Harlequin E Contemporary Romance Box Set Volume 2: Maid to CraveAll I HaveThe Last First DateLight My Fire

by Rebecca M. Avery

  What? She had heard the whispers about her sleeping her way to the top, but he had been only one vote out of ten. Had he really been the only reason why she had been given the promotion and raise? During her final interview for the position, it hadn’t felt like the other board members had been talked into offering her the job. It hadn’t felt as if they’d been…convinced of her ability.

  The other board members had seemed excited to have her as part of the patient records technology team. Her old boss had indicated that he couldn’t match the money and benefits they offered, but that she deserved the promotion. He’d wished her well. Why would they have lured her away from the patient billing department just to have her handle the migration and then fire her? It made no sense. Were there politics involved that she didn’t know about?

  “No, it wasn’t like that,” she replied. “I do care about you. You are a really sweet guy. I just don’t think my feelings are strong enough for me to marry you. Marriage is a huge step. I don’t think either one of us feel the way a person should feel before getting married, but I wasn’t using you for a promotion. And I don’t understand what you mean by the project taking longer. The migration was scheduled for five weeks and it’s done already…a week early. “

  Tim had asked her out the first time just a few weeks before the new position had even been posted. Thinking back, he had seemed hesitant when she mentioned she was interested in the opening. Had he known even then that there was more to this assignment? If so, why hadn’t he told her what he knew and advised her to stay in her old job? Was he really the only hope she had of keeping her job?

  He studied her for a minute and then took her hand again. “I adore you. I do not want to see you lose your job, regardless of how you think you feel about me. Say yes, at least for now. Wear the ring. We’ll announce our engagement so they will at least reconsider letting you go,” he pleaded. “Then after the project completion meeting, they will have reallocated funds and positions. Once we are both comfortably situated and secure in an assignment, if you still don’t feel that you want to marry me, you can break it off with me then. I care enough about you to allow you to continue to use me to secure this job. I don’t want to see you unemployed. You have a son. Who knows…perhaps by then you will realize just how perfect we are for each other. I can’t protect you from them if you don’t let me.”

  Could she do that? Pretend to be engaged to him just to secure this job? Every part of it felt wrong, but at the same time, if she was laid off she would be forced to ask her father for money. She had already spent the majority of her trust fund to pay off Caleb’s medical bills. Losing this job would leave her with no money and no way to pay her bills and provide for Zach. Having to ask her father for anything would break whatever spirit she had left.

  She’d never felt as smug as she had when she had sent off the cashier’s checks to pay Caleb’s bills. She’d known full well that her father would see them and know the money hadn’t been used for school, a house or anything else for Zach. She had basically given her trust fund—his money—to charity. It was the closest thing to giving William Stewart the middle finger as she could get without actually being that vulgar toward the bastard. To have to go to him and ask for money now would be like admitting that he could buy her…or at least pay for forgiveness without ever having to ask for it. That she couldn’t allow.

  Perhaps she was letting the feelings she had developed for Seth cloud her judgment. If there were more politics behind her job than she knew about, and Tim had fought for her position, fought for her, didn’t she owe it to him to try? Maybe they were perfect for each other. Passion and chemistry were nice—great actually—but they weren’t everything. They often didn’t last.

  Looking at him, she finally said, “Okay, I will say yes for now. I can’t say that I will marry you in the end, but I owe it to you, to us both, to see if this could work.”

  Chapter Ten

  Monday morning after his workout at the gym, Seth deposited his tip money into his bank account and drove to Tori’s house. When he opened the door, he could hear her fingers typing away and he grinned as he went to her office with a cup of coffee and knocked on her door. He missed her even when he was only away from her for a day. He was looking forward to moving into the basement.

  Hopefully, it wouldn’t take long to end up in her bed. Saturday hadn’t been weird between them at all, so he felt sure she would give him a second shot at making love to her. This time around he would control himself and enjoy every inch of her.

  “Come in,” she said.

  She continued typing as he approached her desk and set down the steaming cup of coffee. The look of concentration on her face made his smile even bigger. He wanted to bend down and kiss her exposed neck to see if he could distract her. She whispered to herself as she continued to type and he glanced at her little fingers as they flew across the keyboard. Then he noticed it…a ring. An engagement ring!

  Friday, in her room, had been nothing more than a fling before taking the plunge. In her case it wasn’t marriage, just the engagement, but the result was same. Like so many women he’d danced for, she’d used him as one last taste of freedom before getting serious…about someone else. He wanted to throw up, his heart hurt so badly.

  He had always enjoyed those bachelorette women in the past because they never came back for seconds. A one-night stand before they disappeared. They knew what it was going in and so did he. Tori had said she was dating someone, but a part of him hadn’t believed her. Maybe because he couldn’t face the fact that she really didn’t feel as strongly about him as he felt about her or maybe because if it were him dating her, he would make damn sure no other man, especially one like himself, turned her head.

  He stood there fighting back his emotions over having been used. He was about to lose his cool when she looked up, a curious expression crossing her face until her gaze followed his to land on her ring. Unable and unwilling to listen to her explanation about why she hadn’t bothered to tell him that he was nothing more than one last…whatever before getting hitched, he turned and walked out of her office.

