Liabilities. They were adding up. I’d been a liability in New York, and I turned out to be one here.
Lost in my own pity, I nearly walked past Kalen and Turner. Turner was talking to a group of men probably about the tasks for the day. Kalen was off to the side paying attention but not. Like a squirrel dodging a car in the street, I scampered off into the tree line, hoping I hadn’t been seen. It was the gutless way. I wasn’t ready to talk to either of them. Certainly not both of them together.
The snap, crackle, and pop under my feet sent me farther into the woods. I feared that my noisy steps would have Kalen or Turner turning my direction and noticing me. It was crazy. I really needed to get over myself and face them.
The cadence of his voice stopped me mid-step. “Bailey.”
I looked up into those forest green eyes of his and down to the expensive coat he wore. It didn’t belong any more than mine did.
But it was the tunic beneath, revealed by his parted coat, that caught my attention. Most likely one of Turner’s, it resembled the Henley he’d worn last night except instead of a button, two strings hung loose as it should have been tied at the neck as would be proper. The cream fabric was parted, giving a glimpse of his hard muscled chest. I didn’t stop there. Brown trousers laced up the front hid that delicious cock of his. My mouth went dry, but I spoke anyway.
“Kalen…or should I call you Jeremy?”
We were miles apart, though we stood mere feet from each other. My body had no loyalty to Turner and was priming itself for the man before me. It was always like that with us. No other man created that kind of response. I finally understood what chemistry meant. And we had the sexual kind. The question left was if that was all we had?
“Kalen. My friends and the people who know me best call me that,” he said in that lyrical accent of his.
“Jeremy then, because I’m most certainly not your friend and I don’t know you at all.”
“Lass—” It wasn’t so much of a plea as an almost command.
I wouldn’t give him time to sway me with sweet words. “Why are you here?”
His fingers combed through his hair as he let out a sigh. “Look, I’d planned to give you space. I owed you that and more. I fought the urge to find you after several unanswered calls to your cell and a trip to your apartment.”
He was going nowhere, so I cut to the chase. “And that heiress?”
Muscles in his jaw flexed and I thought he swallowed. In no way did he look comfortable with this situation or our conversation. “As I recall, you said we were done. I should be asking you about him?”
The him didn’t need a name. We both knew he meant Turner.
I looked away. “He’s a friend.”
He barked out a humorless laugh. “We both know he’s more than a friend.”
“Fiancé,” I blurted without the necessary background that was needed.
His head tilted at the same time his eyes narrowed. “You said you didn’t have a fiancé.”
“I don’t. I mean, I didn’t. He was before I went to college. I left him.”
“And now you’re back.”
The coolness in his tone rivaled the air around us. I shivered.
“It’s not what you think. I didn’t come here for him.”
I wanted to fidget under the pressure of his stare.
“But he’s here. That was the reason behind your email responses, wasn’t it?”
“No… Yes… I don’t know.” I ruminated.
“What do you know, lass?”
I shifted my stance and found my spine.
“I know you aren’t supposed to be here. And you haven’t yet answered the question of why you’re here.”
He frustratedly rubbed at his day old stubble that just added to his devilish sexiness. He turned to the side, as if he wanted to pace. We weren’t in a clearing, which made it difficult to move a foot without encountering an obstacle.
“I got information.”
Exasperatedly, I asked, “And what does that have to do with me? Don’t you have an empire to run?”
His body shifted and his focus again fell on me with an intensity only he could manage when he gave someone his full attention.
“This thing you found with the wires—” he began. “It was just the beginning. Someone is out to destroy me.”
I let out a laugh. “And I’m supposed to believe that?”
“Yes, you are.”
I waved a hand in the air. “Say that I do, so we can get this over with. Your company is wholly owned by you and not publicly traded. The Security Exchange Commission can only do so much. You’re free to spend company funds as you please. The worst you could get is a slap on the wrist and lose potential investors. What does that have to do with me?”