There’s always a reason if you’re brave enough to find it.
Ryder was worth the chance, and he’d certainly put himself out there for her emotionally after they’d made love.
She yanked open the door and gasped when she saw not Ryder, but Barry. Ryder’s father’s embezzling accountant. His graying hair was slicked in a comb over, and there were dark circles under his eyes.
“Barry!” she exclaimed, pulling her robe tightly closed, glad her pajamas underneath were thick and full length, covering everything but her hands and feet. “What are you doing here? I thought you’d left town.”
“And leave you here to tell everyone what a screw-up I was?” he asked, pushing his way past her and inside before she could block the entrance. Dammit, after this, she was installing a peephole on her door whether her landlord okayed it or not.
Still, the short man didn’t scare her. He was barely 5’10”, just slightly taller than her but much smaller due to being skinnier. If he aggravated her, she could probably sit on him. After seeing what he’d done to Ryder’s family, she’d be happy to.
“I’ve been going over your records, yes,” she said, holding the door open and gesturing for him to go out. “We can talk at my office if you want. Later.”
He eyed her warily. He was wearing worn, faded gray sweats over his bony body, and he looked like he hadn’t eaten or slept enough lately. He looked… slightly feral.
“Fine,” he said. “When?”
She looked at the kitchen clock. Anything to get Barry out of here so she could get ready. “How about in an hour?”
“Perfect,” he said. “You still at the same place?”
“Of course,” she said, lifting her chin. She didn’t like the way he was leering at her as he left.
“See you then,” he muttered, and she took great pleasure in slamming the door behind him.
She sighed and looked at the clock again. No time for coffee. She needed a nice long shower and to get dressed and get her hair back in control. She’d pick something up after meeting with Barry. Not that she expected much to come of the meeting, but at least it’d be safer out in public. Not that Barry would hurt her. But she had some pretty unpleasant things to say to him about Ryder’s family business and how he’d treated it, and she wanted witnesses if something went wrong.
Barry looked like a man with nothing to lose.
She climbed the stairs to her bedroom, looked at the phone again, saw there were no messages, and took the phone into the bathroom, putting it on the counter while she showered.
The heat was hypnotic and relaxing, but throughout the shower and getting ready after, all she could think about was Ryder. His hands, his eyes. That body. It was like he had bewitched her utterly.
She was still in kind of a fog, unsure what to do about the Ryder situation, feeling like her brain was just on the brink of a breakthrough about it when she headed out the door to meet Barry. She kept her phone close at hand in her pocket and wore a heavy trench that concealed her body. She hadn’t liked the way Barry looked at her.
This was exactly the kind of meeting she would have wanted to go to with Ryder. He was probably ace at negotiations and difficult discussions. It was the difference between a simple accountant and someone who made billions. That hard edge she knew she’d never have. She was too soft.
But Ryder could be soft too, when the time called for it. He’d been so gentle. Contrasted with his hard side, the in-control side, the plunging-into-her-while-uttering-oaths-of-wonder side, she wasn’t sure which she loved more.
And that was it. The whole problem. She loved him. As improbable as it was that he could love her after this short time, she was fairly certain, in an animal way deep down inside her, that she loved him back. And didn’t that leave her in a funny position?
She kept her head down as she walked down the street toward her shop. But between buildings, at a place where the woods bordered the street, someone jumped out, startling her.
“Barry!” she said, taking a step away from him. “I thought we were meeting at the store.”
“We were,” he said, eyes narrowing. “I had a change of plans.”
Her stomach coiled in response and she gingerly put one hand in her pocket to feel for her phone, making sure it was still there and she could dial it in a moment’s notice. “I’d really rather meet up at the office. I was looking forward to my morning walk. Alone.” She emphasized the last word and his expression seemed to darken.
“Fine,” he said, and he walked ahead of her and disappeared around a corner.
“Phew.” She breathed a sigh of relief and kept walking, this time at a brisker pace. She didn’t want to talk to him here. It’d be too easy for him to pull her off into the woods. Not that he had any reason to, but she just felt nervous around him.