by Melody Anne
Turning around, Elena smiled in victory. When she’d vowed to take Tyler Knight down, she hadn’t realized how easy it would be to seduce him. Men like him should pay, though they rarely did.
She walked back into the bathroom and almost had the door shut when it was thrust back open. Standing there, looking far from pleased, was Tyler in all his naked glory.
“Don’t think for even one second that you can make a comment like that and then just walk away,” he said, and he took a menacing step toward her.
Elena’s heart lodged in her throat. This game had just taken a direction she hadn’t been planning on.
She’d expected slight anger, and frustration, of course. She hadn’t expected the predatory look that she now saw in his eyes.
“I can do whatever I want to do, Tyler.” Elena latched the front of her bra and then began doing up the buttons of her shirt. And he stood there looking at her as if she had two heads.
Maybe she did.
“What in the hell is your deal? For the past month you’ve been playing with me, and now this?” he thundered. “I knew something was up, but didn’t expect such a sucker punch. You weren’t looking at me with disgust in your eyes while I was devouring you on the kitchen island.”
As he said this, he took a step closer, and Elena’s heart pounded. She had to go on the offensive, and fast.
“You have no clue who I am, do you?” she snapped, poking him hard in the chest.
That question seemed to take him aback for a moment. He traced her face with his eyes, but no comprehension set in.
“Dammit, Elena, if I had slept with you before, I’d remember,” he said. “I’ve had more than a few relationships — I’ll admit that — but I don’t forget the women I take to bed. What in the hell have I done to piss you off so badly?”
He wasn’t letting her get around him in the bathroom, but thankfully, he wasn’t touching her either. She couldn’t handle that right now. His statement crushed her more than she could have imagined it would.
No, he hadn’t slept with her. He’d screwed her. And then tossed her aside and forgotten all about her.
“You Knights just take and take and when you’re finished doing that, you leave a wake behind you a mile long without once ever looking back. So, this might not have been the best plan in the world, but I wanted to make you feel something like loss — at least once in your life. You’re selfish and hurtful and you deserve to want something that you can’t have.” Elena pushed against him, trying to get past.
Tyler grabbed both her wrists with one hand and held them above her head as he thrust her against the wall.
“Explain now.”
His voice was now deadly calm, which was far worse than if he were yelling.
Her voice trembled slightly, but she spoke in a rush. “We knew each other once, Tyler, but I don’t expect you to have any comprehension of that ...”
“When did I know you?” She could see the wheels spinning but nothing was hitting home.
“It doesn’t matter, but there was a time I cared about you, and you so quickly and easily forgot about me. And then we saw each other again you might as well have thrown me to the wolves. Wait! That’s exactly what you did. The person I once knew — I had thought was kind and he was my whole world. And then I watched you through the years, seeing all your exploits in the papers. You don’t care about anyone but yourself. That’s how your family operates. You’re just like your father. He must have taught you well!”
Thunder was raging in Tyler’s eyes as she continued speaking, but they narrowed dangerously when she brought up his dad. That might not have been the best move on her part. Anger had made her lash out. Fear made her say foolish things. And right now she was feeling both of those emotions.
“First of all, you will tell me how we know each other. If I’ve somehow wronged you, I deserve to know why,” he said, the anger in his voice barely contained. He paused for a moment. “And I am nothing like the evil bastard who gave me life. I won’t tolerate being compared to that man.”
She should stop. She knew she should stop, but so many emotions were rushing through her and she couldn’t seem to keep her damn mouth shut.
“Really? I disagree. I’ve studied you for years.” She started choking on her words, and stopped before reminding him of their onetime friendship. He didn’t know who she was and there was no reason to bring that up.
“I want to know who you are right now.” He was so commanding, she almost told him. But somehow she stopped herself.
“It doesn’t matter, Tyler. I don’t want to be here. I don’t want to be with you,” she told him.
“I know more about you than you think?”
“You don’t know anything,” she said, far less calmly than he had.
“Want to test it?”
“I want you to unhand me, unless you make a habit of forcing yourself on women,” she said.
Tyler instantly released her and took a step back.
“Believe me, I don’t need to force myself on anyone,” he said before moving to the bathroom door and holding it wide open. “You can get the hell out of my house.”
The coldness of his voice sent a shudder down her spine. Elena didn’t say anything further; she just skirted around him and ran to his kitchen to find her slacks and shoes.
She grabbed them, put them on quickly, and left through his front door, shivers racking her body.
Now what was she supposed to do? He’d driven her there, and she had no idea where she was. She walked to the end of his driveway, which took her a good ten minutes, and when she reached the gate, a cab sat there waiting.
It looked as if Tyler had sent more than one woman from his house this way if he could get a cab there that fast. She scrambled inside, gave the man her address, and used every power within her to keep herself from crying.
She’d been downgraded. Last time he’d screwed her, he’d at least offered her a limo ride home. Now, she was delegated to a stinky cab. It was her choice this time, though.
