by Melody Anne
McKenzie’s eyes narrowed at his tone, and Blake looked as if he wanted to punch him.
“Unfortunately, I think the problem runs deeper than a numbers issue. You have someone at the Boise office who is…shall we say, skimming a bit off the top. I’ve been over this and over this, and there’s no other explanation. If I were you, I would have an internal audit done. It’s going to take quite some time to figure out exactly who, but from what I’ve been seeing, I’ve narrowed it down to three possible people. If you know your employees well, then you might be able to narrow it down further.” Her tone was professional in the extreme, and it was putting Byron on edge.
That made no sense. He wanted a professional, didn’t he? So why was it that no matter what she did, he still found himself irritated? Why did he still find himself wanting to punish her? Hell, he didn’t even know which direction was up anymore.
“I’ll look this over as soon as Blake leaves,” he said briskly, hoping his brother would take the hint and go away.
“Maybe I should help you with that,” Blake said, his expression changing as he looked between Byron and McKenzie.
Byron fumed. He in no way wanted his brother getting any ideas in his head about him and McKenzie. Hell, there was no him and McKenzie.
“Also, I thought I would have a couple of our employees come over for interviews later today or tomorrow if you’re up for it, Byron. I know you’re wary about trusting anyone else, but you’ll see that I have a more than competent staff.”
Byron’s temper escalated even further.
With Blake standing right there, though, he couldn’t refuse McKenzie’s request, which appeared to be what she already knew. She was smart. He would have to give her credit for that. A person didn’t get to where she was in life at such a young age without having some decent brains. But still, it didn’t take a lot of brains to run a whorehouse, did it? No, it just took a lot of conniving. He would do best to remember that.
“I’m very picky, as you know,” Byron said. “But go ahead and bring them in.” He thought that sounded gracious enough.
“Of course.” Her tone hadn’t changed, but the expression in her eyes told him that she wasn’t fooled — he wasn’t going to give any of the employees a chance. He wanted her, and only her, working here. And they both knew it.
“That will be all for now, McKenzie. I’ll call you in when I’m finished speaking with my brother.”
It was more than obvious that Byron’s dismissal rankled her, but she gave a slight nod of her head, turned on her heels, and walked stiffly from the office.
During those few seconds, the tension could have been cut up and deep-fried, and Byron almost smiled at knowing he was getting under her skin. She got beneath his thick hide so easily that it was more than fitting that he got to her as well. Turnabout was fair play.
“Did you forget that we own this company together?” Blake asked, clearly irked at Byron’s attempt to shut him out.
“Of course not, but I’m the one who’s over the accounting department,” Byron said, hoping that would be enough to get his brother to back the hell off.
“Since when did we ever say something like that?” Blake asked, though he didn’t look angry — he seemed more curious. That was worse.
“I’ve just been under a lot of stress,” Byron told him. “I spent too much time away from the offices and now it’s catching up to me.”
“Hmm.”
“What the hell is that supposed to mean?” Byron fumed.
“You seem awfully upset,” Blake said, and gave him an assessing look.
“I’m not some damn specimen for you to place underneath a microscope, Blake!”
“I’m not the one getting upset over nothing, Byron.”
“Don’t you have work to do?” Byron practically yelled.
Blake was quiet for several moments, and for the first time he could remember, Byron felt like squirming in his seat. What was wrong with him? But Blake’s next words absolutely infuriated him.
“So, I’ll ask you this question again; Why is McKenzie working here?”
“I already told you that we needed to have the position filled.”
“She runs her accounting company. She doesn’t fill in personally,” Blake pointed out.
“Well, the job called for her and only her,” Byron said. He was getting sick of defending himself.
“You’re playing with fire, Byron. You will get burned,” Blake said, a knowing smirk now on his face. “Badly burned.”
“She’s just filling in for a job, Blake. Why don’t you stop trying to look any further than that and stop trying to play the shrink with me? We promised years ago that we wouldn’t pull that crap with each other.” Byron was fuming.
“Just don’t play games with her, Byron. She might put on an act that she’s strong and independent, and she certainly isn’t weak, but she has some wounds, some deep wounds, and you do have the power to break her,” Blake told him.
“Why don’t you stop worrying about her? Just worry about your own life, you’re your own woman,” Byron snapped, very done with this ridiculous conversation. He didn’t even realize that the way he’d worded that would suggest that McKenzie was his woman.
“I understand now. I can see that you’re struggling with the way you’re feeling, so I won’t take offense over what you just said. But be warned, brother, that she’s a friend of my wife’s, and if you put her through hell, I’ll be forced to step in and knock you down a peg or two.”
“I would love to see you try, Blake. It’s been a while since I’ve had a good brawl.”
“All right, then. We’ll talk about this later.”
Before Byron could reply, Blake walked out into the hallway, and then Byron found himself grinding his teeth together when McKenzie’s sweet laughter drifted in through his open office door. She never laughed around him, but maybe that was because he never tried to make her laugh. Making her happy wasn’t on his agenda.
