Protect Me Not ((Un)Professionally Yours 2)

Ty sat up, instantly alert. “Do you need some aspirin?”

“Please.”

Ty handed her a glass of water and a couple of aspirin that someone—probably Hugh—had left on her nightstand. Vicki gratefully took the pills, before settling back and peering at her brother. He looked exasperated.

“Vicki, come on, it’s important,” Hugh insisted, and she rolled her eyes.

“Oh, my God, fine. Victoria Ann Hollingsworth. It’s Monday. Or is it Tuesday already? What’s the time?”

“Just gone twenty-two hundred hours. It’s still Monday,” Ty said, stifling a yawn.

“Longest damned day of my life,” she muttered.

“Preach, sister,” Hugh agreed.

“I should go,” Ty said. “I just wanted to see if you were okay.”

“How long have you been here?”

“A couple of hours. I dozed off. Uh…Linda sends hugs.” He looked self-conscious to be saying that, and she hid a smile. “And she wants to know if she should open shop tomorrow?”

“I think so. We have those gerberas coming in for the LaRoux surprise party. Jazz and Linda know what to do, and Linda will have to go with Josh to set up in the evening. Oh God, I don’t know if she can. It’s her mother-in-law’s birthday tomorrow, she’ll have to—”

“Linda, Jazz, and Josh will take care of it,” Ty interrupted the incipient panic attack firmly. “So, she’ll be a little late to her mother-in-law’s birthday dinner, so what? She hates the old woman anyway. She tells us often enough. She’ll be happy for the excuse not to be there for the whole thing.”

Vicki relaxed, hearing the sense in his words. He was right, she had an amazing support team. They would take care of it.

She smiled at Ty. And after a moment’s hesitation, he smiled back.

Hugh’s gaze flitted from one to the other. He sighed and shook his head.

“I’ll be downstairs if anyone even cares.”

He left without another word.

“Thank for you for saving me,” Vicki said shyly. Ty shook his head, his eyes shadowing. “And I’m sorry for being such an idiot.”

“You’re not an idiot, honey. You were too trusting, and he took advantage of your good nature.”

“A total victim, in other words.”

“Don’t.” He shook his head. “I should have—”

“You should have nothing, you did everything you were supposed to. You can’t be responsible for my dumb decisions, Ty. I own those. I opened the door when you told me not to. My decision. The consequences were my fault and mine alone. The fact that it wasn’t worse, that’s what you’re responsible for. Now stop trying to take credit for my mistakes, will you?”

“It’s hard for me to not have control over every aspect of my life and work,” he admitted.

“I noticed. Have you had any real relationships in the six years you’ve been doing this job?”

“Relationships and friendships are tricky. I can’t always predict what other people will do…I don’t like that level of uncertainty in my life.”

“No romantic relationships, at all?”

He winced at the question. “A few sexual encounters here and there. But nothing that you could call a relationship. I tried to keep things predictable with you. I should have known that it would backfire. You’re the most unpredictable person I know and trying to put you into this little box designed to restrict everything that made you you was an exercise in futility. I don’t regret trying, though. Because even having that little bit of you was worth it.

“I don’t even know why I’m telling you this. It’s like your unpredictability is contagious, I would never have imagined myself saying all this stuff when I walked into your room this evening.”

“Meh, you probably figure I won’t remember any of it tomorrow, so no harm in divulging your deepest darkest secrets to me now.”

He laughed, his tension dissipating.

“I should let you get back to sleep,” he said. “I’ll see you in the morning.”

She was starting to doze off, but she smiled at his words.

“You have no idea how comforting I always find that statement.”

“What?”

“So many evenings, you’d end the day saying that exact same thing. I like the inevitability in the words. Like…if there was one thing in this world I could count on, it was that I would see you in the morning.”

Her comment made him smile. A broad grin the likes of which she had never seen from him before. “I like that. It’s gratifying to know that I’ve given you that level of comfort during my stint as your CPO.”

“Ty?” she whispered, not liking how final his words sounded. As if he expected his tenure with her to end very soon.

“Yes?”

“Why did you kiss me? In front of Chance and everyone else? What was that about?”

Ty should have known she would ask. He kept his expression neutral, while he pretended to consider her question.

“It felt like the right thing to do. You were frightened, you needed to be reassured, uh, comforted. It was the only way I could think of to make you feel better.”