“Everything is looking great.” She glanced around again, pleased that her vision was finally taking shape.
Katiya turned to look at him again then stopped. Damn, he’s even more captivating up close. His dark, brooding eyes studied her silently. Black shaggy shoulder length hair framed a tanned, craggy face. He wasn’t what she’d call typically handsome, but something about him made her want to look at him more than once. With large blunt fingers, he pushed back his hair from his face. He dwarfed her five feet nine inches—he had to be at least over six feet tall.
“There are just a few more systems left to set up in here.”
His deep, bassy baritone set off a clenching sensation in the base of her stomach.
Control yourself. Katiya took a calming breath. “Yes, I see that. I’m surprised that there aren’t more techs helping to get it done.”
“There were, but they are setting up the other systems for the centre offices,” he replied.
Katiya frowned. “What? The donation was only for these systems.” She motioned to the computers around the room.
“Miss?”
“Katiya. Katiya Wright. No need for the Miss.” She paused. “I don’t understand. Why are computers being installed in the centre offices?”
“Katiya Wright. You’re the owner of The Oasis, I’m pleased to meet you.” He reached out and shook her hand. “You’re doing some great things with the community centre. As for the reason why the centre’s offices are being set up too. Do you realise how outdated your systems are?” The man cocked his head to the side, studying her.
She ignored the flash of pleasure that filled her at his touch and statement about her work at the centre.
“I know they are but this”—she gestured to the systems again—“was more important to get than computers for our offices. What does—?”
“Why didn’t you just ask for a donation that included the centre offices?”
Katiya narrowed her eyes. She didn’t appreciate his almost chastising tone, but instead of replying in anger, she put on her ‘diplomatic mask’.
“We had thought we would have to get more than one donor to get everything here the way we wanted. But when I approached your company, the donation made was more than generous enough and we didn’t need to seek any other donors. Taylor Bytes gave us all the computer systems, printers and provided techs like you to set it all up for us. That was what we needed. The centre offices having computers were secondary to that.”
Although she had not met the man behind Taylor Bytes, the multibillion-dollar software company, Katiya was very grateful for his unselfish donation. When she had approached the company she had never expected them to donate everything she’d needed to get her computer classes up and running. The man continued to study her intently. Katiya shifted and tried to mask her wince. Her leg ached from the plane ride.
“So what they say about you is true.”
“What do they say?” she asked, leery.
She knew people talked about her dogged determination to get donations for The Oasis—her community centre. They either respected her or called her a pest. She didn’t care as long as The Oasis was running well.
“The Oasis and programs you have here come first,” he stated.
“That’s the way it should be. And this is why I still want to know about the installation of the additional systems.”
“After we got here we were met by Rhianna and she mentioned that you had to go out of town unexpectedly. She showed us where things were to go, I set the men to work and asked Rhianna to show me where we would set up the wireless network. She ended up giving me a tour. From outside you wouldn’t know how huge this place is, and the set-up is phenomenal. Rhianna mentioned the various classes, services and so on you offer. It is impressive.”
“Thanks.” She smiled.
“No, it is you and the people here this community has to thank. Your dedication to the centre and its programs are admirable, however you need good equipment to do the work you do. While we were in Rhianna’s office, I noticed that her computer was a dinosaur. I asked why the donation hadn’t included the offices and she said almost the same thing you had. I made a few calls and Taylor Bytes included the centre offices in the donation. The other techs are setting up the systems.”
Katiya stared. She knew that Rhianna, who was her second in the centre, would not have asked for more donations and she had probably tried to dissuade him. From the look on his face, she could see he wasn’t a man easily dissuaded. She wasn’t either. This time, though, she would let him have his way. It was a benefit to the centre.
“Thank you and Taylor Bytes.”
“You’re welcome, Katiya.”
She stifled a shiver at the way he’d said her name. It was almost like a caress. However, his face was expressionless She must have imagined it.
“Rhianna mentioned you were flying in today but I thought you would be in tomorrow. We planned to come back to set up your system then.”
“I came straight from the airport. I had to check and see how things are doing.” She smiled wryly.
“I know the feeling. I rush back to work after being away too.”
They shared a companionable look. He glanced at his watch. Katiya looked at hers and noted it was almost noon.
“Do you have time for us to set you up today?” He crossed his arms.
“Sure. What do you need from me?”
“Access to your computer. We need to make copies of your hard drive files and programs you installed to put on the new system. Let me get one of the guys to work on it.”
She nodded as he unhooked what looked to be a walkie-talkie from his belt. Katiya wandered over to another system and glanced at the screen. The system seemed to have finished loading whatever it had been doing.
“Calix will meet you at your office,” he said.
“Okay.” She turned to face him and gasped—he was close. He smiled. Katiya stifled a whimper. The dimples bracketing his lush lips made her want to lick them.
Down, girl.
“Ummm… I better go meet Calix.” She backed away.
“Depending on what you have on your hard drive, it should only be about an hour or two to get your info off the old system.”
“Okay. Thanks again.” She turned then walked quickly to the door.