He waited a while to be sure his brother had returned to his own side of the building. Then he decided to make the woman — that maddening woman — wait even longer. He wasn’t in the proper mood to work with her right now. So he tried to push McKenzie from his mind by digging into other projects on his computer.
It was much easier thought than done.
Chapter Six
When Blake left her desk, McKenzie didn’t know what to do. Byron had said he wanted to bring her in to discuss the Idaho files, but twenty minutes passed and he still wasn’t calling her in. She felt flustered and out of sorts, but she wasn’t the type to sit around and do nothing. She needed to pull herself together.
The last few days had been almost surreal. Yes, she knew that Byron’s demanding she work at his company was his way of trying to control her, trying to punish her. He didn’t actually believe his irrational allegations that she had ruined his brother’s life…or did he? Business was business, and she’d come in Monday morning, gotten her assignment from him, and then he hadn’t brought up anything personal — not once. He confused her, and she wasn’t easily confused.
A few times when they were working together she would look up to catch his piercing gaze focused on her, but she almost thought she was imagining it, because the second he noticed her looking, his face grew unreadable. Not a trace showed of what he was feeling or thinking — if he felt or thought anything at all, that was.
That was fine with her. She didn’t want to dance this particular dance from his perverse playbook. She just wanted to run her business, make a new start for herself, and let her past life go.
Byron wasn’t making that easy — not one little bit.
There was a darkness about Byron that called to her on some basic level, whether she wanted to hear the call or not. Inside, she was just as messed up as he was, and there wasn’t a chance that anything could ever work between the two of them. Even knowing this, though, she wondered what it would be like with him in the bedroom. Strange —sex was not somet
hing she would ever enjoy. But just being alone with the man sent jolts of electricity all through her body. And that kiss…
Oh, that kiss had melted her inside and out. McKenzie was sure he was a phenomenal lover — but all in self-interest. The woman never got the same pleasure from the dirty deed. But none of that mattered. Nothing mattered but survival. And no matter what people thought of her, she wasn’t a whore. Yes, she’d run a business where she sold women to the highest bidder, but she’d done so to protect them. And that story was none of Byron’s business.
And since Byron had not an ounce of empathy in his entire body, she was certain that he wouldn’t care to hear her story anyway. He’d deemed her evil before he’d even met her, and he was inflicting his own method of punishment on her. But here was the thing —even though she was exhausted working what looked to be sixty-hour weeks for him, and then putting in as many hours as possible at her own business, he was actually helping her, because in the end, when she could show that Knight Construction was a client of hers, she would have people pouring in through her own business’s doors.
When Byron still didn’t call her into his office, she decided she’d best get at least some work done — something that wouldn’t require her total concentration. Looking down at her paperwork, she sank into the numbers and forgot about her woes for at least a few minutes.
When her phone rang twenty minutes later, it gave McKenzie a start. Her plan of not sinking into work hadn’t gone over so well, because she wasn’t the type of person who could do half a job. She took pride in whatever she did, and she always gave it her all.
When a familiar number showed up on the screen, she smiled her first genuine smile of the day as she picked up. “Good morning, Zach.”
“Morning, beautiful. How’s it going in the real world?” he asked, his natural humor coming through, making her really miss her office.
“It is what it is,” she replied, sending the file she was working on to the corner of the computer screen. “How are things going at our company?”
“It would be a lot better if you were here, and you know that, but I think I’ve got a handle on things. Did you talk the boss into letting anyone come in for interviews?”
Did Zach sound hopeful?
She shuddered. “Please tell me there isn’t a disaster going on that you’re too afraid to tell me about.”
“If there were a disaster, McKenzie, I’d tell you, even if I didn’t like it. I’d probably send flowers, actually, with a note that said our business is going down in flames, but since that isn’t happening, you have nothing to worry about. Again, did the boss agree to interviews?”
“Yes, sort of,” she said, though she had more than just a feeling it was a waste of time.
“Great. When can I send in Jim? I can do it now, if you like.”
“Let me talk to Byron. But I don’t think we should send in Jim. Let’s bring in Mary. I think her personality would be a lot better fit here.”
“Are you sure?”
Mary was sixty-eight, and she was a master accountant, flawless in her work. She was also a no-nonsense kind of woman. If Byron didn’t like her, he wasn’t going to like anyone.
“Yes, I’m sure. I think they would get along just fine,” she said. “Hang on.” Before he could reply she placed him on hold, took a deep breath and walked into the lion’s den.
Knowing that Byron liked to exert his dominance, she waited until he looked up before she spoke. He was well aware she was in the room, but he could be a real jackass if she interrupted, and she wasn’t going to chance it. He made her wait for a full sixty seconds before he finally looked away from his computer screen. Maybe she should have told Zach she’d call him back instead of making him listen to elevator music for minutes on end, a good chunk of his life that he would never get back. Oh, well. It was too late now. If he got busy he’d hang up and she would call back.
“I’m sorry to get in the way of your busy schedule, Byron, but I have Zach on the line, and Mary — I’ve told you about her — is available to come in this afternoon if you can make the time.” McKenzie was brisk and impersonal, matching the way Byron spoke to her.
