Let Me Save You

by Samantha Wolfe

  "Thanks, Allison," Mathias said to her with a wink and an easy smile. Allison smiled radiantly back at him. For a man in his fifties, my uncle still knew how to flirt with the ladies. Not that long ago I would have flirted with her too, but now I really had no interest whatsoever in anyone but Sydney. I simply nodded to the girl as I followed my uncle past her and into the first door on the right.

  "Mathias. Jensen," Jack Tierney, our attorney, said as he rose from his desk and met us halfway across his expansive office. He was probably the same age as my uncle, and he'd been the company's lawyer for most of my life. The graying hair on his balding head was cropped short, and his tan suit was impeccable. It should be with the kind of money this place was obviously raking in. His brown eyes were sharp and intelligent. This man was very good at his job.

  "Jack," my uncle said as he reached out to shake his hand. "It's good to see you."

  "Hey, Jack," I added as I shook his hand as well.

  "Nice suit, kid," Jack told me with a smile as he eyed me up and down.

  "Thanks," I said with a smile, glad yet again that I had invested the money in it. Although, I thought Sydney's reaction was the best. I quickly tamped down that thought before I ended up sporting an erection in the damn lawyer's office.

  "Have a seat gentleman." Jack motioned to the two leather chairs in front of his desk. I chose the one on the right and had a seat, and Uncle Mathias sat down next to me. Jack took a seat in his own chair. "I just wanted to let you know how sorry I am about your loss," he continued with a sad expression on his face. "Hugo and Jordan were good men."

  "I appreciate that," Mathias said quietly. All I could do was keep my mouth shut and wait out the sudden flash of panic inside me. I realized I was still holding my phone in my hand, and I was gripping it so tight my fingers were turning white. I mindlessly set it on the edge of the desk in front of me and flexed the tension out of my fingers, hoping the panic I was feeling didn't show on my face. Thankfully, Jack immediately changed the subject.

  We discussed the new contract and what we wanted and could expect. It was all very dull, but it helped me relax and forget about my near panic. When Jack wanted to show the documents to us, he realized that they weren't on his desk. He apologized and picked up his phone to get someone to bring it to his office.

  "Allison, could you have Miss Morgan bring in the Hayes Construction contract, please?" Jack said into the receiver. My head popped up at the mention of the name Morgan. What the fuck? It couldn't possibly be her, could it? I racked my brain to recall my conversation with Delaney on Friday night, but my memory of it was kind of hazy thanks to the tequila.

  "Sorry about that," Jack apologized again. "I could have sworn the damn thing was on my desk earlier."

  A moment later, my worst fear came true. Delaney Morgan came walking into the room with the contract in her hands and a smug smile on her lips as she made eye contact with me. I'm sure the look on my face was priceless to her. She was wearing a tight navy skirt and fitted jacket over a white blouse; her hair pulled into a high ponytail.

  "Here, Mr. Tierney," she said brightly as she handed the papers to Jack, her dark-brown eyes still fixed on me. She narrowed her eyes, and I could see a hint of veiled animosity in them. Fuck me, and fuck tequila, too. That's all I needed, my personal life effecting my goddamn job.

  "Delaney, could you join us?" Jack asked and she finally turned to look at him. "I might need to clarify some parts of the contract with you."

  "Certainly, sir," she answered him politely and took a seat in a chair by the wall, near Jack's desk. And so began one of the longest business meetings in my entire life. I swear I could feel Delaney's angry glare on me the whole time, but whenever I glanced in her direction, her eyes were always elsewhere. She was totally fucking with me, and I was getting angry. Fortunately, since this was the first one of these kinds of meeting I'd been to, I wasn't expected to say much. That was a good thing, since I was too busy seething inside to pay much attention. I was so grateful when the meeting was finally over that I was almost to the elevators before I realized I had left my phone in Jack's office.

  "Fuck," I said under my breath as I abruptly stopped walking.

  "What?" Mathias asked curiously as he turned to look at me.

  "I left my damn phone," I grumbled with irritation. "I'll meet you downstairs."

  "Alright," he answered with a strangely suspicious look on his face. I turned and stalked back the way I had come until I approached Allison's reception desk.

