Into the Fire (Bridge Book 2) (16 page)

“Were you sleeping? I can call back.”

“No, it’s fine. I was just catching a few winks before my next emergency. And I was telling the truth, I miss you. Miss hearing your voice.”

She was quiet and the fog of sleep began to clear more. “Is everything all right?”

She let out a heavy sigh. “I don’t know. It’s been a strange trip.”

“Vanessa. What’s going on? Are you okay?”

“I’m fine now. Reilly came home from the funeral drunk.” She sighed again. “I shouldn’t even be talking about this. It’s stupid.”

“What happened?”

“He came on to me. I had no idea—” Her voice had that small faraway sound again.

“Did he touch you?” I sat up straight in my bunk. Every second she was silent was killing me.

“It all happened really fast, and I got him to leave, thank God.”

Rage scorched through my veins. I stood up and looked around for my keys. I found them and went for my coat next. “I’m coming to get you.”

“Stop. Darren, I’m fine. I’m just kind of rattled and wanted to talk to a friend. I just… I wanted to hear your voice too.”

I hesitated, but every protective bone in my body wanted to get to her as fast as I could. “Should I be worried? I mean, is he in the house with you?” I’d learned how to keep my cool for a thousand emergencies, but the first hint that Vanessa was in trouble had me ready to fucking sound the alarm.

“I think he’s passed out now. I’m pretty sure he’s going to have a massive hangover tomorrow. Hopefully this will all blow over.”

None of that comforted me in the least. “I can be there in a couple of hours. I can have someone cover my shift. It’s not a problem.”

“I’m fine. I promise. I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have even mentioned it. I didn’t want to upset you. Seriously, forget it.”

I gripped my coat tightly before dropping it back on the bed. Maybe I was being rash, but the only thing keeping me from getting on the highway right now was the concern in her voice when I’d mentioned it.

“When are you coming home?”

Home. To me. Where you belong.

“We fly back in the morning. We have an event in the evening, so maybe I can come see you before.”

Not likely, knowing him.

The thought of another man’s hands on her was making me crazy. She was mine, goddamnit. Fuck, I didn’t even want his eyes on her. She bent over backward for that asshole, and their first trip out of town he got grabby with her. My fingers curled into a tight fist.

“Promise me you’re okay.”

“I’m okay. I’m a thousand times better now.”

“I’ll stay on the phone with you all night if you want. You gotta talk me down though. I’ve got my keys in my hand, and I’m ready to come get you. Say the word.”

“Just stay on with me a while. Tell me about your day.”

I sighed. “I slept most of the day. Figured it would be a long night.” I closed my eyes and had the vague feeling that I’d dreamed of her. “What if I don’t want to wait until tomorrow to see you?”

The promise of seeing her, touching her, making love to her, was potent. Maybe the prick could walk in on us and know without a doubt who’d laid claim to her body. Her heart. If he heard the way I could make her scream, I’d remove all doubt.

“What did you dream about?”

I smiled. “You, of course.”

She laughed.

“I don’t like you being far away.”

She let out a small sigh. “You sound like my mother.”

“Maybe she’s onto something.”

“She hates when I travel, and she can’t understand why I live where I do. I think she’s scared for me every day of her life. She thinks Callaway is the safest place in the world.”

I dropped my keys and settled back onto the bed. “What made you leave anyway?”

She was quiet a moment. “I never really felt like I belonged there, I guess. One day I realized I couldn’t stay in that little town for the rest of my life and watch my dreams fall away.”

“And what are your dreams?”

I knew I was living my dream, but I had a feeling she was far from it.

“I don’t know. I guess I’m still figuring that part out. All I knew was I wasn’t going to find them there.”

“You have real talent, red. You should do something with that. I know I’m not the only one who’d pay to see you sing your heart out the way you did the other night.”

“That’s nice of you to say.”

“Nice or not, it’s the damn truth. Have you thought about it?”

“I don’t know. Real life gets in the way. Bills to pay. Bosses to please. Plus it’s hard to imagine the life of a musician turning out any better for me than it did for my mom.”

