Because of His Past (7 page)

But still.
 
Red was nice.
 
He’d liked her from the beginning.
 
Easton Rather, on the other hand, seemed
to despise her from the moment he’d walked into the office.

And that was the man she needed to like
her if she was going to make it through more than a week or two at this new
job.

***

A few hours later, and Grace was alone in
the suite, reading over the materials she’d been left with and feeling a little
bored.

Easton had already left for the day,
having hardly said two words to her since he came in.
 
Even as he was leaving, all he’d done
was wave one hand at her, like an afterthought, and that was it.

He’d made no effort to get to know her,
to talk to her or ask her about herself, explain anything about what he needed
from her.

Grace told herself that he was just a
very busy man with a lot on his mind.
 
And who wouldn’t be a bit crabby after cutting their honeymoon short and
worrying about the health of a pregnant wife?

But she knew that none of those facts
could explain his attitude towards her, not completely.

Maybe Liam had told Easton something
about her, and Easton knew who she was when he saw her.
 
She didn’t see why Liam would have had
reason to do such a thing, but the two of them were friends and maybe they’d
spoken about her at some point.

I’m
going to be fired.

I
might be fired before I even leave for the day, before I’ve even done a single
task to prove my worth.

There was nothing to be done about it,
she decided
,
except to try her very best.
 
So despite her boredom, she read every
single page of the employee handbook, all the forms and rules and
policies.
 
She signed what needed to
be signed, and then she went online and checked her email account.

There were only two emails in her inbox
so far.
 
One was from HR, and it
just welcomed her to the company, mentioned where she could find certain
necessary items on the network and the company intranet.

The second email was from Red Jameson.

In the subject line it said:
Hope Your 1
^st
Day Went Well

And then she clicked into his actual email.

Grace,

I
trust that your first day with us has been pleasant.
 
I apologize for not being able to come
in as I’d originally planned, but life got in the way.
 
J

I
did hear that Easton decided to drop by the office earlier than expected, so I
suppose it all worked out for the best and he was able to give you some helpful
tips and show you a few of the ropes.
 
Easton’s a great boss, a standup guy, and I’m sure you and he will work
well together.

Please
let me know if there’s ever anything I can do, and never hesitate to contact me
in the future, should the need arise.

Best
Wishes,

Red
Jameson

Grace frowned.
 
It was nice that Red had sent the email
and checked in on her progress, but she was slightly disturbed by what he’d
said about Easton showing her the ropes and giving her tips.

The man had hardly looked at her or
spoken to her in the few hours he was present.
 
Mostly he’d been in his office with the
door shut, and then once or twice he’d gone by to do something elsewhere, never
stopping to so much as say hello.

Why did Red think they would make such a
great team?

She sat back in her chair and ground her
teeth together.
 
This felt like a
trap.
 
She’d been given this
wonderful job assignment, this fantastic dream opportunity, and now it was like
some evil sadistic puppet master was planning on taking it all away from her.

The job was horrible, her boss hated her
already, and she seemed destined to be let go at any moment.

Her stomach already burned with what felt
like the beginning stages of an ulcer, and her head hurt.

The only good thing was that she’d be
able to leave in the next couple of hours.
 
Not that anybody would notice if she left sooner, but Grace wasn’t about
to start leaving early on her first day of work.

I
should’ve told Easton congratulations on the wedding and the baby, and said
that I hoped Kennedy was feeling better soon.
 

That thought gave her pause.
 
Maybe she was the fool who’d been too
self-absorbed to do the normal, considerate thing and talk to her boss about
his wonderful new marriage and his wife’s pregnancy.

But then again, he hadn’t really
encouraged conversation or even given her a chance to say those things.
 
Grace was stumped.
 
She thought about picking up the phone
to call Scott and ask him his opinion on what was happening.

Only, just as her hand went to the phone
to pick up the receiver, a shadow fell across the hallway just outside the
glass door of the suite.
 
Someone was
coming.

When the figure emerged from around the
corner of the hall, Grace literally gasped.
 

Liam Houston was standing there, looking
right at her through the glass.
 
She
saw instantly that he hadn’t expected to see her either, as his face registered
shock, then confusion, and finally bitterness.
 
The fleeting expressions happened
quickly, and then he managed to compose himself and his face took on a flat,
emotionless affect as he entered the suite.

“I’m here to see Easton,” he announced,
as if he didn’t even know her.

She could hardly speak.
 
Just having him there, in front of her,
nearly took her breath away.
 

Liam was wearing jeans and a leather
jacket, with a black shirt that was unzipped just enough to see the start of
his muscular chest straining through the material.
 
His ice blue eyes stared coolly at
her,
his hair was mussed beautifully, as per usual.

His face bore very little of the telltale
bruising and swelling from the last time she’d seen him in the hospital.
 
Instead, he looked better than ever, she
thought.
 
He was an angel come to
strike her down, to make her beg and grovel.

