Teasing The Boss (19 page)

“I thought that you’d be better off far away from me.”

She crossed her arms and tilted her head. “Bullshit. That’s what you thought Friday. But I’m sure you’ve had time to consider the error of your ways.”

He frowned. Every time he convinced himself she’d be safer away from him, he was struck with the utter emptiness of facing a future without her. But his inconvenient emotions didn’t change the facts. “No. As normal, I was right to begin with. DuFord won’t leave you alone if you’re hanging around me.”

“That’s why we’re going to get him. You say the word and we’ll get to work making sure the son of a bitch ends up behind bars.”

He slipped his jacket on and looked for any cabs headed down the street. This conversation needed to end.

Grace slid in front of him. “Come on,” she said. “Look me in the eye and say you don’t have a plan.”

He clenched his jaw as he met her gaze. “I might have a few thoughts.”

“I knew it! Tell me everything.”

He sighed. “Why won’t you let this drop?”

She bit her bottom lip and looked to the ground. “We started this together. Let’s finish it.”

“You didn’t start anything.” He placed a hand on her arm. “I dragged you into this mess. You were in a tight spot and I took advantage. You don’t owe me anything.”

“Damn it, Simon.” Serious blue eyes met his. “I like you. Is that so hard to believe? I don’t want to see you in jail and I don’t want to see that fucking grin on Mark’s face ever again. Now why can’t we be together while destroying him? Why does he have to win anything else? Now stop making me talk about my feelings and tell me your damn plan.”

Simon grabbed her face in her hands and brought his lips to hers. Somehow she always brought him back to earth. How could he ever think he could break up with Grace? She was absolutely right. DuFord needed to lose, and she was ready and willing to take him on.

He pulled away from the kiss and stared down at Grace. “We go at him from a different angle.”

Grace blinked a few times. “Huh?”

“DuFord. I’ve been trying to bring him to justice and get him in prison for his crimes. But he’s not scared of that. He has the connections, power, and smarts to get out of legal trouble.”

“So what do we do?” she asked.

“We take away his power.”

“His money…” breathed Grace. “You’re going to rob him?”

“I talked to my finance guy this weekend. DuFord made a shady deposit into an account he set up under my name and that’s what landed me in trouble.”

Her eyes widened. “Can you prove it wasn’t you?”

“Probably.” He waved his hand. “My lawyers are working on it. But he uses money to control people. He surrounds himself with people willing to take a bribe or look the other direction if they’re getting something out of it. No one in his network is really loyal to him. All we need is one of those pieces on our side.”

He saw the light in her eyes as she realized where he was going. “Karina.”

“We both saw her at DuFord’s party. She was miserable and could barely stand Daton. If she can get us access into the bank’s files, maybe move a few things around, that’s all we need.”

Grace leaned away, but didn’t break free of Simon’s arms around her waist. “What if she gets caught?”

“As long as Daton is her immediate supervisor, she’s in trouble. All we have to do is get her to do us a favor. I can guarantee her a better job with one of my clients, but she’s the key.”

Grace took a deep breath as a smile formed across her face. “Okay. So let’s rob the con man.”

Grace answered the call as soon as she saw it was Simon on the caller ID. “Did everything go okay?”

“Karina’s in. She said she’d make the changes to his account within the hour.”

Grace straightened in her chair and looked out her office window. “That’s great.”

A grunt sounded over the line. “Quicker than I was expecting.”

“I think she wanted to get it over with,” said Grace. “I got the vibe she kind of wanted to screw Mark over, but that could be the guilty side of me convincing myself I’m not ruining her life.”

“Don’t think that,” insisted Simon. “My lawyer is the best in the business. He already thinks my charges will be dropped by next week, and if anything happens to Karina, we’ll take care of her. Okay?”

She paused for a moment. “Okay,” she finally agreed. “I trust you. So what do we do while we wait?”

“Be careful,” he said. “I’ll see if the PI who’s helping me with Victoria can tail Mark for a bit until this all blows over.”

Grace rubbed at her temples as she pulled her gaze from the window. “When do you think that will be?”

“Soon. I think this thing with Karina is really going to push him to the edge. I think he’ll start making mistakes.”

