I wasn’t that child any more.
“He made a mistake, letting you go.”
I shifted in my chair, really not interested in letting the conversation go in that direction despite what I’d been told to do. The waiter came then—thank God!—and took our order, clearly familiar with Brian and the complicated, off-menu order he made.
When the waiter was gone, Brian’s eyes fell to me again. It was complicated, the way it made me feel. He’d looked at me that way the first time we met, and I was putty in his hands from that moment forward. But that, of course, was before I knew he was married.
“You look confused,” he’d said to me that late fall afternoon as I stood shivering under a huge oak tree.
“Not confused. I just forgot how long it takes the bus to get here.”
“Yeah, buses around here run on their own schedules. You have somewhere you need to be?”
“I have a class in fifteen minutes. If I’m late again, the professor’s going to give me an F for my participation grade.”
“Let me give you a ride,” he said, gesturing to a Camaro parked not far down the block.
“I shouldn’t. I don’t want to put you out.”
Then came the look. He cocked his eyebrow and studied my face, his eyes slowly traveling down the length of me, taking in everything from my slim-fitted jeans to my long, heavy pea coat. And then his eyes touched mine again.
“I won’t bite.”
Add that charming smile and I was gone.
“What brings you back to Boston?”
I shrugged. “I wanted a new start. Boston seemed like as good a place as any.”
“Where’re you staying?”
“I have a little room downtown.”
“And you’re working?”
I shook my head. “Haven’t found anything yet.”
“What are you looking for?”
I picked up my water glass and ran my finger around the rim, trying not to seem too anxious. I didn’t want to frighten him off, but I didn’t want to seem uninterested, either. I was never much of an actress, and I was so afraid he would see right through me. So I stared at the water glass for a moment, wetting my finger because my hand was shaking and I couldn’t quite hold it still.
“I was an office manager for an insurance company back in Austin,” I said. “And before that, I worked at a school as a secretary.”
“I thought you were studying for a medical degree.”
I set the glass down carefully without ever having lifted it to my lips. “Things changed.” Especially when you found yourself running home with your tail between your legs, desperate for some sort of income to prove you could make your own way in the world.
“It just so happens that I’m looking for a personal assistant,” Brian said with a slow smile.
“Is that right?”
“I’d be thrilled if you’d consider the position. Most of the young ladies who’ve interviewed for it so far have been woefully unprepared to do things the way I do them. I guess I’m still a little behind the times as far as technology goes. They’re all talking about iPads and Snapchat, and I’m still wrapping my mind around text messages and email.”
I smiled. “I could explain Snapchat to you if you want.”
He shook his head. “My kids have tried to explain all that: Snapchat and Vine and YouTube and whatever else. I just don’t see the point.”
“How many kids do you have?”
His eyes brightened. “Six. Sean, Killian, Ian, Kyle, Stacy and Kevin.”
“Wow. Poor Abigail.”
He laughed. “Only the two oldest are ours. The rest are kids she took in through her job as a social worker. We adopted them.”
“That’s noble.”
“She was the noble one. I just went along for the ride.”
That was a side of Brian Callahan I’d never seen before. I thought that kind of humility might be there, somewhere, but I never saw it. I was a little impressed.
“Are you close, you and your kids?”
“It’s a fifty-fifty deal these days.” He lifted his own water glass and sipped from it, his eyes dropping from mine for a second. “When Abigail got sick, she didn’t want the kids to know until the end. Some of them understood, but others blamed me for missing out on the good days.”
“I’m sorry.”
“Kids are funny, sometimes.”
The waiter came and delivered our meals then, interrupting the conversation. The moment he was gone, though, Brian jumped back in, his eyes never really leaving mine.
“Do you have kids?”
My heart jumped into my throat. I didn’t want to talk to him about my daughter, but wouldn’t it seem odd to him if I denied having any children at all? He knew I was Catholic; he knew how badly I’d wanted a large, Catholic family like the one I grew up in. I had five brothers and four sisters. I talked about them all the time when we knew each other all those years ago, talking about my adoration for my nieces and nephews. He knew.
“A daughter.”
His eyebrows rose, proving what I’d already knew. He remembered.
“Just one?”
“My husband had a virus when he was young. Doctors thought it caused him some fertility issues.”
Brian’s expression softened. I could almost read his mind now. He felt sorry for me, that I would chose such a man. And he was thinking of how viral he was as a young man, back when we knew each other. He could have given me a house full of kids, but the man I chose couldn’t.
I could almost smell the testosterone coming off of him.
“Take the job,” he said after a few bites of his steak. “If it works out, great. If not, no hard feelings.”
I nodded. “I appreciate it.”
He smiled broadly.
Brian to the rescue. He’d always had this need to rescue damsels in distress. And once again, I’d offered him the perfect scenario.
I was once the putty. But now he was.
