Page 51 of Violent Cravings

Chapter 28

Ryan

"What's with you lately, man?"

I look up from my desk to find Lemon marching into my office, closing the door behind him before he approaches my giant desk and sits down opposite me. He's the only person on the planet I'd ever allow to invade my space like this, and he knows it.

Lemon has been my closest associate for years, and he's become a lot more than just my personal assistant and adviser. He's the only man I'd call a friend.

"Nothing is with me," I insist. "These guys just annoy the hell out of me, and you know very well why. I just want this damn deal to be done with."

"Yes, we all do," Lemon agrees, leaning back in his seat and crossing his legs. "And I share your sentiment, but I can guarantee you that your attitude won't make things any easier or make this deal develop any faster."

I hate that he's right about that. I'm shooting myself in the foot, again. Lemon is the only guy who has the guts to point this out to me, another reason I respect him, as much as I hate it when he's right.

"I'm sorry," I bring forth. "It’s just not my day today."

I try to evade his inquiring gaze, instead occupying myself with some files in front of me, aimlessly stacking papers and moving random objects around on my desk, trying to signal that this conversation is over for me.

But it isn't over for him.

"Found anyone yet?" he asks casually, as if we're talking about a new employee.

My eyes meet his. Furrowing my eyebrows, I refuse to deign him with an answer.

"That's none of your business."

"It is if it affects our business, Ryan," he says. "And I know it's that time again. It has been a year, hasn't it?"

I give him a silent stare in response.

"I'm only making sure," he says, lifting his hands in a defensive way. "No reason to get mad at me."

"This doesn't concern you," I tell him. "Stay out of it."

He sighs, his eyes moving toward the window and resting on the view of the skyline beneath us. He folds his hands in his lap and his shoulders slump. I know he's uncomfortable with this. He doesn't understand it, and he'd be freaked out if he knew what exactly it is that I'm taking from these women. He doesn’t know the details, but he’s familiar with the basics. He knows I need my annual retreat, and he knows the reasons for it.

"You're right, it doesn't concern me," he says. "But you can't forbid me not to worry about this, when there's even the slightest chance it could ruin our acquisition."

"This is ridiculous," I snap at him. "Just fucking trust me when I say that it won't. I'm just in a bad mood and these guys, they-"

"It's not about them!" he insists, interrupting me in an unusually loud voice for him. "I know what you're like when you're simply annoyed, Ryan. You may spit curses behind people's back, but you always control your temper when you're with them. You know how to play by the rules - but only when you are yourself."

I let out a huff, casting him an amused look. "What's that supposed to mean?"

Lemon hesitates, his gaze nervously traveling from the skyline to his lap, to me, to my desk, and back to the skyline, before he finds the courage to meet my eyes for more than a split second.

"I know the last one left you a little... unraveled," he says. "That waitress. I told you this was risky, stepping out of your routine, asking a normal girl to do this instead of buying one-"

"Don't call her that," I hiss, cutting him off.

He raises his eyebrows in surprise. "Don't call her what?"

"The waitress," I repeat. "It's disrespectful. She's more than that."

"Whatever," he says, sighing. "You never told me her name, so how else am I going to refer to her than by her occupation?"

I wave him off.

---