"Holly, this is--crazy. No way would I ever use these materials in that project. This is some kind of mistake."
"From what Marla told me, this is a huge mistake. The question is, did it really happen? And if so, who caused it to happen? Because this paper came from your own files."
He rocked back as if she'd slapped him. "That's impossible!"
She shook her head. "Marla made the copy directly from your file. Either you signed off on this--or someone here did. I think you'd better pull the file."
He left the office and she sat down at the conference table. If he really was innocent of this--how on earth would they prove it? She watched as he carried in a box full of files.
"This is everything. It could take a while to go through it all. Do you have time tonight to stay and do this with me? I feel like I need a witness."
"Yes, of course I'll stay. Start at the beginning and explain as you go, and I'll try and keep up. We need to figure out what happened."
"If this is true..."
"Let's take it a step at a time. Then we'll figure out how to deal with it."
He opened up the first folder.
Three hours later, Holly was sipping cold coffee and running a hand through her hair. "Okay, let's go over it again. The paperwork for the substitution had to come from this office because of who else signed here, right? It has to have been the guy you had working as your assistant back then. The only explanation that makes any sense is that he took a bribe and changed the paperwork. Then the contractor skimmed the money off. With such a large project, that would have been a lot of money."
Jason sat wearily in his chair at the head of the table, elbows on the table and his head in his hands. "I can't believe this. Do you realize that the whole structure could be undermined if this is true?"
Holly realized exactly that after so many hours of explanation by him. And the results were going to be very unpleasant, particularly for Jason. He didn't seem to have reached that point in his thinking yet.
"I have to contact...everyone I guess. The structural integrity of the building has to be examined immediately. There could be a collapse."
Holly leaned toward him. "Listen to me. You need a publicist to work on a statement with you. You need to talk to your lawyer. Then you can talk to whoever needs to be told."
"What? Why on earth--"
"Think, Jason, think. Your office is going to be painted as the villain in this. Your reputation is going to be under fire. Even with you coming out with the information, they are going to try and crucify you for this."
"But..."
"Part of it will be out of fear. And part of it will be out of that ugly malice that happens when someone reaches the top of his game. Your buildings stand out far and away above the competition. Those jealous people are going to come after you with a vengeance."
"We have the proof that it came off my assistant's computer! It wasn't something I did!" He was practically yelling. She nodded sympathetically.
"I know, I know. I'm just telling you what's going to happen. People like to tear down those they've built up. Some people will listen to your explanation of how and why it happened--and others won't give a damn. You need to prepare yourself for it."
He leaned back in his chair, eyes confused. "This is impossible."
"No, but it will be difficult. Now I'd like to suggest that you call your lawyer while I call Maggie Carter. I happen to know she's available, and we could use some help crafting a statement for the public."
He nodded vaguely and pulled out his phone to call his lawyer. She left the room to call Maggie.
* * * *
The following week was a version of hell for Jason. He'd notified all the proper authorities and made a statement to the public. At first, concern over the safety of the building took priority in the reporting. By the second day, the blame game had begun. Jason's conscientious accounting of what had happened was soon seen as a preemptive strike to avoid prosecution. His lawyers assured him that he was not going to be brought up on charges, but the impression in the public mind was already set. It didn't matter that the contractors were the ones who had committed the potential crime. The link between the buildings he'd designed and Jason's own persona was a strong one.
At first, he had focused solely on making sure the building was safe. He'd skipped a Sunday lunch with Gloria to meet with building inspectors and other officials of the city. Gloria had been entirely supportive after hearing the story, and swore to address the issue in her blog. She'd immediately seen that it meant trouble for her grandson, but Jason had brushed that off much as he had done with Holly's warnings.
As the week progressed, it began to sink in that people weren't willing to believe he was innocent. It was made worse by the fact that he'd hired the guy who'd done the deed, and he blamed himself. He didn't know how to handle an attack on his work. Work had always been his escape, his meaning for getting up in the morning, his passion. Now he faced his mornings with a kind of dread. By Friday evening, he was sitting slumped in his chair at the conference table, staring out the window and wondering what the hell to do with the rest of the night.
Marla walked in to say good night. She paused on the threshold then came forward. "Jason, I wanted to tell you I'm leaving now. Maggie is available this weekend if anything else comes up that requires press attention, and you can reach me at home if you need me to come in. Can I get you anything before I leave?"
He shook his head. "No, you have a good night. I'll see you Monday."
She pursed her lips and looked as if she would say more, but then she turned and left his office. His phone rang and he almost didn't answer it. Finally he pulled it out of his pocket and saw that it was Holly calling.
"Hello?"
"Jason, I'm glad I reached you. I wanted to ask you to come over tonight. I'll cook you dinner."
He was silent as he thought about it. He hadn't seen her since the night when he found out about what had gone so wrong. His life had been swamped all week with meetings and people and phone calls and he'd dropped into bed exhausted each night.
"You still there?"
"Yes. I'm thinking about it."
"I've got steaks and baked potatoes with everything on them. And pie for dessert. Homemade pie."
