Only then did she struggle out of her car and grab her briefcase. It was time to get to work. She’d been trying to keep up, but doing two jobs made that impossible. She would forget all about Byron as soon as she sat down at her desk and turned on her computer.
Before she even had a chance to sit, Zach rushed headlong into her office. “Didn’t we just get off the phone?” he said as she pulled out her chair.
“That we did,” she replied with the best cheerful voice she could manage.
“Did something happen? Not that I’m complaining at having you here, but I wasn’t expecting you. Are you okay? You look a bit…off.” Zach’s concern came through loud and clear.
Dammit! Tears welled up in her eyes, and there was now no way in hell that she’d be able to tell Zach there was nothing wrong. He sat there on the corner of her desk, silent for once, and he looked at her in shock. She understood that. She’d never so much as blinked before. It wasn’t who she was. McKenzie took pride in the fact that she showed herself to the world only with the most perfect of poise.
Slowly, so slowly, as if approaching a snake, Zach slid down from her desk and actually knelt down in front of her. “You know you can talk to me, right? We’re friends, McKenzie.”
She wanted to laugh at that. She had no friends — well, maybe McKenzie could consider Jewell a friend now, but not really, if she thought about it. A friend knew you inside and out and loved you anyway. There wasn’t a single living soul who knew the real her.
“I’m just an idiot, Zach, and I behaved like a typical idiot does,” she said, pushing back the tears with a will of iron forged on the anvil of a hard life.
“The last time I checked, doll, you were about the most brilliant person I’ve ever met, so we both know that’s not true. Tell me about it. I swear it will make you feel better,” he assured her.
She tried to hold back, but she felt her mouth open and the words pour out. “I had sex with Byron…a lot of sex,” she muttered.
Her statement was met with silence. But then a smile appeared on Zach’s face. “Well, he must be incredibly bad in the bedroom if you’re looking so melancholy about it.”
She was so flabbergasted by his words, she didn’t know how to respond. It wasn’t the reaction she’d been expecting, but then again, she had no clue what reaction to expect — she’d never had a conversation quite like this one before.
“Well…um…I…” How in the world did she respond to what Zach had just said?
“Did you enjoy yourself?”
Again, she was so stunned by his question, she actually answered him. “It was amazing.” She was still in shock over that. Because of Nathan and that sicko rapist, she’d just assumed all sex was horrible. Never, ever could she have imagined how great it could actually be. If she were younger, OMG might come to mind.
“Well, then, I don’t understand the tears. You’re an adult, McKenzie and even though I’m a guy and I’m not supposed to say this, Byron Knight is one hot piece of ass. He’s single; you’re single. Enjoy the fact that you had some out-of-the-ballfield sex, and quit beating yourself up over it. It’s okay to let down your hair once in a while,” he told her, standing up and moving back to the door.
“I don’t even know how to address anything you just said.” She knew her mouth was hanging open as she spoke to him.
“You don’t have to. Just close your eyes and picture that moment of ecstasy,” he said with a sigh before his voice rose, startling her. “Damn, it’s been too long since I’ve had sex!”
“Um…sorry,” she told him, but finally she smiled.
“Since you’re all warmed up, you could help me out…,” he said with a lavish wink.
“I think I’ll pass, if you don’t mind,” she told him, but she actually laughed.
“Sucks to be me. Okay, my sweet, I’m going to let you get some actual work done now,” Zach told her. “If and when you need to vent again, call me in. I’m always here for you.”
McKenzie thanked him and then sat back and looked around her office. It was where she’d been trying to get back to for the past three weeks and now it seemed so lonely, so devoid of life.
The first thing she was going to do this weekend was head out on a mission — some major shopping. It was time to add color to her life. She’d known when she went into this thing with Byron that it wasn’t going to last, so she wouldn’t let it keep her down.
No way, no how.
Chapter Twenty-Four
I’m glad you decided to come.”
McKenzie glanced up at Byron and her hard-won calmness instantly evaporated. She hadn’t seen him since Monday morning, and she had gone back and forth on whether to show up at the fancy fundraiser.
She refused to give him a hint of the tremors that were rushing through her. “You promised me that it would be good exposure for my company for me to be here,” she replied calmly.
“Yes, a lot of people are here tonight. You’ll be able to make good contacts,” he assured her as he offered her his arm.
They were at the legendary Anderson mansion, and she couldn’t help but be happy to step inside its stately door. Yes, a number of jaw-dropping mansions could be found in this area, but none compared to the masterpiece Joseph Anderson had built for his wife over fifty years earlier.
The castle walls stood high, and the solid wooden doors opened to a home of marble and elegance unlike any other in the entire area. As she and Byron stepped inside, McKenzie had a difficult time holding in the gasp that she managed to suppress when first confronting the grand staircase and priceless works of art. And this was only the beginning.
She twisted a piece of her hair as she shifted from foot to foot. Yes, she’d run a high-class bordello, or whatever anyone wanted to call it, and, yes, she’d dealt with wealthy men for years, but she’d never, ever entered a home like this one.
“You are a stunning woman — a stunning person — and you fit in here, McKenzie. There’s no need for you to be nervous,” Byron whispered. “Remember that.”
“How would you know if I’m nervous?”
“I can see it in your eyes and from the fidgeting you’re doing. Hold your head up. You belong here.”
She wanted to remind him of what he thought of her, but she was already feeling out of place, and she didn’t need him to remember he though of her as nothing more than a two-cent whore. If he demeaned her, then her evening would be ruined. There was no way she wanted him aware that he had that sort of power of her, either.