A Nerd to Remember

by Vicki Lewis Thompson

  If she had, her sorority sisters might have decided it would be great fun to hunt for the elusive guy in the Spiderman suit. With that many women intent on solving the mystery they could have succeeded in tracking him down. What a mess that would have made.

  But that was then and this was now. Was he still attracted to her? Hell, yeah! That Halloween night had given him information about their sexual compatibility and through Charlotte’s comments he’d discovered they might get along out of bed, too. Circumstances had thrown them together again. If he walked away from a second opportunity he might kick himself later.

  The way he saw it, he had two options – telling her who he was or beginning with a clean slate. Because she might regret her impulsive behavior on Halloween night, a clean slate was a safer course of action.

  He stopped pacing the length of the conference room and blew out a breath. What was he doing? The fate of BMUS hung in the balance and he was obsessing about Jocelyn.

  Time to forget about his love life and concentrate on the matter at hand. That vow held up fine until she walked back in and smiled at him. Then all he could think about was kissing her. Damn, this assignment was turning into a real challenge.

  When she returned with her laptop, the receptionist followed with a small tray containing two steaming coffee mugs and packets of sugar and cream.

  After she left, Jocelyn settled into a chair. “I don’t know about you, but I think better with caffeine.”

  “Me, too.”

  “I figured you for a black coffee guy but I’ve been fooled before so there’s cream and sugar if you want it.”

  “I’m a black coffee guy.” He picked up his computer case and took the chair to her left.

  “Great. Then there’s more of this for me.” She proceeded to doctor her coffee with three creamers and two sugars. Before she reached for her coffee, she paused. “Have we met before?”

  “Why do you ask?” He’d learned that response in a psychology class and it had come in handy many times.

  “You seem familiar, as if I know you, but the name Garrett Upton doesn’t ring any bells.”

  “We’ve probably met.” As the evasion fell easily from his tongue, he reconsidered his choice of career. Maybe once BMUS was on solid financial footing he should reboot and become an international spy. “Silicon Valley is like Main Street, USA. It’s a small town, really.”

  “So true.”

  “If I look familiar, that’s likely because we’ve passed each other on the street or we’ve ended up at the same coffee shop more than once.” But he’d tossed those explanations out as distractions. If he’d pegged this woman correctly, she wouldn’t accept his facile explanations.

  “I don’t think that’s it.” Her response contained a note of frustration. “I know you from somewhere and it’s not because you and I frequent the same coffee shop. Eventually it’ll come to me, but until then it’s going to drive me crazy.”

  He could straighten this out with one word – Halloween – but that would change everything.

  Chapter Two

  Garrett was hiding something. Jocelyn detected secrets in his gray eyes, and when she’d had contact with him before, she’d swear he hadn’t been wearing those wire-rimmed glasses. If she asked him to take them off she might remember the circumstances.

  Instead she decided to drop the subject. Handling the security leak for BMUS took priority over any personal connection with Garrett, although eventually she’d uncover what it was. In the meantime she was thrilled to have the company’s business.

  When Charlotte had told her about landing the HR job with them, she’d been intrigued with a company that would name itself Beam Me Up Scotty. She’d loved everything Star Trek ever since her dad had introduced her to the series when she was four. Charlotte’s recommendation had provided this opportunity and she wasn’t about to screw it up.

  She set aside her notes and her laptop. “Let’s take a look at your transcript.”

  “I activated my voice recognition software when he called, so it’s not cleaned up.” He turned on his laptop. “But I can separate the segments so you can figure out which is me talking and which is him.” His fingers moved quickly over the keys.

  He typed well for a man with large hands, but then he’d probably been typing since kindergarten just like she had. “Did you inform him that you were transcribing the conversation?”

  “Yes, and he asked me to destroy the transcript once I had what I needed.” He finished going through the file and slid the open laptop toward her. “I promised I’d do that. I haven’t saved it on a flash drive and I can’t allow you to, either.”

