CHISELED (A BAD BOY ROMANCE) (5 page)

I snapped my mouth
shut.

“Who the hell do
you think you are?” He walked toward me, holding one of his hands in the air.
“Do you know who I am? Do you know where you are? You’re at one of the most
powerful places of business in the world,” he sneered, showing off a chipped
tooth in the side of his mouth I hadn’t noticed before. “We eat little wannabe
journalists like you up for breakfast and spit them out just for fun so I’d
watch your step, Ms. Young, before you get shoved off a cliff.”

He was so close
to me that I could feel his breath on my neck. He was too close, too angry. A
flashback of last night flashed into my head; that big guy on top of me,
grabbing me. He wanted to make me his. Suddenly, I felt a little lightheaded.

I stumped back
a few feet but a pair of strong arms jolted me upright again. “Enough,”
Braden’s growls from behind me. When had he gotten here? Heat flashed up and
down my body and the space between my legs started to tingle.

His touch made me
grow wet so fast.

Ugh, what had
gotten into me?

I tried to move
out of his touch but my body felt more threatened by the thought of being away
from him than the thought of being near him. What? No, I can’t stand him. I
yanked out of his grip more forcefully than I intended and he shot me a
surprised glance.

I opened my mouth
to speak but it was pointless, his attention was already away from me again.
“That’s enough, James.” He addressed the bearded man again, using his name this
time. He was right in his face, so close that if Braden were my boyfriend and
James were a woman, I’d be uncomfortable with it.

The adrenalin that
consumed Braden’s body was so evident that I felt nervous. He looked like he
wanted to snap James by the neck and then shove him off a cliff. I wanted to do
something, to say something, but I was paralyzed just like I had been the night
before. Too scared to take any action.

Braden clutched
his fist at his side.

He was going to
hit him. I could feel it.

“Braden.” Troy was
next to him within seconds. He set his hand on Braden’s shoulder and a light
bulb went off in his head. Or at least a light flickered because Braden is
smoothing out his suit jacket, trying to regain his composure even though I can
still see the rage in his eyes.

Braden looked at
Troy and nodded. “You,” he said to James. “Meet me in my office in ten
minutes.”

“But-“

“Just do it,”
Braden snapped.

The room was
completely silent.

James turned
around and threw his hands up in the air but left the room anyway. Braden
watched him go then spun around and put his arm on my elbow, guiding me toward
the door on the other side of the room. “And you come with me.”

I tried to twist
out of his grasp but he was too strong.

“Braden?” Troy
sounded confused now.

“Give me a
minute,” Braden told him, the anger now gone from his voice.

He closed the door
behind him once we were out in the hallway and I tore myself out of his grasp
like the idea of him repulsed me even though all it did was make me want to
drop to my knees and surrender my body to him.

“Let go of me,” I
gasped. “You’re hurting me.”

He towered over me
like a hunter over his prey, looking at me like I was a piece of meat he had to
carve. “Addison, this is very inappropriate.” His eyes drifted down to my
blouse. “You can’t just be showing up at my office like this.”

I opened my mouth
to speak but he reached out and started fiddling with the collar of my garment
before he ran his fingers down my neck and buttoned the top button of my shirt.
“Now, if you wanted to talk to me, you should have just used the card I gave
you to call the office.”

I wanted to yell
at him and call him all the nasty names I had been thinking he was all day but
my body was too paralyzed by his touch. What was wrong with him? Why was he
smoothing out my clothes and adjusting my buttons?

And why didn’t I
want him to stop?

My eyes were still
on his hands even after he pulled them away from my body. “Now, I’m aware of
the effect I have on woman so I’m not going to hold this against you but I
think it’s time for you to go now.” He stuck his hands inside the pocket of his
dress pants and looked down at me intently with his blue eyes.

Was he kidding? He
thought I was here because I was obsessed with him! Why in the world had that
surprised me? I forced my eyes away from his large hands and up to his deep
gaze. I shook my head forcefully and told myself to snap the hell out of it.

Braden Nash was an
asshole.

“You jerk!” I
blurted out without thinking, and then I took a step away from him about five
minutes too late. “You think I’m here because I’m interested in you? Please!” I
tried to laugh sarcastically but I was pretty sure it sounded more like a
chicken squawking than a real laugh.

Braden raised his
eyebrows, looking amused. “You aren’t?”

