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“No… I want him to come back with me to San Francisco.”

They smiled at each other. “I vote for that option as well, Bethie…”

Bryce came around the corner then to see the beloved women in his life sitting at the kitchen table holding hands and crying. He stopped abruptly and scratched his forehead perplexed.

“You look just like your father did at your age, Bryce.” She raised her eyebrows mischievously. “He was quite a catch, you know…” Beth laughed and handed Carol a tissue from a box in the kitchen.

“Why are you two crying? What’s been going on here?”

“Girl talk, son…”

Bryce narrowed his eyes at them. “Girl talk? I’ll bet…” Then he caught a whiff of the roasting chicken. “Oh, boy… Chicken tonight? With rosemary on it?”

He rubbed his hands together just thinking about it. Carol looked at Beth and they burst out laughing.

“… Something I said?” They continued laughing while Bryce rolled his eyes. He walked over to them, kissed his mother on the cheek and then lifted Beth’s chin to kiss her lips. He looked deeply in his eyes. “I need to make some calls. Will you be all right for a while?”

Beth nodded and he kissed her again. Then he walked into the den.

Carol laughed at her. “He’s got it bad for you, sweetie.”

Beth sighed. “We’ve got it bad for each other, Carol.”

“Come on,” she smiled. “Let’s finish dinner. Everything’s always better on a full stomach…”

… And it was.

* * *

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

Beth lay in Bryce’s arms after they’d gone to bed that night. Making love was bittersweet – Bryce had been feeling wonderful about being back with both Beth and his mother. The world was looking a little brighter… until the phone calls.

“That’s what he said to you?” Beth tried to wiggle out of his grasp, but he just locked her in place. “Let me up…”

“No, honey. Please let me hold you. I need you close to me.”

“Bryce, I’m lying right next to you where I’ve been for weeks now. I’m not going too far away…”

“Okay…” He released her so she could roll over on her side to look into his face. She reached out to caress him and he brought her hand up to his lips to kiss.

“He wants me back in Vegas where he can presumably chew my ass in person, instead of just on the phone.”

“Nick’s out for bear, huh?”

Bryce had rolled on his side to look into Beth’s eyes. “Yes… but there’s something strange.”

“What?”

“I received a few other calls from guys on the financial street who gave me a real ra-ra- pitch.”

“What’s that mean?”

“… A real at-a-boy… You know, good job and we’re with you…”

“That is strange. It’s also confusing…” She thought about that for a minute. “So have you been fired?”

“Oh, yeah. He wants me back to clean out my desk and probably to kick me personally out the door.”

“Are you going to go?”

“I need to sign paperwork about my retirement monies and investment portfolio. Some of my money is tied up in the company. I need to get it out of there…”

“So when are you leaving?”

“… Tomorrow morning…”

Beth jerked involuntarily and sat up in bed. “Tomorrow? What?”

“Honey…” Bryce pulled her back down on her side by him. “Just listen to me for a minute.”

“Bryce…”

“I know you’re not too happy about this but…”

“… No shit…” He laughed.

“…But I have to face this. I did betray his confidence and I’m going to own up to it. It’s a point of honor, if you will…”

“Jeez, Bryce. Are you nuts? The guy’s going to try to skin you alive.”

“I don’t think so. The whole situation has become too high profile, for some reason. The climate is not good right now for corporate raiding and I think he feels there might be a backlash if he tried anything.”

She reached over to touch his lips. “What do you want me to do? Come with you?”

He shook his head. “I need you to stay and get things arranged for Mom. Can you make sure it’s all set up with the nurse, her medicines and all that?”

Beth nodded. “Do you want me to come down at all?” When he didn’t respond immediately, she bit her lip. “What aren’t you telling me?”

He looked away from her and back… His eyes grew more serious.

“Beth, there’s something else. Another guy told me that a Congressional committee is calling some of us to testify about corporate raiding. He thinks I may get a call…”

“Why you?”

“Probably because I’m not your typical corporate raider. It’s pretty apparent to everyone on the street that I’ve grown a conscience.”

“That’s good, isn’t it?”

