Nobody's Obligation (Swimming Upstream #2) (5 page)

Chapter 9

Tyler

Tyler had been driving for twenty minutes yet his grip on the steering wheel still hadn’t eased. His fingers were aching from holding on so tight but he was so wound up he couldn’t relax. He tried distracting himself, turning the music up to an almost deafening level and singing along. Loudly. Anything to take his mind off the mystifying and perplexing woman he had just left.

Five frustrating minutes later it still wasn’t working. “How the fuck did she know so much?” he grunted. His mind was still reeling. Tyler thought that confronting Ava would give him the answers he craved but he’d been wrong. Instead all he had was more unanswered questions and more restlessness than he could stomach.

Flashing lights in his rearview mirror caught his attention, and he quickly returned the stereo back to human levels. “Shit,” he grumbled as he pulled over onto the side of the road, the police car tucking in behind him. Tyler watched as the officer stepped out of the car and stalked towards the car. With each step he took, he puffed out his chest a little further and straightened his shoulders a little more.

“Of course.” Tyler shook his head, pushing the button and lowering his window.

“Good morning, sir,” the officer said with a rich gravelly voice as he bent down to look into the car.

“Morning,” Tyler said, nodding softly. Tyler knew how to play the game. Polite but not cocky. He had got out of a million of these things before. Time to add another one to the tally.

“Do you know how fast you were going back there, sir?”

“No, Officer, sorry, I do not.”

“Were you distracted?”

“No, sir.”

“On the phone?”

“No, sir.”

“Have you been drinking?”

“No, sir.”

“Are you under the influence of any drugs?”

Tyler gulped. He was under the influence of that woman but she wasn’t an illegal drug. Just an infuriating distraction. “No, sir,” he answered smoothly.

“Can I see your licence, please?”

As Tyler reached into his back pocket groping for his wallet, he knew that this was the moment. The moment he usually got off with a warning. One look at his licence and they would recognise his name, the officer would end up apologising, maybe an autograph or two, and he would be free to go, his impeccable driving record intact.

“Here you go,” Tyler stated confidently, handing it over.

The officer’s eyebrows shot up as the look of recognition consumed his face. Tyler’s heart soared. Any minute now. “Excuse me, sir, I’ll be right back.” The officer deflated as all the confidence and bravado evaporated instantly and he started back towards his patrol car. Alone with his thoughts, Tyler’s mind instantly began tracking back. How the hell was he going to resolve this issue with Ava? The sooner he got back home and put this whole mess behind him the better.

Resolutely, Tyler sat up straighter. With the decision now made he felt lighter. Like the weight of the world was off his shoulders and he could breathe again. A moment later his clarity was interrupted by a tapping at the window. “Sorry about that, Mr. Andrews. Here you go,” he announced, his voice heavy with authority. “And here is your ticket. You were doing one hundred and twelve in a one hundred zone. I have reduced it this time to be only nine kilometres over the limit, but you really should slow down,” he lectured.

Tyler looked up into the lifeless grey eyes of the constable looking down on him and he couldn’t help but think that he was enjoying this. He continued talking but Tyler just tuned out. He mumbled something about due date and payment methods but Tyler didn’t care. He just watched his cracked lips move without paying attention to the sounds emanating from them.

“Have a good day, Mr. Andrews,” he offered as he bid him farewell before returning once again to his own car.

Tyler sat in stunned silence. Fuming. He’d always gotten away with his indiscretions before. He’d never asked but people tended to look the other way when they wanted something from you. He watched with a strange combination of awe and amazement as the patrol car sped past him and back out onto the road, no doubt in search of another felon. Tyler was angry at himself. Not for speeding. Not for getting caught, or losing the demerit points from his licence or even the fine he had to pay. But as the realisation sunk in that he had just expected to get away with it because of who he was. That wasn’t right. He’d done the wrong thing. He deserved to be caught. He deserved to be punished. And this time he had been.

“Shit!” Tyler exclaimed, punching the steering wheel in frustration. “Where the fuck did that come from?”

