Love.com (31 page)

“You think she wants to hurt me? It’s been a
whole year! Where is she? I certainly haven’t been hiding from her, Ian.”

“She’s still in Sacramento, Emily. She was staying at Evan’s executive suite
he reserves for clients until she was caught last week. It’s been closed up for renovations the last six months. A workman caught her living there. She ran off before he could call it in to the police.”

“What makes you think it was
even her?”

“She left behind enough evidence, Emily. Apparently she thought she could squat there indefinitely after Evan dumped her. She didn’t have time to pack. Her ID and other items were
left behind.”

“So what does this mean? I have to worry about her around every corner now?”

“I’m telling you to be aware. I’m not trying to scare you. The police have been notified. I didn’t tell you this to cause you to worry. Evan said you needed to know so he could sleep easier at night.”

Emily felt a bit of fear now. She underestimated Tabitha too. Was
the girl’s hatred of her enough to keep her in Sacramento, plotting revenge? “What could she possibly want now? She was exposed! She shows up here and she goes to jail. I don’t understand why she would hang around here.”

“She thinks she’s owed something, Emily.
Watterman was her father. When he died, she was left nothing. I think her goal here is pretty transparent.”

“Then why not just hire an attorney and do it the right way?” Emily shook her head in dismay. “I don’t have anything to do with any of that. My partnership comes with no shares
attached, Ian. I have to buy them like all the other employees. Evan isn’t as stupid as she thinks. The company might have my name, but I don’t own one brick of it. I’m no threat to her.”

“You’re running a company
that she feels is hers, Emily. I’d say you have everything to do with this. Why do you think she went after Evan in the first place?”

Emily absorbed what Ian was telling her. She felt a headache coming on to know she had some crazy
Watterman heir plotting her downfall. Ian being back here so coincidentally didn’t escape her. Her eyes met his intently. “Is that why you’re here? Did Evan bring you in because of her?”

“
He offered me the job first; then spelled out the problem second,” Ian replied grimly. “Let’s say it’s a dual assignment, my being here.”

“Hurting me gains her nothing, Ian.”

“You would be surprised what mere satisfaction is worth to some, Emily. To some people it’s worth more than money,” Ian warned her with a concerned look. “Because of you, she had to go back into hiding. Your file on her made it all the way to the FBI, by the way. Good work.”

“It wasn’t my file,” Emily disclosed with a reluctant smile, thinking of how Daisy would preen with pleasure to know her research made it all the way to the FBI. “It was brought to me by our payroll clerk.”

“Just go about your business as you normally do,” Ian advised her as he took a bite out of his eggroll. “This building is under total surveillance, as well as your house.”

“My house? I’m being watched?” Emily stared at Ian in stunned silence.

“I like the dog, Emily,” Ian told her between bites. “You look like your mother too, by the way. Was that your older sister who was with her this morning?”

“You’re watching my house?” She stared at him in growing anger.

“I’d think of it as watching over your house, Emily. Just pretend like I’m not there.”

“You’re working with the FBI?”

“Nah, I’m on my own in this. They didn’t think this was serious enough to merit such measures from their end,” he told her and frowned. “I’m not of that same opinion and either is Evan.”

“Well I don’t think I like the idea of you spying on me, Ian!”

“I’m not a damned peeping tom, Emily! I’m making sure you’re safe!”

“You don’t even know what she’s
really doing, Ian! You could be wrong! You’re not a cop!”

Ian looked at her without expression then, his blue eyes darkening. “Emily, a woman fitting her description just bought a hand gun yesterday. She used a stolen ID and a credit card. The clerk at the gun shop identified Tabitha from a picture. Are you so sure she doesn’t mean you
any harm?”

“How do you know all of this?” Emily stared at him with growing panic in her eyes.

“Let’s just say I have friends in high places who owe me favors,” Ian replied and she knew she would learn nothing more unless he wanted her to know.

“You could be wrong, Ian. It might not have been her.”

“Or I’m right and you owe me big time when she’s caught,” he replied with a naughty smile. “I’ll be collecting my reward when she’s behind bars.”

Emily was breathless by the look in his eyes, wondering what he would demand for his service
s. “What reward is that?”

“A date. A real one this time. Not like those half-assed ones you solicited last year,” he said and made her flutter in her chest.

“You want to go out on a real date with me?” Emily stared at him with a comical expression on her face. “Why?”

Ian smiled his killer smile, his eyes meeting hers across the desk with such intensity she nearly dropped her chop sticks. “Because I meant what I said, Emily. I’m here to begin again. I th
ought asking you out on a real date would be a good start.”

Emily watched as Ian cleaned up the remains of their lunch and left to return to his own work, her bemused look sticking with her until she caught herself. She refused to harbor any hope Ian meant anything by his promise of starting over. She wouldn’t be that pathetic doormat again, the one who worshiped him from afar like some love-sick stalker. She was in a better place now.
That
woman was gone and good riddance!

But like it or not, some things didn’t change. She was lost in those
much-recounted taboo fantasies of Ian until her new secretary, named Nadine, stuck her head in her office to say everyone was waiting for her in the conference room.

~
~ ~

The day was uneventful despite Ian’s presence causing such a stir amongst her female staff. The necks that craned about when he walked by made her roll her eyes. He was the talk of the office once more.

She stiffened to know he was no more Ian the Unattainable, but Ian the Available. He had no fraternization clause in his contract with the agency. He could date whoever he wanted. She observed his flirtatious smiles with gritted teeth as he went to work.

