But these thoughts weren’t quite helping. Even though he’d only been with McKenzie a short time, she was getting under his skin. Why? She wasn’t playing games with him, or he didn’t think she was playing games, but still, something was going on. That was it. There was a mystery here, and that was what was driving him. He would get to the bottom of it because he couldn’t stand to be left in the dark. And that’s exactly where Byron felt he was at the moment.
“How is everything?” Marsha asked, all her attention on Byron.
“The pasta bordello…” He paused and looked pointedly at Jewell to which she sent him a withering glare and he simply winked. Then he gave his full attention back to Marsha. “Sorry, my mistake. The pasta Bordelaise is some of the best I’ve had.”
“That’s wonderful to hear. I’ll let the chef know,” she said with a giggle before finally retreating.
They finished their meal and when the check came, Byron snatched it up and paid it all, including a generous tip. When the two women protested, he just smiled as he stood and held out a hand to McKenzie. Would she refuse his help up?
She accepted his hand with obvious reluctance, and he tugged, pulling her off balance just enough that she stumbled into him. His damn hormones got into the act again, and he looked down into her eyes, needing more than anything else right then to kiss her. Byron didn’t normally do public displays of affection, but everyone seemed to fade away when he was touching McKenzie. Dammit!
“Do I need to call the fire department before this place goes up in flames?” Jewell asked.
“What?” McKenzie asked, flinching.
Jewell giggled. “The way the two of you were looking at each other, I think you were both going to spontaneously combust at any minute.”
Byron was grateful for the interruption. He normally didn’t let anyone know what he was feeling, even when in lust. Besides, when he next kissed McKenzie, he intended to finish what he started, and he certainly couldn’t do that here, in a crowded bistro.
“I have to get going, McKenzie, but I’ll see you next week. We will talk before then,” Jewell told her with a meaningful look. She said goodbye to Byron and went ahead of the two them out of the place.
It wasn’t long before Byron had McKenzie to himself again as they walked down the street back to the offices where their cars were parked. “I enjoyed Jewell’s company this evening,” he said, surprised that it was true.
“She’s very difficult to be around without enjoying her company,” McKenzie replied.
“The two of you started out as employee and boss. How did you become best friends?” he asked, and she stiffened with that reminder of how she and Jewell had met.
She was quiet a moment before answering. “I honestly don’t know. It didn’t take me very long to figure out that Relinquish Control wasn’t the right place for her, but by then she’d already spent a week with your brother and then had come back even emptier than the first time I’d met her. Over the next few months, we talked, a lot, and friendship just grew.”
“I think I could actually like Jewell if I spent much time with her.”
“Yes, you could like a lot of people if you gave them a chance.” Her voice was suddenly so sad, and he needed to know why.
“What is happening in your life, McKenzie? Why all the mystery, and all the secrets?”
“I have nothing to hide,” she said, shutting him down immediately.
“Not true, McKenzie. I watch you,” he said, and her eyes widened. “And I listen. You’re in trouble, and you think you can handle it, but I’ve seen you be strong and I’ve seen you frightened. Sometimes it really helps to get it out.” Why in the hell was he suddenly acting like Dr. Phil?
She stopped and faced him. “I’m very capable of taking care of myself, and I’m not so foolish as to think that you and I are friends, or ever could be friends. I know what this is, Byron. I’m a puzzle, and you can’t stand not being able to solve me. The bottom line is that I’m not worth solving. You would find all of this very anticlimactic in the end,” she said with a fake laugh. Damn. She shouldn’t have suggested the word “climax.”
She resumed walking, and it took Byron a moment to move his feet and catch back up to her. “I understand that you’re capable of taking care of yourself, but I am involved now, and if you think I’m one of these new age weak men — a quiche eater — you are sadly mistaken. Haven’t I said this before? When I want something, I always get it.” He took her arm and kept her from entering the building when they reached it.
“Sometimes in life, I’m afraid to say, you just have to accept that the world isn’t always in the palm of your hand,” she told him. “You don’t get to know my secrets, and you don’t get to control me. I’m not yours to manipulate.”
Byron was done with words. Frustration brewed inside him, and he knew of only one way to release the tension. Before she had time to blink, he pulled her into his arms with the intention of plundering her mouth. That would keep her from arguing.
One hand slid behind her neck and the other around her back as he tugged her close to him, demanding immediate surrender.
She didn’t disappoint him.
As he slipped his fingers beneath her jacket and began moving them up her side, he had one thing in mind, and only one thing, and that was to feel her breasts and find out whether they were as soft and pliable as he’d dreamed about.
A car driving past backfired before he could find out, and she sprang from his arms, her breathing heavy, her eyes bright with desire. Dammit! He’d forgotten where they were once again.
“Let’s finish this in private,” he said.
She took another step back before speaking. “That’s not going to happen,” she whispered, and Byron could barely hear her above the city noises.
“We both need this, McKenzie. Quit fighting it.” He wasn’t normally a man to beg, but right now he was almost willing to drop to his knees if that’s what it took to get her to come home with him.
“It doesn’t matter, Byron. I’m used to denying myself what I need,” she said, a sad smile on her lips.
“You can only deny yourself for so long before you simply fade away,” he told her.
“I think I’ll take the risk,” she said. He moved toward her, but she backed up, turned away toward the parking garage next to the building, and made her escape.