Surprised

Which he placed around her shoulders, then pulled it around her so she was covered in it.

“Now, back to what I was saying about you working for me—”

He was interrupted by voices on the other side of the door, which he’d left open a few inches.

“Oh, Saber, you should have seen her. She was far too old and well, if I can be blunt, fat to be stripping. She tried to hold herself up on the pole, then she just fell to the stage. I was so embarrassed for her.”

Elle felt her face growing bright red. She kept her gaze on her lap since the last thing she wanted was to look up at Gomez and see his pity. Or worse, his agreement.

“She fell? Is she okay?” a deep voice rumbled.

Whoa. That was one sexy voice.

“Fucking bitch,” Gomez said, standing.

“Yeah, she’s fine. She won’t be suing or anything. She didn’t look like she had the money for the bus home, let alone an attorney. And besides, she was faking being hurt to feel less humiliated. But it was completely humiliating.”

Lucy started laughing and shame rolled through Elle. She hadn’t been faking an injury.

And this bitch didn’t get to make her feel bad.

By the time she’d given herself a pep talk, Gomez was at the door, swinging it wide.

“Shut up, Lucy.”

Lucy gasped at his harsh words. Even Elle looked up at him in shock. No one had stood up for her since Joe died. Well, other than April, but she lived thousands of miles away. Although she wouldn’t have hesitated to get in this bitch’s face.

April had fire. Because not only did she known her own worth, but she also had a man at home who wouldn’t hesitate to take her back.

Elle didn’t feel like she’d ever known her own worth. Maybe when Joe was alive. But even then, she spent most of her time trying to be nice and not rock the boat.

Things her Nan had ingrained into her.

“Gomez? Everything good?” the deep voice asked.

“It will be as soon as Lucy leaves my eyesight,” Gomez countered.

Whoa.

Gomez was mad.

Really, really mad.

He’d said he was angry before because she’d taken off. But she thought he might have been exaggerating.

Because this . . . this was angry.

And he was mad because of what Lucy was saying about her. She could feel a crack in the shield she’d put up to protect herself. An armor that few people could get through, that they even noticed was there.

But it was there. And it was cracking.

“How rude! Why are you talking to me that way, Mr. Gomez when all I’ve ever done is try to do a good job for you.”

Dear Lord. That was a terrible acting job. Did Lucy really think that people would buy that?

“Gomez,” the other voice warned.

Whoa. Was the other guy buying her act?

“Saber, she needs to get far away from me right now. I am not going to stand by while she talks badly about Elle.”

“Elle?”

She liked hearing her name being spoken by Saber. She couldn’t see him, nor did she know him, so there was no reason why she should react that way.

But she liked it a heck of a lot.

“Let’s go talk in your office,” Saber added.

“No, we won’t be talking in there,” Gomez replied. “We need to talk; we’ll do it somewhere else.”

There was a beat of silence.

“It’s fine, really,” Lucy said. “I’m all right, Saber.”

She rolled her eyes. Lucy was laying it on thick.

“Hey, Gomez, Saber, there’s a problem with the alcohol order,” an unfamiliar voice said.

Gomez sighed. “I’ll be there in a minute.” He stepped back into the office and shut the door before turning to look at her. “You. Stay here.”

Then he grabbed a set of keys out of his desk drawer and left.

But not before she heard a key turning in the lock.

Did he . . . did he just lock her in here?

Getting up slowly, she moved to the door and tried it.

Shit. Fuck.

That asshole. Obviously, he thought she was going to run.

Which you were.

Yeah, but that didn’t mean he got to lock her in.

She tried to find a comfortable position with her back spasming. But nothing helped. Also, her feet were aching from her stupid shoes, but she didn’t want to take them off. She looked at the clock.

God damn it.

Where the hell was he?

Drake Saber eyed his best friend curiously.

Gomez was usually a closed book to everyone but him. He kept his true feelings and emotions locked down tight. Only letting things slip through his guard when they were alone.

Except for right now. He was glaring down at Lucy. Saber wasn’t sure why, exactly. Sure, Lucy was annoying. But Gomez didn’t usually look at her with such fury in his eyes.

Saber couldn’t quite work out what she’d done. Was it because she’d been unkind to the woman who’d fallen while doing her interview? Saber had never known Gomez to be protective over someone he’d just met.

Gomez wasn’t really that protective of anyone. Sure, he took care of the staff that worked here. But he didn’t favor one over the other. He just considered that part of his job. He didn’t feel anything for them.

Curious.

And why did he lock his office door? He never locked his office door unless . . . unless he had a woman in there.

Gomez wasn’t known for mixing business and pleasure. So the rare time a woman had been in there for anything other than business was when Saber put her there.

In fact, he couldn’t remember the last time Gomez had slept with a woman without Saber instigating things.

Hmm. That didn’t seem healthy now that he thought about it. Maybe he needed a word with the other man.

Maybe you haven’t been looking after Gomez as well as he takes care of you.

And perhaps he should head back to the office to see why Gomez had locked it.

If he has a girl in there, it’s none of your business.

Yet, he was curious.

And he hadn’t been curious about anything in a long time.

Life had become monotonous, with only brief bursts of color to intersperse the gray. Sometimes, he thought the only reason he got up in the morning was because Gomez wouldn’t let him wither away.

And because Gomez wouldn’t do well without him.

He was all Gomez had.

So, yeah, feeling curious wasn’t normal for him. The last time he’d been this interested in a woman was when Millie came into Pepper that first time.

Now . . . there was a woman who made life interesting.

He envied Quillon. His life would never be boring. Although, he also had a lot on his hands. Millie ate life and didn’t always stop to think before doing something.

That was something that Saber would have squashed straight away. Because any woman of his wouldn’t be putting herself in danger.

No fucking way.

But since he never intended to have a woman of his own, that shit didn’t matter.

He watched Gomez breathing ice at Lucy, who actually looked slightly concerned. He should interfere. Even though he didn’t really care about Lucy, he knew that if she quit, Gomez would have more on his plate that he didn’t need.

“Gomez, didn’t you need to go deal with the alcohol issue?” he asked.

Gomez turned to eye him. Then, he seemed to gather himself. “Yes, I’ll get onto that. But you need to remember this, Lucy. Do not speak about anyone who works here like that.”

“She doesn’t work here,” Lucy replied.

“She was interviewing for a job. And you need to watch the way you speak to people, or you are gone.”

Something flashed in Lucy’s face. Something ugly. And Saber made a mental note to watch her.

“Saber?” Lucy turned to him, her eyes wide and pleading.

Was she serious with this shit right now? Was she expecting him to side with her? Over his best friend? The person he cared about most in the world?

“Go back to work,” he ordered.

Her face filled with shock.

“And you might want to take Gomez’s words to heart.”

Yep. She wasn’t expecting that. She turned and stomped away.

Saber turned to the other man, who was scowling. “You want to tell me what that was about?”