LITMIR.BIZ

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chair back and closed his eyes. “It’s done. She’ll be there on Wednesday.”

      “Thanks, man.”

      “Dude, are you sure you want to do it this way? I kind of feel like a dick.”

      Reid sighed. “Trust me. I know what she needs even if she doesn’t.”

      Jace snorted. If he were a betting man, he’d put his money on Reid’s balls getting handed to him on a plate, but he’d learned long ago not to try to change his friend’s mind once he had it set on something. “I hope you’re right. For both your sakes.”

EIGHT

       then

      Brynn rolled her wrist, her hand aching from all the notes she’d taken during her boss Davis’s staff meeting, and sank back into the conference room chair. She glanced around the oval table and noticed everyone’s eyes had glazed over. Davis stepped around the whiteboard he’d been scribbling on and stood behind Brynn. “Any questions, people?”

      Most shook their heads.

      Davis’s hands settled on Brynn’s ­shoulders and squeezed, the unexpected touch jolting her from her daze. “Did you get all of that, Brynn?”

      She cleared her throat and tried not to squirm beneath the unwanted touch. The man didn’t like her, so his ­seemingly friendly gesture was all for the benefit of the other workers. “Uh, yes, sir, of course.”

      “Excellent. So Brynn will type up the notes for everyone and e-mail them to you before the end of the day,” he said, patting her shoulder one last time before heading to the door and swinging it open. “Thanks for all your attention this afternoon.”

      Brynn gathered her things and followed everyone out. She’d hoped to pin down Reid earlier in the day to discuss the previous night’s disaster of a make-out session, but they’d all been so busy it’d been impossible to say more than a few passing words. So she was happy to see him veer toward her desk instead of his own as they trailed out of the meeting.

      As she slipped into her seat, Reid sank into the chair at the front of her desk, his customary grin noticeably absent. “Hey.”

      “Hey, yourself,” she said, dropping her legal pad and pen on her desk. “I was beginning to wonder if you were avoiding me.”

      He frowned. “Course not, just been busy. But I do have to confess, I’m here to deliver a bit of good and bad news.”

      “Uh-oh, why don’t you start with the good?”

      He dug in his pocket, then tossed a key onto her desk. She picked it up and examined it. “What’s this?”

      “It’s for a rental car. I have a friend whose dad owns a repair shop. He owes me a favor, so they’re going to try to fix your car for free. If it can be fixed, that is. In the meantime, he was able to hook me up with a loaner for you, so you don’t have to take the bus.”

      “Oh, wow, you didn’t have to do that,” she said, stunned by his gesture.

      “No problem, and hopefully, it will make you less mad at me for the bad news.”

      She sighed. “Lay it on me.”

      He sagged in the seat and blew out a haggard breath. “Something’s come up, and I’m going to have to move our date to tomorrow night.”

      “Is everything all right?”

      He nodded, but his frown lines didn’t match his assurance. “Yeah, it’s fine. I’d forgotten I’d promised to go to this thing tonight. I don’t want to back out.”

      Brynn kept her expression smooth, though her chest tightened. She’d seen more people bail when they found out about her mother than stick around, and Reid’s change of plans sounded suspiciously like the warning shot before the classic cut-and-run. Maybe fixing her car was her consolation prize. “What kind of thing?”

      He shrugged. “Nothing you’d be interested in. Otherwise, I’d bring you along.”

      Sure he would. Right. She pasted on a smile. “No problem. Have fun.”

      Roslyn stepped behind Reid and laid a hand on his shoulder. “Reid, dear, stop pestering Brynn. She has a lot of notes to type up before the end of the day.”

      He glanced over his shoulder at her. “Yes, ma’am. I’ll be done in a second. She’s just clarifying something from the meeting for me.”

      The dark-haired woman pursed her lips, but walked off without another word. Reid leaned forward and kept his voice low. “I promise we’ll do something tomorrow night.”

      Brynn propped her legal pad next to her computer screen. “All right, sounds good. And really, thanks again for my car. I really appreciate it.”

      He paused as if he were going to say something else, but then apparently decided against it because he rose and headed back to his desk. Yep, no doubt, he was going to bail. His whole essence screamed guilt. She clicked her fingers along her keyboard with a little more force than necessary. Well, better now than later. At least her heart hadn’t latched onto him yet.

      She glanced over to his desk and tried to ignore the way her gut churned at the thought of him returning to the status of coworker only. Okay, so maybe she was a little attached. Nothing she couldn’t handle. She’d learned long ago that everyone lets you down eventually—it was just a matter of when.

      Reid sat in Jace’s living room, nursing his second beer and staring through the TV, not really seeing the baseball game. He shifted forward in the overstuffed chair, bracing his arms on his thighs. He couldn’t get comfortable. Not in the room. Not in the chair. Not in his own fucking skin.

      Maybe this was a bad idea.

      Something nicked him in the head. “What the—?

      He raised his hand in defense as Jace launched another peanut at him. “Calm the hell down, dude. You’re stressing me out.”

      Reid set his beer down and wiped his damp palms on his jeans. “I think I’m just going to go.”

      “The hell you are,” he said, lowering the volume on the television and angling himself on the couch so he could face him. “Look, she’s going to be here in a few minutes. You asked for my help, so don’t punk out on me. And what guy is going to bail when a beautiful woman is on her way over to fulfill your sexual fantasies?”

      He groaned and sank back against the cushions. What had he been thinking? Jace had agreed to hook him up with a girl he knew—a girl who supposedly liked things a little rough in bed and preferred two guys to one—so that Reid could work through his shit.

      Last night the whole idea had seemed like the perfect solution to his problem—a pretty girl who didn’t mind some kink, Jace there to keep Reid from crossing any lines, and no strings. But now that he was here, neither his heart nor his dick were onboard.

      He needed to go.

      The doorbell rang.

       Fuck.

      Jace grinned. “Right on time.”

      Jace hustled to the door, leaving Reid with his warring thoughts and pounding heart. Part of him wanted to sneak out the side door and not look back. But the other part was still holding on to the hope that maybe this would fix it. Fix him.

      However, when Jace pulled open the door, and Reid heard

      the voice on the other side, his blood seemed to halt in his veins.

       Mother. Fucker.

      He hopped up from the chair and crossed the room in three strides,

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