“They’re your dreams, Vanessa. Your dreams, your life. If you don’t make sacrifices to make them come true, no one else will.”

I knew that better than most. Of course, most of my family thought my life choices were one giant sacrifice. Didn’t matter, because I
was
living my dream, and no one would ever convince me otherwise.

She was quiet and then yawned. “I should go. It’s getting late.”

I got angry again, thinking about her being there with her boss. I fought every instinct to respect her wishes and let her be. Besides, what would I do? Barge into the house and sweep her away? Seemed a little dramatic, and as much as she hated her job, she probably still needed it. For now. Still, I wasn’t ready to let her go just yet.

“Stay on with me a little longer. I’ll quit nagging you, I promise.”

She laughed, and I smiled at the sweet sound. Damn, I missed her. I wanted her in my arms, her voice in my ears.

“Sing something for me.”

She laughed again, a little more tentative. “What do you want to hear?”

“Anything. The first thing that comes to mind.” I had a feeling she could sing me a TV jingle and I’d hang on every word. She had the voice of an angel. The sexiest redheaded angel this side of heaven.

She cleared her throat, and then her voice came through. Soft at first, and then a little stronger as she moved through the lyrics. I didn’t recognize the song, but it was a sentimental tune. A little sorrowful, about falling in love, a bittersweet state of being. The way she sang it, with so much heart, made it something visceral and beautiful.

I wanted to answer the lyrics like she’d spoken them to me. If she’d been with me and not miles away, I swore I would have.

Her voice faded away. I could listen to her sing for hours. The saddest, sweetest songs…all day long.

“Sing me another one.”

“
I
want her gone
.”

Reilly’s voice echoed through the large kitchen as I crept down the stairs. The edge in his tone fell like a tight fist in my gut.

He’s firing me. Oh God. This is it.

“I don’t care how many street kids she’s done finger paints with, my money fuels the whole damn operation. She’s not sitting on that board with me. You vote with me, or I pull my pledge. See how long the initiative stays afloat without my donations.”

I relaxed a little but stayed out of view. He continued pacing the kitchen floor. He looked pale and tired. No doubt the buckets of wine he drank last night weren’t doing him any favors.

“Cut the bullshit, Nicole. I don’t care that you and Cheryl are friends. Vote against me, and I take my investors with me. You’ll be done. That’s all I’m going to say about it. I’ll see you at the meeting at the end of the month, and I trust you’ll make the decision that’s best for the organization.”

He hung up and rested his hands on the granite countertop with a sigh.

I wanted to run back up to my room, but the house was too quiet. I set my suitcase down on the landing and walked to the kitchen.

He lifted his gaze. “Morning.”

“Good morning. Want me to make some coffee?”

“No, we’ll pick some up on the way. Are you ready?”

“Ready when you are,” I answered lightly, avoiding his gaze.

We didn’t speak the whole way to the airport. Once we were in the air, I decided to break the awkward silence and get to work.

“We have the investor cocktail tonight. I have everything set with the venue so we should be good with all that. And then you have a lunch meeting with Dermott today. Do you still want to keep that, or should I move it?”

“Keep it.”

“Okay.” I tapped out a quick e-mail to Dermott’s assistant confirming the time and location.

He exhaled heavily and stared out the window. “I’m sorry about last night.”

I stopped typing. I didn’t know what to say. Words failed me, as they so often did around Reilly. But he remembered, which was the last thing I’d wanted. My hope that by some miracle we could go on pretending it hadn’t happened disintegrated.

What he’d done wasn’t okay. I didn’t want to forgive him, but I also didn’t want to acknowledge it at all.

“I don’t lose. All my life…” He shook his head and looked back to me. “You know I used to play baseball, back in high school? I was the best player in town. Then I went to Yale, played a little bit there, but mostly just studied my ass off. Graduated with honors. Then I came to Wall Street and the rest is history. I’m good at what I do.”

