And, more importantly, she would survive the challenge Byron was throwing at her. Not only survive it, but excel at it.
Chapter Five
What in the hell are you up to now?”
“Excuse me?”
Byron had known he’d get this reaction from Blake. That’s what big brothers did. But he hadn’t been expecting the guy to come barging into his office at the crack of dawn to yell at him. He’d been hoping Blake wouldn’t notice for quite a while that McKenzie had been there working in their Seattle offices.
Because Byron had her working in the office adjoining his own, his brother had been bound to see her, but since Blake had gotten married, he’d been working more and more from home — when he wasn’t at a construction site, at any rate, or at one of the other headquarters.
Blake was a strange one, and he still loved to get his hands dirty and work up a sweat. All of the brothers did, actually, but Blake seemed to like it more than either he or Tyler did.
“You have McKenzie working here. Don’t play stupid with me, Byron.”
“Stupid?”
“Yep. You got it in one. In our last conversation, you told me that you despised the woman, and that you thought she’d screwed up my life,” Blake said, hands on his hips as he glared at Byron.
It was only Wednesday, and McKenzie had been working there for three days now. Byron’s luck at not being found out by his brothers was bound to have ended sooner or later, but he’d have been far happier if it had been a lot later.
“She opened up an accounting company,” Byron told him. “We were in need of a head accountant.”
He’d said that calmly. If only it were really that simple. Since she’d stepped into his office on Monday and the two of them had discussed his expectations of her, all he could imagine was stripping her down and throwing her across his desk. It was nothing too personal, he assured himself. It was only because he wanted to take ownership of her, mess with her in the same way she’d messed with his older brother. She would learn that a person didn’t get away with messing with any of the Knight brothers without suffering the consequences. Infatuation, or whatever the romance writers of the world wanted to call it, had nothing to do with it.
Then again, the woman was good at screwing with people’s lives. Maybe she had somehow cast some sort of spell over him. She was a…witch. That would make a lot more sense than all of these fantasies springing up of their own accord in his brain and points south.
Were the fates with him or against him? It was hard to tell. Before Blake could say, “That’s utter BS,” McKenzie stepped through the doorway, looking down at the papers in her hands, not noticing that Byron was in a deadlock with his brother.
The outfit she was wearing was appropriate to the office — she always played it that way — but he seemed to be finding something wrong with everything she was doing. His eyes were drawn to the top two buttons of her modest blouse. They were undone, and though not even a hint of her cleavage was showing, Byron was captivated, tantalized. He was hot to undo the next couple of buttons to see what she was hiding.
Subtle pink lipstick filled out her lips, making them appear more than kissable, and his pulse sped up as she moved closer. And her scent… He couldn’t figure out what it was doing to him, but his hormones were running amok.
She looked up, and then a genuine smile appeared on those lush lips. “Hi, Blake. I’ve been hoping to see you, but I’ve been so busy that I haven’t had a chance yet to seek you out.”
She walked up and gave Blake a very unprofessional hug, in Byron’s humble opinion. It had Byron grinding his teeth. Yes, he knew she wasn’t after his older brother, but it still got to him. Still, how did he know that for sure? His head was spinning because he really didn’t know this woman at all when it came down to it.
“Did you figure out the problem?” Byron snapped, making both Blake and McKenzie turn his way.
McKenzie’s eyes narrowed at his tone, and Blake looked as if he wanted to punch him.
“Unfortunately, I think the problem runs deeper than a numbers issue. You have someone at the Boise office who is…shall we say, skimming a bit off the top. I’ve been over this and over this, and there’s no other explanation. If I were you, I would have an internal audit done. It’s going to take quite some time to figure out exactly who, but from what I’ve been seeing, I’ve narrowed it down to three possible people. If you know your employees well, then you might be able to narrow it down further.” Her tone was professional in the extreme, and it was putting Byron on edge.
That made no sense. He wanted a professional, didn’t he? So why was it that no matter what she did, he still found himself irritated? Why did he still find himself wanting to punish her? Hell, he didn’t even know which direction was up anymore.
“I’ll look this over as soon as Blake leaves,” he said briskly, hoping his brother would take the hint and go away.
“Maybe I should help you with that,” Blake said, his expression changing as he looked between Byron and McKenzie.
Byron fumed. He in no way wanted his brother getting any ideas in his head about him and McKenzie. Hell, there was no him and McKenzie.
“Also, I thought I would have a couple of our employees come over for interviews later today or tomorrow if you’re up for it, Byron. I know you’re wary about trusting anyone else, but you’ll see that I have a more than competent staff.”
Byron’s temper escalated even further.
With Blake standing right there, though, he couldn’t refuse McKenzie’s request, which appeared to be what she already knew. She was smart. He would have to give her credit for that. A person didn’t get to where she was in life at such a young age without having some decent brains. But still, it didn’t take a lot of brains to run a whorehouse, did it? No, it just took a lot of conniving. He would do best to remember that.
“I’m very picky, as you know,” Byron said. “But go ahead and bring them in.” He thought that sounded gracious enough.
“Of course.” Her tone hadn’t changed, but the expression in her eyes told him that she wasn’t fooled — he wasn’t going to give any of the employees a chance. He wanted her, and only her, working here. And they both knew it.
“That will be all for now, McKenzie. I’ll call you in when I’m finished speaking with my brother.”
It was more than obvious that Byron’s dismissal rankled her, but she gave a slight nod of her head, turned on her heels, and walked stiffly from the office.