Page 18 of Reunion With Benefits

Five

She’d ignored him for three days. Spence wasn’t great about being shut out of anything. He also didn’t trust Rylan, and that’s exactly who Abby was meeting with today. Right now.

The door stood open. Papers were strewn across the conference room table. Maps and documents with official government seals. A thick binder filled with information Spence knew would bore him.

Spence waited until the last minute to slip into the room she’d reserved for the meeting. Rylan stood by the window, looking down into the street. The only noise in the room came from the sound of the automatic room fan. That and the squeak of Abby’s chair as she moved it back and forth while studying the paper in front of her.

She glanced up as soon as the door clicked shut. “You’re sitting in on all of my meetings now?”

The refusal to back down... Spence found that so sexy. “I actually work here.”

She treated him to the perfect eye roll. It almost shouted you’re a jerk. “For now.”

Spence kept walking until he got to her side. Then he slid into the seat next to her with his arm resting on the table. “This idea you have that I’m ready to bolt? Get it out of your head. It’s not happening.”

She slowly lowered her pen. “It did before.”

Shot landed.Spence felt it vibrate through him. The truth really did suck sometimes.

“Derrick needs me here.” That was also true. He’d come back for his brother and his growing family. Spence had repeated that to himself during the entire journey to DC. Now he wondered if something else pulled him there. An invisible thread that bound him to Abby. A need to come home and resolve the seemingly unresolvable.

She tapped her pen end over end against the table. The clicking sound turned to a steady thump when she started to hit it harder. “And no one needed you before?”

“Didn’t feel like it.” He’d felt betrayed, yet not. Almost as if he’d expected Abby to disappoint him back then.

Man, that was not something he wanted to examine too closely. At least not there, in an office conference room.

Rylan picked that moment to turn around and face the room. “Is everything okay between you two?”

Abby lifted her hand without looking in Rylan’s direction. “You remember Rylan.”

“Hard to forget.” Rylan was the kind of guy who lingered. Maybe not dangerous but not honest, either. Spence knew the other man was stringing the approval process out. He was either receiving a payment from a competing company under the table, or he had a crush on Abby. Spence hated both options. “Do we have the final okay to proceed?”

Rylan stepped up to the table. “Soon.”

A pounding started at the base of the back of Spence’s neck. “What does that mean?”

Rylan’s mouth opened and closed a few times before he actually stumbled and got a few words out. “There is still some work to be done.”

Ah, work. Sure. “Then why are you here instead of off doing it?”

Rylan glanced at Abby but she just smiled at him. That told Spence that she was sick of the stalling, too.

“This is a status meeting,” Rylan finally said.

“Didn’t you two meet about a week ago?” Spence leaned back in his chair, enjoying the line of sweat that appeared on Rylan’s forehead. “I’m asking but, see, I know that answer because I was there.”

“I also needed to deliver some documents to Abby.” Rylan picked his briefcase off the floor and took out a white envelope. He handed it to her without breaking eye contact with Spence.

She took it and tucked it into her file. “Thank you.”

Since she wasn’t balking at his heavy-handed behavior, Spence figured he had the green light to continue. Rylan stood frozen with his hand on the back of one of the chairs. He didn’t make a move to sit down or do anything that looked like work.

“And now you can go.” Spence made the words sound like an order.

It worked because Rylan took off on a frenzy of activity. He loaded up his briefcase and reached for his suit jacket. He nearly tripped over his own feet getting to the door. “I’ll call you as soon as I have the answers you need.”

The door slammed behind him. Then Spence was alone with Abby. He hoped this round would go better than the last few. Except for the kiss. He’d be happy to repeat that.

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