by Ellie Danes
“I told her not to say anything,” I said. “And it was my decision to keep this from you. I knew how you'd react, and right now, you're proving me right. I didn't want to subject the woman I care so deeply about to this kind of behavior, so I told her to keep it secret. I knew that you wouldn't be able to handle it – but now you've forced my hand, you've pushed me so far into the corner that you've left me with no choice but to do this. So here it is, everything is out in the open now. And nobody in this room can do a damn thing about it! I'm the only one who gets to decide who I choose to spend my life with. And it's Meredith – she's the one who I want to spend my life with.”
I stood up, and nobody said a thing. I then walked over to Meredith and took her hand.
“Come on,” I said, feeling a surge of pure electricity as my hand touched hers. “We're leaving.”
And with that, we both turned and left the room.
Chapter 17
Meredith
I was still in a state of shock when Kyle stood up and told everyone that we were leaving. I really couldn't believe that this was happening—or that I'd agreed to it. I’d had a few ideas beforehand about how this thing was going to go, but none of them had come close to the reality of this situation. Kyle and I were now in a relationship.
Well, to be honest, I had no idea if we actually were in a relationship, or if the whole thing had been a sham put on by him so that he could get out of having to marry that awful woman, Tracy. I had been expecting her to be a shallow, dumb little narcissist, and she was, but just how perfectly she fit into that stereotype had blown me away. And her mother...wow, there was another piece of work for sure. She had something about her that really, really disturbed me. I didn't want to go as far as saying an aura of evil, but that was what it felt like. She seemed to have neither a conscience nor a soul, and I was happy to be getting away from her.
And I was also happy that Kyle was getting out of this—at least for now. “For now” was definitely the key phrase here; I couldn't see someone like Marsha Hendrikson letting him escape so easily. No, it looked like she had her claws embedded deeply into Kyle's flesh, and she wasn't likely to retract them without a battle.
As I thought about this, though, a sense of determination and purpose injected fire into my blood. Kyle was a good guy, and despite all my former assumptions about him and his character, I knew that now. He didn't deserve this—nobody did. Nobody should have to go through their life being controlled by others, having their freedom curtailed. And I knew that supporting Kyle in his fight for freedom was absolutely the right thing to do, even if it meant standing up to people as powerful as his father and Marsha Hendrikson.
I just hadn't known that supporting him in this endeavor would mean being in a relationship with him!
As we walked out, hand in hand, an ice-cold voice called out to us from behind.
“Stop! You two, you both stop right there!”
Marsha Hendrikson.
I hesitated, but Kyle gently urged me on.
“Come on, Meredith,” he said. “Ignore her. Keep going. We're walking away from them, and we're not looking back.”
“You stop, you two, stop right there! Don't take another step! Don't you dare!” she shrieked.
“Kyle,” I murmured, as the naked wrath evident in Marsha's shrill cries struck fear into my very core.
“Don't worry,” he said. “You're safe with me. I'll protect you. There's nothing she can do to you... nothing she can do to us.”
“If you don't stop now, you're finished,” hissed Marsha. “Finished!”
Kyle stopped when she said this, and he turned around slowly. “Are you threatening me?”
Marsha was standing there, her hands balled into tight fists at her sides, her face stormy with pure rage.
“You idiot,” she hissed through clenched teeth. “You stupid, stupid idiot! Do you really think that you can just walk away from me, from these plans I've been putting together for years? Do you really think that you have any say in this matter? Cut this little slut loose right now, come back into the room, and finish making arrangements to marry my daughter, and I'll forgive you and forget about this little act of foolish rebellion. But I'm warning you, this is your last chance—your only chance.”
Kyle hesitated for a moment before replying—a dizzying, terrifying moment of uncertainty. Was he going to capitulate to this woman's demands? Or was he going to stand up to her?
“What are you waiting for, boy?” she snarled. “Do your damn duty and get back in the room! And you, you little whore,” she growled, turning to stare icily at me, “you can just leave right now, and pray that our paths never cross again. Go on, get out of here. You don't belong here with people of our caliber.”
“No, she doesn't,” said Kyle calmly.
My blood went cold in my veins. Was he taking her side, was he agreeing with her, after all of this? I wanted to say something, but I couldn’t force words through my feelings of shock.
“She's so much better than you and your daughter,” Kyle continued. “So, you're right. She doesn't belong here. And neither do I. I want nothing, and I mean absolutely nothing, to do with you and your family, ever. You're a bunch of lying, thieving snakes, and I wouldn't trust any of you farther than I could throw you. People of your 'caliber' belong in one place: prison.”
I felt a surge of intense attraction tear through me, and I squeezed his hand tightly in gratitude.
Marsha, however, simply stared at him with sheer disbelief, as if unable to comprehend that anyone would actually defy her.
“You're actually going to do this?” she said eventually, her tone ice cold.
“Yes, I am going to do this,” he replied, firm and resolute. “And there's nothing you can do to stop me.”
“You're throwing your future away. You're throwing our future away! And I won't let that happen. I will not let you destroy these plans that I've worked so hard to put together. You are not getting out of this!”
