by Cathryn Fox
“Who the hell is Hooker Barbie?”
“Deanne Sinclair. She wants my job. Obviously.” This was turning out to be some pissing contest.
He scoffed and shook his head. “I had my own run-in with her. And it wasn’t my job she was after.” The details of the encounter weren’t worth mentioning.
She closed her eyes in distress and then nodded toward the paper. “What does she mean, you’re on probationary status?”
Kale let out a long sigh. “A few months back I fucked up at Castech, and if I fuck up again, I’m out of a job.” He scrubbed his hand over his jaw. “Apparently Deanne’s been busy, doing a little research of her own. She’s been digging into my confidential records.”
“Like Deanne said, if I don’t step down, I’ll be dragging you with me. And I’m not about to do that.” She got quiet for a moment and then added, “Talk about one hell of a bump in the road, Kale. I guess this is your exit.”
The significance of her actions didn’t elude him. Erin was willing to give up her career, the one thing that meant the world to her, to save his. A sudden rush of warmth enveloped him as his heart tightened in his chest. No woman had ever done anything so meaningful, so touching for him before. His chest swelled as the love he felt for her grew to insurmountable proportions.
“What are you talking about, Erin? I’m not going to let you step down.”
Her tongue darted over her lips, moistening them. Her eyes opened wide as surprise registered on her face. “You will if you want to save your own ass.”
“Fuck my ass. Wait.” He shook his head, flustered. “That came out all wrong.”
Perplexed, she looked at him. “This is your out, Kale. Why would you go down with me when you don’t have to?”
He hauled her into the circle of his arms. “Unless it’s in the bedroom, sweetheart, neither one of us is going down. Besides, I take full responsibility for what happened this afternoon.”
Dark eyes flashed with tumultuous emotions. Her chin came up a notch, astonished. Her voice was low. “A man who takes responsibility. That’s so refreshing.” She conjured a smile. “But you weren’t the only one in that room, Kale.”
Eyes riveted on hers, he dragged a finger over her chin, her cheek, and brushed her hair from her shoulders. “It doesn’t matter. I’m the one who seduced you.”
Erin arched a brow. “And here I thought it was the other way around.”
He snaked his arms around her waist and held her tighter. “You worked your tail off for this position, and Hooker Bambi is not going to take it from you.”
“Hooker Barbie,” she corrected.
Hooker Bambi, Hooker Barbie, the name didn’t matter. He knew her type all too well, had dealt with conniving women like her many times. He shook his head as he considered the situation a moment longer.
“I don’t believe Deanne has any plans to take this to the director. The information stored on the digital video recorder is highly confidential. If she’s tampered with it, or made copies”—he reached behind him, scooped up the copy she’d sent them, and held it up—“she’ll be implicating herself.”
“She could send it to him anonymously.”
“I don’t know how anonymous she thinks she can be. It is her job to record and log the responses from the digital data, isn’t it?”
“Regardless, even if she’s not bright enough to figure out she’ll go down with me, I don’t want a copy of this landing in the director’s hands. Or on the Internet.”
“I really don’t think that’s going to happen, Erin. Even on the net, it could be traced back to her. Trust me, I have dealt with her type many times. She’s bluffing. I’d bet my last dollar on it. But if it will help ease your concern, I’ll go to the lab and erase it from the hard drive.”
Incredulous, Erin lifted her eyes to his. She swallowed. “Really? You’d do that?” Her voice wavered when she added, “For me?”
Everything in him reached out to her as her expressive gaze told him how much that offer surprised her, meant to her. He touched her cheek. “Of course.”
She got quiet for a moment, and Kale wondered what she was thinking. Was she beginning to see them as more than casual? Was she beginning to trust him, to finally acknowledge there was more driving their relationship than just physical desire?
“And if she did make a copy?” Erin asked.
“If she did make a copy I’ll get that too.”
“How?” she asked, her expression wary.
His mind raced a mile a minute as he considered things a moment longer. “She mailed this from the lab, right?”
Erin nodded.
“Probably because she didn’t want to get caught leaving with confidential office documentation.” Kale tapped the disk. “I’m also willing to bet if she did make another copy, it’s stored in her locker. She wouldn’t want to have it in her possession outside the center.”
“So how do we get into her locker?”
“I break in.”
When her head came up with a start, he presented her with a cocky grin and said, “Misguided youth.”
Erin scoffed. “You’re charming, Kale. Charming enough to talk your way out the eye of a hurricane, but I don’t think that charm will work on the nighttime security if you get caught in Deanne’s locker. You’re not Gerard’s type.”
“That’s where you come in.”
Her eyes opened wide, questioning him. “Go on,” she said.
He wrapped his arms around her and pulled her close, until every inch of her body was pressed up against him. When her sensuous body melded with his, he trembled. “We’ll have to rely on one another if we want to pull this off.”
She looked at him, her eyes wide, questioning. “Enlighten me.”
He brushed her cheek with the pad of his thumb. He felt her shiver in response. Obviously their proximity was affecting her as much as him.
“Are you able to have faith in me, Erin?” His stomach clenched as he waited for her response.
