Tina Donahue  us to because we work in the same office? Aw, Sunny, didn’t I ask you not to tell him  about us?”
“I didn’t.” Her head lowered. “I wouldn’t.”
“Then what? Are you going to make me guess?”
“No.” She sounded scared. “I’m really, really sorry about this, and I didn’t want to  tell you, but I can see how worried you are about the way Adam’s been acting, so you  should probably know the truth.”
Good god, cross-examining a four-year-old would’ve been easier. “Which is?”
Sunny moaned her words. “Roger wanted to fire you.”
The candy stuck in Danni’s throat. Her face stung with surprise and humiliation.
She thought the man had compared her unfavorably to Sunny, but he disliked her so  much he wanted to get rid of her?
“Adam talked him out of it,” Sunny added quickly. “Your job is safe. No way  would I lie about that.”
Danni swallowed. Her voice gurgled with emotion and the sugary chocolate. “Why  would he want to fire me? Did he say I wasn’t performing well enough?”
“Oh no. It’s not about your work at all, but the money. He wanted to replace you  with someone cheaper from the home office.”
If something was wrong, you’d tell me, right? she’d asked Adam.
Trust me, if something was wrong, I’d definitely tell you.
She pressed her fingers to her temple, rubbing the growing ache. “Was this a  sudden decision on Roger’s part? Did something happen with the line that Adam didn’t  tell me about? Did we lose a major merchant? Are we going out of business?”
“He didn’t say anything like that. He kept telling Roger how he’d been saving the  company big bucks with his decisions. I got the impression it’s doing great. Roger  didn’t seem so sure. Adam got pissed and accused Roger of wanting to go over his head  as soon as the launch is over. He said Roger would fire you then just as he’d wanted to  all along.”
All along? The words wrenched her belly. She remembered their weird first  meeting. How Roger pretended to schmooze her while he asked for a ton of  information. Adam told her Roger hadn’t been pumping her, he’d been testing him. It  was all a lie.
I’m different, he’d said.
“Danni?” Sunny caught up with her just short of the lockers. “Where are you  going?”
“I don’t know. Home.” He had her believing his job was in peril, he’d let her spout  that nonsense, when all along her job was on the line. She’d comforted him when she  needed comfort. She’d doubted herself when he misled. She ignored her intuition, the  only real thing in this whole sorry mess. What freaking irony. She managed a wry  smile.
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“Wait.” Sunny grabbed her arm. “Stay with me tonight. Don’t go home by yourself  when you’re so upset.”
“I’m fine.” She yanked her arm away.
“You’re mad.”
She wasn’t. Anger would come later. Right now, knowing she’d been deceived by  yet another man, one she’d loved completely, made her numb. She would have given  anything to have had Sunny tell her she was crazy wrong, her concerns were stupid, he  hadn’t done anything to betray her trust.
How she wished she’d remained clueless. Completely enamored. Foolishly hopeful.
No different than her mom.
From the beginning, he’d known Roger’s plans and hadn’t given her any warning  to look for another job, to be prepared, to maintain a little dignity. Oh sure, he’d held  back his lust until she’d thrown herself at him, but then he’d slept with her, laughed  with her, shared intimate secrets with her, made her believe in truth again and still kept  her in the dark. Worst of all, he’d started to pull away. Why? Because he had a sudden  attack of conscience, or because he’d sensed he couldn’t change Roger’s mind? Is that  why he’d been mad at Quintana—he knew the end of her job approached and he’d  have to face her shock and hurt?
And now that he saved her position, he expected everything to be all right? For  them to move on to the next phase of their what-she-doesn’t-know-won’t-hurt-me  relationship?
Not this time. Not ever again.
* * * * *
Lined up on Adam’s office table were two bottles of apple juice, two coffees, two  orders of French toast sticks and two enormous omelet sandwiches from Burger King.
With his feast spread out, he checked his watch. His driver wouldn’t be here for an hour  and a half. He didn’t expect the staff for two hours. He and Danni had plenty of time to  enjoy their breakfast and each other before he had to leave for his flight.
Coffee in hand, he left his office, drawn to the reception area by the clicking he’d  heard. His mind pictured Danni’s key making the sound as she opened the front door.
Then, he remembered, he’d left it unlocked. He took a sip of his coffee and glanced into  the shadowed hallway leading to the elevators. The circular globes above them were  dark. Returning to his office, he checked the time and tried to remember if he told her to  be here at 5:30 or 6.
At 6:30, he called her cell phone a third time. Still no answer. Still no voicemail  prompt. It was so unlike her to be late and unavailable, he had a loony urge to dial 9-1-
1, knowing they wouldn’t be too alarmed she hadn’t shown up for their breakfast,  which now swam in cold grease. Could she have forgotten their plans? Even if she had,
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Maybe she had car trouble. Oh god, she couldn’t have been in an accident. He  turned on the radio, searching for the traffic station.
Five commercials later, the announcer came on. Her cheery voice proved the  absence of any freeway tragedies. “Good morning, people. Everything’s smooth as can  be. No traffic alerts on the major arteries. Traffic from the east is—”
Just to be certain, he listened for fifteen minutes then turned it off as his worry  moved in a new direction. Could Danni have slipped in her bath and hit her head? Oh  shit. Could she be unconscious in a tub full of water? If he told 9-1-1 she might be,  would they respond? Even if he left now, it would take him twenty minutes or more,  depending upon traffic, to get to her place. He couldn’t get there as fast as they could.
