Aftershock by Laurie Roma

fury she was sure
was shooting from her eyes had Ryan stepping out of range of her reach.
    “Coward,” she spat. “You fucking
coward!”
    “Consider yourself fired, slut,”
Carl snarled.
    Tag pulled Caitlyn back, forcing
her behind him then he stalked forward like an animal in pursuit of his prey.
Lethal rage radiated from him in waves that had Ryan backing away in sheer
terror. Edged with burning rage, his eyes narrowed on Ryan, but then turned so
the full power of his wrath was focused on Carl instead.
    The blood drained from Carl’s
face and he gulped.
    “If either of you ever, ever speak to her like that again, I will end you. I will fucking break you in half.
Be afraid, very afraid. You’ll get out now, in one piece. But next time, if
you’re stupid enough for there to be a next time, I won’t be as generous.” Tag’s
voice was soft, but with a lethal edge that made him even more terrifying.
    And no one could mistake his
feral smile as anything but that of a predator.
    Tag jerked his head toward the
security guards standing off to the side. “Get these assholes out of my sight,
now.”
    The security guards jumped
forward to take care of Carl and Ryan.
    Stepping forward with determined
strides, Tag grabbed Caitlyn’s briefcase from the man in the suit holding it. 
He turned abruptly then stalked back to Caitlyn. Grabbing her arm, he all but
dragged her with him into his office at the end of the hall, passing the very
shocked face of his admin and slammed the door shut.   

***
    Chapter Eight
     
    The minute the door closed, Caitlyn
jerked her arm away from Tag and bolted to the other side of the room. Breathing
heavy, she stared at him with contempt. 
    “Goddamn it. Goddamn it to hell
and back! What the fuck, Mr. Steele ? You fucking asshole! Everything,
everything I have fucking worked for is screwed. How could you do this to me?”
    “I didn’t do anything, Caitlyn,” Tag
shot back. “How can you stand working with those pricks? Who gives a fuck what
they think.”
    “I do!” Caitlyn felt tears
stinging her eyes and felt her nails bite into the palms of her hands as she
clenched them into fists. “I just got fired. Fired! You may not fucking care about
my job, but I sure as hell do.”
    “I care! What can they fire you
for, you didn’t do anything wrong! Hell, even if they don’t, you should quit. Your
boss is a fucking asshole. I should’ve just beat the shit out of that little
prick.” Tag growled as he yanked his jacket off, throwing it across the room.
“Christ, if you want that damn job so bad I’ll call Richard Manchester and take
care of this.”
    “I just slept with a client!”
    “I’m not a fucking client!” He roared
as he stepped toward her.
    “Back off. Back the fuck off
now,” she ordered softly.
    At her words Tag stopped where he
was. She saw his hands were clenched into fists at his sides, his chest heaving
in his effort to control himself. Adrenaline pumping, Caitlyn had to force
herself not to look at the gleaming muscles of Tag’s chest peaking out of his
opened dress shirt. As mad as she was, she still wanted him and that pissed her
off even more.
    Tag laughed bitterly. “This is a
goddamn clusterfuck. Honestly, Caitlyn. Do you think I need outside resources
to launch any of my products? Manchester Klein would have never even gotten a
meeting without you. I asked for you.”
    Caitlyn’s face went blank with
shock as his words registered. “You knew? You knew who I was? Oh, this just
gets better and better…”
    Shit.
    Tag wanted to pull at his hair
and pace around the room, but forced himself to stay still. Christ, what he
really wanted was to go back and do the last fifteen fucking minutes all over
again. Taking a deep breath, he went for the truth instead.
    “I already told you that I wanted
to meet you after that first time I saw you. I found out what department you
worked in and heard about the work you’ve done from some of your previous
clients. All