  “Seth! Wait!” she said, rolling her chair back and following him into the living room.

  The silence between them was creepy, like in a scary movie just before the monster jumped out. In this case, Seth was the victim and he wanted to scream out his pain at her, at himself, but instead, he stood there breathing heavily in an effort to maintain control. He was finding that an impossible task where she was concerned, whether it was controlling his sexual craving for her or handling his rollercoaster ride of emotions. He had no control. She controlled him.

  “You are engaged? When did that happen?” he asked between breaths.

  “Saturday night,” she replied quietly.

  He’d blown it with her on Friday even worse than he’d originally thought. His lack of control had not only cost him the chance to make love to her, but also the chance for anything more…ever. Perhaps it was best that they hadn’t actually had sex…but if they had, he didn’t think it would hurt any more than it already did. Being a glutton for punishment, he had to know.

  “So what was Friday?” He closed his eyes not wanting to hear that it had been just one last opportunity.

  “You said that you were my friend and that I could ask you for what I wanted or what I needed…but I shouldn’t have asked you for that,” she said quietly. “I’m sorry, Seth. Please say we can still be friends.”

  So she had wanted him as more than just friends. Now, friends were all they might ever be to each other. Was that enough? Would it be enough to see her happily married to another man? What choice did he have other than to take the friendship she offered or have none of her? The friend in him would cherish her friendship, but the man in him would not take this lying down. Not now. Not knowing that she had wanted him…and maybe still did. For the first time in his life, he was going to fight for a woman. His game face was on and the game wasn’t over until she walked d
own the aisle.

  He only hoped his plans didn’t come back to bite him in the ass and cause him even more pain than he was in right now.

  Opening his eyes, he slid his hand into her hair and gripped the back of her neck. “We will always be friends, Tori. As long as you want me to be. And you can ask me for anything…anything at all.”

  Her soft pink lips fell open and her eyes glazed over with a look similar to the one she’d worn when she’d come for him. Control. This was his last chance.… If he blew it this time then he didn’t deserve her. She’d asked for him once; she would ask for him again. This time, though, she would admit her feelings for him if he had to drag the confession out of her one orgasm at a time.

  “Okay,” she said breathlessly.

  Rubbing his thumb across her full bottom lip, he said, “Anything specific that you need me to do today?”

  “Um, no.” Then shaking her head as though to clear her thoughts, she added, “I do need you to pick up Zach from school this week. I am trying to get in my hours so I can make cupcakes and take them in for his class party at the end of the week.”

  “I can make the cupcakes if that would help,” he offered, watching her lips move as she spoke. They were the epitome of sexy…soft, pink and full.

  “No, I want to,” she whispered. Forcing himself to look away from her mouth and into her eyes, he was instantly inflamed with desire. Her eyes were shining with need. Why hadn’t he realized months ago, when he’d had a better chance than he had now, that beneath her reserved personality, her over-sized glasses, and her formerly frumpy outfits was a sexy siren?

  Stepping closer, he tilted his head as though he meant to kiss her. As much as he wanted to, he restrained himself. “I offered. So if you change your mind, just let me know. Friends, remember?”

  He wanted to put a single mark on a blank piece of paper because right now it was him one and her none. Releasing her, he stepped back slowly, staring at her. God, she was hot when she was turned on like she was right now. Ask, Tori, just ask. He watched as the fog of sexual awareness lifted slowly. She took a deep breath, walked back into her office and closed the door. Yes, his game face was definitely on now.

  The pool maintenance company showed up right before lunch. He’d been busy with them and missed her coming out to the kitchen. Well, she couldn’t hide in her office forever. His cell phone rang and showed Rusty’s number. He’d asked Rusty to look into Tori’s boss as soon as he found out she had something going on with the guy. Seth’s gut told him that he would soon find out what a perfect guy Tori was about to marry.

  “You are not going to like this,” Rusty said. “Hell, I don’t like it and I don’t even know her that well. Mr. Tim Silver was picked up twice in the past six months for soliciting prostitutes. The more recent charge was just two weeks ago.”

  An image of himself tearing the man limb from limb filtered through Seth’s mind.

  “I want to kill him…” he finally breathed into the phone through clenched teeth.

  “I can appreciate that, but it gets worse. Seems he makes specific requests of the girls he picks up, which might explain why he’s paying for it rather than…” Rusty stopped. “Let’s just say he has some pretty strange fantasies, which would put off most women. He pays pretty well, though. I managed to catch up with one of the girls he was busted with, a woman named Vanessa, who informed me he had taken her on a shopping spree in addition to paying her.”

  Now the game had changed. He could no longer afford to lose—for more reasons than his own personal desire for Tori. Above all else, she was his friend, and just as he wouldn’t let Ronnie, Ian or Rusty walk into a dangerous situation, he wouldn’t allow Tori to walk into one either. Why couldn’t Rusty have found out this information before she’d gone and gotten engaged to the ass-hat? If Seth went to her now and told her what the guy did when she wasn’t around, would she even believe him?