  "Hi, Allison." I greeted her with a warm smile, hoping I could convince her to retrieve my phone for me. I didn't want to run into Delaney again if I could avoid it.

  "What can I do for you, Mr. Hayes?" she asked with a shy smile and interested eyes.

  "I think I left my phone on Jack's desk." I leaned closer to her, still smiling flirtatiously. "I was wondering if you could take a look for me and see if it's there?"

  "Never mind, Allison," Delaney's smooth voice spoke from my left. "I've got Mr. Hayes' phone for him." Allison's smile slipped away, and I saw momentary distaste cross her face as Delaney approached us. I didn't blame her. Delaney was the kind of woman who would fuck your boyfriend just to see if she could get him to do or not. God, that voice grated on me. I closed my eyes for a second and braced myself before turning in her direction.

  "Jensen," she said with a smirk. "You look good today."

  "Thanks," I said flatly. If she was fishing for compliments, she wasn't fucking getting any from me. "Can I have my phone?" I reached my hand out toward her expectantly.

  "Why? Are you in a hurry?" she asked in a friendly tone I knew was fake. "Do you have a hot date with Sydney later?" The way she laced Sydney's name with contempt filled me with rage. The fact that she had violated my privacy by looking at my phone sent me over the edge.

  "Give me my fucking phone," I enunciated each word slowly and with menace as I stepped closer to Delaney, glaring down at her. The brief flash of fear in her eyes filled me with satisfaction. She had no idea the kind of man I was anymore and what I was willing to do to protect Sydney. Out of the corner of my eye, I noticed the panicked look on poor Allison's face as she watched our exchange.

  "Fine," she said, her words clipped, yet polite and to the point. "Here's your fucking phone, Sir." She held it out to me, and I snatched it from her hand, annoyed when she purposefully touched my hand with her fingertips. I shivered with disgust as I put my phone in my jacket pocket.

  "Thank you," I growled as my lip curled up into a snarl, my anger barely contained. I turned on my heel and walked away; my hands clenched into tight fists. I wanted to beat her face into next fucking week.

  "Hope to see you again soon, Jensen," Delaney called after me in a sweet innocent sounding voice.

  "Fuck you, bitch," I grumbled under my breath as I entered the elevator and turned to face the office lobby. She was beaming at me with a self-satisfied smile of victory as the elevator doors closed in front of me. Goddamn, fucking tequila. The elevator started to descend. I spent the entire ride down fighting the urge to punch a hole into the expensive wood paneling of the elevator walls. That bitch had really yanked my fucking chain, and I had a bad feeling about this whole situation.

  I sat on the sofa at Sydney's apartment waiting for her to finish getting ready for our dinner tonight with this David guy. The whole idea that she had a guy for a best friend made me dubious, and I felt a scowl crawling across my face the more I thought about it. Hell, I was still pretty pissed off about seeing Delaney today, and I was trying to forget about the entire damn thing. After leaving the attorney's office, I had checked my phone to make sure she hadn't done anything, but it was still on the screen I had left it on when I was texting Sydney. The worst she had seen was a filthy text that I hadn't even gotten to send to Sydney. I almost told Sydney about my encounter with that bitch, but she seemed so excited about dinner tonight when I picked her up at work that I decided not to. Besides, going into a lengthy explanation a
bout my history with Delaney was not something I particularly wanted to do. I'd erase her from mind completely if I could.

  "Well, what do you think?" Sydney's voice spoke behind me. I was so distracted I hadn't heard her walk in. I turned and flew to my feet immediately. Holy fuck, she looked absolutely amazing. Her cap sleeved calf length dress was black with a floral pattern flowing across it as it hugged all her curves. My eyes drank her in, all the way down to the cute little strappy black heels on her perfect feet. I found myself staring at her speechlessly with my mouth hanging open. "Hello? Earth to Jensen," she said with a laugh, and my eyes flew back up to her face.

  "Damn, woman," I said breathlessly as I approached her. I stopped in front of her and ran my fingers through the loose dark waves of her hair. "You look so beautiful." I glided my hands across the smooth fabric covering her hips and pulled her close to me. "I can't take my eyes off of you."

