“So, I guess you have a mess to work out here, but somehow I don’t think your girlfriend would appreciate you revealing that her cookies are lies, hmm? That could cool your relationship significantly, I would think,” Jason said with such arrogant satisfaction that Dan found his fingers clenching and unclenching again.
“Is that what this is about? You’re jealous?” Dan shook his head.
“Hardly. She was one night’s entertainment for me—surely promising a very…energetic evening, for certain—”
“Step carefully, Jason,” Dan warned, seeing red.
“I’m actually surprised you care enough to put yourself in departmental peril for this. What if I lodged a complaint about you coming into my office, digging through my papers? Corporate espionage? Academic sabotage? Things could get sticky for you, Dan,” he said, visibly trying to repress his grin. “Especially considering your involvement in future government projects. You could even lose your security clearance. All for a hot piece of ass?”
Dan reined in his anger. Jason was trying to hit a nerve, and he had, but this wasn’t about him. It was about Jodie, and trying to do what was right for her. Giving Jason Kravitz more reason to cause them trouble wouldn’t help things at all.
“So what do you want out of this, Jason? Simple revenge? It seems beneath you,” Dan said, making eye contact. “If she was so unimportant to you, why bother?”
“It’s not about her at all. It’s about you, my friend,” Jason said, spitting the last word in a way that made it clear they were anything but, “after you undermined me on the Eastman experiments, citing every single thing that was wrong with the project, and I know it was you who kept my security clearance from being increased so that I could work on that agricultural project last summer. I am so sick and tired of you walking around here like you are the King of Science.”
Dan was stunned at the outburst and shook his head, his anger dropping away. “Jason, I had to respond honestly about the funding for the Eastman experiments. They weren’t working, and they were bleeding cash out of the department. It was part of my duty here to report honestly about that. If you could have redesigned the project to be more cost-effective, then maybe—”
“Right. Like you would have given me a green light on any of that work. You know you’ve sabotaged me in any way you could since I started working here. You’re threatened by me, obviously, but now you are the Chair, so what am I to do?”
Dan’s eyes widened. “So you go after a friend instead?”
“A logical—and efficient—solution, don’t you think?” Kravitz said. “Not to mention creative, but when I realized you knew Jodie Patterson, I couldn’t ignore the opportunity. I had no idea you had any female friends, let alone one like Jodie—man, how have you not hit that until now?”
Dan kept quiet, glaring, waiting to see what the end game was, though he suspected where Kravitz was going.
“Anyway, it was a convenient coincidence. Finally I had something that I could hold over you, since it’s clear you are doe-eyed over her, in love? Dan, you need to get out more. Men shouldn’t fall in love with girls like—”
“What do you want, Kravitz?” Dan said through his teeth.
“I’m just hoping you can help make things go my way for a change.”
“How so? How do you think hurting Jodie will help you in the least?”
“Because I will keep coming at her. I will do whatever I can to cause her trouble unless—”
“Unless what?”
“As it turns out, I’m once again having trouble finding enough financial support for a new project, one that is very near and dear to me. It would certainly benefit from a good review of the proposal, especially from someone who had been so critical of my work previously,” Jason said with a gleam in his eye.
“You’re blackmailing me?”
“That’s so crass. We’re colleagues, doing each other a favor,” Jason said with mock indignation.
“The Eastman experiments were dangerous. I can’t approve them.”
“Even you admitted if I could improve the design of the experiments, they could be worthwhile.”
Dan had said that, but he also worried about such touchy scientific material—having to do with agricultural chemicals—in the ethically shaky hands of someone like Jason Kravitz.
“I’ll have to review the proposal. It’s not just up to me, though. I don’t think the proposal will ever make it through committee.”
“You just hold up your end. You do that and, in the meantime, that reporter from the newspaper should be in touch,” Jason said caustically.
“He has already,” Dan said, moving toward the door before he really did lose his temper.
“Enjoy that. And know there will be more where that came from until I get what I want, which will surely help you keep getting what you want, and help Jodie get what she wants, too,” Jason said. “It works out for everyone.”
“How very convenient.”
“Yes. As it happens, I have a copyright here,” Jason said with a smile, handing him a thick folder.
“I won’t push through a proposal that’s dangerous or untenable, Kravitz. Not even for Jodie,” Dan said.
His scientific ethics wouldn’t allow it. The projects took too much funding that could be used elsewhere, and had the potential to help or hurt millions of people. Dan wasn’t about to put anyone—and particularly struggling farmers in developing countries—at risk with dangerous science.
“Listen, I’m sure she’d like to know where she stands on your priority list,” Jason said. “I’ll be sure to mention it the next time I see her.”
Dan slammed the door hard on the way out.
Jodie was the most important thing to him in the world—except for his ethics. It was clear that Jason wasn’t going to stop harassing Jodie in order to get back at him for what he imagined were past offenses, but Dan couldn’t—and wouldn’t—push through a bad project.
So Jason was right about one thing. Dan was in a mess, and at the moment, he had no idea how to get out of it.
