Back in the Bedroom (8 page)

“Oh, I’m sorry,” she said, reading his mind. “I’m fresh out of cash until payday.”

Ah, hell. He came back toward her. “Don’t buy me doughnuts with your own money. There’s no need. There’s petty cash in Cheri’s desk.”

“But then it’d be
you
buying you doughnuts.”

“Yes, and then no one owes anyone anything.”

She just looked at him.

Resisting the urge to squirm, he walked past her and headed down the hall toward his office.

“Good thing Cheri told me you weren’t a morning person,” she muttered.

Which stopped him in his tracks.

“She also said you’re not an afternoon or evening person,” she said. “In case you were wondering.”

He had to ask, even knowing he shouldn’t. “What else did she say about me?”

Her smile widened just a little bit wickedly.

He did squirm now.

“She said you’re egotistical, grumpy, stubborn and innately suspicious.”

Okay, that he could handle, as it was true.

But then she put a finger to her chin as she thought. “Oh, and that she felt none of those things were your fault.”

“Really? Why not?”

“Because she and your father screwed you up and what they didn’t screw up, working for the CIA finished off.”

“C
HERI TOLD YOU
all that,” Reilly said slowly.

“Yep.” Tess nodded. “But I already knew you weren’t just some ordinary accountant. You had big, tough, alpha male written all over you the moment I first laid eyes on you. Even half-naked and holding your bruised head, I knew.”

He really should have stopped for caffeine. In his present state, he wasn’t equipped to deal with this. He rubbed his temples. “What else?”

“She said you need kindness and compassion.”

Because, apparently, he was pretty damn pathetic. “You know, for future reference, when someone asks you a question like ‘what else did they say?’ and when that something else is so blatantly negative, you should probably just keep it to yourself.”

She cocked her head and said, “I didn’t realize you weren’t looking for the truth. You seem like a guy who appreciates the truth.”

He moved toward her yet again, because apparently he hadn’t tortured himself enough when it came to her. “I know I’m going to regret asking this, but why were you two talking about me in the first place?”

“Cheri said I should forgive you for being such a jerky boss, that you didn’t mean to be so short and abrupt all the time.”

“And she said this because…?”

“Because you’d just reminded me that you needed the Morrow file, when you’d already told me three times, and I was still on the phone with another client. You didn’t appear very happy with me, even though I was doing my best.”

He stared at her. Had he done that? Obviously he had, but coming out of her mouth he sure sounded like an ass….

“She also said that despite your impatience, your rudeness and your temper, you have a heart of gold and, if I stayed long enough, I’d see it for myself. She told me not to let you scare me off.”

Suddenly, he was glad his mother wasn’t there because he had the urge to wrap his hands around her meddling neck.

“And then I said that not much could scare me off—” She broke off and looked away for a moment, as both of them clearly remembered what exactly
did
scare her.

Armed burglars.

“And then I told her,” she whispered, “that I already knew you had a heart of gold and I wasn’t going anywhere until the job was done, which it will be in two more days.”

He stopped fantasizing about strangling Cheri and
took a closer look at the woman in front of him. She was small, almost deceptively fragile and yet, he knew damn well how much inner strength she had. More than any woman he’d ever met. “I don’t have a heart of gold. Not even close.”

“We met under unusual circumstances,” she said, still very quietly. “It accelerated everything. Don’t say that isn’t true.”

“Tess—”

“You saved me that night.”

“Anyone would have done the same.”

“No.”

He let out a disparaging breath, and she got up out of her chair and came around the desk to stand right in front of him. “You saved me and I’ve never even thanked you.”

“Don’t.” God. He couldn’t take that. Without even knowing why, he reached for her hand. “And don’t make me out to be someone I’m not.”

“I just want to know more about you.” She lifted her face. “Cheri told me something bad happened to you on your last job. That you’ve been messed up because of it.”

“Cheri talks too much.”

Her other hand came up and sandwiched his, then she brought it up between her breasts, against her heart, which he could feel beating strong and steadily.