“Please,” I
huffed. “Don’t flatter yourself.” I shoved my hands on my hips as more of a way
to steady myself than an actual sign of confidence. “I’m here to get back what
you took from me!”

He didn’t even
have the decency to look guilty.

“The glove!” I
spat at him after a few more beats of silence.

He frowned. “What
glove?”

I narrowed my eyes
at him. “Oh, please, don’t what glove me. You know exactly what glove I’m
talking about.” I unfolded my hands, crossing them over my chest. “And I know
exactly why you took it too!”

A reaction came
over his face but I wasn’t sure if it was because he was hiding something or
because he just thought I was the most insane woman he had ever met.

He shook his head
and turned his back on me. “Look, I don’t know if this is some weird new way to
get a man’s attention but I’m much to busy to entertain such little girl games,
Addison.”

His tone made me
feel like a child again.

I charged after
him, barely keeping up. “The only one playing games here is you, Mr. Nash.”

He stopped in the
middle of the hall and I crashed into the back of him, unable to control my
footing so quickly. He turned around slowly, like the sound of his name coming
from my lips was strange to him.

His eyes darted up
and down my body and a thrill shot through me.

He titled his
perfect head to the side.

I exhaled a breath
I didn’t know I was holding in.

“Look.” I bit my
lip. “You can have the story. I want the story to come out. I just want to make
sure that it gets reflected in the right way, I want to be a part of it. I’m
not going to let what happened to Mr. Washington happen to him, he deserves to
be glorified.”

Braden doesn’t say
anything, His lips curled up around the edges. “You need to leave before I call
security.”

Anger overwhelmed
my body. He was going to make him look like some dangerous maniac. The whole
city would be worked up about a psychotic man in a green-eyed mask stalking the
citizens. They would try to hunt him down and destroy him and it would be my
fault entirely.

I pushed back the
emotions forming behind my eyes. “Fine,” I whispered. “I’ll go. You think not
having a silly glove is going to stop me from letting the world know what
happened to me last night? What he saved me from?” I shook my head. “A man like
you would never hit on a woman in the middle of a coffee shop, you know I’m on
to something and you’re scared that I’m going to beat you to the punch and you
should be.” I spun around. “Because I’m coming for you.”

“You’re right.” I
had almost reached the door before he spoke.

I practically
jumped. “I… what?”

He walked toward
me, closing the distance much faster than I could have. “You’re right, I’m not
the kind of man who needs to hit on woman in the middle of a coffee shop. I
don’t need to and I don’t, I’m not interested in you.”

“Clearly,” I
huffed and tried to ignore the sinking feeling in my stomach at the confession.

“But I don’t know
anything about a glove either.”

I sighed. “Okay,
I’ll bite. Then what did you want?”

“I wanted to hire
you. We received your application and I like to screen all my new hires myself,
especially when they are going to be working right under me. It’s better to
have a conversation with them in an open environment, see how they react to
everyday situations.”

A job? He wanted
to give me a job?

My heart leaped
into my throat. A job? I needed a job desperately. I didn’t even remember
filling out an application to get hired here, but I filled out a lot of
applications, mostly from posts on websites. I definitely could have applied
here. In fact, now that he mentioned it, I think I did apply here.

Dread overwhelmed
by body. One of the richest companies in the city wanted to offer me a job and
I had come charging in here and insulted the most powerful man in LA.

“I…” My mouth hung
open and my eyes grew wide.

He nodded. “Great,
I’ll see you tomorrow morning then. Seven, sharp.”

He was already
walking away from me before I was able to form any type of response. “You still
want me?” I choked out.

He turned around
to face me, his eyebrows raised and I felt a flush creep into my cheeks. “I
mean, you still want me to work for you? Not that you would want me in any
other way…”

“Tomorrow,” he
said firmly.

And then he was
gone.

Chapter Nine

BRADEN

“Hayden really
isn’t going to like this.”

I took a sip out
of my drink and glanced around the restaurant to make sure no one was listening
to us. Troy’s voice had a way of traveling. “I don’t give a shit what my sister
likes or doesn’t like. This is my company, in case you forgot, and this is my…
journey.” I trailed off due to lack of better words.

“Your journey?”
Troy looked skeptical. “You aren’t on a journey, Braden, you’re creeping around
the city at night rescuing helpless woman in the middle of the night.”

