“You call him ‘sir’?” Ryker snorted, rolling his eyes. “Don’t apologize to him.” He leaned over me and pressed his lips to my shoulder.
I ignored him. “What is it?”
Parker said nothing for a moment, then, “Did I catch you at a bad time?”
I flinched. His tone was ice cold and did nothing to hide how angry he was. Not that I should care after Friday…but I did.
“Um, no, sir.” I squeezed my eyes shut in dismay as Ryker’s mouth moved to my neck. “Did you need something?”
“Yes, I need my secretary to come to work,” he retorted. “Or have you not looked at a clock this morning?”
I jerked around to where my alarm clock sat on Ryker’s bedside table. I was over an hour late for work.
“Oh, God,” I breathed.
“Now that sounds familiar,” Ryker murmured, not at all trying to be quiet. I knew Parker had heard him because the silence on his end was deafening.
I shoved Ryker away and scrambled to get off the bed. “I’m so sorry. I-I must have overslept,” I stammered, only now realizing that I hadn’t thought to set my alarm for this morning. Then I remembered something. “Wait. I thought you said I had today off.”
“Since you refused to leave town, I’d like you in the office today.” Parker’s sarcasm was edged with disdain and it cut like a razor.
“I’ll be right in.” I ended the call before Parker could say anything else and tossed the phone onto the table. I yanked open my suitcase, pulling out clean panties and a bra.
“After this weekend, a day off isn’t a bad idea,” Ryker said.
I glanced back at him. He was half-reclining, the sheet tangled around his legs, and the sight of his naked body in the morning sunshine had me pausing to memorize it. Late or not, it wasn’t something any woman in her right mind would just pass up the chance to view. And the way he was looking at me made a shiver dance across my skin.
“I can’t; I’m sorry,” I said, and boy, was I ever. It appeared that Ryker was definitely a morning person. Or at least parts of him were. “I’ve got to go to work.” I rushed by him on my way to the bathroom, but he caught my hand.
“Can’t he go one day without you?” Ryker’s scathing question was almost an accusation.
Narrowing my eyes, I jerked my hand away. “I could’ve died Saturday night,” I said. “He wasn’t faking his concern for me.”
“So his ‘concern’ is enough to make you go running when he calls?” Ryker shot back. “He’s the reason they were looking for you.”
“You don’t know that for sure,” I said. “You’re just guessing they were there for me and not Hanna. Besides, it’s my job, and if they are using me to get to him, that only proves he’s being coerced,” I said. “Why don’t you do your job and stop them?” Suddenly, I wanted out of there. I angrily jerked on my clothes.
“Do my job?” Now he was up out of the bed, angrily stalking toward me. I tried to ignore the fact that he was naked. “What the hell do you think I’m doing?”
I grabbed my purse in one hand and my suitcase in the other. “You mean other than screwing me to get to Parker?”
His face was so hard and cold, I took a step back.
“Now you’re accusing me of fucking you because of him?” he bit out.
“Aren’t you?” I shot back.
“I thought that was your job.”
His sarcasm was biting and his words stung, because it was truer than I’d wanted to admit. I didn’t trust Ryker’s interest in me, no matter the fun we’d had yesterday or how great the sex had been. And despite my wanting us sleeping together to be about us and not Parker, it felt as though he was an invisible presence between us.
Ryker scrubbed a hand across his face in frustration. “Damn it, Sage, last night was more than just a hookup. You know that. Why are you pushing me away?”
But I couldn’t answer, because if I acknowledged there might be more than an amazing one-night stand with Ryker, that meant I had to give up Parker.
That thought made my chest ache in a way that told me that losing Parker would hurt a lot longer, and a lot deeper, than I’d ever really considered.
“I have to go,” I blurted, shoving past him.
“How are you going to go anywhere?” he asked, hurrying