“Not for a corporate raider who wants to be successful,” he laughed. “But I don’t want any fallout splattered on you. I don’t want you back in Vegas. Some people could make it sticky for you, since they can’t touch me.”

She thought about that and snuggled closer to him. He wrapped his arms around her and kissed the top of her head.

“Your hair smells nice. Are you using a new shampoo?”

“Yeah,” she laughed. “…Yours…”

He paused as he kissed her hair again.

“… Please wait for me here, Beth. Do you need to check out of the Mirage?”

“Yes.”

“I’ll do it for you when I’m down there.”

“Okay.” She pushed back from his chest to look into his face. “Will you come back to me?”

“Yes,” he smiled.

“Soon?”

“Yes, sweetheart, as soon as I possibly can.”

“… Okay then.”

The atmosphere in the bedroom was uneasy… Something was hanging over their heads.
How would they be affected? Would he have to testify? What would that do to his career? Was he finished in the financial world?

For right now, the only sure thing in the world was that they had each other. Bryce gently moved Beth back on the bed and began to kiss her – Lightly at first, brushing her lips with his again and again, becoming more demanding with each kiss... Then the kissing caught fire… His lips seared right through her with molten heat… She wrapped her arms around his neck and clung to him like she was in danger of losing him. It’s how they both felt…

By touching and feeling, they could connect on the most private level and the truest one there was. Long after they’d begun making love, Bryce kept kissing Beth sensuously. Her lips accepted and encouraged the barrage of sensation coming her way and she kissed him back with equal fervor. Their tongues tangled and twisted with one another’s.

Around and around their senses went… Beth was riding a tidal wave of feeling with Bryce and they couldn’t stop. Higher and higher… After they’d both reach the top of the wave and crested breathlessly on the other side, Bryce gave her about a minute to calm her ragged breathing.

But that’s all he was willing to give her. Still winded, he pulled Beth’s body over to him, took a deep breath and began again. She gasped, but didn’t demur… She knew he needed the reassurance of her love just as much as she needed the reassurance of his. And she knew she couldn’t deny him anything – This heated desire for one another was mutual… Instead of draining them, lovemaking filled them both with senses of renewal. Beth took ahold of his length and gently massaged him until he was ready to slip inside her again…

And then again…

They didn’t get much sleep that night, but when he left the next morning, Bryce was dead sure how Beth felt about him. Once again, he was heading into battle armed with just his conscience and Beth’s love. Would it prove to be the armor he needed? Beth was less sure about Bryce, although she knew that he loved her. Of that, she was certain… As for all the rest, she’d have to see…

* * *

CHAPTER NINETEEN

Beth and Carol spent that day and the following getting Carol’s medications from the pharmacy and the home duty nurse scheduled. They’d had lots of good talks and laughs about Bryce and his father. Beth was feeling pretty good about a possible life with him, which Carol encouraged. She was sorry to have to leave Carol, but promised to bring her over to San Francisco as soon as possible for a visit.

She and Carol had just finished dinner when Beth got a phone call. She excused herself from the table and happily answered, thinking it would be Bryce.

“Hello?”

“Hello. Is this Beth Lane?”

Pause.

“Yes, it is.”

“… Beth, this is Sylvia Morgan. Do you remember me? We met once.”

“I do remember you, Sylvia… um… May I help you?”

“As you may well ask… A friend and I were out at the Mirage Hotel for dinner tonight and we happened to see Bryce in the bar.”

“…Yes?” Beth didn’t like the sound of this.

“He was wrecked…”

“Wrecked?”

“Wrecked, drunk…”

“… Oh, God…”

“We got him out of there and brought him home. He’s upstairs asleep now.”

“Okay.”

“Beth, I found your card in his jacket pocket. He doesn’t know I called you, but I can tell you with utter honesty that the guy needs you.”

“…Okay…”

“He kept saying, ‘Where’s Beth? Where’s Beth?’ I think you need to get over here.”

“I’m in Carson City, Sylvia. Can you stay for a few hours until I can fly down?”

“Yes, but it’s not me he wants. You need to be the first face he sees when he wakes up.”

“Thank you, Sylvia. I’ll see you soon.”

