by Audrey Dacey
He thought he had done pretty well with her until tonight—and of course Monday—but did that warrant her running away from him like he was about to attack her? He felt like an idiot, and to top it all off, they had a date at McDonald's. Awesome. He’d consider it a miracle if she didn’t stand him up.
Maybe Daniel was right. Maybe this was why he had trouble with women.
Glancing down at his watch, Ryan realized that he had been standing in front of the toothpaste for at least five minutes. That was probably enough time for Alexis to get out of the store. Without much consideration, he grabbed the closest box of mint-whatever and headed up the aisle toward the line of cash registers. He peeked around the end of the shelving, relieved not to see her around.
It wasn't that he didn't like her. He liked her too much for someone he knew only Biblically. Most women were easy to push out of his life and his mind. They didn't take care of themselves or were too stupid or too clingy for him.
Though Alexis wasn't her normal dolled up self, at least from what he could tell from the few instances he'd had the pleasure, she still was sexy in her little shorts and t-shirt. In many ways, he preferred it. She looked natural—she had looked like that after their second round on Saturday night. It was sexy, and he hated himself for taking the time out of his day to think so.
When Ryan reached the front of the line, the cashier, a young kid with pimples speckling his face so violently it made Ryan pity him, asked if he found everything he was looking for. Ryan nodded his head. He knew that it was better than saying anything, because something ridiculous would come out, like “more than I was looking for.” It would only confuse the kid. It was easy for Ryan to rationalize that silence was the better option. Nine times out of ten it worked.
Ryan left the store and slipped into his black Lincoln Town Car. He had chosen it to blend in with the top guys at the firm, though most of them enjoyed theirs from the back seat. Ryan rarely drove it, opting for the ease of the subway, but he felt like he had to have a car. He'd been driving since he was fourteen. One didn't get far in Iowa without a car. One didn't get far in Manhattan with one.
As he slid into the soft leather seat, his eye caught the white envelope on the darkness of the fabric. He hadn't bought a stamp for it yet, and he didn't know that he would. Daniel's offer of starting a company in Boston had sunk in by Tuesday night, and in a fit of anger, Ryan wrote his letter of resignation from Pontus Architects. The drive back to Michael and Caitlyn's house took him right by the post office, but he wouldn't allow himself to stop.
Chapter 8
“What do you mean the order was served to the ‘Last and Usual’?” Alexis gripped the arms of the chair she was sitting in tightly. “That can’t be legal. He keeps sending junk to my house and last night he attacked me.”
Judge Josephine Price shook her head. “It’s the way the law works, Alexis. I looked into why the restraining order wasn’t in effect after you called. This guy is a ghost. He’s never at his home; several boxes are piled up at the doorway of his apartment. The carrier has stopped service to his mail so one copy of the order is in the Post Office. The other was where the Sheriff’s department left it a month ago. He doesn’t have a known job, and it’s possible he is using an alias.”
“Certainly, he can be arrested for assaulting me, order or no order.”
“Again, we’d have to find him first.”
Alexis drew in a long, calming breath. This wasn’t her aunt’s fault. She had done everything she could. Alexis felt that no matter what she did, she wasn’t safe. She hated that feeling. “What can I do in the meantime?”
She leaned back in her chair. “You can always stay with us, Alexis, until this all gets sorted out.”
Alexis looked around the sparse judge’s chamber. Bookshelves lined every inch of wall space, a desk held a lamp and one family picture, and three chairs were the only other pieces of furniture. It was about as cozy as the woman’s home, which wouldn’t put Alexis at ease. Right now, she just wanted to be comfortable. “I appreciate the offer, Aunt Jo, but Riley’s with me right now. I wouldn’t want to put you in a position to take us both in.”
“Right,” she hummed and squinted as though she were deep in thought. Riley had always been the black sheep of the family, making her a great excuse. At first it was because she was so young. All of their cousins were in Alexis’s generation, and Alexis was the youngest of them. It was the reason Alexis’s parents appointed her Riley’s guardian. And then it was because Riley went wild, which was the reason Alexis remained her guardian.
“You know a lot of the men in the police department.” Her aunt looked deliberately above Alexis when she said it. She had mostly amicable relationships with her aunts, uncles, and cousins, but when it came down to it, they were damned snobs who didn’t understand her or approve of her choice to have sex out of wedlock. They liked to shove it in her face as often as they could. “Call one of them whenever you receive a package from him or see him.” Aunt Jo leaned forward and pointed her finger at Alexis. “You want to build an ironclad case against him. Don’t wait like you did this time.”
“I didn’t think it would matter that much.” Sure the flowers were annoying, but she took care of that on her own. As for the parking lot incident, Alexis just wanted to make sure he was gone, so she could get behind the safety of her house alarm before she called the police. It was the only place where she felt safe. If he broke in with the alarm set, the cops would be there in a matter of minutes, and she wouldn’t have to do a damn thing.
“It matters quite a bit if you want this order to be finalized. Right now it doesn’t look like you are serious about keeping this man away from you.”