“I promised myself I wasn’t going to touch you,” she
said. “But then you touched my hand and…” She smiled a little. “And I can’t seem to resist.”

“I shouldn’t have touched you at all. Ever.”

“It’s too late. Did you know…?”

“What?”

“That I’ve been the one to kiss you, every time?”

He couldn’t take his eyes off her mouth. “Have you?”

“Yes. And next time…if there is a next time, you’ll have to kiss me.”

He absolutely was
not
going to do that. Her lips were naked and parted, and now he had to close his eyes. Probably. He
probably
wasn’t going to kiss her.

“Tell me what makes you so…stoic,” she said softly.

“Just because I don’t talk every moment of the day doesn’t mean I’m stoic.”

She let out a little laugh and said, “Okay, maybe stoic isn’t the right word. But distant isn’t either, or cold.” She tilted her head and dropped her gaze to his lips, which reminded him of how they felt on hers.

“Definitely not distant,” she whispered. “Or cold.”

He groaned; he couldn’t help it. His hands dropped down to her hips and dragged her closer. “You drive me crazy.”

“Why?”

“You make me want.” He dropped his forehead to hers. “I don’t want to want, damn it.”

“Because of what happened to you?” She cupped his face. “Oh, Reilly. Did you get your heart broken?”

Broken, tromped on and destroyed, but that was another story. “She shouldn’t have told you I was in the CIA. She shouldn’t have told you that my last job went bad, that I was betrayed by a double agent who just happened to be sleeping with me at the time.”

Her eyes softened even more and she slid her arms around his neck. “She didn’t tell me that part, she never said… How badly were you hurt?”

“I don’t want—”

“Please, Reilly. Please tell me.”

It was the last thing he wanted to do, but he had to tell her something so it might as well be the truth. “Look, I was stuffed in a trunk for a few days and left to die,” he said, shrugging. “I’m over it.”

Now those eyes went suspiciously bright. Wet, shiny moss. “My God,” she whispered on a wavering breath as she hugged him so tightly he could barely breathe. “No wonder.”

“No wonder what?”

“No wonder you don’t like people close. You were hurt by someone you let in.”

“Not that hurt.”

“And no wonder you’re an accountant. You get to work alone. With numbers instead of people, for the most part.”

He didn’t know what to do with the fact she saw him so clearly. “I was an accountant for the CIA, too, before the field stuff. I was an analyst.”

“Everything makes so much sense now. Like why you’re afraid of the dark.”

He wasn’t afraid of the dark.

He wasn’t afraid of anything.

She skimmed her mouth over his jaw, leaving soft, short sweet little kisses as she worked her way over his flesh.

In reaction, his stomach tightened. Other parts did, too.

And as it turned out, he
was
afraid of something.

He was afraid of her. “Tess, I thought you weren’t going to kiss me—”

“I haven’t, not really. It doesn’t count unless I touch your lips with mine, which if you’ll notice, I didn’t do.”

He’d noticed. It was just that his body didn’t seem to be able to comprehend the difference, not one little bit. “Tess—”

“I like the way you shorten my name,” she whispered, and wrapped her arms around his shoulders. “I like that a lot. Reilly—”

Whatever it was, he didn’t want to hear it right now. He was a fraction of an inch from caving in, from giving in to her warm, giving body. He was so close to kissing her, all because she had eyes that sucked him in and a voice that he’d follow anywhere.

Because he had to, he set her away from him, this woman who seemed to personify temptation. “We have work,” he said. “Lots and lots of work.”

“Right.”

Her eyes told him that he could put this off for however long he wanted, but it wasn’t over.

And he found he was afraid of one more thing.

He was afraid she was right.

T
ESSA WORKED HARD
for the rest of the day. She had no problems without Cheri, just double the work. That was okay with her, she loved being busy, loved being needed.

In her life there weren’t a lot of people who depended on her or needed her for anything. She and her friends were more casual than close. Then there were her siblings, who’d always taken on the authority role, or at least they thought they had. They’d laugh if Tessa tried to get them to need her in any way. As frustrating as it sometimes was, she felt quite certain they still thought of her as a little, snotty-nosed kid.

