Double Dare (5 page)

Speechless, Katy stood unmoving. This was ludicrous.

“There is a security guard waiting to escort you to your desk. Please do not cause a scene and make this situation more uncomfortable than it has to be. Take only your personal belongings and turn in your keys,” Osborne instructed.

“That’s my work in my lab. I’ll be damned if I’m going to walk away from it because of some false claims against me.”

“I can head Dr. Winslow’s team,” Evan said, stepping up beside their boss.

“The hell you will!” Katy interjected. “That work has my name on it, and that team will be handpicked by me to do the follow-up research.” She looked pointedly at Dr. Shah. “I didn’t do what they are accusing me of. The only thing I’m guilty of is being susceptible to Dr. Scott’s lies.”

“I’m afraid, Dr. Winslow,” Dr. Shah said, “your affiliation with Genomtec has come to an end.”

“I will not allow you or anyone else to steal my research. So be forewarned, when I prove that it was
my
research that was stolen and sold to BioGen, not the other way around, and when I prove that Dr. Scott and that disgusting Lockford made fraudulent claims against me based on vindictiveness, you’d better bring out the biggest legal guns you can buy, because when I’m done exhausting every legal avenue there is for retribution?” She looked at Dr. Shah, then at Biel, Osborne, and finally Evan. “All four of you will be looking for new jobs.”

Katy shut the door quietly behind her and nearly ran into the brawny security guard waiting for her. Her anger was so complete she shook. Once again, men betrayed her! Hot tears welled up in her eyes. Barely composed, on shaky legs, she was escorted to her office by security. This was not happening. This was her life! She had created an amazing team. She loved her work. She
lived
for her work, spending more lab hours here than two full-time researchers combined. What would she do if she couldn’t do what she loved?

Head down to hide her teary eyes, Katy felt as if she were walking the walk of shame. From her peripheral, she could see the curious glances her colleagues cast her way but they were never ones to get personal. They didn’t ask why it looked as if she was crying or why she was being escorted by a big bad security guard to her office, and they watched silently as she cleared out her desk, grabbed her briefcase and purse, and almost ran from the building.

It wasn’t until she was securely behind the locked door of the town car that she broke down and cried.

ormally, Katy used a car service as her ride to and from work. Other times, she’d take the car to the club and, weather permitting, walk or jog home. Today she had planned to hit the club but instead asked the driver to simply drive around the city. For nearly an hour, she thought about what the hell had just happened in Room 526 of the Genomtec building.

She didn’t know what hurt more—being accused of being a thief or a sexual predator. It was too surreal to be happening. Attempting to compartmentalize one over the other was proving to be too emotionally taxing. Other than the patent, and the two sexual harassment documents, she had no idea of what, if any, evidence there was against her. The only thing that kept her from completely losing it was the truth. And she would rely on the truth to set her free, but to do that she needed a sharp attorney, a woman. A barracuda. A woman who despised men as much as she was beginning to. Every damn man in her life had screwed her. Every. Single. One.

Angry frustrated tears welled again. As she opened her briefcase to get the little packet of tissues she kept in there, Katy caught her breath.

A small black velvet box with a sleek red silk bow was nestled amongst her papers. As she touched it, there was no denying the familiar scent of person who had last touched it and therefore placed it there. How would she categorize him? Her sexting partner? The man who made her come? AKA the sex guru, Captain Simon, the green-eyed cop.

How did it get into her briefcase? She caught her breath again when she realized there was only one window of opportunity between last night and now—when she had left her office to face the four henchmen. Had he come by to see her? Her heart thumped against her chest. He
had
come to see her!

She pulled the box from the case and slowly untied the red silk ribbon. Opening the lid, she stared perplexed at the two golden balls nestled side by side in black velvet. She picked one up and saw that they were attached by a silk string no more than six inches long. Okay, what were they, and why would Simon give these to her?

She put them back in the box and closed it.

Stupid questions to be asking herself. Instinctively she knew those balls had a sexual purpose and that Simon must have charmed his way into her office. She straightened.

She’d told herself she wasn’t going to be the one to text first, but she should thank him for the golden balls. That’s what she told herself anyway. In reality, she was at the bottom of her emotional well and she needed a friend right now, and aside from Rosie—who she would eventually confide in—she had no one. Except Simon, who wasn’t really a friend. Not even a friend with benefits; he was just a benefit. But oddly, it was Simon’s comfort she yearned for at the moment, not his dick.

Sliding her phone from her pocket, she texted,
Hey.

It wasn’t until the town car pulled up to her building that her phone pinged with a return text.
Good morning.

Hardly, yet her body responded warmly to Simon’s greeting. Depressed or not, she’d probably always respond to him. Despite her gloom-and-doom mood, Simon made Katy smile.

It was on the tip of her fingers to spill the beans about what had happened in Room 526, but she didn’t. Simon wasn’t interested in her life, her career, or her feelings; he was only interested in what was beneath her lab coat and how he could get his hands on it.

The driver opened her door, then ushered her to the front of her apartment building. “Thank you, Charlie,” she said.

“Pick up same time tomorrow, Dr. Winslow?” he asked.

“No, I’ll call you when I need you.” She turned to swipe her key card, and as she did, the enormity of the morning’s events hit her. She was out of a job, and quite possibly out of a career. Tears stung her eyes. “Thank you.” She sniffled and made her way into the building and to her apartment. Just as she was opening her door, she heard Rosie’s open. Quickly, she slithered inside her apartment and shut the door. She didn’t want company—she wanted to suffer silently.

