After a few more deep breaths, I joined him at the table. I tried to use the chopsticks again but the sushi roll kept flipping out onto the table. Certain Ben must have been laughing at me again, I gave up and stabbed my food with the end of one of the sticks, dipped it in the sauce he’d prepared, and took a bite.
Flavors exploded in my mouth. The freshness of the cucumber, the smooth, earthy taste of the avocado, the sweetness of the crab, the heat of the wasabi, and the crunch of the pickled ginger all blended into a dazzling harmony. “Mmm. Oh, my freakin’ gawd, I can’t believe how good this is.”
“I told you,” he said with great satisfaction. “What’s your favorite food?”
Marveling at the display of exotic food before me, my spine went limp. “I’d be embarrassed to say.”
Ben leaned forward and stared at me hard enough to send me squirming back in my chair. “Now you’ve intrigued me.”
I shook my head, sighed, and speared another California roll. “No.”
“Please?” So much emotion and determination filled his one word I paused to savor it in my thoughts. My imagination inserted that plea into other activities we might do together. Naked. And sweaty. Stop it!
“Oh fine, but you’re going to laugh at me again. I love cinnamon toaster waffles, all right?” I glanced at him long enough to see a brief smile quirk his lips before he took another bite of California roll.
“Fascinating,” he said, his tone dripping with laughter and sarcasm.
Although I wanted to be annoyed with him, my mouth curved into a smile.
Squaring his shoulders as if preparing for more serious conversation, he wiped his mouth with a napkin. “Tell me. Are my Quality Engineers harassing you?”
I choked and coughed, pounding on my chest to dislodge the ball of shock caught there. “No. Where did you hear that?”
“When Dave Gibbons approached you, your whole demeanor changed. Has he threatened you in some way?”
My whole body went rigid as I calculated how he could have known that little tidbit. “You were spying on me?”
Face unreadable, Ben sat back in his chair and averted his eyes. “I have a right to monitor my own surveillance cameras whenever I choose.”
Oh, so that’s how it’s going to be, huh? All of the hairs on my arms stood at attention. “So it was just a coincidence you happened to be watching the lunchroom camera during the five minutes I was in there? What, were you afraid I’d spill some corporate secrets?”
Silence for a moment. His stillness infuriated me.
“You told him you don’t date,” he said in a whisper. “Tell me why.”
I crossed my arms and leaned toward him, hoping my glare might hurt him somehow. “You might have a right to spy on your employees, Mr. Hathaway, but you don’t have a right to my personal life.” Stick that in your craw and choke, buddy.
Angling toward me, he squinted, studied me for so long every muscle in my body went rigid. “I’ve offended you again.”
“Your powers of observation are frightening.” I scowled at the table.
“You confound me like nobody I’ve ever met before. I’m simply curious about you.”
I met his gaze, but he leaped up and paced in front of the door where the shadows were darkest.
“You don’t answer any of my questions, so why should I answer any of yours?” I tapped my foot, waiting.
He stopped, something I took for hope lighting up his features. “If I answer a question for you, will you answer mine?”
The thought of sharing that part of my soul with him made my heart hurt, but my curiosity tempted me. “Do I get to ask anything?”
He remained silent for a moment before he nodded, though the hunch of his shoulders suggested he was either terribly nervous or afraid.
“And you’ll go first?” I asked.
“I suppose I deserve your distrust.” He gave a curt nod, sending that cute little curl shifting across his ear. “Very well, I’ll go first.”
I stood and stepped closer, studying his perfect profile, the utter masculine cut of his jaw. “Why don’t you like people to look at you?”
His eyes closed and crimped together.
My chest tightened at the sight of his unease, but I wanted to know. “At first I thought maybe you had a disfigurement or something you didn’t like to talk about, but then when I saw you and realized you’re…”
Fuckballs!
His face snapped toward me, eyes wide and shining with curiosity. “That I’m what?”
Heat rushed through me, unwinding my nerves until they crackled and threatened to unhinge me completely. “You know what, forget it. Deal’s off.” I started for the door, but he beat me there and stood in front of it. “Your proposal’s on the table so I’m just going to head back to my office.”
