by Lane, Payton
She thought of Megan. “I'm totally a meddler, so it must be said. You know Dad. He doesn't say no to us. Not really. We're his soft spot. If you could ever describe him as having one.”
“I wouldn't.” Her mother's tone was sour.
“Maybe not soft, but tender.” Lynne considered what to say next. “But you need to tell him straight out why you're here.” Yeah, she should take her own advice with Nate, but this morning wasn't for her problems. “He probably thinks you just wanted to see me. Spend some quality time with another human being. You guys have been married for over twenty-five years. I'm sure he won't know what to do without you.”
“He'd watch the stock market. Ten days later he would realize I'm not there.”
“I say the first meal he has to cook for himself he'd notice you're gone. You've always been there for him so he doesn't question it.”
Her mother smiled, and then the expression faded. “He needs to figure it out for himself.” Eloise gave her a pointed look that said not to call him again.
Lynne picked up a piece of pancake with her fork. “I did call, but I didn't tell him anything. I'm not going to tell Dad you left him. It's not my place, but I will bug the crap out of you to tell him yourself. From now on I'll be like a fortune cookie, cryptic, until you give.”
“As you said, it's not your place.”
“You made it mine when you came here.”
Her mother harrumphed and stalked out of the kitchen. Lynne needed to learn how to be less frank. Now she was left alone with her thoughts. Images of her and Nate filled her head. They'd gone round for round, each trying to make the other one cry uncle. If it had been any other partner she would have, especially when he broke out the ice. She sighed and smiled. That man was talented.
Shaking her head, Lynne dumped the plate and went in search of something for lunch. Someone couldn't pay her to come home until Eloise called Preston and made things right.
*****
Nate took another sip of coffee while standing at the door of his office. Sylvia had tried to hide from him all day. Her greeting that morning was sedate and depressing. The rims of her eyes puffy.
He didn’t get touchy-feely often, but only an idiot wouldn’t have noticed. Come to think of it she'd been acting a little emotional the day before. Maybe she was homesick. She got that way sometimes. He’d learned the hard way giving her an open-ended plane ticket only pissed her off.
But this sadness, for a lack of a better word, had a different tone. Whatever bothered Sylvia had made her more efficient though. And watching from the office door was getting his mind off Lynne.
His groin tightened at the thought of her, at the thought of them together. He had it bad, and a distraction was needed. Not only had he broken his business-and-pleasure rule, he planned to break it again, and soon—tonight if he could talk Lynne into it.
Sylvia tried to hide a sniff behind a cough. First he had to deal with another woman in his life.
“Put up the Closed sign. I need you in my office. Now.”
From the expression on her face, he might as well have taken candy from a baby and enjoyed it.
He cursed under his breath when she entered. Her eyes had a glossy sheen to them. Tears moistened the tips of her lashes. Her suits were usually starched within an inch of their life, but today wrinkles marred the clean lines of her jacket.
He narrowed his gaze. “Did someone die?”
“What do you mean?” She sniffed.
“You've been crying.”
She blanched. “I promise it won't get in the way of my work anymore.” She sat on the edge of the seat, gripping her hands together.
When did he become a tyrant? When did his employee—his friend—become scared to tell him the truth?
“I don't know what to say,” he tried to ease into the speech. “I know I'm hard on you. I know I've asked you to give me above and beyond what's required of an average employee, but I don't want you unhappy.”
The tears watering her eyes dried up. “What?”
He'd been a little tough, okay, a lot of tough, when it came to work, but the surprise on her face made him feel shitty. “You know you can talk to me. I probably won't say the right things, but I can listen.”
She blinked. “Really?”
He heard the disbelief, but decided to ignore it. “Yes.”
“What has Lynne done to you?”
Nate wouldn't say out loud what Lynne had done to him last night, and he didn't think that was the line of questioning Sylvia had in mind.
“I hate to see you cry,” he said. “I can try to fix it if you let me.”
Sylvia worried her lip for a moment, staring at him long and hard. “I broke up with somebody.”
He heard the hesitation, but didn't point out she was telling him a half-truth. She was talking. That's all that mattered at the moment. “And you cared for him?”
She nodded. “And vice versa. I didn't want to get too involved. With us traveling and all, my life hasn't been exactly stable.”
Someone local or close by. “I wouldn't want to lose you.”
“I know,” she said softly.
“But this is our last job. Once we're done here, you won't have to work anymore. I'll pay for your loyalty, and these last few years you have become—”
Family. But couldn't bring himself to say it. The word said too much about how he'd lived his life. He could understand Lynne's reasons for not wanting to sell were as important to her as his wanting the store was to him.
There were many things he entrusted Sylvia with that made her more than an employee. They'd spent weeks on deals where the only familiar face had been the other person. In a sense, she'd given him her life to get the job done. He was a bastard for not ever thinking of it.
She shook her head as if reading his thoughts. “It doesn't matter. Things would not have worked out for the guy and me anyway. I'm glad it happened now, before I did something I couldn't take back.”
Still Nate felt responsible. “Take the day off.”
