Page 45 of A Private Affair
Chaz ignored him. “Riley, I need to talk to you.”
Maurice bolted up from the chair and Major eased away from the desk. The twins fell in behind RJ, who immediately stepped up to face Chaz.
“That’s not a good idea,” RJ told him. “Neither was you coming here. You can turn around and leave now.”
“I can call security,” Korey added.
“I just want to speak to Riley. I’ll leave as soon as I’m done,” Chaz said evenly.
RJ wasn’t budging. “You’ll leave now.”
Chaz shook his head. “No. Not until I talk to Riley.”
Korey reached across Riley’s desk to grab the phone. “I’m calling security!”
She stood and snatched the phone out of his hand and slammed it down.
“You are not calling anybody and I’m perfectly capable of deciding whether or not I want to talk to someone.” She walked around her desk and pushed through the barrier the twins created with their matching muscular frames.
RJ didn’t move so Riley walked around him. She felt utterly foolish stepping between him and Chaz, but it had to be done or the testosterone oozing in the room would reach a boiling point and all hell would definitely break loose.
“I don’t think talking is necessary,” she said when she finally looked up at Chaz.
“You’re wrong. It’s very necessary.”
“Don’t talk to my sister like that,” Maurice snapped.
Riley figured this situation could only get worse, so she turned to face her brothers. “I’ve got this,” she told them. “Leave us alone.”
“Oh, hell no,” Major chimed. “Leave him alone with you in your office?”
“I’ll be fine,” Riley told them, and while she was certain her brothers were concerned for her well-being, she had a suspicion they were also concerned about Chaz being in the office and possibly stealing more of their secrets.
“Really, you can all go now. This is my office.”
RJ continued to glare at Chaz.
“You and I are going to have a conversation,” he told Chaz.
Chaz nodded. “That’s fine with me.”
Her brothers filed out of the office and Chaz stared at Riley.
Riley turned to Korey, who was still leaning against the edge of her desk. “I’ll be fine, Korey. You can leave us alone.”
Korey looked at her another moment before pushing away from her desk. He did that thing with his fingers pointing to his eyes and then pointing to Chaz as he passed them and walked out.
When the door closed, Riley squared her shoulders and took a deep breath. She released it slowly before saying, “What do you want to say?”
He remained still.
“First, above all else I want to tell you that I’ve fallen in love with you, Riley Gold. I didn’t mean to and I don’t know exactly when it happened, but that’s that.”
Her hands were shaking and she hated it. She refused to clench her fingers or cross her arms or anything like that. She was going to face him and what he’d done head-on.
“Did you steal the design?”
Chaz flinched as if she’d hit him.
