Sheltering His Desire (7 page)

He did this all the time, so why did it feel
so unnatural now? Because he was over-thinking it, that was why.
“Which do you recommend? Chef’s special, or catch of the day?”

She twirled a strand of hair around her
finger. “Depends. Catch of the day is fresh, but chef’s special is
spicy. You look like you enjoy a little heat.” She winked.

“Quite a bit.” He handed the menu back. She
was hooked, he was almost certain of it. A couple more lines, and
he’d have her number. Except he couldn’t force out the next line.
He couldn’t close.

“Me too.” Vivian passed her menu between,
breaking a teasing gaze about to turn awkward.

Brittany turned her attention to the rest of
the table, and after one last glance at him, moved on to other
customers. The conversation shifted from work, to the Memorial Day
barbeque his parents were holding in just over a week. When Jared
shifted his attention to his sister to ask her something about
their own parents, Vivian tilted her head toward Tate.

“I’m surprised you didn’t snag her number.”
Vivian’s voice was low enough only Tate would hear.

Tate glanced at Lys, her eyes bright, a
genuine smile in place as she laughed at something Jared said. “I’m
off my game or something. Work, stress, blah, blah, blah.”

Vivian smirked. “That’s never been an issue
for you before.”

Irritation surged through him at the
prodding. “It is now.” The words snapped out sharper and louder
than he intended, and everyone’s heads swiveled in his direction.
Why was he even upset with V? She was being friendly, teasing the
way they always did. “Sorry. Like I said, stress.”

Vivian pursed her lips. “Apparently so.”

Again, the conversation shifted and flowed as
the food arrived, and then empty plates were taken away. At some
point, Brittany slipped her phone number under his hand. Tate
managed to bring his rambling thoughts under control by the end of
the meal. He should be fine in this afternoon’s recording session
with Lys, especially with the sound engineer around. Which reminded
him. “We have to get back.” He realized after a glance at his phone
to check the time. “Recording session.”

“Everyone rode with me,” Jared said. “Meet
you back there?”

Alyssia’s eyes grew wide, and she opened her
mouth, but before she could speak, Vivian cut her off. “I’m going
to catch a ride with you, if you don’t mind. J’s back seat is
cramped, and I have an idea I want to run past you.” Vivian fell
into step beside Tate. He tried but failed to ignore the
disappointment that flashed over Alyssia’s face before a smile
flitted back in.

“Sounds like plan.” Did V have any idea she’d
just bought him another fifteen minutes by asking for a ride before
Alyssia could?

Mikki and Alyssia split off toward the other
side of the parking lot with Jared, and Tate let relief trickle
through him. He glanced at the waitress’s number one more time
before crumpling it and tossing it in a nearby trashcan.

“You’re going to break her heart.” Vivian’s
comment dragged him back into the now. Exactly where he needed to
stay. He’d remember that.

Which meant she was talking about the
waitress, not Lys. “She served me iced tea, V. I don’t think she
expects a ring for that.” He held the car door open for her, and
waited until she was seated before taking his spot behind the
wheel.

Vivian laughed. “That’s good. And not who I
was talking about. What do you think J’s going to do when he finds
out you hooked up with his sister?”

She
had
figured it out.
Fuck
.
He wanted to ask if it was that obvious, but he wasn’t willing to
confess. “He’d probably blow a fuse. Good thing we didn’t.”

Vivian raised an eyebrow.

“What?” Tate didn’t like the defensive
mechanism kicking in. “I’m not stupid. I’ve known her a lot longer
than you have, and I know she’s not a one-time kind of girl.”

Vivian shrugged. “She wouldn’t look at you
during lunch, she barely said two words after you showed up, and
she clenched her jaw every time the waitress showed up. Something
happened, at least as far as she’s concerned.”

He didn’t want to snap at V, but the last
thing he needed was her voicing every argument his mind was already
tossing at him. “Were you this bad with Jared and Mikki?”

“Considering they’d hooked up, and you two
haven’t
”—she made a show of clearing her throat—“I was about
fifty times worse. But my reasons with Mikki were different.”

