Page 5 of Keeping Eveline

Again, the impatience in his voice was as plain as the carpet beneath her feet. She shoved memories away of her one night with Kyle and marched past him, trying desperately to ignore the pull of his spicy cologne, tempting her to bury her nose in his neck as she pressed her lips to his strong jaw.

For goodness sake, I’m here for a reason, and a very good one. Not to relive a night that will never happen again.

The door clicked shut behind her, and she gazed around the office, appreciating the LA view from the full bank of windows behind a large desk. In the corner, there were two couches and a black glass coffee table between the two of them. Somehow, she suspected that Kyle wouldn’t be inviting her to sit on the couch for this meeting. That would be too casual, as if they were more than just mere acquaintances.

Eveline pulled the chair in front of his desk and sat, waiting for Kyle to sit opposite her.

Instead, he remained standing, his arms crossed over his impressively muscled chest.

She’d lain against it, listening to his rapid heartbeat after she’d ridden him hard before collapsing on top of him.

“You’ve got five minutes. Tell me why you’re here.”

The tough former soldier was in the room. All he’d told her was that he’d been in the Army before opening a branch of Alliez Security when they’d been lying together and his fingers had drawn lazy circles over her back.

She’d seen the scars, not to mention the hard edge that still clung to him and had been curious if he’d been special forces and not regular Army. She hadn’t asked because the moment she’d mentioned who she worked for; he’d kicked her out. Of his bed. His home. His life.

She should’ve told him that she’d been familiar with his name and who he worked for when he’d introduced himself to her. Even now she still didn’t know why she hadn’t. Her inaction had caused her to go from floating to landing back on earth with a loud bang.

“Time’s a wasting,” Kyle said.

Damn, I need to get my head in the game.

Eveline grabbed her purse, pulling out the papers and thumb drive she’d stashed in there and placed them on the table. “You should look at those.”

For the last two days, while she summoned the courage to come to Kyle’s office, she’d taken to popping the papers and drive under her pillow at night, paranoid that someone would steal them. Work had been a nightmare, trying to act normal at work, without letting her boss know that she knew.

“Why?” Kyle hadn’t made a move to lift the papers to look at them.

Was he worried she’d covered them with some sort of poison? If she’d done that, why on earth would she touch them herself?

“Because I need your opinion on them, and I don’t know if I’m making more out of what’s in front of you or not.” Eveline had no doubt that she wasn’t overreacting, but for some reason, she felt like she couldn’t say that out loud to Kyle.

He still was her boss’s main competitor in the security business. Since Alliez had arrived on the scene, Triple Z had missed out on many contracts. Alliez had only been operating in LA for the past two years, but they’d built a solid reputation.

Then again, their New York office was well known in the security industry, so it was no surprise that it continued in LA. However, it was also because of the man in front of her. He had that air of confidence and trust that immediately put people at ease. It had her the first time she’d met him, so much that she’d acted so out of character and had gone home with him.

Gerald had always spoken badly about Alliez, saying they were hacks. When he’d heard about Alliez opening an office in LA, he’d declared he’d give them one year before they’d be shutting the doors.

He’d been so wrong, and Gerald hated being wrong.

“Why should I trust anything you have to say, considering who you work for?” Kyle demanded.

Eveline deserved that. When she’d gone into the bar that night, months and months ago, she’d seen Kyle and had recognized him. However, he’d been the one to come up to her, not the other way around. She hadn’t targeted him.

Should she have been honest with him about who she worked for before they’d ended up in bed together?

For sure, but she hadn’t, and well, she’d paid the consequences of her actions.

“You don’t, I guess. You need to look at this information though, Kyle,” she pleaded.

If he didn’t take her seriously, what would she do? If she took it to the police, would they even consider that what Gerald was doing was basically getting his staff to assault their clients? Or would they think there wasn’t enough proof for them to do anything about it?

What if Gerald had some policemen in his pocket so they ignored what she told them and they went straight back to her boss? That was a scenario she hadn’t considered before. Kyle needed to believe her.

After a few more moments of silence, Kyle reached for the papers, scanning them. His brow furrowed, and the fine lines feathering his blue eyes deepened. It didn’t take away from his attractiveness. He had the whole silver fox vibe happening, and she clenched her thighs, willing her body not to respond to him. Again.

Never before had Eveline experienced the same level of highs and ecstasy at the hands of any of other man. Kyle had seemed to know intuitively how to touch her. Stroke her. The places on her body that were erogenous zones.

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