by Nana Malone
“No need to be a bitch about it.” The smell of stale beer and cigarettes made her dizzy, but she fought for control.
“Well no need to be an asshole. Let me go.”
“Fu—” Bullseye. The mist of mace hit him square in the eyes. Unfortunately, there was some spray back and she got hit. Her eyes welled and she coughed. She was able to get her arm free. But the asshole was quicker and snatched her by her jacket.
She opened her mouth but only managed a partial scream before he clamped a hand over her mouth. “You fucking bi—”
In a blink, she was free and flying headfirst into a pile of garbage. The rush of adrenaline was enough to help her scramble to her feet, but the stink of the garbage bags didn't help the nausea and her head swam as she struggled to get to her feet and run. That was when she heard him. The pure menace and rage emanating from his voice.
“You make me sick.” The cold fury in Bryan's voice was unmistakable. “No, means no, asshole.” She turned just in time to see Bryan's fist connect with Smoking Douche's face. Once. “If she was interested you would know.” Pop. “How do you like it? Being scared and frightened?” Pop, pop.
Oh shit, he'd really hurt the guy if she didn't do anything.
“Bryan, stop.”
Pop.
“Please. You don’t want to do this.” She made it to her feet and quelled the rising bile. “Stop. I'm okay.”
Holding the now sagging would-be rapist or worse in his hands, he glared at her. “He was going to hurt you.”
“I know. But between my mace and your fists, he's hurt enough. Let's just call the cops.”
For a second, he looked like he liked his version of justice much better, but then he took in her shaking form and he cursed low under his breath. He didn't release the guy but held him tight against the wall while he called for help.
Kyra sagged against a pole as the sounds of whirring sirens eventually filled the silence. She couldn't look at the two. Or she might be sick right here.
When the police arrived, she went into autopilot mode. They took Smoking Douche into handcuffs and she relaxed marginally. Bryan gave a quick statement and promised to go to the station to give a more detailed one in the morning.
The paramedics on site wanted her to go to the hospital. But she wasn't going to do that. She did take the eye drops however. Mace stung like a son of a bitch.
“Are you feeling okay enough to give a statement?” Bryan's voice was soft.
“Yeah, I think so.”
“Kyra, I'm so fucking sorry. I should have—”
She met his gaze directly and leveled him with a glare. “Not your fault. You should go back to get everyone organized and situated.”
“Are you kidding me right now?” His brows snapped down.
“No. The police are here. I'm fine. Shaken up but fine. Someone will see me back to the hotel.”
“Kyra, don't be ridiculous.”
She really couldn't handle this shit if he was going to be so sweet. She needed to focus on talking to the cops. Not him. “I don't want anyone at work asking questions. I don't need the looks and shit. Please.”
His eyes searched hers. “But—”
“Please. I just want to focus and get this done. And I'd really like to freak out later. After I do this. This is what I need.”
When he sighed, she knew she'd get her way. She didn't need him to be this guy. She needed him to be the Bryan Ross getting a blow job on the roof of the hotel. That guy she knew how to deal with. This guy felt too real. Too accessible.
“Under one condition.”
“What?”
“You check in with me when you get back to the hotel. I'll be up.”
“That's ridiculous. It could be a —”
“Okay, then I'll stay.”
“Seriously?”
“Yep. What will it be?”
She sighed. “I'll check in before I go to bed.”
He nodded once before leaving her in the capable hands of the police. It was only after he was halfway down the block did she let the first tear spill over.
Fifteen
Bryan paced the length of his suite. What the fuck had he been thinking leaving her? She asked you to. Yeah but still. He should have just insisted. But he'd known she wanted to break down and he'd also known she didn't want him to see her like that, so he'd left her with the police while he organized making sure every single woman left the club. He also called the hotel for extra security. He didn't want anything happening to anyone else on his team.
