Sheltering His Desire Read online

  Tate shook the images away. He wouldn’t let the question get to him—the implication that the news report last night was anything more than an irritating splash in the media pool. There was a solution, he just had to keep his cool. He spoke into his speaker phone. “I did.”

  “Do we need to worry about backlash?” Alan’s voice was hollow, echoing through the Tate’s office. “They’re not live yet. Are we sure this is a good pilot group for us? If people buy into the hype, and that spreads onto us for supporting them… We look like we’re backing animal abuse.”

  Tate choked back a snarl. This was why he’d hired Alan. Why the guy made such a great assistant. He thought of these things, and he didn’t keep the thoughts to himself. But damn it, this wasn’t what Tate needed to hear right now. The bad press wouldn’t be an issue. He already knew Lys would be able to stop the rumors before they became an issue, and this wasn’t just business, it was a good cause. “They’re going live. We won’t have any problems.”

  “Right. I’ll update the time line to show they’ll be live by tomorrow night.”

  Tate tossed a few instructions out about meetings that afternoon, and disconnected the call. He rubbed his face, but it didn’t push away his gnawing tension. He’d already ignored the email from his mother reminding him how easy it would be for Alyssia to make this go away.

  He needed to step back, do his job, and let the rest roll off. He’d make sure it all worked out. This business venture, and his test user, meant too much to him to let anything go astray.

  A knock drew his attention, and he dragged his gaze to the doorway.

  “Lunch?” Mikki—Jared’s fiancée and the company’s top developer, was leaning against the frame. Her black hair had a violent blue streak through it that week, and she’d pinned the locks back from her face with butterfly-shaped barrettes. While he still struggled to understand the attraction between her chaos and his best friend’s unyielding order, he knew she was the best thing to ever happen to Jared. That kind of relationship was a once in a generation kind of fluke, like a sappy movie or something.

  The idea made his brain twitch. Something unfamiliar and completely unpleasant surged inside and he obliterated it, focusing on Mikki instead. “I just have to be back by two.” Alyssia was coming in to record the voice-overs for her promo video. The name summoned every positive and negative emotion he’d just stuffed inside. He needed to get a handle on that before she showed up. “I’ll meet you there.”

  “Epic.” She was already spinning away. “Microbrewery off one-forty-one.”

  He rolled his eyes and let out a short laugh. “Got it.” Almost a year in Atlanta and she didn’t care to learn the names of anywhere they regularly went. Said the world was too transient for things like proper nouns on buildings.

  The moment she was gone, he sank back in his chair. The two conversations had summoned the one name and image he’d been trying to keep from his mind all morning. Or rather, the memories of last night. He could still taste Alyssia, like a phantom tingle on the tip of his tongue. Every exquisite inch. The woman he’d seen almost every single day since she was a kid, and now just her name made his cock twitch.

  He swallowed the lust. The inching desire to figure out what else they could get up to if there were no strings. He had lunch to get this out of his system. No big deal. He was a big boy, and flings were his specialty. He could handle this.

  He finished replying to a couple more emails, suppressed any lingering fantasy from the night before, grabbed his sunglasses, and headed out the door.

  Fifteen minutes later, Tate strolled through the front door of the pub. The drive had been enough to clear his head, and he felt like his mind was working again. Never pausing, he nodded at the host and cleared the corner to head into the dining area. His friends would probably be at the same table they were always at, near the back of the room.

  They were exactly where he expected, but instead of three heads he counted four. He hesitated, and then forced himself to keep walking at a normal gait. Instead of the standard one table they usually sat at, two tables had been pushed together because Alyssia had joined them. No big deal; she dropped by for lunch all the time when she was working night shift.

  So why were Jared and Mikki sitting across from each other, Mikki by Alyssia, and Jared by Vivian?

  “I don’t get the point,” Jared said as Tate drew within earshot.

  The table between him and Mikki was clear. She flicked a sugar packet across the smooth surface, where it glided to a stop just short of Jared’s edge, half on, half off the table. “If it lands like that, you score a point.” Mikki explained.

