If I Say Yes (Say Something #1) Page 5

  “Nothing,” I answer quickly. “What is it with you and assuming he has done something?”

  “I don’t like him.”

  I laugh loudly. “You don’t even know him.”

  “Exactly.” His voice is serious. The doorbell rings and I jump.

  “There’s someone at my door,” I whisper.

  I hear Eli’s voice catch before he finally speaks. “It’s after two in the morning. Who would be at your door?”

  “Hold on…”

  “Liza, don’t you ev—”

  I lower the phone from my ear, missing the rest of whatever Eli is saying. I climb out of my bed and tiptoe down the hall towards the front door. My body is trembling, my heart is pounding hard against my chest, and my mind is racing. No one knows where I live, except for Eli and his parents. I can hear Eli shouting on the other end of the phone, but I hold the phone away from my ear. The doorbell stops ringing and is followed by loud, aggressive knocks against the door. I stop just in front of it, flicking on the light and unsure if I want to open the door. The one thing I never got around to doing is getting a peephole installed so I can see whoever is on the other side. This is a moment I really wish I hadn’t put it off. Another knock comes across the door, and I start to tremble. My hand is shaking as I crack the door open, leaving the chain in place, and glance through the tiny opening.

  “Reid?” I quickly close the door, remove the chain, and find a disheveled mess of a man. Reid’s beautiful dark brown hair is sticking up every which way, his eyes are dark with circles around them, and he seems like he is going to be sick. I bring the phone back to my ear where Eli is still shouting, but I block out everything he is saying. “I-I-I’ll call you back,” I say quickly and hang up the phone. I stare at Reid, who is running a hand through his hair and won’t meet my eyes. “What are you doing here?” And how do you know where I live?

  Instead of answering my question, he pushes past me into my apartment. I gaze at him in astonishment for a moment before I close the door and stare at his back. Reid’s body is tense, and I can hear his ragged breathing loud and clear. Quickly, he turns to face me. Without saying a word, he crosses the few feet between us in three short strides. He pushes me up against the wall and presses his lips against mine.

  I am surprised by the sudden connection, but it only takes a split second before I succumb and return it. The kiss is raw, full of hunger and desire. His tongue brushes against my lips, and I open my mouth to let him in. He tastes like bitter, aged barley from the alcohol he has consumed, but delicious nonetheless. I run my hand through his hair and feverishly press my lips against his as if my life depends on it. He tugs on my lower lip with his teeth and bites down gently, causing a wave of desire to radiate through my body. His hands wrap around my waist, pulling me close as he starts to move with me towards the living room. Not once do his lips leave mine. Reid gently lays me down on the couch and leans on top of me. I run my hand up his shirt, tracing the lines of his muscles, just like I have imagined doing a thousand times since meeting him less than twenty-four hours ago. I moan as our tongues collide again, doing the familiar dart and dance, and press my body against his growing erection.

  Reid pulls away and looks bewildered. I watch him shake his head, stand up, and say nothing. He gazes at me once more storming out of my apartment, leaving me there to figure out what the hell just happened. The kiss is over as quickly as it started.

  CHAPTER SEVEN

  I’M A CATASTROPHIC MESS over the weekend. Elias comes to check on me the morning after the kiss, and I don’t tell him anything other than someone had the wrong door. He knows I’m lying, but doesn’t press me any further. One of the many things I love about him. In reality, what could I tell him? That Reid showed up to my house, kissed me like I have never been kissed before, and then left me there. No, lying was the better way to go. How did Reid know where I lived anyway?

  The thought takes over anything else for the rest of the weekend.

  To say I am a bundle of nerves as I head to work this morning is an understatement. I decided to skip my appointment with my therapist this morning because I really didn’t want to talk about anything. I didn’t want Reid popping up in our conversation somehow. Not until I try and make sense of it myself. Now I’m wishing I didn’t miss out, because I am a train wreck, car wreck, and plane wreck all bundled into one as I enter the elevator. I nervously tap my foot against the floor as I wait for the doors to close. My breath catches as Reid steps in at the last minute. No trace of the man who showed up at my apartment at two o’clock in the morning and kissed me. No, instead, he is looks amazing in his smoky gray suit that clings to his body in all the right places. Our eyes meet briefly, staring at one another before he breaks away and presses the button that takes us to our department. The ride is quiet, unnerving, and tension ripples through the air.

