“Jay, wait. Come on now.”
“I got your message loud and clear,” Jay spat, spinning to glare at Ryden. “Leave the tough jobs to the real men. Apparently, I’m only good for fucking.”
“That ain’t what I said, damn it, and you know it!”
“Let. Go,” Jay replied through his teeth. “I’m going back to the office. Oh, and you asked me why I’m dressed up today? It’s because I’m meeting up with my date after work.”
Ryden released Jay like he’d been burned. “What?”
“In case you hadn’t guessed, you’re walking back to the office.” With that, Jay slammed through the door and headed for the exit.
That’s what he got for letting his guard down around that asshole. He should have known better. Ryden was just like all those other jerks. Well, Jay was done. He wasn’t going to fall for another muscle-bound prick who thought he wasn’t good for anything except looking pretty.
Screw them, and screw Ryden Foster.
CHAPTER SEVEN
Ryden was in a foul mood.
How had his day gone from bad to worse? At least the weather wasn’t against him, and the venue was nearby, or he would have sweated through his uniform from his little trek. He could have done without the attention. Not every day a Marine walked through old St. Augustine in dress blues.
The elevator doors pinged, and he marched toward his office. All eyes were on him, but his expression was dark enough to keep everyone at bay. Jay wasn’t at his desk, and Ryden clenched his jaw. Had he left early to prepare for his date? Storming into his office, Ryden slammed the door behind him. What the fuck was Jay’s deal? Yes, Jay was overly dramatic on most days, but this was something else.
Ryden paced his office, flexing his fingers. Why did he care? It was like any other day at the office, with Ryden opening his mouth and Jay getting pissy. So much for their truce. No one got shit from Jay the way he did, and yeah, he deserved what he got for the times he’d intentionally provoked Jay’s wrath, but what the fuck had he done wrong this time? Why did this feel different?
Maybe because you made out with him?Twice.
Okay, there was that. Fuck. Ryden straightened and ran a hand through his hair. Fucking hell. Jay jumping into his arms had surprised the shit out of him, but he quickly caught on. That didn’t change the heat between them. The fake boyfriend part might have been an act, but the raw desire sure as shit hadn’t been. Jay wanted him as much as Ryden wanted Jay. When hadthathappened? How had this day spiraled so out of his control?
Ryden had never been kissed like that. He sure as hell had never been so fucking turned on. All he could think about while kissing Jay was how bad he wanted to taste every inch of him, of what it would feel like to be buried deep inside him. Ever since their first kiss, Ryden had been twisted in knots.
How far would it have gone if they hadn’t been in a public place? Then, there had been the tenderness after. The way Jay looked at him and touched his face… It was a whole other side of Jay he’d never seen, at least with him.
Whenever he met someone for the first time, his eyes threw them off, and Ryden could see them silently scrambling to find the right words. It’s why Ryden addressed it first and got it out of the way. Usually, when he told them it happened during a military training exercise, they relaxed and moved on, but more than one date had ended abruptly. Jay had never so much as blinked. Not even the day they met.
Ryden shook his head. Whatever foolish idea he’d had about something happening between them, it was time to forget it. They couldn’t even make things work as friends. Besides, he had enough to occupy his time. An office romance wasn’t something he needed.Fuck’s sake. Office romance? He’d been reading too many of Jay’s fucking novels. Why he read the books he took from Jay was a whole other level of absurdity he wouldn’t think about.
As he carefully hung everything up in the garment bag in his office closet, he made a mental note to get his uniformcleaned. Once every item was put away, he quickly texted Saint to check on him. He received a brief reply stating that everything was okay and they’d talk later, which meant it wasn’t serious. Knowing Saint, he was playing nurse to his injured boyfriend.
Ryden had redressed in his usual black tactical pants, socks, and military-grade boots. He pulled on his black Four Kings Security T-shirt just as someone knocked at his door.
“Come in.”
The door opened, and Mason walked in. He closed the door before sitting on Ryden’s couch and making himself comfortable. Oh boy.
“I’d ask how it went, but considerin’ you stomped through the office looking madder’n a wet hen, I can take a guess.”
Ryden dropped into his chair behind his desk and threw his arms up. “Why the fuck did he volunteer to go in the first place?”
“That well, huh?” Mason sighed. “Maybe he wanted to support you.”
“Jay? A guy who’s spent the last six years assaulting me with his romance novels? I don’t get him. How did he go from barely talking to me to volunteering as my plus-one at a wedding? Not that it matters. I can’t seem to say or do anything right around him.”
“What did you say?”
Ryden told Mason everything, from the asshole he knew wasn’t a Marine to what Jay overheard and what Ryden had said. He left out the part about them making out. Things were complicated enough.
Mason blinked at him. “Well, shit. I’m gonna address the Jay thing first because we’re gonna need reinforcements for the other. You didn’t do anything wrong.”