Sucking in a deep breath, Tyler started the ignition and pulled out with the crunch of gravel and a cloud of dust billowing up behind him.

Chapter 10

Ava

“Are you even listening to me, Ava?” John snapped, dropping his pen on the desk. Ava watched wide eyed as it bounced and landed on his notebook, leaving a smudge of blue ink across the page.

“I-I—no,” Ava admitted as she blushed with embarrassment.

She was making a fool of herself in front of her boss and she knew it, but she was powerless to stop. She couldn’t concentrate. Every time she raised her gaze to look John in the eye to answer his questions or ask for more information she didn’t see his hazel eyes staring back at her, instead she saw Tyler’s deep brown pools seeing into the very essence of who she was.

“What’s with you today?” he exclaimed, exasperated.

Ava had been trapped in his office for twenty minutes and she could tell that as far as John was concerned that was twenty minutes wasted. Ava wasn’t concentrating and it seemed she didn’t even care.

Quickly Ava managed to mumble through her veil of humiliation, “Nothing. Sorry, I’m just distracted.”

With a sneaky smirk, John couldn’t restrain himself from taunting Ava. Frankly, she was amazed he had held out as long as he had. “Look, Ava, just because I’m not a six foot something superfish doesn’t mean you can ignore what I’m saying.”

Ava’s head snapped back so quickly that she almost gave herself whiplash. The smile that covered his face reached his eyes and Ava knew instantly that he was just making fun of her.

“You heard?”

“Everyone heard.”

Ava groaned dramatically.

“Actually I’m amazed it’s not already on Facebook and the internal gossip vine. Sorry, I mean website,” John continued, his shit-eating grin getting even wider if that was possible.

“It probably is,” Ava grumbled under her breath.

“Oh come on, Ava, don’t be like that.”

“Like what? Humiliated? Ashamed? Confused? Annoyed? Or all of the above?”

“Don’t you think you might be making too big of a deal about it?”

“Didn’t you hear what happened?” Ava snapped, exasperated. She pulled her hair clip out in frustration, shaking her hair free in the vain attempt to gain some semblance of control.

“What?”

“I made a complete idiot out of myself and fell face first on the floor. Not only did I walk into that room looking like I hadn’t seen a mirror in days, but then to make things worse, instead of stringing a sentence together and saying a simple hello, what do I do? Oh yeah, that’s right! I pass out unconscious.”

Shaking his head, all trace of amusement had vanished from John’s features, replaced by nothing but heartfelt concern. “I heard,” he admitted, taking a long pull from the glass of water in front of him.

Ava tried to force her breathing to steady, desperate to regain control of her emotions. “In front of Tyler Andrews, I couldn’t even hold it together. I just…collapsed,” she whispered. And for the first time it felt real. It was almost like if she didn’t say it, Ava could convince herself it was just a nightmare. Her imagination taunted her, but as soon as the words left her mouth and it was out there, it was real. Unavoidably so.

“Ava.” He sighed softly.

“Don’t. Just don’t. Don’t be nice to me. I don’t deserve it.” Ava sighed heavily, scrunching handfuls of her unruly hair up in a ball and securing the pile once again. “Can’t we just pretend it didn’t happen and just get back to work?”

“You sure?”

“I’m begging you,” Ava pleaded desperately.

Forty-five minutes, three arguments, two timeouts, six interruptions, and a message bank full of incoming calls later, Ava was beyond frustrated. She knew they had a mountain of work to finalise today and decisions that needed to be made, but they were getting nowhere. When Amanda daringly stuck her head through the door, John snapped.

A frustrated growl escaped John’s throat, thankfully only loud enough so Ava was the only one to hear it. “Yes, Amanda?” he snapped irritably, rubbing the back of his neck.

“Sorry to interrupt but there is someone here to see you,” she squeaked timidly.

Rising to her feet, Ava began scooping up the notebooks, pens, and papers that were scattered between them. “I guess now’s as good a time as any to call it a day. Seems like other people need you.”