“Tell me.” Desperation filled his voice.
I fought to control my spinning thoughts, but they sped out of my control. “I’d rather throw myself out the window than finish that statement.”
“Please, Evangeline.”
The hurt in his voice sent a shiver through me and tore down my resolve. I rubbed my forehead. Why didn’t my brain-to-mouth filter work around him? He had to know he was gorgeous. Didn’t he? “I was going to say beautiful, okay? There, I said it. And now if you’ll excuse me, I need to find a bridge to live under for the rest of my life.”
I shifted closer to the door, but he didn’t move and I couldn’t find the courage to look at him.
“You … think I’m beautiful?”
“Or handsome, or whatever the word is for a guy. Don’t act as if you don’t know it. I’m sure you’ve got hot women beating down your door. Can I go now?” A knot formed in the pit of my stomach, but I didn’t know why. “Please?”
After a long silence, he stepped away and I got the hell out of his office.
I made it back to my desk in the IT office without remembering how I’d arrived there. Why did I have to say that? Why couldn’t I have lied? He sounded so lonely, so hurt, as if he assumed I thought of him as a withered old man.
“That you, Eva?” Paul poked his head over my wall, his double chin hanging over. “When I didn’t see you this morning I assumed…” He cleared his throat and rubbed his wrist across his nose.
“I’ve been in his office all day.”
“You look like ass.”
I snorted despite my mental meltdown. “You try being around Mr. Hathaway for two days and we’ll see how you look. Cam wasn’t kidding about the guy being tantamount to Satan’s cousin.”
Mr. Hathaway’s voice replayed in my mind, evoking an urge I didn’t understand, to comfort him, to take his sadness away. Just his simple “please.” God, stop it! He’s your freakin’ boss!
Jeremy appeared and perched on my desk, staring with longing into his own private world. “What’s his office like? I keep picturing the bridge from the Star Trek: Enterprise.”
I laughed, a burst of sound that flooded me with endorphins. “God, could you be any more of a dork? I’m not sure I’m supposed to say anything about his office. I’ll just say that it’s big and dark.” I stared at Jeremy. “Have you ever seen him? I mean, when he comes or goes from the building?”
“No. I overheard Skeletor talking to a girl in HR one day and he seemed to think Hathaway lives up there like some kind of freaky hermit.”
That tidbit should have seemed odd to me, but somehow it didn’t.
Jeremy shoved his glasses up. “Is he really as scary as everyone says he is?”
“Yeah,” Paul added, “I bet you’ll be glad to see Cam back on Wednesday.”
“He’s pretty scary, but after he’s done mind-fucking you, he isn’t so bad.” The knot in my stomach tightened instead of loosening. I shot a glance at the camera above the door. Hope he didn’t hear that.
My office phone rang. I winced, but relaxed and picked up the receiver when the display announced an outside caller. “Good afternoon, Eva Ross.”
“Hi,
sweetheart.”
I slid forward on my chair and shot Paul a look that made him retreat from my wall. Jeremy jumped up and left. I’d trained my boys well.
I spoke past a huge lump in my throat. “Hi, Mom.”
“Your dad is so sorry for what he said last night.”
“No he isn’t. Please stop trying to apologize for him.”
Her muffled sniffles brought tears to my eyes. “Please come over tonight, Evangeline. We’ll sit down and have a family talk so he can tell you himself.”
“Not gonna happen, Mom. Look, I’m sorry you’re stuck in the middle of this, but I’m done letting him hurt me. He’s never been a father to me, you know that, but please know I don’t blame you for anything.” I massaged my temple, though the sudden ache grew closer to my heart. “I have to stay away for a while. If you’d like to come to my place, or meet me somewhere for supper some night, I’d love to see you.”
Silence. Hiccupping sobs.
When I realized why, a thorny ball of dread thudded to the bottom of my empty stomach. “He won’t let you see me unless I come to the house, will he?”
“He’s a stubborn man, sweetheart. I’ve tried to talk to him, but he won’t listen.”
I wiped away my tears. “So he’s using you to blackmail me, is that it? I can’t see my own mom without enduring him?”