She jerked her head side to side. “I can't.”
“I'd rather not scare off our customers. They'd probably think I did something to you to make you cry.”
“Are you sure?”
“Very.” He was already planning to sneak to Lynne's store to make a date. “Full pay.”
Sylvia took him in again. “Lynne did something to you.”
“You have thirty seconds to get out of here or I'm changing my mind.”
She leaned over the desk and placed a kiss on his cheek like a sister would. Nate didn't have the urge to turn his head into the kiss and make it more. He never had.
“I want to see you back to your old self tomorrow.”
She paused at the door of his office. “I don't think I'll ever be the old me again, but I don't think I'll miss her too much anyway. She let life pass her by.”
Sylvia shrugged and stepped out of his sight. He didn't like what she said. He'd been living his life the same way. Had he missed out on anything?
To ignore any deeper thoughts on the subject, Nate dialed Hart and Style's number.
Lynne answered breathlessly, “Hart and Style.”
“Nate here. I was thinking of a lunch break. You being on the menu.”
She hung up and Nate cringed at the phone. Maybe he had played too heavy a hand. They hadn't spoken of the future. They had barely talked about what they'd done last night when he kissed her goodbye that morning.
For all intents and purposes they were still mortal enemies in a fight. Who happened to have sex. A smile pulled at his lips. Great sex. They even fought for control in bed. More like they'd been trying to fill up the silence, the intimacy, with something basic.
Nate was still frowning down at the phone when he heard Lynne's voice at the office door.
“Sylvia let me in.” A smile spread from the corner of her mouth. “I locked the door behind me, since, you know, we have a...business meeting.”
The su
mmer dress swayed as she made her way over to him. He went to stand, but she pushed him back down in the seat. He ran his hands through her hair.
“You didn't put in gel,” he mused out loud.
“I didn't have time. I was up late last night with a workaholic.”
She straddled him. He let his hands slide up her thighs until they stopped where underwear should have been.
He went hard, but played it cool. “You didn't have time to put on panties either?”
She worked on his zipper while whispering in his ear. “See, I got this phone call saying I was on the menu. So, I made an executive decision to get rid of them before coming over.”
Lynne lifted, releasing him into her hands. “I didn't want to wonder where my underwear had gone today. Now...let me see.” She kept one hand on him and used the other to open the left desk drawer. Four condoms were on a pile of papers. “I was right.” She glanced at him, humor filling her gaze. “The last time you put one on, you did it all wrong. Want me to show you?”
“Yes,” he said and almost groaned.
Minutes later, breath rasping out, he tried to speak. Finally managed to get out, “Very creative way to put it on.”
She grinned and settled back on his lap. “Think I heard a squeak. A small one.”
“Lying ass ears.” He dipped his head, kissing Lynne until her thighs tightened against him. He tested her arousal, sliding his finger between the damp folds. “You're so hot and wet,” he said against her mouth.
“You make me that way.”
She lowered onto him and he bit her bottom lip.
“When did you unzip my pants?” he asked, mocking her from the day before. Then the softest, wettest part of her was surrounding him, all of him.
“You should really pay attention, Mr. Craine.”
“I do.”
He planted his mouth over hers, tasting, swallowing the quiet sounds of her climaxing. He forgot they were opponents. It was only Lynne, her skin flushing and her body tightening because of him.
Nate allowed himself to wish that the moment would never end. If he let himself sink into insanity, he could believe he could have more moments like this, a woman like this.
Maybe he could have Lynne, who made him forget reason. Forget his purpose for being in the town. Make him forget the grief that wanted to choke him at night. It was only Lynne he could think of, could taste and smell, when he was with her.
“Scream my name,” he demanded.
She shook her head against his neck. Something unrelenting took hold of his chest and squeezed his heart. The something rocked him, making him glad he was already sitting. It took all his strength to keep the emotion in check.
He needed her to feel the same tightness in her chest when she thought of him, thought of them together. She looked at him with an expression that echoed how he felt, and he could barely put the emotion into words.
She'd learned the same tricks he had keep her heart her own. If he asked her to confess her feelings she still wouldn't. Just like him, but even he had a breaking point.
Nate lifted her off him and his dick protested the act. Still not ready to give up on Lynne admitting how she felt about him. He couldn't make her do anything she didn't want to do. But if he made her vulnerable enough to let it slip out maybe the godforsaken ache in his chest would loosen.
He placed her on his desk and pulled the dress over her head. She leaned back with a smirk as he yanked off all his clothes. Nate kicked the chair out of the way and leaned over her on his desk. His erection teased her core, but he didn't enter her.
He nuzzled her neck, taking in the scent of her, before whispering, “I'm going to make you scream it.”
This time she didn't shake her head in disagreement. Instead her teeth impaled her bottom lip, turning the pink white as though caging his name on her lips. A volatile emotion stirred in the air.
He gripped her hips and plunged deep inside of her. He pulled out so achingly slow his legs shook from the intensity. He steadied himself for a moment, and then he wrapped his arms around her thighs until there was no other way for her to move but up and down on his shaft. With the new position, he plunged once again. A strangled moan escaped her lips.
