Always Will: A Bad Boy Romance

by Claire Kingsley

  So I did the asshole thing and left, brushing her off like our night together didn’t mean anything. Like it was just a good time after some drinks, and I was happy to be on my way. After that, I doubt I’m on her list of men she cares to see again.

  What is she thinking now? At the meeting, I didn’t see her long enough to read her expression. I wish I’d noticed her when I first walked in. She had the advantage there—she got to watch me for a while before I realized she was in the room. What did she think when I came in? Was she pissed? Interested? Disgusted?

  Did her panties get a little wet?

  There are a lot of reasons I should steer clear of Selene. She works for me now. I assume she maintains her rule about not dating coworkers. And there’s something about her—something that makes me nervous in a way I haven’t felt in years. It makes me wonder if I should stay far away from that magnetic woman.

  Selene is a risk. A big one.

  But risks are like crack to me. I can’t resist.

  5: Selene

  Aidan pulls out my chair and I take a seat. We’re out for dinner. Again. Though the restaurant is new, so I suppose he gets points for that. His hand caresses my shoulder as he moves around the table to sit down. That’s some extra touching from him. Interesting.

  I give him a nice smile and pick up my menu.

  I haven’t seen Ronan since the meeting yesterday. I’m not sure if he was in the office today—I didn’t see any sign of him, and I avoided the hallway that leads to his office like the plague. The anticipation of having to speak to him face to face is getting worse. I wish I got it over with yesterday. I could have stopped by his office to say hello. It’s not like I don’t have a reason. I worked closely with Brad, and I have a lot of valuable information that Ronan is going to need. But mostly I want to get that first conversation over with so we can move on.

  Instead, I’m sitting with my boyfriend (he is my boyfriend, right?), completely distracted by thoughts of another man. That’s really not good.

  “So,” I say, trying to stay in the moment. “How are you?”

  Aidan smiles over his menu. “Not bad. You?”

  “Lots going on at work,” I say. “Our company was bought out.”

  He winces. “That’s not good. Are you worried about your job?”

  “Well, the message we’re getting is that no one is going anywhere, but I’m not sure how much I trust it.” After all, that line came from Ronan—and I don’t trust that man any farther than I could throw him.

  “Are you going to start looking for a new job?”

  “Definitely.”

  As I peruse the menu, the back of my neck prickles. I have the distinct feeling that someone is watching me. I shift in my seat, telling myself I’m being paranoid. We’re in a busy restaurant. A lot of people could be looking in my direction.

  The feeling doesn’t go away. I glance over my shoulder and almost drop my menu. Ronan is sitting across the restaurant, his hand resting on his chin. Our eyes meet, and he makes no attempt to hide that he’s staring at me.

  I quickly turn back to Aidan.

  “Are you okay?” he asks. “You look like you just saw a ghost.”

  I do my best to smooth out my expression. “Yeah, I’m fine. What are you going to order?”

  Aidan opens his mouth to answer, then looks up in surprise.

  Ronan’s smooth voice almost makes me jump out of my seat. “Selene.”

  Oh, for fuck’s sake. Of course he would come over here and interrupt my date.

  I decide to play it off like Ronan isn’t the only man here who has seen me naked. “Ronan,” I say. “What a surprise.”

  “Excuse me for interrupting.” His eyes flick to Aidan, and immediately back to me. “I saw you sitting here and had to come say hello.”

  “Aidan, this is Ronan Maddox,” I say, gesturing between them. “Ronan and I used to work together.”

  Aidan and Ronan shake hands, but Ronan hardly looks at him.

  “And it appears we work together again,” Ronan says.

  “Do you?” Aidan asks.

  “I’m sorry I haven’t been by your office yet,” Ronan says, keeping his eyes on me, as if Aidan didn’t speak. “I had meetings with my lawyers all day.”

  “There’s no need to apologize,” I say. “I wasn’t expecting you.”

  “No?” He grabs a chair, slides it up to our table, and sits down. “I certainly didn’t intend to go this long without saying hello. We have a lot to catch up on.”

