Enslaved (The Inbetween Novels) by R.C. Murphy Read Free Book Online

days, so I thought whatever fixation he had was over.”
    Officer Bitchface, or N. Thompson as her name badge said, gave her a stern look. “Are you one-hundred percent sure you didn’t lead this man on in any way. Even things we think are innocent come across differently to men.”
    Officer Brandon straightened his shoulders, but didn’t come to the defense of his gender.
    “I didn’t do anything or say anything. Can I go?” Shayla wanted to curl up on her couch for the next week.
    Thompson closed her notebook. “Do you want to press charges if we figure out who this guy is?”
    Shayla hugged herself tighter. That was the million-dollar question and she’d be damned if she could come up with a simple “yes” or “no” answer. Sure, he’d scared the ever-loving crap out of her showing up out of the blue. But he hadn’t tried to touch her or say anything to truly terrify her. If only she hadn’t freaked out seeing him in the office and stayed put to hear him explain himself. Oh no. She’d flipped her lid and ran off like he had a gun hidden behind the vase of flowers he carried.
    She wanted to kick herself. The guy was probably some poor delivery driver for one of the nearby florists and she’d put a vague description of him on notice with the police. His parting words, an apology that sounded so heartfelt, replayed in her head.
    Shaking her head, Shayla stood. “No. I don’t want to press charges.”
    “Your choice,” Thompson said. It looked like she wanted to say more, but she didn’t.
    “If you have any other problems, give us a call.” Brandon handed Shayla his card.
    The officers left her alone in the conference room. Shayla pocketed the business card and walked into the hallway. Her boss, Joel Tate, and Kelly were waiting outside.
    “You’re going home, Shayla. Take the next couple of days off.” Tate gave her a stern look. There’d be no arguing his decision.
    “What about the Anderson report?” She blurted and realized, no matter how much she wanted to go home and curl up; she didn’t want to be alone.
    “I’ll take care of it,” Kelly offered.
    Tate patted Shayla’s arm. “It’d be best for you get some rest after all of this.”
    Kelly nodded in agreement. “I’ll call you later to check in, okay?”
    “Yeah, okay.”
    Shayla walked to her desk in a daze. Mr. Tate wasn’t usually so accommodating or nice. She was afraid to see how shaken up she looked if he offered her a day and a half off, presumably paid, without a second thought.
    The vase of flowers the strange man had been carrying sat on top of her desk. Shayla froze in place and stared at them. It was obvious now that she got a closer look, a professional hadn’t put the bouquet together. However, the flowers complimented each other. The scent wafting from them made her think of her grandmother’s garden at the end of spring.
    She plucked a small white card out of the vase and read it.

     
    Her heartbeat kicked up to eleven. No one had ever called her a goddess before. Hell, aside from when she’d landed in the hospital with pneumonia during college, no one ever brought her flowers. Mixed emotions swirled in her head. So strange, a man she’d never met before could elicit such a feeling when the handful of people she loved couldn’t do the same.
    Shayla gathered her purse and the flowers and headed to the elevators. She felt guilty taking flowers from a man who was probably wanking to thoughts of her every night, but she couldn’t let them go to waste. Something good had to come of an extremely screwed up day.

 

     
    It was amazing how a well-made plate of food in front of a man could transform into something completely inedible when his mood dropped into the toilet. Deryck spread the chicken curry and rice around his plate, hoping no one would notice he hadn’t been eating again.
    It’d been days since the mishap with Shayla. Her terrified eyes burned in his mind’s eye. When he slept, he saw nothing but