He pulled out his cell phone and dropped it back in his pocket at a noise in the  outer office. It sounded as if someone opened a door. Moving past his secretary’s desk,  he saw light pouring through the blinds on Danni’s window, creating a striped pattern  on the opposite wall. His heart stopped slamming into his throat. She was all right. She  must have had car trouble or overslept.
He went into her office, expecting her to smile and hug him, to explain why she’d  been late.
Head lowered, her hair shielded her face as she dug into her purse, looking for  something.
He cleared his throat softly to avoid startling her. “Hey.”
“Hi.” She didn’t look up.
Surprised, he stepped closer, wondering if something had happened with her mom.
“I’ve been trying to reach you for over an hour. I couldn’t even get voicemail on your  cell phone.”
“Must be full.”
“Everything okay with your mom?”
“Once she leaves my dad, it will be.”
Adam wasn’t about to comment. A saner man might have taken the hint and left.
Being in love, he wanted to help and to be with her until his driver arrived. His L.A. trip  would take him away from her for two days. “I had breakfast in my office, That is, I got  us breakfast. It’s kind of cold now, but we can nuke it and put ice cubes in the apple  juice.”
Whatever she’d been looking for, she didn’t find. She tossed her purse on a chair.
“I’m not hungry. You go ahead.”
“I can get something later. I’d rather stay here with you.”
Her head lifted. At the last moment, she glanced at a report on her desk, rather than  him. “Don’t you have a flight to catch?”
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She did want him gone. At least that’s what her words implied. Her voice  contradicted them. It wobbled as if she were about to cry. Like a spectator at a  particularly gruesome accident, part of him wanted to run while the rest of him  remained frozen, unable to leave. “Yeah, but I have a few minutes before my driver gets  here.”
She went around her desk to the file cabinets. “So, how’s business?”
“What?”
Her fingers rifled through the folders. “How’s the company doing? Good? Bad?”
“We’re hitting projections.”
“You’re sure?”
He frowned. “Yeah. You know as much as I do. You get all my reports.”
“That’s right. And you’d tell me if something was wrong, wouldn’t you? So, why  are you going to L.A.? Are you going to be working on consolidating the finance and  accounting departments while you’re there?”
Apprehension squeezed his throat. His pulse began to race. Why had she made the  crack about him telling her if something was wrong? How did she know about the  consolidations? “Among other things.”
“The poor people here are going to lose their jobs.” She opened a manila folder and  ran her finger down the stats inside. Her hand shook, so did her voice. “Do they know?
Are you going to inform them after your trip? Or are you planning to keep them on  board, telling them how great they are, how much you want them until after the  launch?”
Oh fuck, she knew about Roger’s plan to fire her. His mouth went so dry, his voice  scraped. “Danni.”
She faced him. Pain and anger pinched her features. Her eyes were puffy, as if she’d  cried most of last night.
“Danni, I—”
“Don’t.” She held up her hand, a warning not to come closer.
Stepping back, his words rushed out. “Did Roger call you? Did that prick say he  wanted to save a few bucks by replacing you?”
Tears filled her eyes. “Listen to yourself.”
He gestured helplessly, not knowing how to act, the correct words to say. “What do  you mean? I don’t understand.”
“Yeah, I know.” Sorrow dulled her voice. “You’re worried that he told me. Relax,  he didn’t. I found out on my own. Doesn’t it bother you at all that you kept the truth  from me when I had a right to know?”
“Danni, I wanted to save your position and I did. You’re here for good. I worked  my ass off to convince him.”
“Because we were involved?”
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Were? This couldn’t be happening. “I would have fought hard for anyone who  deserved it.”
“Is that a no?”
He talked fast, his words a plea. “You’re well aware of how I feel about your work,  and I did everything I could conceivably think of to keep your job.”
“Screw the job!” She threw the folder on the floor. Reports fanned out. One hit his  shoe. “I had a right to know. I had a right not to have you lie to me. You knew from the  beginning what he had planned, from the first day you were here, don’t deny it.”
How could he now. “Yeah, I knew. He told me a few minutes before you came into  the conference room.”
Her shoulders slumped as if she’d expected him to tell her something easier to  accept. Like what? She wanted the truth, yet she didn’t like hearing it any more than  anyone else.
Closing the file drawer, she leaned against it. “That day in the parking garage,  when I asked why you’d resisted me for so long, do you remember what you said?”
He didn’t. Another of her tests he’d fail. “I’m sorry, no. Will you tell me?”
“You said you were stupid, not that you had lied. I gave you so many chances to  tell me what was really going on. I remember them all even if you don’t.”
“Danni, I know I screwed up, I didn’t handle this well, but I never intended to hurt  you. That’s what I was trying to avoid.”
“You don’t think it hurt me when you grew distant? When I knew you were  worried but you wouldn’t tell me why? You don’t think I wondered what was going on  when you swung from horny to cold? Do you know what it’s like to try and guess what  another person is feeling or thinking? When I didn’t show up this morning, did you  wonder why I wasn’t here?”
“You know I did.”
She shook her head and stepped away from the cabinet, putting more distance  between them. “No, I don’t know that. Since Vegas, I haven’t been able to read you.
This has never been a game to me, Adam. What you intended to do isn’t important to  me. All I can go on is what you’ve done.”
“Danni, please.”
“Hello,” a young male voice called out from the reception area. “I’m with Zeigler
Transport to pick up Mr. Farrell.”
She went behind her desk. “Your ride’s here.”
“I’ll get rid of him and catch a later flight so we can talk.”
“No.”
His stomach sank at the finality in her voice. “Then we’ll talk when I return.”
She looked out her window, her back to him.
Shit. After all the hell he’d been through to keep her, they were over?
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