By a Thread

by Lucy Score

It wasn’t out of the kindness of my heart. I had neither kindness nor a heart.

that’s too bad

“Can I get you a drink?” Rude Sex Hair was back. “I don’t know. Can you?” I shot back. “We’re fresh out of the blood of children, Satan. How about something that matches your personality?”

“Can Charm—your son fire me?” I asked. Her smile was feline. “No. Dominic can’t fire you.” “Okay, then. Do I have to be nice to him?” She leaned back in her chair, considering. “I think you should have the relationship you feel most comfortable having with my son.”

But rumor has it he tended to use his position to go fishing in the company pond if you catch my drift.” I was an excellent drift catcher.

“Hey, Mal, why don’t you try sexually harassing men on your own time?” Ally piped up, leaning over her wall. “Some of us are trying to eat here, and your praying mantis routine is nauseating.”

“Please,” she scoffed. “I’m a tiny, little fish in your very big pond. You don’t even know I’m in the building.” Now she was the delusional one.

That sounds more realistic. I was worried you’d somehow managed to activate your soul.

Ally smiled up at me, and I forgot about the coat and Linus and the cold and the dog tongue.

It bothered me that I felt compelled to take an inventory of every item she wore. I felt compelled to do a lot of things where Ally was concerned. Avoid her. Ignore her. Make up reasons to talk to her. Pick a fight with her. Touch her.

Harry was silent, and I looked up. He was sniffing the air. “You smell that?” he asked. I knew where this was going. “I do not.” “I do. It’s strong. Here. Let me waft it toward you,” he said, flicking his hands at me. “That’s the smell of bullshit.”

Cold. I was a cold man. I wasn’t capable of warmth. Of romance. Kindness. The woman on the other side of the glass deserved more than I could give her. But that didn’t stop me from wanting her.

On Valentine’s Day, I got every assistant on the floor a flower arrangement just so I could give her something. I signed her card “From Linus” so she’d keep the fucking flowers.

And then there was a lightning strike of awareness a second later when I caught a glimpse of Dominic across the room. He was in conversation with a mix of beautiful people, but he was looking at me.

Of course she’d look like that in fucking couture. Half angel, half devil in siren red. But I’d still be compelled to watch her from across the room if she’d showed up in sweatpants and an I Heart NYC sweatshirt.

I was drawn to her. Inexplicably. Unfairly. Stupidly.

I spent a lot of time worrying and wondering about her. What she ate on the weekends. What she did late at night when she couldn’t sleep. If she thought about me half as much as I thought about her.

This cold, professional thing with her was killing me. I missed her sitting on my desk and fighting with me. I missed the sparks that ignited when we argued. I missed her.

There was a stir around me. I don’t know if it was the dress, the designer, or the girl. My girl.

I was going to need to start wearing a rubber band on my wrist and snap it every time I thought of him.

“Rubberband by Tate McRae!!!” I scream as I’m dragged into the void

“Hugging you.” “I can see that. Why?” “I’ve always wanted to,” he confessed.

“Why did you do that for Buddy? Do you even know him?” “I did it for you,” he insisted.

“Oh for fuck’s sake.” I hooked my pinky around his and tried not to fall in love with the idiot when he pressed his lips to our joined fingers.

“You’d miss me. Like a lot.” I knew she would. At this point, I couldn’t imagine not seeing her five days a week. At this point, five days a week wasn’t enough.

It might have been the scotch talking, but it felt right. I wanted more of this. More of Ally Morales in my home.

Her voice was so soft, and she was playing with my hair again. I decided that was my new favorite physical sensation. Ally’s fingers in my hair.

Dominic: You’re beautiful. And not just tonight. My stupid, stupid heart gave a pathetic limp.

I’d find that self-control I’d once been so proud of and actually utilize it. And in another hundred years or so, I’d even be able to survive the idea of her meeting someone else. Dating. Fucking. Falling in love. My still mildly unsettled gut rolled at the idea when I stepped onto the elevator and hurtled toward the forty-third floor. Yeah. That day was not today.

“Just fucking friends,” I muttered to the empty room. But the rationalization didn’t help. I wanted to be more. And I couldn’t have it as long as she worked for this company.

“Who the hell did this to you?”

Oooohhhh

He pulled me out of the chair and into his arms. It was a hug. A hard, breathless hug. And that’s what broke me. The unyielding contact of his body pressed against mine, his arms wrapped around me tight enough that the only thing I knew for certain was that I was safe.

“I don’t know if I can walk away when I need to,” I confessed, the panic rising up in me. “We’re past walking away, Ally.”

“I wasn’t looking for you. But I still found you.”

“I’m saying I found you. And I’m not fighting it anymore. You’re mine.”

This moment of heaven was worth a lifetime of misery.

“Anything you want, Ally. All you have to do is ask.”

Ally Morales was the most beautiful thing I’d ever seen in my entire life.

My life would never be the same. I was never letting her go. No matter what.

“Give me a couple of minutes.” And the rest of your life.

“I hate that someone hurt you, Ally,” he confessed, bringing up a hand to tenderly trace the bruising on my face. “Everybody gets hurt sooner or later,” I said lightly. “Not you. Not anymore. I can’t take it.”

She breathed out a laugh, and I decided it was the best noise I’d ever heard in this house.

“You matter to me, Ally. Do you get that? I care about you. And yet you insist on not taking what I can offer you. I need you safe. I need you warm and happy and fed and rested. Goddammit, Ally. You are killing me with this stupid pride.”

“What you need is to realize that you’re in over your head and that I am not just willing to help, I am begging to help you.”

Overwhelmed, I dragged her into my arms. “Baby, listen to me. The way you felt about your dad living in that shithole is exactly how I feel about you living here. This isn’t a favor to pay back. This is purely selfish on my part. I can’t live with you staying here.”

My Ally. She didn’t really have a choice. Neither did I. And I think we both knew it.

You’ve never looked at another woman the way you look at Ally.”

I wanted to take care of her. I wanted to take her worries and concerns and problems and solve every last one of them so she could focus all of her attention on me. And Brownie of course. I wasn’t a completely selfish monster.

She would live here. She would have anything and everything she needed. No one would ever take advantage of her or lay a hand on her ever again. End of fucking story. I was her Prince Fucking Charming.

When she rolled over and looked at me with sleepy eyes and “please” on her lips, I promised my soul to whatever deity had delivered her to my bed.

One thing I knew for sure when I felt her start to surrender was that I was going to fix everything for her. Whether she wanted me to or not.

“You asked, sweetheart. And I’m giving it to you. I live to give you what you want, Ally.”