by Debora Ryan
As the evening drew to a close, the huge knot Will had carefully dispelled re-formed in Leah’s stomach. She knew he was going to ask to come into her apartment tonight. When he unlocked her door and slipped the keys back into her purse, she was so nervous, she wouldn’t have been surprised if hives suddenly dotted her neck.
“Do you mind if I come in for a minute? I need to use your bathroom.”
Leah didn’t know why he felt the need to make an excuse. After all, by the terms he had set forth, she had to make herself ‘available’ to him. She pushed open the door, but he motioned for her to enter first.
Will followed, firmly closing the door behind him. He eyed the long row of locks through slightly narrowed eyes. “I don’t know why you live in such a tough neighborhood. You’d think with an extra six million dollars you could afford a place in a safer location.”
Ignoring him, Leah threw her coat on the couch and pointed through the kitchen to a short hallway. “The bathroom is that way.” She stared after him and made a decision. If it was going to happen, it would be on her terms.
He emerged before too long. Leah stood in the kitchen, stuffing her mail into a drawer. She made mental notes to hide all of her personal items. The less he knew about her, the better.
“Hey, the Wings played tonight. Do you mind if I check the score?”
More subterfuge. Leah frowned. It wasn’t necessary. She shrugged noncommittally and went back to what she was doing.
Will paused in the doorway that led to the tiny living room. “Where is your TV?”
“I don’t have one,” she said.
“You don’t have a TV?” he repeated incredulously. “How can you not have a TV?” Understanding dawned on him. “It’s in the bedroom.” He pivoted to face her.
“I don’t have a TV. Or a computer. Or a cell phone. Or an answering machine.” She nodded past him to where the phone was mounted on the wall. “I don’t even have a cordless phone. Sorry, Will. My apartment is decidedly low-tech. The best I can offer you is a radio. The one in the living room is broken, but I can sometimes get a strong signal on the clock radio in the bedroom. However, I think you can get better reception in your car.”
He frowned at her. “You don’t drink, not really. I’ve haven’t seen evidence you do drugs or that you have a gambling problem. What on earth have you done with all that money?”
Her face closed faster than an automotive assembly plant. She told him she hadn’t taken the money, but he hadn’t believed her. Even if she proved she had only taken part of the money, it would still be enough to send her away. She couldn’t abandon Cecelia, not when the destruction of her sister’s life was her fault. Self-preservation instincts effectively killed any desire she might have to confide in Will.
“It’s none of your business.” She moved the four steps to the bedroom door and pointed to the clock radio.
Will closed the distance between them and crushed her in his arms. When he spoke, his voice was muffled by her hair. “I’m sorry. One day you’ll trust me enough to tell me all of your secrets. ”
She did put her arms around him. “Are you going to kiss me again?” She stood on her toes, leaning her weight against him. This would happen on her terms or it wouldn’t happen at all.
“Leah, are you sure about this?”
Her lips curled seductively, triumphantly for only a moment before they met his. She moved her mouth against his, inviting him to open to her. He did, crushing her to him and lifting her for more access. The kiss took on a life of its own, creating urgency and need.
Will set her back down and took one step away. He shook his head and ran a hand through his dark hair. “Leah, this doesn’t feel right.”
She stared at him, stunned to her core. “Isn’t this what you want?”
He blinked and looked away. “I want this to be what you want first.”
* * * *
The ball sliced left and dropped neatly into the water hazard.
Thomas Dannaker laughed and shook his head. “You haven’t played this badly since the first time I took you out.”
Will handed his club back to the caddy. He didn’t respond to his father’s observation. These outings obtained ritual status during Will’s teen years when Tom’s friend had suggested this was a nice father-son bonding experience.
Though Will had learned to play, and he usually played pretty well, no bonding had really taken place. To begin with, Thomas often invited friends, clients, or members of his executive team to join them. Will became an expert at socializing and making business contacts, a skill which had come in handy when he’d begun his own company.
Will loved his father, but the man frequently irritated the hell out of him.
“How close are you to finding the missing money?” Tom lined up his next shot and took a few practice swings.
“I don’t know,” Will said. He had many of the facts, but the figures didn’t make sense. Squinting against the sun’s glare, he measured the distance to the end of the hole.
Tom adjusted his hat so that the brim did its job. He lined up his shot again and nailed it. “She’s pretty, don’t you think?”
Will didn’t bother to pretend he didn’t know who his father meant. Leah was beyond pretty. “Yeah. She’s pretty.”
“And smart.”
Will nodded and climbed into the cart. “Smart enough to be a vice president. She should be an executive, Dad. I don’t think you understand exactly how much business she brings in.”
“I’d be more inclined to consider promoting her if I knew she wasn’t personally responsible for six million dollars missing.” Tom pressed the gas hard to emphasize his point. “Even if she didn’t take it, this happened on her watch. She’s professionally responsible.”
The underlying censure didn’t escape Will’s notice. Not only was Thomas Dannaker upset about the theft, he was upset about having to hire his son’s fraud investigation firm. Will had rejected Thomas’s offer of a job upon graduation, and Thomas hadn’t taken it well. It was just another layer of tension stretching their already thin relationship.
