Page 39 of Fierce-Hyde

“Not you,” Raina said. “But many other women do.”

“And have with Hyde. He admitted he had a reputation in the day.”

“Anyone that has hung around with Ryder probably did,” Raina said. “But Ryder has completely reformed himself.”

“I know,” she said.

What more could she say? Hyde admitted he wanted what his best friend had, but it didn’t work when he tried.

That he even felt the guilt for it now.

She didn’t need to add to that by being a reminder of someone who made comments about his past when she was annoyed.

She’d like to think she was the least judgmental person she knew, but yet she lost sight of that around a pair of bedroom blue eyes and a panty-wetting smile.

Her phone rang and she wanted to ignore it, but it could be work, so she just pulled it out quickly to glance, silenced it, and put it back.

“By the look on your face, I’m thinking that was your mother.”

“Right on the first try,” she said.

“Everything okay?” Raina asked. “Or would you rather not talk about it?”

“The same as it always is, but I’ve been avoiding talking to her. Maybe I’ll just leave now and call her in my office. I’ll just say I’ve got twenty minutes left to my lunch and then I’ve got a time limit on it.”

Raina laughed. “Do you know what it’s about?”

“Any number of things I’ve heard before, I’m sure.”

She wrapped the rest of her sandwich and put it in the bag, then walked out.

She was on her way down the hall when Diane Fierce turned the corner.

“Tori,” Diane said. “What a lovely surprise seeing you here.”

“Hi, Diane.” Talk about bad timing. Every time she saw one of the elder Fierces they wanted to talk about her dating life.

“Just finishing lunch with Raina, I’m assuming?”

“I am,” she said. “Got to get back to my office to make a call though.”

“That’s fine,” Diane said. “I wanted to see you. We’ve got this friend of the family. They’ve got a son about your age. He’s a civil rights attorney. You two would get along so well. Both out to make the world a better place. Do you think I could give him your name?”

She hated doing these things. “Can I think about it?” she asked. “I’m a little busy right now.”

“No problem,” Diane said, grinning. “You do that and have a great day.”

Tori moved past her and went to the stairs and walked down, trying to delay the call to her mother as long as she could.

When she got to her office, she had fifteen minutes left on her lunch. More than enough time to ruin her day.

“Hi, Mom,” she said when her mother answered right away. “Is this a bad time?”

“No,” her mother said. “I’ve got a bit of time left on my lunch.”

“The same,” she said. “Which is why I called you back now. I was talking to someone when you called a few minutes ago.”

“Not a problem,” her mother said and started to sniffle.

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