Free For The Love Of Sir by Laylah Roberts Page B

a mad desire for formatting. Tim just gave me a pen drive full of work to do at home.” He was so generous.
    “Including the Henderson bid?” Eloise asked.
    Tara looked up at her. “Could be, I haven’t looked. Why?”
    Eloise was acting odd. Odder than usual.
    “Oh, no reason.” She laughed, but it sounded fake. Tara had grown good at reading body signals and Eloise seemed nervous and out of sorts. “I just heard Tim and Ryan talking about the Henderson bid earlier and it sounded interesting.”
    The Henderson bid was a big one. If they won this it would mean work for the next three years.
    “I could do that formatting for you if you wanted,” Eloise offered.
    Tara had a really uncomfortable feeling about handing over the pen drive to the other woman.
    “No, that’s okay. I’ll get it done. Thanks though.”
    Eloise’s face tightened up. “Sure. No problem.”
    Eloise left and Tara returned to the spreadsheet, working for another two hours to get it finished. By the time she was done, she was so tired she was practically seeing double.
    She grabbed her work phone and put it in her bag. She pulled out her personal phone. She’d put it on silent and hadn’t had time to check it.
    Ten missed calls from Alex. Crap. This last week they’d only managed to spend two nights together at his place. They hadn’t even gotten around to signing a contract—all of their time together had been spent in bed. The sex was amazing. He was sexy, dominating and hot. Very, very hot. Tara knew she was going to find it hard when this ended.
    “Hello?”
    “Tara.” Alex’s deep voice came through the phone. Despite his grumpy tone, she immediately relaxed at the sound of his voice.
    “Alex, how are you?”
    “Impatient.”
    She raised her eyebrows. Alex was one of the most patient people she’d ever met.
    “I’m not used to sitting by the phone, waiting for it to ring.”
    No, she didn’t suppose he was. She wasn’t avoiding him on purpose, still she felt kind of guilty.
    “I’m sorry. I’ve been really busy at work.” She knew how lame that sounded. If some guy said that to her, she’d be certain he was brushing her off. “I’m free now.”
    Alex had promised her a punishment for sneaking off after that first night they’d spent together. Thoughts of that punishment had kept her awake at night, wondering, dreaming. She wasn’t into a lot of pain, but she knew that Alex would never push her past what she could take.
    “Where are you?” he demanded.
    “At work. Well, I’m about to head home now.”
    “At work? Still? What the hell kind of job do you have?”
    “The kind I need to keep,” she said dryly. “My boss wasn’t thrilled that I was late the other day.”
    “It’s ten at night! Surely you’ve made up for that. Give the taxi my address. I want to see you.”
    She didn’t bother to correct him, but there was no way she could afford a taxi. She exited her building, smiling at the security guard. She immediately started walking toward the nearest bus stop. This was a good part of town and she wasn’t worried as she wandered down the street.
    “Alex, I’m tired. I need some sleep—hey! Watch where you’re going!”
    She turned to glare at the person who’d bumped into her, only to freeze at the knife she saw in his hand.
    “Give me your phone and bag, lady.”
    “I don’t have any money.” Losing her phone was going to suck. Plus, Tim would kill her since her company phone was in her handbag.
    “Tara? What’s happening? Where are you?” Alex demanded through the phone.
    “And I thought Lavaca was a safe street,” she muttered, trying to give Alex a clue.
    “Hang up and give me your phone, lady.” The man swung the knife around, making her gulp in fear. He briefly stepped into the light from a building and she could see how crazy he looked. Drugs. He was on something. She handed over her phone without saying anything more to Alex. With shaking hands, she dragged her handbag off her