His Secretive Lover (The Thorpe Brothers) (13 page)

His eyes narrowed because he knew what she was doing.  “
You’re never going to avoid my phone calls again, never going to ignore me for any reason.  When you’re mad at me or have a problem, we’ll work it out together.”  He waited for his words to sink in before he continued, “And you’re going to meet me for dinner tonight.  At Antoine’s and we’re not going to sneak out of the building and go several blocks out of our way to find out who might be tailing you or me or both of us, agreed?”

Cricket wanted to agree to this, but she simply couldn’t.  “Um…could we go to maybe…
?”

“No,” he interrupted her
resolutely.  “We’re going to Antoine’s and you’re going to listen to what I have to say.  And anyone who might be trying to find us will have to make a reservation there as well.”

She cringed at the idea, knowing that her father was extremely creative at getting into and out of places.  “I’ll be there.”

“Good,” he said, knowing that she hadn’t agreed to the route of getting to the restaurant, only that she would arrive there and possibly eat dinner with him.  He was going to understand what’s going on in her life, even if it drove him crazy trying to figure it out.  “I’ll see you at seven then.”

With that, he released her and moved away, but at the last moment, he came right back and pulled her into his arms, bent down and kissed her so completely that she was clinging to him by the time he lifted his head again.  She almost whimpered when he stepped backwards and she had to hold onto the desk to keep her balance. 

Just as she suspected, as soon as the door was opened, Josie, Debbie and Allyson were standing at the door, obviously trying to hear what was going on.  Their mouths literally dropped open when they first saw Ryker walk through the doorway.  He nodded politely to them, saying a charming, “Ladies,” before he moved on down the hallway and out of her line of sight. 

The three women crowded into Cricket’s office, all of them demanding information in very loud
, very adamant voices. 

Cricket stared at the three
women for a long moment, her eyes bouncing from one woman to the next as they popped one question after another at her. 

After several minutes of this, s
he raised her hands in an attempt to halt, or just slow their barrage of questions, but she stopped when she heard a gasp from Allyson. 

“What’s that!” she demanded, grabbing Cricket’s hand while all three women bent over to view the gorgeous, large diamond on her finger. 

“Did he give this to you?” they demanded.  “Is he the reason you looked so horrible last week?” “Is he the reason you’ve ditched us so often over the past few weeks?” “I would have chosen him over us as well!” They were saying over the top of each other, oohing and ahhing over the ring.  “Who is he?”

Cricket pulled her hand away, curling her fingers up so that the ring couldn’t slip off of her finger.  She’d completely forgotten about the ring because of Ryker’s kiss or she never would have been so forgetful. 

Before she could explain anything to her friends, they heard their boss’s voice down the hallway, yelling for someone to bring him one thing or another.  With a sigh of irritation, the three ladies rolled their eyes and filed out of Cricket’s office, ready to start the work day and get the commanded items for their boss.  Obviously, her boss hadn’t entered his office yet or he’d be yelling for a whole other reason. 

Any other day, she’d be anticipating his wrath but not today.  She had too many other issues on her mind.

Cricket sat down behind her desk and immediately pulled a stack of invoices forward.  She had to input all of them, ensure that they were accurate, and then get them paid.  She let her fingers fly over the keyboard and was finished with the stack in record time, ignoring Jason’s bellow of outrage as he tore the wrapping paper off of his office furniture.  All the while, her mind was frantically trying to come up with an answer for Ryker, an explanation that he might believe and would be as close to the truth as possible without him hating her in the end. 

She didn’t release any of the invoices, knowing that she wasn’t focusing enough which would make her accuracy plummet, but she pulled another stack
of invoices forward, needing the mindless task so the other part of her brain could work through the earlier conversation with Ryker.  He didn’t seem to be angry but he also didn’t know the whole story.  And truthfully, the video didn’t reveal anything of her identity, so how could Ryker know it was her who had fallen through the ceiling?

