Foreign Affair (23 page)

She didn’t answer right away, and then her voice came out in a whisper. “You.”

The door opened and Danny swept in carrying a tray with two steaming mugs of coffee.

“Here you go.” He handed Tyler one. “Black with one sugar. And how do you take yours, Miss?”

“No sugar and just a little cream,” Tyler answered for her. Danny looked at him in surprise and then to her for confirmation.

Her cheeks grew pink, and she nodded.

Danny fixed her drink and then handed her a mug. He winked and then left the room again, shutting the door behind him.

“Why don’t you have a seat?” Tyler gestured to the small couch that sat in the corner.

She walked slowly over to it and sat, the leather crunching as she made herself comfortable.

“This is a very nice office.”

“Thank you.” His jaw clenched as she crossed her legs, and the dress inched up, exposing more of her thighs.

She must have seen him looking, because her eyes widened, and she quickly uncrossed her legs and smoothed the dress back down.

She needs to leave. Get her on the next plane home before you do something stupid
. Being ruthless would be the only way to survive this.

“So, Lena...why would you come to New York when I told you never to contact me again?”

Chapter Eighteen

She flinched and lowered her gaze. “What if I said I didn’t know?”

“I’d call your bluff.”

She closed her eyes, and his jaw clenched as he awaited her response. When she opened her eyes, she met his gaze directly.

“I came to see you, Tyler. I want to explain why I acted the way I did.”

An explanation. Not a declaration of love or an announcement that she’d called off her wedding. Hell, she might already be married by now. The realization had his gut clenching.

“I know why you acted the way you did.” He made sure to show no reaction. Instead, he walked to the window and stared out over the city.

“You left me without even saying good-bye,” she whispered. “And I tried to contact you, to explain, but you wouldn’t even talk to me. If you would have only listened—”

“What was that?” Tyler’s jaw clenched. Anger stirred a bitter brew in his stomach, and he took a deep breath in. “Were you just trying to throw this back in my face? I was never anything but honest with you. You were the one living a lie the entire time.”

“I—I never meant…” She groaned. “I was going to tell you.”

He gave a harsh laugh. “I doubt that.”

“You’ve got to hear me out.”

“You were engaged. Engaged and having a good old-fashioned revenge fuck.” He turned around and narrowed his eyes. “I hope you got everything you needed.”

“I
hate
that term. I wish everybody would stop using it. You weren’t a…” She broke off, and he could see the guilt flicker in her gaze. “Okay. Initially, maybe. But—”

“Forget it. It’s in the past,” Tyler interrupted, his voice cold. “If you came here to apologize, then you could have done it on my voice mail.”

“I didn’t come here just to apologize,” she cried, her expression pleading. “I’m here because…because there was something there in Europe. Between us.”

“Yeah, there was. It’s called sex,” he replied brutally. “Aren’t you getting married soon? What is it you want?”

His stomach lurched. The thought of Lena marrying someone else made him sick. Suddenly, it hit him. Why she’d come here if not to apologize.

She’d certainly used him before, why would she hesitate to do so again? And despite how she’d thrown his heart into a blender, God help him, he still wanted her. Wanted her like he’d never wanted another woman before in his life.

“I see.” He nodded, and his gaze moved over her body, taking her in before raising his eyes back to hers.

“No.” Lena shook her head. “Tyler, you’ve got the wrong idea.”

“Do I?” He shrugged. “Maybe Keith’s just not doing it for you, and you came to me for a
fix
because you know I can get you off.”

Her jaw fell open, and anger flickered in her gaze. “Of course not. Jeez, what do you take me for?”

“You don’t really want me to answer that, do you?”

Her mouth tightened, and she gave a slight shake of her head. “No. I probably don’t.”

She stood up, placing her cup on the mirrored coffee table. Her hands trembled so much that the brown liquid sloshed out of the cup onto surface.

He’d upset her. Obviously, he’d hit a nerve.

His control broke. The desire to touch her, hold her in his arms, overrode any sense of reason. He stepped close to her, sliding his hands around her waist and down to the soft curves of her hips.

“Tyler…” She pressed her hands against his chest and turned her head away.

