Sinful Suspense Box Set (83 page)

Chapter
14

Gnawing hunger woke me. It was dark outside and the house was quiet. My clock said midnight. I decided it was safe for me to tiptoe to the fridge and grab something to eat. I crept across the floor to the kitchen with only moonlight poking through the blinds to guide me. Apparently the guys had eaten sandwiches for dinner, and someone had left half of one on a plate. I grabbed it out of the fridge, spun around, and slammed into Nick’s hard chest. The sandwich smashed between us.

“How the hell do you do that?” I asked as my breath came back to me.

“Do what?”

“Move like you’re filled with air.” I attempted to sidle past him but he met my steps like we were in the middle of a mirror image pantomime.

“Jayden, we have to talk. I’m going crazy—”

“You’re going crazy?” I said loudly then lowered my voice to a whisper. “You ought to try crazy from my side, buddy.” I darted past him, dropped the flattened sandwich on the counter, and braced my hands there as well. My head dropped as I fought back tears.

Nick’s arm went around my waist, but I pushed it away. Again I tried to skirt past him, but his size and the tiny kitchen made it difficult. Within seconds he had me up against the refrigerator. He put his hands up against the door, effectively trapping me within his arms. I stared straight at his chest not daring to peer up into his face.

“Damn it, Jayden. Just let me explain.” There was a long pause. “Please.”

“Fine,” I said with a sigh. He moved to touch my arm, but I put up a hand to stop him. “But no touching. You can explain your asinine behavior, but you don’t get to use that magic touch of yours to convince me not to hate you.”

He dropped his hands, and I worked up the courage to look at his face. Probably a mistake.

He stepped back. “Peel yourself off the refrigerator door and come sit on the couch.”

I opened my mouth to protest but he lifted up his hands to stop me. “I promise these fingers won’t get anywhere near you.” He walked out of the kitchen and I followed. He sat on the couch, and I sat as far away from him as possible.

The same moonlight that had helped me navigate my way around the living room furniture now illuminated his face, breathtaking or not, I had to remind myself that he was a jerk. But it was hard to ignore that face.

“I told you I had a side business,” he began. “It’s not really a business. Pierre, Taylor, and I are part of a group that helps people in third world countries get the medical supplies they need. Nothing fancy, just medicine to fight cholera, malaria, and any other rampant disease. Some of the stuff comes from the black market, and some of it is surplus or medicine that is close to expiring. My brother, David, is part of the ring.”

“Medical supplies? Seriously?”

“Seriously. My brother has been working with villagers living along the Amazon for several years, but he had trouble getting the necessary supplies for even the most basic medical care. That’s when Pierre, Taylor, and I got involved. They had some connections from their earlier work overseas, and the rest fell into place. Only now our last two shipments were intercepted by armed thieves.”

“But if it is just medical supplies, why would they bother?”

“They are no doubt trading it for arms. Medicine is valuable over there.” He paused for a moment and looked at me. “The numbers I had written on my sketch pad were the coordinates for the next drop off. We decided to thwart any attempts to steal the shipments by telling the people on my brother’s end the coordinates at the last minute.” This next pause was longer. He reached for my hand, but I pulled it out of his reach. “I’m sorry, Jayden. I was upset and when I saw that the page with the numbers was missing, I started jumping to conclusions— stupid conclusions.”

While his secretive side business definitely scored him some points, it didn’t erase the fact that he had accused me of sabotaging things. This time I was the one to pause. “I think what you’re doing is terrific, and I’m sorry that things are going badly.” My throat tightened around my words. “I just wish your conclusions had jumped toward Francesca instead of me.” I pushed up off the couch, walked back to my room, and shut the door behind me.

I flopped back on my bed with a sigh. No tears this time, just anger, anger at myself for falling so hard, so fast for this guy. If only he had been involved in something scandalous or shady, it would have been easier to hate him. It would be difficult but I had decided to stay the remainder of the month and finish off my job at Regent Realty. Once I got back home, I would look for a new job. Eventually, I would wash Nick from my mind completely. Well . . . maybe not completely.

The following morning I got into the car with Pierre and Taylor. I had crawled into the backseat and a tense silence had surrounded us. They both knew that things were now strained between Nick and me, but they were gentlemanly enough not to bring it up. I wanted to kick myself over and over again for letting it happen, but it was hard to turn down a guy like Nick. “Boone left Peru last night. He should be here soon,” Taylor said to Pierre.

“Terrific,” Pierre said with a tone that definitely didn’t fit the adjective.

Taylor looked over at him. “I don’t understand what your problem is with Boone.”

