Tender is the Nerd (8 page)

“Better her than me. I can’t stand the sight of blood.”

Maybe he was squeamish, which would explain why he’d remove himself from the scene, but something about his behavior was a little off. She didn’t like thinking of him alone in Rylan’s office while everyone else was watching the fight. “Is that Rylan’s laptop?”

“Nope.” He held it up. “Mine.”

Which it was. She could easily recognize Rylan’s after this weekend. “Since Rylan’s not here, is there anything I can help you with?”

“Don’t think so, but thanks! If there is, I’ll let you know.” After checking out her boobs, he continued down the hall.

Rolling her eyes, she went into her office. For the next couple of hours she forced herself to work on collecting more data for the app, but she had trouble concentrating. When Rylan finally appeared in the doorway of her office in clean clothes with his knuckles bandaged, she leaped up and went over to hug him. “I’m so glad to see you.”

“Not half as glad as I am to see you, even if my view’s a bit compromised.” He drew back to gaze at her.

“Your eye looks terrible.”

“It’ll heal.”

“How’s Frazer?”

“Didn’t break his nose, but he’ll have two black eyes from that hit. He’s going to catch a ride to and from work with Dulcie for the next week or so.”

“You have one black eye. Maybe I should give you a lift to work and back.”

He smiled. “Maybe you should.”

“Listen, before I forget, while you guys were fighting I think Blake spent the entire time in your office. He claims that he hates the sight of blood, but I’m suspicious. You need to check your computer.”

“I will, but Garrett made sure all our personal laptops are like Fort Knox with the kind of complicated password protection only a geek could figure out. Blake doesn’t have the skills to hack into anything he doesn’t have access to.”

“Good to know.” She hesitated. “Is everything really okay between you and Frazer?”

“Yes.” He pulled her closer. “He told me what you said to him before I charged in and leaped to the wrong conclusion. I wish I could say I’m sorry for that fight, but I’m not. We had years of frustration to get out of our system. You made for a good excuse.”

“That’s what Garrett said.” She ran a finger over his left eyebrow. “Your eye looks painful.”

“It’s not too bad, and so worth it. It’s great seeing my brother show some emotion. He needs to do it more often.”

“But not by giving you more black eyes, I hope!”

He chuckled. “Don’t like that much, do you?”

“I
hate
it.”

“Well, I don’t expect to be doing any more fighting. I’d rather show my emotion in more productive ways, like making sweet love to you.”

“Mm.” She wiggled against him. “I like that idea.”

“How about now?”

“In the office? Rylan, I love you, but I don’t think –”

“Back up the bus. What did you just say?”

Her breath caught. “Sorry, it slipped out. You don’t have to say it back. We can pretend it didn’t happen and do a reboot.”

“What if I don’t want a reboot?”

“You don’t?” Her heart began to pound.

“Not on your life. I want those three little words in a continuous loop playing twenty-four-seven. If I had my way, I’d hear them when I wake up in the morning and before I go to sleep at night, but you said you wanted to let things simmer.”

“I’m done with the simmer. I’m ready for the full rolling boil.”

“Perfect. Then I can do the same continuous loop for you if you want.”

“Really?” She was growing dizzy from all the happiness pouring through her.

“Really. I love you, Miranda, I love you, Miranda, I love you, Mir—”

She kissed him gently because his lip looked a little bruised, too. Then she lifted her mouth a fraction away from his. “I love you, Rylan. But I’m still not going to have sex with you in the BMUS office building.”

“I know. I wasn’t suggesting it. I stopped by Tony’s office before I came down here and asked if you and I could have the rest of the day off. Then I picked up two personal relationship documents from Charlotte. I want us to sign them while we’re naked. I think it’ll be more meaningful that way.”

“Oh, I agree.” She kissed him gently one more time. “Let’s go home.”

New York Times bestselling author Vicki Lewis Thompson has such a great time writing romance novels that she’s published more than a hundred of them and has no intention of throwing in the towel. That’s despite being awarded a Nora Roberts Lifetime Achievement Award by Romance Writers of America. If that was a signal to quit, she’s not paying attention.
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