Alexis remembered his stony body crushing her against her car, the sleepless night she spent wondering how this all went so wrong, and the eight cups of coffee she drank so that she could make it to Boston to talk to her aunt to get this all straightened out.
“I’m very serious. If he isn’t served with those papers soon and put behind bars, I’m going to sue the District court for being incompetent.” Alexis stood up and slung her purse over her shoulder. Aunt Jo slowly stood as well, straightening out her black pants suit before walking around her desk to her niece. She placed her hands on Alexis’s arms and looked right into her eyes, giving her a forced smile.
“You don’t mean that, dear, but I will make sure that the order gets served by the end of the weekend.”
Alexis gave her a smile back. “It better be. I know a lot of men in lawyers’ offices as well.” Alexis didn’t want to take on the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. She didn’t have the energy, but she did have the time and the money. “If that’s what it takes to show just how serious I am, I’ll have someone in here Monday morning. Someone who knows how to serve papers properly.”
Aunt Jo dropped her hands to her sides. “Okay.” She walked back around her desk, sat down, and began rummaging through her paperwork. “Is there anything else?”
“No, ma’am.” Alexis turned, opened the heavy wooden door, and passed through it. This was going to be taken care of, she assured herself. Richard Dunn was by far the worst stalker that she had ever had. Most of them just expected something more from her, and when they realized they weren’t going to get it, they faded into the background—a couple weeks of inconvenience at the max—but not Richard.
Alexis didn’t understand men when it came to relationships. There was a hunger in a man that could never be satisfied by just one woman, no matter how skilled she was in bed. Even the other things a woman could offer, like her sparkling personality or mad cooking skills, weren’t very helpful in getting a man to stick around longer than breakfast. Alexis didn’t have a sparkling personality, and she didn’t know how to turn on the oven, but she was flirtatious, upfront, and demanding. It got her what she wanted, and that was all that mattered.
Despite all this, somewhere along the way some men—friends even—thought that they could be her “the one” if sh
e gave them the chance. They thought they could domesticate her, but that wasn’t the problem. Alexis had proved she was ready to settle down with one man for the rest of her life years ago. Luckily, before she got married, they both realized something—he had some more playing to do. When it came to sex, men would always be wild. Alexis was sure that if everyone sat down and agreed on that, the world would be a better place.
Alexis yanked open the door to her Porsche and sat down. She reached down in between her legs and grabbed the Taser that was under her seat. She wasn’t going anywhere without that baby anymore. God help Richard Dunn if he touched her again.
§
A rolled set of blueprints landed in Ryan’s hand as he watched the crewmen begin to pack up their tools for the day.
“What’s this?” He looked over at Daniel, who had slipped his hands into his front pockets and gazed at a thick piece of smoky plastic where the west wall of the house used to be.
“Blueprints that Henry Thackery drew up for a project that I’m going to start working on next month.”
Ryan was confused. If the prints were drawn up, what the hell did Daniel need him for? Thackery was good enough. “And?”
Daniel continued to look forward. “And I want a second opinion. It doesn’t feel right to me.”
“Okay. Why don’t you talk to Thackery about that? If he’s the lead on the project, I don’t want to overstep. Hell, having these plans in my hand seems underhanded, since he works for a different firm.” Ryan tried to hand the plans back to his friend, but Daniel pulled a hand from his jeans and batted them away.
“Will you just do this for me?”
“Fine, but I’m not stealing a project from this guy. It’s not right.” Ryan turned and walked into the living room—one of the few areas that had all four walls and table where he could work. He sat on the couch and unrolled the plans on the wooden coffee table. For a moment he studied the prints, but it wasn’t long before he kneaded his brow together. “Were these approved?”
“Not yet.”
“This is the worst work I have ever seen come out of Thackery’s office. It’s like he forgot everything he ever learned about design. Jesus, I can’t even look at this. Give me a pencil.” Daniel silently handed him a pencil, and Ryan began crossing things out and sketching. “You can’t just throw up walls and call it good. This is a Colonial home. The design needs to be cohesive with the rest of the structure or it will look abysmal like these plans.”
Daniel watched over his shoulder and hummed in agreement as Ryan continued to tell him why these plans didn’t make sense. Occasionally he added a “that’s what I thought” to the one-sided conversation.
“Listen,” Ryan looked over his shoulder to face Daniel, “this is really rough, but it’s what I would basically do with it. Where is this house? Long Island? It’s definitely not in the city.”
Daniel stood up and walked to the picture window across the room, looking out and rubbing the back of his head with his hand. “Just outside of Salem.”
“You son of a bitch.” Ryan jumped up and threw the pencil on the table. “And Thackery?”
“He didn’t touch the plans. That was something I threw together.” Daniel smiled. “I thought it was pretty good for an amateur.”
Ryan grabbed the knot of his tie and yanked it until he was free of the cloth that was suddenly making it difficult to breathe. He walked over to the window, crossed his arms, and looked out at the bright green lawn. “What are you trying to prove?”