Kyle chuckled slowly and humorlessly. “You think the world revolves around you, don't you, Marsha? You think because you're the CEO of Hendrikson that everyone should bow and scrape and grovel to you, and everyone has to concede to your every demand. You think that that's how it is, right? Well guess what? I'm also a CEO. I'm your equal. And I'm going to do what I want to do—and nothing you say or do can stop me.”
“I'll destroy your company,” she snarled. “I'll tear it to the ground. I'll crush you and everyone under you into dust. This is the beginning of the end for you, Kyle. You've just dug your own grave, and the graves of everyone who works for you. You're all finished.”
“No, you won't,” I said, standing taller. “We'll destroy your company.”
She looked at me and laughed derisively. “Oh, you foolish, ignorant thing. You have so much to learn.”
“Come on, Meredith,” said Kyle as he turned around, gently pulling me away. “I've heard enough from this old witch. Let's go.”
“You're all finished!” Marsha screamed behind us as we left.
We kept walking and didn't stop or look back until we were out of the building. And as I stepped into the sunlight, an intense surrealistic feeling hit me, as if I had just woken up from a dream—or, perhaps, it felt more like I was still in the dream.
“All right, stop. Just stop. Time out,” I suddenly said, refusing to take another step.
“What's the matter?” asked Kyle.
My jaw dropped open with surprise and I simply stared in silence at him for a few long moments. “What's the matter? You're honestly asking me 'what's the matter' as if nothing, I don't know, totally crazy just happened?”
“All right, I know,” he said. “Marsha—”
“No, it's not about Marsha.” I was breathing hard, and my brain was working too fast. Thoughts were colliding with each other, too fast for me to track. “Well, not only about Marsha. We're suddenly in a relationship? Just like that? And you had a date with Tracy and you didn't even tell me
about it? Because just last week, we were only friends, and, and—”
He pressed his finger gently against my lips to silence me. “Shh. Just take a breath and calm down. Let's talk about this.”
“Calm down? How in the hell do you expect me to calm down after everything that's just happened? I honestly can't believe that you would say and do something like that without even warning me first! How could you do that?”
He sighed and pulled in a deep breath. “I'm sorry. I'm sorry for dragging you into this mess. I'm sorry about what I did and about not telling you how I felt. How I feel.”
I looked up at him, my expression softened. “And how do you feel, Kyle?”
“I want to be with you,” he replied, staring into my eyes. “More than anything.”
Something in the way he looked at me told me that he genuinely meant what he said. The anger and frustration I was harboring toward him instantly melted away.
“I...” I began, but words failed me. I wasn’t sure how to respond.
“I'm sorry that I picked this moment to say it, to bring these feelings out into the open. Believe me, I know that it was probably the worst possible time to do it. But I was pushed into a corner, I was trapped, and I just...I reacted. My reaction, though, came from the heart. Those were the truest words I ever spoke.”
I could only stare at him, at his soulful eyes, his handsome face.
He continued, “Meredith, I have to tell you this. I need to tell you. From the moment we first met, I haven’t been able to get you off my mind. You waltzed into my head and you just never left. I tried to convince myself that you were just a one-night stand, that you were just like every other woman I’d been with before. I tried to tell myself that the passion that you and I shared was nothing more than lust. That the fire I felt burning between us that night was because of the alcohol and nothing else. But then, when I saw you again that night of the big announcement dinner, I felt that same irresistible attraction. I hated feeling that way—not because I didn't like you, but because I did. I felt so powerless in your presence. Powerless to resist you, powerless to reject you. I couldn't stop thinking about you, desiring you, wanting you. And these feelings continued, and they only grew stronger and stronger.”
He paused and looked away. I thought about saying something, but then he continued.
“I am so sorry that it took the events of today to bring this out. I’m sorry it took coming here and facing that awful woman to force me to admit these things. I guess things just reached a boiling point today. And faced with the prospect of having to spend my future with a vapid airhead like Tracy, I realized who I did actually want to spend my future with. And when I really started to take that question seriously, I didn’t have a doubt there was only one woman I had ever felt this way about. I realized that I'd want to spend my whole life by one woman’s side making her happy, seeing her smile—and that's you, Meredith.”
Again, he looked away, seeming embarrassed that he'd revealed so much of himself and the feelings and desires he’d been keeping inside.
“I understand completely if you want to walk away from this now,” he said softly. “I've made a fool of myself, and I've dragged you into something that you didn't deserve to be dragged into.”
Maybe he was expecting me to be mad, expecting me to scream at him and storm off. But those were the last things I felt like doing. Instead, I was overwhelmed by a sense of deep affection.
“Kyle,” I whispered. “Come here.” I motioned to him with my finger.
He eased closer to me and I looked up into his eyes. His gaze met mine and all the worry, all the trepidation and guilt I had seen there moments before, faded.
“Closer,” I repeated, a seductive smile turning up one corner of my lips.
He moved in for our kiss, pressing his lips against mine tenderly but firmly. Our tongues intertwined and electricity blasted through my veins, sending a thrill ripping through my body. Passion tore through me as the kiss deepened. I wanted nothing more than to devour him then and there, but I remembered where we were. Eventually we parted, and we were both slightly out of breath from the intensity of it.