“I know you are.” No one could dispute that. In the greed-fueled game of making money, he was right up there with the best of them.

“I’ve never lost like I did with Cheryl. She woke up one morning and decided she wanted something different. Just like that. Somewhere on my way to the top, this piece of my life just failed. I never even saw it coming. I struggled with it for a long time. Then I started to think, maybe this wasn’t really a failure. Maybe I didn’t lose this round. Because I realized I wanted something different too. I wanted you.”

I could hardly breathe. “Reilly, I—”

“David. Call me David.”

“David.” I swallowed hard and abused the inside of my lip as I searched for the right words. “I had no idea you felt this way. You’ve always been so…” Cold, unfeeling. The possibility that under all of that he wanted me sexually could not have been further from my mind. “You’ve challenged me a lot.”

“All that would change,” he offered quickly. “This new life, working on the fund, things are going to be different. We’ll make a great team, the two of us.”

He said it like he’d already decided for us both.

Didn’t matter what he wanted, I was in love with someone else. Not to mention that I was not one iota attracted to the man who’d seemingly made it his sole mission in life to make my tenure in his office as unbearable as possible.

“I’m seeing someone.”

He leaned in. “I’m a very wealthy man, Vanessa. You would have everything you need. Just about anything you could ever want.”

His tone was unflinching, and an uneasy feeling came over me, like the walls were closing in the same way they had last night, when he’d had me pinned. I didn’t know what to say, but thankfully, he stopped me from saying anything.

“Think about it.” He sat back in his seat and opened the newspaper that had been folded neatly beside him. “On second thought, let’s move that meeting with Dermott to tomorrow.”

And just like that, the conversation was over.

He’d decided. I knew him, and I knew this to be true.

Panic welled up inside of me, but somehow I managed to push it down. I’d get another chance to explain to him that I couldn’t be a part of this vision he had for us. I couldn’t ever be that for him. I just prayed that when I did, he’d really hear me.

A beat-up hooker, a heart attack, three bums, and a kitchen fire. Good thing I worked all night because I couldn’t have slept a wink if I’d wanted to. I couldn’t stop thinking about Vanessa. We’d talked for over an hour, after I’d made her promise me a dozen more times that she was all right. My blood was still boiling with the thought of her prick boss coming on to her.

Ian and the guys on the crew tried goading me between emergencies, but I was in no mood for jokes. By the time I got off my shift, I’d made up my mind.

I’d called her office and got her flight information. An hour later, I was at the airport waiting for her at the baggage claim.

She came into sight through the security doors, and some of the tension from the night eased up off me. One look at Vanessa made the world right. Manageable. Better.

As if answering my silent call for her, she recognized me. She smiled, ran toward me, and bound into my arms.

I scooped her up and off her feet, burying my face in her hair, inhaling her sweet scent. Apples and vanilla.

“What are you doing here?” When she pulled back, her eyes were bright. Her smile was so sweet and genuine.

I stared into her eyes, felt her soft skin under my touch, and remembered the voice that had come through the phone last night. I’d wanted to say it then, but I couldn’t bring myself to say the words over the phone. I wanted to have her in front me, in the flesh. Close enough that I could feel her…

“I have to tell you something.” I caught her wrist and held it gently, felt her heart beating steadily. “Vanessa…I love you.”

Her smile faded, and her breath caught. I reveled in the rush of beats thrumming under my thumb, because the same rush was beating through me too. Lip trembling, she opened her mouth to speak.

“Don’t. Don’t say it. Not yet. Because you’re about to hate me.”

I immediately hated myself for being the one who would ruin it all. Not just yet though. She frowned, a silent question. I couldn’t give her the right answer now, so I just kissed her. I kissed her until the moment was broken by the sound of a man calling her name.

“Vanessa! What are you doing?” A second later, the man turned his angry stare toward me. “Who are you?”

The way he said it made it sound like I should drop to my knees and beg to shine his fucking shoes. What a smug dickhead. This was the guy barking orders at her all day long.

“I’m Darren Bridge. You must be the one who thinks he can put his hands all over my girlfriend.”

