The New Guy

by Kathryn Freeman

  ‘It’s okay, Lucas.’ Ryan’s voice was so cold she could almost see the shards of ice forming around it. ‘Obviously I’m number one suspect. I’m the newcomer.’ His eyes, when they met hers, caused her to gasp inwardly. Oh God, he wasn’t just angry. He was hurting. ‘I’ve been here three months.’ A bitter smile touched his lips. ‘Just under. During that time I’ve met Mr Lynch only once, a month ago, at the conference. I’ve already told you what we spoke about.’

  Sam felt the shock start to drain out of her, and along with it a lot of the anger. ‘You did. I’m sorry—’

  ‘You must really rate his abilities,’ he cut in, ‘if you think he’s been able to achieve in one month what I’ve not been able to achieve in three.’ She wanted to dive in, to stop him and apologise, but for once the uncommunicative Ryan Black wouldn’t stop talking. ‘Or perhaps that’s not it. Perhaps you think I’ve been deliberately slow, giving him time to launch his app with all the updates I told him about in the three-minute conversation we had?’ His eyes hardened. ‘Or maybe it’s not that either. Maybe you think this whole thing is a set-up. That we planned that I’d get fired from my last job so I could sneak my way in here.’ His hurt and anger were now boiling over into his voice. ‘Hell, maybe you think I’m just as much of a traitorous bastard as the guy you used to shack up with? The one who literally screwed you over.’

  ‘Enough,’ Lucas snapped, his gaze going from her to Ryan, as if trying to work something out. Beside him Becky winced, her expression one of complete and utter sympathy. And behind Becky, oh God, there was Alice, who just stared and stared, her face as white as a sheet. This was going from bad to worse to totally destructive.

  Ryan heaved in a deep, shuddering breath, his gaze darting from the ceiling, to the floor before finally landing back on her. ‘No need to fire me. I quit.’

  Before Sam could say anything, he’d turned and walked out.

  There was a moment of stunned silence during which Sam tried to unscramble her brain. She didn’t know what she wanted to do first. Punch a hole in the wall, scream at the top of her voice. Or bury her head in her hands and weep. Before she could do any of it though, Alice stepped forward. ‘You have to call him back.’ Her voice trembled as she avoided Sam’s eyes. ‘It wasn’t Ryan who talked to Damien. I have a terrible feeling it was me.’

  Chapter 15

  Ryan was seething as he marched back to his temporary office. Both at Sam and at himself. Her for kicking him exactly where it hurt, and him for letting it hurt so much. So what if she didn’t trust him? If he wasn’t part of her hallowed inner circle? It was a job, that’s all.

  And now, because of his hot-headedness, he didn’t even have that. But how could he stay, after what he’d said? It didn’t matter how belittled he’d felt, how angry and upset, he had no right to throw her previous relationship in her face. No right to embarrass her like that in front of the others.

  Cursing, he yanked open the door to the meeting room. Grab his jacket, his stuff – flask to keep his coffee hot, his wireless mouse, the Tupperware box he put his sarnie in – and get out of here, pronto.

  Then spend the rest of the day finding another job. And avoiding all bars, because no way in hell was he going to risk shagging his next boss.

  He was in the process of jamming his mouse into the Tupperware box, when Lucas burst in.

  ‘Stop right there.’

  Ryan glanced up. ‘I’m not pinching anything. The mouse is mine. The company ones are crap.’

  Lucas lifted his eyes to the ceiling. ‘Take that chip off your shoulder for a moment. It’s weighing you down.’

  ‘Fuck off.’

  Lucas sighed. ‘Wow, you really are turning on the charm today, aren’t you?’

  ‘Being told you’re a backstabbing traitor does that to a man.’

  ‘Umm. Was it the accusation that has you riled though, or the person who delivered it?’

  Ryan snatched at the flask and shoved it into his jacket pocket. ‘Did you come here for something specific, or just to piss me off?’

  Silently Lucas turned and shut the door. Then he pulled out one of the chairs from under the table and plonked himself on it. ‘I came to stop you from leaving.’

  ‘Why? Going to miss me too much?’

  ‘Actually, I would, yes.’

