"There is no way that I'm looking at an actual briefcase right now," Eddie laughed.

I swatted at him playfully and waved a dismissive hand.

"Hey don't knock it til you try it. They're actually kinda fun to carry around. It's like being in a James Bond movie."

Eddie shook his head and laughed again.

"I cannot believe I allowed you to call me a dork for liking DND 10 minutes ago when you've been carrying a whole briefcase around daily like it's normal."

I rolled my eyes and adjusted my mirrors.

The same van had been trailing us the last few minutes and I was on high alert.

"Shut up, Munson. You're still a nerd. Unrelated question though: have you noticed that SUV following us since we passed King Street?"

Eddie's nose wrinkled and he turned in the seat to look behind us.

After a few moments he turned back around and sighed.

"I believe that creepy chariot would be my loyal subjects, madam."

Now it was my turn to wrinkle my nose.

"None of that answered my question but thanks a million."

He sunk a little lower in his seat and tapped my knee.

"Speed up a little. We might be able to lose them at this light coming up."

I reluctantly hit the gas and sent us flying through the yellow light. Eddie grabbed onto his seat dramatically as I sped down the empty main road to get to work.

"Okay that was pretty metal. Go you," he held up a hand for a high-five and I rolled my eyes.

"Care to explain who those people were like a normal person this time?"

Eddie sat up straighter and looked over at me.

"Well...those were my uh...bandmates."

My eyes widened and I practically gave myself whiplash trying to catch another glimpse of the van in my mirrors. Eddie put a hand on my arm to steady me and chuckled softly.

"Woah woah woah okay relax. They're not stalking you or anything. I mean they were but not in a creepy way; probably went back to look for me on King Street, saw us coming out of the AT&T store, and decided to follow me. Us."

I exhaled deeply and focused on getting us to Dirtbag headquarters in one piece.

"So I guess this means they need you back then," I trailed off.

He gave a half-smile and shrugged.

"Well maybe. But for now we lost them and if we make it to your office I doubt they'd ever think to look there."

I nodded thoughtfully as we approached the parking garage and plucked the briefcase from Eddie's hands to retrieve my company I.D.

The guard waved us through and I hurried to find my favorite parking spot. We parked and Eddie began swinging the briefcase back and forth like a little cartoon character as we walked together towards the elevators.

Stepping inside, he looked at the mirrors on all the walls and posed dramatically.

First it was him pulling up his sleeves to flex.

Then it was him pretending to be James Bond with finger guns.

Then he stood stiffly at my side and began waving slowly, he hand cupped unnaturally as he slowly waved at the door.

"What in god's name are you doing, Eddie?"

He cleared his throat and wrapped an arm around my waist as he continued to wave.

"I am simply greeting the masses, my lady. The people are uneasy and they need their King to appear majestic and confident to ease their fears."

I snorted and looked at our blurry reflection in the elevator door.

"So that weird thing you're doing with your hand is supposed to be a royal wave?"

He nodded and pulled me tighter into him.

"Indeed. Wave with me; our loyal subjects must have faith in their Queen as much as their King."

I rolled my eyes as I watched the floor numbers tick upwards.

"Fine. Glad to know I have a role in your buffoonery I suppose."

I obliged him and gave a few weak 'royal waves' and he grinned like an idiot the entire time.

Eventually the elevator dinged and we stepped out into the Dirtbag lobby. I unwrapped his arm from my waist and smoothed out my skirt, glancing around to make sure no one saw us.

I grabbed Eddie's arm and practically dragged him into my office. Shutting the door, I turned the lock and leaned against my desk to brainstorm how I was going to remain discrete with Eddie fucking Munson sitting in my office.

"Okay now that we're here I'm kinda panicking again."

Eddie immediately set the briefcase down and walked over, placing an arm over my shoulder.

"Hey hey hey don't freak yourself out. You gotta prepare for that presentation and not worry about me. And you're gonna kick ass in there I guarantee it so try not to stress too hard."

I nodded and looked at my lap as I contemplated what the bigger risk was: hiding Eddie in here and praying that no one sees him OR somehow introducing him to the board so that he's allowed to sit in the room where I can monitor him.

Either way felt a little risky and I regretted bringing him even though I was happy to have the support.

"I think I'm gonna nail the presentation too. For now I'm just concerned with how exactly I'm supposed to hide you."

"Hide me? Why?"

I stared at him.

"Hide you because you're Eddie Munson.

Famous dude? And currently avoiding any tabloids until you're 100% sober? Ringin any bells up there?"

He shrugged and stood up to face me.

"Alright fair. But surely people here have better things to do than gawk at me. I mean it's true that I'm distractingly handsome but I'm sure everyone here is a trained professional; they may not all fall victim to my charm."

I laughed and shook my head.

"You're ridiculous."

He bowed deeply and popped up again.

"I am sober though. Enough that I could handle my own if I needed to while you're gone."

I sighed.

"I don't doubt that but my people are good at what they do. Any conversation they can draw out of you might prompt them to investigate further and considering the absolute wreck you were when we met 13 hours ago, you don't want my guys hearing about your little nighttime adventure on King Street."

His eyes grew wider and he nodded slowly.

"And yet you let me talk you into bringing me here anyways. Obviously you wanted me here for a reason."

I tried to hold back a smile and failed.

"A girl can't have some eye candy waiting in her office after a long day at work?"

