by Jenny Devall
The one he really wanted didn’t want him. The irony.
He called Zeke, who was now home.
“Hey, buddy,” Zeke said.
“Can we talk?’
“Are we girls? No, come over and watch the fight with me,” Zeke said.
As if he knew what was going on with Riley. He and Zeke still hadn’t chatted about what the man knew because he had lost some of his memory. The doctors thought he’d get it back, but they didn’t know when.
Maybe a beer and male company might soothe his ego and his aching heart.
“I’ll be over. I’ll bring some beer,” Dirk said.
He bought a six-pack of Zeke’s favorite, even though he didn’t think his friend could drink yet. It would be good to see his kids and his wife. He’d forget about Riley for a few hours.
He fired up the Aston Martin and drove out of the city towards Staten Island, where Zeke lived. The last time he’d been in the car was with Riley.
He hated that she was so part of his life. This getting over her thing was going to take longer than he thought. “Ugh.”
He’d never been in this position. Never. The women dumped him and he didn’t care, or he dumped them. There’d never been any emotion involved. No hearts breaking.
It had always been just about sex for him. Whatever romancing he did was to get the woman in bed. End of story.
Today he finally knew what they all felt when he dumped them. Why they cried.
Worse, why they tried to hang on.
Chapter Fifteen
Riley sat at home by herself for a few days. Watching movies. Eating ice cream. Her laptop was her only companion. Part of her brain still worked on the puzzle of the leak in Dirk’s company.
Only because she hadn’t wanted to give it up. It was a nice mental exercise. As she was watching her third movie of the day, her e-mail made a noise. A noise that it should have.
This was another notification from the firewall at Dirk’s company. She slid the machine onto her lap to open it.
As far as she could tell, someone was using Zeke’s log-in and send-in information. At least she was even more sure that Zeke wasn’t the leak. He was still at home recovering.
“What the hell am I supposed to do with this information?”
She forwarded it to the FBI agent, but wasn’t sure that would be enough. They hadn’t made any progress as far as she knew. Not that she expected them to keep her updated. They should have been keeping Dirk updated, and as of a few days ago, they’d had no breaks in the case.
She’d done the legwork for what they had now. They were supposed to be better at this than she was, and they hadn’t take her investigation any further. Should she tell Dirk?
She didn’t want to talk to him. She called Joan instead.
“I don’t want to talk about Dirk,” her friend said.
“Well, this is business. Not personal.”
Well, sort of personal.
“What?”
“Someone has been using Zeke’s account to send stuff through the firewall. I don’t know if I should tell him.”
“The case isn’t yours anymore.”
“I know, but that program is still there, and it sent me a notification.”
Riley really was torn. She didn’t know if Dirk would want to know. Or should she just let the FBI guys deal with it?
She’d forgotten to have the notifications forwarded to them, but the agents didn’t seem to care. She wondered what exactly they were doing.
The doorbell rang.
“Hold on. I have to get the door.”
She walked to the door with her phone in her hand. A delivery person had flowers.
“For me?”
“Are you Riley Adams?”
“Yes.”
He handed her the flowers. “These are for you then.”
She found some money then tipped him, closing the door.
“Who was it, Ri?”
“Flowers.”
“From whom?”
She read the card. “Dirk.”
“What does he say?”
“He’s been thinking about me.” Oh crap. “What the hell does that mean?”
“That he’s been thinking of you.”
She sighed. “Well, I think it best that I let the FBI guys deal with Dirk.”
“You could call him.”
Her phone beeped. “Hold on. I’m getting a call.”
She clicked to the other call.
“Riley, it’s Max.”
Her boss. Guess there was another job.
“Hey, Max.”
“Enough moping. I have another job for you. Come in tomorrow morning to get briefed,” Max said.
Riley sighed. Guess she’d been sitting around long enough. “Okay. I’ll be in by nine.”
“Good. Be ready to work, too. This customer is in great need.”
“Okay, Max. Will there be travel?”
Impersonating a girlfriend? Falling in love? Scratch the last one. She refused to believe she was in love with Dirk. She was not. Her heart ached because he had become such a large part of her life.
That was it.
“There might be. Is that okay?”
“Yes, that’s fine.”
A new location might be just what she needed. Now she was looking forward to a new case.
She hung up with Max.
“Hey, Joan. It was Max. I have a new job beginning tomorrow.”
“How do you feel about that?”
“I’m elated. I need to get out of this house. Get Dirk out of my brain.”
“You go, girl. Let’s go get a drink.”
“I’m watching a movie. Come over here. Wait. No date?”
“No, Kent has a class tonight.”
“I see. I’m second choice.”
Joan laughed. “Of course. I’ve never made it a secret that I want to get married and that a man is important to me.”
That’s true. Riley couldn’t understand that. She’d rather stand on her own two feet. She’d bet if she’d stayed with Dirk her personality would have gotten swallowed up in his alpha male persona. She would have lost some part of herself.
That would have been bad. She’d dodged a bullet.
“I’ll be over in half an hour,” Joan said.
At least for Joan she didn’t feel the need to clean up. If it had been a man, she would have felt obligated.
Another reason not to have a man in her life. She eyed the flowers that she’d placed on her coffee table. What was the meaning? Was he trying to mess with her head? They’d broken up. She’d run out on him. Why didn’t he get the hint?
Her phone rang. Dirk. There was no way she was answering it.
No. Way.
She was just getting to a point that her heart was beginning to not hurt every time she thought of him. Only every other time.
She was not going to rip that wound open again. She sent the call to voicemail then stopped the movie. Joan would want to see it from the beginning.
***
Dirk cursed as he realized Riley had sent his call to voicemail. He sat in his office pondering what he should do next. He’d given her space. That had nearly killed him.
