Page 113 of The Restoration Program

As he pulled open the car door, she glanced around. Sure enough, a dog walker and a pair of joggers were idling nearby, watching over their shoulders.

But as Ryan hastened to start the car, no one came to check what the commotion was. He kept her clutched on his lap and floored it onto the street. Neither of them said a word, and she tried to shove his hand away only once before realizing that he was essentially her seatbelt. He sighed as if she was a petulant child who didn’t want to go to school.

He sounded so annoyed back home, she briefly entertained the thought that she might be in the wrong. As the chill of the A/C bit her bare arms, she pictured the way he glared down at her when she refused to get dressed. An indignant fire stayed burning at her core.

She was the one to break the silence as he parked in front of the office. “You’re really going to make me go in like this?” She scowled and picked at the hem of her silk nightie.

“I gave you more than enough time to change,” he muttered. Then he glanced at his watch and winced. “Hurry—” He snatched her up and pulled the flap of his satchel open.

“No, don’t you fucking dare.”

“Hey, you don’t wanna be seen today, right? Won’t that be a little hard if I stroll in with you half naked in my hand?”

He all but shoved her into the darkness of the satchel to hide her. Protests dying in her throat, Nicole clutched at the leather walls around her as he bolted out of the car. His gait was nothing like the other times he had brought her to work. She slid around with pens, pads, and calculators beside his laptop.

Even as the voices of other humans—Ryan’s colleagues—began to muddle loudly around outside, rage and panic thundered in her veins like a storm with nowhere to go. Every bump against Ryan’s side made her curl tighter into herself. She couldn’t scream without fear of biting her own tongue in the process, and it was impossible to get out with how the bag was jostling.

Nicole squeezed her eyes shut. There was nothing to do but keep herself steady and wait.

Finally, she heard Ryan fiddling with the “piece of junk” biometric scanner at his office door. After three tries, it gave an admittingbing. The door clicked shut behind him. Silence replaced the chaos, but that brought no comfort. Nicole lifted her gaze towards the top of the bag as it lowered. She felt frozen there at the bottom until Ryan’s hand wrapped around her again and lifted her out.

Like one of his fucking calculators.

If she’d had her way, she’d be curled up in bed right down, listening to the rain.

The brewing storm in her blood funneled to a point of white-hot heat in her chest. The moment she saw a safe fall to his desk beneath her dangling legs, Nicole clawed at his grip with animal desperation, grunting with her efforts.

“Jesus, hold still—” Ryan set her down, and Nicole staggered backward until she bumped into a stapler.

“What the hell was that?” Her thready shout cut the air like a razor. “Whatwasthat, Ryan?”

“Shhh. Do you want the whole office to hear you?”

“Stop shushing me! This is fucking serious!”

Ryan frowned at the cracked blinds on his office window a second more before offering her his full attention. “Look, Iamsorry, but there was no time. I didn’t have a choice.”

There was a note of sympathy, she thought, as he smoothed down her mussed hair. His softening gaze offered a truce. Nicole watched his softness burn away shoved his gentle touch.

“You… you have noideawhat it’s like not to have a choice,” she hissed. “None.”

“That’s not true.”

She turned her back on him, her nightgown fluttering around her knees as she paced frantically. “You… You just took me!” Her voice cracked as the shock of it rushed over her again. She felt lightheaded. “Youtookme.”

A gust of A/C rushed over her and Nicole stopped short with a sudden shiver. She folded her arms over her chest and scrubbed at the goosebumps prickling her arms, seething at the idea of Ryan trying to comfort her.

Little good that did. As her chattering teeth replaced her words, she heard him crouch to her level. He draped a piece of fabric over her shoulders. Nicole recognized the monogram from his pocket square as his large, warm hands nearly closed around her again. He didn’t seize her this time, but he gingerly adjusted the fabric to cover her bare skin. It felt good.Hefelt good.

She remained wooden as he turned her around to face him. “Come here… Calm down. You’re fine, babe.” He gave her a look that had once seemed to make the world make sense. “I know this isn’t what you wanted today, but I need you to trust me that this was the right call. You’re safe and… Knowing that, I can do my job. You’re really helping me dodge a bullet here. For both of us.”

“Take me back home. Right now.”

Annoyance flickered. “The initial meeting will only be a few hours or so.” He continued to rub her arms and back through the cloth. “Then I’ll be here with you the rest of the day. I won’t tell anyone else you’re here. You won’t need to deal with their crap.”

She said nothing, and this emboldened him to smile, brushing his thumb up her jawline.

“It’ll be like asecret,” he said. “That’s hot, right?”