Of course they were. Because no matter how
much she liked Mikki, or respected Jared, she still felt like he’d
betrayed her by falling in love. Tate would have bet big that
Vivian had never completely gotten over Jared, but as long as the
two of them were still single, she could pretend it would be that
way forever. He kept the thought to himself, not interested in
picking a fight. “I’ve known the two of them for ages, I understand
what a bad idea that would be—and that doesn’t even matter because
there’s nothing going on with Lys.”

“Right.” Vivian’s tone was flat. “Because if
there were, you’d know eventually you’d have to pick a side.”

“Did that a long time ago.” He just had to
remember that. Jared was his best friend, and Alyssia was a client.
Vivian’s reminder just cemented he needed to put as much emotional
distance between himself and Lys as possible.

Alyssia leaned against the frame of her home
office door. “It's okay, really.” It was true, two days ago, she
had been irritated with Jared for insisting she upgrade her home
network hardware to be more secure.

Now, that seemed like an eternity ago. A
flutter raced across her skin, and her gut churned at the
reminder.

“If you didn’t do so much work from home...”
Jared sat at her desk, fingers flying across the keyboard, rarely
pausing even as he spoke. “Nah, that’s just an excuse. You needed
the upgrade.”

“Really?” She kept a teasing tone. “So you’ve
already upgraded everything in your house, and needed someone else
to techify?” Even though she was trying to keep her attention on
the conversation, it kept dancing with the one name she’d been
doing her best not to think of since she left the Skriddie offices
that afternoon.

Not that she’d succeeded. Every unoccupied
thought, and even some of the occupied ones, were interrupted with
Tate. Had last night been a mistake? It had taken her this many
years to get used to how he flirted without shame with pretty much
every waitress, hostess, anyone. Then today at lunch, watching him
with their server had almost devoured her.

Still, the memory of what she had Tate had
shared, the way they’d clicked, and the things he’d done, she
wouldn’t give that up for anything. She would stick to her promise
that what happened between them was just physical. A one-time
event, and all that. Which was why, when he’d asked if she wanted
him to just email the promo video to her for approval, and launch
the site without her, or if she wanted to be there for all of it,
she’d invited him over.

His dropping by for whatever had never been a
deal in the past, and there was no reason for that to change. The
faster things got back to normal between them, the better.

“Hello?” Jared’s insistent voice shattered
her wandering thoughts. “Earth to Alyssia. You in there?”

She shook away the mental clutter and focused
on her brother, who apparently had finished what he was doing, and
was watching her. “Sorry, too much going on everywhere. What?” she
asked.

“You’re all done.” He held up a blank post-it
note, then stuck it to one of the frames he’d brought back for her
from a business trip. The picture frame was from Busch Gardens. The
blank note was his way of letting her know what her new network
password was. She did adore that he always remembered to bring her
something, wherever he visited. And each new trinket had a
different memory attached to it, which was why he used them for her
passwords.

“Thank you.” She smiled. “I really do
appreciate it.”

“I know you don’t so much.” He stood and
joined her, falling into step next to her as they made their way
downstairs, to the living room of her townhouse. “But I appreciate
you placating me. And yes, you’re right. Even Mikki doesn’t think
we need any more new tech in the house. But if I can show her this
router works for you…”

“I’m glad I could be your guinea pig.”

Jared strode toward the door. “Good luck with
your launch tonight. I know you’ll do awesome.”

Alyssia's heart leapt, hammering in her
chest, when Jared opened the door to find Tate on the other side,
hand half raised to knock. Tate slid a quick smile into place,
never flinching. His gaze met hers for the briefest moment, and she
swore she saw heat flash in his eyes as they flicked over her.

Or that was wishful thinking on her part? Why
did he have to look so good?

“You get everything squared away?” Tate
turned back to Jared.

“She’s set.” Jared glanced back at Alyssia,
and she resisted the urge to stick out her tongue. She wasn’t going
to fall into a childish role with her brother. Not tonight. “I’m
glad you’re here to take care of her, though.”

