back to him. “FYI, I plan to summer in Boston. And by “summer”, I mean working like 99 percent of the rest of the world’s population has to do.”
He grinned. “Your family doesn’t summer?”
“When we were kids, we spent the season in our vacation home in Cape Cod, but my mom and dad only spent two full weeks of that with Easton and me. They both worked. My mom’s sister, Aunt Debbie, is a writer, so she would care for us the rest of the time. Mom and Dad would fly to the cape on the weekends and then back to New York for Monday. It was a lot. I didn’t realize that then, but they did what they could to be there for us.”
“They could’ve kept you in New York with them.”
“They could have. But summer in New York can be miserable, and our cape house is right on the beach.” I’d loved our childhood summers in Cape Cod. Until I met Theo and begged my parents to let me stay in New York so I could spend the summer with him. They’d relented.
“Speaking of your family, how’d that go?”
Remembering the lies I’d told my parents, I blanched, looking away. “It went.”
There was such heavy silence from Rhys, it drew my gaze to him. A muscle flexed in his jaw and his eyes were flat. “They’re pissed you’re dating someone like me.”
Why would he think that?
Opening my mouth to deny it, I was cut off by, “Rhys! There you are.”
Fairchild.
Something dark flickered over Rhys’s face before he turned to my boss’s boss with a strained smile. My eyes drifted over Fairchild’s determined expression, and I shivered at the hardness in his gaze.
Rhys moved into me, sliding his arm around my waist and drawing me to his side.
“Where did you go to?” Fairchild came to a stop in front of us. “One minute you were there, the next, poof.” My boss flicked me a look. “There’s no doubt who’s to blame. You can’t seem to keep your hands off this one, Morgan.”
I tensed against Rhys and felt him squeeze my hip in reassurance.
“What can I do for you?” Rhys bit out, and there was no hiding his impatience.
Concerned, I looked up at him to gauge his expression, and he was staring blankly at Fairchild.
Fairchild narrowed his eyes at Rhys’s tone. “Well, for a start, we can finish our conversation. Now, I’m happy to come look at that gym of yours, but I’d be even happier to do it if you’d just listen to me.”
Feeling Rhys’s grip on my hip turn bruising, my concern escalated. “Rhys, what’s going on?”
“Or perhaps Parker can convince you since she seems to be holding your balls captive.”
I sucked in a breath at Fairchild’s insult.
Rhys made a step forward in agitation.
I pulled him back, not understanding what was happening here. “Rhys?”
“I’m trying to set up a private fight for your boyfriend, Parker, and it will make him a lot of money.” Fairchild looked from me to Rhys and then back to me. “Perhaps you can convince him not to be a fool and accept this invitation.”
With that, the slime strode back to the garden party, and I watched in stunned silence before turning to Rhys. Avoiding my gaze, he marched toward the house.
What the ever-loving …
Hurrying after him, I caught up in the foyer. “Rhys!” I grabbed his wrist, pulling him to a stop. He glared down at me in a way I once would have found intimidating but now just found maddening. “Where are you going? What is going on?”
He flicked a look at a passing server, and then removed my hand from his wrist. He then clasped my hand in his, and I could feel his anger as he pulled me along behind him. We cut down a hall that was clearly off-limits to guests, and Rhys pushed open a door. He guided me in first, and I stumbled into the room, hearing the door close behind him.
We were in what I could only presume was a TV room that faced the front of the house. There were two short steps leading to a lower level, where a massive seven-seater sofa was placed directly in front of a projector screen. On the shelves beside Rhys and I was a modern projector along with shelves and shelves of DVDs.
“Why are we in here?” I turned to face him. “Fairchild—”