Modern Romance Collection: May 2018 Books 1 - 4. Эбби Грин

“There you are.”

      “Here I am. The question is, what the heck are you doing here, Andreas? I don’t believe you were invited on this date.”

      “You can’t go on a date with him. You don’t know him!” Andreas looked as disheveled as Kayla had seen him in a very long time. His tie had been loosened to dangle away from his collar, the first button on his shirt undone. His hair looked like he’d been running his fingers through it, his face showing the signs that he’d missed his second shave of the day.

      “I met his sister. I spent the day with him. I’m fine.”

      “You are not fine.” Andreas managed to maneuver his way into the apartment. “You are coming back to the hotel with me and we are talking.”

      “I am going on a date with Jacob. Then if I want to I am spending the night with him. If I come back to the hotel, whenever that might be, you can explain to me how you found me here.” She turned to face Andreas, bothered by the fact that he was now inside Jacob’s apartment and that had not been Kayla’s intention at all.

      “He had to have set private investigators on you. They probably found you through my sister’s tweets,” Jacob said.

      “Did you?” Kayla demanded, fury riding her like it hadn’t in years.

      Andreas’s cheeks burnished red in admission of guilt. “I am not leaving you here,” he insisted stubbornly, without bothering to answer the accusation.

      Jacob came up beside her, putting his arm around her shoulders possessively. “You are not invited on our date.”

      Andreas’s jaw twitched.

      Kayla wanted to feel something at having an attractive man’s arm around her, some spark of desire and sexual appreciation. She didn’t. She didn’t even feel truly comfortable. If she wasn’t so annoyed with Andreas and wanting to make a point, Kayla would have stepped away from Jacob’s hold for her own sense of peace.

      “Kayla, you and I need to talk.” Andreas had that tone and expression he used when he was trying very hard to be reasonable but was a nanosecond away from losing his Greek temper.

      “Not tonight,” she denied.

      “I canceled everything.”

      “Funny. I did the same thing. Only I’m on vacation time. Do you know what that means, Andreas?”

      “No,” he gritted out.

      Andreas Kostas was a man who disliked not having all the answers. Who was she kidding? He hated not having just one answer out of a hundred questions. The man defined overachieving perfectionist.

      “Oh, I know the answer to this one,” Jacob drawled, not realizing what dangerous waters he was swimming into. “It means, Mr. Armani-Suited Businessman, she’s not obliged to spend her off-hours with you. Talking or otherwise.”

      “Kayla is not merely my employee, she is my business partner.”

      Kayla snorted at that stretching of the reality of their situation.

      “Am I lying?” Andreas demanded, his voice gone dangerously soft.

      “Can I stop you from selling the company?” she demanded back.

      Andreas’s face went stiff, the color draining from his naturally olive complexion. “It is not uncommon for one partner to have controlling interest.”

      “Ninety-five percent is more than simple controlling interest.” Her 5 percent still gave her leverage, though. With Sebastian Hawk, if not with Andreas.

      “We built that company together.”

      “I used to believe that too. Until you decided on your own to sell it.”

      Jacob’s arm fell from around her waist as he moved to stand between Kayla and Andreas. “As fascinating as all this business talk is, I get one night off per week and I plan to spend it showing Kayla the best side of my city.”

      “That is not going to happen.” Andreas’s tone had gone hard and icy.

      Kayla could hear the warning in it if Jacob couldn’t.

      “That’s not your decision to make,” the Broadway actor said to prove his deafness.

      Kayla almost groaned.

      Andreas turned the full weight of his glacial green gaze on the other man for the first time since arriving at his apartment. “You would be smart to stay out of this.”

      “Are you threatening me?” Jacob asked, sounding unimpressed.

      Andreas stepped forward so he towered over the other man. “My suit is bespoke, not Armani, and if you knew the difference, you might understand that I would make a very unpleasant enemy.”

      Kayla laid her hand on Jacob’s arm before he could reply. “Don’t. He’s right. He’s talking about major money, Jacob.”

      “I don’t care about his money, Kayla.”

      She smiled up at the actor, really liking the man, wishing again she felt even an inkling of sexual attraction to go with the liking, something that would make fighting Andreas worth it. But she wasn’t putting Jacob’s career at risk for principle alone.

      “No, I know. You’re a special guy. Good to your sister. Fun.”

      Andreas made a displeased sound.

      Kayla ignored him. “I would have enjoyed tonight more than I think either of us could imagine.”

      “I’m an actor, I have a great imagination.” Jacob’s drawl was only slightly less suggestive than his wink.

      She laughed. “I bet, but if I go with you, he’s just going to follow us around. He’ll figure out a way to ruin our evening.” To ruin Jacob’s career, or at least his current role.

      “That sounds like pretty stalkerish behavior for a boss.”

      “He used to be my best friend.”

      “Until when?” Jacob asked, with surprising insight and compassion.

      “Until yesterday morning when he told me he was selling our company out from under me.”

      Andreas made a sound that could have been hurt, but Kayla refused to look at him.

      Jacob nodded. “I’m sorry.”

      “Thank you. For what it’s worth, I was really looking forward to tonight.”

      “I don’t think it was going to end like I was hoping, though.” There was no accusation in Jacob’s tone, just rueful disappointment.

      She shrugged, but she couldn’t lie. “Probably not.”

      “It would not,” Andreas butted in with his obnoxious Greek hobnailed boots. “She doesn’t do casual sex.”

      She rounded on him. “You are such an ass.”

      “And you are the best woman I know. Apprizing Jacob of the fact you are one of the best women he has had the honor of meeting is not a bad thing.”

      Kayla stared at Andreas, speechless.

      Jacob burst out laughing. “You are one clueless bastard, aren’t you?”

      “I am a brilliant businessman.” The bewildered offense in Andreas’s tone was almost funny.

      Jacob pulled Kayla to him and laid a screen-worthy lip-lock on her. “It really was a pleasure meeting you, Kayla Jones. If you can get away from your boss while you’re in town, call and we’ll do something.”

      She grinned. “I will.”

      Andreas glowered at Jacob the entire time Kayla collected her things, giving the actor one-word answers to his conversational forays, if the Greek deigned to answer at all.

      Andreas