  “Of course.” Instead of tucking the sugar packet away, like he would have six months ago, Jared flipped it back.

  Mikki met Tate’s gaze for just a moment before returning her attention to the game. “Look who we found.”

  Tate didn’t have to look. Every time he tried to pull his gaze from Lys, it drifted back to the heat and doubt in her eyes.

  “I dropped by to say hi to Jared before our recording session,” Alyssia said.

  Of course she had. Tate hid his grimace under a wide smile. “Awesome.” His skin buzzed with memories of the night before, every nerve ending dancing to life in anticipation just from the way she caught her bottom lip between her teeth. That wasn’t good. Apparently his rambling thoughts weren’t under control.

  He took the empty seat next to Vivian, rather than continuing to stand there and gape. Vivian was the director of operations for Skriddie Bust Media, and Mikki’s boss. She, Jared, and Tate had clashed when she joined the company several years ago. However, a handful of crises that pushed them together, proved the three clicked on a whole new level when it came to problem solving, and they’d become solid friends. Jared was closer to her than Tate, but Tate still had nothing but respect and admiration for her skills. And she played a mean hand of poker.

  When V raised her brows in question, he scrambled for the first excuse he could find that wasn’t, “If I sit next to Lys, I’m going to spend all of lunch with a hard on.” “I have a question for you about St. Louis.”

  He didn’t mean the city. Before they hired Mikki, her former employer, NSS had used her skill without her knowledge to violate the Skriddie corporate network. Jared and Mikki had spent several months pulling together enough information to file a civil suit for the infraction. But the violation itself had already done damage to Skriddie’s public image. St Louis was their code name for the PR campaign Tate was spearheading to update their image.

  “What’s up?” Vivian asked.

  Shit. Now he had to come up with something. A long series of questions ran through his head in a millisecond. “How often does operations re-certify developers?”

  “Every six months or as operating systems update, whichever comes first.”

  Jared jerked his attention from the makeshift sugar-football game. “Speaking of, we got a document discover request from Vicker today about intellectual property No clue how they found out we’d even done that.”

  Damon Vicker was the attorney defending NSS in the civil suit Skriddie had filed against them.

  Tate was good—great even—with this line of conversation. It was boring, it was dry, and it would keep him distracted. “We all know there are other ears inside the company.” It was part of the reason they called their PR project St. Louis instead of Fuck-NSS-Over-Publicly.

  “Send me a list of what Vicker wants, and I’ll grab you the documentation this weekend.” Technically, Tate was balancing two jobs. He still held his senior VP of sales job at Skriddie, but was also president of the new venture. The extra work would be worth it, though, to get his sites off the ground.

  “If everyone’s here, are y’all ready to order?” The waitress’s pleasant southern lilt drew Tate’s attention. Her nametag said she was Brittany. Large blonde curls framed her face, and her lipstick was just bright enough to draw attention without being too gaudy. Her lips didn’t look as
kissable as Lys’s, though. And Brittany probably didn’t make the same guttural moans—

  He shook the thoughts away. He wouldn’t compare her to Alyssia. He’d grab her number instead, to remind himself how much he enjoyed having the option of hooking up with a different woman every night.

  “I’m not sure, Brittany.” He met her gaze, never breaking eye contact, and let his own drawl slide in. A trick he usually either saved to irritate his mother, or to give him that boy next door sound. Even though he’d grown up in Georgia, he’d never had the accent by default. His mother had taught him. She’d said when it was used at the right time, it could shape all sorts of impressions. He never had to use it around Lys. Which didn’t matter because he wasn’t thinking about her.

  Brittany moved to his side, and rested a hand on his arm. “What can I do for you, sugar?”

  He did this all the time, so why did it feel so unnatural now? Because he was over-thinking it, that was why. “Which do you recommend? Chef’s special, or catch of the day?”