She considered all sorts of explanations throughout the day.  She even forgot about grabbing something for lunch but a sandwich arrived on her desk, delivered by the receptionist at two o’clock that afternoon.  “What’s this?” she asked.

Sally, the receptionist, smiled at Cricket.  “It was just delivered by messenger.  Which is odd because a female called about an hour ago asking if you’d gone out for lunch.”

Cricket stared at the sandwich and smiled.  “Thanks,” she said, unable to tear her eyes away from the sweet, considerate gesture.  Ryker!  The man was trying to soften her up, she thought as she unwrapped the sandwich.  And it was even a turkey on rye with the special mustard she liked so much!  They’d only gone out for lun
ch once, but he’d remembered exactly what she liked.   

She ate up her sandwich and then sighed with the feeling of fullness and happiness t
hat surrounded her.  She didn’t even realize what she was doing until she was standing in the lobby of Ryker’s law firm.  “Is there any chance I could speak with Ryker Thorpe?” she asked nervously. 

The receptionist smiled and picked up the phone.  “Do you have an appointment?” she asked. 

Cricket shook her head, biting her lip.  “I don’t.  But just tell him Cricket is here to see him if he has a moment.  It isn’t important so if he’s…”

The door to the lobby opened up and a very sophisticated middle aged woman stepped out.  “Ms. Fairchild?” she asked, extending her hand.  “I’m Joan, Mr. Thorpe’s assistant.  Would you like to come this way?” she asked, holding the door open for Cricket.

Cricket had already shaken the woman’s hand but her mind was still reeling from the efficiency of her sudden appearance in the lobby.  She stepped towards the woman’s hand, looking back at the receptionist.  “How did you…”

The woman laughed softly.  “
No, I don’t have any superpowers,” she replied.  “I was passing by and Diane, the receptionist typed in your name.  I just received it a moment ago and was passing by the lobby.  It was just good timing that you arrived at the same time.”

Cricket sighed, relieved that the woman wasn’t that fast and efficient.  That was spooky!  “Is Ryker busy?  I don’t want to interrupt him.”

“He just stepped into a meeting, but I don’t think he’ll mind if I pull him out for you. In fact, I’m guessing that he would be very upset if you stopped by and I didn’t let him know,” she said with a smile, opening a door to Ryker’s large, luxurious office.  “You can wait in here.  Would you like some tea or coffee?” she asked.

Cricket quickly shook her head.  “No, but really, you don’t need to pull him out of his meeting.  I don’t…”
Cricket wasn’t really even sure what she was going to say to him.  Yesterday, she’d been desolate that she couldn’t see him anymore, today she’d been caught and they hadn’t resolved a single thing. 

“It’s no problem,” Joan smiled.  She was already typing on her cell phone and a moment later, the door to the conference room across the hallway opened up and Ryker steppe
d through the doorway.  The man literally took her breath away as he approached her.  She couldn’t tear her eyes off of him and she didn’t realize that she was smiling as he walked towards her. 

“Thanks Joan,” he said as he passed by her.  But he
closed the door a moment before he took her into his arms and kissed her. 

Once again, he didn’t stop until Cricket’s arms were wrapped around those enormous shoulders, pressing her body against his, demonstrating her need for him to continue with his attentions. 

“You came here on your own,” he growled low and husky when he lifted his head finally. 

“You sent me a sandwich,” she replied with a growing smile
and an expanding feeling that this was right.  Surely there was some way to work Ryker into her life without jeopardizing her parent’s freedom! 

His eyes turned serious. “I suspected you would be too
worried about the file and dinner tonight to remember to have some lunch.  And I doubt you had any breakfast, did you?” he asked. 

She smiled shyly up at him, her mind frantically trying to come to terms with the problems they were facing together.  But that was for later.  Right now, she just enjoyed being in his arms again. 
“No. You’re right.  And you’re very sweet to have thought about me.  I know you’re extremely busy.  Did I break up an important meeting?” she asked, not even bothering to peer around his shoulders because they were too broad. 

