I pause long enough to glance over my shoulder at him. “You’ve read too many action scripts.” I see him roll his eyes as I head to the door. “I’m serious,” I call out, because I don’t want to admit that his concern is making me a little bit nervous. “I’m perfectly safe,” I say as I start to open the door. “No one is going to hurt me.”

“They damn sure aren’t,” Riley Blade says as I pull back the door to reveal him leaning against the frame, his arms crossed over his broad chest and his eyes lost behind the kind of dark glasses that hide a man’s secrets. “Not on my watch.”

He smiles, wide and slow, then tugs the glasses down with the tip of his finger to reveal gold-flecked brown eyes that he uses to rake his gaze down my body and then back up again, leaving my skin unexpectedly—and unwillingly—humming.

“Don’t worry, Tasha,” he says when his eyes meet mine. “I promise I’ll keep you safe.”

Chapter Three

Within seconds, Riley has stepped over the threshold, and Lyle has emerged from his office.

As for me, I’ve been standing like an idiot, my feet practically glued to the floor as my mind whirs through the situation, finally arriving at one painful, unpleasant, inescapable conclusion—my boss sold me out.

Son of a bitch.

Furious, I whirl toward Lyle, only to find myself that much closer to Riley, which really wasn’t my intent. The man exudes a sensual kind of heat that’s hard to ignore—and believe me, I’m trying. I neither want nor need Riley Blade in my life, and I really don’t understand what the hell he’s doing here and why he’s talking like he already knows my situation.

Except, of course, I do know, which takes me straight back to that whole my boss sold me out analysis.

“Seriously?” I snap at Lyle, who holds his hands up in self-defense as he starts to talk, presumably intending to calm me down.

“Now, just a second, Tasha,” Riley says, but that’s as far as he gets because I round on him, my throat full of tears and my eyes burning from the strain of not letting them escape.

“Do not call me that. Dammit, Riley, you of all people should know not to call me that.”

I turn away, because if I look at him I know I’ll burst into tears, and as I do, I see Lyle’s baffled expression.

Oddly, that gives me comfort. It means that Riley Blade kept my secret. I’d never really doubted that he would. I’ve known Riley since I was twenty-two, and even though I’ve made it perfectly clear that I’m not interested in dating him, that doesn’t mean that I don’t trust him.