Not as a woman.

But she was. She was a woman who loved responsibility and tethers on her heart. She craved them.

And yet she couldn’t seem to get them.

But this job…it was good. It made her feel important. She sat surrounded by numbers and ledgers and accounts, thoroughly engrossed, so engrossed she nearly fell out of her chair when a Taco Bell bag suddenly appeared in front of her face.

“Just me.” Reilly dropped it onto the accounts re
ceivable report she’d been lost in. “You’re getting better. You didn’t jump all the way out of your skin that time.”

She had no idea why she liked that he noticed she still felt a little jumpy. She had no idea why watching him watch her made her feel a little…soft. Feminine. “I didn’t even hear you leave.”

“I know. You get pretty into your work.”

“I’m single-minded,” she agreed. “My family doesn’t think that’s a virtue.”

“There’s nothing wrong with single-mindedness when you’re in accounting. Now, maybe if you were an air traffic controller or something…”

She laughed, though emotion backed up in her throat a little when he smiled. Good Lord, he should do that more often.

“Anyway…” he said, plowing his free hand through his hair, as if it wasn’t standing straight up already. “My stomach’s growling. It’s lunchtime.”

She glanced at the wall clock. One o’clock. No wonder she felt light-headed. “So, did you take the money from petty cash? Because the boss doesn’t like it when you spend money on another employee here.”

“Consider it payback for the doughnuts.”

“I didn’t buy you the doughnuts so you’d buy me lunch,” she said, opening the bag and the heavenly scent of a steak quesadilla wafted up. “But I’m so glad you did.” She took a large bite. “Where’s yours?”

Looking amused, he watched her stuff her face, then
lifted another bag and a drink-holder with two large sodas in it. “I thought we’d actually eat at a table. Like in the staff room—”

“Oh.” Embarrassed, she licked the cheese off her lips and laughed. “Right.” She stood up and grabbed the quesadilla. She followed him down the hall and into the small room designated as the staff room. There was a refrigerator, a well-stocked little pantry she suspected Cheri took care of and a small wooden table with four chairs around it.

He pulled out a chair for her, waiting for her to sit and she suddenly felt a little off-kilter. A little nervous.

They were on a lunch date. Sort of.

“What’s the matter?” he said, handing her a drink.

“It’s our first date. It feels a little weird,” she admitted. “Given that we’ve already slept together.”

“Eating at work does not constitute a date. And we didn’t exactly sleep together.” That said, he took a large bite out of his chicken soft taco.

She tried not to name the emotion that went through her at his words, but it felt an awful lot like disappointment. “So what
would
constitute a date?”

In the act of adding hot sauce to his taco, he paused, then said, “I don’t even know. I haven’t actually dated in a long time. Not since…”

Not since he’d been betrayed while at the CIA. He didn’t say it; he didn’t have to. She hated that he’d been hurt and was shocked at the thoughts of violence that
flowed through her for the woman who’d done it. “What was her name?”

“Her real one? Or her alias? I knew her as Loralee. And we didn’t date in the traditional sense. We were always out of the country, on various missions. Dating was impossible.”

“What about before her?”

He took a bite and chewed while he thought about that. “I hate to admit this, but I can’t remember.”

“That’s just sad, Reilly.”

“Really?” he said, smiling as he took another bite. Chewed some more. Eyed her just a little knowingly. “So, what have
you
done in the dating department lately?”

The big zip, not that she wanted to admit it, so she busied herself pulling apart her quesadilla.

“Well?”

She met his gaze and then laughed sheepishly. “Okay, so we’re tied. We both are equally pathetic when it comes to the opposite sex.”

“Oh, no,” he said silkily and brushed off his hands. His gaze ran over her features. “I never said I was pathetic with the opposite sex.”

Her tummy quivered just a little. “I think I hear your phone ringing.”

He cocked his head. “Chicken, Tess? Now, after all we’ve done?”

“All we’ve done is kiss,” she whispered.

“More than kissed.”

