His Ward (8 page)

“First, her father’s dead. So who gives a fuck what he would think? But let’s just say for shits and giggles he was still around. Do you really believe he would look at the man you are and not see how you would be a wonderful catch for his daughter? And Tionne,” Nicholi scoffed. “Her hating you is just laughable.”

Amusement was the last emotion Misha felt at the very thought. “You find something funny about her hating me?”

“No, it’s funny how clueless you are when it comes to her.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

Nicholi sighed. “Exactly.”

“You’re giving me a headache.” Misha rubbed his hand over his brow.

“Please, you’re giving yourself—”

Before Nicholi could finish speaking, the intercom on the phone dinged. “Misha.”

Misha turned his chair so he was facing his desk, then leaned forward and pressed the button on his phone. “Yes.”

“Mr. Perrot from the logistics department is on line two, sir.”

Misha frowned. What in the world did Tionne’s boss want? Misha really hoped Perrot wasn’t calling about Tionne missing work because in his current mood, Misha was liable to tear the other man a new one. “And…”

There was a slight hesitation, before Alba spoke again. “He said Tionne quit. No explanation, no warning. She just walked into his office and quit.”

Shock robbed him of speech for a few seconds. The same couldn’t be said of Nicholi, who let out a low deep curse. “I see,” Misha said calmly once he was able to form words again.

“I have him on the line if you want to speak with him, but Mr. Abbasi and the other shareholders of PARACO are on Skype for the conference call. Which would you like me to put you through to?”

Neither. The only person he wanted to talk to right now was Tionne, but that would have to wait. “Tell Perrot I’ll call him later. When you’re done with that, connect me to the conference and then come in and take notes.”

“Yes, sir.”

“Misha,” Nicholi said as soon as the line clicked.

“We are not going to discuss this right now.” Misha picked up his remote and pivoted his chair completely around so he was facing the back wall. He clicked a button on the remote, which caused the wall to slide apart and reveal a large screen. “We have work to do. Everything else can wait until later.” When work wasn’t pressing and he was a hell of a lot calmer. Tionne was getting a reprieve…be it ever so brief.

* * * *

Several hours and two tense phone calls later, Misha stood outside Tionne’s condo doing something he hadn’t done ever since she’d lived there. He was knocking at her door and doing his best to wait patiently for her to answer. The key was practically burning a hole in his pocket, mocking him for not using it, but Misha hadn’t come to fight. He wanted to talk, and even though it went against his baser urges, he waited the two minutes it took for her to finally open the door.

When she did, it wasn’t all the way, just enough so he could see her, but not enough for him to come all the way in. Despite it being only a little past nine, she was dressed as if she were ready for bed, in lime-green shorts covered with coffee cups and polka dots paired with a coordinating hot-pink tank top with the same coffee cup design. If it weren’t for the pissed-off look on her face, Misha would say she looked downright adorable.

“Wow.” Tionne clasped her hands together. “I suddenly feel the need to pray.”

“Why is that?”

“Because the world must be coming to an end. You didn’t barge in.”

“If quitting was your way of trying to get my attention, it worked.”

She placed one hand on her hip and the other on the doorknob. “That wasn’t the point, but I’m not going to say I’m sad about the outcome.”

“Are you going to invite me in, or do you really want to do this in the hallway?”

Tionne stepped back. “Of course you can come in. You do own it, after all.”

The bitterness she used to fling his words from the previous night back at him hit their mark dead-on. “If ownership is the only reason you’re allowing me to enter, it might be best if I stay out here.”

Tionne released her hold on the door and turned around and began to walk farther into the room. “If you want to come in, come in. It doesn’t really matter one way or the other to me.”

Misha bit back a curse as he came in the room. If this was a sign of what he would have to deal with for the next hour or so, it was safe to say it wasn’t going to be a pleasant conversation. Irritated, he shut the door behind him but didn’t lock it. With his guards stationed in the hall, he knew they’d be fine, but he shut it so he and Tionne could have some privacy. He followed her into the living room, where she took a seat on the couch. He watched as she picked up the remote control and pointed it at the TV. For a second, he thought she was going to turn up the program she’d been watching in an attempt to tune him out, but to his surprise, she turned it off instead, then set the remote next to her and looked over at him with clear disdain in her eyes. “Well?”

