Chapter Three
Remy
Remy was trying to focus on the drawing in front of him. He’d been hired to design a house for a wealthy businessman and his new bride. They wanted something that was reminiscent of the Baroque style but he found it difficult to concentrate. His mind kept drifting to Kylie. He wanted to see her. Fucking hell. He needed to get this design done. He tried, yet again, to push her from his thoughts and managed to get fifteen minutes of work in before his mind wandered again.
“God damn it!” His growl reverberated in the room and he closed his eyes. He wasn’t going to get any work done tonight. “Fuck it,” he muttered as he put everything away. He would come back to it in the morning.
After a quick shower, Remy dressed in a pair of black pants that didn’t hide the fact he wasn’t a small man, paired it with a button-down shirt in dark blue and a pair of leather boots, and headed out. He needed a drink and he knew just the place to get one.
He stepped into Scarlet Flux and noticed his Alpha at the bar on the ground floor. Emelise must be down there, otherwise Caine would be in the VIP lounge. He nodded at Caine and headed for the stairs leading up to the VIP section. He was among the few from the Pard who were permanent members of the VIP lounge. Since the object of his obsession was up there, it was a damn good thing.
He didn’t want it to be obvious that he was there to see her, so instead of going right to the bar, he found a seat at one of the tables so he could watch her from a distance. The woman was good at what she did. He watched her put on a show while making various drinks and the corners of his mouth lifted in a smirk. His mate was something else. Well, she wasn’t his, officially, but there was no mistaking what his leopard felt.
He’d been sitting there for only a few minutes when one of the patrons decided to get a little handsy with Kylie. She’d just set a drink down in front of the guy and he grabbed her wrist before she could move away. A low growl rumbled through Remy when the guy grabbed her. Then he saw Kylie’s face. For a brief second there was a flash of fear in her eyes and he damn near lost it. He approached the bar and leaned in close so the guy could hear him over the music. “Get your fuckin’ hand off her before I break it.”
“Back off, dude. I’m just trying to talk to the lady.”
“Looks to me like you’re tryin’ to do more den dat. And from da look on her face, she’s not interested in hearin’ what you have to say. Get. Your. Fuckin’. Hand. Off. Her. Now.” He bit each word out while he struggled for control.
The guy recognized the threat in his voice and he quickly let go of her wrist. He held his hands up in defense. “Sorry, dude. Didn’t mean anything by it.”
“I’m not da one you owe an apology to.” The man swallowed at the look in his eyes and turned back to the bar. “Sorry, Miss. I didn’t mean to upset you. I was just trying to talk to you.”
“Good boy. Now I suggest you get da fuck outta here before I have you thrown out for harrassin’ da lady.”
The guy nodded and made a beeline for the stairs.
“You okay?” Remy looked her over. She still looked a little shaken up but he saw her straighten her shoulders as she went right back to work.
Kylie
From the corner of her eye, Kylie had seen Remy walk into the VIP lounge. She’d half expected him to take a seat at the bar but he surprised her by sitting at one of the tables. She kept an eye out, wondering if he would flirt with the server the way so many of the other male patrons had, but all he did was ask for a drink. Huh. That was interesting.
She found herself enjoying the fact he was there, even if he hadn’t come over to say hello yet. When one of the patrons came to the bar for another drink, she’d debated cutting him off because it was his fifth drink, but in the end she poured it and set the glass in front of him. Just as she started to move away, he grabbed her wrist and Kylie froze. Fear flashed through her mind as a memory was triggered and she knew she was trembling, just a little.
Before she could think of something to say to get the guy to let her go, Remy was there. She heard the threat in his voice the first time he told the guy to let her go, but the drunk didn’t get it until he said it the second time. Relief flooded her when he let her go and headed for the stairs.
“You okay?”
She’d gone right back to work but at his question she paused. Was she okay? More or less, yes.
“Yeah. It just…startled me when he grabbed my wrist.” Okay, so that wasn’t entirely true but there was no way in hell she was getting into that in a crowded bar with someone she barely knew. It didn’t matter that her leopard wanted to come out and roll around in his scent until they smelled like him. She’d been been there and done that; there was no way in hell she was letting anyone close again. Just because he seemed like a nice guy didn’t mean he was. Ezra seemed nice in the beginning, too. He didn’t show his true colors until she’d already moved in with him and given up so much of her autonomy.
“Startled? Is dat what dey’re callin’ it dese days?” Remy shook his head and slid onto a stool so he could lean against the bar. “I saw da fear, cher. Dere’s a story behind dat, I’ll wager.”
Kylie flinched at his words. “Doesn’t matter,” she countered. “I’m fine.” She was going to have to do better than this if she didn’t want people prying into her past. The more people who knew about it, the greater the risk of discovery. She didn’t want to have to run anymore.
“All right, cher. I won’t go pryin’ into someting dat’s none of my business.”
“Thank you. And…thank you for getting rid of that guy. That was his fifth drink. I probably should have cut him off but I’m not sure what Emelise’s rules on that are. I’ll have to check with her later.”
“No’ting to thank me for. He had no right to put his hands on you, cher.”
“Maybe not, but I didn’t see anyone else stepping in to make him back off.”
Remy frowned. “Now dat you mention it, you’re right. I thought Emelise had a bouncer for da lounge?”
“Joe said he didn’t show for work today.”
