds.

~Shit,~ Octavia thought, a cold dread forming in her stomach. ~He’s probably saved the angry rant about the new job until now.~

Everything inside Octavia wilted as she watched him walk around his desk and come to stand before her.

~Yup, this is it,~ she thought. ~Here’s when he hands me the pink slip and says, “Over my dead body will you be anything other than my assistant, you little wretch,” and then laughs evilly in my face.~

Raemon took a step toward Octavia till there was no space left between them. He raised a hand to her chin, grasped it between his fingers, and tilted her face upward.

Then he lowered his head and pressed his lips against hers.

~Huh,~ Octavia thought. ~So that’s what he tastes like. I’m getting a distinct taste of mint, wrapped in a bold, earthy flavor. I never would have guessed this is what I’d taste when I kissed him—~

Like a lightning bolt struck her, Octavia’s eyes suddenly shot wide open. But it was only the very close-up image of her boss’s face that swam before her eyes.

~HOLY FUCKING HELL!~ a voice in her head screamed. ~YOU’RE FUCKING KISSING RAEMON KENTWORTH!!!~

A million sensations were realized in a single breath. His arms were moving against her body. One arm was circling her waist, pulling her close.

The other dropped from her chin and grazed over her neck, feeling every inch of skin and fabric as it trailed down her chest, just to the top of her breast, then to her shoulder and down her arm.

Being as close as she was to him, she felt his hard, sculpted chest against her body. She could feel the rippling muscles underneath his shirt pressing against her.

There was another hardness of his that she felt farther down, but this one was too much for her to consider at the moment.

All these sensations took a back seat to the feeling of his lips. His lips pressed down on her mouth in all of their warm fullness, then began to nudge at her static flesh.

A small part of Octavia’s brain was aware of her lips parting under the gentle nudging of his, and the flood of heightened heat that washed over her body when she did.

She closed her eyes and let herself relax into his embrace.

Her hands pressed against his chest— that chiseled, rock-hard, immovable chest— and she felt her fingers curl around the folds in his shirt as the force of whatever it was that came over her coursed through her body.

Meanwhile, Raemon’s lips continually plied at hers. He sucked on her top, then bottom lip.

She felt his tongue dive into her own mouth, licking over her teeth and meeting with her tongue in a probing dance.

When she involuntarily let out a little gasp, she felt the sharp tightening of his arms around her. His lips pressed harder against hers— he dove deeper with his tongue.

It was as if he wanted to fill her up with his entire being and at the same time absorb every drop of her essence through his lips.

It was in the way his hands roved over her shoulders and down her back, how he pulled her into him and pressed himself against her, over and over in rhythmic waves.

How he thrust his tongue into her mouth— enough to make electrifying thrills crawl down her middle— but then he drew back to caress the inside of her mouth and cover her lips with long, slow kisses.

They might have spent hours there, Octavia couldn’t tell. At some point, though, that pesky inner voice of hers spoke.

~Hi there, me again. Not to interrupt or anything but…may I remind you that YOU ARE KISSING RAEMON KENTWORTH?!?!?!?!~

Octavia suddenly drew back.

“Holy fuck,” she exclaimed in a breathless pant.

Raemon’s arms were still wrapped around her, and she was very much still caught in his embrace. He was looking down at her with an intense, hungry look in his eyes.

“Hooolllyyyy fuuuccckkk…,” Octavia said again, slowly.

“What?” Raemon whispered huskily. Like her, he was slightly out of breath.

“You…you kissed me,” Octavia said.

“I know,” Raemon replied.

“But…I…I kissed you back.”

She didn’t miss the glint in his eyes when she said that.

“I know,” Raemon said.

“That’s not good,” Octavia said.

“Why not?”

“Because… I’m your employee.”

“Not for much longer.”

“Well… then… because we hate each other.”

“I don’t hate you.”

“But I kinda hate you.”

“Do you really? I never would have guessed.”

Octavia narrowed her eyes at him. “If I didn’t hate you five minutes ago, I definitely do now.”

“I can fix that.”

Raemon dipped his head down again, and once more, an inferno rose up in Octavia’s body. Another couple of minutes—or maybe hours—passed by.

“Okay,” Octavia said, pulling back from Raemon again. “I guess I don’t hate you.”

“I suspected as much,” Raemon said.

“But…clearly, whatever this is, it’s only physical.”

