Cal stared off into space a moment and suddenly his expression cleared. “The receptionist at the desk handed me the card as I was getting ready to go upstairs to meet with Wiley. I didn’t even look at it. I just stuck it in my pocket.
“Did she say anything to you when she gave it to you?”
He looked down into her eyes. Was that a tiny bit of wariness she read in the frown between his brows? “Yeah. She said she hoped to see me again soon.”
Remembering how oblivious he’d been to the secretaries’ scrutiny, Kathleen could picture it going down just as he described. “Is she going to see you soon?”
“Not unless it’s with you.”
She patted his chest. “Good answer, Callahan.”
He tossed the card over the side of the bed. “You can burn that later.”
Kathleen laughed and snuggled close to him again. “Why are you so—” She started to say anxious and changed it to “—opposed to doing the interview?”
“I’m not good at talking about personal stuff.”
She could attest to that. “Like why it’s been ten months since you’ve gotten laid.”
“Well, hopefully she won’t be asking about my sex life.”
Kathleen’s arms tightened around him and she let the question lie between them.
“How would you feel if every man you’re attracted to wants to see your breasts before you go out on a date, Kathleen?”
She flinched inwardly. “Embarrassed, insulted.” And a little less than what she was.
“Every time I’ve asked a woman out since losing my leg—it’s felt like that. They’re wondering what’s beneath my clothes, and not in a good way. It becomes more about the limitations than the possibilities. Eventually I just quit asking.”
“But you asked me.”
“I probably sounded like an idiot on the phone.”
“If you’d sounded like an idiot, I wouldn’t have said yes.” She tightened her arms around him this time.
“Then there’s the getting up close and personal part of dating. Eventually if you get close enough you’re expected to get naked, want to get naked, and that opens up a whole different closet full of junk to sort through.”
She ran a caressing hand over his chest. “You’re naked with me, Cal.”
“Yeah.” His smile turned into a very pleased grin. “I noticed.” His hand caressed her bare leg from knee to thigh and traced the curve of her hip.
“You didn’t seem to have to sort through anything while we made love.”
“You weren’t focused on my leg, not even when I had to take my prosthetic off.”
Watching him do that had given her another jolt of grief and pain, and her desire had taken a stumble, until she’d seen how aroused he was, and her feelings had shifted to what he needed and more.
She wasn’t ready to think about it yet, and things had gotten entirely too serious. “I was focused on your magic wand.”
Cal threw back his head and laughed. “My magic wand? I’ve heard it called a number of things, Kathleen, but never that.”
“What about Mr. Feel Good?”
“That’s better.”
“Love muscle?”
“Have you been watching porn?”
“No. I’ve never watched porn. Why watch when you can do?”
“Aww, honey,” he sighed. “With that kind of attitude, and the rest of the package, you’re every man’s dream woman.”
“Excellent thing to say, Callahan, but I think one man is enough. I do draw the line there.”
He slid down beneath the covers, taking her with him. “I’m glad to hear it.” The way he looked at her as he ran a thumb along her cheekbone was enough to jumpstart her heart into a sprint and cause other parts of her body to tingle with anticipation. She propped her knee on his hip and pressed as close to him as possible. His bare skin brushing hers quickened the feelings. The promise of more rested against her thigh, so close to where she wanted it, she had to bite back a groan.
He kissed her, slowly, thoroughly, and with such tenderness and passion she felt it from the top of her head to the bottoms of her feet. She ran her hand up his back, then back down to the base of his spine urging him closer.
He raised his head. “What did you do with that box of condoms, Kathleen?”
Her mind completely blank, she glanced around the room before she spotted them on the chest of drawers across the room. “I’ll get them.”
She wiggled out from beneath him, tugging the tail of the shirt down over her butt.
“I’m looking forward to seeing you walk away from me in your thong, then coming right back to take it off again.”
She grabbed the box of condoms, then paused to study him. All those women who’d made him feel uncomfortable were fools. She’d never had a man tell her his fantasies. When he did, he made her feel sexy and beautiful.
“I can do that now.” She knew men liked her breasts. She was more uncertain about other parts of her body. “Or…” She shrugged the shirt off first one shoulder, then the other, but caught it before it fell. Clutching the fabric so it rested just over her nipples, she turned to face him. She folded her arms and pushed her breasts together, giving him a show of cleavage. The shirt camouflaged all the areas she was less confident about, and showcased the rest. With an exaggerated sway of her hips, she sauntered back to the bed.
From five feet away, she easily read the hawk-like intensity of Cal’s reaction. Her legs grew weak and she shivered with anticipation. Reaching him, she dropped the box of condoms on the bed.
He ran his fingers up the back of her leg, and the small caress ignited nerves, carrying the sensation on to more intimate places. “From the moment we first met I thought you looked like a movie star from back in the fifties.”
“Which one?” she asked, her voice losing its strength so it came out a whisper.
“Ava Gardner.”
“She was beautiful, Callahan.”
“Yeah. So’s the woman standing right here in front of me.” His voice was husky as he raised the sheet and said, “Come back to bed, Kathleen.”
