Carl had argued that she had to know something, but Kinsley had only shrugged and changed the subject.
Now, standing here looking up at the enormous warehouse that…why weren’t there any other buildings around here? There was something off in the distance, but she didn’t know what it was. It looked like a road or…she shook her head, dismissing the view. “Work,” she reminded herself. “I’m here to work, not speculate.” Whatever was at the end of that long, winding road, it wasn’t any of her business. The landscaping had obviously been strategically placed to hide whatever it was.
With that in mind, she stepped up to the door and pulled. The door didn’t budge. “That’s odd,” she whispered. Yesterday, the man had simply pulled on the door. She’d wondered about the lack of security. Looking around, she wondered what time he usually arrived. He’d said to be here at eight o’clock and it was seven fifty-eight now.
As soon as she turned away, she heard the door swish open. “Come on in, Ms. McCabe.”
Kinsley swung around, startled to find the man holding the door open.
“I thought…the door was locked,” she blurted out defensively. Goodness, had he been this tall yesterday?
What a silly question! Of course he’d been this tall, she admonished herself. He hadn’t stretched several inches overnight!
The man didn’t say a word, but Kinsley noticed an amused sparkle in his eye. “I swear, I tried the door,” she insisted, feeling foolish. “It was locked, so I thought you hadn’t arrived yet.”
He didn’t speak, but a sinister eyebrow shot up. He stepped back and Kinsley nodded sharply as she walked into the building. Unfortunately, because he was such a tall man with enormously broad shoulders, Kinsley had to turn sideways as she went through the door and…!
No! She wasn’t feeling breathless and strangely tingly now that she was inside the building! Absolutely not! No way would Kinsley feel any sort of attraction for her employer! She was in a solid, satisfying relationship! She loved….um…staring up into Lincoln Meyers’ silver eyes, Kinsley couldn’t remember her boyfriend’s name. Had she noticed the small sparks of yellow in his eyes yesterday? No, she definitely hadn’t. She would have remembered something as fascinating as those yellow flecks.
“This way,” he instructed. He turned and walked down the wide, undecorated hallway lit with fluorescent lights. There were no shadows in this hallway. Just white walls and a door at either end.
The door swished silently closed behind them, making the next hallway, which was oddly narrow, feel strangely intimate. But he kept moving and Kinsley took a deep breath, shaking her head before she turned to follow him toward the workroom.
“I have the forms filled out,” she called to him. He didn’t stop, or even slow down, and she trotted along behind him, unwilling to fall behind. “I signed everything except for the non-disclosure agreement,” she continued.
He stopped abruptly and turned, frowning down at her. “Why not?”
Kinsley was so surprised that it took her a moment to think. The way he seemed to be looming over her didn’t help. And Lincoln Meyers took “looming” to an art form!
“Um…well…” she blinked, thinking that he had sexy lips.
“Are you going to talk about my…?”
“No!” she gasped, horrified. “Absolutely not!”
The full force of those yellow-flecked, silver eyes nearly overwhelmed her. It was terrifying and…exhilarating!
“Then why didn’t you sign it?” he demanded.
She licked her lips, stunned by the anger in his voice. “Because I assumed you’d want to witness my signature. You know,” she stammered, hating how awkward and silly she felt, “to make it more official.”
That seemed to soothe his anger, but he continued to glare at her for another long moment. Finally, he nodded sharply and…although he didn’t move, Kinsley felt as if she could breathe a bit easier. How did he do that? How did he seem to almost speak with just his eyes? Without saying a word, she could feel his mood change and almost hear what he was thinking. It was a neat trick!
“Fine.” He turned and started walking again. “This way.”
He led her through the doorway and into the massive warehouse. Kinsley tried not to look at the various tables, but her fingers itched to organize everything. The workspaces looked as if they were just jumbles of…stuff! Surely if she ordered some bins, he wouldn’t mind if she put similar items into each bin. Just to get all of the thingamabobs off of the tables and out of the way of…whatever it was that he was working on. She couldn’t tell what he was building from what was laid out. Perhaps in time, she’d understand what the man was trying to create.
But this was her first day on the job and Kinsley reminded herself not to change anything. She could slowly ease him into a more organized work space. He simply needed to see the benefit of organization. To understand how chaos strangled one’s mind! If everything were in a bin, he could more easily find whatever it was that he was looking for!
“Let’s see the forms,” he said as soon as they entered his office. He sat down behind a desk and she handed him the papers, all filled out and neatly signed at the bottom. She’d purposely left the NDA on the top and he flipped it around, handing her a pen. “Sign this.”
She immediately bent to sign the agreement, the silence thick and heavy between them. Carefully, she signed her name and handed him the pen back, flipping the NDA back towards him. “Keep the pen,” he snapped but took the NDA and stuffed it into what looked like a random file in one of the drawers of his desk. He handed her a note pad. “You look like a note taker,” he said, by way of explanation. “Let’s tour the building now.”
