by Ravenna Tate
When he buzzed from downstairs, she sprinted to the door and pushed the button without asking who it was. It was hard not to fling herself into his arms when she opened the door. He looked terrible. He badly needed a shave, and his eyes were hollow and empty. He sighed, then stepped across the threshold. She closed the door behind him and waited, unsure what to say.
“Emma, I was so damn afraid when I couldn’t find you. I thought you’d left me for good. Have you? Just tell me. I need to know.”
“No. Of course not. But I’m pretty upset about your reaction earlier. You actually thought I did that. That I wrote that article. Then you just pushed me away, and made it pretty damn clear you didn’t trust me.”
He ran a hand through his hair, then reached for her tentatively, as if unsure whether she’d let him hold her. She stepped back and crossed her arms. “You can’t fix this with sex.”
His gaze darkened. “I wasn’t trying to. What you did was really shitty.”
“I know that. What you did was shitty, too.”
They faced off, glaring at each other. Emma only wanted this to not be true. None of it. Not the article, not the way he’d treated her, and not the way she’d sneaked out of his apartment. She wanted to turn back time and return to the sofa in the library where they’d fallen asleep after giving each other oral sex.
“What are you thinking?” he asked, his voice softer now.
“I was wishing we could return to the library right after I gave you the blowjob.”
His gaze grew tender. “Oh, Emma. I am so sorry. Please forgive me. I acted like an ass. I know you didn’t write that article, and I do trust you. I was shocked. I needed to speak with all of them and I believe you understand why, but I was wrong to push you away like that.”
She let out the breath she was holding. “Thank you. Thank you for saying all that. And yes, I do understand why you needed to speak with all of them. I’m sorry I ran out like that. It was childish. I was so … I was afraid I’d lost you.”
He stepped toward her, and this time she let him pull her close. It felt so damn good to be in his arms again. He stroked her hair. “I was afraid of the same thing. That you’d left me.”
“No. I just needed space and time. I’m sorry I did that.”
They held each other for long moments. Then Emma took a seat on the sofa and he sat next to her. “What did you learn on the call?”
“Nothing useful.”
“Seriously?”
“Yeah.” He took her hands. “Let’s get your things and go back to my apartment.”
“Atticus, slow down. We need to figure this out. Someone knows I’m here in CentralEast. They know I’m working for you, and they think I fed all of you inside information. Who else could that be except Bonnie or—”
“It’s not Bonnie or Leland.”
“What? How did you reach that conclusion?”
“Bonnie wouldn’t screw herself by involving HCS in this. Too many people know she hates us, and we aren’t crazy about her. She’d lose her job if they found out this was her.”
“I’m assuming the byline is fake?”
“Yes. It likely is.”
“And HCS can’t force them to reveal the reporter’s name.”
“No. Not as a matter of law, at any rate. No crime has been committed, so I doubt they can learn it by asking, but they’ll probably go through their employees’ computers with a different excuse and see if they can’t find out that way. Bottom line is that Bonnie would know she’d eventually be caught, and while she’s an asshole, she’s not going to jeopardize her career just to plant a story that makes us look like criminals.”
“Then why was I named?”
“You weren’t. Not directly at any rate.”
“The specific police station where I worked was. That’s not a coincidence.”
“We agree. But if this was Leland, he wouldn’t have involved us. He doesn’t give a shit what we’re doing. His revenge would be directed toward you or Bonnie, not us.”
She nodded. “That’s true. So who do you think it is?”
“We don’t know. It could be someone else at HCS trying to screw Bonnie or us, or both.”
“But they’ll be caught the same as Bonnie would be. Wouldn’t they know that?”
“Probably.”
“You really have no idea who it is, then?”
“None. We’re each having our PR departments issue identical statements. And if anyone finds out who you are and asks, we’re telling them we have no knowledge of any inside information from an employee who used to work inside a police station.”
“Deny, deny, deny.”
“What else can we do? We don’t even know who we’re dealing with or why they wrote this.”
“You don’t know anyone at this press?”
“No. Julianne is checking behind the scenes, but no one is going to reveal their source, even to her.”
“What should I do in the meantime?”
“Say nothing. Pretend you never read it. If anyone asks questions, refer them to me. I’ve sent out an email to my department heads instructing employees to refer all questions to PR.”
She pulled her hands from his grasp and hugged herself. “I don’t like any of this, Atticus. It makes me very paranoid. What if Leland found out I told you about him?”
“How would he have found that out? You told no one but me, and I certainly didn’t tell him.”
He was right about that. “Okay. But then why did the author of the article mention the police station?”
“That’s why we think it’s someone trying to hurt Bonnie and us at the same time. The author knows Bonnie’s husband works there.”
“I don’t know. That sounds thin. And it still doesn’t explain why the article mentioned an employee who used to work there and now works for one of you. That’s pretty definitive, Atticus.”