  His admission pulled Ryan up short. He studied the man’s face, looking for signs of irony, but couldn’t see any. Letting out a deep sigh, he slumped onto the nearest chair and faced Lucas. ‘I appreciate that. More than you can know, if I’m being honest, though don’t go getting any ideas.’

  Lucas waggled his eyebrows suggestively. ‘Too late.’

  Ryan shook his head, but he couldn’t stop a smile from forming. ‘Whatever gets you through the day. But I’m done here, mate.’

  ‘Alice has just admitted it was her who gave Damien the information on the updates. Apparently she talked to him at a conference she went to last year, two weeks after joining the company. Not knowing who he was, when he expressed an interest in what she was working on, she told him she was trying to get the app to show the user not just who held personal information on them, but what that information was. She didn’t think any more of it, until now.’

  Ryan thought back to Alice’s reaction when she’d asked who Damien was a few minutes ago. ‘Figures.’

  ‘We’re good then? You can plug that special mouse of yours back in?’

  ‘That wasn’t the reason I’m leaving.’

  Lucas’s forehead wrinkled. ‘Then enlighten me.’

  ‘Enlighten you? Who the heck uses that word any more?’

  ‘Non philistines.’ Lucas narrowed his blue eyes. ‘If you prefer it in simpler terms, spill.’

  Ryan shifted on his chair, uncomfortable with the conversation. ‘That’s my business.’

  Lucas’s expression sharpened. ‘Does it have anything to do with your rather stunning over-reaction to Sam’s question? Or maybe it has more to do with your unsubtle reminder to everyone of what Lynch did to her?’

  Ryan felt the heat of embarrassment creep up his neck. ‘Thanks. You’ve helped a lot.’

  Lucas sighed, threading a hand through his wavy blond locks, which fell back into exactly the same place. ‘Sam asked me to stop you from leaving.’ His eyes tracked Ryan’s. ‘So whatever is between you two, and however annoyed she is, she doesn’t want you to go.’

  ‘Yeah.’ Ryan wasn’t convinced. He’d seen the horror in those vast eyes of hers when he’d thrown her history with Lynch at her. She probably didn’t want him to go just yet. Not until she’d pinned him into signing a statement to the effect that he was forbidden to work for Lynch. Ever.

  ‘If you’re wondering why she hasn’t come to find you herself, it’s because she’s trying to console Alice.’

  Ryan winced. Poor kid. First she’d had him barking at her, then she’d found out she’d unwittingly put the company in jeopardy. And he thought he was having a bad day. ‘How is she?’

  ‘Sam or Alice?’

  He’d meant Sam, but because he didn’t want to admit that to a guy he could sense was bursting with curiosity, he lied. ‘Alice.’

  Lucas gave him a knowing look. ‘Alice is, as I believe I’ve already hinted, understandably upset. She thinks she’s ruined everything. Sam’s trying to convince her she hasn’t, even though Sam secretly believes it is all over.’

  ‘Bollocks she does. She’s got more fight in her than that.’

  Lucas smiled and rose slowly to his feet. ‘Maybe you should go and tell her that. I’m sure she needs to hear it.’ His smile dimmed and he fixed Ryan with a steely blue glare. ‘If you are going to waltz off like a prima donna and leave us high and dry, at least have the decency to stay until she can find someone to replace you. She deserves that, at least.’

  ‘Ouch,’ Ryan muttered, feeling every sharp, serrated edge.

  Lucas turned his smile back on, before turning and walking out.

  Sam gave up passing tissues to Al
ice and handed her the box.

  ‘Please, you have to stop blaming yourself. You weren’t to know who he was. If anyone is to blame here, it’s me. I should have briefed you before you went to the conference.’ And she would have done, if she’d believed for one minute that Damien would stoop that low. Chalk up yet another flawed judgement on her part.

  ‘You’re being very kind.’ Alice wiped her eyes, then blew into the tissue. ‘Is all the work we’ve put into Privacy 2 really for nothing?’

  ‘Of course not,’ Sam lied. ‘I just said it in the heat of the moment. I didn’t realise you were listening.’ She’d thought she’d been talking to friends. Oh, and to Ryan, who might or might not be a friend, but whom she knew she’d hurt. It was hard to blame him for lashing out at her. Even though it had felt like a public slap round the face.

  ‘So we’ll still launch our app?’