Beth told Carol briefly what was up and took a cab to the Reno airport. She caught the next flight to Las Vegas and arrived on Bryce’s doorstep within three hours. She rang the doorbell nervously, not knowing what to expect with Sylvia there.

When the door opened, a tall, willowy blonde with immaculate clothes and makeup stared back at her. Sylvia reached out her hand to shake Beth’s.

“Come in, please. Let me take your jacket.”

“How is he?”

“He hasn’t stirred since I called you, so he’s either dead or sleeping it off.”

That made Beth laugh.

“I need to check on him. Please don’t leave just yet.”

“Yes… I’d like to talk to you too.”

Beth raised an eyebrow at that, but dashed up the grand staircase to the master suite. Bryce was still in his dress clothes without the jacket, in bed but under the covers. She checked his breathing and yes, he was sleeping it off. Whew… Beth kissed his face and tiptoed out of the room to let him sleep. Downstairs, Sylvia was pouring cups of coffee for them both.

When she sat down across the table from her, Sylvia casually looked Beth over. She saw an attractive brunette with pretty brown eyes – Sylvia’s take on Beth was that she was genuine, not flashy or phony. Her eyes sparkled generally, but looked rather confused right now.

“It’s always been you, you know…”

“I don’t understand,” began Beth.

“To fill you in… Bryce and I were only together for about a year. It was basically a work thing and good for his business.”

“That was okay with you?”

“Yes,” she laughed, but it had a hollow sound. “We were like friends with benefits.”

“All right.”

“… Before me, I knew Bryce was known as a woman-shredder…”

“What’s that?”

“A man who goes through women like tissues. One after another… The ultimate proverbial bachelor… Those guys were usually burned somewhere down the road.”

“… I never burned Bryce, if that’s what you’re thinking.”

“What happened to him then?”

Beth paused, debating what to say… and how much. Sylvia seemed all right.

“We were together in high school – most of high school actually and part of college.”

“You were high school sweethearts?”

“… Very much so…”

Sylvia smiled. “Unbelievable… I never would have guessed that since he’d been such a player… Then what?”

“His father died suddenly of a heart attack and it tore him up. Literally… All he could do was cry. One night he took off and neither his mother nor I knew what had happened to him. Eventually, I moved to San Francisco and my life moved on…”

Sylvia cocked an eye at her. “Did it really?”

Beth looked down at the hands in her lap. “… No…”

“That’s what I thought because he was stuck in neutral too. There’d been someone in his past, I knew, but I couldn’t get anything out of him. Until…the night of your Quartet concert and he saw you again.”

“Then what happened?”

“He became someone else. Someone I definitely didn’t know… Business didn’t seem to matter too much anymore. He just needed to contact you. I left because I knew the little we had between us was over.”

Beth smiled. “I guess he reverted back to the original Bryce Barron. I saw glimpses of him myself and it scared me.”

Sylvia smiled and stood up, never having touched her coffee. She reached out her hand. Beth stood up and took it.

“Thanks for solving that mystery for me.”

“You’re welcome.”

“He’s a good man…”

“… He always was…”

“And for the record,” Sylvia looked her right in the eyes, “he’s always been your guy…” Beth blushed.

“Thank you, Sylvia. This was nice of you.”

She laughed. “Yes, occasionally, I can be nice.”

Beth walked her to the door and saw her out.

“By the way…”

“… Yes?”

“Ask him why he got drunk tonight…”

Beth frowned. “Okay…’

“Goodbye, Beth. Good luck.”

“Bye, Sylvia and good luck to you too. I appreciate what you did tonight.”

Beth shut the door and let out the huge breath she’d been holding. Then she went back to the kitchen, refilled her cup and walked up the staircase back to Bryce. She glanced at his sleeping face and sat down in a chair by the bed – Where she stayed until he groggily woke up a few hours later.

When he awoke, Beth was sipping her second cup of coffee and watching his handsome face… Bryce blinked a few times and burped.

“… Nice…”

“I don’t suppose I could get some of that coffee…”

“I suppose so,” she laughed and got up to give her cup to him.

She sat down by him on the bed. Bryce sat up and ran a hand through his tousled hair. When he took the cup from her, he watched her over the rim and she stared back at him. After he swallowed, he began.