“It still makes more sense than Leland finding out you broke your word and writing an article like this. Why would he mention us and claim we know the location of the hackers to get revenge on you? We only found the last one recently. This went to print before that happened.”
She nodded slowly. “I hadn’t considered that. It certainly does seem to have been planted to give all of you bad press.”
“And to make it look like we’re using government agencies and the police for our own purposes.”
“But you’ve had things like that written about you before.”
“Not like this. Not accusing us of knowing the exact locations and names of all the hackers. This raises the negative press to a whole new level.”
“Do you think someone is trying to force your hand?”
“Maybe.”
“And there’s nothing you want me to do? Should I call Leland and talk to him? Whoever wrote it certainly seems to know I work here.”
“No. Please don’t do that. He might not even see this article and you don’t want to give him any ammunition.”
“Can’t one of you simply ask Bonnie if she wrote it?”
“Sure, but she’d only deny it. And we don’t want her or anyone at HCS knowing how rattled we are by this.”
“All right, but I don’t like it. What happens now?”
He moved toward her, closing the space between them, and pulled her close. Emma closed her eyes. It would be so easy right now to give over to her needs. She’d been an idiot to run out like that, but he was here now and she knew she hadn’t lost him.
“We wait. Nothing else to do right now. We wait and hope the hackers don’t read the article, believe it’s true that we’re onto them, and then bolt.”
She glanced up into his face. “And if they do?”
He shrugged. “Then we’re fucked.”
“What about those friends of yours? The electromagnetic expert and the physics expert?”
“If the hackers go underground again, those two men are our last hope.”
A thought occurred to Emma. “What about someone else at the stati
on? Could they have written it?”
“Who knew about you and Leland?”
Emma rolled her eyes. “Everyone.”
“But no one knew you were coming here, or that you’d taken a job working for me.”
She shook her head.
“All right. Let’s work that angle anyway, just in case. Can you get me a list of everyone who worked there with you?”
“You mean you don’t already have one?”
His easy laugh sent her heart soaring. Everything would be okay now. It had to be. “Well, yes. I probably do. I’ll check and then run that idea past the others. It’s best if we explore every solid theory.”
“Thank you for the vote of confidence.”
He stifled a yawn. “I’m exhausted. I won’t be working until this afternoon myself. We should get some sleep.”
“Sleep? Really?”
He brushed a hand along her face. “Emma, please come back to my place with me. You can sleep in the other room if you want. I really am tired, but I don’t want you alone. Not until we figure this out.”
“Are you trying to scare me?”
“No. I would simply feel better knowing you’re in a secure building.”
She couldn’t argue with him on that point. She didn’t feel safe here now. “All right. I’ll go and get my things.”
Once they were back at his apartment, she curled up next to him in bed and he fell asleep almost immediately. Emma tried to put everything out of her mind, but images of Leland, angry and filled with declarations of revenge, chased her down into dreams.
Chapter Sixteen
During the next two weeks, Emma felt like every glance someone gave her, or each conversation that stopped when she came into the room or turned a corner was because of the article. This was despite the fact she’d heard very little gossip about it. What little she had heard was shrugged off as merely one more story about the Weathermen that tried to stir up trouble. No one but her seemed concerned that the Fourth District police station had specifically been named.
She kept expecting to see a text message or email from Leland, but she heard nothing. Maybe Atticus had been right? This would all blow over and nothing would come of it? As far as she knew, the hackers working for Barclay, Grayson, and Oliver were still there. She didn’t see anything online that gave her reason to think Shawn Castle was acting any differently. She didn’t know Clyde Medici, but Atticus hadn’t said anything to worry her over his actions, either.
She’d helped Atticus compile a list of people she’d worked with who had known about her and Leland, but she hadn’t asked him what he was doing with it. Everything had gone back to normal with her and Atticus, and when she was with him it was easy to forget about the article and do as he’d suggested—pretend she’d never read it. When she worked on her project it took all her concentration and she didn’t think about it.
But all the other times, and especially if she woke up at night but Atticus was still sleeping, Emma grew afraid. Who had done this and why? Was it directed at her, or had the mention of the police station merely been coincidental? She wished she’d never responded to Leland’s flirting. But if she hadn’t, she might still be working there, and then she never would have come here to work. She never would have met Atticus, and she wouldn’t be with him.
Every time she tried to imagine her life without Atticus, that gave her more anxiety than the article. She was so in love with him and wanted to say something, but this article had cast a pall over everything. Or, at least she thought it had. Some days she felt she was being paranoid and it was time to let him know how she felt. He had a right to know.
The only other man she’d said “I love you” to had been Leland, and that hadn’t turned out well. But this wasn’t the same thing. Not even close. Atticus wasn’t married and he would never hurt her the way Leland had. She needed to tell him. It was the right thing to do.