  “I won’t keep anything from this file. I just wanted to make sure you hadn’t violated any privacy laws.”

  “I wasn’t about to. Pearson’s dad has an entire law firm poised to lower the boom on anyone who displeases him. Tattling on his beloved son could have repercussions for my friend. He did me a big solid by calling me.”

  “A big solid?”

  He shrugged. “It’s an engineering term. It means a big favor.”

  She laughed. “I like it. I’ll have to tell Charlotte she did me a big solid by recommending me for this case.” She studied the choppy dialogue on the screen and the room grew quiet except for the sound of their breathing. She became very aware of his. Usually she had no trouble concentrating, but sitting next to Garrett was distracting.

  She couldn’t let him know that. Forcing herself to read the words, she decided breaking the silence would help. “This is cool. Your friend drew him out. There’s almost enough here to incriminate Blake.”

  “But we can’t use it.”

  “I know, but it’s giving me a few ideas about how to play this. Do you think Tony wants to prosecute?” Talking helped. She continued to read the transcript.

  “I doubt it. His parents are friends of Blake’s parents. You’ve probably figured out that Tony comes from a wealthy family. Without his connections to potential investors we wouldn’t have been able to create BMUS.”

  “So this needs to be a surgical strike that leaves no trail of blood.”

  Garrett laughed. “Nicely put.”

  That laugh. It tickled her nerve endings and caused her body to flush with pleasure. Yes, the room was a little warm, but until now she hadn’t had the urge to rip her clothes off. She tuned back in to what he was saying.

  “If we can get Blake to admit what he’s doing and at the same time allow his dad to hear the whole thing, that should be enough to protect BMUS. I figure Blake’s father will be so grateful that Tony’s not prosecuting that he’ll leave his investment in place. How he deals with his son is up to him.”

  “That makes it so much easier.” She pushed back from the table. “I wish they’d get the A/C fixed. It’s really warm in here. Pardon the informality, but I’m taking off my jacket.”

  “Go right ahead.”

  Standing up to do it would have been smarter because it was snug. Instead she tried to slip out of it while she was still in the chair. The jacket clung to her white silk blouse and she struggled to get it off.

  Garrett reached over to offer some help, but that only created more of a slapstick routine. By the time she got the jacket off he was laughing and she was breathless. Awareness rippled through her body. Apparently he had the ability to turn her on with only a laugh and a light touch. That was inconvenient.

  She hung the jacket over the back of her chair. “Thanks.” Focus, Salisbury, focus! She cleared her throat. “Okay, so we need to recreate this dialogue in a controlled environment with a speakerphone turned on and Blake’s dad on the other end so he can hear what transpires.” She looked over at Garrett. “Does that sound like what you had in mind?”

  “Sure does.” He picked up his coffee and took a long swallow.

  Maybe she was imagining it, but she thought his hand trembled just the slightest bit when he set down his mug. He might be attracted to her, too. But they had a job to do and not a lot of tim
e in which to do it.

  “I have an actor friend in LA,” she said. “Even better, he’s Japanese. I think he’d be willing to come up and impersonate someone interested in buying the app for a fictitious Japanese company.”

  “Great idea. Less chance that Pearson will check it out thoroughly. I’ll talk to Tony about renting or borrowing an office for whatever time we need it.”

  She kept looking at his mouth. The beard threw her off a little, but his lips were so damned familiar and yet she couldn’t imagine why. Maybe it reminded her of some movie star she’d had a crush on. “Anyway, then I thought –”

  Heidi, the receptionist, tapped on the closed door and opened it a crack. “Your lunch order just arrived. Want me to bring it in?”

  “That would be great.” Jocelyn turned to Garrett. “More coffee?”

  “No, thanks. I’m good.”

  She was feeling jittery, so she decided against having any more caffeine. “The office has a moratorium on bottled water. It’s an environmental thing, but I can get you a glass of filtered water.”