Andre appeared in her open office doorway and Grace held up a finger, signaling that she’d be right with him. “I hope you’re right,” she muttered into the phone. “Hey, Andre just walked in, so I’ll have to get back to you, okay?”

“I’ll let you know if anything develops. Call me when you’re ready to go home and I’ll pick you up.”

She smiled at the offer, comforted by the idea of him walking her out. And home. And to her bedroom. “Will do. Talk to you later.”

She hung up the phone and looked up to Andre. The poor guy appeared exhausted. Between the Summer Blowout and the last-minute event for Victoria Green, her formerly floundering client list had begun to expand, and Andre was doing a great job at meeting with and signing new clients.

“Are you hanging in there?” he asked, a gentle smile on his face.

She tried her best to push aside any sign of worry. “Yep. Just adding up all the new business we have and planning my next vacation.”

His eyes widened. “What? You take a day off work? So you’re telling me that hell froze over and I missed it?”

“Ha-ha,” she said dryly. “I take plenty of days off.”

“Maybe,” he admitted. “But day off and vacation are two different things.”

She pushed her laptop a few inches away from her and looked up at Andre, trying to hold back a grin. “Well, I guess that’s because I’ve never had a vice president of operations to help me out before.”

He stared blankly. “Whoa, who’s the new vice president?”

“You, silly!”

His eyes widened as a huge grin covered his face. “Seriously? When did this happen?”

“It happened when you were being awesome. You stuck by me when it looked like our doors were about to close. You dressed in drag to lure reporters away. It happened when you were handling clients like a pro and showing those vendors who’s boss. I can’t think of anyone who deserves a promotion more than you. Now get out of here and go celebrate.”

He let out a laugh. “So does this mean I can boss around the temp?”

“Leave Jennifer alone! I have her working on my stuff for at least the next two months. We should have another one coming in a few days though.”

“So I can boss that one around?” he asked hopefully.

“Yep. That one is yours to boss around. Within reason, of course.”

He held up his hands. “Of
course
.”

She rolled her eyes. “Get out of here before I change my mind, Andre.”

“You and I are doing drinks soon, though. This celebration entails me getting you drunk with all the extra money I’m making.”

She raised a brow. “What makes you think I’m paying you more?”

Andre’s face fell.

“Kidding! Fifteen percent more, okay?”

He pointed a finger at her. “You’re getting drunk. I will see to it.”

“Mmm hmm,” she muttered. “We’ll see.” Tipsy she could deal with, but Grace couldn’t even remember the last time she’d been full-on drunk. Maybe Simon could come with… “Go home. We’ll talk about your
increased responsibilities
tomorrow.”

He snorted even as he turned to leave. “Please.” He walked away. “You and I both know I’m the only thing that keeps this place running.”

“Keep telling yourself that!” she called, but she heard the door to the office close midway through the sentence. He always did have to have the last word.

Jennifer probably thought she and Andre were insane. As long as she did her job right, Grace didn’t care what Jennifer thought of her. She glanced to the clock at the bottom of her computer screen. Five thirty. Jennifer was there until six, so she could get a solid half an hour of work in.

She’d only just pulled up her budget for the international company retreat she’d been booked for when her phone rang. She let it ring for a second time. It couldn’t be Andre because he’d call her cell. “This is Grace Bell,” she answered.

“Grace, this is Jared. There’s a man down here who claims he’s a client of yours, but since it’s after five, I have to call before I let him go up.”

Crap. As far as she knew, she wasn’t expecting anyone. “Did he give a name?”

“His ID says Dennis Cliff. Sound familiar?”

She sat up straighter. What was Dennis Cliff doing downstairs? She only did the Summer Blowout with his company. “Send him up,” she muttered. Clients dropping by out of the blue were never a good thing in her experience. It normally involved some sort of complaint.

She ran her fingers through her hair and pushed away from the desk. “Jennifer,” she called.

The pretty brunette was immediately at the doorway. “Is everything okay?”

“I think so,” said Grace. “A client of mine is on his way up. I have no idea why he’s here, so there’s a chance he’s going to tell me I’m amazing and a chance he’s going to tell me off. I thought you should have some warning.”