****
Atticus knew that Emma was preoccupied with the article. Everything was fine between them, and she did her work, but he noticed the worry lines around her mouth that had never been there before. He saw the fear and concern on her face when she thought no one was looking. And he heard her talking in her sleep almost every night.
He was so in love with her, but he wanted this to be past them before he said anything. As one week dragged into two, he realized he might be waiting a long time to see this to its conclusion. They might never find out who had written the article.
The only saving grace was that none of the hackers had moved. They’d heard no chatter about it, and they were watching the message boards themselves now, as well. They all considered themselves very lucky that nothing had come of this, and hoped that fact would eventually flush out who had written it. They were hoping the author had wanted something to happen, and would make another move toward that end.
In the meantime, Atticus wanted to take Emma out and finally tell her he was in love with her. It was time to do so. If he waited for this to be over, he’d be waiting too long. She deserved an evening during which she didn’t have to think about any of this.
On the Friday he intended to take her out, he left a note next to the bed in the morning while she was in the shower. He heard her laugh as she came down the stairs with it in her hand. “What is this?”
“Do you like it?”
“I love it, but where do I start this treasure hunt?”
“I’ll leave you clues all day.”
She hugged him, and he nearly said the hell with breakfast. He’d rather have her again. “Thank you for this, Atticus. I need a day of fun.”
He stroked her hair. “I know, love. That’s why I’m doing it. I know how difficult these past two weeks have been for you.”
“They’ve been difficult for you, too.”
“Not in the same way. We’ve weathered bad press before.”
She pulled away and looked up into his eyes. The words were right there, on the tip of his tongue, but he wanted to wait until later.
“Any progress on finding who wrote the article?”
“I would tell you if there was.” He kissed her, but only briefly. “Let’s make a pact. No talk about the article today. Okay? Let’s have fun instead.”
“All right. One question, though.”
He sighed. “Okay. But only one.”
“What did you do with those names of my former coworkers I gave you?”
“Still digging.”
She chuckled. “And did you find anything yet?”
“Not a damn thing. Dead end.”
She opened her mouth to say something else, but he kissed her again, deeply this time, and his damn dick jumped to attention. No way to prevent that. All he had to do was think about her and that happened. When he released the kiss, he forced his attentions back to breakfast. He would make this day perfect for her no matter how many times he had to distract her from that fucking article, or the people she’d left behind in Central.
****
Emma got a kick out of the clues Atticus left her all day. The first one came in her email no less than fifteen minutes after they arrived at the office, and said she’d have a surprise that she could wear tonight if she looked in the bathroom. Emma had laughed out loud, then went down the hall to the bathroom she and several others on this floor normally used.
No one else was in it, but there was a package, wrapped in bright paper with a big bow. Her name was on it, so she took it back to her office and unwrapped it. Gasping, she held up the dark rose dress and matching shoes, then looked up as Atticus came into her office.
“I hope you like it. I thought the color would be perfect on you.”
“I love it.” She walked around the desk and held it up against her body. “What do you think?”
“Wear it tonight and I’ll let you know.”
She slapped playfully at his arm. “Smart ass. How did you pull this off?”
“I asked the administrative assistants to give you a few minutes to find the
package before they went in there this morning.”
“Where am I wearing such a gorgeous dress?”
“Oh no. You’ll have to work out the clues.”
How could any woman help falling in love with such a man? “Thank you for this. It’s perfect.”
He gave her such a look, filled with love and tenderness, that she wished they were back in his apartment. “You’re perfect, Atticus.”
They gazed at each other for long moments, but the spell was broken when she heard one of the administrative assistants call his name from the hallway. He sighed. “Time to play CEO.”
“When should I expect my next clue?”
He winked. “It’ll be a surprise.”
By the end of the day, during which Atticus had her looking all over the building for clues, she’d surmised he was either whisking her away to Italy, which of course was impossible since it no longer existed, or taking her out to eat at an Italian restaurant. She didn’t dare hope it was Tapioca’s. She’d never been there, but had heard it was the most expensive, upscale place in CentralEast.
She wouldn’t tell him she’d guessed. She didn’t want to spoil the surprise for him. Emma left work an hour early and spent more time getting ready to go out than she had in a very long time. She wanted everything to be perfect tonight because Atticus had gone to so much trouble to make this fun and unique for her.
They walked hand in hand toward the downtown area, and Emma could barely contain her excitement. Before they turned the corner onto the street where Tapioca’s stood, Atticus stopped and gave her a sheepish grin. “You figured it out, didn’t you?”
Her heart sank. “Only because your clues were so good.” Emma kissed him. “It doesn’t matter that I figured it out, does it? What matters is we’re here together, and this is such a perfect night. Thank you for this.”
He stroked her hair. “You make a man want to do anything for you, Emma. You know that?”
“Only when I look into your eyes.”
