Break My Fall Read online

  Kyle

  I couldn’t sit still. I was so pissed. Linda was pressing my buttons again. I’d told her, time and again that I wasn’t hiring anymore kids. And what did she do? Hire a teenager, a fucking teenage girl.

  I moved over to the desk and grabbed the envelope with a tasty check I had written out. It would soften the blow of being let go. Linda really should have known by now that young girls didn’t work out here. I thought of the last disaster we had that involved a minor member of staff. I had to pull in some major PR rep to cover up that dung heap of drama. God dammit, it was so hard to find good staff these days.

  There was a small knock on the door. “Come in,” I called still facing the window that looked out onto the street. I hated firing people. It wasn’t something I enjoyed, or relished doing, but it had to be done. After Mindy Simmons and her scandalous affair with a certain guest and politician, I was not going to have another young girl drag the hotel’s name through the gutter. Hell no, I was never going to be incriminated in that type of farce again.

  Fucking women.

  I heard the door open and close, but didn’t turn around. I didn’t want to look at this girl Linda was so obviously fond of, in the eyes. Linda had spoken up for her this Delia kid. Apparently, the girl was a doing a fantastic job in housekeeping and had yet to make a mistake, but I couldn’t risk it.

  “I’m sorry to call you in here like this Delia, but I’m afraid your services will no longer be required,” I said. I heard sniveling. Damn, I needed a drink. Making young girls cry was not something I was proud of. “I have enclosed a severance check for your inconvenience. You’ll find I have been more than generous. I hope it will tie you over until you find employment elsewhere.” When she didn’t answer, I turned to look at the girl and my breath caught in my throat.

  What the hell was she doing here?

  “You’re firing me? Did I do something wrong?” she asked, with tears rolling down her cheeks. Shit, fuck, shit.

  “Lee?” I asked, totally confused by her being here and totally turned on by the way she looked in that uniform. I walked over to where she was leaning against the closed door. “I thought your name was Lee?”

  She nodded looking up at me, her pale gray eyes wild with fear. “It is. I mean it’s what people call me. My full name is Delia. Lee is a nickname that stuck. I prefer it to Delia.”

  Irony was a cruel bitch.

  “Shit,” I growled harshly, pulling at my tie to loosen it. How the fuck was this happening to me? It was hard enough to stay away from her at the house, but now she was in my goddamn office dressed like that. My eyes narrowed, realization dawning on me. “Did you know I owned this place? Did Cam tell you? Did you think you’d get a job here, just because you live with the boss?” I shook her shoulder to make her look at me. “What the fuck kind of game are you playing? Did some little bird tell you I was a good cash in?”

  She flinched away from me. “I’m not playing any game I swear,” she sobbed. “I didn’t know you worked here until I walked into this room.”

  I wasn’t naïve enough to believe her. I knew women; they trapped men with money, or tried to. Was that it? Was that why Lee was here? Had she watched Rachel do it and thought she’d jump on the bandwagon? How convenient it was that she appeared at my house out of nowhere and now in my hotel, as well.

  I stared at her trying to read the lies in her expression, but only saw the truth in her eyes. “I don’t play games Kyle, ever.” She placed her small hand on my forearm; her voice was no more than a whisper. “Whatever kinds of women you are used to dealing with, they’re not me.” No, they were definitely nothing like Lee Bennett. “I’m not sure why you hate me so much,” she whispered, blushing. “But I’m not trying to trick you. And I don’t want your money. I promise.”

  Was she serious? Lee thought I hated her? She couldn’t be more wrong. I was obsessed with her. I was an ass to her because it was the only way to keep her away from me, because I sure as hell couldn’t stay away from her. I had promised Cam I’d keep my distance and I took my promises seriously. Yeah, I had caved a few times, but I hadn’t taken her. Rachel’s reaction had been the rude awakening I needed. I had to stay away from Lee, but dammit, she didn’t make it easy on me. Strutting around the house, flirting with Dixon and now standing in my office, dressed like that…

  “How did I not know this was where you worked? How did I not see you in that?” I ran my hands over her dress and she shivered.