The waiter came
over and set our food in front of us then, I waited until he was a safe
distance away before I answered. “I rescue some men, too. And implying that
women need to be rescued is a very sexist statement.”

He cut deeply into
his steak. “Oh, please, don’t try to get away from the issue here. Hayden is
going to flip the hell out when she finds out about this and you know it.”

 
“What was I supposed to do? The woman is
completely unreasonable.”

“You were supposed
to call security and get her the hell out of there!”

I sighed. “You
didn’t hear her, Troy, she isn’t going to let this go. At least now I can keep
her close, keep an eye on her and what the hell she’s up to.” My phone buzzed
in my pocket and I ignored it when I saw Hayden’s number on the screen.

“Hey.” He shook
his head. “You don’t have to explain shit to me, I always got your back and you
know that. Hayden on the other hand…”

“Let me worry
about my sister.” I popped a piece of potato into my mouth.

“You don’t worry
enough about her, that’s the problem. She’s just as crazy as most women.”

“Sexist.”

Troy rolled his
eyes. “What the hell kind of job did you offer her anyway?”

I shrugged. “Who
knows? Who cares? From the looks of her Internet search history she’s desperate
for anything. She can be my secretary.”

“You already have
a secretary.”

“So I’ll have
another one.”

“Well, you’re
going to have to tell Hayden sooner or later, you know that right? I need her
help getting past the firewalls to actually create a fake application from your
crazy new friend.”

“Yeah, sure.” But
I was barely listening to him now. My eyes were focused on a couple across the
room. The guy was leaning really close to the girl, his teeth gritted and his
stare cold. She looked terrified and a second later my suspiciousness was
proved right when he reached up and wrapped his hand around her arm and she
flinched.

I pushed my plate
away from me and leaned forward.

Troy followed my
gaze and let out a heavy sigh. “And here I thought it was going to be a normal
night.”

Chapter Ten

ADDISON

Walking into Nash
Enterprise as an official employee was one of the most terrifying feelings in
the world. Not terrifying like someone breaking into your house in the middle
of the night and trying to kill you… more of a nervous terrifying. I had been
tossing and turning all night so I was pretty sure I looked like death.

I’d gone out last
night and spent the little money I had left on a new outfit. I had really tried
to go for business casual but I wasn’t sure I had nailed it exactly right, I
really needed to make a good impression since I had already pissed off the head
of the company and insulted him in more ways than one.

I needed a fresh
start. I needed this job.

I wasn’t going to
screw it up.

And maybe, just
maybe, if I was able to get through to him then Braden Nash would decide that
publishing my story on the green masked man was something that he was interested
in.

The thought of
putting my hunt on hold for my mysterious hero made me feel a little sick to my
stomach, like he might somehow think that he was less important to me. But I
wasn’t going to be any good to him or anyone else if I was living on the street
and I refused to ask my mother for any money.

I smoothed my new
black skirt out as the elevator crept further up.

This was it: my
fresh start.

The doors opened
and I took a step forward then proceeded to trip over the change in flooring
and almost fall flat on my face. A few women who were walking by stopped to
stare at me. One whispered something to the other before continuing off on
their way.

Great, I had
walked back into high school.

Someone cleared
their throat behind me.

I spun around and
came face to face with Braden.

Unbelievable, he
was making me lose my composure even when I didn’t know he was present. I held
my hand out to him. “Braden… er, Mr. Nash.” He just glanced down at my hand and
after a minute I pulled it back to my sides.

It’s just as well…
I might have fainted if he touched me.

“You’re late,” he
told me. “Not very professional.”

I glanced at the
clock on the other side of the wall. “It’s 7:02.”

He huffed and
turned around, already walking away from me. “Exactly.”

I ran after him,
struggling to keep up in my new heels. “I’m sorry, I had trouble getting a cab
and then there was traffic on the interstate and…” I lost my balance again and
started to fall forward.

Braden swung
around before I had a chance to go far. His reflex was instant, almost like he
could sense I was going to fall before my feet even left the ground. His hands
were under my arms in a second, stopping me from going anywhere. My head got
mushed into his chest and it wasn’t until it was too late that I realized I inhaled
his scent.

I glanced up at
him, hoping that he hadn’t noticed. His eyes looked down at me, curious and
dark, and I felt like my entire body was on fire, burning so high into flames
that it might explode.