She dropped the shirt on her way in.
Chapter 15
‡
While she and Cal were eating Chinese food in bed, Kathleen left Zach a message around seven-thirty to let him know where she was. She left Cal’s at midnight, thinking her brother would be ready to send out a posse. Instead she found a note propped on the kitchen table. Zach had been called out to do some kind of night training, which saved her from having to deal with what would have happened if he’d seen her. One look and he’d be able to tell she and Cal had been together. She had a beard burn on her neck, among other places, and she was sure she had a glow to her that broadcasted “Kathleen had sex last night. Lots of sex.”
OMG! She’d slept with a man she’d only known for ten days. Ten days if she counted today. Where was her common sense, her caution? Gone with a snap of her fingers the moment she’d seen the need in Callahan’s eyes. And now this morning she felt a little sore in spots, but otherwise relaxed as hell.
Her emotional state was a little more chaotic. Everything was happening too fast. What she’d been through in the last six months had been hell. She couldn’t go through it again.
But she couldn’t turn off her feelings for the man she’d made love with last night. His need had reached out to her. Cal had a way of making her feel special, cared for, safe, and… It was too soon for those words to be spoken by either of them.
The car in front of her flashed its brake lights and she slowed. She couldn’t think about emotional issues right now when she had the situation at work to deal with.
Cal had encouraged her more than once last night to file a grievance against Warren. But to do so would put a permanent record in both her file and his. Him for harassment and her as a whistle-blower. It just seemed an irrevocable step to take without first making one more attempt to defuse the situation.
As she wove through the mor
ning traffic, the closer she got to Wiley Design and Construction the more her anxiety level spiraled tighter, wiping out her sex-induced euphoria with a vengeance. She hadn’t allowed herself to think last night about what returning to work today would be like. Now it came roaring to life with negative possibilities.
When Warren caused the scene, the only witnesses were him, the security guard, the receptionist, Cal and her. Unless one of them had shot their mouth off, the situation would be contained. She didn’t want to blow up anyone’s career, including her own. But someone always talked.
Nerves knotted her stomach and made her feel slightly nauseous as she pushed the glass doors open and entered the building. The receptionist who’d been there on Monday wasn’t at the desk. Instead, a taller, dark-haired woman had taken her place. Well, unless the receptionist had a network of friends here, she’d only had a limited number of hours to shoot her mouth off.
So that just left the security guard. Who was nowhere in sight.
Her phone was ringing when she entered her office, and she rushed to answer it. “Hello Ms. O’Connor. This is Jodi, Mr. Allison’s secretary. He’d like to see you before your eight-thirty meeting with Mr. Edgerton. If you could come straight down now, it would be good.”
“Okay, I’ll be right there.”
Jack Allison, her direct supervisor, had been the one to hire her. If Warren had stuck around to write up his side of the confrontation yesterday, Allison could be calling her in to confront her about it. Warren had already proven his value to the company. It would be easier for them to get rid of her and sweep the issue under the rug.
Or Mr. Allison could be calling her in just to get her side of the story. Cal’s idea about talking things out seemed a much more prudent course of action. Allison could act as arbiter while they discussed things and cleared the air.
Kathleen locked her purse inside her desk, then took a detour to the ladies’ room to check her appearance before going to Allison’s office. She’d put lotion on the beard burn, and by this morning it had eased off enough to cover it with makeup. She appeared normal except for her deer-in-the-headlights look.
Jesus! Working here was so fucking stressful. She was so over this shit. She swept out of the ladies room on a burst of determination. When she knocked on her supervisor’s door, he opened it at once. “Come in, Kathleen.”
It took her only a few moments to realize the meeting wasn’t about Warren at all, but about the client wanting to see the drawing she’d done of the façade.
“You don’t mind showing it to him, do you?” Allison asked.
He was a yes man; Kathleen had recognized it the first day they met. Short and rotund, with iron gray hair and gray eyes, he was all about the customer and really good at wooing them and landing contracts.
“No, of course not.”
“And if he asks to have it?”
“Well, it’s of Mr. Edgerton’s project. I can have a copy printed for him. If he wants the original, I’ll have a copy made for myself.”
“That will be fine. I think he’s going to be very pleased with your vision, Kathleen. The work you’ve done thus far is spot on.”
Allison was beaming as he showed her out. With something more positive to concentrate on, Kathleen had a more upbeat outlook as she prepared for her meeting. She looked up the exchange for Paul Warren’s office and dialed the number. When she got his voicemail, she left a message for him to call her to schedule an appointment. “I think we need to talk and attempt to resolve this issue, Mr. Warren.”
“What issue is that, Kathleen?”
Kathleen turned to look at Hillary. Jesus Christ, the woman was obsessed with the man, and nosey. She wasn’t telling her shit. “It’s an issue with the Edgerton account.”
“Paul will be out for a week. He’s taken some vacation time.”