Pierre shrugged. “Just don’t like the guy, that’s all.”

Taylor slumped back against the seat. “Oh, well, that explains it all. Well, Boone is coming here to meet with all of us so we can figure out a way around this problem.”

“And we need the all powerful Boone to help with that?”

“He knows more of the details about what’s happening on that end.”

“It has to be someone who knows Frankie.” Pierre looked at Taylor. “And that brings me back to Boone. He knows her and then some.”

“And then some? What the hell does that mean?” Taylor asked angrily. “Now you’re just making things up. Frankie hung out with all of David’s friends too. It could be anyone.”

The tense silence returned.

After a few minutes, Pierre looked back at me in the rear view mirror. “J. J, would you like to go to lunch at the little restaurant we ate at the other day?”

My stomach had not recovered from the day before, but I welcomed the invitation. “Sounds good, Pierre.”

I could only see his eyes in the mirror, but it was easy to spot the sympathy in his expression. I wasn’t the type to enjoy being pitied but having a quiet lunch with Pierre where I could air my grievances would be therapeutic. Rita was my usual crying shoulder, but I wasn’t ready to confess my stupidity to her yet. And it was hard to communicate effectively through messaging. Although, in my case, there was not much to say except that I’d jumped into bed with my boss and had gotten my heart trampled in the process.

Nick’s bike was already in front of the office when we pulled up. My pulse went instantly into overdrive. I took a deep breath and slid out of the backseat. He was in the back office when I stepped inside and for that, I was grateful. At this point, I wasn’t completely sure I would be able to last out the month. I had to either get over this whole thing and fast, or I’d have to head back to California soon. After my reaction at just seeing his bike, I was leaning toward the latter.

An unopened box with a new fax machine was sitting in the center of my desk.

Taylor walked over and picked it up. “It’s about friggin’ time. Another realtor is supposed to fax over an offer today, and I felt like an idiot telling him the office didn’t have a fax machine yet.” He lifted the big box and walked it over to an electrical outfit. “I guess it’ll have to sit on the floor until we get some damn furniture in this place.” Taylor was uncharacteristically angry as he lowered the box to the floor. Grumpiness seemed to be the order of the day for the entire office.

I set right to work with my list of business calls. I was just leaving a message on a client’s voice mail when I heard Nick’s door open. His large shadow loomed over my desk, flustering me as I recited my message. By the time I’d finished I wasn’t entirely certain I’d left the correct information.

Nick peered down at me with his pale gaze for a moment and then handed me a new listing. “Jayden, could you please call Mrs. Hinton and let her know I have the perfect house for her. Set up a time to meet later this afternoon,” he said with unusual formality. Suddenly I missed being called Flash.

“Sure thing. I’ll get right to it.” I reached for the phone but he remained standing over my desk. I glanced up at him. He looked down at me and it seemed he badly wanted to say something else, but he turned and walked back to his office.

Taylor cussed as he struggled with the fax machine, and Pierre left on a coffee run in hopes that steaming cups of java would cheer everyone up. Seconds later my phone rang.

“Regent Realty,” I answered.

“Jay? What’s wrong?”

“Mom? Why do you think something’s wrong?”

“I got your message on Facebook and I sensed something was wrong.”

The woman’s intuition was positively uncanny.  “All I wrote was ‘how is everything in California?’ How did you interpret that as something being wrong?” My voice broke on the last words.

“Jayden, it’s Mom. Just say the word and I’ll go on-line and buy you a ticket home.”

I fought back tears knowing that if I let the waterworks go then I’d be sobbing into the phone soon, and my mom would be boarding the next plane to Tahiti before I could blow my nose. I swallowed and took a breath. “Nothing that I can’t handle, Mom. I’m a big girl.”

“You don’t sound the least bit convincing. Why don’t you pack up and come home today.”

Her offer was tempting. “No, Mom, not yet. Please don’t worry. How are the newlyweds?”

“Your sister has the worst taste in men,” she said with a sigh of exasperation. “I give it a year.”

“Sorry to hear that. I guess finding the right man is like finding the right pair of jeans, frustrating, discouraging, even heartbreaking, but when you find the right pair you never want to give them up. I’m glad you found the right pair this time, Mom. I hope I’ll be so lucky some day.”

There was a long pause before she spoke. “Jay, come home soon.”

“I will, Mom. I love you. Bye.”

The remainder of the afternoon was depressingly dull. Nick had Pierre running errands all day so we had to postpone the lunch we’d planned. Taylor and Nick had gone to several showings, so I was left alone to do paperwork and take phone calls. The job truly was beneath by skill level, and I’d decided when I returned to California, I would take my time and find a job that suited me better . . .  without the hunky boss. I’d never make that mistake again.

