ReclaimedSurrender by Riley Murphy Read Free Book Online Page B

Kavanagh got involved in their personal lives not
to protect her, but to protect himself. That was the kicker. Because if Alex
did decide to slow down and become a mother, Michael’s problem solver and
workhorse would be put to pasture. Then he might have to do his own job for a
change.
    Rene picked up a freshly sharpened pencil and tapped it
against the desktop. The fact that her business partner knew intimate details
of the stresses between Alexis and him, to even suggest that Rene could do such
a despicable thing, was dangerous. It meant that Alexis on some level trusted
Kavanagh more than she trusted him, which was really infuriating. But all that
was going to change. Oh yeah. The plan was already in motion. Well, one of them
anyway. The second one he’d start tomorrow.
    * * * * *
    Alexis had been at the office for no more than an hour the
following day when her text went off.
     
    I want you home.
     
    She read those words three times and texted back.
    I’m working.
     
    Now, Alexis.
     
    Should she? She bit her lip, looked down at her files and
then packed them up. A deal was a deal.
    “Hi, Jennifer.” Michael’s office door was closed. “Is he
around?” She didn’t wait for an answer as she fully expected to be buzzed right
in. Walking around the side of the desk, she stopped when Jennifer didn’t
budge. “Is something wrong?”
    “He’s not in.”
    “I see.”
    Jennifer’s expression softened and if Alexis weren’t
mistaken she looked relieved. “He’s down in the Atrium with the guys from the
lab. They play war during their breaks.”
    Breaks? The first actual break Alexis had ever taken
since starting work in this new division was yesterday and only at Rene’s
insistence. Breaks. Lunches. Suddenly the idea of leaving these files on her
ungrateful partner’s desk was looking pretty damn good.
    “I want to give him these.” She twisted sideways until the
whole bunch of manila folders were visible. “But I don’t want to bother him on his break. I’ll leave them on his desk, if I can?”
    Jennifer nodded and buzzed her through.
    “Thanks.” Alexis put the stack down and left a sticky note
on top of it that said, I had to go home early. Please make sure these get
done by five. The Telcon brothers are expecting the figures today. If you need
a little extra time, remember they’re three hours behind us.
    She was halfway home when the inevitable guilt of dumping on
him surfaced. At a stoplight she used her Bluetooth to make a call, but
Michael’s cell phone went straight to voice mail. Clicking off, she picked up
her phone and dialed his office number.
    “Jennifer, it’s Alexis. Is Michael there?”
    “I’m sorry he’s busy.”
    “Busy working or busy playing war on his so-called break?
Never mind.”
    She told herself it really shouldn’t matter as long as he
got the work done, but how much work did he get done in the course of a day? A
day that had hour-long breaks, two-hour lunches and finished before five
fifteen.
    She was still mulling this over when she turned into her
driveway and parked. Given the amount of time Michael apparently took off and
measuring that against the amount of work he did turn in, she was left
wondering where he found the time to do it all. He still didn’t do as much as
she did, however, so they’d have to speak about this and come up with an equitable
plan. That decided, she dropped her keys in her purse and sighed. Time to focus
on other things, namely what her determined husband had planned for her today.
    “Rene?”
    “In here.”
    She didn’t bother to take her coat off and went directly
into the living room. He was there seated on the back of the couch. He had on a
pair of faded jeans and a camel-colored turtleneck. The width of his shoulders
blocked out her view of the fireplace and once again she marveled at his size.
She’d always teased him about it. When she’d first met him she’d joked that he
would have made a great Viking, if he didn’t