Breaching His Defenses - Allyson Lindt (best short novels .TXT) 📗
- Author: Allyson Lindt
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“Wow, I wonder how that happened. No, wait, I don’t. I was there. Are you sure you were?” Tate turned toward the bedroom. “I’m going back to bed for a few hours.” He paused halfway to the door. “I know you think that stupid fucking logic of yours is going to save you from yourself.”
Great, the lecture was taking on a new tier. That was what Jared needed—to hear Tate talk about how love wasn’t a business negotiation. “I’m going now.”
Tate faced him again. “She’s nothing like Karen. Mikki’s her own person. I can’t fathom she’s ever catered to your ego just to make you happy, and I’d never bet on her to back down if she knew she was right. Oh, and there’s her honesty. The list goes on. In fact, the only thing they have in common is they worked for the same company. You and Mikki, the two of you have sparks. Sorry to sound cliché, but every time you’re together, they’re bright, they’re electric, and you feed each other.” And with that, he vanished into his room and the door swung shut behind him.
“You think you’re the only person suffering here?” Vivian asked. She stood near the door, arms crossed, glare fixed on him.
“Really?” He couldn’t hide the disbelief in his voice. “That’s the problem, isn’t it? Everyone suffers for this. She almost destroyed lives.”
“Melodramatic much? And I meant her.”
“You’re taking the sympathy a bit too far, Viv. And it’s not melodramatic. She could have collapsed the entire fucking company because she wanted to see what she was capable of.”
She gave him a smile he knew from experience was laced with condescension. “Do you really still blame her for the Trojan?”
His thoughts ground to a halt, tripping over the sudden shift in conversation. He’d completely forgotten. One more thing to be furious about. “Even if she didn’t plant it, she’s not innocent.”
“You know those assholes look for every chance they can find to make us look bad.” She had a point. Hayden didn’t have to be technical if Mikki had laid out every detail for him, hoping it would help someone tell Skriddie how to fix the problem. He knew enough to manage a technical team. That was all the knowledge it would take.
“Do you really think she’d leave fingerprints, and then come groveling for forgiveness?” Vivian asked.
It didn’t matter that all the pieces pointed to Hayden. He couldn’t forgive this, and he wouldn’t be suckered again. He fixed a cold smile on her. “But she didn’t ask for forgiveness, did she? She showed up hours after the fact, flaunting the fact she’d found something we couldn’t. You do understand how that kind of ego works, right?”
She studied him, disgust and disappointment heavy in her frown. “Apparently not. But I can tell you’ve got a solid grasp on it.”
She thought he was describing himself? Jared obliterated the part of himself agreeing with her disdain. Squashed the voice into oblivion pointing out he was the one being irrational by refusing to yield. He grabbed his laptop and walked out of the room without another word. It didn’t matter how much he wanted to convince himself otherwise, what Mikki had done was unforgivable.
It had to be.
*
Mikki didn’t blame Jared for his reaction. He had every right to be furious. At least she’d finally corrected her original mistake. His friends were wrong though, in comparing her actions to any he’d taken in the past. She wasn’t trying to spin it into some sort of career-changing move. She’d just wanted to make things right.
She pushed into her room. Everything inside her ached with sorrow and regret. And a little bit from the position she’d slept in. She stripped off her clothes, cranked the shower on, and stepped under the stream. The water heated as it beat into her skin. It didn’t dredge away her exhaustion, or anything else.
Her thoughts fumbled for focus as she toweled off and dressed. The bed beckoned her, but she had to be on a plane in just a few hours, and there was no reason for her to stick around. She’d grab the biggest cup of espresso hopped-up coffee she could find and snag a cab to the airport.
Her phone buzzed. She snagged it off the nightstand to press ignore and saw Hayden’s name on the screen.
Her ambivalence and self-pity evaporated in a rush of angry heat, and she clicked answer. Her frustration had just found an outlet. “Hello.”
“Michaela.” Hayden was the kind, friendly person she remembered. “You were pretty stressed last night. I just called to make sure you were all right.”
But she’d seen his true face, and she was tired of filtering her thoughts. “You mean last night when I quit and like the asshole you are, you threatened my entire career? Or are you thinking of a different conversation?”
His nervous chuckle was hollow over the line. “It was late, I was tired and jet lagged. That’s behind us, right?”
“Oh yeah, completely.” She let her irritation flow into her responses. “So behind us, it’ll never be an issue again.”
“Glad to hear it—”
“Because I just finished typing up my resignation and it will be on HR’s fax machine in about twenty minutes.”
“Excuse me?” And just like that, Hayden’s smooth talking vanished.
“No, I won’t.” She held her free hand out in front of her, palm down, as she talked. She should be shaking from all the anger and adrenaline pumping through her, but all she felt was a growing calm.
“You’ll go down for this.” A low threat ran through his words.
“Too late.” She let the words flow as they popped into her head. Impulsiveness had already ripped so much away from her, why not let it rain down chaos a little longer? “I’ll destroy my corporate card before I walk out of the hotel, and drop my laptop with security on Monday. I expect they’ll have the contents of my desk waiting for me by then.”
