Betrayed (12 page)

Chapter Twenty-Two

B
yron was furious.
He’d had to get away from McKenzie’s house before he did something he might have regretted later. Not that he ever allowed himself to feel regret. That was for the weak, and Byron wasn’t a weak person.

He was trying to help McKenzie against all odds, and she’d had the nerve to throw it back in his face. How dare she! This wasn’t the first time she’d refused his kind offer. Why did he keep doing it? It made no freaking sense. She didn’t deserve his help, not with the kind of person she was.

But the two of them had enjoyed a great weekend together. Not that they should have. And he was to blame. He’d pushed it. And how he had pushed… Damn! He hadn’t felt this confused since he was a child. He didn’t like it one little bit.

He should have taken her up on her suggestion that she leave Knight Construction. He should say goodbye to this woman and never look back. Dammit! Even the thought of doing that turned his guts inside out. What in the hell was going on with him?

He slammed his fist against the steering wheel while he was stopped at a red light. When a car behind him honked, he realized that the light had turned green and he was still sitting there. Slamming his foot against the gas pedal, he peeled away from the intersection with a mighty squeal and made his way toward home.

He and McKenzie were nothing to each other. They weren’t even friends, or even lovers. They had shared a casual weekend of sex, but that didn’t put them in a “relationship,” and he shouldn’t give a damn if something was going on in her life that was causing her distress.

But as much as he tried to convince himself, he couldn’t help but worry, couldn’t help but want to step in and live up to his last name. It was ridiculous of him because he was one of the people in line who wanted her destroyed — or at least he had been one of the people in line.

He tried to assure himself that as soon as her life wasn’t in danger — if it even was —he would be able to send her away without a second thought. He had wanted to mess with her the way she’d messed with his brother. But now the victory he thought he would feel over breaking her was leaving a bitter taste in his mouth.

He wasn’t certain how he’d made it home; he sure as hell wasn’t concentrating on his driving. But there he was, and he parked and went inside. The change of scenery didn’t change the tenor of his thoughts, however. He really needed to just let this go. But no matter how many times he tried to convince himself of just that, he couldn’t do it, couldn’t lift his phone and tell her not to come into work, that she could go back to her accounting business, free and clear, with a great reference from him for a job well done.

As Byron lay in bed that night, he told himself it was only because he hadn’t extinguished the need he felt for her. A few more times in his bed and he would have his fill and send her on her way. Without her there, however, he spent a restless night tossing and turning, the little sleep he managed to get marred by nightmares with McKenzie drifting away.

So when he walked into his building the next morning, he was exhausted, and more of a bear than usual. At least his team of employees knew him well enough to read the look on his face. Not one person tried to speak to him as he stormed past to his office.

They knew it was best for all concerned if they let him be.

Byron sat at his desk and attempted to get down to some actual work, or at least to look as if he were doing so. After ten minutes of this wasted effort, he gave up and stood. He needed to know that McKenzie was next door, right where he’d told her to be.

Standing in her doorway, he felt his spirits lift slightly when he saw the exhaustion lining McKenzie’s face — her night hadn’t been any better than his. Had she missed him the night before as much as he had missed her? What other reason could there be?

Then he remembered one, and worry set back in.

What if someone had come back to her house? No. She was sitting in the offices. She was fine. Or maybe she wasn’t. Anyone would be rattled by the events of the day before. She certainly had real emotions. Maybe he just wanted those dark circles to mean she had missed him.

“The driver I sent for you said you weren’t there,” Byron remarked.

She looked up, but by the expression showing on her face, she’d already been aware he was there. He knew the feeling. She simply had to be nearby and he could feel her presence.

“I took a cab to work. I told you I don’t need your help,” she said, her voice devoid of emotion.

“Dammit, McKenzie! I’m losing my patience with you,” he snapped as he stepped into her office and shut and locked the door.

Her face blanched, and she sat back, eyeing him warily. “I’m sorry. As I said, I shouldn’t work here anymore, Byron.”

