Frozen

Chapter 6)

Barney

Barney watched with a clenched jaw as Misha reached out to tuck a piece of Brianna's hair behind her ear. She smiled uncomfortably and leaned away, glancing at Barney's closed office door for a second before looking back to Misha. The college boy was already making the drink orders that she had given him. After she collected the drinks and strutted that fine ass up the stairs, Barney waved Misha over.

"Hey, Mr. Westchester," the young man said, grinning, "what can I get you?"

"Stay away from Brianna," Barney said abruptly. He was not grinning. Misha blinked a few times and tilted his head.

"Uhh, no disrespect sir, but...why?" he asked, his eyes darting to where Brianna was serving one of her tables. Since it was day time, the club was turned into a restaurant, the dance floor filled with tables.

"Because you work for me and I said to stay away from her," Barney answered, the cool tone of voice that he always had extra frosty.

Misha opened his mouth as if to say something, but wisely closed it immediately following.

"Yes sir," he finally said.

Barney nodded and glanced over to see Brianna walking down the stairs again. Without a word to Misha, Barney walked over to her, tossed an arm around her shoulders and guided her to his office. She, uncharacteristically, kept her mouth shut.

After he walked into the office and closed the door behind them, he turned to her and crossed his arms over his chest.

"We need to talk," he said.

••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••

Brianna

I chewed on the corner of my lip, making a futile attempt not to meet his eyes. Ever since the kiss, after which I sort of...ran away, I had actively tried to avoid him and, until now, it had worked.

"About what?" I asked, deciding playing dumb was probably my best course of action.

He chuckled, letting me know that my plan was not going to work.

"About the fact that less than two hours ago, I was ready to do bad things to you on that couch, and you were ready to let me."

My eyes widened and shot to his own, which were amused but also serious, and I blinked.

"Oh, straight to the point then, okay," I muttered before straightening up and looking him dead in the eye, "I know it was a mistake. I know I am your employee and I definitely know it was completely unprofessional. I was just hoping that I could keep-"

I stopped, startled, when he took two quick steps towards me, pulled me flush against his body with one forearm and crushed my lips to his with a hand in my hair. His lips parted immediately upon contact and I moaned and let my eyes close, relaxing in his arms and bringing my hands up to grip his jaw.

He didn't let tongues come into play, just letting our lips move in sync, every once in a while, changing the angle by tilting his head. He was definitely in control, and I was so enjoying the ride. He pulled away a fraction of an inch and it took me a few minutes to remember what else I was going to say.

"Hoping that I could keep my job," I whispered in a raspy voice, my eyes still closed.

I felt his lips press softly against mine one more time, and they were tilted up into a smile.

"Yes, baby, you can keep your job," he answered in a soft voice.

I found the courage to open my eyes and my heart stuttered a little when I saw his deep blue eyes, less than an inch away from me, filled with that same wonder, mixed with...God, mixed with something that I had never seen before, and would probably never see again, but it was sweet and it was tender and it was mine.