The rest of the papers she’d meticulously filled out last night were left in the middle of his desk. Kinsley had to curl her fingers into tight fists to keep herself from grabbing the file and putting it neatly away somewhere. She’d get to that later, she promised herself, then turned and hurried out of the office. As she walked out, Kinsley looked around, noticing that there weren’t any decorations here either. She’d been too nervous to notice anything yesterday, but now she absorbed the fact that the man’s office was furnished with an old-style steel desk, big, leather chair, and a desk lamp. There were stacks of files on top of his desk, but no window, no plants, no pictures to soften the bare, white walls and harsh, overhead lighting.
“What do you know about my operation?” He asked.
Kinsley straightened her shoulders, trying to focus on his question and not the lack of décor. She was proud that she’d done her research and was prepared for this question. “You’ve invented several amazing improvements to vehicle safety and efficiency over the past decade.” She rattled off several of the items she’d discovered.
Lincoln nodded, listening quietly. She’d discovered the main stuff, the fancy inventions he’d patented. But the new carburetor and the increased fuel monitor weren’t mentioned.
He paused at the first worktable. “Everything in this room is top secret. So, nothing that you see here can be mentioned outside of these walls.” He eyed her carefully. “This is a new windshield wiper mechanism.” He moved to the next table. “And this will eventually be a more efficient cooling system for refrigerators.” Lincoln moved from one table to the next, telling her whatever popped into his head, all of it lies. He didn’t really think that Kinsley McCabe would talk about what he was building here, but he had to be sure. So, he fabricated different ideas for each workspace. He’d monitor the news feeds over the next few weeks to determine if any of what he told her reached the news. Since he knew that she didn’t have the mechanical engineering knowledge to figure out exactly what he was working on, this was the best way to evaluate her integrity.
“And this will be your office,” he announced as he opened the door to a relatively large office that was brightly lit with more of that obnoxious, overhead lighting, a plain, modular desk, ergonomic chair, a powerful laptop as well as a printer, copier and other office
machines. The furniture was top of the line and formed a U shape so that the person could easily shift from the computer to the printer or the door.
“Where is the filing space?” She asked.
“Through that door,” he nodded towards another doorway.
“Excellent,” she replied, rubbing her hands together. “Okay, so what are my duties?”
He pointed his chin at the computer. “I need a work up on the financial status and cost controls on each of my projects. The receipts for the items I’ve ordered are in that box,” he explained, pointing to a large box on the corner of her desk. “Can you let me know the cost for each project to date?”
She smiled and his gut tightened. That smile transformed her face from lovely to utterly stunning and he wondered if he’d made a massive mistake in hiring the gorgeous Kinsley McCabe. Her bright, blue eyes were a bit too enthusiastic, her nose too cute, and those lips…! Good grief, the things that rosebud mouth could do to him!
At the moment, she was bubbling with enthusiasm. Another attribute that he liked. Too damn much! “Absolutely!”
Damn, he liked her! She’d thrown him for a moment over the NDA. But he liked that she’d only held off so that he could witness her signature. It might be all a pretense, but Lincoln suspected that Kinsley McCabe was a very honest person. He liked that about her. Hell, there were a lot of things he liked about her.
Still, he backed out of the office. “The other main issue you’ll need to do for me is to answer the phones and keep the reporters away. They call constantly, asking for interviews.” He frowned. “I don’t give interviews. Ever! Remember that, but when they call, keep them guessing. It’s the only way I’ve been able to control their seemingly never-ending requests. I just toss out the odd tidbit and see where it goes.”
He paused, rubbing the bridge of his nose and he suddenly looked as if he’d been working for the past twenty-four hours and the fatigue was finally hitting him. “Just…keep them away from me.”
“Got it,” she replied, nodding for emphasis. “What else?”
He chuckled. “Isn’t that enough to get you started? I suspect it’ll keep you pretty busy for a while.”
She smiled again and he could barely rip his eyes away. When she smiled, she was a bit like the sun; dangerous, luring him in with her beams of warmth even though he knew that he could get burnt.
“I’m going to be in the work room for a while. Interrupt me if you have questions.”
With that, he escaped into his work room and flipped a switch that added extra light to the entire space. He put in his headphones and did what he did best. He tinkered, moving from one table to the next, fixing things, tweaking switches, fiddling with the components. Normally, his thoughts worked faster than his hands. But knowing that the adorably sexy Ms. McCabe was in the office on the other side of the wall was distracting.
Chapter 3
“I need your help.”
Kinsley looked up from the receipt she was trying to decipher. For the past week, she’d been squinting at receipts, pulling her hair out in an effort to determine how to associate each cost to the projects.
So when he poked his head into her office, it took Kinsley a long moment to shift gears. “I’m sorry?”
He waved his hand. “Leave all that. I need your help with something.”
Kinsley grabbed a pen and notebook, and obediently followed behind Lincoln. “How can I help?” she asked, excited for a distraction after working in her office all week with no interruptions other than phone calls from reporters and investors asking, demanding, threatening, and terrorizing her in their efforts to speak with Lincoln Meyers. One person had literally threatened an FBI investigation on her if she didn’t bring the man to the phone immediately. At that time, Lincoln hadn’t even been in the building…at least, she hadn’t seen him that morning. But…that wasn’t out of the ordinary. Some days, she didn’t see him at all, although he’d leave instructions on her desk.
