Kyle's Return (28 page)

He glanced down at the knife and smiled, but it was
sad. “Thaddeus. It was my father’s middle name as well. He’s the
one who gave it to me.”

I closed the knife. “Are you sure you want me to take
it? I know it must mean a lot to you.”

“It does, but I’d feel much better if you kept it
with you.”

“Thank you.” Wrapping his arms around me, he held me
tight and kissed me, long and hard. “Remember, whatever I say or do
is just part of the plan. You can’t let your temper get the best of
you.”

“Easier said than done, but I’m a big boy. Let’s get
this shit over with.”

***

Four Days Later

I THOUGHT SPENDING a week alone would be easy,
but it was really terrifying. Pretending not to look over my
shoulder at every turn was hard. I thought Alex would have made a
move by now but he was biding his time. I’d given him plenty of
opportunities to come after me, and it was driving me insane. The
worst part was seeing Kyle at the gym. I wanted to talk to him, but
I kept my mouth shut, even when some of our women patrons flirted
and touched him. We were playing our parts, but it sucked giant
monkey balls.

Kyle taught our Monday self-defense lesson while I
went home to sit by myself. Mason had filled Tyler in on the whole
plan so he’d know what Kyle and I were up to. It’d been four days
and I still had the rest of the week to endure. At least, we were
able to text and talk on the phone.

“You look like you’re going to kill someone,” Tyler
teased. “If I recall correctly, wasn’t this something you agreed
to?”

I glared up at him and then at Kyle who again got
stopped by a woman needing help turning on her treadmill. When he
leaned over to take a look at it, she stuck her fucking tits in his
face. Squeezing my eyes shut, I nodded and clenched my teeth. “I
did, but I didn’t think there would be women throwing their shit in
his face the second he stopped paying attention to me.”

“It looks like someone’s jealous,” he chuckled. “But
I think he’s feeling the same way. I seem to recall Jared and
Patrick laying it on pretty heavy the other night. Kyle was
furious. There’s a hole in the storage closet wall, if you want to
take a look.”

“Really?”

He nodded. “Yep. Speaking of which, while you’re in
there, grab me three rolls of tape. I need to make a phone call
really quick.”

“Sure,” I said, getting up from my desk. He took my
place and picked up the phone while I headed toward the back. I
walked right by Kyle with my head held high and clenched my fists
when I could hear the woman flirting with him. Once out of sight, I
rushed to the storage room and slammed the door. I didn’t want to
leave, but unfortunately, I couldn’t hide forever.

I groaned when I spotted the tape rolls on the very
top shelf. “What the fuck. Don’t you bastards know I’m a lot
shorter than you?” I grumbled. Climbing the shelves, I didn’t get
too far before I was grabbed around my waist and pulled down with a
hand over my mouth.

“Don’t scream, it’s just me,” Kyle whispered quickly
in my ear.

He let me go and I punched him hard in the arm. “What
the hell are you doing? You almost gave me a heart attack.”

“I’m sorry, but these last few days have been
hell.”

“You seem to be managing pretty well. It’s amazing
how fast those women pounce once they think you’re available.”

His gaze narrowed. “The same can be said for
you.”

“Yeah, I heard you punched a hole in the wall. Tyler
told me to come in here and see it. You know you’re going to have
to pay to fix it.” Glancing around the room, I failed to see the
hole.

“Can’t find it?”

I shook my head. “Did you fix it already?”

Smirking, he grabbed me around the waist. “I just had
Tyler say that so I could get you alone in here.” Lowering his lips
to my neck, I melted in his arms.

“Why did you want to do that?” I murmured
breathlessly.

He grasped the waistband of my shorts and slid them
down my legs along with my underwear. “It’s been way too fucking
long without being able to touch you.”

Picking me up in his arms, I straddled his waist as
he carried me over to a table sitting in the corner. Dropping his
shorts to the floor, his cock was hard and ready. I’d dreamt of him
fucking me this morning and woke up touching myself. That was how
bad I needed him. As soon as his lips were on mine, I lost all
control.

“Please, Kyle. I need to feel you inside me.”

He rubbed the tip of his cock at my opening. “So
wet,” he moaned in delight. “We don’t have much time.” With those
last words, he thrust in as far as he could go and closed his lips
over mine to silence my cries. It felt like he was everywhere
inside me. His hands caressed my body. I was so close. When my
orgasm peaked, I latched on to his bottom lip and held him tight as
he too released, trembling between my legs. It felt so fucking good
that I didn’t want to let go.