  “Which I’m sure we can do another time,” I say.

  “So how have you been?” Ronan asks. “It’s been what, five years?”

  “Only five?” I ask. “It seems like it’s been much longer.”

  One corner of his mouth curls up. “I remember it like it was yesterday.”

  My heart skips a beat, and it’s all I can do to keep my breath from catching. His gray eyes hold onto mine.

  The waitress comes back to our table. “Do you need a menu?” she asks Ronan.

  “He’s not staying,” I say.

  Ronan’s eyes move from me to the waitress, like he’s trying to decide his next move. “Of course not.” He stands. “Pardon the interruption. I’ll see you in the office, Selene.”

  The waitress looks at me expectantly as Ronan walks away. I pick up my menu and order one of the first things I see. I hate that I’m so flustered. She takes Aidan’s order, and the pause gives me a second to collect myself.

  “I am so sorry about that,” I say after the waitress leaves. “That was so rude of him.”

  “It’s all right,” Aidan says. “Did he recently join your company? That’s odd that they’d be hiring in the midst of a sale.”

  “No, he’s the one who bought us out,” I say.

  Aidan’s eyebrows lift. “And he’s someone you know?”

  In some ways, not at all. In other ways, intimately. “We worked together about five years ago. I didn’t know him very well.”

  “He seemed to think he knew you quite well,” Aidan says.

  Aidan isn’t stupid. I know he could see what was in Ronan’s eyes when he looked at me. But my past isn’t any of Aidan’s business, and I have no desire to share what happened between Ronan and me.

  “I think he’s just like that,” I say with a shrug. “That’s why I steered clear of him when we used to work together.”

  Aidan seems to accept my explanation. I make it through dinner, although I’m very much ready for this date to be over. I feel like I need to get my head on straight, and I can’t do it while I’m trying to make conversation with Aidan.

  I decline dessert and we go back to Aidan’s car. He gets in the driver’s seat and hesitates. He glances at me and I can tell exactly what he’s thinking.

  It’s finally happening. He’s going to make a move.

  Damn, why did it have to be tonight? Is this what I want? Is Aidan what I want? Ronan left me so flustered, and I’m still trying to get my thoughts in order.

  Memories keep flashing through my mind. The sound of Ronan’s voice was enough to send me back in time, to that crazy night we spent together. It was electric. As hard as I’ve tried to forget, it’s stayed with me, and seeing him again is leaving me off balance.

  “So, Selene,” Aidan says. “I was thinking.”

  I raise my eyebrows and try to keep my face relaxed.

  “Instead of going out, maybe Friday we can do a night in,” he says. “I’d love to cook you dinner at my place.”

  I let out the breath I didn’t realize I was holding. Thank God he doesn’t mean tonight. I can agree to this, can’t I? Even dinner at his place won’t necessarily mean he expects me to sleep with him. It makes it more likely, but he’s clearly not the type to lay on the pressure. I’ll be able to make a decision then.

  “That sounds nice,” I say with a smile.

  “Great,” he says. “And hey, what about tonight? Are you up for a drink?”

  “You know, I have to be at work
early tomorrow,” I say. “We have so much going on, I feel like I should get home and get a good night sleep.”

  Aidan smiles at me. It’s a pleasant smile. He pulls out of the parking spot and flips on the radio, tuning it to another station.

  I hate this station.

  I look out the window as we drive through the city, heading toward my place. I need to figure out whether I want to continue with this relationship, and I need to do it fast. I don’t want to take things to the next level with him if I’m still feeling so uncertain.

  The trouble is, it’s so disappointing. I really thought I was doing things right this time. Aidan is all the things I told myself I needed: responsible, sweet, mature.

  But his taste in music is genuinely awful.

  No. He’s a good guy, and I despise the thought that I’m one of those women who gives truth to the phrase nice guys finish last.

  Then again, the nice guy thing is proving to be pretty dull.

  Am I searching for reasons to walk away? Am I craving the rush of a hot hookup so much that the slow build of a real relationship just doesn’t do it for me?