  ‘We certainly will.’ But the initiative had now been yanked from under them.

  ‘Right then.’ Alice lurched to her feet. ‘I’m going back to work. The quicker we finalise it, the better, yes?’

  ‘Yes.’ Or to put it another way, the longer it took them to launch, the more customers they would lose, and the quicker they would go under.

  The moment Alice stepped outside the office, thankfully closing the door behind her, Sam put her head in her hands. What a bloody mess. She didn’t want to feel this down, this beaten, and maybe tomorrow she wouldn’t. Maybe tomorrow she’d square her shoulders, take a deep breath and come out fighting, but right now?

  Tears welled and Sam’s face crumpled. Bugger it, right now she needed to wallow. To hang her head and let all the anger, frustration, the crushing disappointment, drain out of her.

  But first, she had to check on Ryan. Wiping furiously at her eyes, she was about to stand when Lucas popped his head round the door.

  ‘How is he?’ she blurted, any cool she had now long gone.

  Lucas stepped further in. ‘Funny, he asked the same of you. Though being a devious devil, he pretended he was asking about Alice, but I know he actually wanted to know about you.’

  ‘Or he could actually have wanted to know about Alice.’

  Lucas smirked. ‘Do you want to hear how our chat went, or not?’

  Sam groaned and sagged back against the chair. ‘I really don’t know. I think I’d prefer to sit here in blissful ignorance than learn that the guy we need to finish Privacy 2, which apparently is no better than the rival app launching tomorrow, has just walked out of the door.’

  ‘He hasn’t. I told him the least he can do is stay until you’d found someone to replace him.’

  Sam gaped at Lucas. ‘You seriously had the nerve to say that? I’ve basically told Ryan he’s a lying toerag who betrayed this company. I believe the least he can do is sue me for slander.’

  ‘What can I say, I’m very persuasive.’ He flashed her a cocky grin before perching on the chair opposite and giving her a long, quiet look. ‘He’s not considering leaving because of what you said.’

  ‘He’s not?’

  ‘Nope. It’s because of what he said. He thinks he’s embarrassed you so much he can’t stay. At least that’s what I think he thinks, reading between the lines.’

  Sam started to laugh. ‘Flipping heck, Lucas. You’re basically making up a story to fit your own agenda. You have no idea what he’s thinking.’

  ‘I know more than you think, sweet cheeks,’ he countered. ‘There’s something going on between the pair of you, isn’t there?’

  ‘No,’ she mumbled, not wanting to go there. She was still reeling from Damien’s bombshell. She didn’t need to pick over her disaster of a one-night stand. What she needed was to get her head straight so she could find her way through the mess she was in right now.

  Once again she felt the prick of unshed tears.

  Okay, while she was on this roll, maybe it wasn’t typical CEO behaviour, but what she also needed was a bloody good cry.

  First though, she had to put herself and Ryan back on the right footing. Sighing, she rose to her feet. ‘Look, you’re right, there is an attraction, but the last thing I need right now is another office relationship. I’ve got enough on my plate dealing with the fallout from the previous one.’ Angrily she swiped away a stray tear. ‘Do you think Ryan will still be in that stupid meeting room he’s locked himself in?’

  Lucas stared at her in horror. ‘Please tell me you’re not going to see him now?’

  ‘Why not?’

  He waved his hand in the direction of her face. ‘Darling, your eyes are all watery, your face is like a heavy grey cloud on a wet weekend in November. You look like all you want to do is hide in a dark corner and burst into tears.’

  She sniffed. ‘That’s probably because I do.’

  ‘Then Ryan can wait. You don’t want him to see you looking like a misery bucket, do you?’

  More tears leaked. ‘God, Lucas, whatever you’re thinking, stop. I told you, there’s nothing going on between us.’

  ‘No?’ He eyed her speculatively. ‘Regardless, you’re a woman, and you’re the boss. You don’t want him to see you cry. So do what you have to do in here, put your game face on and then go and see him.’ Clasping her shoulders, he gave her a quick kiss on the cheek. ‘And after that, sweet cheeks, you need to get back to your day job. You still have a company to run.’

  But for how long?

  She gave him a watery smile and watched as he carefully shut the door behind him. Then she slumped back in her chair and allowed the misery to take over.