  She twirled a strand of hair around her finger. “Depends. Catch of the day is fresh, but chef’s special is spicy. You look like you enjoy a little heat.” She winked.

  “Quite a bit.” He handed the menu back. She was hooked, he was almost certain of it. A couple more lines, and he’d have her number. Except he couldn’t force out the next line. He couldn’t close.

  “Me too.” Vivian passed her menu between, breaking a teasing gaze about to turn awkward.

  Brittany turned her attention to the rest of the table, and after one last glance at him, moved on to other customers. The conversation shifted from work, to the Memorial Day barbeque his parents were holding in just over a week. When Jared shifted his attention to his sister to ask her something about their own parents, Vivian tilted her head toward Tate.

  “I’m surprised you didn’t snag her number.” Vivian’s voice was low enough only Tate would hear.

  Tate glanced at Lys, her eyes bright, a genuine smile in place as she laughed at something Jared said. “I’m off my game or something. Work, stress, blah, blah, blah.”

  Vivian smirked. “That’s never been an issue for you before.”

  Irritation surged through him at the prodding. “It is now.” The words snapped out sharper and louder than he intended, and everyone’s heads swiveled in his direction. Why was he even upset with V? She was being friendly, teasing the way they always did. “Sorry. Like I said, stress.”

  Vivian pursed her lips. “Apparently so.”

  Again, the conversation shifted and flowed as the food arrived, and then empty plates were taken away. At some point, Brittany slipped her phone number under his hand. Tate managed to bring his rambling thoughts under control by the end of the meal. He should be fine in this afternoon’s recording session with Lys, especially with the sound engineer around. Which reminded him. “We have to get back.” He realized after a glance at his phone to check the time. “Recording session.”

  “Everyone rode with me,” Jared said. “Meet you back there?”

  Alyssia’s eyes grew wide, and she opened her mouth, but before she could speak, Vivian cut her off. “I’m going to catch a ride with you, if you don’t mind. J’s back seat is cramped, and I have an idea I want to run past you.” Vivian fell into step beside Tate. He tried but failed to ignore the disappointment that flashed over Alyssia’s face before a smile flitted back in.

  “Sounds like plan.” Did V have any idea she’d just bought him another fifteen minutes by asking for a ride before Alyssia could?

  Mikki and Alyssia split off toward the other side of the parking lot with Jared, and Tate let relief trickle through him. He glanced at the waitress’s number one more time before crumpling it and tossing it in a nearby trashcan.

  “You’re going to break her heart.” Vivian’s comment dragged him back into the now. Exactly where he needed to stay. He’d remember that.

  Which meant she was talking about the waitress, not Lys. “She served me iced tea, V. I don’t think she expects a ring for that.” He held the car door open for her, and waited until she was seated before taking his spot behind the wheel.

  Vivian laughed. “That’s good. And not who I was talking about. What do you think J’s going to do when he finds out you hooked up with his sister?”

  She had figured it out. Fuck. He wanted to ask if it was that obvious, but he wasn’t willing to confess. “He’d probably blow a fuse. Good thing we didn’t.”

  Vivian raised an eyebrow.

  “What?” Tate didn’t like the defensive mechanism kicking in. “I’m not stupid. I’ve known her a lot longer than you have, and I know she’s not a one-time kind of girl.”

  Vivian shrugged. “She wouldn’t look at you during lunch, she barely said two words after you showed up, and she clenched her jaw every time the waitress showed up. Something happened, at least as far as she’s concerned.”

  He didn’t want to snap at V, but the last thing he needed was her voicing every argument his mind was already tossing at him. “Were you this bad with Jared and Mikki?”

  “Considering they’d hooked up, and you two haven’t”—she made a show of clearing her throat—“I was about fifty times worse. But my reasons with Mikki were different.”

  Of course they were. Because no matter how much she liked Mikki, or respected Jared, she still felt like he’d betrayed her by falling in love. Tate would have bet big that Vivian had never completely gotten over Jared, but as long as the two of them were still single, she could pretend it would be that way forever. He kept the thought to himself, not interested in picking a fight. “I’ve known the two of them for ages, I understand what a bad idea that would be—and that doesn’t even matter because there’s nothing going on with Lys.”