  But Aidan also wears deodorant that clashes with his cologne.

  I caught a whiff of Ronan when he sat at our table. He smelled sort of woodsy and clean.

  I need to stop thinking about Ronan, especially while I’m trying to work out how I feel about Aidan. Because my relationship with Aidan—whatever it is, and wherever it’s going—has nothing to do with Ronan. I can’t let it have anything to do with Ronan. Regardless of whether I keep seeing Aidan, Ronan is the absolute worst kind of man for me. He’s everything I’m trying to stay away from: rich, arrogant … and yes, excruciatingly handsome.

  But he also slept with me and blew me off, so I don’t even have to wonder what sort of man he really is. There’s no telling myself he might be a good guy under that confident and aggressive exterior. I’ve been to the show, and seen behind the curtain.

  He’s just another bad boy, and that is the last thing I need.

  6: Ronan

  I head into the office early. Yesterday’s meetings took up more of my time than I anticipated, and I have a lot to catch up on. There’s a coffee shop in the lobby of the building, so I veer in that direction before going upstairs. Even at seven in the morning, there’s a line.

  When I get closer, I spot her. Selene. Dressed in a white blouse and blue skirt, she’s hard to miss. Her back is to me and I take a moment to appreciate her. Fuck, those legs. I love that she still wears heels, even though she’s so tall. There’s an I don’t give a fuck quality about a tall woman in heels, like she’s daring the men of the world to judge her for being able to look them in the eye. Or look down on them, as the case may be.

  I’m tall enough that she won’t look down on me, even in those hot shoes. Unless she’s straddling me, in which case I welcome the angle.

  It’s no particular surprise to run into her in the lobby of our building, but I was surprised to see her at the restaurant last night. She was obviously with a date, but there was no way I could leave without talking to her. Catching her off guard was perfect. I saw the surprise on her face when I approached her table, but she still had plenty of sharp comebacks.

  The guy doesn’t concern me. I watched them for a while before she saw me, and it looked a lot like an awkward first, possibly second, date. Even if it’s not, he doesn’t mean anything to Selene. That much was clear. I won’t have any trouble getting past that little hurdle.

  There are other reasons Selene is going to be a challenge—but fuck, I love a challenge. That must be why I can’t get her out of my head.

  She gets to the front of the line and orders, then stands to the side to wait for her coffee. Another woman waiting strikes up a conversation with her. Selene’s caught up chatting and doesn’t appear to notice me. It gives me a chance to watch her. Her clothes are tasteful, but anything would look sexy as fuck on that body. Her hair is up, showing the soft curve of her neck. She smiles at the other woman, nodding as she replies. She really is exceptional. It’s hard to believe that, five years later, she’s still single. I would have thought some asshole would have managed to get a ring on her finger by now.

  Luckily for me, no one has.

  I place my order and walk over to stand next to her.

  “Morning,” I say.

  She looks at me, her eyes a little wide. I startled her. Good. I like keeping her off balance.

  “Good morning.” She glances back at the woman she was talking to, but I seem to have stopped their conversation in its tracks. “Do you need something?” she asks.

  “Other than you, alone in my office?” I ask.

  Her lips part and her eyes flick to the other woman. “Ronan.”

  “What?” I ask. “Did you think I was hitting on you with that comment?”

  The barista calls a name and the woman stares at me with an open mouth for a second before she goes to get her coffee.

  Selene says goodbye and turns back to me. “Yes, the thought did occur to me.”

  “Good,” I say. “Because I was definitely hitting on you.”

  She raises an eyebrow.

  “I just want to make sure I’m being clear,” I say.

  “Is that what you’re doing?”

  “Would you prefer I play games with you?” I ask.

  “I’d prefer it if you keep things professional,” she says.

  The barista calls her name and she grabs her coffee. I think about abandoning my order and riding up the elevator with her, but I decide not to push her quite that hard. Yet.

  I spend the rest of the day getting caught up and putting things away in my office. I don’t like clutter where I work. It’s too distracting.

