Shay's night out with her brother, Sawyer, went smoothly and wasn't as bad as she thought it would be. She saw some old friends, and since it was a private party, there wasn't any press. It was almost three in the morning when she got back to the hotel room, and there was no sign of Nate.
It wasn't like she expected him to wait up for her. There was no reason he should have, but she was disappointed all the same.
They worked all day Sunday, only taking a break to eat and stretch, and what they didn't finish, they worked on during the flight to Austin. Their time in Austin went quickly, and once again, Shay didn't get to see any of the sights, but she did get some delicious food, and the spring weather was beautiful.
Now, they were in their last city on the trip, Atlanta. It was big, busy, and hot. The only good thing was that the office was a new start-up, so they had plenty of room for Nate and Shay to work there instead of at the hotel. It made a nice change and removed some stress about being in such a private setting with Nate.
Shay and Nate spent Monday in the usual meeting with the bigwigs, reviewing the strides the new branch had made in such a short time. On Tuesday, Shay's world took an unexpected turn, and not for the better.
She was sitting across from Nate taking notes as he reviewed some paperwork. He liked to make comments followed by page numbers while she kept a list so that he could review it when he had a little more time.
"Have a quick look at these numbers, Shay," Nate said as he pushed a spreadsheet in front of her. "Something doesn't look right, but I can't quite put my finger on it."
Nate had started to include Shay more and more in the financial questions that arose once he realized that Shay's mind could spot a simple mistake in record time.
Shay leaned over and pulled the sheet of paper toward her, her arm brushing Nates. Even though they had done an excellent job of tamping down the attraction between them, it still popped up from time to time. Often, it was an accidental brush of the hand or simply standing next to him that caused Shay's senses to go on high alert. For her, it didn't take much.
Nate always appeared to be immune.
"Knock, knock," they heard behind them.
Nate looked up at the door, taking off his glasses and catching Shay's attention.
"Wright, I want to introduce you to one of our newest financial advisors." The company's local director said as he pulled forward a man the Shay automatically recognized. "This is Brody Peyton. His parents are the actors, Thomas Peyton and Blandine Frasier."
Shay felt every muscle in her body tense when she heard the name, and she refused to look in their direction. Brody had been her high school and college boyfriend, the one she was glad to have lost touch with all those years ago.
There was nowhere for Shay to go, so she focused her attention on the numbers in front of her, and hoping she would be forgotten, she kept her head down. She did peek up at Nate, who was looking at her down the bent head. He must have read something in her look because he stepped away from Shay and walked with the two men into the outer office, closing the door behind them.
Shay took a shaky breath as she leaned back in her chair and closed her eyes.
She hadn't looked at Brody, but she figured he hadn't changed much. He was still capitalizing on his parents' fame. Whenever he had gotten into trouble as a kid or wanted special treatment, he would throw their names around. Shay had especially hated it when he had thrown her parents' names around as well.
Nate entered the office and sat next to her before Shay could dissolve into a puddle of bad memories.
"A friend of yours?" he asked, coming straight to the point.
"In a different life, and not someone I ever cared to see again." Shay gave a little shiver as Nate watched her, and their silence lengthened. She could hear his thoughts.
"Don't worry, Nate. Now that I know he is here, I can mentally prepare to see him again." Shay swallowed hard at the thought while staring at her hands. "Do you think he recognized me?" she asked, looking at Nate with hopeful eyes.
"Yes, I do."
"That will be a problem then. He will tell everyone about my parents." Shay sighed at the thought. It would make everything more complicated.
"Have you had a chance to look at those numbers yet?" Nate asked as he stood, reaching for his suit jacket.
"No, but if you give me about half an hour, I'm sure I can come up with something.
There was a question she had to ask, even though she really didn't want to.
"Nate?" Shay looked up at him. "Did finding out about my parents make a difference with you?"
Nate's eyes took in her pale face as he considered his answer.
"Honestly?" he asked.
"Yes, always honesty, please." Shay choked, knowing she wouldn't like what she was about to hear.
"My first response was to send you back to accounting. I thought that you wouldn't be up to the job and that if we landed in a situation like this one, it could be a problem." Nate placed a hand on her shoulder. "I'm glad I didn't, Shay. You're very good at your job, and I trust you."
Shay nodded. "I'm sorry this has come up. Is there anything I can do to make it better?" she asked, wanting to cry. It felt as if she had lost a little bit of his respect despite what he said, but maybe it was her who was losing respect for herself for how she was handling it.
Brody had torn her self-respect to shreds when they had been together, and it appeared as if he still had the power to do it.
"I have a few meetings to attend. Gather everything up and head back to the hotel. We'll work from there this afternoon."
"No, Nate. It's fine. We were both relieved to have an office to work from. I'm not going to let a few bad memories affect anyone but me." Shay looked at the clock on the wall. "Would you like me to order lunch, or do you have a meeting?"
"Order lunch," he said, adjusting his sleeves. "I feel like Chinese."
Shay smiled. "The usual?" she asked.
Nate nodded, then left her alone to focus on the numbers and not her past.
*******
Nate left the office and headed to find Brody Peyton, pushing through the door that led to the stairwell. What 'few' bad memories did she have? Nate didn't like that she had any bad memories, much less they were now at the forefront of her mind.
One thing he could make sure of was that Brody didn't reveal Shay's family. If she was determined to stay at the office and possibly come across the man, then he could at least make sure the man knew what was expected of him.
Nate had liked Shay's parents when he had met them a few weeks before. She was so much like her mother in both looks and attitude that he didn't know why he hadn't recognized it the first time he heard her name. There was no doubt that Shay was just as strong as Reyna Richards. The only difference was Shay hadn't discovered it yet. Otherwise, she wouldn't have let Brody Peyton's appearance affect her so much.
Shay's attention had been on Nate when Brody Peyton entered the office, and the way she looked at him made him feel a little caveman, which happened more often than he cared to admit. Despite the desire coursing through him, Nate had felt Shay tense the minute Brody Peyton's name and his parents' names were mentioned. It didn't take a genius to realize that she recognized him.
The caveman in Nate didn't like how Brody looked at Shay's back and down-bent head. Brody looked like a predator who had found its prey as his eyes had devoured Shay. Nate ignored his first response, which was to punch the man, and went with his second, which was to escort him from the office as soon as possible.
When he had returned, and Shay hadn't moved, he knew that whatever had happened between Shay and Brody Peyton had not been good. Nate was proud of Shay when he had given her the option to run away, and she had decided to stay.
Nate ran through his schedule for the week ahead in his mind. He would only have to rearrange a few things to make sure that he kept Shay close to his side and away from Brody Peyton.
Nate refused to examine why he felt so protective of Shay as he reminded himself that he would do the same for Ellen if she were in the same predicament.
Nate reached the landing he wanted and took a moment to calm down and regain control of his emotions. Sometimes he hated his job, and this was one of those times. He could play the heavy, he was well trained to do it, but he didn't like it. He would prefer to be building something beautiful in his workshop, not balancing numbers and people.