  “Perfect.”

  She met Heidi coming in with the sandwich bags and the receptionist offered to fetch the glasses of water, too. Jocelyn thanked her and took the sandwiches back to the table. “I ordered egg salad for both of us. Hope that works.”

  “I happen to be a fan of egg salad.”

  “Then you’ll love this.” She’d taken a chance with the order, but the deli was famous for its egg salad sandwiches. Since he hadn’t specified what he wanted, she’d decided to give him what she considered the restaurant’s specialty. “Let’s turn off the computer and brainstorm while we eat.”

  “Fine with me.”

  They both thanked Heidi when she brought in the water and they waited to resume their conversation until after she’d left and closed the door behind her.

  Garrett pulled his sandwich and chips out of the bag. “We have part of the plan but we haven’t figured out how to get him to that meeting.”

  “I have.” She unwrapped her sandwich and took a bite. Heaven.

  “Then you’re miles ahead of me. I don’t have a clue.” He bit into his sandwich and moaned.

  Warmth flooded through her. She’d heard that moan before. It affected her on a visceral level, igniting little fires in parts of her body that shouldn’t be awake and humming right now. Who was this guy?

  When he’d finished his first bite, he smiled at her. “Best egg salad sandwich ever.”

  “Glad you like it.” Her fixation on his mouth and her reaction to his moan could be a result of sexual frustration. She hadn’t met anyone recently who appealed to her. Her friends said she was too picky and she couldn’t deny it. As a result she’d lapsed into unintended celibacy.

  “So what’s your plan?” He polished off the first half of his sandwich and started on the rest.

  She’d forgotten that big guys went through food like locusts attacking a field of wheat. She should have ordered him two. “Pearson’s never met me and I’m so new at this firm that he’s probably never heard of me. If we give him reason to think I’m unethical, then I can lure him to the phony meeting. I’ll say money’s all I care about and then I’ll demand a cut of the profits.”

  “That could work.” He balled up his sandwich wrapper and shoved it into the bag. “We could stage a scene at the BMUS offices where I question your integrity. We could make sure Pearson hears it.”

  “Exactly! What if I come in to introduce myself to everyone and you make it clear that you consider me a bad choice? Except we have to explain how you’ve formed an unfavorable opinion of me.”

  “That’s easy.” He ripped open his bag of chips and started munching on them. “BMUS isn’t big enough yet to be my sole support so I still freelance. I’ve installed security systems for a lot of companies in the area. I can be irritated with Tony because he retained your services without consulting me. I’ll say that you have a reputation for being clever but you’re not the most ethical person on the planet.”

  “Perfect! Tony could get in on the fight and defend his decision to bring me on board. So could Charlotte, for that matter, since she was the one who recommended me. I’ll claim that I’m honest as the day is long.”

  “And don’t forget to give me the evil eye.”

  “Oh, don’t worry. I’ll burn a hole right through you.”

  “I’ll bet you could, too.”

  “You know what they say about redheads.” She smiled. “I may look harmless but you don’t want to get me angry.”

  “So you’re the female version of Bruce Banner?”

  “Metaphorically speaking. I don’t turn green and bust out of my clothes.”

  “But I’ll bet you’re still scary as hell.” Laughter sparkled in his gray eyes.

  “So I’m told. Don’t freak out, okay? I’ll only be pretending to be furious with you.”

  “I promise not to freak out. Don’t forget I’ll be saying some pretty crummy things about you and doing my best to make that look real, too.”

  “God, I hope we can pull this off. How smart is he?”

  Garrett leaned back in his chair. “He’s intelligent but lazy. Because he’s never worked hard at anything, he doesn’t know as much as he thinks he does. He’s also greedy and has a narcissist’s craving for wealth and recognition. You should probably hint that the Japanese company has deep pockets.”

  “I will. And I’ll emphasize how much I loathe you.”

  “He’ll eat that up. If we capitalize on his weaknesses, we’ll nail him to the wall.”

