Chapter 18

He was a first class prick. Yelling at her after everything that’d happened, and she only wanted to help. But in the time it took for Dean’s guilty conscience to prod him into going out to apologize, she’d left.

He didn’t blame her, and yet he wasn’t ready to change his mind. If she got hurt by helping him, he’d never forgive himself.

His call to her cell phone went to voicemail, and his I’m sorry text received no reply. And then, after his efforts, he was relieved enough that he ruled out going after her. Seeing her when his head was all screwed up was just way too dangerous on too many levels.

Instead, he got in an extra long workout to burn off some steam. After talking to his stepfather to fill him in about the visit from the police, he worked late into the night again. All the while, he wondered if she’d even show up in the morning. Part of him hoped not, the other part thought she damn well better if she wanted to get paid.

See? He was a frickin’ mess.

* * *

Monday morning, Dean rolled over in bed with a low groan as the little green 2 on his alarm clock became a 3. Then all the numbers registered on his sleep-fogged brain.

10:33.

He dropped his head face-first into his pillow. Sonofabitch.

Which made him instantly think of Gina’s disapproving, “You say that a lot.”

He thought it again on his way to the bathroom, then tossed in a few more curses for good measure. He hadn’t shaved in two days, but he wasn’t going anywhere, and he’d overslept his alarm by almost three hours, so who the hell cared? A swipe of his hand over the lengthening stubble made him think twice, but in the end, he showered, pulled on his jeans and T-shirt, and followed the very faint aroma of coffee down the stairs that led from the master suite to his office.

His step slowed at the sight of the two people sitting at the conference table. Gina wore her hair loose today, and reached to tuck an auburn strand behind her ear while leaning closer to the man sitting beside her. A tendril of jealousy snaked through him just as his vice president caught his descent from the corner of his eye.

“Well, well, if it isn’t Sleeping Beauty.”

Dean directed his simmering irritation at his friend. “Shut up.”

“What?” Mike asked with an annoying laugh. “We’ve already established you’re not Prince Charming.”

This time, he just shot him the shut-up look as he arrived at the table. “Why didn’t you wake me up?”

“Gina said you were grumpy yesterday and needed your sleep.” The man had the nerve to turn and grin at her. “I thought it would help more.”

“Me, too,” she agreed.

He bounced his glare from one to the other. “What in the hell is going on?”

His VP straightened in his chair and took a deep breath. For the first time, he looked somewhat serious. “Gina’s going to help us.”

Dean’s gaze landed back on her and stayed. Arms folded on the table, she lifted her chin while those gorgeous eyes defied him to deny her now. No problem. “The hell she is.”

“I told you,” she said to Mike.

“Now, Dean, just hear us out. She actually has a good idea.”

He stalked into the kitchen, needing the distance to get his temper under control. Caffeine would be good, too. He dumped some extra sugar in his cup, and while he stirred, he realized he was relieved she’d shown up. Wasn’t too happy about her going behind his back to Mike, but she was here, and she wasn’t giving him the cold shoulder he expected and deserved.

Then again, she wasn’t giving it to Mike, either. He frowned down at his mug.

“Dean?”

Her soft voice stiffened his spine. He turned around and couldn’t help but take in all of her in those form-fitting jeans and a light, breezy top with flowing sleeves that covered the marks on her upper arms while making her appear delicate and feminine. She was both, but looked even more so this morning.

She stood beside the island, one hand resting flat on the lower counter, and the other raised as if to hold him back even though she was more than ten endless feet away.

“Before you say no again, all I’m asking is that you listen to me. Please?”

He’d like to say it was the please that did him in, but it might have had something to do with the soft, persuasive tone of her voice that had him willing to hear more. He drew in a breath, then another. Finally, he gave a curt nod.

Surprise flickered in her eyes, but then she lowered her arm and got busy explaining in earnest. “Well, they’re just ideas, really, so how would Jackson even know I’m involved? I was thinking that you could create a second version of your current project. A dummy copy that needs kinks worked out, or maybe I could help by adding an invisible code to prove it’s yours. A watermark of sorts that only we know about. Something he won’t spot, and then we make sure that he gets that copy, and you’ve got your evidence for a case.”