Damn it. He threw the hackeysack he'd been squeezing against the far wall. When he thought about what could have happened to her … That mace should have done the trick and she'd been far from ready to give up. But still, she would have been hurt. On his watch. All because she had refused to stay at the party.
One where it had been painfully clear that he wanted her. Holding her that close was a mistake of epic proportions on so many fronts. With their IPO just weeks away and a scandal looming with Meredith, he fucking didn't need this.
But he was still so worried about her. Why the hell couldn't she have been a mousy girl with a Star Trek fetish? Why did she have to be so fucking beautiful it hurt to look at her? He'd been unprepared for all of this shit and now he didn't have a clue what to fucking do. Because now he was pacing his hotel room at two in the morning, desperately waiting to hear if she was okay.
He was so fucked.
When the knock finally came, he thought he was hearing things as he'd envisioned that knock, waited for it, for over two hours. When he yanked open his door, the exhale of relief came fast, the tension in his shoulders rolling out with it. “There you are.” It was all he could think to say.
She met his gaze and her dark gaze bored through him. “Can I come in for a second?”
He blinked away the surprise. His body going into red alert mode. Down boy, what she needs is not sex. Yeah, hell yeah she could come in. “Of course.” He stepped back to let her pass, then closed the door behind them.
She rubbed her hands together and licked her lips nervously. “I, uh, I just wanted to say, thank you for what you did earlier. I promise you, I'm not reckless. I don't know what happened. I maced him and—”
Anger sparked quickly. “Please tell me you're not apologizing to me because some guy almost robbed you or worse. I know you aren't the one apologizing for that.”
“Look. I know I walked off on my own and I was running from you, from what happened on the dance floor. It's not indicative of my decision making. I honestly didn't want a ruckus.”
Now he was getting pissed. “Kyra, please stop talking.”
“But, I didn't want you to think that—”
“I said, stop talking.” He closed the distance between them and gently placed his hands on her shoulders, watching for any hint of fear. But those impossibly dark eyes just focused on his. “You aren't to blame. I shouldn't have —” Wanted to fuck you so it was impossible to hide and made you run from me? Not going to work. “I should have provided escorts. And you did exactly what you should do. When you said you wanted to come back, I should have just brought you back. But I was too busy trying to grasp onto that thread of those emails. I didn't see that I was pushing you. That was my bad. You see? We can both do this all night, but how about we place the blame on the only person responsible?”
She nodded and her lip quivered. Before he even knew what was happening, he pulled her in tight and held her. She didn't go stiff in his arms. She didn't sag into the embrace either. She just wrapped her arms around his waist and held him back. God, she was so soft. He wasn't sure how long they stood there, but he was loathe to let her go. It could have been minutes or hours, but she pulled back. He didn’t want to release her. But he did.
“I better let you get some sleep. You didn't have to wait up.”
“The hell I didn't.” Her gaze dipped to his mouth and fuck if he wasn't desperate to kiss her right now. In that moment, he knew he couldn’t preten
d about why he'd been pushing her away. At least to himself anymore. “You're so beautiful and I have been dying to kiss you since I first saw you but I don't think that's what you need right now and it would be a bad idea for so many reasons, so I'm going to hold you for another minute, then walk you back to your room if that's okay?”
She nodded. Even as her eyes welled with tears and Bryan wanted to fuck that bastard up even more than before. He wasn't sure how much longer he held her like that. But when he finally walked her back to her room, he knew that the ground had shifted between them.
Sixteen
Kyra sidled up to the bar and plopped down on the stool next to Micha as she tried to control her anger. They had a standing Sunday sangria date. But she’d need something a lot stronger than sangria tonight. Megan was having man problems so she’d bowed out. So it was supposed to be the four of them. “The others late?”
Micha signaled for the bartender. “Yeah. Jaya had a client problem so she’ll be about thirty minutes late and Ricca said something came up and she'll be late. Usually something is code for Beckett.”