  “I get changed here. Please don’t be mad at me,” she whispered. I was nearly insane from watching and not touching. The look of desire in her eyes made me move closer. Fuck, she wanted me. I had no doubt about it. It was obvious from the way her eyes kept flickering, from my eyes to my mouth. I had been with enough women to know the signs.

  I leaned down towards her mouth. “You, looking at me like that…” I traced my fingers against her lips and she gasped. “You’re gonna cause me some big problems princess.” I could not stop myself; I pressed my lips to hers.

  My first mistake was touching her, my second was tasting her. I knew I was deep trouble when I heard her sexy little moan as she wrapped her arms around my neck. I should stop this. I needed to stop. This was so wrong and my balls would be nailed if Cam found out let alone Rachel, but Lee pressed her curvy little body against me and all thought and reason flew out the window.

  I grabbed her ass, hoisting her into my arms. She wrapped her legs around me as I pressed her against the door, feeling every soft curve and angle of her beautiful body. My lips moved to her neck, my hands to the back of her dress. I thanked god for my choice of uniform as I pulled down her zipper. Screw Cam, I needed this; I needed to get this damn girl out of my system. Once I fucked her, I could get on with my life and not be so obsessed.

  I placed her on her feet and busied myself with pulling the shoulder straps of her dress down. Her breasts fell out and I groaned. “Damn baby, you don’t wear a bra?” I ducked my head to taste those sweet nipples. She was shaking.

  “I can’t,” she whimpered. “My uniform is tight… It doesn’t tie when I wear one.” She bit her lip and I needed more.

  I tore at her dress, pulling it up so I could access her. I pressed my hardness against her as I continued my attack on her tits. Her hands were in my hair pulling wildly. I needed no more encouragement. I unzipped myself and hoisted her up. I rubbed the head of my cock against her opening. Fuck, she was so wet.

  “Kyle, I’m…” She whimpered against my lips.

  “Shh baby, I got you.” I reared back ready to slam myself into her, when a loud knock sounded from the other side of the door. I froze and looked at Lee.

  The glimpse of horror in her eyes brought me crashing down to earth with a bang. “Shit,” I muttered, pulling back quickly, practically dropping her on the floor. “Hold on,” I called out, zipping up my pants.

  I pulled back to look at her and shuddered. She was the sexiest thing I had ever seen, leaning against the door of my office panting, her little dress around her waist, exposing her bare breasts and pink lace panties. She pressed her hand against her mouth.

  “Mr. Carter, the O Donnell party have arrived and are requesting your presence.”

  I ran my hands through my hair in frustration. “Tell them, I’ll be with them in a moment.” My voice sounded strained, even to my own ears.

  I couldn’t look at Lee, every time I did; a flurry of emotions ran through me. I walked over to my desk and threw on my jacket. My head was swimming, what the fuck did I just do? I peered over at Lee as she struggled with the zip on her uniform.

  I let out a harsh breath and stalked over to her. I put my hands on her waist and pulled the zip up, trying to ignore the way my heart wouldn’t calm the fuck down.

  Lee wasn’t joking, that dress barely tied over her breasts. Shit.

  “Go back to work,” I muttered moving my hands away from her waist before I was tempted to start up where I left off.

  “I’m not fired?” she asked, turning to look at me. Her pink stained cheeks were adorable.

  She looked so fragile, I wanted to wrap her in my arms and hold her. I rebuked myself for thinking like that. I didn’t think like that. I wasn’t that kind of man.

  “For now,” I muttered, before I left the room. I had to get away from this girl; she was lethal to my self-control.

  Lee

  I hid in the toilet cubicle until it was blatantly clear the person outside knocking wasn’t going to go away. I stood up and tightened the hair band securing my ponytail and splashed some water on my face to cool my burning cheeks. It didn’t help. My face and every inch of my body was on fire.

  Kyle was Mr. Carter. Mr. Carter was my boss. The same boss who just ravaged me in his office. I couldn’t wrap my brain around it. I pushed my thoughts aside and opened the bathroom door.