“I'm guessing that, uh...that this means you're okay with our new relationship status?” Kyle asked, a boyish grin playing on his handsome face.
I smiled back at him. “I can't say I'm happy with how you did it—but if I said that I wasn't pleased to be dating you, I’d be lying.”
“I’m glad you feel that way,” he said. “More than you know.”
“To tell you the truth, Kyle, I’ve felt the same way about you,” I admitted. Expressing my feelings for him was easier because of everything he had said and how he had opened up to me. “I felt that same sensation when we first met. That intense, fiery attraction that went way beyond the alcohol. I don't know if I've ever felt it for anyone else, and it scared me. Actually, it terrified me. The fact that I couldn't shake you from my thoughts, that bothered me, especially at first. But the more it happened, the more I accepted it. And secretly, almost subconsciously, I guess I wanted to be with you as well. I tried to deny the feelings, I tried to shove them away, to swallow them and not think about them...but I couldn't. So, I just kept it to myself. And so today, hearing you say what you did, things became clear. Real.”
“And here we are,” he said. “Together.”
I nodded, smiling. “Together, yes. But I should say, as happy as I am about it, I am still worried about Marsha.”
He nodded. “That's understandable. She's a powerful woman, and she's mean and vindictive, and I know she's going to try to get me—to get us—for this. But don't worry. I'll protect you with everything I've got. I'll protect you until I take my dying breath. I promise you that, Meredith, with all my heart.”
* * * * *
The next couple of days passed in a happy blur. Kyle was attentive and loving. We hid our relationship at work, not ready to share it with the other employees because we didn’t want to seem inappropriate, and it wouldn’t have looked right for Kyle to be dating an employee. So we stole the occasional kiss in his office.
And then, he called my office line at the end of a long day. “Miss Benson,” he said in a formal voice.
I couldn’t stop the grin from forming on my face. “Yes, Mr. Williams?”
“It’s late, and I must insist you head home for the evening.”
“Oh,” I said, disappointed. I’d thought maybe he was going to ask me to grab dinner with him.
“More specifically,” he said, “I must insist you head to my home for the evening. If that sounds good to you, of course.”
“Yes,” I breathed. “I’d love that.”
“Meet me in the parking garage in five minutes.”
I rushed through putting away my work and practically ran to the elevator. When I reached the garage, Kyle was already there, standing next to the elevator to walk me to his Porsche.
We drove in relative silence, until Kyle said, “So, how was work today?”
“Busy, you know,” I said with a smile.
“Are you feeling stressed?” he asked.
I gave him a look. “Always.”
“Good to know.” He winked and slowed to a stop in front of a tall, slate-gray building. A valet rushed out and came to open my door.
“You live here?” I asked Kyle.
“Yep. The Ironwood. I moved in a couple years ago. I have some friends here—Jace Cooper, and his other half, Marie, have lived here for a little while. Maybe we’ll meet them later.”
“Jace Cooper—did he make that app, Quickchat or something like that?”
“The very one.”
“Wow.”
“Anyway,” Kyle said, waving a doorman in a red bellhop outfit before leading me to the elevator, “I didn’t bring you here to talk about the building.”
“What did you bring me here for, then?” I said, batting my eyelashes.
He pointed me into the elevator and pressed a button. “I’ll tell you in a minute.
”
We left the elevator and entered a beautifully decorated apartment. It was larger than the house I’d grown up in. The décor was minimal, but gorgeous, all sleek lines and blues and grays.
He led me into his bedroom, which was warmer than I would’ve expected, with pale gray walls and a deep green duvet covering the bed.
“Do you like the place?” he asked. “Are you comfortable?”
“Yes,” I whispered, in awe of the luxurious rooms.
“Good.” He nodded, then pointed to the bed. “Now, strip and lie down on your stomach.”
“I—what?”
He laughed. “You’re stressed. I took a massage class a few years ago. Let me practice my rusty skills, and relieve your tension, all in one go.”
“Weird,” I said, “but okay.”
I slowly removed my pencil skirt and blouse and stood in my underwear and bra.
“Bra off,” he said. “You can leave the underwear on if it makes you more comfortable.”
Grinning at him, I took off both the bra and panties. Then I walked over to the bed and lay down on my stomach like he’d asked.
I heard fabric rustling, so I picked up my head to look at him. He was removing his shirt. I practically salivated at the sight of his muscular torso.
Leaving his pants on, he came over and kneeled above my ass.
The first touch of his hands on my shoulders was heaven, and when he applied a slight amount of pressure, I couldn’t help my moan. “Soooo good,” I said.
He chuckled. “Is this still weird? Because I can stop at any time.”
“No,” I said in a rush, panicked at the thought of him stopping. “Not weird at all. Carry on. Please.”
Still chuckling, he rubbed his hands over my back, shoulders, and neck. It was absolute paradise, and I felt my muscles relaxing, all the tension leaving my body.
“Are you feeling good?” he asked after a few minutes.
“Yes,” I said.
I didn’t know how long he rubbed my body, but I never wanted it to end. Finally, he pressed a kiss against my temple, then curled up next to me, and we slept.