“Maybe.”
“Do you believe me?”
“I know I don’t trust anything Jared says.”
She looked so sad and vulnerable, so Quin went to her.
“Why did you keep her card?” she asked him. “I just want to know the answer to that.”
“It was in my pocket, and I forgot about it.”
She sighed, and it was shaky. She shook her head. “I don’t know why I let this happen again.”
“Again?”
“I knew if I let my guard down around you, I would fall in love with you again.” She shrugged. “I guess I was right.”
“Celia, I did nothing wrong. I didn’t even touch her.”
“That’s true. I know that Jared’s setting you up, to pull us apart or whatever. But I’m more disappointed in myself. I let myself get too close to you, and it was a mistake. You make me too vulnerable. We should end this. Before either of us ends up more hurt.” She paused. “I’m going to leave.”
“I can’t make you stay. But before you go, though, did you see the other video?”
She froze. “What other video?”
“The one taken of us together on the sky deck of Jared’s yacht.”
The realization dawned on her. “That’s why he invited you. To set you up.”
Quin nodded. “Yeah. And when he saw us together there, he probably figured on this ruse,” he waved at the paused video, “to separate us. He said that if I don’t provide him with rum for a low price, he would release it. I tried to call his bluff, told him to release it, but you know would never let him do that.”
“You’re actually going to make a deal with him?”
“I’m going to. I won’t let him expose you like that.”
“You can’t do it.”
“I have to. No matter what you think about us or this relationship, I need to protect you. I should have been protecting you all along in this quest to take down Jared Foster. I should have done it on my own.”
“I wouldn’t let you. This is my fight. I’m doing it for all the women he’s hurt.” She shook her head. “Quin, I’m sorry it ended this way.”
“What about us?” he asked.
“I still want to be your friend. But I don’t know how possible that will be. I know we’ve said that before, but I can’t be in a relationship with you. You have so much power to hurt me. And I don’t want to hurt you, either. I don’t know how we can go on in a relationship. There’s no way. Maybe it’ll be best if we don’t see each other anymore. Especially seeing as how we can’t stay away from each other.”
Quin nodded. He wondered if she felt as crushed as he did. “If that’s what you want.”
“It’s not what I want. But what I need.”
“I don’t know if I can just be your friend. But I want to help you ruin Jared. Once that’s done, we can part ways.”
Hearing the words, Celia knew he was right, but she didn’t want to think about a future without Quin at all. No matter how much it hurt, she nodded. “That would be smart.”
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
THE NEXT DAY, Quin sat in his Range Rover outside of Seacoast Prestige. He’d been waiting for Jared to leave the office. He had only had to wait an hour for him—because why wouldn’t he leave the office at 2:00 p.m. after a “long” morning at work? When Jared got in his car, Quin sprang into action. He drove in the middle of his path, blocking his attempt to leave the parking lot.
Jared got out of his car and when he saw Quin, he stomped over to him. “Rexford, what the hell are you doing? I hope you’re here with a couple cases of free rum for me.”
“Not a fucking chance,” Quin said. “You’re lucky I don’t punch you in the goddamn face right now.”
“Then I guess you can check the internet tomorrow for two of your very own sex tapes. Enjoy being a star.”
“I’m not afraid of you. And I have a feeling you won’t upload that video.”
“No? Then I guess you don’t know much about me. I don’t back down.”
“And neither do I.”
“What about Celia?” Jared asked, his tone mocking. “She’ll be hurt by it just as much. Is that her opinion, too? That she isn’t afraid of me?”
“I wouldn’t worry so much about Celia. But I think she’s still inside. Why we don’t talk to her and see how she feels?”
* * *
Celia was sitting in Jared’s office chair when he and Quin walked in. His assistant had taken her lunch break and Celia went on inside.
“What are you doing in my office?”
“You don’t remember me, do you?”
He blanked. “You’re Celia. You work for me.”
“Around seven years ago? New York? You showed up in my office and wanted me to suck your dick.” He shook his head—there were no sign of recognition on his face. “Holy fuck,” she muttered. “How many times have you done that, that such a pivotal moment in my development doesn’t even stick in your memory. I’m the one who went to HR. Reported you, even though it meant me losing my job.”
He finally recognized her. “Celia, yes, of course.” His face turned bitter. “You could have ruined me.”
“It’s a pity I didn’t then.”
He looked at her more closely. “I can’t believe I didn’t recognize you. You changed your hair, right?”
“Yeah, and that was literally all it took for me to disguise my identity. You never were too observant. Too busy looking at my ass to see my face, I guess.”
