Bound (7 page)

I hadn’t even gotten to the kitchen yet when Kate’s laugh made me smile. It was sweet and musical, and I felt a little lighter from hearing her happy.

“Morning, Mr. Ryker,” Mimi said when I walked in. She was scrubbing the sink, but my eyes went right to Kate, w
ho was stretched up on her toes trying to reach something in one of the cabinets on the other side of the kitchen.

The waves of blonde hair that fell down her back
were swishing as she swayed, straining to reach something I could tell she’d never get to. Her shirt had hiked up a little, exposing about an inch of the creamy skin above the waistline of her jeans.

My hands surged with a desire to wrap themselves around her
waist and lift her; to touch her bare skin and feel how light her tight, small body was.

“Need some help, shorty?” I asked
, approaching her. Her eyes narrowed a bit and I knew I’d hit a soft spot. “What are you after?”

“I can get it,” she said, her voice straining with the effort of her stretch. I’d expected
her to smile shyly and let big, strong Ryke come to the rescue. This reaction filled me with amusement and . . . was that admiration? I hadn’t felt that for a woman in so long.

A memory of Maggie hit me like a gust of wind in the face.

I reached for her hand
as we walked down Michigan Avenue after one of our first few dates. We’d just had dinner at a tapas place, which I’d pretended to love because I could tell she wanted me to. But I’d left the place confused and hungry. Olives, cheese and grilled vegetables had been our entire meal. Oh, and two bites of grilled steak.

But she’d been so excited to share her favorite place with me that I’d enjoyed it just for that. I could eat a sandwich l
ater. For now, I was kind of liking the jitters she gave me.  I’d never been nervous with a woman this way.

Maggie
spotted a necklace in the window of a jewelry store. Her blue eyes widened while she admired the sparkling silver pendant.

“Ryke,” she
said, her fingers unlacing themselves from mine so she could bring both hands to her chest with excitement, “I love that! I think I might splurge.”

Maggie was a model who made pretty decent money, but no
where near what I made.

“I’ll buy it for you,” I said, expecting her to mel
t with happiness. Instead she flashed me a dirty look and stepped past me.

“If I want something, I buy it,” she said, heading toward the door of t
he jewelry store. Her rebuke filled me with frustration and admiration.

I didn’t like the dormant feelings surging through my chest as I watched Kate struggle to reach something just out of her grasp without my assistance.

Mimi glanced back at me from the sink. “She’s trying to get the coffee bean grinder.”

I reached up to pull it down, but Kate scrambled onto the kitchen counter on her knees and retrieved it, a victorious grin lighting up her face.

“I’ll make you some coffee,” she said, her brown eyes spark
ling as she looked down at me. “Mimi’s going to show me how.”

My urge to wrap my a
rms around that little waist and pull her against my body was intense. Just thinking about helping her down from the counter had my cock stirring in my shorts.

“Uh . . . I need to get going, actually,” I said, backing away from the counter.

Her face fell. “Don’t we need to talk about what you need me to do today?”

“Just do whatever, it’s fine.”

I turned to leave. I’d stop somewhere for coffee. This apartment was mine; I’d leased it six months after Maggie died to get away from the memories of her in our brownstone. Being reminded of her here made my chest tighten. I didn’t even say goodbye to Kate and Mimi before I closed the door behind me and exhaled with relief.

***

Kate

I stared at the door, the coffee bean grinder still in my hands.

“Did I do something wrong?” I asked.

“No.” Mimi looked up from the sink and smiled. “He can be a little moody sometimes. When he gets back this afternoon, he’ll be fine. Hard exercise always winds him down.”

“How long have you worked for him?”

“I started right after he moved in, about a year-and-a-half ago.”

I sat the bean grinder on the counter and plugged it in. “So you never knew . . .?”

“His wife? No, I didn’t.”

She reached under the counter for glass cleaner to make the stainless sink and long gooseneck faucet sparkle. Mimi reminded me of my mom. She wa
s a little older, maybe 50, her short black hair spotted with gray. I was sure my mom would color hers blonde to her dying day. It wasn’t their looks that were the same, but their warmth.

I filled the grinder with beans from the canister Mimi had shown me on the counter. “Well, you and I will have to try my experiment in coffee making, then.”

“He likes this dark kind best, but he also likes trying new kinds sometimes,” she said. “Nothing too fancy, though.”

There was something sad in her tone that made me turn to her. “You know I’m not replacing you or anything, right? I want to help out by making his coffee for you, but he has other plans for me, like keeping his schedule.”

She smiled. “I know. I’ve just gotten used to being the one who takes care of him. He’s the same age as my son, and I’m fond of him.”

“Well, I’m not goo
d at cooking, cleaning or anything else domestic, so don’t worry. He’ll probably figure out soon that I’m a flighty disaster and fire me anyway.”

Mimi laughed as she gathered cleaning supplies. “He’s pretty laid back. Don’t worry about that. I’ll be cleaning the guest rooms.”

“I’ll bring you some coffee when it’s ready.” I followed the instructions she’d given me, letting my mind wander as I waited for it to brew.

It’
d been almost a year since I’d met Quinn. How young and carefree I was that day. My giddiness over him was my world for the brief time we were together.

I was more than two weeks late before it even dawned on me that I could be pregnant. Two hours and three pregnancy tests later, I wasn’t carefree anymore. I squeezed my eyes against the memory of my tears, my stupid 21-year-old self sure getting pregnant was the worst thing that could ever happen to me. I’d find out it wasn’t. I should have celebrated that moment; cried tears of joy for the baby growing inside of me. God, how I wished I could do it over.