She’d done what she’d set out to do. It was just too damn bad that she felt like crap about it. Revenge had seemed so satisfying when she’d thought it up initially. Now, it just left her feeling hollow and more alone than she’d ever felt before.
Chapter Fifteen
Who in the hell does she think she is?”
Tyler’s two brothers looked on in fascination. They’d been nearly silent for the past half an hour as he ranted on and on about Elena and her scheme. He couldn’t stop himself.
Finally, he turned and actually looked at them. The two men were sitting in his library with their legs propped up, drinks in their hands, and ridiculously silly grins on their faces. Whatever happened to brotherly solidarity?
“Are you going to just sit there all night long or are you going to give me some input?” he snapped. He glared at them murderously.
“Well, considering you haven’t given us two seconds to give any input, we thought we’d just sit here,” Blake said, and he took another swig of his scotch.
“I’m giving you time now,” Tyler shouted.
“We don’t know who she is. I met her for about two seconds, but I wasn’t exactly in the best mood or on my best behavior then. Might I suggest you find out about the little tease,” Byron said.
“What? The two of you are all happy and in committed relationships, so you think my disastrous love live is entertaining?”
Blake guffawed. “Now that you mention it, it is pretty entertaining.”
“This is B.S.!”
Tyler marched over to the bar and snagged another beer from the refrigerator. It had been a month since Elena’s little stunt and he was still furious. He’d thought he would be over it by now. He’d been determined just to forget all about that … that … never mind.
But a month later he was still dreaming of the wretched woman, still wanting to know what in the hell had gone wrong. More importantly, he was trying to figure out why in the world h
e gave a damn about any of it. Screw her. Well, he had tried …
“Tyler, you’ve been going off every few days about this woman since the moment you met her,” Byron said. “It’s been an entire month since she walked away from here, and you still haven’t forgotten about her. Maybe it’s time you to do something about it.”
“I wanted to forget all about her and her effed-up games,” Tyler said, “but you’re right. I can’t get her off my mind, so I’m thinking that was the wrong choice.”
“Haven’t you always been the easygoing brother,” Blake said, “the happy one, the one who wants to find true love and live all happily ever after?”
“That was before I met the woman before this one, the woman I thought I’d ask to marry me. And now I’m confronted with another wreck in the female species,” Tyler snapped. “They’re all worthless. Who needs them?”
“Don’t let one woman, or even two, change your identity,” Blake told him. “Byron and I spent far too many years being testosterone-crazed assholes. You’re a good guy, Tyler. This woman could be a complete bitch, or she could have a story. You’re never going to know if you don’t see this thing through, figure out why she did what she did.”
“And if I find out that it really was just her idea of a game, that she’s actually nothing more than a cheep hussy?”
“Cheap hussy? Don’t let the tabloids learn that you use that kind of sexist language in this millennium. It won’t help our business brand, you know.” Byron looked away for a moment, but he continued. “Here’s what you do if you find out the worst. You don’t let one disastrous encounter — okay, a second disastrous encounter — ruin you for all future ones.”
“Weren’t you being a complete douche to McKenzie just a few months ago?” Tyler had to ask.
“Yeah, I was,” Byron admitted with a shake of his head. “And I almost lost her because of it. Don’t be an idiot like me.”
“Or me,” Blake added.
“Dammit! I want to just forget all about this woman.”
“Yeah, if life were that easy, there wouldn’t be so many damn shrinks out there,” Blake said.
“Ha, ha. Very fun,” Tyler snapped again.
“Look, bro, all kidding aside, find out this woman’s story. Maybe she’s got a damn good reason for doing what she did,” Blake told him.
“I can’t see that there is any justifiable reason for someone to play the games she played,” Tyler mumbled. But his temper was finally beginning to die down as he began to plan out what he was going to do next.
“You never know, Ty,” Byron said. “In the eyes of the world, you’re not exactly a guy bent on monogamy. You’re constantly featured in gossip magazines as a playboy extraordinaire. We all went that route. None of us gave a damn what people thought about us. But I’ll grant you this — you actually cared about your neighbors, and you’ve sacrificed to make this world a better place. The same can’t be said about Byron or me. We were dicks.”
“Hey! I resent that,” Byron interjected.
Blake simply raised an eyebrow. And Byron smiled.
“Okay, so I resemble that remark. I was a dick. But McKenzie has turned me into a better man.”
“Think about it, Ty. All I’m saying is to look a little deeper,” Blake told his little brother. “Give peace a chance. You never know what you might find.”
“Who in the hell have you guys turned into?” Tyler didn’t even recognize these men anymore. “Wasn’t I always the voice of reason in our threesome?”
“Yeah. Women happened. The love of our lives.” Blake didn’t even bat an eye at saying this.
“So you’ve gone soft?” Tyler goaded him.
Blake sat up and the look of a warrior sprang into his eyes, the same look that could silence a boardroom and make people shake.
“Just because my heart has softened doesn’t make me weak. Don’t for one second think that’s the case. I just came to realize that I don’t have to be alone and miserable in this world. If someone crosses me, I’m still a force to be reckoned with.”