“You might be right, Celia. It’s a nice ass. But I’m sure Rexford has gotten you up to speed here, right? If you don’t stay away from him, I’ll be releasing this tape.”
Celia knew he wouldn’t get the chance. The hammer was about to drop on him. “I don’t think you will.”
Jared laughed. “That’s what Quin said, too. But if you think anyone’s going to take you seriously with that video out there. You think you’ll find another job?”
“She’s already got one,” Quin said. “She’s going to come work for Rexford Rum.”
“Oh, is that right?”
“Yeah.”
Celia’s eyes found Quin’s. He was bluffing, of course. She hadn’t agreed to working for the distillery. However, she was grateful for his presence at that moment. She was terrified that this would backfire, and Jared would destroy her professionally and personally, but she pulled strength from him.
She held up a flash drive. “Do you have any idea what’s on this?” He shook his head. He still didn’t see the seriousness of what was to come. And that satisfied Celia. Soon, he’d see the trouble he was in. “Since I started working here, I’ve recorded our conversations. Every one of them. Hours of innuendo, threats, sexual propositions—it’s all there.”
“Not a chance.” He shook his head and made a dive for the flash drive in her hand. But Quin stood between them, blocking him. “You don’t think I’m stupid enough that this would be the only copy, right?”
Quin held up his phone and played one particular damning piece of audio. “You and I could have a little fun...”
“That’s all you got?” he asked.
“Not even close. I dug a little deeper into that email of the video that was sent to me. From the fake address to make it look like it came from Quin. It’s connected to your own personal email address, Jared. You really are so goddamn stupid.”
“Coincidence. That also doesn’t change the fact that Rexford had sex with an escort in our building.”
“That video from the conference room was convincing, but the editing was amateurish, which is why I’m surprised you didn’t cover your tracks a little better. Christ, after I dug a little deeper, it was easy to see that the timestamp in the second part of the video, where the camera shifts and the actual sex happens was several hours after Quin had left. After that, I was ab
le to dig up the original tape from security. The one that shows Quin walking away.”
Jared was now starting to sweat. She could see that he knew the end was coming, but he still remained stubborn. “You don’t have anything.”
“I have witnesses. I reached out to four other women who’ve worked for you over the years and left under suspicious circumstances. They all had similar stories of this treatment from you. I’ve got enough to bury you for good.”
“Money, is that what you want?”
She heard Quin mutter a curse. “No, I don’t want money.”
“Well, there must be some sort of arrangement we can come to.”
“There’s not, trust me. The only thing I want is to see you destitute and in jail.”
“Jail?”
“Yeah, everything I have is currently sitting on the desk of a very thorough—female—Miami-Dade PD detective.” She stood and walked past him. Jared made one more desperate grab for her, but Quin was right there, and pushed him away from her. Celia stopped and turned, enjoying the slow dejected way Jared sat in his chair. Celia smiled. “Enjoy the downward spiral, Jared. I know I will.”
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
QUIN WAS SITTING in the break room of the distillery when Reid and Gemma came in. His sister was holding her laptop. “Quin, there you are. Check this out.”
Gemma put the laptop in front of him. It was a news conference. Celia and her attorney were taking questions, as the chyron on the bottom of the screen said that Jared Foster had been indicted on sexual misconduct charges. “She did it,” he whispered, in awe of her.
He hadn’t seen her in more than a week. He’d managed to keep his distance from her. It was hard, but for both of them, it was what was best.
Quin was so proud of her as she stood tall and spoke passionately about the issue of women and those like her who are harassed and abused by men who hold their careers hostage.
“She’s amazing,” Gemma said as the news conference ended and smoothly transitioned to a local weather report.
“Yeah, she is,” Quin said.
“Have you seen her since the story broke?”
“Not since that day in Jared’s office. She hasn’t been returning my calls.”
“Go see her, man,” Reid told him.
“She made it clear that we shouldn’t see each other for a while.” He told him about her request for space.
“That’s bullshit,” Gemma added.
“What’s bullshit? It’s how she feels.”
“Her feelings are completely valid. But what about your feelings? Talk to her again.”
“She’s afraid. And hell, so am I.”
“Love is scary as hell. But if you both already have that healthy dose of fear, I think that means there are some real feelings there,” Reid told him.
“Do you love her?” Gemma asked.
“Yeah, of course, we were friends for years.”
“But are you in love with her?”
It surprised him that he could answer so quickly. “Yeah.”
“Then go to her, you freaking idiot.”
“If she’s going to work for us, we can’t have a romantic relationship. Her former boss harassing her is why we just saw her on the news. I can’t be an asshole like that.”