“I’ll find it.” Will smoothed out a wrinkle in his pants and hoped to hell Leah hadn’t spent the money. If he could convince her to return it, then perhaps he could convince his father to not press charges.
There had to be a good reason for her to have taken the money. Leah was a lot of things, but the title of ‘thief’ didn’t quite fit. She had been shocked to hear the sum of six million, and she had denied taking it. But she hadn’t resisted his terms.
He closed his eyes against the stress headache starting at the base of his skull. Though he loved solving problems, the stakes on this one were too high. He was already half in love with Leah. She needed to come clean. The sooner she did that, the easier it would be for him to control the damage.
Chapter 8
Leah’s life fell into a pattern over the next few months. Her time was largely divided between visiting with Cecelia and spending time with Will. She found that he left her alone more often than not on the weekends. She was always busy on Saturday, and he was frequently required to attend activities with family or friends on Sunday. Surprisingly, he respected her wish to keep their relationship between them.
Each Tuesday, he would regale her with a vivid recounting of his experiences from the weekend. Leah felt as if she knew his parents, sister and brother, his nieces and his friends. She wondered if he spoke of her at all, even in general terms, to them. They usually ended up at her apartment, where he left her breathlessly blissful. It surprised Leah that her passion for him seemed to grow instead of fade, and Will showed no sign he was tiring of her.
In a place she kept buried deep down, she fervently wished they had started on different footing. He wasn’t anything like the spoiled rich kid she’d originally taken him for.
The day darkened into a rare weekday evening she spent alone. Will’s great-aunt was in town, and he was dining at his parents’ house. He indicated he might sto
p by later, but that he’d call first in case she wasn’t home. When the phone rang, she leapt up to answer it, cringing at her eagerness to hear his voice.
“Hello?”
Anne’s voice came over the phone instead. “Leah, I’m in your parking lot. Do you mind if I come up?”
“Sure. Ring and I’ll buzz you in.” Leah was bewildered by the crispness of Anne’s voice.
Leah opened her interior door to find Anne, her eyes little more than blue ice and her lips compressed to a thin line. Concern and a little trepidation twisted in Leah’s stomach. She couldn’t remember having done anything to upset Anne. “What’s wrong?”
“Why don’t you tell me?” Anne challenged her with that stony look.
Leah turned all the locks and sank onto her sofa. “You’re mad at me, Annie. Why don’t you start?”
“Are we or are we not best friends?”
Leah pursed her lips. She had no idea where this was heading. “We are.”
“Then why are you dating someone and keeping it a secret from me?” Anne sat next to Leah on the only piece of furniture in the room available for that purpose. “Do you honestly think I don’t know when you’re seeing someone? I don’t understand why you wouldn’t tell me about it.”
Leah turned her head away and her eyes toward the ancient, faded carpet that might have once been beige or pink or even green. “I’m not…It’s not…” she trailed off, uncertain of what to say. Anne was savvy. She would spot a lie or a half-truth a mile away.
“I know it’s Will,” she said. “Don’t think I’ve missed that. I see the way you look at him and the way he looks at you. You’re subtle, both of you. I don’t think anyone else has picked up on it at the office. I know he sent you those flowers you threw away last April.” She flopped back dramatically, flinging her arms out. “Why are you shutting me out, Lee-Lee? You’ve never done this before.”
It would do no good to pretend there was nothing going on between her and Will. Anne might not know she was only seeing Will because he was blackmailing her, but she had picked up on Leah’s attraction to him. Leah rubbed at her eyes, buying time.
“Annie, there are some things I can’t tell you, not yet. Please understand, nobody knows.”
“I’m not ‘nobody,’ Leah. I’m your best friend. I’m the one who has been with you for everything. I’m the one who stuck by you when it was clear Cece wasn’t going to ever be the same. Remember our promise to each other? That no matter what, we’d always be there for one another? I haven’t abandoned Cece, even though she might not understand that now, and I’m not going to let you push me away.”
A tear escaped Leah’s eye. Anne saw it, and her ire melted instantly. She flung her arms around Leah’s neck. “Oh, Leah! I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to upset you. I’m happy for you. Will is a great guy. He’s never once hit on me or even checked me out.”
She longed to tell Anne of her dilemma, knowing that just talking about it would release some of her burden. But she knew if she told Anne everything that Anne would hate Will for her, that she’d try to help Leah find a way out of this. There was no way out of it without admitting what she’d done, and that was not an option. Going to prison would be detrimental to Cecelia’s health and well-being.
And she didn’t want to stop seeing Will.
“It’s not serious.”
“How long before the flowers did it start?”
Leah gritted her teeth against the hope and happiness in Anne’s voice. “The day before.”
One of Anne’s beautifully sculpted brows arched. “Really? Was the first date that bad?”
“No. I didn’t want to go out with him.”
“Then why did you?”
“I didn’t have a choice. It was like losing a bet. He chose the terms. I let him know I wasn’t happy about it.”
Anne waited patiently. Her expression of puzzlement and disbelief begged for details. Leah couldn’t think of anything more to say that wouldn’t be an outright lie. “I’d like to know the terms of this ‘bet’ of yours.”