His eyes narrowed just the slightest bit, and then a small smile tilted his lips. “Bring her in now.” He then looked back down at his computer.
He was dismissing her as if she were trash. Every time he did that, she felt her fingers clench into fists. She hated that he felt he needed to be so rude. She’d worked before in a business where she’d needed to keep her guard up at all times, but she’d never treated people as callously as Byron Knight treated her.
She hurried back to her phone and told Zach to send Mary over ASAP. She then paced the hall as she waited for her to show up, her nerves screaming until the woman walked around the corner.
If Byron liked Mary, this game could stop and she’d be free to go away and attend to her own business. McKenzie wasn’t foolish enough to think he’d stop tormenting her that easily, but at least it could be done after business hours.
Though Mary had arrived quickly, Byron made her hang out in the sitting area for nearly an hour before bringing her into his office. McKenzie didn’t even attempt to get anything important done while she waited for the woman to walk back out. If she had been a nail-biter, she would have been down to stubs. That she knew for sure.
Only fifteen minutes into the interview, when Byron’s door opened and Mary stepped out looking less than pleased, McKenzie knew this wasn’t going to work. She could send in a hundred people, but Byron wasn’t going to hire any of them. He was only wasting all of their time right now.
Still, she had to ask. “What do you think, Mary?”
“I don’t understand how you can work for that man. He sat there stone-cold and asked me a few questions, then stared at his computer screen for a while before thanking me and sending me on my way. I have never been so insulted, in my life.” Mary had one hand on her hip, and she was clutching her briefcase with the other one.
“He might just be having a bad day. You’re exceptional at what you do, Mary. Once he’s had time to think about it, I’m sure he’ll realize that you are exactly what’s required for this job.”
McKenzie was hoping and praying that she wouldn’t lose such a valued employee over this. Mary could have retired five years ago, but she worked because she loved to do it. She was a widow and said it was much nicer to be out with other people than to sit at home alone hoping for a visit from the grandkids.
“I don’t know that I would accept at this point,” she said. “I enjoy coming in to work. And the past two months at your business have been satisfying. I have a feeling, however, that I wouldn’t enjoy coming in here at all, even if it were only for a few weeks.”
And with that, Mary turned and walked out.
Crap! Going to the bathroom first to refresh her lip gloss and take some deep breaths, McKenzie then made her way back to Byron’s office, pausing outside his door before stepping inside.
This time she didn’t wait for him to acknowledge her presence. “That was sure a quick interview,” she said with too much false cheer in her voice.
“She wouldn’t be a good fit.”
Gritting her teeth, McKenzie counted to ten before saying “Why?” The bastard kept using the phrase a good fit.
“I can read people, and though she has an excellent curriculum vitae, she wouldn’t be a good fit for Knight Construction.”
“Is anyone going to be a good fit?” she finally asked.
He gave her a hint of a smirk, and he looked into her eyes, freezing her where she stood across from him. “Not right now they won’t, McKenzie. You’re stuck here for a while.”
A shudder passed through her. She was never going to survive this. With no way to respond to his statement, she finally wrenched her gaze away from his mesmerizing eyes and left his office.
The day wasn’t even halfway over and she desperately needed a drink. Happy hour couldn’t come soon enough.
&
nbsp; Chapter Seven
Her eyes barely open, McKenzie pulled into her driveway and sat in her car for a few minutes. She needed to paste a smile on her face and pretend she wasn’t burning the candle at both ends. Long ago someone had told her that if you smiled past the pain, you would eventually give a real smile, so it was her goal to turn her lips up no matter how upset she was. She also needed to remember that there was a reason she was doing all of this.
She was barely able to pull herself from the car, and she felt a rumble in her stomach as she dragged herself up the short path to her front door. She fumbled around on her keychain until she found the right key, then slipped it into the lock and turned it. But before she was able to open the door, a voice spoke that sent chills down her spine.
“You’re looking mighty fine, McKenzie.”
That voice! For years that voice had given her nightmares, had haunted her in ways that she feared would never go away. She had hoped she’d heard that voice for the last time, had changed cities, had done all she could to avoid it — the voice belonging to the man who had ripped away her innocence. Who had turned her into the woman she was today.
Anxiety instantly filled her, but she wouldn’t give him the satisfaction of showing it. He was a part of her past that she had prayed that she’d never face again, but didn’t she know the past was never forgotten?
Turning, she found him with a lit cigarette dangling from his puffy lips, and her eyes widened. Though the voice was exactly the same as she remembered, the man was almost unrecognizable.
Time had not been good to him.
In the last ten years he had grown larger, and it was in a bloated, beached-whale kind of way. His eyes had also changed. They were dull and lifeless — drugs and alcohol had obviously not been kind to him. Those eyes moved up and down her body, and though he was trying to appear relaxed as he leaned against the rail at the bottom of her porch, she could see the twitch in his fingers and other subtle hints that he was high on something but flirting with withdrawal.
“It’s been a long time, Nathan,” she said between clenched teeth. She was afraid that if she unclenched them, they would begin to chatter, and that would show the man weakness. Not acceptable. But what was he doing at her home, her refuge?