“Let’s go. I don’t have time for this.”

He reached for her, but she flinched back, as if her instincts gave her no other choice.

“What? Now I can’t touch you?”

The incredulous look on his face put me over the edge instantly. He really thought he owned her. He was dead wrong. He reached for her again and yanked her arm, pulling her toward him and not bothering to give me a second glance.

No fucking way. I’d come here to give him a piece of my mind. Now he was going to get a hell of a lot more.

I grabbed his arm, squeezing it hard until he let her go. A flash of fear crossed his face. I was taller, more muscular, and way more pissed off. He was smart to feel fear.

Inserting my body between them, I wasted no time punching him square in the nose. He dropped to the ground immediately, which might have satisfied me if I hadn’t already fantasized about him putting up enough of a fight to let me get a couple more shots in.

“Touch her again, and you’re going to need to buy a new face. I’m just getting started.”

“Darren!” Vanessa screamed and scrambled around me, following him down to where he now sat on the ground.

By now, we’d attracted a few stares, and people passing by were wisely giving us a wide berth.

“Vanessa, leave him. Let’s get out of here.”

Ignoring me, she fumbled around in her purse for a bunch of tissues and thrust them up to his nose in a desperate attempt to stop the blood gushing from his face.

“Are you okay?” Her voice was hushed.

“No, I’m not fucking okay. This goddamn Neanderthal is your boyfriend?” His angry shout was muffled and gargled.

“Vanessa, seriously.” I hated being the second guy barking at her, but that she was still giving him any of her attention after what he’d done was ridiculous. “He’ll live. Let’s go.”

“Leave us, Darren. You’ve done enough.”

I grimaced. “You’re going to stay and help this fucking guy?”

She turned her head to glare at me, still holding the tissues to Reilly’s face. “He’s my boss, and you just broke his nose. Just go.”

I love you.

I couldn’t get the words out of my head. He’d said he loved me. And my heart had nearly burst in that moment wanting to say it back to him. Because I did love him. More than I ever thought possible.

Buildings sped by us as we drove into the city. I was still in disbelief at what had happened. I cursed myself for calling Darren last night and giving him cause to worry. The results had been disastrous.

“You told him about last night?”

I chanced a look at Reilly, who sat beside me. “You caught me completely off guard. I needed someone to talk to.”

“You could have talked to me,” he snapped.

“You didn’t seem like you were in the mood to talk.”

He made a sound of disgust as he replaced new paper towels that I’d collected from the airport bathroom against his nose. “What’s his name? Darren Bridge? I’m pressing charges.”

If my adrenaline wasn’t already shooting through the roof, it peaked then. I looked to Reilly warily. I hesitated over what I was going to say next. “Frank Bridge is his father. You might know him.”

He turned his head, looking out the window, still holding his swollen nose. “I know him. I guess I can see the resemblance a bit. But I’d never guess he’d raise an asshole like that.”

I bit my tongue. I wasn’t excusing Darren’s rash behavior, but he had done it in my defense. No one had championed for me that way. Ever. Even if it had been a stupid decision. He wasn’t anyone’s enemy.

“Obviously I’m not going to be able to go to the investor cocktail tonight. I can’t show up like this. You’ll have to go and work the room with Bill and Adriana.”

“How will I know who to talk to?”

“Adriana will brief you. You’ll do fine. Just…be who you are. Nice, professional. I’m sure you’ll make friends fast.”

“Okay.” I exhaled heavily, closing my eyes as I leaned my head back against the cool leather of the town car. “I’m sorry,” I said quietly. I wished none of this had happened. What a mess.

“You don’t have to be. He will be though.”

I turned toward him, ready to beg. “David…please.”

He waved his hand. “It’s nothing you need to worry about. I’m going to take care of it.”

I’d never known Reilly to be the forgiving type. I clamped my jaw tight. God, if Darren weren’t going to be in so much trouble as it was I’d call him and scream at him for being so foolish to cross a man like David Reilly.