“I don’t know what’s gotten into him lately.”
“This has been going on my entire life, Mom. You have to know that.”
“Will you at least think about it, coming to see me some night?”
“Yeah, I’ll think about it. ’Bye, Mom.”
“I love you, sweetheart. He does too, even if he can’t say it.”
I ended the call and pounded my palm on the desk. No, he didn’t love me and he never would. Fucking bastard! How dare he put Mom through this?
“You okay?” Jeremy’s voice came in a whisper behind me.
I scrubbed tears from my face, willed myself into something resembling composed, and nodded. “Yeah.” Head held high, I stood and picked up my toolkit. “What’s on the work list for this afternoon?”
* * * *
Tuesday morning I arrived at work early in case Mr. Hathaway intended to call me up to his office. Although apprehension coiled around my bones at seeing him again, nervous butterflies had a party in my abdomen about it too. Tossing away the ridiculous notion that I was attracted to the arrogant wonder, I hung up my coat and fired up my laptop.
“Is that you, Eva?” Cameron shouted from his office.
I had a moment of brain freeze before I stood and walked to his door. “What are you doing here? I thought you weren’t back until tomorrow?” My heart fell, but I held my reaction inside. It was stupid, anyway, wanting to see Mr. Hathaway again.
Cam grinned, one full of contented joy. “I thought I’d let you off the hook early.”
I hesitated a moment before withdrawing Mr. Hathaway’s iPhone from my pocket and setting it on Cam’s desk. “That was nice of you, but I was doing okay. I’ll tell you everything once you’re settled in and caught up. How’s the baby?”
“An eating, crying, poop factory, but wonderful.” Cam beamed and flashed a picture of the little guy in a frame on his desk. “Oh, before I forget.” He handed me a red iPhone. “Mr. Hathaway said you left this in his office yesterday.”
I turned the phone over in my hand. “This isn’t mine.” After I said it, I wondered if I should have. Did Mr. Hathaway mean for me to have it? My heart did a little skip-to-my-Lou as I considered the implications of that. No, even if he did want me to keep working for him, it was wrong. I needed to go back to my job and forget I’d ever met him. “No worries. I’ll return it to him right now.”
Chapter 7
I approached Mr. Hathaway’s office and caught Brent unloading a Grindhouse bag at his desk. “Hey, Brent.”
He peered at me through a fringe of blond hair. His face lit up with a grin, and he raced toward me in his white linen pants and red silk shirt. I braced myself when he wrapped his arms around my shoulders and squeezed. “Girl, I don’t care what you’re doing in there with Mr. H., but please, for the love of God, don’t stop.”
My forehead wrinkled. I pushed him away, not the touchy feely sort at the best of times. “I’m not doing anything with Mr. Hathaway other than working.”
Brent dismissed me with a flick of his fingers. “Oh, hush. I’m not going to tell anybody.”
I thrust my palm upward to punctuate my annoyance. “Are you listening to me? There’s nothing to tell.” I scowled, considering why he’d assumed my presence had some nefarious angle. “Why do you think I’m doing anything with him?”
“Get this.” He jumped, clapped his hands, and grinned. “He called me by name this morning.”
I rubbed my forehead, debating whether or not to ask before giving in to curiosity. “What does he normally call you?”
“Well, let’s see.” He marked each one with a count of his fingers. “There’s idiot, moron, and my personal favorite, freak of nature.”
Chuckling, I rolled my eyes and opened the door to Mr. Hathaway’s office. “I assure you his change in behavior has nothing to do with me. I’m just here to return this phone to him.”
Brent said something, but the door shut before I caught it.
My heart throbbed against my ribs as I walked into Mr. Hathaway’s office, gaping at the brightness of the room. All of the blinds had been drawn to allow a fresh splash of sunlight across the expanse. For the first time, I could see how many doors lined the upper level—there were five—the colorful landscapes decorating the beige walls and a small sitting area complete with black leather sofas and matching chairs, a table full of magazines and a giant fern. Even the air smelled of fresh growing things, a scent swirled around by the cool touch of air conditioning. It didn’t look like the same space. The fires of hell, apparently, had gone out. The door to the boardroom on the second level stood open. I walked up the stairs, my pulse pushing harder with each step. Why was I so nervous? I’d just give him the phone, say thanks and good-bye. I stopped, held a hand to my chest to quell the sudden ache there.