“How do you separate it?” Tyler asked. He didn’t feel quite so angry now.
“You learn to adjust, to figure out what’s worth getting upset about, and what’s not,” Byron said. “Sometimes you slip up, but you forgive yourself.”
“Thank you.”
They sat there a few more moments and then his brothers said goodbye. Maybe they were right. Maybe he was a fool, but since he couldn’t get this woman off his mind, he might as well find out why that was.
The games with one Elena Truman weren’t quite over yet.
Chapter Sixteen
Elena, get in here!”
Ugh, Sometimes Elena really hated her boss. Seriously. He was arrogant and condescending. Okay, so he was also brilliant, and he brought in clients. And though she loathed him, she needed this job. It wasn’t easy to get a job with decent pay right out of law school, and every law school grad was enough in debt from student loans to … oh, use your own cliché here. She had a long way to go before she could do what she truly loved, which was helping children. She only got to do that now on a volunteer basis, and with her long hours, that was incredibly limited.
It was good that she had a job, and one that wasn’t the worst in the world, because the rest of her life was an utter disaster. Her revenge plan had left her miserable. She’d never expected to miss Tyler Knight, had expected to feel triumphant and righteous, but miss him she did. Every single day — and night. Especially night.
They’d spent time together for only a month, a single month, but that time with him had brought the past back to her like a hurricane. There was a brief moment in her life when Tyler had been her best friend, and while she’d been executing her plan she’d seen glimpses of the boy she’d once loved so much.
It was hard to remind herself that he was now a man she despised for justifiable reasons.
Picking up her iPad in case her boss wanted her to take down some notes, she stepped into his office and waited while he finished speaking on the phone. The man was rude, too. Obviously.
“We have a new client, and he’s requested you, for some odd reason. I did tell him that we have attorneys here who have a longer track record and could do the job better.”
Elena gritted her teeth and kept silent. She was good at her job. Sure, she’d only been practicing law for a couple of years, but she was dedicated, worked long hours, and took great care of her clients.
“Don’t you have anything to say?” asked her boss, Timothy. “I’m giving you a great case.”
“I do appreciate it. Just give me the file and I’ll begin reviewing it immediately.”
“No file yet. The client wants to meet you face-to-face first and then discuss the case. You’ll meet with him tonight — eight o’clock at the Fairmont Hotel, in the Georgian restaurant.”
“Okay, I’ll be there.” That was unusual — not to have notes to go over first. Most clients wanted their attorneys up and running on any case before they wasted their time and money on talking.
She turned to leave Timothy’s office when he called out her name and she stopped and turned around.
“Elena, give this man whatever he wants. This is a high-profile client with megabucks in the bank.”
Dammit! She hated clients like this.
There was nothing unusual about meeting a client at night, but she hated the ones who had a lot of demands. Still, many of their clients were incredibly busy, and her job certainly wasn’t an eight-to-five kind of gig. She enjoyed some of the dinner meetings she had with clients at exclusive places that she couldn’t usually afford. The problem was finding something to wear that would be appropriate to wear to a restaurant such as the Georgian.
She’d become pretty good at faking it, though, and could stretch her dollars better than most.
Work ate up the rest of Elena’s day, and though she hated not having a file so she could study up on her client first, sometimes that’s just how the job we
nt. So she went home and rustled up a nice black pencil skirt, not too short, and a blue top that matched her eyes.
After throwing her hair into a tight bun and touching up her makeup, she nodded into her bathroom mirror.
With time to spare, she caught a cab to the Fairmont and walked inside. Her heels, clicked on the marble floor as she proceeded to the Georgian.
When she gave her name to the host, she didn’t have to wait at all. He escorted her back to the restaurant’s private dining room, The Petite, a room she certainly hadn’t seen before. As they made their way past the other diners, live music drifted through the room.
She was a little disappointed that she wouldn’t be sitting out there where she could listen. But this was a business meeting. She’d have to suck it up.
When Elena entered the private room, she saw that her client hadn’t yet arrived, so she took a seat and ordered an iced tea. She normally had a glass of wine at dinners of this sort, but she knew nothing about this client or about what he wanted.
Normally, this would be fine if she had the dang case file. Then at least she wouldn’t be sitting there doing nothing when the man entered. Her firm took pride in the fact that they were sought after.
Unsure if she should check her phone, or sit there and pretend to be in deep thought, she began to grow antsy when the atmosphere in the room suddenly changed.
Elena didn’t need to turn around, didn’t need to make eye contact to know who had joined her. Maybe she was going to need that wine, after all.
Chapter Seventeen
You look good, Elena,” Tyler said as he stepped in front of her, wearing a dark gray suit and a red tie, his coat pushed open to reveal the crisp white shirt beneath and the hand-tailored trousers showcasing his magnificent hips. His hair was neat and his face clean-shaven, and a predator’s smile — not unlike the one she’d seen in his bedroom a month ago — rested on his lips. She didn’t want to find him sexy, but it was incredibly hard not to.