  A couple of people join us as we stop on different floors on the way up. Reid exchanges quick hellos with them and never once glances my way again. I can’t help but wonder what the hell his problem is. We finally reach our floor, and Reid motions for me to step out first. I nod my head slightly and exit the elevator. I start to head towards my office when he stops me by touching my elbow, sending energy humming through my body. I turn to look at him and he pulls me off to side. He seems different, almost angry, and I don’t know why. I’m the one who should be angry.

  “My office. Ten o’clock. Don’t be late,” he says in a cold, sharp voice.

  Before I have a chance to respond, he lets go of my elbow and walks away. I’m left there alone, watching him walk away. Again. My pulse begins to quicken, and my blood boils. That’s all you have to say to me?!?

  I shake my head and storm toward my office. Heidi greets me and I brush her off, slamming the door in her face. I sink down in the chair behind my desk, open the drawer to place my cell phone inside, and slam it closed. “What the hell, Liza?” I say out loud to myself. Why am I letting him get on my nerves? I can’t put the blame on him, not all of it at least. I did nothing to stop the kiss, so I have to take some of the blame, I suppose. I let out a deep sigh and turn on the computer.

  Five new messages. The first four are from authors who are seeking representation, of course. I spend a few minutes on each of them, trying to read them before I give up and move on to the next one. The final email comes from an unknown sender. Curiosity gets the better of me, and I open the email. My heart stops, and my hands shake as I reread the message over and over again. It’s simple and straight to the point.

  From: Unknown Sender

  To: LWinter@hlah.com

  Dear Ms. Winter,

  It is my greatest pleasure to indulge you with a bit of information I have acquired. You see, you are not who you say you are. You are merely playing the charade of being someone else. How long do you expect this to last? You cannot hide from being Elizabeth Rose Lewis forever. The truth will come out. And when it does, I will be there to relish in the delight of your failure. You can run, but you can’t hide. Watch your back.

  Someone knows. Someone, other than the few people who should, knows the truth. I forward the email to my personal account and delete it off my work email as quickly as I possibly can. Everything is starting to slip out from beneath me. What is going on? I want to call Eli, but I decide against it. It will only worry him more than he already does. I lean back in my chair, rub my eyes, and sigh loudly. I glance at the clock, and it’s nearly ten. Almost time to make my way to Reid’s office.

  I’m not going to go. If he is going to be an ass and ignore me like he did in the elevator, then I’m going to ignore him and pretend I didn’t hear his demand. With one last deep sigh, I sit up and open my inbox again. There aren’t any new messages, just the forty old ones that are sitting in my inbox. I click on a random message and attempt to read it.

  I find myself in the same predicament always. I simply cannot get through a query letter. I attempt five more before giving up and just staring around my office. I
catch a glimpse of gray out the corner of my eye, and I look to see a livid Reid storming my way. I quickly turn my attention back to the computer screen. Maybe if I act busy, he’ll buy my story of merely being so caught up in my work that I forgot to go to his office. Fat chance.

  My door flies open, and Reid storms in, slamming it behind him. I am tempted to remind him to knock, but the deathly glare he is sending me makes me think otherwise. “Liza.” He says my name like a growl. “Look at me, goddamn it.” I turn my head and face him. His face is flushed, and his hair is slightly messier than the pristine style from this morning, as if he has ran his hand through it multiple times. And he’s panting like he just finished running a marathon. “I told you to be in my office an hour ago.”

  “Oh, I’m sorry.” I smile, which is the wrong thing to do because his nostrils flare and his eyes darken. I shrink back in my chair ever so lightly and glance at him. “I must have forgot. Just as you forgot to knock once again.” I clamp my big, fat, stupid mouth shut. What am I thinking? I’m only going to piss him off further. Like I really care.