“Where are you going to go? Skriddie’s not going to have you. You’re not getting a reference from me. So…you’re planning to go back to call center life? That’s not going to pay the bills.”
“It’s better than working for someone who thinks healthy competition is planting a virus on another company’s network.” It was true, Skriddie wouldn’t have her. Jared had made that clear, and he was right. Not that she needed the reminder. She wasn’t giving up a job opportunity because of a guy. It was because it was the right thing to do. Even though missing Jared was tearing her up more than the damage to her career. “If I burn, I have ways to take you down with me. You shouldn’t have used my phone.”
“Mik—”
She was done. As she hung up, the adrenaline took its toll. It plummeted into her gut, snatching away her breath and leaving her ill. She sank onto the mattress, staring at the wall. In less than a week, she’d gone from being a growing name in her field and falling in love to being heartbroken and unemployed. Even worse was she didn’t know which devoured her more—her career being dead or the realization she’d actually been falling for Jared.
Jared tossed his laptop on the hotel bed. It sank into the smooth comforter, wrinkling the only order in the room. He dropped onto the mattress next to it, gaze drifting around what had been his temporary home. Memories seemed to leak from every corner, hiding in the shadows, taunting and urging him to remember. But he couldn’t.
Living the last few days had already created too much of a mess. Clothes draped on chairs, nothing on hangers or in the “dry clean back home” side of his garment bag. He hadn’t even stuck to his morning run. On the surface it wasn’t a wreck. However, he knew how it normally looked, though, and it was all out of place. He wanted to be bothered by the disarray, but he was more bothered that most of him didn’t feel it was significant. At least not on this scale.
Jesus, could he be more melodramatic? He’d dealt with this before. He knew how to move on. The idea was so overwhelmingly unappealing it almost made him retch. He only wanted one thing right now, and she wasn’t here.
No, he couldn’t do this. He wouldn’t linger on her face, her laughter, her gorgeous body and the way it fit perfectly against him, the way her brain whirled so fast it was a rush to keep up. He wasn’t going to think about any of those things.
He forced himself to stand. A semblance of order would help him compartmentalize his thoughts. He moved his misplaced clothes into their proper places. He plucked a shirt off the top of his garment bag, and his chest almost collapsed on itself. A teddy bear stared back, black eyes blank and accusing, taunting him in nothing but an apron and a beret. He grabbed the bear to fling it across the room, and a pair of black, lace panties tore loose from its arm and drifted to the ground.
Mikki was everything that could destroy him. She’d almost done it once. She was flighty, impulsive, and prone to do things like hack the competition’s network just because she could. He tugged the apron down on the bear and set it back on top of his luggage. He knew all those things at his core. So why did it feel like he was being ripped apart at the thought of never seeing her again?
Suddenly the air around him felt too heavy. He needed to get out of there. Being alone with his thoughts was going to crush him. He’d text Vivian and see if she wanted to do anything while they waited on Tate.
And listen to them lecture me some more. Fuck that. He’d surround himself with strangers instead. See if he could live their emotions through osmosis, or some stupid bullshit, instead of having to deal with the parts of him whispering she’d suffered through this as much as he had.
He showered as quickly as he could, hating the way the beat of the water drew his own thoughts back to the surface. He pulled on slacks, a shirt, and a suit jacket, and headed toward the elevators. When he reached the lobby, he couldn’t find enough concentration to even figure out where he was going. Breakfast was a good start. Somewhere with lots of people. Loud people.
As he let his gaze drift around the lobby, deja vu coursed through him. Had it really been less than four days since he first saw the distracted woman wandering across the lobby, oblivious to the world?
Great, now his imagination was taunting him. No. He narrowed his gaze. It was really her heading toward the business center. Time for breakfast. But he couldn’t convince his feet to move in the other direction. She was only inside for a few moments before she emerged again. Her gaze stayed on the ground as she headed toward the front door, duffel bag and laptop slung over her shoulder, trailing a rolling suitcase behind her.
Let her leave. The two of us are done. Fuck it, he was an ass sometimes. His feet were carrying him toward the exits before the automated door finished swinging shut behind her. She was halfway to the cab line. This mental argument was stupid. He’d admitted yesterday he wanted to work through things with her. Nothing had changed except more of the truth was in the open now. Things that hadn’t been her fault any more than his. He forced himself to speak. “Mikki.”
A doorman had a taxi at the curb, waiting for her. “Miss?”
She didn’t turn to face Jared, but she didn’t move toward the waiting car, either.
She couldn’t leave. The single thought pushed aside all of Jared’s hurt and confusion. He needed her. Everything Tate had said was true. Vivian was right. Logic be damned, he was going to be miserable without this woman, and she’d been as betrayed as he had. “Please?”
The seconds ticked away in slow motion. She finally shook her head at the doorman and stepped aside so the next person in line could have the waiting
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