Can't Touch This (29 page)

Unfortunately, Kyle removes his hand and my senses fall back into place.  I furrow my brows.  “Has Jiles made a mess?”

“Nothing we can’t handle, right?  We make a great team, you and me,” he says, knocking me playfully with his elbow.  “We can pull off an impromptu meeting with a hundred clients.”

Although he’s smiling, I see the concern in his face.  He knows more than he’s telling.

“Well, it’s back to the drawing board.  There’s a lot to do,” I say.  Work’s not my priority at the moment.  My mind is on his full lips.  I wonder what they’d feel like brushing over mine.

“Let me check my voice mail, grab my client files, and I’ll meet you in the Larry Bird room to start from scratch.”  Kyle pulls me next to him for a half hug.

We break apart and I go to my desk for my conference folders.  I’m so lost in thoughts of trying to please LBJ coupled with the recognition of these forbidden feelings for Kyle that I bump into my cube, dropping Jiles’ package.

When I reach over to nab it, I read the address label.  It’s addressed to Little Baby Jesus’ parents in Mashpee, Massachusetts: 
Mary and Joseph Chancey.

“Jack!  Come quick!  You won’t believe this!”

But the irony is squashed when Janine, our receptionist, buzzes my intercom.

“Vanessa, there’s someone here to see you.  I’ve shown him to the Larry Bird conference room.”

I toss LBJ’s package to my desk and grab the meeting folders, a pen, and my Android.  God, I hope this visitor isn’t that annoying printer guy who calls every other day to “touch base.”

I step into the conference room and nearly gag on my hitched inhale.  My well-organized folders cascade to the floor.  Gulping hard, I will my tongue to form the right words as I look at the blue-eyed man leaning on the table in front of me.

“What the hell are you doing here, Rory?”

R
ory reaches for
the fallen folders without answering my question.  He casually layers the papers inside like it’s nothing at all.  Like it’s not a complete mindfuck to my entire system to see him.  At DigitalDirection.  In Boston.

Pulse flitting away rapidly, I find my voice and ask again, “I thought you were in jail.”

He pauses, thinks, and then speaks.  “I left Seattle.”

“Jumped bail, I bet.”

His non-answer is all the response I need.

“It’s good to see you, Vanessa,” he says with a slight lilt in his voice.

I take the offered stack of papers and cringe at his nearness.  “It’s
not
good to see you Rory.  Or should I say Rodney.”

He screws his face up, but smiles broadly.  “So you know about my... troubles.”

Reeling in the tumultuous flood waters of emotions I want to drown this guy in, I spit out, “Is that what you call abandoning your wife and child?”

He holds his hands up in front of him to deflect my words.  “Look, I can explain.  See, we got married because we had to.  Then the kid came and I had to—”

I step around and set the folders on the table.  “Not my problem, Rodney.”

Rory steps forward and pulls my hands toward him, lacing his large fingers through mine.  I fight him off until he won’t let me pull away.  “Stop being so adorable,” he says.

I refuse to laugh.

“You’re not welcome here,” I say firmly.

I glare up into his face.  The lines around his eyes aren’t from laughter like I’d originally thought.  They’re from the harsh life he’s been leading.  The blue irises seem less vivid and his skin appears tired and sallow.  I mentally berate myself for such mistaken judgment.  I can’t believe I ever saw anything in this man.  He can’t hold a candle to Kyle Nettles.  Panic rises in my throat and renders me speechless realizing what conference room I’m in and knowing that Kyle will be here any minute.  I have no idea how the hell will I explain Rory’s presence here when everyone in our industry knows of his arrest.  I’ve got to get rid of him.  “I want you to go.  Now.”

He reaches for me.  “Not until I explain.”

I shake my head and pull my hands away, tucking them into the pockets of my jeans so he won’t come looking for them again.  If he does, I’ll scream.

“Your explanation means nothing to me,” I say with my chin hitched in the air.  “I’m totally over you.  I was after that first trip to San Francisco.  I was going to break it off with you.  That was until you didn’t show.  Instead, I find out you’re married, have a kid, deserted your family in Indiana, and oh, and let’s not forget that you were shacking up with the SalesTracker receptionist and her kid that’s allegedly yours while cuddling with me.  Does that about sum it up?”  My heart is pounding ninety to nothing because my natural fight or flight mechanism kicks into overdrive.  I’ve had this conversation—this confrontation—in my mind a dozen times.  However, I never thought it would actually come to fruition.  “Tell me
Rodney
, did you try to seduce me simply to get a demo disk?”