He paused to give her time to back out, to ask for something different, but she didn't. So, he started off the same way, slow, hard, then deep, until he was pounding into her, praying for oblivion so he wouldn't feel the emotion rising in his chest.
“My name,” he ground out.
His control was slipping, and she had to feel it with every stroke. Yet every time she said anything but his name he would slow down, not letting either of them reach a climax. Punishing them both for being too stubborn.
“Let's just call it a tie?” She offered, but he couldn't.
Not with the knot in his chest growing each time he moved away from her and wanted her back, snug and all around him. He pulled her down until her ass hung over the desk, arms propping her up. He picked up the pace at a different angle this time.
When he got to the point that had been torture before, she clenched around him so tight and then so, so wet.
“Nate,” Lynne cried.
She was the first to break, and he knew it cost her. He'd shattered the resolve she'd put in place. He'd won. There was no satisfaction in the victory. He felt dirty. It was too late to take the action back. His own climax made it impossible.
“Lynne,” Nate said without her asking for him to do the same.
CHAPTER NINETEEN
Once again Nate held a bowl of steaming roast beef in his hands. He would get the damn dog today. An animal less than twenty pounds would not beat him. He had dealt with more worthy opponents.
Like doing his best not to tackle Lynne out on the street, rip off her clothes, and—much more worthy opponents.
Lynne edged closer beside him. “Why do you keep trying to catch that stupid dog?”
Nate said, “She doesn't want to be out here. I can tell.”
“What do you know? She's been running away from everyone for six months.”
He caught movement coming from the bush. “You have to trust me.”
Silence. “How do you know?”
“I know determination. I know what it takes to get what I want. Nothing would stop me. If she didn't want people to see her, she'd take the side streets or come out late at night.”
Nate refused to meet her eye when he spoke. It was the only way the words could form. He didn't want to see whatever lurked in her gaze. Yes, he still intended to put her out of business.
The sex, the new underlying emotions involved―ones he didn't want to think too hard about—didn't change his goal. Nate didn't want her to get the wrong idea about the change in their relationship.
“Ah, yes, determination. The life blood and the detriment of whatever it is we have going.”
He finally glanced at her. She seemed resigned, not mad as he'd expected.
“Lynne—”
She held up her hand. “We didn't make any promises to each other. We're grown ups. We both knew going in that we still planned to fight. In bed is the only place we can agree.”
He snorted. “We fight there, too.”
She smiled, but the smile was off. Nate hated that and knew there was nothing he could do. Neither defeat nor backing out was an option. He'd been working toward this deal for years.
He opened his mouth to remind her, but Suzie broke through the bushes. The dog’s nose lifted into the air and her gaze zeroed in on Nate. He took a step into the street. Another step, and the dog didn't move. Her attention was divided between him and the bowl in his hand.
“Despite the outcome, I admire your determination,” she said.
He forced himself not to turn. The words washing over him felt like absolution. “Lynne—”
She shushed him. “Suzie is moving toward you.”
He went down on one knee, placed the bowl in front of him, close enough so he could grab the dog but far enough a
way the animal had a sense of security.
If Nate lunged and missed, he wouldn't have enough time to make another grab. So he waited. After five minutes, and Suzie had almost made to the bottom of the bowl.
Slowly, Nate offered his hand for the dog to sniff. Just as cautious Suzie licked his fingers, and finally her tail wagged.
He grabbed the scruff of the dog's neck and lifted her. Her little body trembled in his arms. He made soothing sounds, but she continued to shake beneath the gentle brush of his hand.
“You hungry, Suzie?”
He leaned down, slowly placing her on the ground in front of the bowl again. Her small brown eyes flicked from him to the bowl to the street. He reached out to pet her. In a move so quick it barely registered, Suzie grabbed the rest of beef in her jaws and ran.
He smelled Lynne before she laid a hand on his shoulder. “You were just rejected by a ten-pound furry female.”
He laughed. “I don't know how I should feel about that.”
“But you're right. She doesn't want to be homeless anymore.”
He nodded. “I'll come out here every day until she trusts me enough to come home with me.”
She went quiet a moment. “We're not talking about the dog anymore, are we?”
They weren't, but Nate didn't really believe she wanted an answer. It made the moment too fragile. Made him too fragile.
He turned his back on her. “Tomorrow. Same time.”
“Yeah,” she murmured behind him.
CHAPTER TWENTY
That night Lynne narrowed her eyes at the bushes, waiting for movement. There wasn't any. The knees of the tight black leggings held bits of leaves and dirt. She wiped her hands on the equally tight but long black shirt before putting her lips together to whistle.
“You're in love,” Jeremy said behind her. His jeans were black and in the darkness she could still see the words on his shirt: It’s a B&E, Baby.
“I'm insane,” she corrected.
“Same difference.”
She wanted to argue but refused because...he might be right. “I know you aren't the one to talk. You've been sulking since Monday. What did Sylvia do? Put the whammy on you?”