“You’re very welcome, Katiya.” His words followed her out of the door.
Again his words felt like a caress. Just your imagination.
Katiya walked down the hall to her office, absently waving at the various employees and patrons of the centre.
“Katiya, you’re back.” She turned and smiled as she saw Rhianna De’clare striding towards her. “Did you get Lissa Gayle to agree to teach the computer program?”
Katiya marvelled at how Rhianna could make the simple act of walking so graceful and sensual. Even though Rhianna would deny it, she still had a dancer’s grace. Now she would just have to convince her to teach the dance class she had planned but hadn’t told Rhianna about yet. As she got closer Katiya noticed that Rhianna’s soft, honey coloured skin had a light sheen of sweat and her short curly dark brown hair was messy. It was a sure sign that Rhianna was agitated about something. Her light grey eyes still had that serious look they always did. Rhianna stopped and spoke briefly with a centre worker then came the last few steps to her.
“Yes I did. We were able to work out a fair salary. It will take a few months for Lissa to get things settled in New York before she can move here to McKingley.”
“And she doesn’t have a problem moving from such a big city to New Mexico?”
Katiya shook her head. “Nope. She actually said she is looking forward to not having winters anymore. Can’t say I blame her. Even though it’s spring there, it still felt cold to me. I am glad to be home.”
“Glad you’re back and everything worked out,” Rhianna said. A guilty look flashed across Rhianna’s face. “Did you check out the computers? The techs were here since yester
day—a day earlier than planned. They mentioned they had some wiring to do and so on. They came back to install today.”
“They’ve been here two days? Yes, I’ve checked out the systems and spoke with…” Katiya’s eyes widened as she realised she didn’t even know the man’s name.
“Spoke with…?”
“The head tech mentioned they are donating comps for the offices too. He filled me in on everything.”
“Head tech?” Rhianna looked amused.
Confused, she gave her a look. “Yeah. He was in the room back there finishing up the installation.”
“I tried to tell him it wasn’t necessary,” Rhianna said.
“I know you did. He looks like he does as he pleases. Besides, it works in our favour.” She shrugged.
“So you’re cool with them outfitting the space next to the computer area as a computer lab?”
“A what?” Katiya demanded.
“He didn’t tell you everything.” Rhianna winced.
“Explain, Rhia.”
“It would be easier to show you.” Rhianna sighed. “Come on.”
Katiya followed Rhianna back the way she had come. She glanced into the computer room where the man was bent over lifting a computer. He glanced over his shoulder but Katiya looked away quickly, hurrying past the door. Rhianna stopped at the double doors a little distance down the hallway. When Katiya caught up with her, she opened a door and gestured Katiya to go in. Katiya stepped inside and gasped. The massive room had been empty prior to her trip. Now, it looked like a very well stocked computer lab. She’d intended for it to be that exactly, but never in her wildest dreams would she have imagined it would be so…perfect.
Long tables were lined with high backed stools bracketing each side. The wall held organisational units that filled the entire space. She counted. There were fifteen along the back wall and twenty long tables scattered around the room. Next to each table was a computer system on a smaller computer stand with a printer on the bottom. Although the set up was impressive, it was the other three walls that shocked her.
Five flat screen monitors hung on the wall, each one with a console below it. Eyes wide, Katiya walked over to the one of them. She ran her hand over the console. There were so many buttons and controls she didn’t have a clue what any were for. She counted the consoles too and noted there were five on each wall for a total of fifteen. She turned to Rhianna.
“The…ummm…head tech had them set this up.” The same amusement was in Rhianna’s tone.
Katiya glared at her. She didn’t see anything funny about this. There had to be millions of dollars of equipment here. She knew a little about computers but not enough to know what everything was. She glanced at the console again.
“When I gave him the tour he asked about what other programs we were planning. I… ummm…”
Katiya returned her attention to Rhia. Guilt was visible on her face.
“You what?”
“I got excited and started mentioning what we had planned if we could pull it off.” Rhianna sounded defensive.
Katiya bit her lip, trying not to laugh. Rhianna was as bad as she was when she started talking about The Oasis and plans they had.
“He asked me to show him the room we wanted set up for training to build computer systems. Before I knew it, he had somehow commandeered the area and had people in here installing things. He said if people could build the computers, there should also be the option to program them too. Then he put those things”—she pointed to the three walls with flat screens—“in so they could design programs and software. I don’t know how he did it. I was…” She shrugged, looking both bemused and sheepish at the same time.
Katiya stared at her in shock. The usually unflappable Rhianna had been steamrolled. Katiya started to chuckle and leaned against the console, careful to not touch any buttons. “I was trying to figure out what it was about him that was so…”
Rhianna glanced at her sharply. “So…? You’re attracted to him.” Shock was clear in her tone.
Katiya winced and straightened. Rhianna knew her too well.
“No. He’s just so commanding. Like he is in charge or something.”
Rhianna gave her a strange look then her lips twitched and she grinned.