Bested by my tongue-lashing, he runs his hands through his long blond hair that desperately needs trimming.  Guess life on the run doesn’t exactly call for an appointment at the salon.  Rory’s eyes zero in on mine.  “Look, it may have started out that way, but it changed.  I feel something for you.  I don’t want to lose you, Vanessa.”

I laugh sardonically.  “You never
had
me.”

“Sure I did.”

“We made out three times.  I’d hardly call that a relationship.  My libido was out of control and I took advantage of being on the road.  You paid attention to me, so I explored it.  There’s nothing else,” I say firmly, unblinking.

Damn, that sounded good if I do say so myself.  William and Griz would be proud of me.  I mean it, though.  Rodney Elmore is nothing.

He seems baffled.  “I want you to come with me.”

I scrunch up my face.  “Come with you?  Where?”

“I’m going to Mexico and I want you to come with me.”

I start laughing so hard that I begin to cough.  Rory moves to pat me on the back, but I stave him off.  Getting a good breath, I say, “I’m not going anywhere with you.  I have a job, friends, a life.  And you’re not part of it.  Go back to your wife, Rodney.”

He lunges at me and gathers me tightly in his arms.  “I want you.  There’s something about you, Vanessa Virtue.  You’re a challenge I can’t walk away from.  Come on, take a chance on me.  I’ve got a condo on the ocean in Acapulco.  It’ll be a
paradise bonita
.  No corporate games, no real-life responsibilities.  Just you, me, the sunshine, and enough cash to keep us happy for the rest of our lives.”

I’m not tempted by this for even one nanosecond.  Not in the least.  This man is bat-shit insane.  Off his rocker.  In need of heavy sedation or further jail time to get him right.  I want to make distance so I push away from his chest.  He resists.  I’m shaking profusely—not from fear or excitement—but from infuriation.  I want him gone.  Out of my life.  Permanently.

“I’m going to call the Washington State Attorney General and tell them where you are—”

He smirks at me and moves his face closer.  I can feel his breath.  “You’ll do no such thing.”

His lips capture mine fiercely, stopping my protestation.  For one millisecond, I relax, hoping to catch him off-guard, but he takes that as an opening and plunges his tongue into my mouth.  I struggle to gain control from this onslaught.  I don’t want him.  I don’t want anything to do with him.

The taste of him is like bile in my mouth.  All of the lies.  All of the deceit.  It’s piled together in a heap of disgust that I want to spit out and run away from.

I’m about to deliver a hearty knee-jerk to Rory’s privates when the door to the conference room opens and I hear, “I got a couple of Kit-Kats thinking we needed the energy and—”

Rory lets me go and we both turn to see Kyle standing there, mouth agape and eyes wide.  His jaw tightens.  “Vanessa?”

Holy Mother of God.  “Kyle, I didn’t know—I mean, I know this looks—”

“What do you think it looks like?” he asks.

My silence betrays me.

Kyle advances.  “Okay, I’ll tell you then.  It looks like you’re making out with the guy from SalesTracker in one of our company conference rooms.”

I shove hard on Rory’s chest, dislodging from his embrace.  I’ve got to show Kyle I mean what I say.  Without hesitation, I haul back and connect my clenched fist hard on Rory’s cheek.  He grunts loudly, doubles over, and covers his face that immediately turns crimson with my knuckle print.

Pain sears through my hand and I think I’ve broken something.  “Dammit!  That hurt.”

Kyle’s mouth hangs open.

I glare at Rory.  “I told you twice to get the hell out of here, Rory.  Do it.  Now.

He chuckles sardonically.  “I take it that means you’re not coming to Mexico with me.  Your loss.”

Hands on hips, I say, “No loss at all, jerk.”

Rory brushes past me and he never looks back.  A floodgate of relief hurries out of my every pore.  I shake my throbbing fist and think I handled that appropriately enough.

But Kyle looks ever so disappointed in me.

“What was that all about?  I heard that guy was in jail.”

“He jumped bail,” I explain.

“And came here?  Why?”

Embarrassed, I whisper, “For me.”

Kyle’s handsome face pales.  “You and Ellery?”

“It was just a road fling.  Nothing happened.  Well, except the whole thing with the demo disk.”  I slap my hand to my mouth, not believing I let that tidbit of information escape.

