Chapter 43: Chapter 43

Thinking of Cadence, Aaron decided he should let her know that she could come back into their shared office now. He sent her a quick IAC message to tell her that Ashley was gone and then sat down at his desk, waiting to see if she was coming back before he headed over to the table of doom. Thoughts of losing himself in that mound of data again made his stomach churn and his head ache.

“I’ll be there in a few,” Cadence replied, and Aaron decided he shouldn’t sink himself back into the project until after he had a chance to talk to her since she would undoubtedly want to know what Ashley had needed to talk to him about. While the idea of messing around with Cadence, making her think that Ashley had been complaining about her, crossed his mind, he decided that under the circumstances he shouldn’t beat around the bush. When she opened the office door and greeted him with a cautious smile, he had no doubt he would just tell her the truth.

“How did it go?” she asked, approaching his desk like she wasn’t sure whether or not he was going to lash out at her. “You look… exhausted.”

“Thanks,” he replied, knowing she was probably right. “Let’s just say, I definitely didn’t see that conversation coming.”

Rather than take the conventional approach and sit in one of the many chairs in the room, Cadence came around and leaned against his desk right next to him, and her proximity immediately calmed him such that he didn’t even care that his PostIt notes and stapler were slightly pushed out of the way. “You wanna tell me what’s going on or should I just guess?”

“You were right.”

Her brown eyes enlarged slightly, as if she wasn’t quite sure what it was she was right about at first, but then she gave a small nod. “Did she….”

“She was a perfect lady.” He cut her off before she could jump to the conclusion that Ashley had come on to him. “She asked for a transfer. She said she hadn’t realized how obvious it was until after she spoke to you today.”

“Oh.” Cadence’s eyes studied the wall behind him as she processed all that had taken place and likely considered how Ashley must be feeling. “What did you tell her?”

“I told her that you would have to be the one to transfer her, but that I didn’t think it was a good idea, considering the circumstances.”

“The circumstances that she wants you to be her play thing, and you’re no longer in the toybox?”

He sighed in frustration at her word choice. “No, the circumstances surrounding everything that’s going on right now with the portal and our nemeses. I don’t really think we are in a position to let one of our better Hunters go when we have so few good ones to begin with.”

“What if there’s another area that could really use her, though?” Cadence asked, folding her arms and seeming to consider the possibilities.

“Cadence, I know you don’t like her, and I’m probably going to be more than a little uncomfortable around her for a while, too, even though I told her it really wasn’t a big deal. But… we need her to stay here.” Finding someone as talented as Ashley was hard to come by, and getting a new recruit up to speed in time for what was on the horizon was practically out of the question.

She scrunched up her mouth on one side and then nodded, an indication that she was at least willing to concede the argument for now. “I’m sorry you had to have that conversation,” she said quietly, sliding over a bit so that she was closer to him. “I’m sure it had to be very uncomfortable.”

Aaron moved forward in his chair so that he was on the edge of it, his arms encircling her hips and pulling her over even more. “I’ve had worse conversations, but I wasn’t even slightly prepared for that.”

She ran her hands up his arms and brushed back his hair, before running her hand along his jawline. “That’s because you didn’t believe me.”

“I know. If I’m smart, I’ll never make that mistake again.”

He saw a twinkle in her eyes and wondered what she had up her sleeve, what he had just walked into. Now was not the time to figure it out, however. She smelled like warm vanilla sugar, and even though he didn’t eat much, her scent had him hungering for her. He began to work his hands beneath the hem of her sweater, feeling the heat of her skin, and Cadence bent down and found his mouth with hers. His hands slid higher as she released his lips so that he could explore the sensitive area behind her right ear.

Breathlessly, Cadence asked, “Is the door locked?”

He used his IAC to secure it and replied, “It is now.” Aaron stood, pulling her to him and situating himself between her knees, no longer concerned about Vampires or crushes. He pulled her sweater off over her head and tossed it aside as she began to unbutton his shirt.

Cadence shifted slightly, sending his notebook off the edge of his desk. “Oh, no,” she said, looking at him with wide eyes that showed half alarm, half jest. “We’re messing up your desk.”

In one foul swoop, Aaron knocked every last item off of his desk and on to the floor, except for the telephone on the back corner. “There. Now it doesn’t matter,” he replied, diving in to find her lips again, not letting the mess bother him.

She dodged away from him slightly. “Aaron Joseph McReynolds, I don’t know what’s gotten into you,” she teased, “but I like it.”

Though he was curious as to how she’d come up with his middle name, that fleeting thought was cast aside as he met her mouth again. Nothing could distract him from showing Cadence Josephine Findley how much he loved her, not even the wayward paperclips scattered across the floor.