Chapter Eight

Two weeks later, when Holly woke, she had to lie still as a bout of queasiness hit her. After a few minutes, the sensation passed, and Holly eased slowly from the bed. She and Jake had been on a whirlwind of days spent visiting tourist attractions around Chicago and the surrounding area. No doubt he’d planned the same for today until last night when she’d flat out told him that if he didn’t take her to the office, she was out of here even if he decided to turn her in.

The stress of the last few weeks, and the worry that Burt hadn’t yet made a move, combined with the change in the way she’d been eating since moving into Jake’s place must not be sitting too well with her system. Shrugging it off, she picked out her best pair of blue jeans and a shirt dotted with pale blue flowers. After dressing quickly and brushing her hair and teeth, she called her brother’s place to check on him.

“He’s still fine, Holly. We’ve been sticking by his side and he’s never alone. Is everything okay? You sound nervous,” Mia said.

“I worry about our uncle getting to him,” Holly admitted. “And Burt’s silence makes me even more nervous.”

“Well, stop worrying, okay? I asked my brothers to take turns watching the supermarket for as long as it takes. If your uncle comes around, they’ll stop him, let me know, and then I’ll call or email you.”

“Okay, thank you.”

“We’ll keep him safe. What are friends for?” Mia said.

“I should be the one watching out for him.”

Mia laughed. “My brothers are all over six feet tall and built like linebackers. Taking them on would be like trying to run through a brick wall. I doubt you could do more to thwart Burt than they can. You concentrate on whatever it is you’re doing. We’ve got this on our end.”

Holly thanked her friend again, hung up, grabbed her shoes, and went in search of Jake.

“Holly?”

She spun around and came face-to-face with the short, white-haired woman she’d been introduced to the day after she’d arrived at Jake’s house. Her weathered face was lit up with a smile.

“Hi, Bessie,” Holly said. She’d felt a strange kind of instant connection with the older woman from the moment she’d met her.

In response, Bessie wrapped Holly in a hug. She pulled back and beamed up at her.

“Would you like me to make you some breakfast?”

“There’s no time for that.” Jake strolled into the house carrying two cups from a popular coffee chain. His gaze tangled with hers as he handed Holly one of them. “I brought you some coffee. We can grab something to eat from the cafe at the office.”

“You haven’t eaten at home in weeks,” Bessie scolded, looking disappointed. “You’ve been off running around with Holly since you got back from that trip to South Carolina.”

“Have to keep my nose to the grindstone to make enough to keep you in the lap of luxury,” Jake said. “Money makes the world go ’round.”

Bessie snorted. “Your grandmother would have called bull on that one.”

“Your grandmother?” Holly asked, raising her eyebrows as she blew on the coffee.

“Martha,” Jake said reluctantly, and Holly caught the shadow of pain that crossed his face. His voice was husky when he said, “She passed away recently. The last of my family.”

Bessie squeezed his arm. “You’ll always have me.”

“So you keep threatening.” He wrapped an arm around Bessie’s shoulders and gave her a side hug.

“Holly and I should be back by seven. Cole said he might stop by.”

“Then there will be three of you for dinner?”

“No. Cole and I will more than likely hole up in my office and go over some business issues.”

“You shouldn’t fall back into bad habits, Jake,” Bessie scolded again. “Before the last two weeks, you barely remembered to live. You didn’t even take time off for Christmas.”

“Noted,” he said, his attitude clearly saying he didn’t give a damn what anyone thought about his workaholic ways.

“Ready?” Jake looked at Holly, then took quick strides to the door before she could respond.

Once he was outside, Holly turned to Bessie and asked, “Did he ever used to take time off?” She was wondering if there was a catalyst that made him drive himself to work as hard as he did.

Bessie sighed. “I shouldn’t have said anything. Not that he’d listen to me nagging anyway.”

“Holly!” Jake called from somewhere outside.

She smiled at Bessie, then darted outside. Jake sat behind the wheel of a BMW and gave an impatient glance at his watch as she climbed into the passenger seat.

“Playing tourist has been fun, but we should probably set a time for my leaving.”

“We can do that. Shouldn’t take you more than three months or so to go over everything.”

“Three months?” Holly couldn’t imagine being around Jake for that long. Just the couple weeks she’d been with him had already been hard enough. She’d had to fight the temptation not to throw caution to the wind and let him all the way in.

“Yes, three months. It’s a big company.”

“I’m not staying that long.” She couldn’t. Holly pressed a hand against her stomach when another bout of queasiness hit. When it passed, she tugged the seatbelt around herself and fastened it.

Jake frowned. “How long did you think it would take?”

“A couple of days.”

His gaze flicked over her. “A couple of days? That’s what you think?”

Holly nodded. “I can show you most of the security issues, but the rest of it, there’s no reason why I can’t type up some notes for you to refer to as you make security changes.”