Kyle’s own mouth gapes open.  “
You
gave SaleTracker your demo disk?”

“No!  God, no!  He stole it from me when he was in my hotel room.”  Shit!  From the look on Kyle’s face, that wasn’t a much better thing to admit.

“He was in your—”  He stops.  Kyle flattens his lips and takes a step back.  “You’re not the person I thought you were, Vanessa.”

“Really, it’s not—”

My words collide in the back of my throat.  The look of utter disappointment crossing Kyle’s handsome face is almost enough to make me want to go fling myself out into the middle of traffic on Storrow Drive.  He’s right.  I’m not who he thought I was.

“I just don’t know what to say,” he finally speaks up in the deafening silence between us.

Although Kyle and I aren’t an item, the guilt is overwhelming.  “I’m so sorry, Kyle.”

He holds his hand up to stop my word.  “You don’t owe me an explanation.”

“I want to explain.”

Kyle shakes his head.  “No.  That’s all right.  I totally misjudged you.  I thought you were different.  I thought you were a nice girl.”

Pleading, I advance on him and reach for his wrists.  “I
am
a nice girl.  The thing with Rory was completely stupid—”

His demeanor quickly shifts from disillusionment to rage like flipping on a light switch.

“Don’t make excuses.  Miss Go By the Company Handbook.  I see, it’s okay for you to sleep with the enemy, but not go out with me.  If you didn’t like me, you could have said so.”

My ears ring and I sense I’m going to pass out from the fear of Kyle never speaking to me again.  “You’ve got it all wrong, Kyle.  I
never
slept with Rory.”

“Semantics, Vanessa.”  He wrestles his wrists free like he’s been burned by a hot pan.  “I’ve been putting forth an effort when it comes to you—apparently under a false impression.  Unwise of me.  You’re not who I thought you were.  Good thing I found out before it was too late.”

With that, Kyle turns and exits the conference room, leaving me shrouded in guilt, shame, and loneliness.

Hot tears burn around the edges of my eyes threatening to fall in steady streams down my cheeks.  I bite my lip and buck up.  It’s all a terrible misunderstanding.  I’ll give it some time.  Things will blow over and it will be all right.  Kyle has to forgive me.  He has to.

Of course, as if everything else in my world isn’t already askew on its axis, Jack pops up from his cube and says, “Where have you been?”

“Dealing with my stupid life.”

He stands tall.  “Yeah, well the crap hit the fan.  You know how Aislin took two extra weeks of maternity leave?”

“Yeah, so?”

“Well, Jiles and Nancy called her in to tell her that since she didn’t return on time, they’ve eliminated her position.”

I close my eyes and rub my face with my hands.

I don’t know how this can get any worse.

A
 week later,
I flop on the couch at home in sheer exhaustion and disgust.  Everything sucks.  Work is killing me with the twelve-hour days and no lunch.  Kyle won’t look at me—won’t speak to me—so I’ve been on my own finalizing the Denver meeting.  Jiles dumped most of Aislin’s responsibilities on me with no additional pay.  And to top it all off, I’ve lost my concentration so much that I almost forgot my upcoming birthday.

Twenty-six.  My mom was twenty-six when she had me.  That sounds so old.  Not a kid anymore.  Old enough not to be in this mess with Kyle, Rory, and the ugly truth of my tryst on company time. Old enough to right the wrongs.

The front door bangs open and I hear footsteps and laughter headed my way.

William holds up two large bottles of Pinot Grigio.  “Just what the doctor ordered.”

Griz slips in behind him with two boxes from the Greek place around the corner in her hand.  “And I brought reinforcements.”

Mia follows them with a large chocolate cake.  “I’m actually giving up a night of studying for you, Vanessa.”

“Thanks you guys.  Just what I need.  Carbs, grease, sugar, and alcohol.”

We eat the greasy mess of mushrooms, pepperoni, and onions (who cares if I have bad breath) and pound back glasses of the chilled white wine.  Mia got the cake at a Portuguese bakery and it tastes like it’s fresh from some grandmother’s kitchen.  I’m starting to feel better already thanks to the prescription for friendship.

William licks sauce off his finger and then gasps.  “I think we need to go out and celebrate your birthday for real tomorrow night.”

“I couldn’t agree more,” Griz says.

“Count me out,” Mia says as she picks up the empty pizza box.  She bends down and kisses me on top of the head.  “You know I love you, girl, but studying comes first.”