“Anytime.”
I wasn’t exactly late to work, but I definitely had to rush. It began playfully enough—me washing Ryder and treating his cock like my own personal lollipop while his face took on a look of torment mixed with ecstasy, and then him washing me, his mouth on me like I was the best flavor around, making me buck against him involuntarily with moans. Before long, my legs were wrapped around his waist, and he’d barely slid a condom on—how smart he was to snag one on our way to the bathroom—before he was pinning me to the wall with his thrusting hips.
Technically, I was on time in that I was in front of my office building at eight o’clock in the morning, though Ryder was still plundering my mouth with his goodbye kiss. Or was I doing the plundering?
“I better go.” I pulled away. “Reggie’s probably going to be upset because I didn’t show yesterday.” I took a mirror out of my purse and did a quick lipstick check, wiping away the smudges caused by our lip-lock and reapplying before snapping the compact shut and putting it all away.
“I still don’t see why you need to go to work,” he began, but I didn’t let him get far.
“I told you. I need my job.”
“No, you don’t—”
“I do.” The thought of being entirely reliant on another person was frightening enough to make even my inner punk give me that Scream face. “I’m not going to sponge off you—”
“It’s not sponging.”
This, for me, was nonnegotiable. “Look. Who knows when Frank is going to surface again, and I can’t be that girl that sits at home eating bonbons and watching Judge Mathis. Seriously. He probably knows that I’m with you, and not only that, from what Cynthia told me, I’m working in an office run by the Sunan elders. I’m probably safer than you. I’m going to be fine today.”
“It makes me uncomfortable.” He frowned after a pause. “I can’t protect you if something happens in there.”
“I’ll call. I’ll text. I’ll keep you in the loop throughout the day.”
“Taylor—”
“Just trust me.” My voice was no-nonsense, and I willed him to really look at me and see me. “I’ve been looking out for myself a long time.”
His pale eyes looked into mine steadily before he gave a long-suffering sigh. “All right. I’m agreeing to this because I see your point about the safety of being in the building and because you’re agreeing to update me on things. Regularly. Frequently.”
“Right.” I grinned, though he was still hesitant to let go. Teasingly, I added, “Good progress, sweetheart. We’ll take this in baby steps, and before long, your control-freak tendencies will be a thing of the past.”
“Taylor...” He looked at me with a warning glint.
“I know, I know. Someone’s trying to kill me. Blah, blah, blah. You know I’m totally kidding. I’ll be careful. I promise.”
Reluctantly, his lips quirked. “Anyone ever tell you you’re a smart-ass?”
“Yes. You.”
“At least I’m consistent.”
I noticed he’d smiled a lot more in the last forty-eight hours. Feeling like maybe I had something to do with it made me feel good. Or maybe it was knowing that he loved me. But did I love him? I hadn’t said it aloud and wondered if he recognized that. I wasn’t sure. It was something I wouldn’t say lightly, and definitely not if I wasn’t completely sure I meant it. I mean, I’d only known the guy a week. Was it possible for me to fall in love in a week?
“I’m patient, Taylor. I’m not going anywhere.” Ryder let me know he still had access to my thoughts. I almost put up my mental shield but decided not to. I didn’t want to hide anything from him.
“This is all new,” I stated quietly.
“I know. I understand. I’m hoping that when all this is over with Ranik, we’ll have some time to get to know each other.”
“Yes.” I breathed easily, though I still had concerns about his family.
“They have nothing to do with us,” he said firmly.
“I don’t want to be the thorn that keeps you guys apart,” I said anxiously. “I couldn’t do that to you or to them. You’ve all suffered so much as it is.”
“Then it will be up to them to make sure we all get along.” He kissed my cheek gently, mindful of my freshly applied lipstick, before getting all bossy and directive again. “I’ll be in contact at lunch. Don’t leave the building before then and make sure your phone is with you no matter where you go.”
“I’ll keep it with me even in the ladies’,” I assured him. I put my mental shield back up, strangely becoming accustomed to protecting myself from mind reading. Who’da thought?
Concern for my work attire and careful coiffure had prompted Ryder to borrow Sy’s sports car. After getting out of the car, even with the threat of a Reggie-style thrashing hanging over my head, I sauntered into the building with a big grin on my face.
Thankfully, Reggie wasn’t in sight, and I was able to get myself organized at my desk once again. Apparently, Reggie hadn’t come in the previous two days either, and there were nearly a hundred messages and voice mails to respond to. Some of them I could handle, as they dealt with business I was responsible for, and the rest I updated on the phone list, which I was eventually able to print out and place on his desk. I went through the mail, I phoned in orders for scripts to be copied and I messengered client samples from our video and script library. This was hours of catch up, during which I promised myself I would never be absent again.
It was nearing noon before I realized that I still had not seen nor heard from Reggie. No wonder I’d been able to accomplish so much in such a short time. A feeling of strange creepiness crawled over my skin. Why wasn’t he here? And why hadn’t he called me? That was absolutely not like him. I called our human-resources manager, Elaine.
“Any word on Reggie? Is he sick or something?”
“Not sure, Taylor.” Elaine’s crisp, usually no-nonsense monotone actually sounded concerned. “He was gone the last two days, he hasn’t called in and he isn’t picking up at his home or on his cell.”
“Maybe he got hurt at home. Do you think the police should do a quick check on him? Make sure he doesn’t need medical attention?” Part of me was afraid the police would find a body at his residence.
“That’s a very good idea. I’ll let you know if they find out anything.”
I felt better after having done that. I grabbed my cell phone to call Ryder and update him, and I noticed my newly charged phone had updated to include a missed call. Someone had called me while I’d been on Te’re. Tapping the various touchscreen options, I was able to pull up Reggie as the missed call. My phone was indicating that he’d left a message.
Double creepy.
“Taylor, I won’t be in for a few days. Take care of Paul’s meeting, and I’ll get with you later.” His voice sounded serious. Heavy. Or did it? Was I reading into it because of my own frightening experiences? But I also knew that Reggie never took time off.
My desk phone rang, pulling me from my thoughts. Taking a deep breath, I answered, “Reggie Mason’s office,” for the hundredth time in the day already.
“Taylor? Is that you?”
“It is. Who is calling?”
“It’s Paul.”
“Paul!” The Paul whose family was friends with Frank. I felt a sense of caution as I asked, “What’s going on? Reggie’s not going to be here this week, but he asked me to hold the meeting anyway, so we can sign off on the contract for legal.”
“Yeah. That’s what I’m calling about. I need to meet sooner.”
“Sooner? You mean like sooner than two o’clock?” I frowned.
“I mean like right now. I’m going out of town for a while, and I’m not sure when I’ll be coming back.”