After a few
seconds he pushed me back up to me feet, untangling me from him. “New shoes?”
He shot his eyes down my body slowly and finally landed on my shoes.

I flinched. It was
like he liked making me squirm.

“No.” I didn’t
want to give him the satisfaction.

He smirked and
started walking just as fast as before. I chased him for what felt like ten
miles and finally caught my breath when we reached the other side of the
building. Ugh, why hadn’t he had me meet him at one of the side doors? Like I
wanted to run a marathon first thing in the morning.

“This is your
desk,” he announced like I should be impressed.

I glanced at it.
Small and black, almost completely empty besides a few basic office tools:
calendar, stapler, pencils, and pens. A small computer sat on the right hand
side along with a complicated looking phone.

Clearly, I was a
secretary.

This wasn’t
exactly the best news since I may have exaggerated my office skills a little
bit on my applications. I’m sure it would be fine, though. How hard could it be
to answer a few calls and get some coffee?

I set my purse
down on top of the smooth surface. “Thank you,” I told him. “Well, I guess I’ll
just get to work then.” I pulled out the desk chair and plopped down in it,
leaning back like I was completely comfortable in this atmosphere. The chair
proceeded to snap backward and almost knock me completely on my ass.

I was saved from
the humiliation of trying to form words by Troy, who came bursting through the
glass doors on the other side of the lobby like a man with a mission. “Braden!”
He sounded panicked. “Braden! We have a huge problem! It’s an absolute
disaster! That guy who got…” He trailed off then he saw me.

Braden shot him a
look. “Trent, allow me to introduce you to my new secretary, Addison Cooper.
Addison, this is Trent. He’s our executive developer here at Ford Enterprise.”

I stood up on
shaky legs. “Hello.”

“Ah.” Trent nodded
and reached out to take my hand. “Addison.”

I took Trent’s
hand and shook it, shooting Braden a look in the process that said ‘see, I’m
not crazy this is how normal people greet each other.’ But Braden just shrugged
and looked unimpressed.

“Addison Young is
it?” He raised his eyebrows at me and I blushed. “Quite the impersonator
there.” He dropped my hand and I was relieved to find that I still had feeling
in my fingers after my physical contact with Braden.

So humiliating.

“Yeah, about that,
I’m really sorry. I didn’t mean to get you into trouble. I just…” I gulped. “I
thought you guys took something of mine.” I tried to keep the emotion out of my
voice at the reminder that I still hadn’t found my mystery man’s glove.

“No problem, the
whole thing was kind of amusing to be honest.”

Braden puffed out
his chest. “Ruining one of the most important meetings of the month at a multi
million dollar business is hardly something I would call amusing.”

Of course he
wouldn’t.

Braden’s voice
reminded Trent how bad he needed to talk to him. “Braden, I really need to talk
to you.” He glanced at me. “Alone.”

Braden glanced at
his wrist, revealing an expensive looking watch. “Now isn’t a good time. I have
a conference call with Channel 9 in twenty minutes and I have to…” He lowered
his voice. “I have to make sure Addison is comfortable.”

Something about
the way he said it made me think there was a deeper meaning behind it. He was
probably having seconds thoughts now that he was witnessing how clumsy I was.
He thought I was going to burn the place to the ground. “I don’t need a
babysitter.”

Braden looked
unconvinced.

“I need to talk to
you now,” Troy whined. “Right now.”

“Who the hell is
this?”

All three of us
swung around. Braden groaned.

“Hi, Hayden,” Troy
screeched.
 

A small girl with
dark hair and bright eyes was looking me up and down like I must be in the
wrong place. Her waist was about as big as half of one of my thighs. I was
instantly envious.

“Who the hell is
this?” She turned her small frame toward me. “Who the hell are you?” Her eyes
looked very suspicious, she instantly didn’t trust me. “Braden?” She asked, her
eyes still on me.

Clearly a pissed
off girlfriend.

I tried to ignore
my sinking stomach. Of course he had girlfriends. What did I think that someone
as handsome and powerful as him was saving himself for me? Men who looked like
Braden Nash didn’t have trouble getting women. He probably had multiple.

“You didn’t tell
her?” Troy whispered.

“Tell me what?”
She snapped her head around and narrowed her eyes at Troy.

Troy looked
panicked. “I just remembered I left something in my office.”