She felt sick and faint and desperate all
at once.

When she didn’t answer, Liam put his
hands on his hips and peered past her towards the office door behind her.
 
“So can I go in?” he asked, impatient
now.

“He—he’s already left for the day.
Doctor’s appointment,” she muttered, then realized it probably wasn’t okay to
give out Easton Rather’s itinerary like that, even if it was to a friend.

Liam’s eyes shifted back to her.
 
“Well.
 
That’s too bad.
 
I thought I’d swing by and say hello,
since I was in the neighborhood and I heard he came home early from his
honeymoon.”
 
He took a deep breath
and exhaled.
 
“Okay, then.
 
Tell him I stopped by when you see him
next.”

“I will,” she said, her body feeling like
it was stuck in concrete.
 
She could
barely move or think, let alone talk.

Liam stared at her for a long moment,
then
turned around as if to leave.
 
But he stopped before exiting the suite,
and just stood with his back to her for a time.
 
When he turned around once more, his
cheeks were flushed.
 
“How the hell
did you end up working here?” he said, his tone accusatory.

“Red Jameson offered me the job,” she
replied, trying to sound calm.

“Red Jameson offered you a job.”
 
He glared at her.

“Why shouldn’t I get a job here?”

He sneered.
 
“Working for one of my good friends,
Grace.
 
That’s some
coincidence.
 
I wonder why you and
Red are so close that he’s running around finding work for you in his ad
agency.”

“It is a coincidence,” she told him,
trying not to sound as defensive as she felt.
 
“I mean
,
it’s
not a total coincidence.
 
But it
certainly isn’t anything like whatever you seem to be implying—“

“You know what?
 
Just forget it,” Liam said, swatting at
her response as if shooing away a fly.
 
“I don’t have time for this shit.”
 
He turned around again and started out.

Only now Grace was angry, and she rose
from her seat.
 
“Don’t treat me like
that, Liam.
 
I didn’t do anything
wrong.”

“Who cares?” he called back, still
walking, opening the door so hard that it flew against the wall and shivered.

Grace ran after him.
 
“You’re an asshole, a little spoiled
brat!” she yelled.
 

He turned around and came storming back
towards her.
 
“I’m a spoiled brat?”
he said, coming within inches of her face.

“Yeah, look at how you’re behaving.
 
This is a place of business.”

He laughed mockingly.
 
“What do you even know about
advertising, Grace?”

“I’m an executive assistant—“

“And tell me one job you’ve ever previously
had that qualifies you to do it.”

She stared at him, her throat locked, and
she couldn’t seem to respond.
 
“This
isn’t an interview, Liam.”

“Lucky for you,” he retorted.

“Fuck you,” she said.
 
It was the best she could do on short
notice.

“Is that an offer?” he asked, coming
closer, almost pressing into her.

She stared back at him.
 
“Don’t blame me,” she said.
 
“If you’re angry at anybody, it’s
probably yourself.”

“Bullshit.”

“You know it’s true,” she said, relishing
the feeling of having him on the ropes for a change.
 
“You used me to show your family that
you don’t want to be like them.
 
But
it backfired and now you’re pissed off at all the wrong things.”
 

Liam took a step back.
 
“Is that how you see it?” he said,
eyeing her.

She nodded her head.
 
“That’s how I see it.”

“Maybe you should turn that microscope
back on yourself, Grace.
 
But then
again, maybe you don’t have the balls to really give yourself that same kind of
analysis.”

“I didn’t do anything wrong, Liam.”

“You chickened out, Grace.
 
And don’t blame it on my mother threatening
your brother’s business, either.
 
You folded like a cheap suit at the first sign of resistance.”
 
He pointed his finger at her.
 
“You’re the one who was afraid to stand
up for yourself.”

She felt her entire body start to
tremble.
 
“That’s not true.
 
Your mother is mean and nasty and
vindictive. I can’t afford to lose everything just so you can have a fling that
pisses off your family.”

“That’s not what you meant to me.”
 
He moved forward and suddenly his hand
grabbed her wrist and pulled her towards him.
 
“Do you really believe that’s all it was
to me?” he asked, as his hand grabbed her ass and pressed her into his rock
solid body.

“Let go of me,” she whispered, not truly
meaning it.
 
His warm hand was
burning her wrist like fire, but her nipples were stiff and sensitive, and she
couldn’t deny the feelings of longing inside her chest and stomach.

He squeezed her ass and pulled her closer
against his pelvis, close enough to feel his cock stiff and pressuring her
center place.

“I don’t want to let go of you,” he
whispered back, leaning in, his lips brushing her ear.
 
“And I don’t think you really want me
to, either.
 
Do you?”

“Stop.”
 
She pulled away from him, then,
wrenching herself free from his grasp.
 
“This is my work,” she said, trying to straighten her clothes and smooth
her hair.
 
“And I don’t think it
would look good if someone walked by the office and saw us like that.
 
I need this job.”