“We’ve…touched.”

“Yeah. Did it feel pathetic to you?”

“No.”

“Are you sure?” His voice was low, hypnotic and so sexy her entire body hummed. “Because maybe you need me to prove to you that I’m not a bungling idiot when it comes to physical matters with the opposite sex.” His eyes flamed. “That I do know what I’m doing.”

Oh boy.
“I—” She broke off when his cell phone rang, grateful because she had no idea what she would have said anyway.

Reilly pulled the cell phone out of his pocket and frowned at the ID. “Eddie.”

“Maybe he’s going to give you back Marge.”

He looked at her, startled, as if the thought had left his mind and was back only because she’d reminded him. She found a laugh. “Don’t tell me you’ve forgotten you didn’t want me to work here.”

“You know, you’re just about the most upfront woman I’ve ever met.”

“It’s a curse. Are you going to answer the phone?”

He sighed and did just that. The irritation left his face after he said hello and listened. His mouth pulling into a frown, he stood up. “An hour ago? And you’re just now telling me?”

Tessa tried to look busy gathering their trash as she shamelessly eavesdropped.

“How did they get in?” He shut his eyes and shook his head as he listened. “I’ll be right there— No, I do think it’s necessary.”

“Is he okay?” Tessa asked as soon as he clicked off.

“Yeah. Apparently the man has nine lives.”

“What happened?”

He stopped at the door. “Someone went after him in the garage but they got away when Eddie managed to set off the alarm. I’m going over there now to check on him for myself.”

He was going to check on the man he didn’t want to be like. The man who he felt hadn’t been a good father. The man who annoyed him at every turn.

A little burst of warmth spread through her, because she just realized…Reilly Ledger could play bad-ass, tough guy all he wanted, but inside there
was
a soft spot for the people in his life, whether he liked it or not.

Now all she had to do was deal with that, deal with how she felt about him.

She had a feeling she already knew how she felt about him and it was fairly terrifying.

E
DDIE HUNG UP
the phone and glanced over at the woman sitting at his kitchen table.

“Well?” she asked.

“Well, he didn’t ask for Marge back.” He thought over the implications of the telling omission. “I consider that a good sign, don’t you?”

His temp for the day smiled at him and he felt his heart tip onto its side. Her smile had always done that to him.

“Maybe he’s beginning to like his current temp,” Cheri said softly and rose. She came to him and held an ice pack to his split lip. “You’re still bleeding.”

“It’s nothing.” He pulled it away so he could talk better because this subject was extremely important. “How can that be, him liking Tessa? She’s young and pretty and smart and outgoing,” he huffed and then winced because it hurt his mouth. “She’s everything he doesn’t want.”

“Only because
you
think she’s young and pretty and smart and outgoing,” Cheri pointed out reasonably and put the ice pack on his lip again.

“I don’t think that about her for me. I think that about her for him,” Eddie said around the ice and blinked when Cheri laughed at him.

“I know that, silly man.” She cupped his cheek and his heart tipped again.

“It’s just that I feel a spark between them.” Eddie put his hand on her hip to keep her next to him. “And it excites me because it’s the first spark I’ve seen in Reilly in a good, long time.” He knew damn well his cool, distant son went to extremes in order to not be like him.

Well, the hell with that. If he had to help things along by teaching Reilly there was fun out there to be had, then that’s what he’d do. He’d already started. He’d sent Marge out on a weeklong job in downtown Pasadena, where she was happy as could be. There were two bonuses in that. One, Eddie could stay involved in what was going on at Reilly’s, which he enjoyed. And two, with Tessa working for Reilly, it meant he just might be able to finagle getting Cheri to keep working for
him.

Two birds with one stone, and everyone was happy.

Well, at least
he
was.

“Are you sure you’re okay?” Cheri asked, holding the ice pack to him with one hand and using the other to touch the bruise on his cheek. “Are you sure that you don’t want to go to the doctor—”

“It was just a scuffle. The lights were off in the garage or I’d have been able to get a better hold of him.” He grunted. “The asshole didn’t even stick around and fight like a man. Once I popped him in the eye, he was gone.”