8
A COUPLE OF DAYS LATER, JODIE walked through the stained glass museum on Navy Pier, not ready to go back to work just yet. They’d been scrambling to keep the damage Jason was causing to a minimum. Dan was talking to the FDA while she was talking to the press, and right now she was exhausted. She only wanted to think about how it had been waking up in Dan’s arms that morning. And the other day, in his office, when he’d blindfolded her. They were working together on every level, and the synchronicity between them made her thoughtful as she moved among the museum artifacts.
The intricate, colorful designs of the art glass, some hundreds of years old, reminded her of her life, in a way. So many different aspects of her existence—business, friends, family—were coming together to create one picture, although it was confusing now where it had always been clear. Some pieces were set by masters and others saved from the ravages of the Great Chicago Fire. They were all beautiful, and she came here often, just to look at them and marvel.
And think. Right now, about Dan.
It wasn’t only sex between them, and she knew it. But she wasn’t ready to say what else it was. Not yet. Maybe not ever. Dan had always been the one she relied on to help her process things. His intellect helped her organize the quagmire of emotions, especially regarding things from the past, which often threatened to rise up and strangle her.
She saw Dan, touched him, and she could think again. Breathe again.
Had it always been that way? She reached out to press a fingertip to one of the gold frames, pulling back when some people came up behind her, as if they’d know.
Know what? That the great, untouchable, always-in-control Jodie Patterson was more fragile, more brittle than anyone thought? That she could have doubts, worries and fears—that she might even care more than she intended, opening herself up to the very thing she swore she never would?
“Jodie?” She was shaken from her thoughts,
and turned to find a woman, part of the group behind her, smiling tentatively.
Jodie blanked for a moment, and then realized who it was.
“Donna, wow, how are you?” Jodie said, not having seen Dan’s sister in several years. When they were in college, she went to Dan’s house for holidays and sometimes for visits over summer break, but she hadn’t seen Donna, who was older and lived on her own, for a long time.
“I’m great, how are you?” Donna asked, smiling as she motioned to her group to move on without her, telling them she would catch up.
Jodie wished she hadn’t. Donna was always nice enough, and had been polite the few times they’d met, but Jodie always sensed some sort of disapproval from the woman, as if Jodie weren’t good enough to be friends with her little brother.
Not having siblings of her own, Jodie thought maybe that was normal, for an older sibling to be protective of a younger one, but it still had stung at times.
“You look gorgeous, as usual,” Donna said, and Jodie shrugged, smiling.
What now?
“You still working with the same firm?” she said, trying to fill the silence.
“No, I opened my own office a few years ago. Dan didn’t say anything?”
So she knew that she and Dan still saw each other. Jodie wondered if Donna knew how much of Dan she was seeing recently.
“Um, you know, he might have mentioned it, but there’s always so much going on, and you know—” Jodie hedged.
“I see, yes. Listen…I know you guys are…seeing each other,” Donna said.
Jodie straightened her spine. “Oh, um, I—”
She’d intended to say something slightly smarter, but had no idea what to say.
“He’s crazy about you.”
Jodie still stared in dumb silence, and Donna didn’t say anything back, but she held up her hands.
“Listen, I know he’s all grown up and it’s none of my business. I just hate to see him get hurt.”
“I would never hurt Dan,” Jodie said plainly. “He’s my best friend in the world.”
“I know. But you have to know he thinks of you as more than a friend.”
Jodie took a deep breath, wishing a big wind or wave or something would wash up over the pier and get her out of this awkward conversation right now.
“I do. But, like you said, it’s really not your business,” Jodie said stiffly.
“I know, I know. Listen, I don’t want to fight or have bad feelings. I just wanted to know that you know what you’re doing. Dan’s different. He’s a relationship guy, no matter what he says, not the guy whose name you don’t know who just leaves the next morning.”
Jodie barked out a harsh laugh. “Wow. So nice to know your high opinion of me.”
“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean it that way. I do like you. I admire what you’ve accomplished, and even how you live your life. Believe me,” she said with a sheepish smile, “there have been times I’ve been tempted to ask you how you manage it. I can’t seem to come across a guy who either isn’t married or doesn’t drag me through some heartbreak.”
“Oh,” Jodie said, surprised.
“But I worry about Dan. I just want you to really think about whatever it is you guys have, what you’re doing and what the fallout might be.”
Jodie nodded, her pique deflated. “I know. I do. All the time.”
Donna looked like she wanted to ask more, but reined in the questions.
“Listen, if this does work out between you two, I want us to be friends,” Donna said hesitantly.
“That would be nice. But maybe we could be friends anyway. We’re both professional women, we both work here. We could have coffee sometime.”
Donna smiled. “That would be nice. But allow me one sisterly moment, Jodie, and let me ask you not to hurt him. Because you can. Dan has never really had his heart broken, but if anyone can do it, you can. Just keep that in mind.”
Jodie opened her mouth to say something—she had no idea what. Reassurances? Rebuttals?
But one of Donna’s group came back to get her, and she said polite goodbyes, leaving Jodie standing there alone again.
Well, that was an interesting moment.