Heat flooded Alyssia’s face at the rush of
images associated with Tate taking care of her. He certainly had
last night. She shook the thoughts away, and nudged Jared forward.
“You’re going, right? And keeping in mind how profusely grateful
you are I gave you an excuse to buy something new?”

Tate clapped Jared on the shoulder before
stepping around him. “I promise any trouble she gets into will be
fully supervised by me.”

This time when Tate’s gaze met hers, she had
no doubt mischief and desire danced behind his look. Damn it, she
couldn’t go back to casual flirting with him so soon after.

“Glad to hear it.” Jared finished saying his
goodbyes and seconds later, the townhouse door closed behind
him.

Alyssia summoned every last ounce of calm and
cool she could find, and dragged her gaze away from Tate. She
couldn’t spend the whole night staring. “Should we get to
work?”

He raised an eyebrow, and she hid a wince.
Maybe she shouldn’t have had so much ice in her tone. “Nice to see
you, too.” His voice was pleasant, and light.

She could be civil, no big deal. It was the
meaningless innuendo she’d struggle with. “Sorry. I’m just—” What?
Desperate to relegate last night to a pleasant memory, rather than
intense longing? No, she’d go with a different truth. The one she’d
managed to ignore in favor of more fleeting, less stressful things.
“I’m just eager to get this thing online, and put more distance
between the shelter and Thompson’s bullshit.”

Tate’s left hand clenched into a fist, and he
gritted his teeth. “Right. Let’s get that done. Lead the way.” He
gestured toward the stairs, and then paused, and wrapped a loose
hand around her wrist. “What’s wrong with your arm?” He was looking
at a large piece of gauze taped to her skin, below the elbow.

“I had a patient get a little excited, and he
hadn’t had his nails trimmed in a while. It’s not a bad gash, but
it’s long.”

“Are you okay?”

“Sure.” She hadn’t even thought about it, but
his concern filled her with a soft glow. Injuries like this were
status quo for her. “I’m on antibiotics just in case, but it’ll be
fine.”

“Good. As long as you’re all right.” He
rested a hand at the small of her back, his light touch all but
searching her skin through her T-shirt. She did her best not to
focus on the touch. Not to associate it with memories of his hands
running over her bare skin. By the time they reached the doorway to
her office, her imagination was working overtime, and her breathing
shallow. She pushed aside the vivid images and tried to be subtle
about pulling away from him.

“What first?” She cringed at the too-bright
chirp that tore from her mouth.

“Have a seat.” His tone was flat, any of the
earlier teasing gone. “You do the setup, I watch and make sure it’s
all intuitive.”

Her insides twisted in on themselves as she
pulled up the admin panel for the crowd-funding site. Apparently,
without the rampant fantasies of Tate, her mind was free to linger
on Thompson’s threats instead. The lawyer she kept on retainer had
sent letters to Thompson and to the news station threatening a
defamation suit if Thompson didn’t retract the statements. She
hadn’t heard anything back, and didn’t know if that was a good sign
or not. But if they could get her campaign online tonight, and get
promises of funding, that would help. It had to. It would be a
chance for her to remind people the shelter did good things. That
it was worth people’s time and investment to support the
animals.

She shoved aside the chaos tumbling through
her head, and tried to clear her mind. “What first?”

“The art department had time to implement all
your requests, so give this a look and make sure you’re good with
it.” Tate rested his hand on her shoulder, leaned around her, and
plugged a USB drive into her laptop.

His familiar scent filled her nostrils, and
she inhaled deeply. His warmth radiated through her sleeve, and
dragged her jumbled thoughts back to the surface. This wasn’t the
way to move on from last night. That would have to become her
mantra if she was going to make it through the evening with her
sanity and heart intact.

She leaned toward the screen, breaking the
contact between them, and clicked the auto-run icon that popped up.
After recording her voice-over that afternoon for the promo video,
she’d sat with the art department, giving her feedback with each
new tweak, so there would be as few surprises as possible
tonight.

She played the video, pleased with the
results. Tate told her all of the pilot groups had similar access
to Skriddie’s art and marketing departments, to help make the
crowd-funding software launch go as well as possible. She still
felt like she’d gotten a little extra attention. Not that she
minded in this case.