She swallowed down the sour taste in her mouth. He brought up his wife. He’s a family man. Stop being paranoid, she reprimanded herself.

“And—” he leaned in a little closer and lowered his voice “—I have some great news for you. I just got the VOPs and you are at sixty-two, five points ahead of Ryan!” He was grinning ear to ear. “How do you like that? Your abduction scored through the roof!”

“That’s great!” she exclaimed, flooding her voice with enthusiasm. It is great, she told herself. Be excited. But she couldn’t ignore the fact that he was standing so close, she could smell the liquor on his breath. “You know, I see potential in you and if we can smooth out the rough edges, I think we can get you to the next level,” the Chief said, still smiling.

Rough edges? “I’m sorry, sir?” she asked.

“Well, we both know that you have a reputation for being difficult,” the Chief said, as he leaned in so close his gut brushed her abdomen.

“You weren’t happy we sent you to Miami instead of St. Tropez. You were angry Ryan reported the story about the First Lady’s mole. I understand you wanted to edit your own piece for OpSec. It’s a lot of complaining.”

She opened her mouth but no words came out. Her mind was a jumble of outrage, shame, and confusion.

“I think it’s because you’re a fighter. Intense. I was a bit like that, too, when I was your age. I was hungry.” His gaze took on a sick intensity and he lowered his voice as he said, “It’s important to relax. To let loose, get free. Do you know how to relax? I’d love to watch you really let yourself get wild.” He winked.

Natalie felt herself go ice-cold. Inside, her mind screamed, Run! Scream! Escape! But she did nothing. She stood there with a frozen smile plastered on her face and told herself to make no sudden movements, do nothing to embarrass the boss.

“Savage? Chief?” said a familiar voice.

Natalie spun around, turning her back to the Chief, to see Matt enter through the kitchen door. Relief coursed through her. She’d never been so happy to see Matt in her life.

“Hey! Come say hi!” she chirped, sounding slightly manic. She took a step toward to him when something stopped her. It was the feeling of a finger running slowly down her spine, stopping at the top of her tailbone, thumbing the top of her panties. Natalie felt a flash of danger as every muscle in her body tightened and her face got hot. She was conscious of seconds passing and she twisted around to make eye contact with the boss to be sure. He casually pulled his hand away and winked.