“You can call it whatever you like,” Raemon said. He pressed his forehead against Octavia’s. “All I know is I want you, Octavia Wilde.”

Octavia made a face. “You mean for sex, right?”

“What else would I mean?”

“I don’t know. Maybe you’d want to stick my dead body in a freezer,” Octavia said.

Raemon shook his head slightly against hers but cocked his mouth into a half smile. “I do want your body,” he said, “but not in my freezer.”

“Good,” Octavia said plainly. “Because, as you know, I hate the cold.”

“Believe me, you won’t have to worry about a lack of heat when I take you,” Raemon said.

Octavia grinned. “Take me where? Out to a ball game?”

In response, Raemon pressed his mouth against her neck. What he did there plucked the laugh out of Octavia’s chest and made her gasp instead.

“Okay, okay!” she exhaled, halfheartedly trying to wriggle out of Raemon’s grasp. “If that’s what you’re going to do, I won’t sass you anymore.”

“Please do,” Raemon murmured against her skin.

“Come on,” Octavia whined, laughing. “I should get back to work.”

Raemon lifted his head. “That’s my call to make.”

“If I give you that option, neither one of us will leave this place,” Octavia said.

“Exactly,” Raemon answered.

A sound buzzed from his desk. Adelaide’s voice said, “Mr. Kentworth? Your ten o’clock is here. Shall I send him in?”

Raemon’s eyes were roving over Octavia’s body as if he were mentally planning what he wanted to do to her. He reached over the desk with one hand and pressed a button.

“Show him to one of the conference rooms,” he responded, “I’ll be down shortly.”

After the intercom had clicked, Raemon again wrapped both arms around Octavia. It occurred to her that the two of them probably looked very stupid.

He was just standing there, holding her, and looking down at her in that way.

She really couldn’t say what kind of a look it was, but one thing was certain, the stern and detached face Mr. Raemon Kentworth usually wore was long gone.

“I should go,” Octavia said softly.

Raemon’s reply was another kiss. But this one was brief.

“I should be done with his meeting by noon,” Raemon said. “I want you back here after that.”

Octavia gave him a pointed look. “For work?”

“Of course,” Raemon responded roguishly.

Octavia pulled herself out of his grasp. There was just the smallest wilting in Raemon’s features when she extracted herself from his embrace. She straightened her clothes out and turned to the door.

“I mean that, Octavia,” Raemon called.

Octavia turned and gave him a bright smile. “Hey, you’re the boss, aren’t you?” She was still smiling as she strolled out the door.

Adelaide watched Octavia leave Raemon’s office, then minutes later, Raemon emerged. She rushed up to him, all the files he requested for his upcoming meeting in hand.

“Sir,” she said, holding a stack of folders out to him.

“Thank you, Weston,” Raemon said.

Adelaide’s heart nearly stopped. She blinked at her boss, wondering if the words she just heard were really uttered or if they were a concoction of her imagination.

In all the years Adelaide had been working for Raemon, he had never thanked her. Not once.

The sound of his voice saying those words was enough to make her weak at the knees. She had to force herself to remain upright and quietly respond with a modest, “You’re welcome.”

Raemon took a moment to thumb through the files.

“Hmm—good,” he said as he looked through. “Make sure the car is ready in the afternoon for my plant inspection. And remind Octavia about it too.”

Adelaide did not miss the gentle smirk on his face at his next words. “She’ll most likely have forgotten.”

“Of course,” Adelaide said. She paused. “Sir…I hope you won’t think me too forward, but…you do remember what I, uh…warned you of recently?”

Raemon regarded his secretary with a blank expression. “And that would be?”

Adelaide continued. “I would only advise you to be careful about spending so much time…alone…with your assistant. As long as she works for you…as an assistant, I mean…she’s simply not on your level.”

Raemon’s face remained blank. Then he smiled.

Yes.

Raemon Kentworth actually smiled.

It was only a small movement of his lips, but it was an upward curve of his mouth nonetheless. There was no sarcasm or mockery behind his look either.

One might actually think he was experiencing the smallest sensation of happiness.

“Weston, you’re absolutely right,” Raemon said.

Adelaide watched him walk away from her in a daze. It was silly of her to be so worried about Octavia, she now realized.

~Even if the little tramp thought otherwise, Octavia didn’t have a hold on Raemon Kentworth,~ Adelaide confidently told herself.