“What you should do is tell me what in the hell is going on.” He toned down his anger, but he wasn’t leaving this office until he got some sort of answer from her.

“I don’t trust people,” she finally told him, her eyes filling with tears.

“Why not?” He waited.

Her tears evaporated, and she gave him a stubborn look. “It doesn’t matter, Byron, but I know better than to rely on anyone but myself.”

“You can’t do your job if you are holding this much stress inside, McKenzie. The best thing you can do is tell someone.” He took a chair and set it next to hers, making her face him.

“I can do my job just fine. Work is what keeps me focused,” she said.

“Look, I’d be happy if I didn’t give a damn about you. I’m trying not to. But we have…something going on between us. I need to know what is happening in your life.” Byron immediately wanted to take those words back, but they were out there, so he sealed his lips together and waited.

“Don’t waste your time feeling anything for me, Byron. My life is messed up, and you know that only too well. We’d be nothing but trouble together,” she said with a bitter laugh.

“I have never told any other woman anything remotely close to what I just said to you. Don’t make me regret it.” He grabbed her hand and rubbed his thumb on the delicate skin of her palm. She inhaled deeply and tugged on her hand, but he refused to loosen his grip. “Talk to me,” he demanded.

Her lips parted but nothing came out of her mouth. She took another breath, then looked away from him for several moments, focusing her eyes out the window. He waited.

Still she said nothing to him, and short of violence he didn’t know how to get through to her. Really, he didn’t need to do this to himself. “I’m trying to be a decent guy, and you’re pushing me away,” he finally said.

Silence again ensued for so long that he wondered if she was going to speak to him at all. Then she turned and looked at him, so much sadness in her expression that it shook him to his core, making him wonder if he’d gotten anything at all right about her.

“I just want to get back to work,” she finally said, defeat coming through loud and clear.

“Then work it is…for today.”

He left her office. Byron had a lot to think about — a lot of things he didn’t want to think about. He had no idea where this was going with McKenzie, but he knew one thing for sure: the surprises weren’t over. She was getting closer and closer to talking to him. She eventually would.

Chapter Twenty-Three

M
cKenzie was still
sitting motionless at her desk fifteen minutes later. Just the thought of working seemed insurmountable; forget about actually doing the work. She had been so close to speaking with Byron, to sharing everything with him, but she knew that would be a monumental mistake. Men like him couldn’t be trusted – hell, very few men actually could.

She didn’t trust him or his motives, and she suspected that he was trying to gather evidence or something like that to use against her. She’d be a fool to forget that, to open her life and her heart to that man. And she’d been a fool one too many times already.

She picked up her cooled-off coffee and took a drink. She didn’t even care that it tasted like crap. She was only in it — or vice versa —for the caffeine.

She kept giving herself mental slaps to wake herself up. She couldn’t allow herself to think for even a single second that she and Byron had really shared anything together the last few days. They’d spent a weekend having sex. It had been beyond her wildest imagination good sex, but still just sex. If she imagined it to be anything other than that, she was a fool. She’d been deceived before, and she damn well wasn’t going to let it happen again.

The temptation to lean on him, though, was killing her.

But enough of this. Putting aside her personal problems and worries, McKenzie forced herself to get back to work. After about an hour, she was doing okay with that — no, she wasn’t moving as quickly or as efficiently as she thought she should be moving, but she was at least getting something done. Something other than moaning and groaning about a past that was over, that is.

When her phone rang just before lunch, she looked down and smiled. She hadn’t spoken with Zach since last Thursday and she was actually missing the guy.

“Good morning, Zach. How are things over there?”

“Without you, my love? Without you here, they can’t be better than okay.”

“Oh, no. Is there something wrong?”

Zach chortled. “No. Of course not. Hard as it may be to believe, I’m capable of doing my job.”

“Then why in the world are you trying to scare me?” she demanded.

“I wasn’t. I was trying to let you know that this place will never be the same without you here,” he told her. “I forgot for a moment how you can go from point A to point Z in one second flat.”

