She leaned forward and glanced over the desk, waiting until I handed her the bag. Although I was aware the place had a few around-the-clock guards on the premises, in this moment there was no one to stop me from breezing past the receptionist and marching to the back of the suite.
I pulled one of a number of badges I flashed to get me in and out of situations, sitting it in front of the woman. She eyeballed me cautiously before dropping her gaze to the badge.
“If it’s her safety you’re worried about, I’m not one of her client’s angry exes. I’m Tywin. I’m Ms. Davis’ better half.”
The sneaky smile I flashed caused her mouth to drop open for a second at my suggestion. “Oh. I didn’t know she was…had…” She picked up my fake badge and handed it back without inspecting it. “Her office is the last door on the left,” she informed without further hesitation. Leaning into her observation, she checked me out more thoroughly. She aimed her thumb across her left shoulder, pointing out which of the two hallways would lead me to Patrena.
I strolled past the desk, sensing her eyes on me the whole time before I headed down the hallway. The first sound to register was the aggressive tone of a male voice. He was standing in the doorway to Patrena’s office with the back part of his body visible.
The closer I got, I focused on the side view of him. The peppering of gray at his temples suggested he was middle-aged. He was in good shape and probably considered good-looking by most women’s standards. However, he wasn’t good enough for Patrena so he needed to calm the fuck down and focus his attention elsewhere.
“I need you to…”
Bump.
He was so busy laying down the law to Patrena that he hadn’t noticed my approach. I had bumped past the man’s shoulder, cutting off his words before I entered Patrena’s office unannounced. I didn’t need to see his reaction at my rudeness. I sensed his coiled tension.
Patrena’s mouth dropped open and her eyes widened at the sight of me. Although she had been silenced by my presence, her gaze followed when I marched past her desk and stood at her side. I placed the bag with the salad inside in front of her.
“Hey, baby, I brought you lunch,” I announced before I bent and placed a sweet kiss on her lips, giving the man such a show, I heard his shocked utterances clucking in his throat.
Patrena glanced up and the thick surprise on her face melted into a gentle smile when she understood what I was doing.
“Thank you, honey. You are too good to me,” she replied after her quick recovery.
This was why I liked her. She got me. Anyone else would have probably kicked me out for being rude to their boss and showing up and barging into their office unannounced. Not Patrena. She had played right into my unscripted display of dominance. There wasn’t any other label to slap on this situation because I had never felt the need to act this way with any other woman.
“Anything for my lady. And I do mean anything,” I replied, laying it on thick.
The man’s loud throat-clearing bark broke up our little display. At a glance, I read the question on his pinched eyebrows, curled lip, and the mean glint in his eyes. Who the fuck are you?
I answered his silent question. I’m the ice that will freeze hell over if you don’t step the fuck back.
“Patrena, aren’t you going to introduce us?” he questioned, flashing me another mean glare and cutting his eyes at her like he wanted to shake the shit out of her.
“I’m her fiancé, Tywin,” I informed without hesitation. “She’s been keeping me a secret long enough, and I don’t need anybody to think they could swoop in and take what’s mine,” I stated, hoping he got the fucking point.
The man dismissed me with the same sharp glare he had cut at me seconds ago. “Patrena, you didn’t tell me you were engaged,” he muttered.
The intense crease in his forehead and his stiff body posture hinted at his distress of finding out he wasn’t going to get what I knew he wanted. He needed to sniff after someone else. Patrena wasn’t mine, but he damn well wasn’t putting his paws on her.
“My fiancé is my personal business, so I kept it as such,” she said.
“I better get back to work,” he stated, staring between the two of us. “Congrats,” he said as flatly as his smile before turning and dashing off. I didn’t miss the missiles he shot in my direction before he walked away.
Patrena glanced up, her lips nearly brushing mine. “So, fiancé, what is this about? You show up at my job unannounced, shove my boss out of your way, and pretty much tell him to fuck off based on your body language and possessive words.”
“I didn’t like the way he was talking to you when I was walking up,” I stated, not letting on that I had been keeping an eye on her since Arjen and Desiree’s engagement.
“You don’t have to take that shit. He does it because he wants you, and you don’t acknowledge it.”
She sat back in her seat. “You’ve just met him. How did you come to that conclusion? He always keeps it business with me. Besides, what are you doing here? Is everything okay with Desiree and Mecca? How did you even get back here?”
I placed the same badge I had flashed the receptionist down on her desk.
“Desiree and Mecca are fine. I wanted to check up on you and see how easy it was to get to you. You’re not safe here, Patrena. I flashed a fake badge and told a few lies to get to you. What’s going to stop an enraged ex from getting to you?”
She released a deep sigh. “I knew the dangers that came with this job before I took it. I’ve had a few threats lobbed at me, but we do have security on the premises, and 911 is a dial away. You do know hundreds of others do this same job and take the same risks as I do?”