“I don’t think so, Robin Hood. You’re going to stay until I feel the job is done.”

Holly’s mouth dropped open. “You think you can force me to stay?”

“I would never force a woman to do anything.” He put the car in gear and his voice dipped low as he winked at her. “Trust me when I say you’re going to reach a point where you can’t imagine not staying.”

Holly laughed. “If you think the fact that you’re rich and gorgeous will sway me, you’re mistaken.”

“We’ll see, Robin.”

Holly laughed again. “Give it your best shot.”

…

Jake’s business partner, Mason Parker, rose from behind a desk after the secretary showed Holly and Jake into a massive office. The man was tall like Jake with the same air of masculine assurance. He was as broad shouldered and handsome, with dark hair and eyes, but not nearly as hot as Jake was in Holly’s opinion. She tensed, waiting for the man to light into her about the theft of the thumb drive, but he didn’t.

Coming around the desk, he shook Jake’s hand, then hers. “Cole will meet us in a few minutes. After that, you can get started.”

Cole walked into the office and stopped. “Could hang meat in here, it’s so frigid.” He looked at Jake, then at Mason before turning his attention to Holly. “Since these two are playing mute, I’ll introduce myself. I’m Cole.” He took her hand to shake it and held on longer than normal. Though his eyes were wary, his gaze flicked over her appreciatively.

“We should get to work,” Jake said with a pointed frown at Cole.

When Holly entered the spacious conference room, she was surprised to see a handful of men and women. She’d assumed it would only be Jake and his partners.

Over the next couple of hours, Holly taught how thieves break into a building as well as how human error and gullibility were the main reasons that even the most fortified businesses could be robbed.

After she was finished speaking, the group asked one question after another until Holly’s throat ached from talking. When there were finally no more questions, she excused herself and went out into the hallway. She was glad she could put the skills she’d learned to use for good, but she also hated talking about them because they always reminded her of the past.

The door opened and Jake stepped out. “I have a short meeting, so in the meantime, follow me and I’ll set you up in a room where you can dictate notes to a secretary.”

His phone rang and he held up a finger. “Tonight? Yeah. I had forgotten. No, I’ll take care of it.” He hung up. “Looks like our plans after work have changed. Bessie is putting her house on the market tomorrow and I forgot I promised I’d clean out her attic tonight.” He led the way to an office that held a desk and a leather sofa but nothing else.

Holly walked in and turned to face him. “I thought you had a meeting with Cole.”

“I do…or did, rather. I gave my word to Bessie, though, and it’s probably too late to hire a company to take care of it.”

“If you need to keep that meeting, I can clean out the attic.” At the hesitation on his face, Holly knew the answer. He didn’t trust her alone in Bessie’s house. Not that she blamed him. Though she hadn’t been the one to steal the thumb drive, she’d said she had and she needed to keep owning up to the reputation she’d passed off as the truth.

“No, that’s okay. We’ll pick up some dinner to go after we’re done here and head straight to her house.”

“Fine.” Holly moved to the blinds covering the windows so she could open them and let the natural light in. When they wouldn’t budge, Jake came up beside her to try.

“Paid a fortune for these. You’d think they’d work,” he muttered as he tugged. The blind hardware at the top of the window gave way and crashed down, smacking Jake on the forehead.

“Are you okay?” Holly pushed his hand aside to check the mark on his forehead. It took her a second to realize how close their faces were. She should step back and bring her hyper-aware body back under control. Her gaze dropped to his lips and for the life of her she couldn’t move.

“I have a meeting,” Jake said, not moving either as he lowered his hands to the sides of her hips.

“You told me that before,” she said. Kiss me. Let me know you want me despite believing what I am. She breathed faster. “Jake.”

His eyes darkened, and he pulled her against his body so that she felt his physical reaction to the embrace.

The anticipation built within her as he lowered his head. She wanted him so badly that she ached with longing.

Inches from her lips, he stopped and closed his eyes. “I have to go.” He opened his eyes, gave her a look she didn’t understand, then walked away without a glance back.

…

After almost kissing her, he deliberately avoided Holly the rest of the day. He was irritated with himself that nothing was going according to plan. By now he should know the details about her life. His investigative team should have given him something, but nothing was coming up. Except parts of him that shouldn’t be. The best course of action would be to stay away from her completely, but he couldn’t do that. He’d wrestled with himself that maybe Holly wasn’t the driving force behind the theft, that maybe someone had put her up to it, but after today, he wasn’t so sure.

The notes she’d dictated to one of the secretaries had mirrored the exact steps taken to break into the building. Her talk in the conference room had too much detail on how a thief operated for her not to have an intimate knowledge of the lifestyle.

Well, he couldn’t avoid her any longer. It was time to head to Bessie’s house. He found Holly waiting in the lobby with his coat in her hands as she watched people entering and exiting the building. If she didn’t like the thought of staying with him, she was really not going to like the news he was going to have to tell her at some point tonight.