He brushed his lips against the side of neck, inhaling the floral perfume he remembered so well. Damn, he was weak.

He kissed the other side of her neck, closing his lips over the pulse that beat hard and fast there.

“Tyler,” she gasped. “This isn’t what I came for.”

“No?” He lifted his head and traced the outline of her lips with the pad of his thumb.

Her lips parted a bit, and he eased his thumb past the softness of her lips, to stroke the moist interior.

Lena groaned and closed her eyes. A second later, her teeth clamped down on his thumb, and he jerked back in surprise. She scurried across the room to his desk.

“We should talk,” she insisted, sounding breathless.

“Why?” Tyler followed after her. “Is this a game to you?”

“I don’t play games.”

“You do. Remember at the club in Paris?” He closed his hands over the soft skin of her forearms, trapping her against the desk. “When you tried to make me jealous?”

A tremble ran through her body, and he gave an inward curse. She was probably thinking about the attack afterwards, not the time in the club.

“I shouldn’t have come here today.” Her words were almost inaudible. “Please, just let me go, Tyler.”

Let her go. Damn, if it were only that easy. He’d been trying to let her go for the last three months. Had finally begun to sleep at night and not have her haunt his dreams. And now she had come to New York to see him. Letting her go was the last thing he wanted to do.

He reached a hand up to caress the side of her face and lowered his mouth just a fraction above hers. “You don’t even want a kiss?”

“No,” she whispered.

“Liar.” His gaze narrowed, before he slammed his mouth down on hers, needing to kiss her, to taste her again.

She gasped and clutched at the lapels of his jacket. Her soft lips brushed against his, and he pressed his tongue past them to taste the sweet interior of her mouth. He rubbed his tongue over hers, and she tentatively touched him back. Almost as if she were innocent and not just a woman out for a quick screw.

The thought had his chest tightening, and all thoughts of making it romantic or gentle evaporated. He lifted her onto the desk, and her dress hiked up her thighs. He stepped between her legs and slid his hands up to the top of her thighs.

His mouth left hers to trail down the curve of her neck. She groaned, and her head fell back, giving him access to the fast-beating pulse.

He closed his hand over the swell of her breast, and she arched into him with a sharp cry.

Through the fabric, he stroked her already tight nipple. He jerked the straps of her dress down, then the soft cups of her lacy bra. Her breasts, so sexy and familiar, filled his hands. He dipped his head and caught one stiff peak between his teeth, rubbing his tongue over the tip.

She groaned. “Tyler…”

His name, husky on her lips, cleared his head. The blood pounded through his veins as reality set in.

He was about to give her exactly what she’d come here for. More meaningless sex. When she could already possibly be married. What the
hell
was wrong with him?

He closed his eyes and his chest tightened. It was time to end this. Once and for all. He needed to make sure she didn’t fly across the country every time she got the itch for a good screw.

“This can’t happen.”

Her lashes fluttered up, the dazed arousal in her gaze was like a kick in the stomach. God, he wanted her.

“Tyler, I’m not—”

“We had good sex in Europe, Lena. And I’ll admit that I mistook tapping a nice piece of ass for being in love,” he lied, trying to be as much of an asshole as possible to kill any hope she had. “But I’m home now and have moved on. And you should too. You can start by letting Keith be the one to get you off.”

The confession that she wasn’t marrying Keith died on her lips. He couldn’t have hurt her more if it had been his fist connecting with her stomach.

Tapping a nice piece of ass.
That’s what he’d reduced their time
together in Europe to?

She turned away from him and strode to the window, unwilling to let him see the tears that flooded her eyes.

Out of all the mistakes she’d made in her life, flying to New York took the top spot. How could she have been so stupid as to think this had been anything more than a fling to him?

“Look, I don’t mean to be a dick or anything. But I kind of have plans to meet someone in an hour.”

The blood rushed to her head, and she dragged a ragged breath in. He had plans to go out and meet a woman? After he’d almost screwed her on his desk?

Oh, God. She was going to be sick. Spinning around, she grabbed her purse off his desk and hurried for the door.

“Do you want me to call you a cab?” he called after her.