How had Hillary found out about that? But then she found the woman’s obsessive behavior creepy as hell. She’d have to call Cal and let him know about Warren’s sudden disappearance. “Thanks for telling me. I’ve left him a voicemail if he wants to get back to me.”
“The fellow you were with yesterday, he’s quite the hunk.”
“Yeah, he is.”
“You’re dating him?”
“Yes.”
She frowned. “Isn’t he the same man who saved the other one on the platform?”
“Yes, he is.”
“Be careful not to confuse hero worship with the other feelings. It’s easy to be swept away by a romantic notion.” Hillary’s expression held a hint of sadness. “I think that’s what drew me to my husband.”
“I’ll be careful.” It wasn’t hero worship she felt for Cal. She admired him for persevering despite his challenges. Admired his strength.
Her father and brothers had performed acts of heroism. They helped people every day. And they were as unassuming as Callahan. Maybe it did play into why she was so attracted to him. But it wasn’t the only reason.
“I need to go. I have a meeting.” With a nod, Hillary moved on to her own cubicle. Kathleen gathered her notes from the last meeting and took the picture down off the top of the cubbies.
The meeting went well. The client wanted a copy of her drawing along with copies of the three dimensional renderings she’d do on the computer after the plans were finished.
She was relieved to get back to work, though. Meetings were always stressful. Sometimes the client knew exactly what they wanted, and sometime they hadn’t a clue. Luckily her vision and Mr. Edgerton’s seemed to be in sync.
She worked through lunch and nibbled a sandwich at her desk, having asked to leave early for an appointment.
She was alone in her pod when her computer trilled, signaling an internal email. Better check that in case it was Allison telling her about some last-minute thing she needed to do. She opened the email.
“Cal Crowes may be a hero to the military, but he’s not here on American soil. He’s responsible for one death here at home. Ask him about it. Don’t let him fool you. He’ll take you down with him.”
Every word sent a shock through her. Responsible for a death at home. He’ll take you down with him. Kathleen looked at the address, but it didn’t follow the regular internal format of surname dot last name @WileyDesign.com.
What was this person talking about? It had to be Warren who sent the message, based on what he’d said the day before. Or was it Hillary?
If Cal had been involved in anything like the person emailing was insinuating, there’d be a record of it online.
But looking for it smacked of disloyalty. She’d ask Cal about it after the interview this afternoon.
She needed to know the man she’d fallen for was worthy of the faith she’d placed in him. But she also needed to know who had accused him of something this serious. And why.
When Hillary, Edward, and Dave returned from lunch, she’d calmed down and was eager to ask a question. She realized she didn’t trust Hillary, and Edward, though friendly, seemed less in tune with the people he worked with than he was with the work itself. Dave gave off a fatherly vibe she found more open to being questioned. “Dave, do you have a minute?”
“Sure. Got a problem?”
“Just a question. Can anyone add an email address to the system, or does it take a special password?”
“All of that is handled by the techs hired to work on the system and keep it up to date.”
“Have you ever seen this email address, or know whose it could be?” She laid a slip of paper with the email address on his desk.
He shook his head. “I don’t recognize it. Besides, it isn’t formatted right. It should have the person’s first name or initial listed before the rest. I don’t understand how it even got to you.”
“I got an email from this address during lunch.”
“Was it something work-related?”
“No. Something personal.”
Dave frowned. “Was what they said in any way harassment?”
“In a
way, yes.”
His expression grew more concerned. He pushed his glasses up in a gesture of impatience. “After what happened your first week here, Kathleen… I’d take it to Allison. He’s your direct supervisor, and he has the authority to look into it. If someone is using the system to get to you, it would be a simple thing for the techs to trace how he or she gained access to the system, and where the breach has occurred. If whoever sent this is capable of bypassing this small protocol, they may be capable of a whole lot more.”
She nodded. She hadn’t thought of that, because it had been a direct affront to her, and only concerned Cal. But did she want to leave Cal’s life open to enquiry? And that’s exactly what would happen if she took it to Allison. There’d be a rush to judgment before he even had an opportunity to defend himself. And how could you face an accuser who hid behind anonymity?
“Thanks, Dave. I’d appreciate it if you kept this between us.”
“Had you ever met any of the people working here prior to being hired?” he asked.
“No. Not a one. I come from Boston, so the chances of me knowing anyone here are astronomically slim.”
“If you have any more trouble, you can come to me any time.”
Touched, the sting of tears had her blinking. “Thank you, Dave.”
“I have a daughter in high school. One day she may be following in your footsteps. I’d want someone to be there for her if anyone was messing with her like this.”
Kathleen smiled her gratitude. “You let me know, and I’ll help you kick their ass.”
He grinned.
At least something good had come out of it. She knew she had at least one person here at the company in her corner.
*
Cal tugged at the collar of his light blue dress shirt. His fingers grazed the small microphone the technician had clipped to the fabric, and he checked to make sure he hadn’t dislodged it. Two large cameras pointed toward the set. The lights above projected enough heat that sweat ran down along his sides.
Breaking Boundaries (SEAL Team Heartbreakers Book 5) Page 15