“Ready?” he asked as he put his coat on. “Bessie said she ordered a pizza so we’ll eat there if it’s okay.”

“You should have kissed me,” she said as they left the building.

Jake stopped in the middle of the sidewalk, forcing people to skirt around them. “What?”

“Now there’s all this pent up tension in both of us and sexual frustration can take years off your life. It’s a scientific fact. Humans give off pheromones and when there’s no release, it can lead to higher stress levels and ultimately a shorter life.”

He blinked. “You think we should kiss for medical reasons?”

Holly nodded. “I’m only trying to prolong your life.”

“That is the worst pickup line I’ve ever heard.”

“Really?” She scrunched up her nose. “I thought it was pretty damn good.”

“Is any of it true?”

“Actually, yes.”

“In that case, let’s prolong together.” Jake took her hands and wrapped them around his waist. He’d never engaged in a public display of affection but then again, he’d never met a woman like Holly before, either. And it was just a kiss. He gazed into her eyes and was struck as always by her beauty and her impish grin. Lowering his head, he brushed his lips against hers first, then kissed her deeply, drinking her in. The heat they’d created between them that night in the hotel flared right back up. She tasted like the answer to all the nights afterward that he’d spent tossing and turning. She was captivity and freedom. Heaven and hell. Calmness and a storm. Drowning him under waves of desire.

When she nipped at his lower lip, Jake wanted nothing more than to rush back inside the building, find an office with a sturdy desk, and satiate both of them until their legs wouldn’t hold them up. But the voice of reason intruded and he lifted his head.

“Not bad.”

“Not bad?” Jake arched his eyebrows. “I’ve been unfairly judged. I’m the best prolonger there is.”

Holly laughed. “I’ll revise my score to pretty good once I eat. It’s hard to think on an empty stomach.”

Jake drove them to Bessie’s house in a quiet neighborhood several miles from Jake’s house. The older women answered the door and welcomed them in. Once they ate, Bessie said, “I divided the stuff into two sections. Everything on the left is the giveaway pile. If it’s on the right side, it needs to be put in the moving truck so I can get it to storage.”

“You need me to take the truck to the storage place for you?”

“Oh no, Stan is coming by later to do that.”

“He is?” Jake drawled. “And how long has this been going on?”

Bessie swatted his arm even as two spots of color appeared on her face. “Mind your own business.”

Jake and Holly headed into the large attic. Though the space wasn’t crammed full, there was still a lot to clean out.

“With all the work Bessie does at your house, it’s no wonder she hasn’t had time to take care of this stuff,” Holly said.

“I have a cleaning company come in a couple of times a week that Bessie doesn’t know anything about.” He shrugged. “She needed a job because she wasn’t making it on her fixed income, but she can’t handle everything that I need done.”

“Softie,” she muttered.

“That’s the first time a woman’s called me that.”

Holly rolled her eyes. “Look at this.” She blew the dust off of an old radio and switched it on. “‘As Time Goes By,’” she said when a song stared playing.

“You enjoy old music?” Jake asked.

“I prefer modern music, but my br—a friend likes this.” She turned around and plucked a fedora from the top of a nearby box. She placed it on her head and twirled in front of Jake, coming to a laughing stop as she bumped up against his chest. “Oops.” She tucked her hair back behind her ears and said, “Want to dance?”

Wondering what word she’d abruptly cut off, Jake took her by the hand and they moved across the floor. After a few minutes, he dipped her low.

Holly laughed and put a hand up to keep the fedora secure.

You are so damn beautiful. And fascinating. You’ve been stuck in my head since the day I met you.

Jake brought her back up slowly. “Tell me something about you that no one else knows.”

One corner of her mouth quirked upward. “I tell the best dirty jokes.”

Jake wasn’t going to let her blow him off. The more time he spent with her, the more he wanted to know her and not just because of her taking the thumb drive. “I meant something personal.”

“Okay.” She thought for a second. “This was my mother’s.” She touched a hand to the antique locket she always wore and Jake remembered the photo he’d seen inside of it.

“The girl in the picture, that’s you, isn’t it?”

“Yep.” She nodded.

“Who’s the boy?”

“Doesn’t matter.” She looked around. “Um…we better get started.” She waved her hand toward the boxes. “We’re going to need a vacation by the time we get through.”

“About that. You may be getting one sooner than you think. I have a cabin in Aspen. I have to travel there to meet with a client at a nearby ski lodge and you need to come with me.” The trip would be the perfect opportunity to get her to open up so he could find out what she was hiding.

She crossed her arms. “Because you can’t trust the thief alone in your home. You want me to go because you’re afraid I’ll strip your house down to the drywall or hit your company.”

“No. I want you to come because I want you with me.”

“Oh.” She looked uncertain. “And if I say no?”

“Will I turn you in? Will I force you to go?” Jake picked up a box. “No. The choice is yours.”