She didn’t bother to answer, just bolted to the elevator before he could see the tears running down her cheeks.

Tyler stared down at the busy street from his window. His heart pounded, and his stomach clenched with disgust. Disgust at himself for what he’d said to Lena.

He saw a flash of blue, and a woman climbed into a taxi outside the building. A second later it disappeared. He closed his eyes, the ache in his chest tightening.

The door to his office banged open.

“Tyler, who was she?” Danny demanded, hurrying into the office. “The farmer’s daughter? Oh, my goodness, she was just too
cute
.”

The cab pulled away from the curb and merged into traffic. Tyler dragged in a breath and turned around, schooling his expression into one of indifference.

“Lena.” Tyler turned away from the window.

“Okay…” Danny shook his head and blinked. “Are you going to tell me how you know her?”

Danny had been his secretary for the past two years, and Tyler had more than gotten used to the guy’s flamboyancy.

“She’s the girl I met while I was in Europe.”

“
That’s
the Europe girl?” Danny gaped and shook his head. “Well, where in the hell is she going?”

“Home. Oregon.” Tyler thrust his hands in his pocket. “Back to her fiancé or husband, or whatever he is to her now.”

“She’s with someone else? Are you sure? She seemed all a-twitter to see you.”

Tyler shook his head and gripped the back of a chair. “They’ve been together for almost ten years. She might have a little lust for me, but he’s the one she loves.”

Danny raised an eyebrow. “Well, why did she come here then?”

“One last fuck,” he said to be crude, not adding that he’d almost given it to her.

He closed his eyes, remembering what it had felt like to see her again, hear her sweet voice. To briefly hold her and kiss her. The smell of her perfume still lingered in the office.

“Something’s off.” Danny sounded unconvinced. “You think she flew all the way to New York for a
quickie
? That seems a little a bizarre to me. Not to mention pricey—plane fare is
ridiculous
nowadays.”

“Look, I’d rather not talk about it anymore.”

“Not to mention the poor girl looked ready to burst into tears when she ran out of here.”

Tyler ground his teeth
together and scooped up the papers he’d shoved on the floor.

“What happened in Europe?” Danny asked.

“None of your damn business.”

“Mmm hmm.” Danny sighed and headed toward the door. “Well, I’m going to get an iced mocha, you want one?”

“No, I’m fine. Thanks.” Tyler waited until Danny had left and then sat down behind his desk.

It was better this way. Everything. He would be better off without her in his life.

“I’ll be just fine.”

Lena grunted and dropped the cardboard box onto the hardwood floor. Straightening, she wiped her hands on her jeans and glanced around her new apartment.

“I really think I’m going to like it here.” She glanced at Lakisha, who was looking around.

“I can’t believe you moved to Seattle.” Her friend shook her head. “Who am I going to gossip with at the office?”

“Anyone who will listen,” Lena teased and dragged another box in from the hallway.

Lakisha reached to lift a box off the ground. “Any word back from that job you applied for?”

“Yes.” Lena pushed the box into the corner and stood up, smiling. “I got the job.”

“Girl, and you didn’t tell me? That’s great.”

“I only just found out this morning.” She grimaced. “Sorry, I’ve been preoccupied with unpacking and settling in. Thanks, by the way, for coming up here to help me.”

“No problem. You’re buying me lunch anyway.” Lakisha winked. “Is there any other reason you moved to Seattle? A new man in your life or something?”

“No. There’s no new man.” A familiar ache stabbed low in her gut, and she swallowed hard.

She’d never confided in Lakisha about what had happened in Europe. About meeting Tyler and his connection to their client. Two months had passed since she’d gone to New York. Five since she’d given her heart away to a Tyler in the midst of a Parisian winter. The idea of dating anyone made her sick.

“That’s okay. You’ll meet someone.” Lakisha patted her shoulder and went to grab another box.

“How’s the rent ’round here? Affordable?”

“Jeez, barely. It’s affordable because the building is so old, or how Stephanie terms it, retro. Of course, she’s renting out a two-bedroom, compared to my studio.” Lena glanced out the window at the view of the Space Needle and Puget Sound beyond it. “But the view is what makes this place amazing.”