  “Liza.” My name rolls off his tongue like its dripping with acid. “I am your boss. If I tell you to meet me in my office at a certain time, you damn well better show up.” He’s right. He is my boss, but that doesn’t mean he has to be such an ass.

  Reid circles around my desk, stopping behind my chair, and places a hand on either side of my arms. His chin nearly rests on my shoulder, and I can smell the invigorating scent that sends my blood pumping through my veins. I try not to stare at his lips. The soft, sweet lips that were pressed against mine just two days ago. He’s staring at the screen, reading the email I have pulled up. I watch his eyes furtively scan the message, his eyebrows raising slightly whenever he reads something that intrigues him. He is totally in his element right now. “Sign her.” I swivel my chair around and gaze up at him.

  “E-E-Excuse me?”

  “I said sign her.” I shake my head. “See, her letter is impeccable. The book she is proposing is just what we are looking to represent. This could be your big break.”

  My big break? I don’t want a big break in Romance. What I really want to do right now is rewind back to Saturday morning and finish what we started. Reid stares at me, oblivious to the fact that licking his lips is really turning me on. My breathing slows, and we don’t break eye contact for several long seconds.

  In a blink of an eye, his lips are on mine again. The kiss is nothing like the first one we shared. This one is soft, sweet, and gentle. “I’ve been wanting to see you again all weekend just so I can do that again,” he whispers against my lips. He pulls away and walks back around my desk. I turn in my chair, and my eyes never leave him. “Right…” he says, running a hand through his dark hair. “So… um… since you apparently can’t seem to follow directions and be somewhere when told to be, you can accompany me to lunch, and we’ll discuss what I wanted to talk about there.”

  There he goes with the demands again, like he can just boss me around. Technically, he can. But I have a right to decide where and who I eat lunch with. I should just say no, not give into his demand, but I can’t.

  CHAPTER EIGHT

  REID SHOVELS FRIES into his mouth acting like it isn’t a big deal, and I can’t help but to think how long he’s going to work out to burn off all those calories. I can picture him shirtless, running on a treadmill, with sweat dripping down his body. I shake my head, trying to get the image out of my mind. What is wrong with me? I hear Reid laugh and turn so I can get a good look at him. “What’s so amusing?” I ask him.

  He leans back in his chair and glances around the café we are sitting in, the same one I ran into him last week. “Are you even going to eat that?” He reaches over and plucks a few French fries off my plate. “You know…” He chews the fries quickly before speaking again. “I still can’t figure you out.”

  “I think you’ve said that before.”

  “It’s true.” He takes a sip of his water, places the glass alongside his plate, and rests his hands on top of the table. “Back there… in your office… you have the perfect opportunity. Something to make a lot of money off of.”

  “I don’t need the money.” It’s true. I really didn’t. When my father was arrested, he transferred all the money to me, stating that he would have no need for it any longer. I have never touched it. I don’t feel right taking money from the man who murdered my mother in cold blood. So instead, I let millions of dollars just sit in the bank, untouched.

  “Yes, you do,” he says plainly. Rage begins to boil under my skin. Who is he to tell me what I need? “I have seen that death trap of a car you drive around in.”

  “Hey! That car gets me where I need to go. That’s all that matters.”

  He smiles. “And I’ve seen that small, crammed apartment of yours.”

  “Speaking of which, how did you even know where I live?”

  “I went to the office and checked your file.” He acts if it isn’t a big deal. My heart starts to race. If he peeked into my file, does that mean he knows the truth about who I really am? “Why don’t you have a boyfriend?”

  His question takes me by surprise. “Who says I don’t?” Reid shrugs his shoulders and he eyes me curiously, like he isn’t stupid. “Not that it is any of your business, but I don’t date guys.”

  “So you’re a lesbian then?”

  I laugh loudly, and the water I just began to sip sprays everywhere. I feel the heat of embarrassment creep up my face. The few people in the café turn their heads and glance at me. Me, a lesbian? He can’t really believe that after our kiss Saturday. “No, I’m not a lesbian,” I whisper. “I just don’t have time to date, that’s all.”