We stayed there for a few minutes—still connected—as
we caught our breath. He pulled away first and lifted up his shorts
before grabbing a couple of clean towels that were sitting in one
of the baskets. When I stood, he helped clean me off and fetched my
shirt that had somehow ended up on the floor.

“Do we have to go back out there?” I asked.

“I’m afraid we do.” He reached up, grabbed some tape
rolls and handed them to me. “We’ve already been gone long enough.
But,” he added with a mischievous smile, “how about we meet in here
sometime tomorrow? You think you can get away for a few
minutes?”

“For you, always.”

Grabbing the back of my neck, he held me close and
kissed me. “Until then, love.” After straightening up his clothes,
he opened the door and waltzed out. I gave it a few more seconds
before I ventured out. With the rolls of tape in hand, I sauntered
down the hallway and out into the gym. Tyler was still at my desk,
not paying attention to me at all as I walked up.

“Here’s your tape,” I pointed out, setting them down
on the desk.

Keeping his head down, I could see the sly smile
spread across his face. “It sure did take you a while.”

“Well, if someone didn’t set them so high on the
shelf maybe I could get to them easier.”

“I’m sure you managed to get some help. Just don’t
make it a habit.”

The heat rose to my cheeks and I blushed. I glanced
back at Kyle who winked wickedly at me and smiled. Once the mess
with Alex was over and Kyle and I could get back to a normal life,
we needed to visit the storage room more often.

***

“MEG, DO YOU need more boxes up there?” Nic
called from downstairs.

My room was a mess but once the weekend was up I’d
have all of my things packed and ready to move to Kyle’s.
“
Yes,
” I shouted. “I need about three more.” Kyle was going
to shit a brick when he saw how much stuff I had.

Nicole marched up the stairs and nudged my door open
with her foot. I couldn’t see her face because it was covered
behind boxes. She dropped them on the floor and blew out a breath.
Her hair was a tangled mess and she still had on the same pair of
yoga pants and T-shirt from the night before, just like me. What I
really needed was a shower. We both had worked nonstop the past
couple of days to get the house packed up. “There ya go,
chickadee.”

I giggled. “Thanks. Are you working tonight?”

“Yep, which means you’ll be on your own. You okay
with that?”

“I’ll be fine. I’m just going to take a nice, long
shower and watch some movies.” Tyler had let me take today off and
a couple of days the following week so I could move my stuff into
Kyle’s house.

“Sounds good to me. Just keep the gun near. Have you
heard from Mason?”

I shook my head. “Not today. He’ll call at some point
to give me an update.”

Sighing, she ran a hand through her strawberry blonde
curls and her hand got stuck. “Okay, I think that’s my cue to take
a shower. I’ll say goodbye before I head to work.”

“All right, stinky.”

She snorted and started down the hall. “You’re one to
talk, Miss Greasy Hair.”

“Oh whatever, it’s not good to wash it every day,” I
hollered.

The door to her bedroom shut but I could hear her
laughing. I could also hear my phone ringing but couldn’t find it
through all the mess. It ended up being stuck underneath a pile of
old clothes on my bed. I guess it was time for my daily
checkup.

“Lay it on me,” I said, answering the phone.

“Yeah, I don’t know what to think at this point.”

I sat down on my bed. “What do you mean?”

“Alex left town. Early this morning, he was spotted
putting some luggage in his car and is now headed southeast. I
would’ve called sooner but I wanted to make sure.”

“Where is he now?”

“Santa Fe, New Mexico.”

“Oh wow. Do you think he’ll come back?”

“Not sure. I’ll keep you posted on his position.”

“Thanks, Mason. Have you seen Greg at all?”

He sighed. “No, but I do find it strange. He hasn’t
even been to work. I couldn’t find any relatives to contact.”

“That is strange,” I agreed.

“Right now, however, there’s nothing we can do until
we have solid proof he’s our hacker. My only concern is that I
can’t keep someone following Alex forever.”

“I know, and I appreciate everything you’ve done for
me. I guess I’m just going to have to live the rest of my life
looking over my shoulder.”

“I’m sorry, Megan. I know that’s not what you want,
but I really thought this plan would work.”

“It’s okay, we tried. Just keep me posted.” We said
our goodbyes and I dialed Kyle right away.

“Hey, sexy,” he said, answering the phone.

I giggled. “Hey, stud. What are you doing?”

I could hear voices in the background and Zane’s loud
mouth right near him. “Taking a break from kicking Zane’s ass. You
done packing yet?”