He grinned and put his arms on either side of me against the desk, leaning in and lowering his voice.

"Is that all I am? Eye candy?"

I looked into his pretty brown eyes and felt a second heartbeat that he quickly seemed to pick up on.

"You know that skirt looks really great on you but," he pushed it up my thighs and held his gaze, "I know it'll look better off you."

Any other guy and I would've cringed at that line but with him? I kinda liked it.

He kissed me and my thoughts rushed back to this morning and what I possibly missed out on. He tasted minty now and I was desperately tempted to let him have me right on this desk.

A knock rattled my door and I felt myself jump. Eddie remained much calmer than I expected and held a finger to his lips, pulling my skirt back down and silently getting under my desk.

Thank god this desk isn't open on both sides.

I quickly smoothed my clothes and went to unlock the door. The knocking was from my editor and she walked briskly to my desk the moment I opened the door. Sitting at the chair facing my desk, she beckoned me over.

"Make sure that door's closed, y/n. This is important."

I nodded and shut the door.

I subtly adjusted my knees as I sat down so I wouldn't smoosh Eddie and remained as calm and collected as I could manage.

"I'm happy you're here early. We're going to have to move your meeting with the board to 4:30 this evening, possibly even later."

I felt my heart drop a little. Rescheduling was never a great sign because it meant the trustees didn't value the time or offer of the people they were meeting with.

"I know it's kind of considered a bad sign for any hopefuls but for the record I think your designs are fantastic. And this isn't a normal reschedule actually," Michelle added, seeing through my attempt to shield my worry.

"The board has been pressing for a fresh story that will rock every media platform to its core and one of our guys may have found it."

This made my ears perk up.

"The board of directors have been known for being a little finicky when it comes to the magazines they endorse as we all know. Dirtbag and Satanic Panic have been huge successes in the board's eyes so far according to Jamie Prescott. He's the funding specialist they have on deck with them and he's currently on his way," Michelle glanced at her watch, "In about 5 minutes."

I shook my head in confusion.

"Sorry Michelle I'm not entirely sure I follow where this is going. Why is their numbers guy meeting with me of all people?"

She smiled at me and leaned forward excitedly.

"Because Dirtbag started out as your baby and it looks like the board is considering some major changes for us. Probably to reward our company on finding this story I told you about."

I raised my eyebrows in shock.

"Woah. Must be one juicy story if they're changing the way they've always done things around here."

Michelle nodded and beamed like a lightbulb.

"Exactly. Now you didn't hear this from me but sources say that a very influencal record label has been sabotaged from the inside. Our guy found leads suggesting the people at PSYCHO KLLR might be poaching stars out from under Benson Morales himself."

Beneath me, Eddie bumped the desk and I quickly leaned forward onto the desk to cover it up.

"That's fucking wild. Pardon my French."

Michelle grabbed my hands and giggled excitedly.

"Y/n this is quite possibly the biggest break we've ever seen. Imagine all the twists and turns this story could take us on."

I nodded enthusiastically and smiled.

"Right? We'll have stories guaranteed for months if what our guy found is true. Holy shit," I whispered, stepping out from behind the desk to hug Michelle.

She squeezed me tightly for a few seconds before letting go to grab me by the shoulders with a sudden look of seriousness.

"Jamie will be here in T-minus 5 minutes so here's what else you should know: he's probably going to offer you a lot of money for the rights to this story. The publishers wanna test their influence and see if they can muscle their way into a claim on this before it goes public under Dirtbag."

"Got it. So if we don't sell we retain the rights to this story first and their other mags can't touch it without our leads. Genius."

Michelle nodded and walked me towards the lobby.

"Right on the money. So whatever their guy says to you and no matter what figure he offers,"

"Say no," we echoed.

She nodded resolutely and squeezed my hand.

"This is the biggest sign of a hot story if I've ever seen one. Dirtbag is on its way to the top, y/n, I can feel it!"

With that she waved and walked off to fill the rest of our writing team in on the situation.

I inhaled deeply and let it out slowly.

Holy shit.

"Holy shit," I said as I walked back into my office.

"Did you hear that? I mean of course you did but holy shit. Eddie this is fucking incredible."

He poked his curly head out from under the desk and laughed.

"Yeah I heard it...and it is pretty fuckin incredible. Come here," he beckoned.

I arched a brow and sat down at my desk again. He looked up at me with those doe eyes and I felt even happier that he was here to share the good news with. He kissed my hands and smiled up at me with a glimmer in his eye.

"Let's celebrate tonight and go somewhere nice. I'll let the guys know I'm okay so they stop hunting me down and we'll just go enjoy ourselves somewhere fun. You deserve it."

I felt myself grinning ear to ear.

How is it possible that 48 hours ago I hadn't thought about romance in a year at least and now I had a beautiful man like Eddie in my life?

Interrupting my thoughts, Eddie pushed my skirt up and opened my legs, pulling me into him as close as he could get me. I tried backing the chair up but he held on tightly.

I felt kisses moving up my thighs and instinctively tried to close them but he held my thighs apart and positioned his shoulders between them to keep me exposed to him. I glanced at the clock and saw that the board's finance guy was supposed to arrive any minute and I currently had Eddie's face buried between my thighs.

I felt him tug my underwear off and was about to protest when I heard a knock on my door.

Shit.