Leah shook her head, blushing furiously. “I won’t even discuss it with him.”
A long, loud exasperated exhale sounded from Anne. “Leah, you have to know how that sounds. The possibilities going through my head are probably nothing compared to the reality. Why don’t you just tell me and give my imagination a rest?”
Leah stood up and walked around the coffee table to the kitchen. She threw her refusal over her shoulder. “Don’t ask, Anne. Just don’t ask.”
“Fine,” Anne said as she rose to follow Leah. “Then give me the other details. Where has he taken you? Does Mr. Dannaker know about it yet? Is he a good kisser? Have you slept with him? Dish, girl.”
The water from the sink hissed as Leah filled her tea kettle. “He’s taken me out to eat. We’ve seen a few movies. He took me to a play at the Masonic. Things like that.” Leah fished two mugs from the cabinet. “Do you want Lemon and White or Moroccan Mint? I think I have Chai and Green somewhere.”
“Chai if you have it, lemon if you don’t.” Anne paused, waiting for Leah to continue. Leah concentrated on measuring honey into her tea and sugar into Anne’s. “Details, Leah,” Anne prompted.
“That’s it. There’s nothing more to tell.”
“Have you kissed him?”
Leah sighed. “Yes. He’s a fabulous kisser.” She put Anne’s tea in front of her and parked herself across the table.
“So, is it serious?”
Leah shook her head once and followed up with a shrug. “I don’t know what it is.”
Anne stayed well into the evening, asking hard questions about Leah’s relationship with Will. Eventually, an exasperated Leah blew up at Anne. “This isn’t something I want to talk about. It isn’t something I want to think about. I don’t know where this thing with Will is headed or where I want it to go, or where I don’t want it to go. It isn’t cut-and-dried. Nothing is ever easy with that man.”
Mercifully, Anne changed the subject without voicing the thought that prompted her to give Leah a strange look after her outburst.
* * * *
The very next day, Mr. Dannaker called her into his office for an unexpected meeting. “Leah, several friends of mine have called to ask me about the woman who has been seen all over town with Will. Is there something going on I should know about?”
Leah tilted her head to one side. “I’m not sure why you would ask me and not him.”
“Because if you inform me your extracurricular activities are actually business related, I won’t have to bring up this subject with William. He’s always been reticent to share this kind of information with his mother and me. He’s a headstrong boy. He always has been. I’m proud of him, of course, but I don’t pretend to understand him.”
Leah held up a hand to cut him off. She knew from Will’s tales that he and his father did not agree on a number of subjects. They were close in some respects, but not in others. “Mr. Dannaker, I’m not comfortable discussing personal matters with you. Not yours, not mine, and not Will’s. If you want to know about Will’s personal life, then you will need to ask him, not me. As a rule, I stay out of these things as much as possible. I’m sure you understand.”
He nodded and sighed.
“Was there anything else, sir?”
“No,” he said sadly, “that’s all.”
Will ambushed her, pushing her into an empty office when she returned from her brief, strange meeting with his father. He closed the door behind him, leaning against it to keep out anyone else. “What did he want?”
Understanding dawned on Leah. Mr. Dannaker had already tried to get information from Will. Slowly, she asked, “What do you think he wanted?”
“I don’t know.” He shrugged. He smoothed his unwrinkled tie, the only sign of his nervousness. “He could have wanted a number of things. One never knows with my father.”
“What happened this weekend?” she asked.
Will frowned. “I asked yo
u first.”
Leah leaned toward Will, not caring that he didn’t like having the interrogation turned on him. “I hope you don’t think I discuss these kinds of meeting with my employees.”
His gaze moved between her eyes and her lips. Leah could tell he wanted to kiss her, but he was fighting the urge. “Saturday, when we golfed, he said some of his friends had seen me out with someone. He figured out it was you.”
“Did you confirm his guess?”
“I didn’t deny it.”
Leah sighed. “He wanted to know if our ‘dates’ were business-related.”
“What did you tell him?” Will’s trepidation was plastered on his features.
Arching a proud brow, Leah laughed. “I can obfuscate with the best of them. I neither confirmed nor denied anything. I said he’d have to ask you.”
“Well played.” A smile accompanied his compliment. “I don’t want to deal with him right now. He will have a definite opinion on it that I won’t want to hear.”
Leah smiled brashly. “Mixing business with…business?”
“Something like that,” he mused. He stepped suddenly closer. “I’ve missed you.”
She put a hand on his chest to maintain the space between them. Little sparks tingled on her fingertips, and she fought the urge to throw her arms around him. She’d missed him, too. Somewhere along the way, she had stopped thinking about the blackmail when she was with him. Forgetting could only lead to heartbreak.
“Will,” she warned. “Not here.”
“Can I see you tonight?”
Leah stiffened. “It’s Wednesday. You know I see my sister on Wednesday.”
Will’s head dropped, defeated. After a very long time, he looked back at her. “Not even for a minute?”
She laughed, uncomfortable with his obvious pain. “You can wait until tomorrow. It won’t kill you.”
“It’s already killing me. I haven’t seen you since last Friday.”