  “What? With your busy work schedule?” He laughs. “With all those authors you have signed, you must be quite the busy lady.” He’s mocking me, full on mocking me. I don’t know whether to laugh along with him or to be mad.

  “All jokes aside, why did you want to meet with me?”

  Reid’s face falters for a moment before he regains that aura of being in control of himself. Neither of us say anything, and we just stare at each other. The silence gives me time to absorb more of his good looks and the memory of the kiss.

  The same waitress that flirted with him on Friday is back, throwing herself all over him. She stands facing him, with her back toward me. She keeps touching his arm every time he says something she finds funny. I watch the two of them, who appear to be completely ignorant to the fact that I am sitting here. Reid indulges the waitress and flirts back with her. I want to tell her to back off, that he is mine, but I have no claim to him. Yeah, we have shared two kisses now. One that makes me hot every time I think of it, and one that was soft and sweet. But he isn’t my boyfriend, and I don’t want him to be.

  “Ahem.” I clear my throat. Both of them ignore me, so I clear my throat louder. The waitress turns around and glares at me. Reid drops his hand from where it sat on her waist and stares out the window. I hold up my glass towards the waitress. She glares again, and then snatches the cup out of my hand. I hear Reid laugh lightly, and I watch the girl’s face turn red. She turns on her heel and heads to get another drink for me.

  “So…” Reid says after the waitress is gone. “The company’s charity dinner is this next weekend. What would it take for you to accompany me?”

  My heart stops. How could I forget about the dinner? It’s less than two weeks away. Last year, I managed to escape due to something with school, but I was only an intern. This year, however, I am agent, and there’s no getting out of it. Every agent is required to be there, along with any authors who have available time in their schedule. I completely forgot about it until now. It’s a black tie event which means I have to dress up. Everyone who is anyone in this town will be there, including the very people I cut out of my life years ago. I start to hyperventilate.

  “Liza?” I hear Reid say my name softly. “Liza… are you okay?” He is kneeling next to me now and gently s
haking my arm.

  “I… I’m sorry. I’m fine,” I barely answer, snapping out of my trance- like state.

  “What’s wrong?”

  “It’s nothing.”

  Reid returns to his seat. His eyes soften, revealing a small glimpse of a gentler side of him. “So what do you say? Care to be my date next Saturday night?”

  “Why did you kiss me?” I ignore his question and ask the one that has been burning in the back of my mind. I wait, and I wait, and he hasn’t answered me. He stares out the window for a long period of time before finally glancing at me.

  “I don’t know why.” It barely comes out a whisper, and I almost didn’t catch it.

  I shake my head and gaze into his eyes. “Yes.” He lowers his head. “Yes, I will be your date.”

  Reid’s eyes light up, a stark contrast to his dark brooding ones, but only for a moment before the darkness seeps back in. “I’ll pick you up at seven o’clock sharp.” He stands up and places a fifty dollar bill on the table. “Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have to go.”

  And he leaves, just like that. What is it with this man and leaving me hanging every single time? I sit there, unable to eat the rest of my food. The waitress brings back my glass and stares at the empty chair across from me with disappointment. She isn’t the only one. I know how she feels. I allow myself to stare out the window at the bustling street outside for a while before I grab my purse and make my way back to the office. My head is spinning with my thoughts going a mile a minute.

  My email is blinking with one new message for me when I get back to the office from another unknown sender. I am hesitant to open it. I pace around my office, contemplating whether not I want to read it. After about twenty minutes of pacing I finally sit down behind my desk and open it.

  From: Unknown Sender

  To: LWinter@hlah.com

  Trouble in paradise? It seems to me that you are sprung on a certain boss of yours. I wonder what his uncle would think of this. Doesn’t this go against all your rules? Ah, yes, I know all about your silly rules. You haven’t been as careful as you think. Leaving your purse behind or talking about it adamantly over lunch with your assistant or best friend. Not very wise for someone who is trying to hide her past. Don’t worry. Your secret is safe for now. But stop and think for a moment, what would that man you are drooling over think once he learns the truth about who you are and what your father has done? Tread lightly, Elizabeth, for you never know when your world will come crashing down.