“That it wouldn’t be boring. That you would actually enjoy these types of projects if you gave them a chance.” Daniel turned toward Ryan and put his hand on his shoulder. Ryan wanted to be angry with him—he wanted to punch him in the face—but he knew he couldn’t. Daniel was the big brother he never had, the family that he had prayed for. And even if the guy was killing his career and trying to take Ryan down with him, he could never really be angry. Irritated, however, was a completely different story.
“I’m not leaving New York to work on additions. This was a one-time thing for friends, not a portfolio builder. After this, I need to focus on the big projects so they realize they screwed up and promoted the wrong guy.”
Daniel smiled. “You wouldn’t have to do that if you were working with me. You’d be top dog.”
Ryan forced a tense laugh. “Top of what? The Salem historical home renovations circuit?”
“Some things are more important than being the architectural king of New York.” Daniel lowered his hands. A smirk crossed his lips as he turned his gaze back out the window. “Speaking of which, don’t you have date to get ready for?”
“You can’t help yourself, can you?” Ryan glanced at his watch. “Besides, I’m ready.”
Daniel gave him a skeptical look. “You’d be better off in something a little less business and a little more casual. You’re unlikely to impress her covered in sawdust.”
“I’m not looking to impress her. I’m looking to eat a cheeseburger.”
§
The smell of grease permeated the heavy air. Alexis's stomach turned as she stared at the contents of the tray in front of her. She knew she shouldn't. She should have gotten some apple slices and an iced tea, but she hadn't. Now that the hot, gooey burger was in front of her, she wouldn't be able to resist its charms. While this was a great place to go for a non-date, it was a better test of her willpower, and she had failed.
Her stomach wasn’t turning because of the grease or the debate over whether to eat the pile of calories in front of her. Her reason had lost that debate five minutes ago. Instead it was the dark-haired figure staring at her from across the plastic table, eating a burger like it wasn't a big deal and saying nothing. Alexis hated him a little bit, for not struggling. Guys never seemed to contemplate what they were eating or how it was going to help or hurt their love handles. What was especially frustrating was that this guy didn't have a single part of his body she could significantly pinch between her thumb and forefinger, much less dare to call a love handle. What a jerk.
She hated having people watch her eat. It wasn't elegant or sexy, though neither was this food. Alexis looked down and fumbled over the top of the burger, trying to figure out the best way to pick it up without dripping ketchup on herself. Eventually, she found an acceptable way and took a dainty bite out of the temptation. Sweet Jesus, it was good. For a moment she concentrated only on the salty mix of flavors dancing across her taste buds. Her eyes were closed, and she forgot where she was and with whom. She savored it because she knew that she could only eat half, if that, and she had missed the artery-clogging mess of a Big Mac in her mouth.
When the bite was gone, she opened her eyes and saw Ryan taking advantage of the gift before him, eating without reserve or consideration of the specialness of the meal.
She narrowed her eyes at him. “It must be hard to work on your social skills with food constantly in your mouth.”
She watched as he chewed his last bite, swallowed, and then washed it down with soda. “Probably. I wouldn't know.”
Alexis set her burger down on the paper tray-liner and crossed her arms under her breasts. “What do you mean?”
“I've never worked on them before. I've gotten by until now with what I've got.”
Her glare deepened. “Don't you have friends that you could work on this with?”
“Sure, but they’re easy to talk to. I don't have problems with them.” He took another bite, finishing off his sandwich.
“I thought I was easy to talk to,” she pointed out, hoping in the back of her mind she could get out of there.
“You are. But I don't know you…” he stopped and eyed her breasts for a lingering moment before continuing to her face, “…all that well, so it's different.”
Alexis didn't want to get to know him. Sex. Two meals. Conversations about their lives. This was starting to look dangerously like a relationship, and she had no interest in having a relationship with this man. Or any man.
Her sister impeded her sex life when she was around, but this time Riley was so careful about avoiding her, it was nearly impossible for her to get out. It was suspicious, and Alexis didn’t trust that she wasn’t up to something, leaving her in the house to her own devices seemed like a bad idea. Alexis missed the days of the full-service staff taking care of her sister, while Alexis took care of herself.
She pulled a french fry out of the paper sleeve and took a small bite off the end. Her insides moaned. She shouldn't have come here. There were two things that she didn't need in her life: fast food and this man.
They sat in awkward silence for several moments while Alexis enjoyed a few more bites of her meal. They had only been there for ten minutes, and it was starting to get painful. Alexis's thoughts wavered from excuses to get out of there to taking him back to bed to relieve some of the stress that Riley put on her life.
The absence of conversation continued until Alexis finished half her meal and decided that she couldn't justify eating any more. Ryan had finished long before her, and his blue eyes were surveying her.
A tingle ran through her body, causing the hairs on her arms to stand on end, but she tried to ignore it. “What? Do I have secret sauce on my face?”
“No,” he said, unmoving.
She pushed her tray toward the middle of the table, breaking his gaze. If she didn't get some distance between her and that food, her resolve would soon be worn away. She looked up again to find him still looking at her intently. “You’re staring. It’s rude.”
“Sorry.”
She shook her head in disappointment. “You're doing a terrible job.”