Kyra barked out a laugh. “Oh, my God, those two are ridiculous.”
Micha smirked. “Well, they have years of pent up frustration to make up for. They've been in love forever but just got together a bit ago so they pretty much gross everyone out.” Micha's gaze slid over her. “You look amazing by the way. Are those the new Jimmy Choos?”
Kyra nodded. “Yeah. I treated myself when I locked in the job.” She glanced at the delicate band around the sharply pointed toe with the tiny green polka dots. “I love them, but I cannot walk in these. I need to keep my heels in the three to four-inch category. Otherwise I teeter too much. Half the day at work I ran around with them off.”
Micha narrowed her gaze. “What’s wrong? Why do you look ready to kill someone?”
Kyra pressed her lips together. She didn't want to go into it. She’d been fine. After everything in LA, she’d taken the morning to relax and de-stress, then he’d called. James, the fucker. The problem was she hadn't been prepared so she’d been caught off guard and blindsided.
“Kyra, it’s James.”
One, two, three beats of silence as she waited for the inevitable pinch and pain as her hear squeezed. But it didn’t. Instead, she’d been sort of numb. “Why are you calling me?”
“So what, we can’t be civil?”
“I’m being civil. You're the one who told me you were no longer allowed to communicate with me and you had someone pack up my stuff out of your place and ship it to me. You’re the one who didn't even let me clean out my office. I don't feel anything.”
He sighed and she could almost picture him pinching the bridge of his nose. “You think I want to be calling you? Look, I’m only calling because I can’t find your notes on the last release update. That’s all. I’ve hired your replacement and she needs to get caught up.”
The anger simmered to a boil, but she kept her voice quiet and didn't scream. “I want to make sure I understand. After you cheated on me, then dropped me as your engagement to your fiancée was announced to the whole office, then she bad mouthed me all around town so I couldn’t get a job, you want to call and have me help you onboard your new hire.”
“Don't be a bitch, Kyra. You knew this couldn’t work. We’re all wrong for each other. We were never going to last. You knew that. For starters, we were too volatile. You're not Cuban and you don't support me, so you have no right to be—”
She hung up before he finished. She’d endured enough abuse from him to last a lifetime. How could she even have ever thought she loved him? Because you wanted someone to love you. So she’d settled. He was one asshole too many. And another reminder why she couldn’t date her boss.
Dragging herself out of her reverie, she gulped down her sangria and turned to her friend. “I just heard from my ex.”
“Ugh, what did he want?”
“To ruin my damn day.” She inhaled deeply. “But I’m not going to let him. Out with the old, in with the new.”
“That’s the spirit. So what's the word? How was the week in LA?”
Kyra’s phone chimed and she glanced at it half expecting an email from Bryan. She told herself that the pang in disappointment she felt was a figment of her imagination. You can’t have him. Instead, it was an email from Brennan Hargrove of Brennan Technology. Again. “God these people are so annoying.”
Micha’s delicate brows arched. “You have another secret admirer?”
She huffed. “Hardly. That other company that made me an offer? They don't want to take no for an answer. They’re practically stalking me, wanting to hire me for some consultant work.”
“You didn't like them?”
“No. The CEO gave me the heebie-jeebies. The moment I told him I was still interviewing, he asked where. And there was no way around telling him. As soon as I mentioned X2, he started making the full court press. They don’t even do the same thing. It’s crazy. Anyway, where were we?”
“You were going to tell me about all the hot men in LA.”
With a laugh, Kyra brought her up to speed while they waited for the others, leaving out the whole Bryan part. She didn’t even know what to make of it, let alone could she articulate it. She wanted him. But she felt like she was dangling out on a rope all by herself with sharks circling below.
“Good, you’re settling in. From what Megan says your boss is a real piece of work. Hot too.”
Kyra flushed as Micha gave her a knowing glance. “Yeah, well, if you like that whole gorgeous asshole thing.”