“I’m just ready to get back in there. I can only do this freaking job for so long before I go completely insane.”

“Are things any better there between you and Byron?”

“I shouldn’t have told you he is a pain in my ass,” she said. “But…yes, they’re just fine — pretty much the same,” she lied.

“Okay, McKenzie, keep things to yourself. I’ll try not to be too offended,” he told her with an elaborate sigh and a slight sniff.

“And you can quit being so dramatic, Zach.”

“Well, I was just calling to let you know that the accountant you’re filling in for contacted us today,” he said.

“What are you talking about?”

“Remember why you’re there? The head accountant who met with an unfortunate accident? The guy, Norm Dannon, called us this morning to let us know that he wouldn’t be able to return to Knight Construction. Effects of the accident and all that. So you’ll need to find someone who can take your place, ’cause if you plan to stay there permanently, our business is going to go down in flames. Or up in smoke. Or…never mind.”

She paused for a second as his words processed. “Why in the world is he calling you?”

“There was a mix-up in communication. He called in to personnel and they directed him to our number for some reason. I told him he’d best call them back, but I just wanted to give you a heads up.”

McKenzie was instantly irritated. Did Byron already know about this? Had he been trying to keep it from her? She doubted she’d get the answers even if she did try to talk to him about it.

“Thanks, Zach. And I promise I won’t be here very much longer.”

“I see you’re on the phone again.” Byron’s irritated voice interrupted her call.

McKenzie looked up to find him standing in her doorway, looking less than pleased.

“I’ll talk with you later, Zach. See you very soon,” she told him, looking directly into Byron’s eyes as she said it. Then she hung up the phone.

“What do you mean by that, McKenzie?” Byron asked her as he came closer.

She decided to answer a question with a question. “Did you know that Norm wasn’t coming back?”

He didn’t respond immediately, and as always she couldn’t tell what he was thinking, because he blanked his expression. She really wished she could do that as well as him. She would pay just about every last dime of her precious savings to know what was going on behind that mask.

“Yes. I was going to inform you today. I’ve decided to hire Mary to replace him.”

This was what McKenzie wanted, so she didn’t understand the sudden sadness that was creeping through her. There was no way she would allow that to show on her face, though. Not a chance.

“That’s wonderful. I can tell her right away, if you’d like, and get her in here and up to speed.” She was speaking as stiffly right now as he’d just been.

“That won’t be necessary. I’ll have our human resources people set her up in an office here and go over everything. She was very capable. It won’t take long for her to catch on.”

McKenzie was stunned. This man had been plunging in and out of her body at this same time the day before, and now he looked so cool, so professional…so indifferent. It was more than obvious that he’d gotten what he wanted, and now he was more than ready to be rid of her.

She smiled brightly. “That’s wonderful. Then I guess I’ll clean up my stuff and head out of here,” she said, trying to infuse some excitement into her tone.

“Thank you for filling in, McKenzie.”

And then he turned and walked from her office.

Yes, her time with Byron was truly over. As quickly as it had begun, it had ended. She sat there in silence for a long while and tried to process it all. She’d heard all sorts of things about Byron Knight — what a tyrant he was, how cold he was, how he treated women — but being at the receiving end of his dismissal was humiliating and depressing, She was fighting tears when she stood up, gathered up the few things she had there in her office, and left.

For years, she’d worn a hard shell — an outer shell. Who cared what people thought of her? She simply chose not to care. She’d built up her defenses to keep people from getting inside her head or her heart, but somehow Byron had managed to do both.

No!
She wouldn’t even think such a thing. She was a successful woman, a woman who had a lot going for her and a busy road ahead of her. Why would she ever let a man mess with her head or make her think foolish schoolgirl thoughts? She wouldn’t.

She barely remembered the drive from Knight Construction back to her accounting firm, but when she found herself parked in the garage beneath the building, she took a few moments to collect herself.