This is stupid. The phone was probably just a misunderstanding.
I shook off my melancholy and continued up to the boardroom.
Mr. Hathaway was bent over the table with his back to me. My gaze zeroed in on the way his gray dress pants showcased the muscular curve of his backside, until I realized what I did and put my hand over my eyes. I didn’t go around staring at men’s asses, no matter how tight and cute they happened to be.
“Excuse me, Mr. Hathaway.” I strode up to him, averting my eyes. “I came to return this phone you gave Cameron. It’s not mine.”
He turned and half sat half leaned on the table, grinning.
When I took a more thorough look at his face, my eyes flew wide, and I drew in a quick breath. “You’re not Mr. Hathaway.”
“Actually I am, just not the one you’re looking for, I’ll bet.” Beaming, he strode to me and offered his hand. “Pity.”
I shook it. My skin prickled, and not in a good way. “You look so much like him it’s almost scary.” The only difference was his skin tone. He had a deep bronze tan where Mr. Hathaway had a face that appeared untouched by the sun, pale and unblemished, though nonetheless captivating.
“Richard Hathaway. I’m Benjamin’s twin brother.” Moaning, he leaned down and pressed his lips to my knuckles while his laughing green eyes rolled up to stare at me.
I yanked my hand back and retreated, squicked out by a bad case of the heebie-jeebies. “Nice to meet you, Richard. Is your brother here?” I returned the phone to my pocket and rubbed my arms.
“I’ve made you blush.” He came closer, a dark glint in his eyes I didn’t like one little bit. “What’s your name, kitten?”
My little voice screamed warnings at me, told me to run like hell out of there. Adrenaline flooded my body, boiling and scalding as it came. I backed up until I bumped i
nto the wall with him following each step. A squeak burst from my lips when his fingers caressed my flaming cheek.
Another moan escaped from deep in his chest. “You’re sweet enough to taste.”
When he leaned in to kiss me, I ducked under his arm. “Don’t touch me.”
He posed against the wall, feet crossed at the ankle, hands in his pockets, shoving his suit jacket aside to accommodate them. “What’s the matter, kitten? Either you’re a prude, or you’re fucking my brother.” He laughed and shook his head, clearly amused by his own words. “No, scratch that last one. Benjamin wouldn’t know what to do with you if you fell on his dick, so you must be a prude.”
“Screw you.” I jammed a finger at him. “My boss wouldn’t appreciate you talking about him like that. I don’t care who the fuck you are, buddy.”
What was wrong with his family? If someone had told me I’d meet a bigger ass than Mr. Hathaway before I met his brother, I’d have told them they were nuts.
Richard’s mouth formed a little O before it spread into a wicked grin. “A feisty one. Maybe I was wrong about you, defending him with such passion. Are you fucking him?”
The lights dimmed, stealing away my retort.
“What are you doing here, Richard?” Mr. Hathaway blew into the office like an angry wind, stopping in the shadow beyond the pot lights in the ceiling. His voice fell into a low growl. “I told you never to come here unannounced.”
Richard swaggered away from the wall, his gaze sliding over me in a way that made me want to peel off my skin. “Oh, Benjamin, you’ve always been such a drama queen.”
“I told you never to call me that. What are you doing here now? The board isn’t meeting until this afternoon.”
Richard shrugged and circled me like a predator. “I wanted to see how my brother was doing, to see if you’re still the boring, awkward workaholic you’ve always been.”
I jumped when Richard spoke against my ear. “Our Ben here doesn’t know the meaning of spontaneity. If you check his bathroom, I’m certain you’ll find a schedule posted on the wall so he remembers when to take a shit. He certainly doesn’t know how to pleasure a strong woman like you, not the way I can.” His finger slid inside the collar of my shirt.
Crossing Hathaway Page 6