Misha had been prepared to deal with a yelling Tionne or a pouting one, not this cool person in front of him. It threw him off a bit. “You want to tell me why you quit?”

“I thought it was pretty obvious. I don’t want to work for you anymore.”

“That part was obvious,” he agreed as he slipped off his suit jacket and folded it in half. He laid it over the back of her armless slipper chair, then placed his hands in his pockets as he faced her. “But I want to know why.”

The look she shot him was scathing. “Because you’re a liar, and I don’t want to work for a liar.”

“Then that leaves every job in the free world out.” Misha held his temper in check, but just barely. “Planning on opening your own business now?”

“Is everything a joke to you?”

“Do I look amused?”

“No, you look like an asshole.”

Misha ran his hand through his hair to keep himself from wrapping it around her pretty little neck. She was purposely testing his patience, but he would not give her what she wanted, which was for him to blow up just so she could prove he was the bad guy. It was unnecessary. He knew already what type of man he was, which was just one more reason he needed to keep a wall between them.
“You know, I’m getting real tired of your mouth.”

“And I’m getting real tired of your controlling ways. So I guess that makes us even.”

Misha clenched his jaw so tight, pain shot up to his temple. “I don’t try to control you.”

“That’s because you don’t have to try. You’ve perfected it to an art. I mean you’re so damn good, I didn’t even realize just how wrapped up in you I was.”

“I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

“Are you kidding me? Misha, you control every aspect of my life, from where I work, to where I live, to my bank accounts. The one part of my life that was just mine, that belonged solely to me, was my personal life, and bam, you just steamrolled right over that as well.”

“He. Hurt. You,” Misha bit the words out. “Or did you somehow manage to forget that? Better question, why are you so quick to forgive him, someone you barely know, but not me, someone you’ve known for practically your entire life?”

“Because he doesn’t matter to me. You do, and what you did hurt me, far worse than he ever could.”

Her words stunned him into silence for a moment. If she’d wanted him to feel like shit, she’d succeeded, which was a miracle because he still didn’t think he was in the wrong for doing what he did to Troy, but now he was questioning the way he went about it. And that was something he wasn’t happy about. Misha wasn’t one to deal in what-ifs. “Tionne…”

“No, look, my eyes have always been wide open where you’re concerned, and while I knew you weren’t a saint, I never thought you were a liar. At least not to me.”

“I could not sit back and do nothing,” he said huskily. “Do you want me to say I’m sorry?”

“No, because that would be another lie,” she said simply.

“No, it wouldn’t be, because I’m truly sorry I hurt
you
.”

“But not sorry you hurt him.”

Misha didn’t even bother to lie. “I’m not even a little bit sorry about that.”

“Misha,” she gasped.

“What? You want me to be honest, right? No more lies. Well, here it is.” Misha pulled his hands out of his pocket and held his arms out. “This is me being a hundred percent honest with you. He could have died by my hands last night, and the only thing I would have felt was satisfaction at a job well done.”

Tionne place her hand over her heart and took a quick, sharp breath. “Misha!”

Despite the look on her face, he continued, needed her to know just how far he would go to do what he felt was right, even if it was wrong. “His life means nothing to me. I don’t give a fuck about his future career endeavors, and his emotional well-being is irrelevant. Irrelevant! And the worst part, the part you’re really going to hate, even now, seeing how upset you are, is I would still do it again. The only thing I would do differently is I wouldn’t have made you a promise, because even then I had no intention of keeping it.”

Tionne stared at him, wordlessly, blankly, for several long seconds, before she finally blinked. “Wow.”

“You wanted honesty,” he said with a lot more ease than he felt.

“Well, that was honest, if nothing else.” Tionne let out a little laugh and shook her head.

Tension that Misha didn’t even know he was holding melted away at the sound.

“What am I going to do with you?”

Forgive me
came to mind, but he didn’t let the words slip out. “I don’t know. What do you want to do?”