  Even if she did a background check on Tim on her own, it would only show that he had been arrested. Tim could say it had been a moment of weakness and that he hadn’t actually slept with the prostitute. There would also be no indicator of the perverse things her fiancé was requesting of these women. Some people lashed out when they were hurt or angry. Tori could end up mad at him instead of being mad at Tim and think Seth was just trying to ruin her future marriage because of what had happened between them.

  He needed to give Tori irrefutable proof that Tim Silver was an asshole of epic proportions, that he didn’t deserve her as an employee…let alone as a wife. She needed to see his true nature with her own eyes. Even though Seth hated the thought of her being hurt, he was in this game to win. The prize was Tori and he wasn’t taking any chances. None.

  The risk that Tim could convince Tori to forgive him made the situation desperate enough that Seth would pull out all the stops to show her the truth. Losing was not an option. Regardless of whether or not she ever gave him another chance with her, he would make sure Tim Silver was caught red-handed. Seth just had to figure out how.

  “Thanks, Rusty. I owe you one,” he replied.

  “Jake said to call him if you decide you want to go into the academy. The pay for being a cop isn’t much better than the military, but it’s an option,” Rusty said.

  “I’ll think about it…but right now I need a way to make sure Tim Silver is out of Tori’s life for good. Some way to ensure he has no explanation for his actions, or at least none that she could possibly forgive him for. Have you told Ronnie yet?”

  “No, and I won’t. Not unless you want me to. You asked for the information, not Ronnie,” Rusty explained.

  “Don’t say anything for now. He will tell Kayla, and she’ll say something to Tori and I’m not sure just hearing about it will be enough. She’s engaged to the bastard now. Give me a few days to think it over and figure out a way to prove it to her,” he said.

  “Let me know if you need anything,” Rusty said.

  Thursday morning, Seth went down to his mailbox after getting home from the gym and showering. He had put it off long enough. He had bills to pay and letting them sit wasn’t going to help his case. The past few days had been hell on him. He could barely sleep and was stretched tight enough to snap. He had no idea how he could make Tori aware of what a scumbag her future husband was. Finding the one bill he hoped he had enough money to pay off completely, he tore open the envelope and unfolded the paper.

  He must have read it three or four times before it made sense to him. The balance was zero. He dug through his accordion file to look at the statement from the last month and compared the two. Something was wrong. Great. Now he would have to call the billing department, which was never fun. Setting that bill aside, he opened another one. Something was definitely wrong. This bill was Caleb’s biggest and it showed a zero balance, as well. He quickly tore open the other bills and they all showed a zero balance. What the hell?

  Gathering up the bills, he left the apartment. He would have to start making calls once he made it to Tori’s house. He put a few boxes of his things for the basement into the car and got in the driver’s seat just as Ian and Jess came jogging down the sidewalk.

  Jess Reynolds was a tall, thin, very pretty woman, and unfortunately for Ian, a lesbian. Theirs had been an unlikely friendship, if there ever was one, but they were pretty tight now. It was humorous that it had taken a woman to give the giant man a personality adjustment.… Most men were too afraid of him. Jess, however, was woman enough to bring Ian into check. He seemed to respect her for it and their close friendship was proof.

  Ian started working for Jess around the same time that Ronnie started working for Kayla. Now Jess even came to the gym with the guys sometimes. Her kickboxing skills were phenomenal. After Ian figured out that she was cool and could help him with his fight training, even though their opinions differed greatly on a few subjects, they had become nearly inseparable.

  Ronnie, Rusty and Seth had already chosen who they thought would win if Ian and Jess we
re to ever actually fight. Ian had her as far as height and overall size was concerned, but her roundhouse kick was something to witness.

  Ian motioned for Seth to wait and he rolled down the window as the two of them approached. They both jogged in place beside his car.

  “I’ve got a fight this weekend in Cincinnati, on Saturday afternoon. You coming?” Ian asked.

  “I wish I could, but I can’t this weekend,” Seth replied. He needed to be close by so that he could keep an eye on Tori, to try and keep her from going out with Tim until Seth could figure out a way to expose the man.

  “I thought you weren’t working for Tori this weekend? The fight is early.…”

  “I’m not. It’s just, Tori got—” Engaged, he started to say, but Ian didn’t give him a chance.

  “Invite her, too. Jess is going,” Ian said, pointing his thumb at his boss.

  “Yeah, okay,” Seth said.

  With that settled, Ian and Jess continued on their way.

  It might work to invite Tori to go with him. It would be a way to keep her away from Tim and allow Seth some time with her. Tori seemed to have developed an adoration for Ian that almost equaled Kayla’s admiration of the man. Ian was like the younger brother neither one of them had. Kayla even pinched Ian’s cheeks sometimes as a way of bringing him down to size.

  Seth was halfway to Tori’s house when it hit him—maybe Jess could help him. She was a tough woman. She could handle herself in any situation. If he told her that someone was in trouble, maybe she could help him set up Tim. Seth wasn’t looking to get the man arrested again or even fired from his job. He only wanted Tim to walk away from Tori.