“Sounds like it,” John agreed as his stomach let out a loud rumble, causing both of them to chuckle. “Just in time too, by the sounds of that.”

“Am I interrupting something?” a smooth, husky voice asked, sending vibrations through Ava.

Ava spun around quickly, and was instantly captured by Tyler’s piercing gaze. The hairs on the back of her neck stood up and goose pimples covered her entire body. She wasn’t sure what exactly it was about this man, but he had her acting like a bumbling idiot without even blinking. Ava couldn’t move. Instead she was trapped, like a deer caught in the headlights. Moments later she was coughing and spluttering, pushing at her chest as she gasped for breath.

“Shit, Ava, you okay?” John asked, stepping towards her, slapping her on the back.

Gulping, Ava tried to steady her breathing to regain control. “Yeah.”

“What happened?” John asked, sincerely worried.

“Nothing.”

“Ava?”

“Nothing, okay. I just—I just forgot to breathe,” she snapped, still spluttering.

Silently, John stepped around Ava, unable to hide his complete amusement at her obvious discomfort in Tyler’s presence. “Hi, I’m John Murphy.” John grinned knowingly, extending his hand. “I’m Ava’s boss,” he added.

“Ah! Tyler Andrews.” Tyler grinned, his eyes never leaving Ava, causing her to shiver involuntarily. “So, I guess you’re the guy I need to talk to about letting me steal Ava for the afternoon,” Tyler pronounced confidently as he winked at Ava.

Unable to contain her shock, Ava stepped back, tripping over her own feet, causing the pile of papers in her hands to flutter to the ground. No one moved. All three just stood there dumbfounded and watched as they hit the ground before John and Tyler both broke out in a deep, hearty chuckle. Ava wanted to disappear indefinitely. Quickly she stepped behind John as she tried to use him as a shield, a barrier from her complete humiliation, a support beam, and protection—mainly from herself. Ava dropped to her knees and scooped up the papers and pens, which seem to have scattered in every direction. As she reached out a shaky finger to grab the blue highlighter that rested against John’s impeccably shined shoes, he turned to look at her on her hands and knees as she tried to pull it all together, including her dignity. “You know what, Tyler? Ava is all yours for the rest of the day!”

“What?” Tyler and Ava both managed to blurt out in unison.

“Yep! I can’t seem to hold her attention today anyway, so you might as well take a shot.” John smirked, looking at Ava, who flushed an even deeper shade of red, if that was possible.

“Sounds good to me.” Tyler smirked, raising his eyebrows at Ava, which caused her stomach to dance.

It took a moment before Ava managed to find her voice. “Do I even get a say?” She grimaced as John helped her up from the floor and removed the bundle of papers from her trembling fingers.

“Nope.” John and Tyler laughed together.

Ava pouted as she folded her arms across her chest and chewed on her bottom lip.

Tyler smirked his infamous panty-dropping smirk. “I’ll meet you out front, Ava.”

“Good to meet you, Tyler,” John agreed, shaking his hand before watching as Tyler stalked out of his office. John’s gaze danced around the office. Glass walls had its advantages. Every one of his twelve female employees’ eyes were all locked on the empty doorway Tyler had exited. Some mouths were agape, while others wore a confused expression. Shaking his head in amusement, John turned his attention back to Ava, who was silent and frozen where she stood. “Tell me this isn’t your dream come true, Ava, and I’ll make it go away.”

“It’s not,” Ava stated, not missing a beat, her eyes still stuck on the empty doorway.

“Liar,” John called her bluff.

“I-I can’t,” Ava protested meekly. Her voice was small and shaky.

“Ava, look at me,” he demanded, putting his fingers under her chin and raising her eyes to meet his. “You can and you will. Ava Jacobs, get out of your own head. I know what you’re thinking.”

“Bullshit!”

“You’re thinking that you can’t do this and that you’re not good enough for him,” John said bluntly, his blistering gaze never wavering.

“I wasn’t.”

“I know you.”

“Bastard.”