“Yeah, yeah. He’s in charge of setting things up.” She waved her hand at the room. “And from the look of things has some major clout with Taylor Bytes to get all this for us and done in a day no less. But we don’t have anyone to train on this stuff.” She paused and looked around again.
Excitement filled Katiya. The computers she wanted were installed and the added bonus of the offices getting outfitted, too, was more than enough. Now this—a computer building, programming, and software design. She had only dreamt of setting up a lab. All of this was so much more.
“I’ll have to call Carlson to upgrade our security system. With all this in here, we will need it. Stein will need to hire more security persons. Also we have to find someone who knows this stuff to train people well,” Katiya said.
“Stein already is working on it. I know that tone. It is… Wow.” Rhianna’s usual eloquence had deserted her.
In this case, Katiya didn’t rag on her. It was understandable.
Rhianna continued, “We already have plenty of people to teach.”
“Really, so soon? How much it is going to cost us?” she asked, still looking around the room in awe.
“Nothing. They are volunteers,” Rhianna answered.
“Volunteers?” She looked at Rhianna.
“The owner of Taylor Bytes and some of his other employees have volunteered to. Not only set up training programs, but the head honcho has stated that they will keep us supplied with whatever we need for this program—equipment, parts and knowledge.” Rhianna had a grin on her face again.
“Really? Wow. I’ll have to make sure and thank him. Wait a minute. The Mister Taylor was here. You met him. No fair, I didn’t even get to meet him.” Katiya pouted.
Rhianna started to laugh.
“What is your problem?” Katiya demanded. “I’ve never seen you grin so much,”
“Heeee…” Rhianna was laughing too hard to continue.
Katiya shook her head. “You better tell me.”
Rhianna put her hand up, making the sign to give her a moment. She took a breath then seemed to gain control.
“You al—”
“Ahh…Rhianna. I’m looking for Miss Wright,” a languid male voice said.
Rhianna stiffened and her face went cool.
Katiya blinked, intrigued, and raised an eyebrow at Rhianna, who gave a quick shake of her head. Katiya made a note to question her later. Curious, she glanced around Rhianna. She made a hmm sound as she took in his lanky frame lounging in the doorway. His lazy smile curved his full lips. His tanned skin highlighted his sharp features that came together to create an extremely sexy face. His dark hair rested over one shoulder in a long braid that almost reached his waist. She lifted her head, meeting his gaze again, and his smile widened.
“You’ve found me. Cut out the Miss stuff. It’s Katiya. And you’re Calix. Right?”
“Yep.”
“Sorry, I was supposed to meet you in my office. We got a little sidetracked.”
“No prob.”
Katiya stood straight. “Let’s go. I don’t want to keep you from something else.”
“I’m almost done with Rhianna’s set-up. Just waiting for everything to download.” Calix shrugged.
“Okay. Rhianna, I’ll catch up with you later for you to bring me up to speed on what has been going on.”
Rhianna nodded. Katiya walked over to Calix. He straightened and stepped out of the way as she passed him.
“Rhianna,” Calix said.
“Calix.” Rhianna’s tone was cool and dismissive.
Surprised, Katiya looked between the two of them. Calix had a smile on his face and Rhianna was turned away from her so she couldn’t see her expression.
�
�After you,” Calix said to her.
Katiya walked with him down the hall. As they passed the computer room she glanced in. The man was still in there, typing on one of the systems.
“What is his name?” She gestured to the door they’d just passed.
“You mean Giga?” Calix asked.
Katiya frowned. “The man setting up systems in there? Giga, as in gigabyte?”
“Yep, that’s Giga,” Calix replied.
They continued down the hall, stopping briefly as she spoke with various people along the way. Finally reaching her office, she unlocked her door and went inside.
“Sorry about the delay.”
“It’s what you do. Being the head of a centre this large you’re in high demand. I know the feeling. Wow. That’s a beautiful desk set you have there.”
Katiya looked around her spacious office. It was richly decorated in her favourite colours—pale yellow, burnt orange and dark brown. Two sofas were on opposite walls with lots of pillows. Her desk was massive and made of six different kinds of exotic wood, including ebony and Carpathian elm, and pieces of custom glass.
“Thank you, it was a gift from my good friend Iona—she designed it. Iona’s a descendant of the family the town was named after.” She glanced at the floor-to-ceiling matching credenza with hutch and bookcases built into the walls—all with the same design. It was the first thing most people mentioned about the office.
Going to her desk, she started to boot up her computer. “So what’s your job at Taylor Bytes?”
“I run the Research and Development area of Taylor Bytes. The head honcho did it to punish me.” He gave her a puppy dog look.
Katiya snorted. “I can imagine you probably did something to deserve it.”
“Yeah, I did. At least that’s what he said. It’s a lie—he just likes being the big brother and messing with the little brother,” Calix said matter-of-factly.
Startled, she glanced at Calix. “Taylor is your brother?”
“Yep, when I choose to claim him.” Calix laughed then said, “Are you booted up?”
She glanced at the screen. “Yes.”
Pure Harmony Page 12