“Hold it.” Hayden held
her hand up, stopping Troy in his tracks. “Can someone tell me what the hell is
going on here?” She really did have a strong presence for such a small person.

“I really do have
a meeting…” Troy said but it sounded unconvincing.

“Oh, shut up.” She
glanced at Braden again. “Braden?”

She was actually
kind of rude. I mean wasn’t this supposed to be a professional atmosphere?
That’s all he kept telling me and he couldn’t even keep his girlfriend under
control.

“This is Braden’s
new secretary,” Troy said slowly.

Hayden laughed.
“Don’t be ridiculous, you already have one of those.”

“Well now I have
two.”

Her eyed narrowed.
“Are you joking? You must be joking.” She paused. “Oh, my God, you aren’t
joking. Were you even going to run this by me?”

Yikes.

Braden rolled his
eyes. “You’re my sister, not my mother, I don’t have to check with you before I
do every little thing.” He looked very bored of the whole scene.

My insides sored
at the revelation that she was just his sister.

I hated myself for
it.

The small girl
looked appalled. “Braden, I need to talk to you, now.”

Troy laughed. “Get
in line.”

“I need to talk to
you, too.” The words were out of my mouth before I realized I was saying them.
I snapped my mouth shut but it was too late, the three of them already had
their eyes locked on me.

Hayden kept her
eyes on me. “Braden, your office, now.”

They all seemed so
fucking weird to me. Like they all had to talk about things that I could never
understand. It was almost like they were hiding something.

A buzzing came from
Braden’s pocket and he took his phone out and glanced at the screen. “Looks
like you’ll all have to wait.” He turned his back on us and started walking
toward his office.

“This really can’t
wait.”

“You can’t just go
around hiring strangers and…”

“I have the story
that could change the way your enterprise is looked at forever!” I yelped.
Well, if I was going to make an absolute fool of myself once again I might as
well go for it completely.

All three of them
looked at me again.

I wanted to kick
myself.

I had told myself
I wasn’t going to do this. I wasn’t going to bring up my mystery hero for at
least a few weeks but I couldn’t help it. He could be anywhere by now and it
was killing me not knowing who he was or how he had known just how bad I needed
him that night.

I needed this job…
but I needed him more.

Even if it was
just the illusion of him for now.

No one was getting
back to me. I had called and E-mailed every news network in the city and no one
believed me, no one even considered my story. It had only been a few days and I
was already starting to lose hope. The thought terrified me.

“Oh, Jesus.”
Hayden looked at Braden like she was going to kill him.

“I know it sounds
crazy, okay? Trust me, I know but he was there. I swear, as god as my witness,
he was there and he saved my life. He was wearing a black mask with bright
green eyes and he was so strong and kind and…” All three of them are looking at
me like I have four heads. “If someone else does get a hold of this story
eventually, they’re going to spin it like he’s crazy or a monster and I can’t
let that happen.”

Hayden mumbled
something under her breath and looked at Braden again.

“He’s going to do
it again.” I looked Braden right in the eye. “Trust me. Something about the way
he talked to me and the way he looked at me… he’s addicted to it or something.
It’s not a one time thing, he has done it before, and he will do it again.”

“I thought you
couldn’t see his face,” Hayden pointed out.

“Sometimes you
don’t need to see someone to be able to feel their emotion.”

Braden’s phone
started vibrating again and he hit the ignore button. “Okay, okay.” He looked
exasperated. “I need to take care of this. Troy you can come with me. Hayden
you’re going to have to wait to give me a lecture until later on.” He paused
and looked at me.

He was going to
fire me, tell me to get my crazy ass out of his building.

“And you.” His
dark eyes were intense and sexy. “Tonight, 6 O’clock at the grill. One shot,
that’s what you get to pitch this story. And if I’m not sold you drop it for
good, understand?”

I nodded.

He shook his head.
“Good. Then don’t be late. You can tell me all about your green eyed friend.”
Then he started to walk away from me again, Troy at his heels.

“A shimmer,” I
said to myself.

“What?” Braden
turned around, frowning. Somehow he had heard me.

I cleared my
throat. “His eyes, they aren’t green exactly. They have more of a… shimmer
behind them.”

“A shimmer?”
Hayden sounded shocked.

I bit my lip. “Uh
huh.”

“Oh, for Crist
sake.” And then Braden shut the door behind him.