“I’m going out with Jewell,” she told him, and the sharp look in his eyes faded. Hmm. Interesting.
“Where’s Blake?” he asked, though she was sure he knew. Then again, maybe he didn’t.
“This is a ritual for us. At least twice a month we meet up, unless a natural disaster occurs. So Blake uses it as an excuse to have a boys’ night, or do whatever it is that men do when their wives aren’t home,” she said.
“A boys’ night?” he said before his lips turned up. “Please tell me what a boys’ night consists of.”
“I don’t know. I just…I just said something. I have no idea what he does when we have our dinners. I just know that he doesn’t complain about it, because he’s not over-the-top possessive.” She really wanted to get around him and go to dinner.
“Invite me to join you.”
“What?” Had she heard him correctly?
“It’s rude to make someone repeat themselves, McKenzie.”
“You’re calling me rude?” she gasped. “You just tried to invite yourself along to a girls’ night. You are probably the most insanely rude person I’ve ever met?”
“I didn’t call you rude; I said it was rude to make someone say something more than once, which you’re making me do again.”
“Ugh.” She threw up her hands in frustration. “I’m leaving now.” She finally braved walking up to him and brushing past. He stepped back and their gazes collided as she moved around him.
A shiver racked her body as she turned away and began walking toward the elevators. His devilish eyes, rock-solid body, and kiss-me lips had her stomach churning, and it would be disastrous for her to remain in his presence for too long. So why was she suddenly feeling guilty that she hadn’t caved in and invited him to dinner? It was ridiculous.
She had absolutely nothing to feel guilty about. He’d gone beyond rude when he asked her to bring him to dinner with her girlfriend. But she couldn’t shake from her mind the millisecond when it had looked like disappointment was clouding his eyes.
He wasn’t really disappointed. He just wanted to interrogate her — that was all. If Byron wanted a dinner companion, he could open up his little black book and find a thousand people to go out with him. Heck, a thousand was a gross understatement. A man like him had to have a million dates on call.
So when she found herself turning around and moving back toward his office, she wanted to slap herself. What in the world was wrong with her? She’d made a clean escape. All she’d had to do was to hit the down button on the elevator and then be free of Byron for the rest of the night.
Instead, she found herself in his doorway, and she was for once the one to look in on him without his knowledge. He was leaning back in his chair, and for one brief moment he looked so vulnerable to her, so different from the hard man he always presented himself as, that she couldn’t stop herself from saying words she didn’t want to say.
“Would you like to come to dinner, Byron?”
He seemed startled as he turned her way, and just like that, any traces of vulnerability disappeared. “I thought you’d never ask,” he said, standing and picking up his coat.
Grrr. Yes, she was a fool. Why in the world had she locked herself into a social setting with this man? Obviously she’d just done exactly what he wanted her to do. When they stepped into the elevator, a space that was always sufficiently roomy when she was traveling up and down it with anyone other than Byron Knight, she felt claustrophobic.
After only a couple of weeks of working by this man’s side, he was messing with her head in a way that she’d never allowed a man to mess with her — not even Nathan, who was the scum of the earth. She could blame what had happened with Nathan on her youth and inexperience. What in the world could she blame her erratic feelings for Byron on? Nothing came to mind.
Just when she thought the silence couldn’t get any louder, Byron spoke, waking her up out of her reverie, and she focused on the steel doors in front of her. “I’m going to the Boise offices next week. I need you to be there.”
Every instinct in her body told her she had to get out of this. “I already gave you all the information you would need for this trip. My presence isn’t necessary.” There. That had come out without emotion. She was good.
“You can’t read faces through a picture, McKenzie. You’re the one who has narrowed this down to a few individuals. Now, we need to finish it and get the Boise offices running the way they should be.”
That had almost sounded professional, all business and nothing more. She might have bought into that if it weren’t for the earth-shattering kiss the two of them had shared — and, of course, his confidence that she would end up in his bed.
“Honestly, Byron, I don’t think I’d do anything other than slow you down. I’m great with numbers, but not so great with people,” she said, though it was a lie. She could read people well, which is why Relinquish Control had been successful.
“I think you’re being too modest. I won’t force you to go, but I will let you know that if we can solve this matter quickly, it would look much better for our company…and, of course, the reputation of yours.”
Ohhh, that was a low blow. Her job performance had been flawless up till this point. She wanted to question him, find out what he meant by that statement, but she also already knew. Or did she? The Knight brothers were always honest, even this one.
So, when she found herself nodding at him, agreeing to go with him, she began to wonder about her own motives. Did she want to be alone with him? “Okay, I will accompany you. It’s only a day trip, correct?”
The elevator doors opened and he placed his hand against the door while she walked out. Then he followed her. “If all goes well, McKenzie, we can be in and out of the offices in a few hours,” he said.
That hadn’t been what she’d asked him, but when he put his hand on her shoulder as they exited the building, McKenzie forgot all about what she’d been planning to ask him next.
Never before had a man had the ability to silence her when she wanted to speak — not without drugging her first — but, with Byron, she seemed to be in a constant daze. This so wasn’t where she wanted to be. Not where she wanted to be at all.
If she didn’t pull herself together, and soon, she’d be in deep trouble while working and playing games with Mr. Byron Knight.