  She let out a happy sigh. “I love this plan. If we pull it off we should have a victory dinner or something.”

  “We should. I’m sure Tony would go along with that.”

  “Yeah, that would be fun.” She hadn’t meant a group dinner, though. Regardless of whether she’d known Garrett before, she wouldn’t mind going out with him now.

  “I hope Tony’s paying you a lot for your time because you’re really good.”

  “BMUS will get a bill when this is over, but I’m more excited about working with the company than collecting whatever I might make. The firm might not be happy to hear me say that, but once Charlotte told me that BMUS was an acronym for Beam Me Up Scotty, I was hooked.”

  He regarded her with a bemused smile. “So you’re a Star Trek fan?”

  “Yep. I assume you are since you’re part of BMUS.”

  “We all are – me, Tony and the Krause brothers, Rylan and Fraser. It made sense to name the company something referencing Star Trek because without it we wouldn’t be in business together. That’s one of the main things we bonded over when we first met.”

  “And where was that?”

  His expression, which had become more open and relaxed the longer they’d talked, suddenly turned wary. “Freshman year of college.” He said it fast, as if he was ready to move on from that topic. His next comment confirmed it. “We should figure out the details of this fight we’re supposed to have.” He sat forward and opened his laptop. “I think it needs to be scripted so we don’t mess up.”

  “You’re right.” She adopted his businesslike tone but she was curious about his sudden change of mood. Whatever secrets he was keeping, they had something to do with his college career.

  “I’d like to stage it tomorrow if we can find a time that works for both of us,” he said. “Can you be there at two?”

  She mentally reviewed her schedule. “I can.”

  “We also need to coordinate with Tony. I’ll text him and see if he’ll be available. Charlotte should probably be on hand, too.” Garrett pulled out his phone and sent the text. The reply was immediate. “Good. He and Charlotte will both be there.”

  “What about Pearson? Can we guarantee he’ll be around?”

  “Rylan can give him a project that has to be finished by the end of the day.” He picked up his phone again and sent another text. Then he put it down and turned to her. “Okay, opening gambit. How about ac
knowledging that you and I have met and we didn’t get along?”

  “Good start.” She almost laughed. If they’d actually met before, they’d apparently gotten along very well, at least from her perspective. But maybe not from his. She’d gone clubbing a few times with her sorority sisters and once or twice she’d ended up slightly drunk. What if she’d come on to him in an embarrassing way?

  Garrett took notes on his laptop. “So you come into the office and our reaction to each other is negative.”

  “Then Tony can question your attitude and you can be reluctant. He keeps digging for info and you finally make a statement about my reputation not being the best. I take exception to it.”

  “Yeah, excellent.” He typed quickly. “We can probably improvise from there and decide how heated the exchange should get. I wonder if Tony will want a practice session tonight.”

  “That could be valuable. When you’re role playing a rehearsal or two never hurts.”

  “I’ll text him again, see if he and Charlotte have anything going on tonight.” He grabbed his phone. “Wait, are you free?”

  “I’m free.” She’d be more pleased about how this was working out if she hadn’t started doubting that he was interested in her.

  “Then we’re all set.” He read the text from Tony. “He and Charlotte have invited us over for . . .” He laughed. “Dinner and a show. Six o’clock.”

  “I’ll be there. Do you have the address?”

  “I do, but why don’t I pick you up?”

  “That would be great.” And she was totally confused. He looked interested again.

  “You know, it really is warm in here.” Unbuttoning the cuffs of his dress shirt, he rolled back his sleeves. Then he glanced at his phone. “We still have a few more minutes. Let’s go over this again and see if we have anything to add.”

  “Um, sure.” She was proud of herself for managing any response at all. Yes, his muscled forearms were impressive, but she wasn’t the type to be rendered speechless by a man’s muscles. Instead she’d been blindsided by the unusual tattoo on his inner arm.