“You were too much for him.” She kissed his bruised cheek and he resisted, barely, the urge to turn his head and line up their mouths. “We have work,” she reminded him gently.

“Work can wait.”

“You’re fretting over this.”

“I’m not fretting.”

“Yes, you are.” She ran her hand down his arm in what was supposed to be a soothing gesture, but he didn’t want her to soothe him, he wanted…so damn much more.

“You fret,” she repeated. “Because you want him to like you. Then you try too hard and you end up pushing him away. Leave it, Eddie.” Her hands were gentle on him, so gentle. “It’ll work out.”

Eddie sighed, in bliss, in frustration. “He’s on his way over here. He won’t come see me just to see me, but because some jerk is trying to get revenge, he’ll come.”

“It’s not some jerk. You know who it is.”

Eddie sighed again and said, “Yeah.”

“Oh, Eddie.” Cheri gave him a hug. “You try too hard.”

“The boy is hardheaded.”

“Really? And where do you think he got it?” She kissed him on the cheek when he just stared at her. “It’ll be all right, Eddie. It will.” Another stroke of her hand. “Look at how he’s running over here to save the day. He loves you. He’s always loved you.”

Eddie couldn’t resist another second. He pulled her in for a hug. “How the hell did I ever let you get away?” he whispered into her hair, her long, glorious, dark hair. “I was such an idiot.”

“Yes,” Cheri agreed, and stepped back. “We were both idiots. Now, let’s work. After all, that’s why you brought me here, right?”

Here’s your chance, Ace. Be smooth, be debonair, do your thing.
Instead, his mouth went dry and he stood there like a fool. A tongueless fool. Eddie Ledger, legendary lady-killer, known for his charm and wit and ability to get any woman he ever wanted into his bed, and he couldn’t come up with a single intelligent thing to say.

She stroked his jaw and moved away, moved toward his home office.

And all he could do was watch her go.

Oh, yeah, he really was just one big, fancy idiot.

T
ESSA GOT UP EARLY
the next morning, got ready in record time and, for the first time in the history of her existence, left for work with time to spare.

When she opened her front door, Carolyn popped her head out of her apartment next door. “Hey, there.
Wow, you’re…” She glanced at her watch. “
Twenty
minutes early?” Her welcoming smile vanished. “What’s the matter?”

“Nothing.” Tessa locked her front door and crossed her fingers that her car would start today.

“Uh-huh. Nothing.” Carolyn eyed her carefully from head to toe. “You look good. New clothes?”

So she’d splurged on the way home last night, buying a new dress for work, and only partly because it was red and made her feel sexy. “This old thing?”

Carolyn didn’t buy it. She put her hand on her hip. “There’s a guy at work, right?”

Oh, yeah, there was a guy. But if her sister got wind of it, there’d be no peace. “There’s work at work.”

“So everything’s okay?”

She put her Sunday best smile on. “Of course.”

“You’re just…early. For no special reason.”

“Yep.”

Carolyn crossed her arms. “Honey, I know you, and I know something’s up. So you might as well spare us both the time and tell me what’s going on.”

“What’s going on is me loving my job.”

“You’re sure?”

“Absolutely sure.”

Carolyn eyed her for another long moment before she was satisfied. “So, are we on for dessert and a movie tomorrow night?”

“Of course.”

“Great.” Carolyn kissed her on the cheek. “Have a good day, hon.”

And Tessa might have, if her car had started.

She sat there in her uncooperative VW and sighed. It was temping to run back to her sister for help, but this was her life, her problem, and she wanted to handle it on her own. Always being rescued by a sibling didn’t count as handling it on her own.

She took the bus again. Once inside Reilly’s building, she got off on the fourth floor where she knew he sometimes worked out. Oops, funny how that had happened, her getting off on the wrong floor…

She looked through the glass doors of the gym. The room was lined with exercise equipment and filled with early worker bees, all of whom were in various stages of sweating. Serious, intent faces abounded everywhere.