  Chapter 16

  Ryan told himself he was just taking the scenic route back from the gents. He didn’t have to stop by Sam’s office. Didn’t have to take a peek inside and see if she was in there. He could just walk on by, back to his desk … well, to his table, since he hadn’t had the balls to move his desk into the meeting room.

  And anyway, why should he make the first move? He was the employee she’d publicly accused of being a traitor. He deserved the apology.

  Puffed up with righteous indignation, he stalked past her office. And careered to a halt.

  Crap.

  Was that really Sunshine Sam sitting at her table with her head in her hands? Crying?

  Pretend you haven’t seen her. It wasn’t even cowardice, as there was no way his boss would want him to see her like that.

  But though his mind told him to walk by, his feet wouldn’t budge.

  Double crap.

  What was this weird pull he felt towards her? Somehow this woman had got under his skin. Straightening his shoulders, ignoring the race of his pulse, he knocked on the door. Then walked in before she had a chance to reply.

  She looked up with a start, her cheeks wet, those beautiful eyes swimming with tears. And snapping with annoyance. ‘What the hell, Ryan? It’s bloody rude to walk into someone’s office when their door is shut.’

  He shrugged. ‘I never pretended to be a gentleman.’

  Clearly embarrassed at being caught crying, she snatched at the tissue box sitting in front of her on the table. Then dumped it back in disgust. ‘Flipping Alice used up all the tissues.’

  Ryan indicated at his T-shirt. ‘You can use this.’

  She rolled her teary eyes. ‘Oh yes, sure I’m going to use my employee’s shirt to blow my nose on.’

  He didn’t want it to sting, but it did. ‘I’m not here as your damn employee.’

  She blinked. ‘No?’

  Exhaling in frustration, he sat on the chair next to her. ‘No.’ And now she was flustered, but it sure as hell beat crying or annoyed. ‘I didn’t expect to find you blubbering. Expected to find you sticking pins in a doll.’

  She let out a strangled-sounding laugh. ‘That would have been less embarrassing.’ Her gaze shifted to his face. ‘Who did you think the doll would look like?’

  ‘Me.’

  ‘Usually you’d be right.’ The flicker of humour left her eyes as fast as it had entered them. ‘But not this time. Ryan, I need
to apologise for—’

  ‘It’s fine,’ he cut in, embarrassed. ‘I get it. I’m the outsider. Figures you were going to think of me first.’

  ‘No.’ Her voice was firm, but the breath she inhaled was shaky. ‘That wasn’t it. I don’t think of you as an outsider.’

  ‘Right,’ he answered tightly. ‘You just think of me as a snake in the grass.’

  ‘For pity’s sake Ryan, no!’ Frustration etched across her face. ‘There’s a lot about you I don’t understand, but I know this. You’re brutally, usually painfully, honest.’

  ‘So, if I’m not an outsider, and I’m painfully honest’ – he emphasised the word, not knowing whether it was meant as a compliment or an insult – ‘why accuse me?’

  She slumped back on her chair, her eyes downcast as her fingers drummed on the table. ‘I was intimate with Damien,’ she said finally, ‘and he betrayed me in the cruellest way.’

  ‘And you’ve been intimate with me.’

  She met his gaze head on. ‘Yes. I was in full every man I’ve slept with is a betraying bastard mode.’ Her face froze for a fraction of a second and then she groaned and put her head in her hands. ‘And now you’re wondering if that makes you only the second guy I’ve ever slept with.’

  ‘I’d say I wasn’t, but you’ve just called me honest.’

  Slowly she raised her head. ‘I believe I said painfully honest. Quite apt, it turns out.’

  ‘I can be the third, fourth and fifth guy too, if it would help.’ He gave her a wry grin, even though inside he was feeling all sorts of strange, mushy feelings at knowing he’d had the honour of being only the second man she’d invited to her bed. ‘I’m all for helping my boss.’

  ‘Now you want to help, huh?’ For a split second a smile played across her lips and he felt the warmth of it curl around him. He wanted to lean forward and kiss the tears from her cheeks. Then move to her sexy wide mouth and kiss her, again and again, until she didn’t give a stuff about Damien Lynch or what he’d done to her.

  As if she sensed his desire, her lids slammed down and her face lost its humour. ‘Was there a reason you came to see me?’