Flawlessly Broken: (Broken Series Book 2) (18 page)

Not bad. No stutters, no hiccups, and I managed not to swallow my tongue. That was no small feat given that Spencer had just announced to the world that he was my boyfriend and kissed the hell out of me in plain view of half my staff.

I briefly wondered if his no drinking rule applied if he was with me at the time.

Derek’s steely gray eyes bored into Spencer and all Spencer did was pull me closer to his side and grip my hip possessively, smirking in challenge.

“Sorry if I interrupted your business meeting,” Spencer said happily, emphasizing the word business.

I shook my head. “Not at all. I was just telling Derek that Friday’s aren’t a good time to talk about the article.” I turned to my ex and nearly laughed at his sour expression. “Maybe we can try for early afternoon on Monday?” I asked.

Derek drained his drink and stepped from the booth, forcing us to step back out of the way. Spencer held me against him and we moved together as a unit.

“That’s fine. I’ll leave you to take care of the
overcrowded
dining room.” He shot a hostile look at Spencer before returning his gaze to me. “It will take more than one afternoon, though. We’ll need to work closely for several days if we want to iron everything out.”

I knew damn well he wasn’t referring to the magazine article.

Spencer knew it too because he said, “Why not work on it all next week and get it knocked out? That way there won’t be any need to intrude on the weekends, when she’s always kept very busy.” His tone left no question as to what I’d be busy doing.

“Good idea.” Derek reached over and swept a few loose hairs away from my face and tucked them behind my ear, causing me to flinch and lean away from his touch. What the hell was he doing? Not sparing a glance at my
boyfriend,
he said, “Sounds like I’ll be seeing a lot of you then, Natty. I look forward to it.”

Spencer’s fingers dug into the flesh at my hip and I prayed he didn’t clock Derek right there.

He managed to keep his hands off him but did step forward, getting right in his face as he spoke in a low growl. “You should know right now that I’m a man who doesn’t share. Understand? I sure hope so, because any part of you that touches what’s mine will be ripped from your body and crammed up your arrogant ass. Make no mistake, I know exactly who you are. And I don’t give a fuck... touch her again and I’ll end you.”

The two of them glared at each other for what felt like an eternity. Jaws clenched, hands fisted, posture like two tigers preparing to pounce.

Not good. At. All.

Thankfully, at that precise moment Gina decided to make one of her grand entrances. She came skipping around the corner, a basket of garlic bread in her hand as she tried to step around us. She gave up and smiled at the two men on the cusp of a fist fight as if unaware of the tension crackling through the room. “Sorry, fellas. Not that I’m normally one to complain about having to squeeze between two gorgeous men—it’s always been a fantasy of mine, actually—but table seventeen is bitching about needing more bread and I don’t want to screw up my tip. The old broad with the carbohydrate addiction is wearing a Cartier watch. You know what that means.” She nudged Derek and winked, making a cha-ching sound.

They both turned to give her an incredulous look before Spencer cracked up and Derek stormed off.

She gets a double bonus.

Once Derek was gone and Gina had tended her table, she returned to where we stood, smirking as she extended her hand.

“I’m Gina. This place would crumble without me.”

Spencer took her hand, smiling fondly. She did make a great first impression. “I’m Spencer. Nice to meet you, Gina.”

She smiled. “Of course it is. I just saved you an assault charge.” She looked at me smugly. “By the way, if that kiss was half as good as it looked, I officially fucking hate you.”

Spencer chuckled and claimed Derek’s vacated seat, gesturing for me to follow.

Unlike when I’d first sat down, this time I slid in beside my companion getting nice and close. Gina dropped unceremoniously into the seat across from us, all smiles.

“So, Spencer, what are your intentions with regard to my boss here? Something sexually depraved, I hope. I need to live vicariously through someone. My boyfriend is great but a girl needs a good spanking every now and then, know what I mean?” She winked.

Kill. Me. Now.

I leaned across the table, Spencer’s soft laughter in my ears as I hissed at her. “If you don’t get your ass to work, I’m making you clean the men’s room. Without gloves.”

“Whoops, gotta go.” She jumped up and started to scurry away before backtracking and leaning across the table toward Spencer. “You let me know if there’s something on your kink list she won’t do. I’m like a contortionist.”

She blew him a kiss and disappeared in a whirl of red hair and giggles.

Spencer laughed so hard his eyes watered.

Fuck the bonuses, she was so fired.

ONCE SPENCER STOPPED
cracking up and I quelled my urge to throttle a certain incorrigible employee, we ordered drinks from one of the servers and sat quietly studying one another. My excitement at the prospect of another night spent with him was tempered by a feeling of dread at the thought of calling anyone my boyfriend. That was something I’d sworn I wouldn’t get roped into again. Part of me wanted to run and the rest of me was petrified in place, frozen in absolute terror.

I wasn’t sure I would ever be ready to take that kind of risk again.

He turned sideways in the booth and watched me over the rim of his glass, condensation dripping onto his fingers as he sipped. Sitting it casually back on its cork coaster he asked, “What’s got that deer-in-the-headlights look in your eyes? Is it Derek?” His tone was dry and even. “Or is it me?”

“A little of both, I guess.” I hated to admit it, but the way he was looking at me told me he’d know the truth whether I spoke it aloud or not. And I didn’t want him catching me in a lie. His idea of payback was bordering on torture. I clenched my thighs to relieve the dull ache and sipped my drink, not looking at him.

“Well, let’s start with Derek.” Again, he sounded like the name left a bad taste in his mouth. “If you’re uncomfortable having to spend time with him, I’ll gladly attend each of your meetings with him next week. I’ll keep a respectful distance, so not to interfere with the actual work you’ll be doing but staying close enough to snap his neck if he crosses the line.”

