Free Romancing My Love (Love in Bloom: The Bradens) Contemporary Romance by Melissa Foster Page A

approached. His beady eyes caught hers. Rebecca drew in a deep breath and met his snakelike stare.
    “I’m here for my paycheck.”
    “Well, well, if it isn’t chatty Cathy.” Martin laughed, and two men who were drinking at the bar looked her up and down.
    “Martin, I’m not here to play games. Just give me my check and I’ll get out of your bar and never look back.” She held his annoyingly amused gaze as he casually dried a glass and set it on a shelf behind him.
    He slung the towel over his shoulder and leaned his hands on the bar, motioning for her to come closer. “You decked a guy in here the other night and then took off. I could have gotten sued.”
    She rolled her eyes. “You didn’t. The check, Martin. Focus on what’s important.”
    He dropped his eyes to her breasts. “How about you come in the back room and we’ll talk about it?”
    How did I ever work for you ? She’d been so desperate for employment that she’d ignored Andy’s warnings about working for Martin. Never again, she vowed. From here forward, she wasn’t going to settle—in any aspect of her life.
    “How about you get your scrawny ass into the back office and get my check before I go back, get the check myself, and leave you in worse shape than the guy from the other night?” She stomped toward the back office.
    He beat her to the office door and stepped in front of it, arms crossed, snake eyes returned. “Give me two good reasons why I should give you this check. You quit.”
    “I quit because you’re a pig who treats people like shit. That’s reason number one. Reason number two is that I earned it, and I’ll throw a third in there just for the heck of it. If you don’t give me my check, you can kiss your family jewels goodbye.”
    He scoffed.
    “ Ugh . You’re an idiot.” She reached for the doorknob and he grabbed her wrist. “You have three seconds to let go of me.”
    “Right.” He narrowed his eyes.
    “She was being generous. I’ll give you one.”
    Rebecca spun around at the sound of Pierce’s deep, serious voice. His feet were set hip distance apart, arms crossed, and even in his dress slacks and dress shirt, he went from smoking hot to menacing in a fraction of a second.
    He stepped forward and said in the most calm, chilling voice Rebecca had ever heard, “You will release her wrist and give her the money that is owed to her or your next move will be made from the floor.”
    Martin dropped Rebecca’s wrist and she plowed into the office, grabbed her check from the paycheck box on his desk, and stormed from the bar, leaving Pierce and Martin behind. Her heart beat triple time as she paced the sidewalk, embarrassed and so damned pissed off that she could barely see straight.
    Pierce walked out a few minutes later and she felt his hand settle into its usual place on her back. She spun around, all the pieces of her perfect day crashed and shattered. Shards of the last ten minutes came at her from all angles. It was all she could do to stand there and look at him.
    “I asked you to stay outside.” She didn’t mean to yell.
    “I did. You said five minutes. I waited six.” His eyes ran over her face, and she turned away to keep from yelling again. “Rebecca, I’m sorry if I overstepped my bounds, but I’m not the kind of guy who can sit back and do nothing when I think some asshole is going to treat you badly.”
    She turned to face him again, teeth clenched, arms crossed over her chest. “I could have handled him.”
    “I’m sure you could have.”
    “Then why did you come in after me, Pierce? I don’t need saving.” Her body was trembling. Damn it . Tears of anger threatened to spill. Don’t cry. Do not fucking cry.
    “I’m sorry. Rebecca, I didn’t think you needed saving. I’m…” He narrowed his eyes. “Babe, you’re shaking. Did he hurt you?” He placed a hand gently on her arm, and she shrugged away again.
    “I’m not your babe, and no, he didn’t hurt me. I’m shaking