Zach would be thrilled to have her back, and even sooner than he’d been expecting. She fought down the tears that wanted to surface, looked in her small mirror, and gave herself a pep talk before she fell apart.

Only then did she struggle out of her car and grab her briefcase. It was time to get to work. She’d been trying to keep up, but doing two jobs made that impossible. She would forget all about Byron as soon as she sat down at her desk and turned on her computer.

Before she even had a chance to sit, Zach rushed headlong into her office. “Didn’t we just get off the phone?” he said as she pulled out her chair.

“That we did,” she replied with the best cheerful voice she could manage.

“Did something happen? Not that I’m complaining at having you here, but I wasn’t expecting you. Are you okay? You look a bit…off.” Zach’s concern came through loud and clear.

Dammit! Tears welled up in her eyes, and there was now no way in hell that she’d be able to tell Zach there was nothing wrong. He sat there on the corner of her desk, silent for once, and he looked at her in shock. She understood that. She’d never so much as blinked before. It wasn’t who she was. McKenzie took pride in the fact that she showed herself to the world only with the most perfect of poise.

Slowly, so slowly, as if approaching a snake, Zach slid down from her desk and actually knelt down in front of her. “You know you can talk to me, right? We’re friends, McKenzie.”

She wanted to laugh at that. She had no friends — well, maybe McKenzie could consider Jewell a friend now, but not really, if she thought about it. A friend knew you inside and out and loved you anyway. There wasn’t a single living soul who knew the real her.

“I’m just an idiot, Zach, and I behaved like a typical idiot does,” she said, pushing back the tears with a will of iron forged on the anvil of a hard life.

“The last time I checked, doll, you were about the most brilliant person I’ve ever met, so we both know that’s not true. Tell me about it. I swear it will make you feel better,” he assured her.

She tried to hold back, but she felt her mouth open and the words pour out. “I had sex with Byron…a lot of sex,” she muttered.

Her statement was met with silence. But then a smile appeared on Zach’s face. “Well, he must be incredibly bad in the bedroom if you’re looking so melancholy about it.”

She was so flabbergasted by his words, she didn’t know how to respond. It wasn’t the reaction she’d been expecting, but then again, she had no clue what reaction to expect — she’d never had a conversation quite like this one before.

“Well…um…I…” How in the world did she respond to what Zach had just said?

“Did you enjoy yourself?”

Again, she was so stunned by his question, she actually answered him. “It was amazing.” She was still in shock over that. Because of Nathan and that sicko rapist, she’d just assumed all sex was horrible. Never, ever could she have imagined how great it could actually be. If she were younger,
OMG
might come to mind.

“Well, then, I don’t understand the tears. You’re an adult, McKenzie and even though I’m a guy and I’m not supposed to say this, Byron Knight is one hot piece of ass. He’s single; you’re single. Enjoy the fact that you had some out-of-the-ballfield sex, and quit beating yourself up over it. It’s okay to let down your hair once in a while,” he told her, standing up and moving back to the door.

“I don’t even know how to address anything you just said.” She knew her mouth was hanging open as she spoke to him.

“You don’t have to. Just close your eyes and picture that moment of ecstasy,” he said with a sigh before his voice rose, startling her. “Damn, it’s been too long since I’ve had sex!”

“Um…sorry,” she told him, but finally she smiled.

“Since you’re all warmed up, you could help me out…,” he said with a lavish wink.

“I think I’ll pass, if you don’t mind,” she told him, but she actually laughed.

“Sucks to be me. Okay, my sweet, I’m going to let you get some actual work done now,” Zach told her. “If and when you need to vent again, call me in. I’m always here for you.”

McKenzie thanked him and then sat back and looked around her office. It was where she’d been trying to get back to for the past three weeks and now it seemed so lonely, so devoid of life.

The first thing she was going to do this weekend was head out on a mission — some major shopping. It was time to add color to her life. She’d known when she went into this thing with Byron that it wasn’t going to last, so she wouldn’t let it keep her down.

No way, no how.