I shook my head, not believing he’d go so far to protect me. “I can’t ask you to do that. You live two hours away. That’s too much to ask of anyone, especially since Derek is more of a pest than a danger. I’ll be fine.”

He reached over and placed a finger under my chin, making me meet his eye. “Precious, a determined man is a danger, especially one who has already shown a clear disregard for the boundaries you set. Don’t fool yourself about his intentions. He wants you in his bed and will try to exploit any opportunity to make that happen. I’m glad to serve as cock-block for the week and then you can send him on his way, hopefully for good, and without jeopardizing the article.” He smiled softly, glancing at my lips. “As far as travel, I have several meetings in the area this week, a lucky coincidence.” He winked in a way that suggested it was anything but. “And I thought maybe I could stay at your place, if you were agreeable to it. I feel no entitlement to share your bed and am perfectly comfortable on the couch. Though the idea of you meeting him every day with my scent marking you is marvelously appealing...”

I gave a soft groan at the thought and his eyes practically glowed with delight.

Tease.

Shit, he was so distracting.

I reached up and gripped his hand, pulling it away from my face and entwining our fingers. “Wouldn’t a boyfriend expect to share my bed?”

His head tilted back and he pursed his mouth in understanding. “Ah, now I see where the look is coming from. That word.” He glanced around quickly as if about to share a state secret or something then grinned at me. “Sweetheart, that was for his benefit. I wanted him to back off, and it was clear that you did too, so I staked my claim in the only way I knew how,” he chuckled. “I was a split second from calling you my fiancé but realized you’d need a ring to pull that one off.”

It was a strange thing to be overrun with relief and disappointment at the same time.

“So, that was all for show?”

He studied me for a moment, his smile slipping. “Did you want it to be real?” The tone of his voice was odd, as if he was scrambling to decide whether to even ask the question. I’d never heard him uncertain before and I wasn’t sure what that meant.

I watched him watching me and considered a moment. “We’ve never really discussed what this thing between us is and I’m fine with that. It is what it is, no labels needed. As far as Derek’s appearance and you appointing yourself as my ‘boyfriend,’ I’ll admit I was taken by surprise by the whole thing. From the moment I walked around the corner expecting to see you in the booth and found him sitting there instead.”

He nodded thoughtfully, sipping his drink. “I suppose I’d feel the same way in your shoes. Luckily, he’s easy to scare off. He took the first available opening and hauled ass.”

“Yeah, a habit of his.”

Shit. Why’d I say that?

Spencer’s eyes snapped to mine, ever alert to changes in my tone. “Tell me how things ended with him?” His voice was softer than before, sympathetic.

I held up a finger, asking for a moment while I flagged down one of the servers and asked for refills and an update from Neil in the kitchen. We sat in silence while awaiting her return. He didn’t try to push and gave me time to gather my thoughts, which I appreciated.

After our refills were in front of us and the server relayed that Neil had caught up and the replacement sous chef had arrived, I took a long drink and a deep breath. “Derek was my high school sweetheart, my first love, the person I planned to marry. Even after we decided on two different colleges, we made it work. It was a three-hour drive to visit each other but we did. We stayed faithful and dedicated to one another. During semester breaks, we spent every waking moment together.”

I swirled my drink and watched the condensation roll down the smooth outer surface. “When I went to him after everything happened, I was terrified. I didn’t know how he’d take it. I was afraid he’d hunt down the entire fraternity or something.” I dragged my fingertips through the frost on my glass, the cold sensation making me shiver. At least I pretended that was why. “At first, it looked like that was exactly what he planned to do. Until I told him I was pregnant and wasn’t having an abortion.” I looked at Spencer then, my eyes pleading for his understanding. “I couldn’t do that. All I kept thinking was that my birth parents gave me a chance, gave me to the most amazing family in the world, when they could have gotten rid of me. How could I not do the same for this child? I wasn’t saying I planned to keep her, that decision was made much later, but I had to at least give her the same chance my birth parents gave me.”

Spencer squeezed my hand. “And Derek didn’t understand that?”

“No. He said it was suspicious that I would want to carry my rapist’s baby; that it made it look like I’d been cheating rather than assaulted. It didn’t make sense to him. And I couldn’t make him understand. The last time I saw him, we stood outside my parent’s house and he told me he didn’t believe me. He walked away and left me bawling there in the driveway. He didn’t even look back when I crumbled to the ground, sobbing.” I picked up my drink and drained it, blowing out a big breath that sounded relieved but wasn’t. “That was the last I saw or heard of him until last week when he walked in here.”

“I should have throat-punched that son of a bitch.” Spencer finished his own drink and slammed the glass down, turning to me. “Now I know like hell I’ll be here for those meetings. If you don’t want me at your place, I’ll get a hotel room but I’m not leaving you alone with that bastard. For him to even attempt to patch things up with you is an insult, especially in light of all you’ve been through. I won’t fucking allow it. Period.”

“Standing your ground as my boyfriend?” I mused, teasing.

“No, precious.” His voice was deadly serious, deeper than usual and sexy as hell. “I’m protecting you from his bullshit because that’s what a real man does. They don’t tuck and run like worthless pussies and they damn sure don’t walk away from someone they care about and leave them hurting.” He leaned over and kissed my forehead, pulling me into his side. The tender touch of his lips and the heat of his breath enveloped me like a warm blanket. “He’s not going to hurt you again, I can promise you that.”

I knew he meant it.

Derek
wouldn’t get the chance to hurt me again.

But would
he?