“If she wants to be with you, too, maybe we could come up with some way around the impropriety of a workplace romance.” It looked like Gemma had an idea.
“What do you have in mind?”
* * *
Celia sipped her coffee and sat at her table. The silence was blissful. She’d turned off her cell-phone ringer a few days ago because she couldn’t handle the incessant ringing anymore—more calls for interviews and legal representation, mingled with some threats. She shrugged it off. She’d retained a lawyer, given the information she’d collected to the police and said her piece. She was done until it was time for court.
Her moment of silence and solitude was interrupted by the ring of her doorbell. Celia rolled her eyes and put down her coffee mug. “Goddammit,” she muttered. She walked to the door, looked through the peephole and saw that Quin was on the other side. She opened the door, unsure of whether she was happy to see him or not.
“Hey,” he said.
“Hi.” She moved out of the way, holding the door open to let him in. “What brings you by?”
“I just wanted to come by and check on you. I tried calling the past couple of days.”
“I turned off my phone. It’s been ringing nonstop.”
“You’re back to screening again,” he said with a small smile.
“I am.”
“How are you?”
“I’m tired, but okay.” Just walking into the station and reporting to the police had taken a huge amount of energy from her, and then she’d compounded it with discussions with her lawyer, her deposition and making sure the other witnesses were okay. She was all out of emotional energy and needed to recharge.
“You did a good thing.”
She shrugged. “It was the right thing to do. But just as I’d suspected, I’ve been ostracized.”
“Well, once you come to work for us, that won’t matter.”
She sighed. “I really appreciate you offering me the job,” she told him. “But do you think it’s a good idea? I’m afraid that with our past, we’ll quickly delve into an improper workplace romance. I’ve already been through enough with this. What if that video of us surfaces? Imagine what people will say about us.”
“I’ve thought of that, too. I understand if you don’t want to take the job. But I really want you to.”
“After all of this, I don’t know how hard it would be to find another.” Even though she was great at her job and had a stellar résumé, the tech world was small and insular, and the demand for her freelance work would likely suffer. Everyone knew each other, and she wasn’t sure who would take a chance on hiring a known whistleblower. Even though she wasn’t sure it was a good idea, working for Rexford Rum was one of the few options available to her. “What will people say?”
“I don’t give a fuck what people say.”
“That’s easy for you, Quin. You’re the man. You’re the boss.”
“We have an opening at the distillery, especially with the processes Gemma has come up with, and the automation. We need all the help we can get. And you’re the best for the job. That’s enough.”
She thought about the real reason she was reluctant. “But what about us?”
His eyes snapped up to meet hers—they were serious, and showed passion. “That’s why I’m here.”
“You’re here to tell me we have to keep it professional, right? Just friends? Because we saw how well that worked out for us in the past.”
“No. That’s absolutely not what I want to say.”
“What is it?”
“I want to be with you.”
“Quin, I don’t know—”
“I know I hurt you before and you’re afraid to be hurt again. I’m an idiot. But I’m in love with you. And I’ll spend every day of my life showing you how much. I’ll work every damn day to make sure I never hurt you again.”
Those were the words she’d wanted to hear since she was a much younger woman. “Quin, I’ve been in love with you since freshman year. In that computer-science class. But I’m so afraid. And it might be tough, but it’s work I’m willing to do, too.”
Quin kissed her. “Does that solve your problem of working for the man you’re sleeping with?”
“Not really. I’ve never been one for a workplace romance.”
“Well, I have a solution to that, as well. I have a proposal for you.”
She pulled back from his arms. “What is it?”
“We hire you as an independent contractor. Then, you can work for us, but also take on any clients you want.�
�
“I’ll think about it.” Working as an independent contractor for Rexford Rum would be an ideal situation. If she had her own business, there would be a trail of paperwork for any work she did for them...even if she was in a relationship with one of the owning partners.
Quin shrugged. “Or, you know, we could just get married. Then none of this would even be an issue.”
Celia looked at Quin. She knew he was mostly joking, although she could see in his eyes that he would marry her in a second if she agreed to it. She laughed, wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled him to her. She kissed him, deep and passionate. He wrapped his arms around her waist and lifted her from the floor. She could feel his erection through the material of his pants. Desire rushed through her, and she wanted him upstairs and naked. Now.
When they pulled apart, he was still holding her off the ground. She leaned in for one more kiss. “Quin, I know you’re joking right now, but I will marry you some day. Not yet, though.”
He smiled. “That sounds good to me.”
“But for now, why don’t we trying being more than friends?”
* * *
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