***
Brian showed me around the office, introducing me to the secretaries and executives he worked with on a daily basis. I wasn’t officially his assistant until Monday morning, but he was so obviously in need of help now. There were stacks of papers on his assistant’s desk, each one more demanding than the last in the need for him to sign off on something or to read through some report. And emails…he showed me his email inbox, and I was overwhelmed. I couldn’t imagine how overwhelmed he was.
There was actual work to be done.
He brought me in to introduce me around and get the paperwork started, but I ended up staying to sift through his emails. It was nearly six when I finally came up for air, pressing enter on the last response I felt comfortable writing today.
My cell phone buzzed. I don’t like looking at my cell phone these days. The only person who ever texts me these days is not someone I want to speak to, but I couldn’t ignore it.
Do you have something for me?
What could I say? No? I just spent six hours with Brian, and I knew that they knew. They were watching me.
But what could I say?
“How’s it going?”
I jumped, almost convinced that they were here, that they’d come to force my hand. But it was only Brian, leaning against the doorframe, looking like a man half his age.
“I’m good.”
He smiled. “I know. I just got an email from Killian, the head of the PR department. He’s very grateful that you sent him the copy of that contract for the new pizza franchise.”
I stood, knocking my hip against the edge of the desk. Brian stepped forward, but I held out my hand to show that I was okay.
“I was wondering what time you want me here tomorrow.”
“Seven. That way we can get in a few hours of work before human resources calls you down to do their security checks and whatever.”
“Great.” I was fumbling for something else to say. I needed him to stay here; I needed to see his cellphone, or if he had an old-fas
hioned rolodex…I needed names, numbers. Needed anything I could find. “Did you have plans this evening?”
He nodded, looking slightly uncomfortable. “I have a date, actually.”
“Oh, well, don’t let me keep you.”
He studied my face for a long second. “Are you okay, Cassidy? You seem…off.”
“I’m fine. I’m just going to organize a few things in here, then I’ll go, too.”
He studied me a second longer, then he held up a file he’d had in his hand. “This needs to be organized, but it can wait till morning.”
“No problem.”
Our fingers brushed as I took the file, and I hated that my cheeks flushed and my chest constricted just the littlest bit. He shot me one last look, then turned, calling a goodbye over his shoulder.
I waited fifteen minutes, figuring that’s how long it would take him to make his way down to the parking garage. Then I slipped out of my office, checking the secretary’s desk, grateful to see she was one of those young women who believed in keeping to the letter of the contract, gone at exactly five o’clock every night. No one else was around.
I slipped into Brian’s office, looking over my shoulder at every tiny noise, even the noises I made with my clunky shoes. Brianna had told me…it didn’t matter now.
There was a password on his computer, and there didn’t seem to be anything beyond office supplies in his drawers. He was a careful man, always had been. But I did find what looked like an old list of addresses for his kids. I quickly typed them into my phone, whispering a silent prayer as I did.
I’m sorry. Please don’t hurt them. I’m sorry. Please don’t hurt them. I’m sorry. Please don’t hurt them.
I was nearly done when someone cleared his throat.
I bit back a scream as I looked up, slamming the desk drawer closed with my knee and sending the message with my thumb.
“You must be the new assistant.”
“Cassidy Myers,” I said, standing and making my way as calmly as possible around the desk even though my insides were like jelly, fear dancing around in my chest. “And you are?”
“Killian Callahan, head of public relations.”
“It’s nice to meet you, Killian,” I said, his name almost getting lost on the tip of my tongue. This wasn’t the first time I’d met him, but he clearly didn’t remember me. And there was no wonder…he’d been two when I met him the last time.
He looked a lot like his father. He was tall and broad shouldered like Brian. And he had those deep green eyes. But his hair was dark, and his nose was thin, his jaw a little narrower. There were definite aspects of his mother in there and that, for reasons I didn’t want to explore, killed my soul a little.
“I’m glad my dad managed to hire someone. It’s clogged up the system a little, him being without an assistant.”
“So I’ve noticed.”
“He never was good at the emails and stuff, but he’s a damn good CEO.”
There was pride in Killian’s voice and that killed my soul just a little bit more. I didn’t want to be here; I didn’t want to be talking to this man, who was once a child I cuddled to my chest and dreamed of stealing away from his mother. I brushed a hand against my cheek and forced a smile.
“I need to finish up a few more emails before I go.”
“Of course,” Killian said, stepping aside. “I was just looking for my dad. Do you know where he is?”
I glanced over my shoulder as I passed him. “He said something about having a date.”
Killian laughed. “I thought he was seeing someone. Good for the old goat!”
Again, the forced smile. Then I stepped into my office, closed my eyes as I stood against the door, and took a deep breath before glancing at my phone.
Those are his kids. I know those names. Get me something better! Something I can use!
What the hell was I supposed to do?
Chapter 5
Brian
“I hired a new assistant today.”
Rachel curled up against my naked chest, her own nudity making me feel like I was twenty again. I ran my hand slowly down her back, loving the way she pressed her bare breasts, nipples hard as little pebbles, against my side.
“Good. I called you twice today and the stupid secretary pretended she didn’t even know who I was.”