Obviously, Donna still thought of her little brother as some overly sensitive science geek instead of the hot, experienced man he was. Dan could handle whatever came his way. Donna needed to give him more credit.
But a little voice was dancing around in Jodie’s head now—was she just making excuses because she knew what Donna said was right?
She was taking Dan out tonight, and had to get home and get ready. In truth, she was a little nervous about it. They were meeting a bunch of her friends at a club. It wasn’t something she’d planned on, but she had a night out with the girls, and they wanted to meet the new guy who had been taking up her time. Especially when they found out it was the infamous Dan Ellison she’d always talked about.
She moved along, the conversation with Donna playing in her head, grabbed a Coke from a vendor out on the pier and walked back toward her car when her cell phone rang in her purse.
“This is Jodie,” she answered like she always did on her business line, though she didn’t recognize the number.
“Jodie Patterson?”
“Yes?”
“You should be ashamed of yourself!”
The angry statement caught her off guard, and she froze, about to hit the button to unlock her car.
“Who is this?”
“Esmerelda James, from the South Side Retirement Center. I cannot believe that your bakery is selling cookies with drugs in them!” the indignant woman huffed. “Was this some kind of joke you thought would be funny to play on the seniors? Do you think old people don’t know about these things? We ordered six dozen of those cookies for our annual picnic, and now we have to try to find something else at the last minute!”
Jodie pinched the bridge of her nose, cursing Jason silently as she let the woman’s tirade wear down. She couldn’t last much longer…Jodie hoped.
“Mrs. James, I assure you, there is nothing harmful or inappropriate in those cookies.”
“That isn’t what the nice young man who called said.”
“What nice young man?” Jodie asked. Apparently Jason had called under the guise of a local health department official, reporting the “problem” with the bakery’s cookies, and the story in the news wouldn’t help much, either.
Jodie had gone to talk to the Sun-Times reporter, but he’d obviously thought Jason’s side of the story was sexier. While incorporating some of Jodie’s quotes, pitted against Jason’s Ph.D. and lofty scientific claims, she’d sounded ridiculous and defensive in the piece that was printed. Dan didn’t agree, but he wasn’t being objective.
“I wish you wouldn’t cancel your order,” she said, keeping a level, friendly tone. Mrs. James was not the one she was angry with. Jason must have sneaked a look at her order book while he was stealing the formula. Unfortunately, there still wasn’t anything she could do to prove any of it.
He’d claimed to have bought some of the cookies and then noted some “effects” he thought were disturbing. Running a few of his own diagnostics, he had claimed to find some sort of additive or drug in the frosting, and had reported it to the FDA. She hadn’t heard anything from the government, but Dan had assured her he had contacts, and would head Jason off at the pass.
Right now, she just wanted to keep from losing any business.
“I can do anything you like, and even change the frosting. There’s no need to use our Passionate Hearts formula. Just let me know what I can do to make this right for you.”
“Well, I don’t know,” Esmerelda equivocated.
Jodie swallowed hard. “Fifty percent off. And we’ll throw in another dozen if you keep your business with us.”
She would be selling the cookies under cost, but what else could she do?
“Okay. But if you can just give us the plain frosting, that would be preferred. The last thing we ne
ed around here is a bunch of frisky seniors,” Esmerelda said wearily, and Jodie had to smile in spite of the situation.
“I promise. Thank you, Mrs. James.”
Jodie didn’t realize until she put her phone back in her purse that her hands were shaking.
Why was that? She’d had confrontations in business before, and they never shook her up. So why did she feel like everything was caving in?
Taking a deep breath, she got in the car and drove the short distance across town to stop by Just Eat It before she went home to get dressed for her night out.
As she pulled into her parking spot, she frowned as she saw a crowd filing out the door. What now?
Coming in through the back, she saw a harried Ginger trying to cover ten places at once, and customers waiting anxiously for service.
“Ginger, what’s the deal?”
Ginger pushed her hair back into her cap, and rolled her eyes. “They all want to put in orders for Passionate Hearts before the FDA tells us we can’t sell them anymore. We’re sold out of everything we have, and I have more in the oven, but I can’t keep up.”
“You should have called—I would have come right in.”
“You have a lot on your shoulders. You need a morning off, too, you know? I’ve kept up—just barely.”
“Bonus in your check this week, my friend,” Jodie said, meaning it and donning her apron.
It was madness. Some people wanted cookies right now, to stock up on, including the notorious Mrs. Mitchell.
There was a large group of new faces, people who hadn’t known about her Passionate Hearts formula, and a singles group who wanted to see if her cookies could help them snag the mate of their dreams.
Jodie fielded questions, clarified misunderstandings, and took orders as quickly as she could, muttering under her breath to Ginger, “They’re cookies, not miracle makers.” One particularly desperate woman asked if they would help her attract the man at work she had been crushing on for a while. Even though he was twenty years younger.
There seemed to be a never-ending line of people, and when Jodie looked up to see Dan staring at the crowd in amazed wonder, she put him to work, too. The more hands the better.
Samantha Hunter Page 9