Micha laughed. “And who doesn't? With assholes, the key is to not let them talk. Makes this so much easier.”
“If only I could muzzle him. My life would be so much easier.”
“I mean, I'm sure we can grab a ball gag at F Street or something.” Her tone was completely deadpan and for a moment Kyra wasn’t sure she was kidding. And then she saw the sly wink and she giggled to herself. “If only it would be that easy.”
“It never is.”
“So, you know how you were talking about me getting my dating feet wet?”
Micha put her drink down and grinned. “Finally, I get to do something with you. Tell me, what do you like?”
Tall, dark messy hair. Piercing hazel eyes, and a body so incredible it would make her mouth water. Who kissed like he'd had too much practice and probably screwed even better. Way to be specific. “Uh, I'm not fussed. Right now, just someone fun. Low stress. Nice. Nice is a must.”
“I think that can be arranged. One of Caleb's guys maybe. War is hot. With the devil’s own smile that makes even me look twice and you've seen my husband.”
Kyra had seen Caleb and that probably meant War was hot enough to singe the sheets. But maybe too much for what she was looking for. “Don't you know anyone nice and nerdy? You know where I wouldn’t feel like I'm riding a constant edge?”
Her friend frowned. “Well, honey, that's kind of the point of dating. You want somebody that makes you feel like that.”
Kyra shook her head vehemently. “No. No I don’t. That feeling is trouble with a capital T. I want warm fuzzy.”
Micha raised her brow. “Okay, I’ll set you up, but just between the two of us, maybe you need to give in to the edge a little. Because you won’t be satisfied until you do.”
She adored Micha, but there was no way she was taking that piece of advice. She wasn’t riding Bryan's ... edge. That was a recipe for disaster. What happened in LA couldn’t happen again. Getting close to him was too dangerous.
Seventeen
Bryan wasn't sure what he'd expected when they got back from LA, but it hadn't been avoidance. Monday morning he'd been giddy, anticipatory. They were over the hump. They would be …what? Friends? They couldn’t be more. At least he'd thought they were. But he hadn't been able to find her. He'd swung by her office first, and her coat was there, as was her purse, but no sign of her anywhere.
When it came time for their 1:1 meeti
ng, she begged off, saying that she was trying to push the team to complete the next milestone. He could have insisted, but it would have just been so he could see her. Which was stupid. Her status reports came in early. By six am, he had them all. Percentage to goal, employee burn rates. Potential issues. All laid out in a brilliant efficiency that he was used to now from her. But there was no hint of the fun.
He'd considered asking Megan if she was okay but thought better against it. One, he would look desperate. What's wrong with that? You are desperate. Secondly, it was crossing a line. Besides, he couldn't say for sure she was avoiding him. It was a busy time. But he just wanted to what? Hold her again. That was a load of crock.
On the way to his office, he made a run for the kitchen for coffee. He was sure he could get Allison to get it for him, but he liked to do it himself. Besides, he'd sent her to run an errand, so coffee was his job.
Down the hall, he heard Kyra laugh before he saw her. The closer it came to the kitchen, the harder his dick got.
When she stepped into the kitchen she froze. The wide eyes and the minute gasp of breath, told him everything he needed to know. She had been avoiding him. “Morning, Kyra.”
“Oh, uh, hi, Bryan.”
Mike, one of his software engineers, came in right after her and tugged open the fridge before pulling out a yogurt. “What's up, Boss man?”
“Not much. I'm organizing a group run later tomorrow if you're interested.”
“Yeah, totally. I signed up for the Carlsbad half so I need to hit the training hard. Thanks for checking with me.”
“Sure thing.” As soon as Mike left the kitchen, Bryan scooted closer to Kyra. “You want to tell me why you've been avoiding me?”
Her dark eyes flared wide. “I'm not avoiding you. It’s been crazy since we got back. In case you haven't heard, we have an IPO in a couple of months.”