He shifted his gaze as Mike joined them to lean his elbows on the island counter while she kept talking. His friend’s face didn’t hold a tenth of the appeal of Gina’s, so he returned his full attention to her.

“Or, if you want to go another route, you could hold a meeting and announce the project is compromised, or that it isn’t working, so you’re going to start brand new. We can brainstorm for a new idea to use as a decoy that will send Jackson chasing his tail trying to scoop you on it while you finish work on the real deal.”

He lifted his mug to sip his coffee. Both ideas had enough merit to make him feel like an idiot. He and Mike had been so tunnel-visioned on preventing Brady from stealing the current program, they hadn’t taken time to come up with a scenario to trap him.

When he remained silent, her eyebrows rose. “So? What do you think?”

“How about you go do the work I’m actually paying you for while Mike and I talk about this.”

It was an asshole response, but all she did was cast a hopeful glance at Mike while backing up. “Sure. I’ve got some things to do in the suite at the end of the hall.”

He waited until she was out of sight before turning his furious gaze back to his vice president. “I didn’t want her involved.”

“She came to me,” he defended.

Noise from the back door by the garage made him lean back to see Liz shouldering the door closed, her arms full of grocery bags. He met her in the hall to grab a couple, and set them on the counter.

“Thanks.” She cast him a sideways glance. “We missed you on Saturday night.”

“Other things came up,” Mike quipped.

Dean gave him another shut-up look.

Liz shifted her blue gaze from him to her brother. “Morning, Michael.”

“Hey, sis.” He immediately turned back to Dean. “Listen, this thing with Gina is perfect. We can work this to our advantage, and as long as we know their end game, we’ll come out ahead, not them.”

He frowned. “What are you talking about?”

“Jack and Gina. This whole elaborate set-up they’re obviously working on.” Dark eyebrows rose in disbelief. “Whoa. You don’t honestly buy her ‘I want to help,’ act, do you?”

“Sure seemed like you did.”

“I’m playing along man, that’s all.”

Dean’s ire rose again at the thought of Mike playing her for a fool. “You did notice her face, right?”

“Yeah? So? She said she walked into a cupboard door.”

Of course she did. He leaned forward for a glance in the direction she’d disappeared, but this time it was different than with the police. “Jack did that,” he said in a low voice. “Friday night. He showed up at her apartment and knocked her around enough to scare her into coming over here to offer to help me.”

As his friend absorbed that bit of news, Liz turned, her arm half inside the bag of groceries she was unpacking. “He hit her?”

“Yes,” Dean confirmed. He sliced his gaze back to Mike. “And I believe her. Not only because she said that’s what happened, but because he as much as confirmed it when he and I had a little chat on Saturday morning.”

“At his house?” This from Liz again, her voice an octave higher. Her brother looked just as surprised as she added, “I thought you guys were going to lay low and let him come to you?”

“We were,” Mike stated, a note of accusation in his tone.

“This was different.” Personal. More so than usual with Jack involved.

Speculation filled his friend’s eyes. “Sounds like you had quite the weekend.”

He walked toward his office as he muttered, “You don’t know the half of it.” Because they didn’t even know about the visit from the cops. Not to mention that evening of playing house over at the Morgan ranch.

Footsteps sounded behind him and he stepped into his office as Mike said, “I’m going to ask you one last question, not to piss you off, but just to make sure we consider all the angles.”

He wasn’t going to like what came next, but nodded anyway as he shut the door after Mike entered.

“She seemed awfully nervous when she first started talking to me this morning.”

“Because I’d already said no.”

Mike’s expression said maybe, maybe not. “Is it possible the attack was staged?”

“No.”

At his lack of hesitation, his buddy took a seat at the table and fixed him with a hard look. “And you took the time to consider that answer objectively?”

He sat down opposite him and leaned back in his chair as he reconsidered the question.