  “I thought it was you in there. Well, how did it go?” Linda stood in front of me, worrying her lip. She looked anxious.

  “Okay, I think,” I whispered slipping past her into the corridor.

  She fell into step beside me as we walked towards the staff locker room. “You think?” she asked confused.

  “Well…” I scraped my brain, trying to think of something formidable to say. “He had to meet a party of guests, so we only spoke briefly.” Very briefly. Most of our conversation had been carried out with our tongues. I reddened thinking about the way Kyle had touched me. He had kissed me as if his life depended on it.

  “He didn’t fire you?” Linda asked in a toned of amazement.

  I shook my head, “He said my job was safe for now.” We were walking, but Linda stopped and grabbed my shoulders.

  “Oh Hun, how did you do it?”

  She had a look of sheer amazement on her face. I shook my head, confused. “I’m not following you. How did I do what?” I wanted this conversation to be over with. All I wanted to do was see Kyle again. I needed to know where his head was at. Was it possible that he liked me, the way I liked him? I thought about his hands on me and couldn’t help, but get my hopes up.

  “I think you may have cracked the stone.” I raised my brow at her, but she just smiled happily and walked on. I hurried along to my locker, ready to get out of here.

  I was anxious to see Kyle again.

  Kyle

  I sat in my truck, waiting for her to come out of the hotel. I’d checked her schedule and knew her shift finished at eight. It was a quarter after; she was late.

  I flicked through the channels on the radio, but I didn’t hear anything. I was too fucking nervous. Jesus, I hadn’t been nervous about anything since I was a kid. What was Lee Bennett doing to me?

  We had to talk and I wasn’t looking forward to it, hell I was dreading it. What the fuck was I supposed to say? ‘Hey Lee thanks for letting me suck you sweet titties, but I’m not interested in more?’ What a crock. Of course, I was interested in more. I was interested in every single detail of her life. That’s why I had spent the last three hours in my office, snooping around in her personal life.

  I’d told myself it was for employer purposes, but that was a bullshit lie. I didn’t need a piece of paper from her file in my hands telling me every detail about her, that information was already burnt into my memory.

  I wasn’t sure what I was looking for when I checked up on her, but I was relieved to discover she had no criminal record, no record of drug or alcohol abuse. She didn’t smoke and had ticked single on her file info. I’d made a few calls to her highschool in Montgomery and discovered that Lee had perfect school attendance for the first three and half years of highschool, until she dropped out back in April, two months before senior graduation. What confused me was why Lee would drop out with two months to go, when she had a 4.0 GPA. I was so engrossed in my findings that I almost didn’t notice her coming out of the building. Almost.

  She looked up at my truck for a moment, before slowly walked towards me. Shoving the paper into the dashboard, I pressed on the button and the window rolled down. She looked straight in the window at me and smiled shyly.

  This was going to sting like a bitch. “Get in. We have to talk.”

  Lee

  My heart flipped inside my chest when I saw Kyle parked outside when I came out of work. I was prepared for my usual walk home.

  “Get in. We need to talk,” he said shortly.

  The smile I was wearing evaporated. My heart stopped flipping and sank in my stomach. This was bad.

  I opened the passenger door and climbed in…Well, attempted to climb in. After the third attempt at trying to hoist myself up, Kyle came around and lifted me in. My body trembled when he touched my hips. I couldn’t tie the complicated seat belt either, so he strapped me in.

  “How was your day?” I asked when the silence in the car became unbearable. Kyle shifted in his seat and turned down the volume on the radio. I hadn’t realized it was on. He had rolled his sleeves up to his elbows and I was having a hard time concentrating on anything other than the light dusting of hair on his muscled forearms, his long fingers…

  “It was…hard,” he stopped and cleared his throat. “Lee, we need to talk.” I agreed with that. I nodded for him to continue. He sighed, but said nothing. I turned to look at him and gasped when I saw the turmoil in his eyes. He looked like he was at war with himself. After what felt like a year instead of seconds, he spoke.