He sensed her hesitation. “Yes.”
Kale’s stomach relaxed. “Good. Now go put on that sexy dress of yours. You have some distracting to do.”
Erin’s heart raced like she’d been given a shot of adrenaline as Kale escorted her into the front lobby. Maneuvering across the wide expanse of floor, he pressed his hand against the small of her back as they moved toward the security counter. God, she loved the way he touched her in such an intimate way.
Nervousness began stealing over her as they approached Gerard. Although he was used to seeing her coming and going at odd hours, and her presence tonight wouldn’t raise his suspicions, she still felt jittery.
She strove for normalcy as she greeted him. “Good evening, Gerard.” She glanced at the security screen behind him and watched it flash in an indistinguishable pattern as it displayed secure areas of the lab.
His nod was tight and very professional. “Good evening, Erin, Kale.”
Erin cringed inwardly. If only Mikey were working the night shift. Gerard wasn’t the flirty type. Mikey would have been much easier to distract while Kale broke into Barbie’s locker.
“We have to grab a file. We’re working late,” Erin explained as she unbuttoned her coat and eased it open, exposing her sexy dress.
When Gerard caught sight of her barely there, hot red slip of a dress, his forehead creased. He shot her a suspicious look and raised a brow as if to say, You’re going to work late in that? Damn, that wasn’t the reaction she’d been going for.
When she met his steely gaze, her stomach plummeted. She didn’t like this. God, she really didn’t. Not one tiny bit.
Erin smiled and pushed back her panic. “First we have a quick Christmas gathering to attend, then we have to go over some paperwork before tomorrow morning’s experiment.”
Satisfied with her answer, Gerard relaxed his forehead.
Trying for slutty, Erin leaned against the counter while Kale signed himself in. “I’ll just be a second,” he said. “Erin,
you might as well just wait here.”
Despite all her best efforts to distract him, Gerard turned his attention back to the monitors as Kale made his way to the elevator.
Shit!
She glanced around the lobby, looking for something, anything to talk about. If a man wasn’t interested in a woman in a hot red dress, then what the hell was he interested in?
A man in a hot red dress? Cripes! Maybe she and Kale should have switched places.
Then it hit her. Sports. All men liked sports, right? Her father and two brothers-in-law spent their weekends glued to the television watching football. She’d caught a few games with Sam as well. Although she had to admit, she knew nothing about football and had watched only so she could admire all those hunks in their tight uniforms.
“So did you catch the game last night?”
His head went up with a start as he twisted around to face her. A wide smile softened his features. She watched, transfixed at how quickly his demeanor changed. Who knew football was so powerful?
“You watch football?” he asked. His eyes opened wide with a mixture of surprise and admiration.
Erin linked her fingers and pretended to crack them. “Sure do. So what did you think of the game?”
Face animated, he started into a long, boring spiel about the Packers’ kick-ass game last night. Erin plastered on her most expressive, enthusiastic face. It wasn’t easy to feign interest, especially when he broke down the plays in detail and began laughing about the antics of some Cheeseheads.
Apparently, from his long-winded explanation, she surmised the fans were called Cheeseheads. And men thought women’s things were stupid. She resisted the urge to roll her eyes.
Ten minutes later she almost wished she hadn’t brought up football. Hands waving wildly, he gave a detailed description about some quarterback named Favre and the amazing touchdown pass he made. Gerard was practically salivating. Lord, the man looked like he was in love.
Now if only he’d salivated over her dress like that, she wouldn’t have to stand there all doe-eyed, faking interest. Eventually Gerard was going to get a clue and figure out she knew nothing about the game.
As he droned on, Erin inconspicuously stole a few glances at the monitor behind him.
So far so good.
She really should make an effort to add to the conversation, but what was she supposed to talk about, all those beefy guys and their tight little buns? She doubted he’d find the humor in it.
Restless, Erin shifted her stance. Gerard noticed the edgy movement. The way he quickly switched back to his professional mode and shot a glance at the monitors threw her off guard.
He arched a brow. “Kale seems to be taking an awfully long time.”
Erin straightened. “Speak of the devil,” she said, gesturing with her head. She turned her attention back to Gerard. “Nice talking with you.” She raised her fists like pom-poms and yelled. “Go Packers, go!”
As Kale moved into the lobby, she pushed away from the counter and started toward him. Kale turned to her, a crooked smile on his handsome face. “What the hell was that?” he asked as they made their way to the doors.
She lowered her voice. “Don’t ask.” As soon as they exited the building, Erin turned to him. “Did you delete it from the hard drive? Did you get into her locker? Were there any copies?” she rushed out.
“Yes, yes, and one. And it’s been taken care of.” Kale circled the truck and opened the passenger side door for her. “We don’t have anything to worry about, Erin. If she threatens you again, we’ve got the disk at my place to prove she’s tampered with highly confidential material and removed it from the lab.”
Elated that her job was no longer in jeopardy, Erin wrapped her arms around his neck and hugged him tight. She became acutely aware of the way her breasts crushed into a wall of tight muscle. “Thank you, Kale.”