“I trust her, Mike.” Honest to God truth, he realized. And he didn’t trust easy, but from the beginning, he’d been easing into it despite all efforts to resist. “We talked a few times over the weekend, and I believe she’s being honest about the whole thing.”

A shrug came from the table. “As long as you’re sure.”

“I am.”

He nodded. “What are your thoughts on her ideas?”

Dean held back a resigned sigh. Despite all his insistence that she not be involved, he reluctantly admitted, “They might actually work.”

“I thought the same thing.” Mike’s dark eyebrows rose again. “So, we’re a go?”

“Only so long as this doesn’t put her back in Jack’s crosshairs.”

“Understood. You want me to get her in here so we can get started?”

“I’ll go.” Dean stood before Mike could, and his friend’s chuckle followed him out the door.

Liz glanced up from her cell phone as he passed through the kitchen. “Hey, just so you know, I’m going to get lunch ready, but then I need to take care of a few things.”

With an absent smile in her direction, he waved a hand and kept walking. He never worried about keeping track of her time as long as the work got done. “That’s fine. We can even handle our own lunch if you want to go now.”

It was a bit disconcerting how much anticipation built as he approached the suite at the end of the hall. He stopped in the doorway to lean one shoulder against the frame while hooking his thumbs in his pockets. Gina stood on her tip-toes on a step-ladder, arms stretched above her head as she worked with a tape measure and pencil. Her jeans were low-rise and her shirt rode up, revealing the sexy hourglass curves at her waist and the small of her back.

The enticing sight of that bare skin made him want to walk across the room, grasp her hips, and run his tongue up along the line of her spine. Then he’d turn her around and do the same in the front. Heat spiraled through him, and centered much too quickly behind the zipper of his jeans.

The tape measure retracted with a metallic snap, and she lowered her arms while twisting to look down at the bottom step. She must’ve caught sight of him in the corner of her eye because she jerked up with a gasp, then grabbed for the curved handle of the ladder.

With her hand to her chest, she faced him, a foot on each step. “Geez, you scared the crap out of me.”

“Sorry.”

He smiled. She smiled back. Both faded just as fast and his heart rate kicked up.

Sonofabitch. All he wanted to do was pick her up off that ladder and make use of the brand new bed just a couple feet to her right.

He stayed where he was, and she climbed down the two steps by herself after clipping the tape measure on the back pocket of her jeans.

“In fact,” he added, “I’ve been kind of an ass the past couple days, and I’m sorry for that, too.”

“Kind of is an understatement.” She tapped her pencil against her palm, then shrugged. “But I did get your text.”

“You didn’t reply.”

Another shrug. Another tap of the pencil. “You weren’t forgiven yet.”

“Past tense…does that mean I am now?”

“Depends.”

His attempt at another smile barely qualified. “On whether or not I let you help.”

“Are you going to let me?”

“Depends,” he echoed. “Would you understand if I still said no?”

She stared at him a long moment, and he suddenly wished he’d just told her to get back to the study and get to work.

“I wouldn’t be happy about it, but yes, I would understand.”

“So, you promise to be careful?”

The resignation in her eyes faded. “Yes.”

“And you will not contact Jack for any reason concerning my company. That is non-negotiable. Mike and I will handle anything to do with him.”

She lifted her hands up, palms out. “Fine with me.”

He straightened and jerked his head toward the hall. “Okay, then. Mike’s waiting to see what we can come up with.”

The tape measure bounced on the bed and she hurried toward him. Then she shocked the hell out of him by grasping his arm on the way past to pull him down and herself up to land a kiss on his lips.

“I promise, you won’t regret this.” She let go, gave him a quick grin, and hurried down the hall.

His lips tingled as he watched her go.

It took him less than two days to regret the decision. Not because the plan they were preparing to put in motion wouldn’t work, but because he hadn’t considered how distracting it would be to work in such close proximity to her for hours each day.

He couldn’t keep his eyes off her when she was in the room, and couldn’t stop thinking about her when she wasn’t.

He was screwed, and the hell of it was, he wasn’t entirely sure he cared anymore.