  “What happened between us in my office cannot happen again.” I sank into my seat. He regretted it, he regretted me. He took my silence as a means to continue torturing me.

  “I shouldn’t have touched you… I can’t let that happen again Lee. Do you understand why?” I nodded.

  No, I didn’t understand, but I didn’t want to hear all of the reasons he didn’t want me.

  “I’m not good for you Lee. I can’t give you more. And you’re the type of girl who deserves more. We live in the same house and now you’re working for me. It can’t happen again. I’m sorry if I led you on, or made you think this was more than it is.” I couldn’t listen anymore.

  “It’s okay Kyle, I understand,” I whispered, desperate for this car ride to be over, so I could crawl into my bed and die of the humiliation.

  “I’m sorry Lee.” I nodded in response.

  I jumped out of the truck the moment he pulled up to the house. I needed to get away from him. As I slid my key in the hole, the front door swung inwards.

  “Lee? You’re crying. What’s happened?” Cam stood before me, clearly bewildered. I barged past her and ran for my room. I couldn’t talk to her right now. I flung myself down on my bed, just as my bedroom door opened.

  “Lee what the hell is wrong with you?” Cam rushed over to me.

  “Go away,” I sobbed. This was humiliating enough without an audience.

  “No until you tell me what happened?” I pushed myself up on my forearms and swung my head around to look at her. She was sitting on my bed, with worry etched on her face.

  “Why didn’t you tell me Kyle owned the hotel? Why didn’t you tell me he was my boss Cam?”

  Cam’s face paled. “Who told you?” she asked quietly.

  “No one, I discovered that little piece of information all by myself when he called me into his office today.” I pulled myself up and sat facing her. “How could you not tell me? Why didn’t you tell him?”

  Cam scrunched her nose. “He fired you didn’t he?” I frowned. Her question sounded like more a statement. “Look, Lee, I didn’t tell you because Kyle is weird about people knowing. He doesn’t like people knowing how much he’s worth; it wasn’t my place to say anything. I didn’t tell Kyle because he doesn’t hire girls as young as you. He had a lot of shit with some girl a while back and it’s like his cardinal rule. When you told me you got the job, I partly guessed he didn’t know. I was just trying to have your back.”

  That was a solid explanation. It made much more sense than the crazy theories I had rushing around my brain. “Oh,” I said sheepishly. I felt bad that I overreacted. Cam always had my back. “I’m sorry for being a bitch Cam.”

  She smirked at me. “Don’t worry about it babe. I’d be furious if my roommate fired me too.” She stood up and stretched her back out, “I’m gonna go kick his ass.”

  She moved to the door. “He didn’t fire me,” I said quickly. He just gave me the time of my life in his office, before ripping my heart to shreds in his car.

  Cam swung back to face me. “For real? What happened when he called you into his office?”

  I ducked my head to cover my burning face. “Um, nothing, he just told me that my job was safe for now.”

  Her eyes narrowed. “Did anything else happen?”

  I shook my head. “No, nothing.”

  Chapter Twelve

  Kyle

  I didn’t see Lee around much after our talk in my truck. Well, my talk, she hadn’t said more than a few words. I couldn’t figure out what she’d thought when I told her that we had to stop, but it was pretty obvious from her absence around the house that she was avoiding me.

  I saw her at work, but I kept my distance. I didn’t want her to be uncomfortable. Linda had her covering a few shifts waitressing in the main restaurant. I wanted to tell Linda to fuck off and keep Lee upstairs out of harm’s way and out of view of all the bastards who ogled her. I also wanted to rip the tight little black server skirt and white blouse off her hot little body, but I couldn’t do a thing. Linda was already suspicious as to why I kept Lee on, instead of firing her as I originally planned. I couldn’t be angry with Linda for being suspicious; the woman had razor sharp intuition and she knew my ass better than anyone. She was on to me and I knew it. I never could hide much from Linda, not even when she showed up at the McMullen’s Center with my grandfather, to take me away my fifth and final foster home.

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