  "Thank you," she said with a radiant smile, and I leaned down to kiss her. "You'll get lipstick on you," she warned as she placed a hand on my chest to stop me.

  "I don't care," I whispered as I smiled down at her. Her hand relaxed, and I pressed my lips against the softness of hers, tasting her and feeling her warm breath on me. I kissed her slowly and thoroughly until we were both breathless and turned on. We pulled apart and she snorted when she looked at my mouth.

  "That is definitely not the right lip color for you," she laughed. I wiped my fingers across my lips and glanced at the pink color on them. Sydney went to the kitchen to grab a towel, and I watched her ass wagging across the room. I was really wishing we could stay home right now. I reached up with my clean hand and started fidgeting with my tie. It suddenly felt really hot in here.

  "Stop that," Sydney said as she noticed what I was doing. "You'll mess up the knot."

  "This thing is fucking killing me," I grumbled as she started gently wiping away the lipstick from around my mouth.

  "I have a solution for that," she said as she finished cleaning my face and then took my hand to wipe the lipstick from my fingers. She turned and tossed the towel onto the counter behind her.

  "Oh, yeah? I'm all ears."

  "Just take it off," she answered with a smirk. Her fingers reached up to my tie and loosened the knot, then pulled my tie from around my collar. She unbuttoned the top two buttons of my white dress shirt and stepped back to admire her work. "Now that's hot," she whispered as she ran her hands down my chest, her fingers gliding down the smooth fabric of my dark-gray jacket.

  "Why don't you take your dress off?" I suggested helpfully. "I'll show you how hot I am."

  "You can do that later," she said with a salacious waggle of her eyebrows. "We have to go now, or we'll be late."

  I sighed in resignation and followed her across the room as she picked up her bag and keys from the kitchen table and headed toward the door.

  "He knows the reservations are at eight, right?" I asked.

  "Yeah, I told him when we talked earlier today."

  The thought of her talking to this guy really bothered me, but I wasn't going to tell her that. I was trying to be the good boyfriend, the understanding boyfriend. They had been friends for years before I came along, and I should be okay with this, but part of me already hated the guy. Hell, I was so insecure about it that I went home and switched the truck for the Camaro, an immature part of me wanting to prove that I was man enough for Sydney instead of this David. I shook my head at myself.

  A half-hour later we were pulling into a parking spot at The Glass House just before eight o'clock. I got out and went around to open Sydney's door and helped her get up out of the Camaro. She hooked her arm with mine with a smile when I offered it to her, and I escorted her to the front door of the restaurant. It felt really good having this beautiful woman on my arm for everyone to see.

  "I love you, baby," I whispered to her before I opened the door for her.

  "I love you, too," she whispered back as she walked past me into the building.

  The Glass House was beautiful, with its massive glass windows and elegant furnishings. Each table had a hand-blown glass pendant light hanging above it. There were a lot of dark wood and burnished steel all over the room. I felt a little out of my class whenever I was in here, to tell the truth, but Lydia loved this place and the food was amazing, so I had been here quite a few times before. The perfectly dressed hostess greeted us, and we were ushered to our table immediately after giving her my name.

  Our table was in the center of the room, and the place was busy. The Glass House always was, and if it hadn't been for Lydia, I doubt we would have gotten a table at all. I pulled out Sydney's chair for her, and she smirked at my chivalry as she took her seat. I sat down to her right and took one of her hands in mine and kissed her palm softly.

  "Well, aren't you Prince Charming tonight," she said with an amused smile, her eyes softening as she looked at me.

  "Don't worry, the Caveman will be back later," I replied with a growl that made her eyes dilate with desire.

  The waitress took our drink orders and brought them to us in short order, a water for me and a white wine for Sydney. I took a sip from my glass and saw Lydia over by the bar talking to a co-worker.

  "There's Lydia," I said. "I'm going to go thank her for getting us a table tonight."

  "I'll stay here. David should be here any second."

  I rose and crossed the room. Lydia smiled brightly as she saw me approaching her. She looked really cute in her white chef's jacket and black pants; her long red hair pulled back into a knot at the back of her head.

  "Jensen," she said as she eyed my suit appreciatively. "You clean up pretty good."