“Sorry.” I kissed the top of her head. “What’d you call for?”
“Just…my editor’s putting pressure on me to finish the story about you.”
“You’re still going with that?”
She raised up enough so that I could see her pretty face. “Why not?”
“Because we’ve been fucking for almost two weeks.”
“I can be impartial.”
I touched the side of her face, sliding my fingertips over the curve of her jaw before tangling my fingers in her hair. I pulled her up to me and kissed her roughly.
“I’m not sure I can be.”
She groaned. “This is important to me, Brian.”
“What’s the article going to be about?”
“How you turned a small security firm into this big conglomerate. You own like three fast food franchises, a car wash franchise, and a couple of casinos. That’s pretty impressive.”
“Is it?”
“And you have your sons working there at the company with you every day. How do you do that without stepping on their toes, or making them feel less than successful?” A dark cloud flashed in her eyes. “I don’t think I could work with my dad. I’d be too afraid of disappointing him.”
“My boys know that they couldn’t disappoint me—no matter what they do.”
“That’s bullshit.”
I groaned. “I love it when you talk dirty.”
She laughed, even as she untangled my fingers from her hair and climbed from the bed. “Tell me something the whole world doesn’t already know about you.”
I watched her walk around the room, searching her pockets and her bag for something.
“I desperately want to bend you over my desk and fuck you till you can’t walk straight.”
She shot me a dirty look.
“What? No one else knows that.”
“Seriously, Brian.”
I lay back and threw my arm over my eyes. “I hired a woman as my assistant that I had an affair with years ago.”
“You what?”
I peeked at her, wondering what she looked like when she was jealous. However, she had stepped into the living room, so all I could see was the reflection of her naked form in the mirror on the back of the bedroom door.
“The woman I hired today. We had an affair years ago.”
“Why did you hire her?”
“Because she needed a job, and I needed someone I could work with.”
“But you’ve slept with her?”
I peeked at her again and found her watching me from the doorway. The light was dim, laying shadows all over her curves, but there was no hiding those perfectly rounded breasts or those full hips with the perfectly trimmed bush between them. I rolled onto my side, hiding the erection that was beginning to make itself known. But she could see it, I knew she could. There was a slight tilt to her mouth, a smile that was as suggestive as it was expressive.
“Should I be jealous?” she asked.
“I don’t know. Would you be jealous if I bedded another woman?”
“Of course. This might not be a committed relationship, but I like to think it’s mutually monogamous.”
That made about as much sense as Abigail’s argument that our separations were meant to be a time of deeper commitment, not less. However, I liked the idea that Rachel could be jealous of anything I might or might not do.
And there was little chance I would cheat on her simply for the fact that I couldn’t keep up with her, my work, and another woman.
“When did you have an affair with this woman?”
“Years ago, when my boys were babies.”
“Sean and Killian.”
“Yeah. Killian was like two and Sean was still cooking.”
“You fucked around while your wife was pregnant?”
“She threw me out of the house.”
“And you took that as permission to take a lover?”
“Wouldn’t you?”
“No. I would assume she was hormonal or something.”
“Yeah, well, you didn’t know Abigail. She didn’t get hormonal. She was just judgmental.”
“Why’d she throw you out?” she asked, coming back and crawling into bed with me.
“Because I was running with a bad group of guys, doing things she didn’t approve of. She was afraid I was going to go back to jail.”
“So she threw you out…wait!” She sat up a little and stared at me. “You went to jail?”
“A couple of times.”
“Really?”
“Back when I was in my late teens, early twenties. Robbery once or twice. Assault several times.”
“No, shit!”
I laughed, touching her face again, loving the admiration dancing in her eyes.
“You were a bad guy?”
“I was an errand boy for the mafia. But that was years ago.”
“And this woman? Your new assistant?”
“She was a student at Boston College. We had a fling for a couple of months.”
“She didn’t care about your police record?”
“I don’t think she knew about it. I didn’t take her around my friends.”
“Did she know you were married?”
I nodded, as I ran my hand slowly down Rachel’s side. She took my hand and pressed it between her legs, forcing my fingers against her opening and closing her eyes as I sought out her swollen clit. I brushed my finger against it, rolling into her, pressing my cock against her ass as she pressed her back into my chest. She fit perfectly against me, her body slim and delicate against my broad chest and wide hips.
“I told her after we’d been together for a couple of months. Told her so that she wouldn’t get too attached.”
“Did you always know you’d go back to Abigail?”
I thought about it for a moment, remembering how Cassidy’s body fit against mine. Abigail was a beautiful woman, but she was broad-hipped, a woman who didn’t remain slender and fit into middle age, but I loved her just the same. And Rachel fit against me so perfectly that it was almost too perfect. But Cassidy…her curves were the kind that kept me up at night. Even years after I sent her away, years after I returned to Abigail and I held other women, it was still Cassidy’s curves that came to mind at the most inopportune moments, making me burn with a need that wasn’t likely to be fulfilled.
COLE (Dragon Security Book 1) Page 34