He’d taken turns being sad and mad and frustrated since then.
He wanted to see her. Would she open the door for her? He didn’t think so. He wished he knew what had changed. What had made her change her mind?
He wanted to talk to his mother, but she was just out of the hospital. He didn’t want to disturb her. Zeke would have no words of wisdom.
Maybe his sister.
Antsy, he went out for lunch. By himself. On the street, he heard someone call his name.
He turned to find Ivana, one of his ex-girlfriends. She kissed both of his cheeks then squeezed his hand.
“You look great, Ivana.”
“You sort of do, Dirk. I see a sadness in your eyes.”
“Yeah, that happens.”
“Is there finally a woman who h
as bested you? Made you fall in love with you?”
He didn’t want to talk about Riley. Not today. Not with Ivana.
“Let’s go get lunch,” he said.
Ivana nodded, but he knew she wouldn’t order anything. She was at the end of her career, and she had to fight to keep her name in front of the agencies. And she had to fight to keep the pounds off.
That made him think of Riley, who was shaped like an everyday woman. Not a model. She was gorgeous, but not because she used makeup. She just was naturally beautiful.
“I feel like you are not here,” Ivana said after they’d placed their orders at a neighborhood restaurant.
Ivana was dressed to kill.
“You on your way to an audition?”
Ivana frowned. “I’ve retired. I’m done. This is a young girl’s game.”
“I’m sorry.”
“Don’t be. I found someone. And I’m starting a business,” Ivana said.
“Wow. What kind of business?”
“Personal shopper. I’ll shop for clothes for people. Combines two things I love, shopping and fashion.”
Dirk had to laugh. “You a really are making the best of it.”
“I am, Dirk, but why the sadness in your eyes?”
She wasn’t going to let up, was she? Guess he’d better spill.
“I think I’ve fallen in love.”
“Only you would be sad about that. It happens to everyone. Even bachelors like you,” she said.
“But it wasn’t supposed to be me.”
“That’s why you dated models. We are so vain and shallow that we didn’t notice you. We all treated you the way you treated us. I bet this person treated you well.”
“Yes, she did.”
How could Dirk sit here and be with Ivana, a gorgeous woman, and be thinking about Riley? Guess he had to admit it. He had fallen in love with her. Maybe it was better that they were apart.
“Then why are you with me?”
“She won’t talk to me. I’m trying to woo her back.”
“Back? You lost this woman?”
“I didn’t tell her how I feel,” Dirk said.
“You are an idiot, Dirk.”
Yes, he felt that way. His sister had told him that. His mother would probably say it also. He was an idiot. He’d let the one woman out of his life that should be in his life.
Riley.
The flashbulbs distracted him. He and Ivana had chosen a table on the sidewalk outside the restaurant. The paparazzi had shown up to take pictures of Ivana. Guess she was still in the news.
The maître’s shooed them away, but not before they took some pictures. With Dirk. He didn’t think about it at first. Then he realized that his picture would be in the paper. With Ivana.
He certainly didn’t think Riley would see them, but what if she did? What would she think?
“Crap?’
“What?” Ivana said.
“Those pictures. I’m with you.”
“You don’t want this woman to see them. She may get the wrong idea.”
Dirk nodded. There wasn’t anything he could do about them. Guess he’d better hope Riley didn’t see them. He didn’t think she was a tabloid reader.
“Relax. If she loves you, she will listen.”
He wasn’t sure she did. She couldn’t love him if she walked out on him.
Then he saw Joan walk by. He looked down, hoping she wouldn’t see him. But she did. She stopped.
“Hello, Dirk,” she said.
He stood and introduced Ivana.
“Well, didn’t take you long,” Joan said.
“What?”
“To get back in the saddle,” Joan said.
Back in the saddle. “This isn’t a date. We’re just having lunch.”
“Not a date? I have trouble believing that. I’m glad Riley dumped you.”
“What? No, Joan. It isn’t what this looks like.”
Joan frowned at him. “I don’t believe you. I have to tell Riley. She did the right thing. I’ve been wrong all along.”
Joan stomped off. Dirk didn’t have the energy to follow her. He sat back in his seat.
“Not sure my day could get worse,” Dirk said.
“Riley is the woman?”
“Yes.”
“She is not a model?”
“No. She was investigating something going on in my company,” Dirk said. “She was posing as my girlfriend, and we became lovers.”
“Mixing business and pleasure,” Ivana said, tutting.
She was right. He’d been wrong. His phone rang. Marcia. “I have to take this. Sorry.”
“Dirk. You have to come back to the office.”
“Why?”
“Because your biggest client, Alfred Maynard, is here and demanding to see you.”
“I’ll be there in five minutes. Did he give a reason?”
“He says his personal information has been compromised. That’s all I was able to get out of him. He said he’s going to tell everyone, including the press, that you are unreliable. He wants to ruin you.”
Dirk’s eyes fell closed. He hadn’t thought his day could get worse.
He hung up. “I’m sorry, Ivana. I have to go. I’ll give them my credit card and pay for lunch.”
“No bother. I can afford this restaurant now. Go put out your fires.”
He kissed her cheek then left her to eat her lunch in peace.
He hadn’t thought losing Riley could be the worst thing. But it was intertwined with her being off the case. The FBI agents hadn’t updated him recently, and he wondered if they were giving it any time. Riley had been the sole investigator when she was on it.
Now, he had another leak and was about to lose his biggest client. He’d recover, but he’d have to lay people off. That was the last thing he wanted to do.
He steeled himself before he entered his building. He couldn’t let these people down.
No. He’d have to do damage control. Right. Now.
~~~