The drip-drip-drip of dark coffee trickling into the pot broke my stare of concentration into space. I squared my shoulders, pulling two mugs down from an open shelf. This kitchen and everything in it was more lavish than any I’d ever been in. I’d have to bring over my chipped Ryan Gosling mug, because these heavy white ones with fancy handles made me nervous.

I carried two mugs carefully down the dark wood hallway, looking for Mimi. I stuck my head through the door of an all-white guest room I hadn’t been in yet. The sound of running water told me I was in the right place, and I headed for the bathroom.

“God, this place is amazing,” I said, looking around at a claw foot bathtub, black and white tile and a wide black vanity. “It’s like a fancy hotel.”

“I know. Where are you from?” Mimi got up from the floor and rubbed her knees.

“Westchester. What about you?”

“
I’m from Wisconsin, actually. I didn’t move to the city until I met my husband.”

She raised the pearly mug to her lips and I held my breath.

“Delicious,” she proclaimed.

I tried a sip of mine and my brows
shot up with surprise. “Wow, this tastes amazing.”

“Mr. Ryker likes good coffee. I hate going back to my grocery store stuff on weekends,” Mimi said, returning to her cleaning.

“I’m going to look through his closet and find a tie and shirt for a dinner he’s going to this weekend. Then I’m going into the front office to get a handle on what they have him scheduled for.”

“I’ll be leaving before noon, so I’ll see you in the morning. I’ll make the chicken salad he likes and leave it in the fridge for dinner later.”

I cradled my warm mug as I left the room and went to Ryke’s bedroom. He’d pointed out the door to me during a quick tour yesterday, but this was the first time I’d been inside.

The ro
om took up a corner of the apartment, and two walls were floor to ceiling glass, like the living room. The headboard of a huge bed with a white down comforter was on the same wall as the doorway I stood in, and the other wall had doors to the bathroom and closet.

Beautiful blue waves rolled in the lake and I just stared for a minute, mesmerized. I sighed, wondering what it would be like to open my eyes to this view every morning.

Get to work, Kate.
The closet door was already halfway open and I wandered in. Light filled the cedar-scented space that was more room than closet and I shook my head. Must have motion sensing lights.

Ryke’s closet was pretty organized, and I wondered if that was Mimi’s doing. T-shirts and shorts were folded and stored on open cedar shelves, and pressed dress shirts were lined up neatly on hangers. I opened a small wood door and saw dozens of ties hanging on a large metal holder.

I picked a pale pink dress shirt, smiling at the thought of broad, muscle bound Ryke wearing pink. There were several ties on the rack that would match, and I held each one up in turn, looking at them a few times before choosing one and draping it onto the hanger that held the shirt. With gray pants, he’d look amazing.

Though I knew I shouldn’t snoop, I pulled open the top drawer of his dresser and inhaled the fresh cedar smell. He’d told me nothing was off limits in the apartment, that I should feel free to get into anything I wanted. But still . . . I felt a creepy thrill as I stared at his neatly folded underwear. Did Mimi get to fold it? Lucky woman.

Before I could talk myself out of it, I reached in and touched a pair of soft blue boxers. They had been on his tight, gorgeous ass, and I was touching them. More like fondling, actually.

You really are a creeper, Kate. Get a life.

I was pulling my hand out when I saw a flash of color. I looked closer and saw a magazine. Holy shit, had I just discovered his porno stash? Why would he need nudie mags?

But when I pushed more underwear aside, I saw that it was a popular news magazine. My eyes went to the date: April 2013. So it was only a few months old. It probably had Ryke’s picture in it or something. Curious, I flipped through the pages, and there was his picture, alright. My mouth dropped open.

It was a full-page ad of Ryke wearing only a tight pair of boxer briefs, and they were slung low on his hips, revealing a defined pelvic v and the top of a dark, tribal looking tattoo on one side of the v. My mouth went dry as I took in the
long, smooth lines of muscle. His body was hard, masculine perfection. But his face . . . holy shit. I squirmed a little, feeling warmth in my panties as I eyed his dark scruff and his wicked ‘come hither’ expression. I’d come hither in a matter of seconds if he looked at me that way. His black hair was just-out-of-bed messy, spiked in places, and his hands rested loosely by his hips.

I worried Mimi would catch me drooling over the ad, so I quickly put it away and arranged the boxers just as they’d been before. I needed some air. Nearly 12 months without sex had apparently made me extra excitable.

It was time for me to go to the front office and get these forbidden thoughts about my boss out of my head.

***

Ryke

My feet were getting heavier with every step I took across the underground parking garage. I’d been a dick to Kate this morning. Should I say something about it? Apologize? I considered as I rode the elevator upstairs. Normally I would have showered after lifting weights all afternoon, but I’d decided to just come home today. Earlier I’d been eager to see Kate, but now I was dreading it.

When I walked in the door, she was arranging sunflowers in a vase on the kitchen island, which I could see since the apartment was open. I swallowed, my feet frozen to the ground.

“Hi!” she called, giving me a bright smile. Now I felt even shittier.

“Hey, how was your day?”

“Good. I’ve got your schedule all taken care of and I brought some stuff you need to autograph for the front office. I did my best to respond to some fan letters, but I left them on the desk for you to read over. Mimi left chicken salad in the fridge for you, and I filled your glass pitcher with the water and fresh lemon juice she said you like. And now, I’m out of here since I have my meeting tonight.”

She wouldn’t even make eye contact, and I could tell she wanted to get the hell away from me.
I’d been hoping she’d stay for dinner and we could go to the meeting together.

“Kate,” I said as she grabbed her purse and headed for the door.

She turned with a phony smile. “Yeah?”