Dropping her briefcase and purse on the kitchen table, she dragged her feet back to her bedroom and flung herself on her bed.

Staring at the molded ceiling, she fought to keep her breathing normal and the tears from falling. What was wrong with her that every man she had been intimate with kicked her to the curb? Why was Evan and even Lockford, whom she had not seen in five years, being so vindictive? Lockford aside, Evan was the married one, not her! Did he think she was going to tell his wife? If she were, she would have done it by now. Should she reach out and swear that she had no plans to out him, not even now? Not even to save her job?

And what about the patent? How had BioGen gotten their grubby hands on her research? She was the only one with access to her computer files, and she was manic about the security codes. Had Evan used her to somehow get that information? As much as she racked her brain for a way he could have sabotaged her, she couldn’t think straight. But there was no doubt he had used her not only for sex, but to weasel his way into her research project. She was simply a means to an end.

“You’re a fool, Katy. A fool.”

Her cell phone pinged, immediately yanking her out of one conundrum into another much more complex but pleasurable one. And that was all it took. Just that one little sound caused her nipples to tingle and her womb to constrict, completely changing the trajectory of her mood. Wild, crazy, rolling-off-the-bed sex with Simon would be the perfect panacea for her current woes. Of course it wouldn’t change anything, but it would sure as hell make her feel better and get her mind off the devastation of the HR meeting.

I want to see you tonight.

Simon wanted to see her tonight? Like a date? She doubted it. He wanted to see her naked is what he wanted. And even though she was hot for him, her dander rose. Well, that was too damn bad for him because she was done being at a man’s beck and call!

I’m busy.

Katy smiled despite her anger. She was certifiably bipolar when it came to the green-eyed cop. It took everything she had not to text him back and say she was available after all. She had some pride, though, and instead of responding positively or negatively, she didn’t respond at all. Instead, she allowed her anger over her current lack of employment and the underlying reasons to simmer. When it began to boil, she got up from the bed and began to angrily pace her large bedroom.

“Who the hell do you think you are, Evan Scott?
How dare you?
” she railed. Yanking the lab coat off, she flung it to the floor. Evan was the root of both problems and it was at him she would vent her rage.

She kicked her shoes off, then pulled the teakwood chopsticks out of her hair and threw them across the room. “You’re not going to get away with any of this! Not by a long shot.”

She stripped, then pulled on a pair of spandex leggings, sports bra, and T-shirt. She’d run out the anger, and when she could no longer run, she was going to plot. She was a damn good plotter, too. She was not going to lie down, hand them the lube, and let them shaft her. She’d find a way to turn the tables and keep not only her job and her career, but see to it that women in her industry were taken more seriously as woman and scientists!

As she leaned over to tie her running shoes:
Ping.
Her body responded with its own ping. She was worse than a female dog in heat.

Are you playing hard to get?

Exhaling, Katy decided to tell him the truth. Part of it anyway.
No. I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have texted, I have some stuff going on that I need to work through.

Anything I can help with?

No. But thank you.

Did someone upset you?

And then some.

Whose ass do you want me to kick?

Katy choked back a sob. No one had ever asked her that before. No one cared enough to. At that moment she lost a chunk of her heart to Simon. Sniffling back the sudden onslaught of tears, she texted through watery eyes.
That’s sweet of you to offer, but this is something I have to handle myself.

The offer stands.

TY.

Then she added
xo
because if he was there, she would hug him and kiss him for his thoughtfulness.

She finished tying her laces, grabbed her key card and water bottle, dragged herself out to the street, forced herself to stretch, and ran.

She ran through the Presidio, across the Golden Gate, and into Sausalito before she turned and headed back. For hours she pushed her body to the limit as she attempted to clear her mind, recreate events, and strategize her options. Her final conclusion? She was screwed. It was career suicide if she hung Evan out to dry by exposing his pictures, texts, e-mails or, God forbid, the details of their last night together. In her business, the good old boys ran the club and if word got out of her affair with Evan, it wouldn’t matter that he’d been the one cheating on his wife and lying to her. She’d be the laughingstock, no longer taken seriously, regardless of how brilliant her research proved to be.

How ironic that in her occupation, the theft would be the more forgivable crime. She couldn’t fight to clear her name on the theft without Evan parading their night of debauchery at the San Diego symposium before an entire courtroom! It wouldn’t matter in their good old boys world that the respected Dr. Evan Scott was the instigating and very willing participant of a ménage. What would matter was that she, a female scientist, had indulged in such a tawdry incident and would forever be branded Dr. Slut, and with that brand, her credibility would be shot. She’d never be taken seriously again.

It made her sick to her stomach that she might have to give up everything she had worked so hard for because of a spiteful man she had trusted.

Having walked out her run, Katy slowly made her way back to her apartment. A normal person would have been solely focused on fighting the corporation, and the men who spearheaded it, that wanted to shut her down, but Katy was not normal; maybe that was part of her problem. Because as much as she was furious over what happened this morning, and the potential loss of everything she had worked for, it was another man that occupied her head space, and he gave her cause to sigh, which in and of itself presented a whole ’nother set of woes. One guy had screwed her into a corner and the other one wanted to screw her every which way but loose.

As she set her empty water bottle down on the table, Katy remembered the black velvet box. Retrieving it from her briefcase, she walked down the hall to Rosie’s place and knocked on the door. A minute later, a sweaty, heavy-breathing Rosie answered the door.

“Katy, come in, I’m almost done with my Tae Bo.”

Shaking her head, Katy followed Rosie into the retro apartment. It was like walking onto a
Laugh-In
set.