“I’m calling it an early night,” Ryan said as he peaked around the corner of his brother’s open office door. It was the end of a long workweek, and he had more things on his mind and agenda than to work late. He knew what his brother’s reaction would be.
“What’s up? You never leave this early.” It was about ten after five. Most of the staff left by now, but Ryan was the kind of businessman who had worked long hours every day since he started. Matthew, the youngest, stared at him but didn’t say anything because his assistant was there, and the way Ryan was looking it seemed to be a personal matter. Ryan pulled out his phone, checking the time, then looked back up at Matt.
“I’ve got a date.” It wasn’t a date per se since he was planning to steal someone else’s date and then take her home, but he didn’t care about semantics at the present moment. Nothing mattered except stopping July from being with someone else.
“Whoa. Okay, bro. Have fun.” Ryan smiled back and missed the scowl on Mara’s face. Matthew’s assistant was good at her job, but her main goal had been to nail one of the brothers in her bed and end up with one of their kids. Spencer was already taken, but she still had two others and both the brothers were well aware of it. With good looks and great physiques, the Kane brothers were sexy by anyone’s standards. Ryan was the one with the brown hair and light eyes. They were a mix of grey and blue, but it was his smile that could knock a woman off her feet. Well, almost all women. Ryan believed his secretary hated him. It wasn’t like he didn’t deserve her ire, but he pushed her one step too far the other day when he let his feelings for her get to him.
Ryan strolled to the elevator and took it down to the lobby. His hot date wasn’t really his hot date. He had plans to make a claim on the woman who stole his heart and mind.
For almost eight months, July Cooper had worked for him as his assistant and he hadn’t been able to shake the growing feeling of possessiveness that overwhelmed him whenever she was around. She was medium height, blond hair and green eyes with a sweet southern drawl that she tried to hide. It was probably why he would make her mad because then it would come to the surface and make hard. He’d gone out of his way to push a divide between them so he wouldn’t be tempted. There were rules in the company that Ryan wasn’t going to violate. After all, as one of the bosses, he could be in trouble and be sued.
The problem recently changed, though, because he’d finally pushed her into the arms of another man. When he learned that she was seeing someone, he went home and drank himself to sleep on his lonely bed. His heart was broken and he moped around for a few days. It took until this morning for him to chuck it all. Rules were meant to be broken, and she was worth it even if he had to beg her to forgive his dickhead attitude. She had been bubbly on the phone earlier, which made his jaw tic as he overheard her dinner plans. An idea formed in his head and he began writing them down the information on his cell phone; then and there, he decided to be the third wheel tonight.
He went home and fixed himself up, putting on the cologne he knew she liked. He caught her sniffing him once as he leaned over her desk. It was fine with him because he’d been taking in her scent every day in whatever covert way he could find. He walked out of the house in the same suit that had her eyes moving to his arms. It had the same affect every time, so he made it a habit of wearing them and had three others made. As much as he wanted her, he didn’t want to get involved with his employee. That was all going to change tonight, though, if he had anything to say about it.
~~~~
July spun around in the mirror, loving how pretty she looked in her new dress, a navy seamless gown that twirled at the waist and felt like a dream. It wasn’t for her date tonight; she’d worn it for the man she hoped would show but knew wouldn’t. Her best friend back home had been in town. He wanted to see the city and, of course, check up on her. She’d been his personal tour guide for the past week and it had been a nice reprieve from having to deal with Ryan Kane. Her stubborn boss made her body come alive with just a whisper of a request. Her heart belonged to him, but after seeing Mara in his office, sitting on his desk with the door closed and his tie undone, she knew that he wouldn’t be hers and she’s be foolish to fall into his arms now. The attraction between them had been visible, and several times they almost kissed, but he’d always taken a step back and turned into a condescending asshole. Then yesterday, she spilled her coffee on the carpet outside his office. She grabbed everything needed to clean it up and got to work on her hands and knees, scrubbing it away. They had an important meeting and she didn’t want to make the Kane brothers look bad with a huge stain that was clear as day.
He roared for her to get up off the floor, telling her that he didn’t pay her to be on her knees. It cut like a knife the way he scolded her, but what made it worse was the small group of men in suits who had been looking on. At that moment, she planned on telling him she quit, but then she saw the look on Mara’s face- a smug expression of delight that changed her mind.
Tonight, she was going to dance the night away in the arms of a large, strong Texas man with looks to kill. Getting over Ryan would be hard for the twenty-one-year-old, but she was going to do it because the heartache was too much to take.
Skipping down the stairs in her sexy heels, she met her date at the bottom of the stairs with her coat bundled up and her blonde hair flowing around her in perfect curls. “Why, hello there, Miss July. You’re going to make me take you home and tell your daddy we’re getting hitched.”
“Oh please, Tyler Williams,” July replied, swatting his arm. “Take me dancing, Prince Charming.”
“With pleasure, little lady.” He took her hand and brought it to his lips. He was always the clown in the Williams family. Leading her to the waiting car, he helped her in and they headed out to a restaurant with a dance floor. What they didn’t know was they had someone watching them.