Her brow furrowed. “Do you think we should call someone?”

Grace shook her head. “No. I mean, probably not.” She hoped not. She’d never once felt threatened in her own office. Besides, she wasn’t exactly alone.

The bell rang to signal someone was in the hallway. Grace moved to open the door, but Jennifer waved her aside. “I’ve got this one, Ms. Bell.”

She started to disagree, but stopped herself. She supposed that was what Jennifer was there for, so she’d let her help. As soon as the door was open, Grace’s mouth went dry. “Mark, what are you doing here?”

He pushed past Jennifer and glared at Grace’s office. The scorn practically dripped off him. “I think it’s time we talk.”

Jennifer looked between Grace and Mark. “Is something wrong?”

Before Grace could speak, Mark turned his full attention to Jennifer. “Who the fuck are you?”

“She’s a temp,” blurted out Grace, trying her best to make Jennifer seem as insignificant as possible. She didn’t think Mark was there to hurt her, but she was the first to admit that Mark wasn’t the man she knew a year ago. He’d more than likely waited until he saw Andre leave before he came up. Under a false name. Didn’t Jared say he’d looked at the ID?

Grace took a step back. “I think you should leave, Mark.”

“I’m not going anywhere until you give me back my money.” He took a step closer.

“Back off, buddy,” called Jennifer, but Grace held a hand up.

She stood her ground and tried to keep her voice calm. “Mark, I don’t know what you’re talking about. I didn’t take anything from you.”

“Don’t lie to me!” he screamed.

Grace flinched, but didn’t move back. She met Jennifer’s eyes over his shoulder and the woman gave a slight nod as she reached into her back pocket.

“What the hell are you two doing?” He twisted around to glare at Jennifer, and Grace glanced to her office where her own phone sat on her desk. He didn’t seem as if he were armed, but he also didn’t seem stable. She could probably push him over while Jennifer opened the door and they could both make a run for it, but Mark had a good sixty pounds on her, most of it muscle. Jennifer looked rather fit, but she didn’t want to get the woman hurt.

“Come on, Mark. You said it yourself. I’m a party planner. How would I have stolen anything from you?”

He clenched his jaw and she could see a vein throb in his forehead. “You and West cleaned out all my accounts.”

She shook her head. “I can’t do that! You need signatures and approvals for moving that kind of money.”

“You faked them, you bitch! I’ve been doing it for years! Get someone to copy my signature and get an inside guy at the bank. I know you helped West—now give me my money!”

She kept her expression as clueless as possible. If Mark thought she was a bimbo, she would play the part. “Simon has more money than he knows what to do with. Why would he steal anything from you?”

“He’s getting back at me, you moron! He knows I’m the one who set him up and he’s trying to make me pay!”

Grace took a step back as Mark screamed louder and louder. Jennifer now had her phone out and was punching in numbers. She needed to keep Mark’s focus on her. “You put that money in his account? Why?”

Mark rolled his eyes and groaned. “I was setting him up! He was sniffing around my banker and my forger.”

Jennifer gave a slight nod to let Grace know help was on the way. The phone was still in her hand, and Grace took a leap of faith that it was still on. “Forger? What would you be doing with a forger?”

Mark snapped. “You stupid bitch. You never knew a damn thing about money, did you? He’s trying to prove that I invested overseas. That I faked it all. But he’s not going to get a chance. Now you go back to your little sugar daddy, and I want you to tell him that if even one cop knocks on my door, I’m going to make sure your pretty face pays. Do you understand?”

“I understand,” she said softly.

“And my money better be back in my accounts by tonight, or I swear you’ll never see lover boy again.”

She nodded. “Please, leave. I promise I’ll talk to Simon tonight. Just don’t hurt us, okay?” The gentle words burned in her throat. It took every ounce of sense she had to stop from screaming at Mark just what a lowlife he was. But the babying was exactly what he seemed to need as he relaxed and looked much less likely to punch her at any given moment.

Right as she thought she was in the clear, the door to her office slammed open. “Grace!” called Simon.

A rush of relief and terror shot through Grace. She’d been so close to getting Mark to leave.