“Please, Chloe, if you let me in, I can call Ryan and he can explain.”
“I don’t think so. He had his chance. Now go away.”
Tom the cat rubbed against my ankles, so I picked him up and carried him to my bedroom, where I lay on the bed and gave my tears free rein. It wasn’t that bad. Okay, my feelings were hurt, but I was more pissed off than anything else that I’d been lied to. If I rationalized things, the trade-off hadn’t been half bad. I’d had the best sex of my life and maybe that was why I was so miffed. I wanted more of Ryan.
Sure, Ian was great too, but Ryan was the one I’d attached myself to. He was the one I truly wanted. I’d love him to crawl over here and beg me to come back to him. Like that would ever happen.
My phone buzzing jarred me out of those thoughts and when I checked out the number it showed up as one I didn’t recognize.
“Hello?”
“Chloe, let me in. I’m outside your door.”
“Ryan?”
“Yes. Open the door.”
“Um, I don’t think so.”
“Why not?”
“Because you’ll just kiss me or something and then tell me some crazy story about buying Hugh’s company and I’ll believe you. Then I’ll quit my job and be homeless in a couple of weeks because I’ll be unemployed and unable to pay my rent.”
A deep chuckle came back to me, causing my skin to pebble in goosebumps. Even his laugh was sexy. Damn him.
“You won’t be homeless. Tell you what. Will you believe me if I send over an employment contract?”
“A what?”
“A contract. It will state everything about your new job, including your salary. All you have to do is sign it. But for God’s sake, let me in.”
“Er, okay. Are you a Boy Scout?”
“That would be a no. Why?”
“Can you at least do the Boy Scout honor thing for me?”
“I can do whatever you ask of me.”
I swung my door open and he stood there with his phone raised to his ear. “Is this the Boy Scout thing you wanted?” He held up two fingers.
“Actually, it’s three fingers, but I’ll accept that for the effort.”
He stepped into my apartment and reached for me, but I moved away. “Not so fast, speedy.”
“What’s the problem now?”
“I want to hear about my new job first. You know, so I can decide if I want to take it or not.”
He pointed his index finger at me. “You drive a hard bargain.”
“I believe you’re the one who is hard, not me.” I glanced down at that impressive bulge of his. I knew all the ways he could get me off with it. “But, yeah, I need to know because it’s my livelihood we’re discussing.” I crossed my arms and waited.
“That’s fair. It’s a job that… wait. What exactly did you do for Hugh?”
“I’m a copy-editor at the magazine. And a damn good one.”
“Good. Excellent. We can always use great copy-editors.”
“For which publication?”
He stared just a little too long before he answered. “It wouldn’t be for a publication. I need one for in-house business communications. Don’t worry. I’ll compensate you much better than you were getting paid before and your hours will be better.”
“How do you know that?”
“Just trust me. So is your interest level still high?”
It didn’t take much thinking on my part. If my salary would be higher and the hours better, what did I have to lose? “How much are you willing to pay me?”
“Let’s just say I’ll double your salary.”
Was this guy for real? Double my salary? “Is this a joke?”
“No joke. All you have to do is say yes, and then look over the contract,” he said while typing on his phone. Then he looked up at me. “You can sign it and email it back. Ian should be sending it out to you right away. He began drafting it up as I was driving over here. I’m serious about this, Chloe. I may have misled you slightly, but I do want to take care of you as far as this goes. And eventually, you’ll be able to tell Hugh who the new owner of the company is. If, at that time, you want to go back to your previous position, you can do so then.”
“Even at the higher salary?”
“Yes. I wouldn’t take that away from you.”
“Why?” I asked.
“Why what?”
“Why are you being so nice to me?”
He reached for me again, and this time I didn’t stop him. “I kind of think what happened between us was somewhat special. And I’d like to see you again. I believe you don’t do that by mistreating people.” Then his mouth landed on mine and who was I to refuse the heat of his kiss and the warm silky tongue sliding against mine? “I know you only left me a short time ago, but I want you again. Will you let me have you?”