"Or what?" Bethany pursed her lips.
"Or you won't work here anymore."
Bethany snorted. "I'm sure my father would love that."
"I'm not sure who your daddy is, but this is the real world. You make your own name or you get stomped on. Your father might have gotten you the job, but he can't keep it for you."
"My dad is Kent Bryant. I'm pretty sure I'm safe here." Bethany scrunched up her features as she passed by the bitch. "Breath mints will help with that smell."
"What?" The angry sound of Delilah huffing in the relationship that Bethany had connections that even she didn't have was far more pleasurable than it should have been, even if it was incredibly immature.
Bethany walked down to Damon's open door and took a sip of her coffee as she leaned against the doorframe. "So your new Senior Manager has it out for me. I'm thinking someone who hated my guts assigned me to the same job as her. What do you think?"
"That you're overreacting. Auditing is hard work and people get very little sleep. Delilah is a great manager. You'll learn to like her when you realize that she's got six years of experience on you." Damon glanced up and gave her a tight stare.
"Did you get another room last night?" She wrapped her free arm around her waist as her heart quivered. So much promise lay between them, and it was breaking into far too many pieces to repair in time.
"I did. Did you expect something else? I'm not sleeping on another couch."
"I would have let you into my bed."
"Fuck buddies now?" He chuckled, but the sound fell flat. "No thanks."
"Wow." She glanced down at the floor. "I get that you and I are having trouble, but I want off this assignment. Your ex-lover's sister is a bitch, and she's got her eye set on making sure I know it."
"You're being a child." He looked back down at his computer. "This team is built of the best staff I have, you included. You were the promised brilliance I needed at the intern and associate level. Are you saying that you aren't brilliant now?"
He wouldn't even look at her.
"I'm saying that I'm not going to put up with her treating me like shit."
"Are you going to pop her in the nose?" He glanced up before standing.
"Awesome. Fuck you too."
"Hey. Not everything is about you. Remember that."
"Oh, I got it. Nothing is about me. See you in Dallas. Maybe." She turned and tossed her coffee in the trash before packing up and walking out. Kent could take care of the Delilah situation and get her on another assignment, or she'd quit. There had been too many times in her past when life handed her a lemon and forced the fucker down her throat.
This wasn't going to be one of them.
Chapter 19
Three days later
Damon
A growl left him as he paced in front of his fireplace, his house quiet and completely void of warmth. Three days. Three fucking days and nothing from her. Not a peep.
What would be so hard about them apologizing and getting back together? Didn't people in love do just that? You fucked up, you got back together. What the hell? Why was it so different with them? It couldn't be. Things had to work out, and yet they weren't. Not in the slightest.
Delilah had hit on him the entire way back to Dallas, leaving him sick. He didn't want another woman. He wanted his woman. No matter how many sappy-ass stories the pretty blond beside him told, or how hard she worked to remind him how close they'd been as kids, it didn't matter. She wasn't Bethany.
He worked on Tuesday to get Beth off the job for Zarpeth, but his dad killed the idea. He'd spoken with Bethany and they'd worked out the issue. Kent met with Delilah the day after and talked through her management style. All of it pissed off Damon. It was like being cut from the loop after managing it effectively for the last few years alongside his dad.
It was another strike against the beautiful girl who had his heart. Some part of him was beyond ready to offer her the world if she'd just relent and help him fix things, but it wasn't going to happen. His pride wouldn't allow it.
He dropped down on the couch and leaned back, needing so fucking bad to call her and force her to come over. If he could make love to her... she could see how much he wanted things to be right between them. A groan left him as images flew by his closed eyes. Them fucking against the wall, on his kitchen table, the bathroom of the plane.
"God, I miss you so much, Beth." He pressed his palms to his eyes as delicious tendrils of pleasure resurrected in his stomach and forced his body to wake up. Just another night. She would see him again and not the dick head he was forced to play thanks to the overwhelming stress in his life to keep everything afloat. His resolve to be anything but her man was slipping fast, nauseatingly so.
He pulled out his phone and ran through her text messages, the longing inside of him only building faster.
"Shit. How do I fix this?" He pulled up a picture he had of her laughing on the beach in Jamaica. The trip had been so right, so fun, so peaceful, especially Sunday after the wedding. Nothing was better than spending the day testing out her body and hearing her moan. So fucking hot.
"Kendal. Or Matt." He sat up. He needed help. Matt was a derp with girls by choice, but Kendal... He could help. Damon dialed his old friend without thinking too much more about it.
"Hey buddy, what's up?" Kendal answered on the first ring.
"Has Beth come to work for you yet today?" He glanced at the clock to see that it was just past lunch. He couldn't stay in the office any longer and took the day off after lunch, which didn't seem like the best of ideas now that he was walking around, stewing in his misery alone.
"No. She's coming in around three today. Why? Everything okay?"
"No." Damon got up and grunted. "We're fighting non-stop."
"That's because you forced the relationship too fast, Damon. You asked her to marry you three weeks after meeting you. What did you expect, man?"
"Right. Fuck you too. I need your help."
"Oh shit. What do you need me to do? You know I hate getting caught up in drama."
"I know. I do as well, but I need you to take her to dinner and order some beers. Get her to relax a little."
"And then... no way am I seducing her Damon. This isn't one of our fucked up college games, right? I'm not into that sharing a girl shit anymore."
"No. Fuck no. You touch her and I'll break your face." Anger burst through his center as he stopped by the back door. Between his raging hard cock and the pulse beating frantically in the side of his head he thought he might blow.
Damn this woman for pushing me over the edge and doing basically nothing to cause it.
"Good answer." Kendal sighed loudly. "What do you want me to do? Just get her there and talk about how great you really are?"
"Hell no. I hate lies. Just get her there and then I'll show up. I need to see her. We can make it look like you brought us both there."
"No."
"Yes. I need you. You've always been my wingman. I love this girl, but can't get over myself to call her. Please. I'll return the favor."
"I won't need a favor." Kendal chuckled.
"Yeah, you will. Just help me."
"I like this girl, Damon. She's a good woman. Don't fuck this up."
"I'm trying to not do just that. Help me."
"All right. Vincent's Bar by the Museum of Science. It's far enough from the college that I won't have to deal with running into a million students. Be there at six. I'll get there at five thirty with her, but I'm warning you..."
"No need to warn me. I promise I'll make things right. I can't imagine trying to get through another night without her."
"Fuck me. Maybe it is love. Wouldn't that be some shit? The biggest whore from our college days finally settles down. I want to be the best man at the wedding."
"That's Matt's job, and I wasn't the biggest whore. You were."
"True. I thought I'd try and pawn it off on you, buddy. See you in a bit."
Damon hung up the phone and pressed his face into his hands. "Please let this work. Please. I'm running on empty with this shit and have fucked it up too many times. Let her see the 'me' she needs to see to come back and help me save us."
*
A nervousness he hadn't experienced in a long time bubbled up inside his chest as he pulled the door open to the bar a little while later. Kendal stood by the far end of the bar with a warm smile on his face.
Beth had her back to him, giving him a few minutes to appreciate how beautiful the swell of her ass filled up her jeans. She had plenty to hold on to, and the thought of some man worshiping her body instead of him left him wanting to stop in place and drop to his knees.
One night. He only needed one night with her and they could be back on track.