  I kept on Brad’s old assistant, Scott, but I’m pretty sure I’m going to have to bring my assistant Sarah up from San Francisco. Sarah kicks all kinds of ass and she’s quick enough to keep up with me. I’ll make do with Scott for now, but I can already tell he and I aren’t a good match. He seems fairly smart, but he doesn’t have that go-getter attitude I like to surround myself with.

  Scott comes in and I glance at the clock on my laptop screen. It’s nearing five-thirty.

  “I found the profit/loss spreadsheets you wanted and emailed them to you,” Scott says.

  I nod. “Good, thanks.”

  “If you don’t need anything else today, I think I’ll head out,” he says.

  “You can tackle this in the morning, but I need to find a current market analysis,” I say. “Did Brad have something like that?”

  “You should ask Selene Taylor,” he says. “That sounds like something she’d have.”

  “All right, I’ll do that. See you in the morning.”

  Scott nods and leaves, closing my door behind him.

  Interesting. That’s not the first time today someone told me to talk to Selene Taylor in response to a question I had. A clearer picture of this company is starting to form. I’m realizing there are a few specific reasons Brad didn’t run this company into the ground, and Selene appears to be one of them.

  I haven’t bothered her all day, so I decide to swing by her office and see if she’s still here. She might have gone home for the day—she was in early, so she’d be justified in doing so. As I round the corner, I realize that I really hope she hasn’t left. I’m starting to crave her, and my blood pumps harder as I walk. I feel the leading edge of a rush, like the first hit of adrenaline when I’m going up for a wingsuit dive.

  Fuck, this woman is going to get me in trouble.

  I get to her open door and catch a glimpse of her. She’s sitting at her desk, and some guy in a cheap polo and black Converse is talking to her.

  “So when are you going to let me take you out?” the guy says. By his tone, he’s trying to make it sound like he’s kidding, but leaving it open in case she actually bites.

  “Never, Justin,” she says, without looking up from her laptop.

  “Come on, Selene,” he sa
ys. “What if I get Seahawks tickets?”

  “My brother gets me tickets all the time,” she says. “I’m good.”

  I step through her doorway. “I haven’t been to a Hawks game in years.”

  They both look up at me, and Justin’s eyes widen.

  A flash of emotion moves across Selene’s face, but it’s gone in half a second and she’s all business. “Ronan,” she says. “Do you need something?”

  “I need a lot of things, but most of them would be better without an audience.”

  She raises an eyebrow at me—she has that expression down—but I feel a hit of satisfaction at the slight flush of her cheeks. Justin’s mouth drops open.

  I walk in and take a seat in a chair facing her desk. “Mind if I sit?”

  “Apparently not.” She looks up at Justin. “Are you heading home for the night?”

  “Yeah.” His eyes flick toward me, then back to her.

  “Sounds good,” she says. “See you tomorrow.”

  Her voice is friendly, but I can hear the boundary she sets, like it’s a fence this Justin guy is going to have to be content to look over. I can tell he hears it, too—and by my guess, he’s used to it.

  Interesting that he still tries. I suppose I’m not the only one who finds Selene hard to resist.

  The difference is, this guy doesn’t have a prayer.

  “See you,” he says, then turns to me. “Um, goodbye, Mr. Maddox.”

  I give him a pleasant smile and nod.

  “What do you want, Ronan?” she asks.

  I decide the only approach with her is the direct one. Targeted strike, going straight for the kill. “Dinner with you, tonight, and you in my bed afterward.”

  She rolls her eyes and crosses her legs. “Honestly, Ronan, I don’t know what you think you’re doing.”

  “I don’t think I’m doing anything,” I say.

  “No? What was with that comment while Justin was here?”

  “What comment?” I ask, feigning ignorance.

  She lets out a sigh. “Look, I realize that you and I have a certain … past. But I’m determined not to let that influence our working relationship. Whatever happened between us was a long time ago. Now you own the company I work for. You’re my boss. I think we can both be adults about the situation and move past whatever history we have.”