My mom and Rita must have had some form of psychic connection. They rarely spoke so I was sure Mom hadn’t called Rita to voice her concerns, but the next phone call was from my friend.

“Hello.”

“Jay, what’s up? You sound funny.”

“All I said was
hello
.”

“And it sounded funny.”

“Oh my God, my mom called you, didn’t she?”

“Kind of. Never mind that. What’s happened? Is it Mr. Zero?”

I laughed. “He might be a zero alcohol needed guy, but he’s definitely going to cause me to drink.”

“You slept with him, didn’t you?”

I paused. “Kind of.”

“Jay, Jay, Jay, when will you learn?”

I cleared my throat loudly. “Hey, look who’s talking, Miss ‘panties are just a nuisance’. Besides, I’m changing my ways. I’m going to throw all my energy into my career, and it won’t be here at Regent Realty. I won’t have time for guys.”

“At least until the next dreamy boss comes around.”

I slumped back and my crappy chair nearly tipped backward.  “I really thought he was different, Rita. I’m such a fool,” I said glumly.

“Ahh, Jay, come on. You’re not the first girl to let down her defenses around a hot guy. Shit happens. You’ll be fine. Why don’t you come home? I miss you. I’ve been hanging out with Charlene from the law office down the hall, and all she can talk about is her manicures and the price of her handbags. I’m going nuts.”

“I’ll be home soon, Rita. I’d better hang up. This is going to cost you a fortune.”

“Nah, I’m calling from my office on the company’s dime.”

“Jeez, you’re daring. Well, I’ve got to get back to work. I’ll be home soon.”

“Take care, Jay. And keep your damn nuisance panties on.”

“Believe me, Rita, nothing is going to come between me and my panties again. I’ll talk to you soon.”

As I hung up, the fax machine fired up with a rather ill-sounding buzz. The paper caught halfway through the printing. I walked over to it, bent down to the inconveniently located fax, and began a tug of war with the machine. I was definitely on the losing end. Blood rushed to my head as I grasped the paper and pulled. Momentum was finally shifting to my side of the struggle when the front door opened and closed. Heavy footsteps entered.

“I’ll be right with you,” I called without looking up.

“Take all the time you need,” an unfamiliar, deep voice drawled from behind. There was a suggestive lilt in his tone.

A corner of the paper tore off but the majority of it was still clenched tightly in the jaws of the fax machine. I straightened and turned around. A massive guy with a closely shaved head, goatee, and a string of neck tattoos filled the tiny office space. He was one of the sketchy-looking guys from the airport.

He glanced down at the corner of paper in my fingers. “Allow me.” He lumbered over to the fax, reached down, and yanked the paper free. With a smile he handed me what remained of the offer.

“Thank you so much.”

“My pleasure. You must be Jayden.”

“Boone?”

“In the flesh.” He held out his tree trunk arms. “And plenty of it too.” The front window vibrated with his booming laugh. He grinned down at me and made no effort to hide the fact that he was checking me out. “Ahh, that Nick has always had a keen eye for fine females.”

I ignored the comment and walked back to my desk. “Nick should be here soon. I’ll call and let him know you’ve arrived.” The front door opened as I reached for the phone.

“Boone,” Nick said with surprise. Pierre and Taylor followed behind. “I told you Pierre could pick you up at the airport. Why didn’t you call?”

“I texted Pierre two hours ago,” Boone answered.

All eyes fell on Pierre. The man made a good show of creasing his brow and pulling out his phone to look at it. “Ah, yes, I see your text.” He shrugged and shoved the phone back into his pocket. “Must have missed it somehow,” he said dryly. “Well, I’m meeting a lady friend for some cocktails, so I’ll be seeing you all later.” Pierre dashed back out without another word, leaving a moment of tense silence in his wake.

“I see he’s still not a fan of mine,” Boone said.

Nick waved it off.  “You know how he gets.” He led Boone to the back but stopped first at my desk. He looked down at me for a moment before speaking. Even in the short span of time, it felt like he’d reached down and brushed the side of my face with that damn gaze of his. “Jayden, I’m expecting an offer on the fax machine. Could you watch for it and let me know when it arrives.”

I held up the offer and the missing corner. “It’s here. Must have been a good one because the fax machine didn’t want to give it up.”

The side of his mouth turned up as he took the paper from my hands. He glanced back at his friend. “I take it you’ve met Boone already.”