Chuckling, he hugged her back and lifted her feet off the ground. After he set her back down, he pulled back an inch but didn’t let her go. He brought his mouth close to hers. “You’re welcome,” he whispered.
As she stood there, mouth poised open, body enclosed in the circle of his arms, waiting for him to kiss her, a bevy of emotions rushed through her. What he’d done for her tonight, the way he had supported her, even risked his own career to do it, touched her so deeply it rattled her right down to her toes. Instead of taking the next exit when they’d encountered a bump in the road, he’d stood by her and supported her. He had no idea how much that mattered to her.
There was so much more to this man than she had expected. When she decided to indulge in a casual affair with playboy Kale Alexander, she hadn’t anticipated that she’d fall so hard for him. She swallowed the lump clogging her throat and cursed herself for feeling so emotional.
She put her palm flat against his face and spent an extra moment just looking at him. Her breath hitched. Cripes, what in the hell had she been thinking? Kale wasn’t the kind of guy she could have a casual affair with, and she wasn’t the kind of girl who could love casually. She ached for something far more intimate from him.
As his lips closed over hers, she knew it better than she knew her own name. Her simple plan to have a frivolous affair had backfired.
She was in way over her head.
Chapter 10
Silence fell over them as Kale negotiated his truck into traffic. He stole a sideways glace at Erin. Fingers linked together, she rotated her thumbs in a tight circle and stared at the dark road ahead.
“Everything okay?” he asked.
Without looking his way, she nodded.
He closed his hand over hers and squeezed. “What are you thinking about?” he prodded.
She turned to face him. A flurry of emotions passed through her eyes. “Nothing.” Her voice was low and a little edgy.
“Really? You weren’t thinking about coming back to my place to tell me about this hot tub fantasy of yours?” he teased, hoping to lighten her mood.
She grinned. “That might have passed through my mind a time or two. Or a million,” she said playfully.
Kale chuckled and squeezed her hand more tightly.
As they drove toward Kale’s place, Erin got quiet again. She pointed to a side street and sighed. “I’m supposed to be there tonight.”
“Your mother’s? I didn’t realize she lived so close to Jay and Laura.”
She nodded and let out a slow breath. “It’s a great place to raise kids. Laura had that in mind when she chose this location.” She angled her chin. “Look at how well I turned out growing up in the burbs.”
He furrowed his brow as his gaze panned her body. “Hmmm…Perhaps I’ll have to have a chat with Jay before he decides to have children.”
Erin whacked him and laughed. “Hey,” she said. “You take that back.”
Kale tapped the brakes and turned the truck around. He pulled down the side street that Erin had pointed to.
“What are you doing?” she asked, her voice rising an octave.
The parked cars on the curb gave away the location of her parents’ house. He flicked a glance past Erin’s shoulder and registered every detail of the impressive two-story home.
The truth was, Kale was anxious to meet Erin’s family, to step into her private world. He wanted to glimpse this intimate side of her and take this relationship to the next level, where things were far more personal.
He pulled up behind one of the vehicles, shifted into park, and removed the keys. Distracting her, he sidled closer and put his mouth close to hers. A rush of sexual energy hit him as his lips touched her skin. “I’ll take it back on one condition,” he whispered. He inched back, his gaze shifting to her mouth.
Her heavy lids fluttered. “What’s that?”
“You kiss me.” His voice was husky with desire.
She wet her bottom lip. “I think that can be arranged.”
A muscle in his jaw flexed. “Did I say one condition?” His lips touched hers ever so lightly. She moaned an
d leaned into him.
“Yes,” she murmured into his mouth.
As he smoothed her hair from her face, sexual sparks leaped between them. He crowded her, sandwiching her between him and the door. Her body trembled beneath his.
“I meant two.” His tongue traced the pattern of her sensuous mouth.
“Now you’re pushing it.” He heard the raw ache of lust in her voice.
He parted her lips with his tongue and dipped inside. “First you kiss me, then we’ll go make a quick appearance at your parents’ house, and after that we’ll head back to my place so you can have your wicked way with me.”
“Kale, I believe that was three conditions.”
Hunger consumed him. “I don’t think so, Erin. I just think you need to work on your math skills. I counted two.”
“I don’t think…” His head descended in time to smother her protest with a kiss.
He kissed her with all the passion inside him, until they were both forced to inch back to recapture their breath. Her cheeks were flushed, her eyes glossy and richly seductive.
He ran the pad of his thumb over her kiss-swollen lips. “So what do you say, sweetheart. Want to go in?” He squeezed her hand, a silent message of support.
Breathless, she tripped over her words. “I’m not sure.”
“We’ll just make a quick appearance. I’ll dazzle them with my charm, and then I’ll take you back to my place and we’ll discuss these fantasies of yours.” He neglected to enlighten her as to his ulterior motives.
She starched her spine and mulled over the idea.
“Come on, Erin. Let’s go get your mother off your back before she tries to marry you off to Donkey Kong boy.”
He watched her resolve melt as she warmed to the idea. She crinkled her cute little nose. “Are you sure you really want to do this?”
“Yes.”
She gave a resigned shake of her head. “You’re very persuasive, Kale. Do you always get your own way?”
