CHAPTER 19

Her laughter reached him as he stepped out of the elevator.
Only three people occupied the whole of the fifty second floor; his receptionist, Shana and himself. He loved his space and the serene environment allowed him to work in peace.
So, he had no idea what could be making his mate laugh out loud in a juvenile way, something she never did with him.
Around him she was still a great deal guarded and he had attributed it to her being shy and considering the fact that they had just met, he never dwelled much on it.
He hurried into her office and had to keep from punching a hole through Mark's smug face as he was bent too close towards Shana, whose eyes were shining like the buff, handsome captain of her school's football team just asked her to be his prom date; make that captain of Anderson's executives.
"Did we have a prior meeting I happened to miss on my schedule?," he asked stonily, watching Shana become her usual self, the mirth going out of her eyes to be replaced by desire.
At least, that one was surely directed at him. His wolf smiled smugly.
"No. I had a pressing issue to discuss with you," Mark drawled lazily, ignoring the murderous look Asher was throwing in his direction.
"Then you should have given me a call. Do you know what a phone does?" he asked sarcastically and Mark laughed lightly. But he was not finding the whole scenario funny . He wanted Mark removed from Shana's vicinity as fast as humanly possible.
"No. It had to be discussed in person."
"Then, let's do that," he said moving towards his office, completely ignoring Shana. If he as much as spared a glance in her direction and saw even a smile lingering on her lips for his Beta, he was going to commit murder.
"It was nice meeting you Miss Johnson. I hope we get to see more of each other."
"Not on my live," Asher swore under his breathe, slamming the door and causing Shana to jump.
"Oops. Just the right mood for my urgent meeting," Mark muttered, staring at the heavy oak door in mock fright.
"What's so urgent you had to come up so early to start flirting with my secretary?," he asked immediately Mark entered the large masculine space.
"Did you mean flirting with your mate?," he asked smirking knowing he was riling Asher up real good.
"This isn't some sort of joke Mark."
"Hold on a sec Alpha. Are you pissed about me coming up here early before you could get a morning kiss or me flirting with your secretary?," he pressed on, ignoring the murderous look in his friend's eyes. "And I was not flirting. OK. Maybe I did a little," he could not resist adding.
"Do you even have to ask? She is an employee and I will exact you to lay off," he was almost growling the words.
"Easy," Mark said, raising his ham to show surrender. "I was just whiling away the time, nothing more. And she was so easy to talk to. You are real lucky man."
Like he had earlier suspected since the mishap in the conference room, his friend definitely had the hots for his pretty little secretary but discovering it was much more than what he thought it was just chemistry had never crossed his mind until he had heard the words from him.
Asher was never one to be territorial about any female. Even when he had dated his sister and it seemed like he could not get enough of her, he had never been jealous of her association with other men and Adele had always been pissed about it, going through any means to bring the jealous monster out of him but it never happened, not even when he found out about what she had done.
He had simply left her, no rage, nothing. Like he never even felt a thing for her.
Asher was definitely one of the coldest bastard he had ever seen, figuratively and literally of course.
But here he was, looking like he was about to let out his wolf to tear him into shreds over a woman he had met in the space of a couple weeks.
It was going to be interesting watching the cold and infallible Asher finally show some some emotions or maybe even get soft like every other mated male.
But he had his sister to worry about, more than he was going to be interested in Asher's relationship.
"What were you saying to her anyway?," Asher asked, finally letting free rein of his curiosity. He wanted to know made Shana let lose and free, even if he had to swallow his pride to ask Mark.
"Nothing," he replied with a straight face. It was definitely interesting to ruffle Asher's fur.
"Nothing indeed," he snorted.
"Really. Just telling her a little bit about you," he continued, trying to keep his face blank.
"What's so urgent?," Asher asked instead of falling into Mark's trap and making himself look vulnerable.
Fine, Shana was his chosen mate but he did not have to appear like a lovesick kid and start questioning Mark about what he said about him or what she thought about him. He was not into any of that.
"It is about Adele. I'm sorry about what she did."
"So?" He hoped Mark was not there to ask for another chance on her behalf.
Adele did not deserve it. She was fired and that was it.
He just could not accept e fact that she had been unrepentant and still believed he loved her.
"I want to know what happened in Italy." He had thought deeply about it and he had decided that to help his sister, he had to know the length to which she would go in her obsession over Asher and it started with the recent happening. And he truly wanted to know if anything intimate happened like Adele claimed.
"Please do not tell me it does not matter. It does. To me," Mark added before Asher could talk.
"But it changes nothing." He was relieved it was not about recruiting her again. Or trying to make excuses for the way she had behaved.
"Yes but I need to know."
"Why?," he asked, watching Mark shift uncomfortably in his chair. There was something he was not telling him. "What's going on? Is there something you are not telling me?"
Mark was torn between his responsibility to his pack and his love for his sister but the latter won over. If he reported what he had seen in Adele to Asher, it was only going to be a matter of time before the whole pack learnt about it and his only sibling would be subjected to criticism and that would only sped up her deterioration.
He could have trusted asher if he was just a friend but he could not trust him with the information as his Alpha. Asher was too much about doing what was honorable.
"Nothing. I just need to know," he replied, holding his gaze steadily as he said he words.
"Ok."
Then he told him everything.
Asher watched Mark leave, his face grim and hooded.
He was beginning to understand what it meant to love another unconditionally. He rang for his secretary and she walked in a minute later, looking as dishevelled as ever,he loved the look. She looked like she just got out of bed, preferably his bed.
That was definitely going to be happening soon.
"You rang for me sir?" She still put up the formal act sometimes and h aleyas got to kiss it out of her.
"Come here for a second please."
Shana knew that look in his eyes. "You have a conference meeting right about now," she said and excused herself. His self control won and he did not move to stop her exit with his preternatural speed. Instead he growled at her to stop.
"I need you to take notes during the meeting." He needed her in his sight, before another man came along to keep her company and made her laugh without inhibition.
Throughout the meeting, he could not take his eyes off her, watching her small hands fly across the keyboard as she typed rapidly, wishing all the while he was the inanimate object.
"Have dinner with me," he said as she made to leave his office
Shana looked at him in shock, thinking fast on an excuse to give "I have ..."
"Errands to run?," he finished for her, smirking when she nodded jerkily. "For your grandma?"
Her cheeks bloomed red with guilt.
Asher chuckled at her discomfiture, thinking she was the most transparent woman he had ever seen.
"I don't like you talking to Mark," he said "Or any other male." The last part was his wolf.
"But he's your friend and I can talk to any man if I want to, sir," she said mutinously.
"No, you don't," he drawled as he rose from his chair and stalked towards her.
"Why?," she asked shakily, backing up a step.
"Because we want you all to ourselves. Can't you see?," his wolf growled angrily. He moved into her space and took her chin in both of his hands.
"Asher," she whispered in a slumberous, smoky way.
She was using his name again. "That's more like it Kitty," he whispered against her lips. "You've denied me my morning kiss long enough."
He was going to have to tell her his secret sooner. It was getting harder for him not to have her by his side every minute of the day.
About thirty seconds later when she finally made it to her office on rubbery legs with her lips swollen in her flushed face and her heart racing like hell, she congratulated herself on being able to resist the dinner invitation he had offered about three more times.
But a few hours later, she wished she had accepted his dinner invitation.
In fact, she regretted it.