  "I try," I answered with a wry smile. "Thanks for getting us a table tonight."

  "No problem. I feel like I owed it to you after Saturday night."

  "No, I definitely owe you," I glanced over at Sydney, who was waving at Lydia with a huge grin on her face.

  "She looks gorgeous tonight. You're a lucky man."

  "I know, believe me. I know." I turned back to face Lydia. She was smiling softly at me, and I returned it gratefully. "What's Andy up to tonight?"

  "I think he and a few guys are trying to infiltrate a war-torn country tonight," she answered with a laugh. Andy loved his video games. One time in college he stayed up almost twenty-four hours straight trying to beat the damn game he was playing at the time.

  "You're meeting a friend of Sydney's tonight?"

  "Yeah, apparently he's been out of the country for a while," I answered unenthusiastically.

  "Wait, did you say he?" Lydia clarified.

  "Yeah," I said. "His name is David. He's her best friend, and I think I hate him already."

  Lydia laughed at my comment. "Just remember, she came here with you. She wants you to meet him." Her voice turned serious. "She loves you.

  "I know," I said quietly. "I'm trying to have an open mind here, but it still bothers me."

  "Holy Mother of God!" Lydia blurted out suddenly as she looked over my shoulder. Her eyes were riveted to something behind me.

  "What?" I asked and turned to follow her gaze. She was looking at a guy, who had just entered the room, that appeared to be in his late twenties. He was broad-shouldered and about my height, with short dark curly hair and a short mustache and beard. He was dressed in dark-gray slacks, a gray shirt with the sleeves rolled halfway up his muscular forearms, and a silver tie.

  "That man is smoking hot. Oh, my God," Lydia continued. Every woman in the room was staring at the guy. Even I could see how attractive he was. He scanned the room, and then his face split into a huge grin when his eyes stopped moving. I followed his gaze over to Sydney as she rose from her chair with an answered grin of her own.

  "Fuck. Me," I said under my breath as the guy made a bee-line for Sydney. He wrapped her into a bear hug and when she hugged him back I felt a low growl bubble up from my chest.

  "That's David?" Lydia asked incredulously.

  I ignored Lydia and p
rowled over to our table, my right fist clenching unconsciously. The guy released Sydney and took a step back just as I came up next to her. I placed my left hand at the small of Sydney's back, feeling an overwhelming urge to make it clear that she was mine. He turned his head to meet my eyes, his blue eyes open and welcoming.

  "You must be Jensen." His voice was a smooth deep baritone. "I'm David Mazur.'' He reached out his hand toward me. "I've heard good things about you."

  The asshole part of my brain wanted to say that I had heard virtually nothing about him, but I decided to be polite. "Yeah, I'm Jensen Hayes. I'm glad to meet a friend of Sydney's." I relaxed my clenched fist and took his hand in mine. His handshake was firm, but not like he was trying to prove anything to me.

  "Let's sit down, David," Sydney said, still smiling up at him. "I'm starving." We all sat down and thankfully David didn't try to pull Sydney's chair out for her instead of letting me do it.

  "I'm sorry I'm a little late," David said as he smoothed a hand down his tie. "I spent twenty minutes trying to tie this stupid thing. You obviously had the right idea, just skipping the tie all together." His smile was easy and friendly as he met my eyes. How I was I supposed to hate this guy now?

  "You should have seen him fighting with it this morning," Sydney said with an amused smile.

  "Yeah," I said sheepishly as I ran a hand through my hair. "There was a lot of cursing involved."

  "And a You-tube video," Sydney added as she looked at me, her eyes dancing with mirth. David looked back and forth between us, smiling. I looked back at her, my lips twisting into a wry smile.

  "It's not like I have a job that requires a suit everyday, thank God," I told her.

  "Me either," David said. "I wish I had thought of looking on You-tube, myself."

  "It didn't help. Sydney had to do it for me," I admitted with a shake of my head. The waiter came to take David's drink order, another white wine like Sydney. After the waiter left David looked directly at me.

  "Sydney told me that your family owns a construction company," David stated. "Do you enjoy it?" He looked at me with a curious expression, and he seemed to be genuinely interested.