  “Right.” Vivian’s tone was flat. “Because if there were, you’d know eventually you’d have to pick a side.”

  “Did that a long time ago.” He just had to remember that. Jared was his best friend, and Alyssia was a client. Vivian’s reminder just cemented he needed to put as much emotional distance between himself and Lys as possible.

  Chapter Seven

  Alyssia leaned against the frame of her home office door. “It's okay, really.” It was true, two days ago, she had been irritated with Jared for insisting she upgrade her home network hardware to be more secure.

  Now, that seemed like an eternity ago. A flutter raced across her skin, and her gut churned at the reminder.

  “If you didn’t do so much work from home...” Jared sat at her desk, fingers flying across the keyboard, rarely pausing even as he spoke. “Nah, that’s just an excuse. You needed the upgrade.”

  “Really?” She kept a teasing tone. “So you’ve already upgraded everything in your house, and needed someone else to techify?” Even though she was trying to keep her attention on the conversation, it kept dancing with the one name she’d been doing her best not to think of since she left the Skriddie offices that afternoon.

  Not that she’d succeeded. Every unoccupied thought, and even some of the occupied ones, were interrupted with Tate. Had last night been a mistake? It had taken her this many years to get used to how he flirted without shame with pretty much every waitress, hostess, anyone. Then today at lunch, watching him with their server had almost devoured her.

  Still, the memory of what she had Tate had shared, the way they’d clicked, and the things he’d done, she wouldn’t give that up for anything. She would stick to her promise that what happened between them was just physical. A one-time event, and all that. Which was why, when he’d asked if she wanted him to just email the promo video to her for approval, and launch the site without her, or if she wanted to be there for all of it, she’d invited him over.

  His dropping by for whatever had never been a deal in the past, and there was no reason for that to change. The faster things got back to normal between them, the better.

  “Hello?” Jared’s insistent voice shattered her wandering thoughts. “Earth to A
lyssia. You in there?”

  She shook away the mental clutter and focused on her brother, who apparently had finished what he was doing, and was watching her. “Sorry, too much going on everywhere. What?” she asked.

  “You’re all done.” He held up a blank post-it note, then stuck it to one of the frames he’d brought back for her from a business trip. The picture frame was from Busch Gardens. The blank note was his way of letting her know what her new network password was. She did adore that he always remembered to bring her something, wherever he visited. And each new trinket had a different memory attached to it, which was why he used them for her passwords.

  “Thank you.” She smiled. “I really do appreciate it.”

  “I know you don’t so much.” He stood and joined her, falling into step next to her as they made their way downstairs, to the living room of her townhouse. “But I appreciate you placating me. And yes, you’re right. Even Mikki doesn’t think we need any more new tech in the house. But if I can show her this router works for you…”

  “I’m glad I could be your guinea pig.”

  Jared strode toward the door. “Good luck with your launch tonight. I know you’ll do awesome.”

  Alyssia's heart leapt, hammering in her chest, when Jared opened the door to find Tate on the other side, hand half raised to knock. Tate slid a quick smile into place, never flinching. His gaze met hers for the briefest moment, and she swore she saw heat flash in his eyes as they flicked over her.

  Or that was wishful thinking on her part? Why did he have to look so good?

  “You get everything squared away?” Tate turned back to Jared.

  “She’s set.” Jared glanced back at Alyssia, and she resisted the urge to stick out her tongue. She wasn’t going to fall into a childish role with her brother. Not tonight. “I’m glad you’re here to take care of her, though.”

  Heat flooded Alyssia’s face at the rush of images associated with Tate taking care of her. He certainly had last night. She shook the thoughts away, and nudged Jared forward. “You’re going, right? And keeping in mind how profusely grateful you are I gave you an excuse to buy something new?”