“Strangle you, or bludgeon you, or bang you over the head with a frying pan, or maybe—”

“I get it. Cause me great pain. Got it.”

“You hurt me.”

The pain in her voice unmanned him. Misha had never felt more helpless in his life. “I know.”

“Don’t do it again.”

Misha let out a heavy sigh as he joined her on the couch. “I can’t promise you that, Tionne. I’m human. I make mistakes.”

“Who you telling?” she grumbled, but her voice held less heat than it had earlier.

“Tell me how to fix this.”

“That’s just it, Mish.” Her voice held a hint of sadness in it. “You don’t get to wave a magic wand and have everything go back to the way it was before.”

Whose stupid rules were these?
“What’s the point of having the wand, then?”

Her lips curved upward. “Don’t make me laugh. I’m trying to stay mad at you.”

“I will not agree to that.” If he could make her smile and laugh, he had a chance to cajole her out of her anger.

“Then agree to this. I need you to give me some time. I need space.”

A cold rush of ice flooded his veins, but somehow he managed to keep his voice normal. “How much space? How much time?”

“I don’t know, a couple of days, a week, to focus on me.”

It sounded like way too long to him, but Misha wasn’t going to push her on this. “Fine.”

“What?” She looked shocked by his easy agreement.

“You sound surprised.”

“I am.” Tionne narrowed her gaze. “What’s the catch?”

“Nothing. Something came up at work today, and I’m going to be out of the country for a bit.” It was more complicated than that, of course, but he didn’t want to worry her. Besides, it would give them both a break—something she obviously wanted more than he did.

“For how long?” she asked, not sounding pleased at all.

“I don’t know,” he answered honestly.

Tionne frowned. “Is it in a dangerous area?”

“If I didn’t know better, I would swear that you sound worried for me.”

“Don’t be a jerk, of course I am. I may want to kill you, but that doesn’t mean I want anyone else to.”

He pulled her into his arms,
and, much to his delight, she went into them willingly.
Her arms wrapped around his waist, one around his middle and one around his back, and she held on tightly to him as he nuzzled into her more.
She
was so soft and warm, and he couldn’t help the feeling of rightness that washed over him when she was beside him like this. This was where she belonged. This was where he belonged, but it didn’t make it right. “Don’t worry about it. I’ll be fine.”

“That didn’t answer my question. It is somewhere dangerous?”

Her quiet, apprehensive words pulled him out of his wayward thoughts. He didn’t want to lie to her, especially not again so soon, but on the other hand, he didn’t want to worry her unnecessarily. “When isn’t it, but hey, if you’re lucky, I might get my head blown off, then you’ll have all the space and time you’ll need.”

She smacked his stomach lightly. “That’s not funny.”

“No. It’s not.” He tightened his hold on her and rested his head on the top of hers. The sweet smell of pineapple-scented hair conditioner combined with the clean, fresh aroma of her skin filled his lungs, and he breathed the scent in. He wanted to remember this moment, to have this to think back on while he was away. “I’m going to leave Darby here with you.”

“Freedom and space…remember?”

Misha used his free hand to tilt her chin up so he could see her face. “Your safety comes first with me. It always has, and it always will.” Tionne opened her mouth as if she was going to rebuff his claim, but he silenced her by laying a single finger over her full lips. “This is not about me butting in. I swear to you. You know I have enemies aplenty, and the best way to get to me would be to get to either you or Nicholi. Nicholi can handle himself, and although I know you’re a Billy Badass, it would ease my mind if you at least had someone to hold your purse while you kicked ass, okay? So be mad at me all you want, but do this for me. Please.”

Tionne pushed his hand away and laid her head back on his chest. “Fine, but only because you admitted that I’m a Billy Badass.”

He smiled. “The baddest.”

“You know it.”

“I do.” Misha closed his eyes and leaned back into the couch. He took the moment for what it was—a calm before whatever future storm they’d have—and lived in it. He began to slowly caress
the soft, smooth skin of her arm, his fingers lower with each stroke, until they left her arm altogether and landed on her hip. He waited to see if she would object, but when none came forth, he began to lightly run his fingers in circles over the thin material of her pajama shorts.