“They can wait.”

She laughed, feeling giddy with his arms around her.  In fact, his touch and being in his arms felt so perfectly “right”, she made a snap decision right there.  She’d work it out with her mother and father.  Somehow, she’d make this work.  “I’ll tell you everything tonight,” she assured him.  With that decision made, she felt a huge weight lifted from her shoulders and she reached up to kiss him.  He wasn’t going to let her get away with the simple peck she’d intended and bent lower, deepening the kiss.  He groaned and finally lifted his head.  “I’ll walk you out,” he said to her.  “Maybe I can introduce you to one or more of your future brothers-in-law.”

Cricket didn’t like the sound of that, but she figured if she was going to tell him about her past and her family, she might as well at least meet his brothers. 

He put a hand to the small of her back as he led her through the office.  They went down an elegant staircase and into a room filled with people bustling about in some sort of hurried fashion.  “That’s Ash over there,” he said, pointing to a man who was, shockingly, taller than Ryker. 

“That’s your brother?” she demanded, her eyes gawking at the huge man. 

Ryker looked at Ash, then back down at Cricket’s astonished gaze.  “Yes.  Why?”

She shook her head.  “I didn’t think they made them any bigger than you.”  She laughed when she looked up and noticed Ryker’s half smile.  “Are all of your brothers your size?” she asked. 

“Yes.  You have a lot to look forward to,” he said and winked down at her. 

She was just about to greet Ryker’s brother when a picture
in the man’s hand caught her eye.  “Are you having me followed?” she demanded of Ryker who was walking right behind her, a look of mild irritation on his handsome features with her question.

Ryker looked back at her sharply. 
“Why would you ask that?” he demanded.  He looked over at the file Ash was holding and something clicked in his mind.  “Do you know the man in that photograph?” he asked, taking the file folder from his youngest brother and handing it to her so she could see the pictures more clearly. 

Cricket glared up at Ryker, wondering if all of her tension
this morning had been for nothing.  She looked back at the smiling couple in the picture that was paper-clipped to a heavy file folder, thinking about how much she’d disliked them the previous day, her irritation increasing as she lifted the photo up higher. “These two people are the heads of the charity my boss wants me to look into as a tax deduction.  I was with them yesterday afternoon.  Are you telling me you haven’t had someone following me?” 

Ash stepped in front of the blond beauty but his brothe
r pushed him out of the way and put his arm around her protectively.  Ash didn’t have time to castigate his oldest brother right at the moment.  He had to clarify this latest twist.  “I don’t know who you are…” he started to say.

Ryker interrupted him
, not willing to let his youngest brother be rude to his fiancée, but also suspecting that Cricket wouldn’t want their relationship broadcast just yet.  Even that suspicion irritated him because he wanted to shout it out to everyone that this was his woman, partly because he wanted to claim her as his own but also so she couldn’t get away from him like she had over the past week.  Instead, he said, “This is Cricket Fairchild.  She’s one of my clients.”

Cricket
smothered a secret smile.  “Okay, so now that we’ve established who I am,” she said, relieved that Ryker hadn’t announced their relationship to everyone, especially since they needed to talk about that video and he needed to hear everything she had to tell him tonight over dinner before he announced anything to his brothers, “would someone mind telling me why you are investigating the person that I’m investigating?”

Cricket hadn’t noticed before because of all the confusion, but there were four police officers and a very nervous
, very pretty brunette standing behind Ash Thorpe, all of whom were shifting forward, and they all seemed inordinately interested in the two people in the picture.  The police officer stepped in at that moment, taking charge of the problem.  “Ma’am, are you telling me that you were with this man yesterday afternoon?”

Cricket nodded her head, causing her blond curls to dance merrily around her stunning features
and the police officer blushed slightly under her direct, green gaze.  “Isn’t that what I just said?  It was a lunch meeting at their request,” she explained. “He ordered steak and she had some sort of disgusting fish meal.”