He fascinated her and the more she learned about him, the more she…liked. If her boyfriend became angry when she refused to tell him anything about her new, mysterious employer or what she was doing for the famous recluse, it didn’t bother Kinsley in the least. She considered guarding his privacy part of her job.
“Kinsley!” he bellowed.
Kinsley glared at his back from her doorway. “I’m not a dog, Mr. Meyers,” she snapped. “And I’m right here, waiting for instruction. No need to bellow when a kind word will suffice.”
He stopped and looked over his shoulder at her. Did his gaze move over her figure? Kinsley wasn’t sure.
“I’m well aware of that fact.” He turned and headed out the door, disappearing into one of the rare sunny days in Seattle.
Kinsley followed at a more leisurely pace. She wasn’t racing after a man who hollered at her. No way!
When she stepped outside, he was already sitting on his motorcycle, strapping his helmet on. “Here,” he handed a helmet to her. “Put this on and climb on.”
Kinsley blinked at the helmet in her hands, not sure what he meant. “Why would I put this on?”
“Because I need your help. Come on.”
She eyed the bike, then at his massive back that was literally rippling with muscles underneath a white tee shirt. Swallowing, she shook her head, stepping back from the bike. “Nope. I don’t ride motorcycles. Do you know what the death rate on motorcycles is these days?”
He chuckled. “I’m very well aware of the death rate. Which is why I need your help.”
Again, she shook her head, tucking the helmet underneath her arm. “Nope. No way!”
He chuckled. “Fine. Drive your little Prius over to the track.” A moment later, he was off, zipping down the driveway towards the mysterious area she’d wondered about.
For a long moment, Kinsley stared after him, not sure if she should follow him down that mysterious road, or head back into her office to figure out the zillions of seemingly random receipts. Eventually, curiosity got the better of her. She was eager to spend a little time outside of those four, harshly white walls. Hurrying back around the building, she grabbed her keys and drove around the building in the direction Lincoln had gone.
Sure enough, he’d parked the motorcycle next to what looked like a huge racetrack. It even banked at the ends, presumably for safety when a vehicle rounded those corners. Huh! The guy owned a racetrack! That was new. She’d heard of home theaters or basketball courts, private exercise rooms, even a special studio in one’s house for yoga. The rich and famous tended to be an odd breed. But none of the articles she’d read included a racetrack on a wealthy person’s estate.
“Okay, I’m here. How can I help?”
He was attaching something to the motorcycle, using a wrench and a few other tools that Kinsley didn’t recognize. “Grab a pair of headphones from that box over there and put them on. I’ll be talking to you through the speaker connected to my helmet. You’ll need to time and log the various intervals I’ll give you.” He stood up and Kinsley’s eyes moved down over his long, muscular legs, her mouth going a bit dry.
Stop staring at his legs, she scolded herself. But her eyes drifted upward, taking in his thigh muscles. And his arms. The tee shirt had short sleeves, so she could see the bulging muscles in his arms. The triceps twitched every time he turned the wrench, mesmerizing her.
Blinking hard, she forced her gaze away and peered in the direction he’d pointed. There was a box filled with headphones and other strange equipment, a tangled mess of speakers and wires and odd things poking out of the box that didn’t seem to have anything to do with headphones.
She walked over and pulled at something that looked like a single headphone set, unraveling the wires to release the headset. “What am I timing?”
“Me,” he said as he swung his leg over the motorcycle, kicked the stand out of the way and revved the engine. Sliding the helmet back over his head, he glanced over at her, nodding towards the headsets again.
&n
bsp; Quickly, Kinsley put the headphones on, then stepped closer when he motioned for her forward.
He reached out to adjust the microphone, his touch making her skin tingle, then flipped a switch under her right ear. She shivered, and tried to pretend she hadn’t.
“Can you hear me now?”
His deep, sexy voice came right through to her ear. She nodded, feeling that tingling sensation envelop her.
“Say something so that I can test your microphone, to make sure that you’re connected to me as well.”
Despite the rumbling of his motorcycle engine, Kinsley could hear him clearly through the head set. “Is this okay?”
He grinned and winked at her. “Perfect.”
Kinsley managed not to shiver again, but it was more of a struggle than she’d care to admit.
When he finally turned away, Kinsley breathed a sigh of relief.
Her relief was short-lived as she watched Lincoln speed off down the track. “Time the laps, Kinsley,” she heard through her head set. “Make sure that you capture the time as I go over the yellow line on the track.”
Kinsley looked in the box and found a stopwatch, carefully untangling the cord. “Okay, ready. Tell me when to start.”
A chuckle echoed through the connection. “How about when I rounded that last corner.”
“Too late,” she shot back, grinning at his playful tone.
“That’s not very efficient, Kinsley.”
She shook her head, smiling even though he couldn’t see her. “Listen, buddy, I’ve been threatened by about ten different people this week because I wouldn’t let them talk to you. So don’t even try to intimidate me now.”
One More Kiss (Forsaken Sons Book 1) Page 2