Ian charmed the pants off his entire department by day’s end. He had them all eating out of his palm. He had some sort of quality about him that made people want to do their best for him. She had to admit he was the best choice for the job, even if he wasn’t an art major.

He had an eye only a talented photographer had; a skill one couldn’t achieve in a classroom. The fact he was responsible for the success of Ambidor’s new look must have occurred to Evan. She came clean about the photos eventually. It must have precipitated the job offer when Desiree retired and went back to Puerto Rico.

The troubling news Tabitha was back distressed her throughout the day, unnerved to know someone like her worked among them for so long undetected. When she thought of what could have happened had Ian not been listening in, she went cold all over.

She realized then how much she owed Ian. If not for him, Evan might be dead now, and she would be out of a job. Her initial shock over his return wore off, replaced with some twisted anticipation she knew was unbecoming of a recent therapy graduate. Wasn’t she supposed to distance herself from the source of her pain? Dr. Simon would have been proud she remembered that technique.

Whatever! She was
doing
it again, as Dr. Simon would point out in exasperation, shaking his head in obvious disgust. She was back to obsessing over Ian. Ten steps forward, bullshit! She was right back where she was a year ago! Already she could report tell-tale signs she was up to her old tricks, fantasizing, the making up of absurd scenarios in her mind, and checking him out throughout the day whenever she caught a glimpse of him.

Why hadn’t she volunteered for shock therapy
, come to think of it? She eyed him glumly as he returned to the art department, watching his firm backside in his trousers with more than a little interest. She was furious to know she accomplished little that day besides lusting after her new art director.

So much for taking Willie to his puppy class
, Emily thought in disgust. She would pay for this when she was here until eight o’clock tonight to make up for it. With a low moan she sat back in her chair and twirled in it to face the gorgeous, unparalleled view of the city from her office window.

She frowned then, her expression pensive to know somebody out there wished her dead. Tabitha’s presence in Sacramento came as a shock. She wondered whether or not to take Ian’s warnings to heart. Thinking of the safety of her mother and sister during their stay made her tense. She didn’t know how much she dare tell them when they returned from their sightseeing up the coast.

Emily heard the others leaving later, still working diligently in her office. Nadine went home for the day over an hour before. She sighed and sat back in her chair, knowing it was past six. She could count on Willie to do his worst on the floor before she got home to let him out.

A soft knock at her door made her look up. Ian came in, looking at her in obvious surprise. “You’re not going home yet?”

“Too much work left,” Emily mumbled and shook her head. “I’ll be here for a while. Let’s just say I’m overloaded right now.”

“Emily, the building is nearly empty already. We talked about this. You’re a sitting duck here alone.”

“I have to work, Ian! This company doesn’t run itself! I won’t let Tabitha and her questionable threats affect my job!”

“Alright,” he said stubbornly and sat in the chair opposite her. “I’ll wait for you until you’re done to make sure you get home alright. I won’t leave you here by yourself. Don’t forget, she probably
still has keys to all the doors. Tell me you changed the locks and security key codes after she left?”

At Emily’s guilty expression, he let out a
n angry curse. “Evan didn’t see her as the threat like you did, Ian. We didn’t think she’d have the nerve to ever come back here.”

“She never left here, Emily. Doesn’t that tell you enough?” Ian ran a hand through his short, spiky hair in exasperation. “Her staying in one of the agenc
y’s buildings…buying a gun? Doesn’t this hint at more than just the obvious to you?”

“When you put it that way…yeah, it does,” Emily said defensively. “I suppose I could do some of this at home. I’ll only be another half-hour or so.”

Ian looked in no hurry to leave, reclining in the chair while she worked. She was fully aware of him the whole time, felt his eyes sliding over her appreciatively. One thing she was sure of, she looked better than she had in years. Thanks to Joan and her dragging her to the gym daily, Emily could say she was wearing a size two now, with no spare flesh anywhere but where it needed to be. She was quite aware of Ian’s thorough inspection under his lids.

The feel of his eyes on her brought about the
memory of the one incredible night spent in his arms, the passion she’d never experienced in her life. Then, there was the pain to know even after such an unbelievable night; he could walk away unaffected, unaware of how that hurt her, even now.

She didn’t want to want Ian anymore. Therapy was good for that, making one realize what was bad for them, what things triggered certain reactions.
It didn’t control the cravings however, the needs she longed to forgot about after he left.

Emily hadn’t come close to sleeping with another man. Her dates tried, but she left them at the door, never wanting to find out if Ian was the only man who could ever make her feel that way again.

“Are you about done? I’m hungry,” Ian announced when he could see her distraction from her paperwork.

“Yeah, I’m done for the day,”
Emily agreed and put her papers away in her briefcase. “I’ll just be a minute.”

“You want to grab something to eat on the way back to your place?”

She looked at him with a startled look. “You’re coming with me?”

“I thought I’d sleep on the couch while your mom and sister aren’t there,” he said with a grin. “What better way to protect you than if I’m right there?”

The thought of Ian Sawyer sleeping under the same roof made her break out into a cold sweat, undeniable urges coursing through her. How could she even sleep knowing he was so close? Her look must have said how she felt about his going home with her.

“
Just until they get back, Em. I don’t mean anything more by it. I promise to be good.”

“You really think all this is all necessary?”

Ian frowned and stood up, grabbing his jacket off the back of the chair. “I’m not about to argue with my gut on this, Emily. I knew you wouldn’t be seeing the last of her when Evan put her out. I’m not willing to second guess it. Wherever you go, I go, and that’s it.”