"Hmm. Real pie. I could use some pie. Are you still at work?"
"No, I'm home. Come over whenever you're done there."
He sighed. "I think I'm done here now, actually. Should I bring anything?"
"Just yourself. I'll see you soon."
"Right."
They hung up and he decided that pie was a good reason to get up out of his chair and leave the office. There was nothing for him here anyway, not any more.
* * * *
Holly took one look at him and knew her job that night was not going to be easy. Jason's green eyes were dull and tired looking, his step heavy. She took a deep breath and moved forward to greet him with a quick kiss on the lips. "Here, let me take your jacket. Loosen your tie or get rid of it altogether. It's time to relax."
He nodded and handed her his suit jacket and tie. Then he unbuttoned the first two buttons on his shirt and rolled up his sleeves. "Put me to work. What needs doing?"
"There's a bowl of salad in the kitchen that you can divide up into the dishes I've set out." She went to the closet and hung up his coat.
Jason was setting bowls of salad on the dining room table when she came back. "Blue cheese dressing okay with you?" Holly asked.
"Sure," he said. "Those steaks smell about done."
"Yep, they are if you like medium rare to medium."
"Perfect."
She got the steaks onto plates. "Let's eat some salad and let the steaks sit for a few minutes."
They sat down and Jason stared at the salad. "You know, you promised me pie."
She stared at him for a minute, surprised, and then saw a bit of a grin on his face. "You're right I did. How would you like to start dinner with pie?"
&nb
sp; He shoved the salad away. "Sounds great to me. What kind of pie?"
"Pecan."
She got up and was back soon with pieces of pie on plates for both of them. She watched as he took a bite and closed his eyes to savor it. "Good?"
"Mmm. The best. Seriously good pie."
She ate some and had to agree. "I've never gotten around to asking you what your favorite pie or cake or cookie might be."
"Pecan ranks right up there. But all time fave has to be warm peach pie with a scoop of vanilla ice cream. Cake would be German Chocolate. Cookie--actually, I've never met a cookie I didn't like."
She laughed. He said, "That's the first time I've smiled all week."
Her smile faded. "It's been horrid hasn't it?"
"Yes, fairly horrid. You were right, you know. All your predictions came true about the public reactions. All my current and future jobs have cancelled, in one case taking the financial hit on forfeiting rather than use me."
"Oh Jason, I'm so sorry to hear that. People can be so stupid."
"The only good news is that the Golden Dome is going to be okay. After everything, it turns out the design was strong enough to withstand even the use of substandard materials. They'll still do some retrofitting for safety sake, but the building is in no danger of collapse."
"But that's fantastic! Once the news gets out--"
"Come on, Holly. Don't lose your sense of people's natures. No matter what happens next, my name is officially mud in this town. The perception is that I did something wrong. That perception isn't going to change anytime soon."
She nodded slowly. He was right and it was pointless to act like everything would be fine. After a minute of silence she got up and brought the steaks and baked potatoes into the dining room. Jason stared down at his plate and then looked up at her with troubled eyes. "Could we save this? Put it in the oven on low or something?"
"Sure. Not hungry after the pie?"
"Not hungry in general lately."
"What do you want Jason?" Holly asked intently. "How can I help?"
"What I want is to lie down with you and lose myself for a while in your body. Just leave the world behind."
She gave him a serious look. "Then that's what we'll do." She stood up, put the plates into the oven and then walked around the table to him and held out a hand. He took it and stood and walked with her to the bedroom. She undressed him and then herself and they lay down on the bed. She turned to him and said, "No pressure, no work, no people, just us, just our bodies, just feel." She began to kiss her way down his body and felt him relax against her until she created a different kind of tension in him.
They made love slowly at first and later with an intense passion. When he finally rested against her, she felt like he was a whole man again, instead of the broken man who'd come through her door that night.
In the morning she was awake before him, but he found her in the shower and joined her there. Morning shower sex woke them both up fully and Holly headed for the kitchen dressed in her silky robe with a smile on her face. She was drinking coffee when he walked in, barefoot and wearing his usual casual attire of jeans and a black t-shirt. He looked sexy as hell, she thought, and sighed.
"What was that sigh about," he asked, getting a cup of coffee for himself.
"You," she said. "You look so damn sexy in the morning. The barefoot and jeans thing is working for you."
He gave a chuckle. "I seem to have forgotten to bring shoes over here when I brought the clothes."
"Ah, I see. Did you have any plans for today?"
He frowned. "No, my schedule has become very clear."
"Then I have an idea. But first, are you ready for breakfast?"
"What do you have to eat?"
"I was going to put a frittata in the oven if that sounds good."
"Sure. Now what is your idea?"
She began pulling ingredients from the stainless steel refrigerator. "Well, I was thinking we should go to Sully Point for the weekend. And if you want, we could take Gloria with us. Show her the town. Or not, that's up to you."
"I don't think I'm up for showing Gloria around, plus we need to give her at least a day's warning before we take her down there. But us--yeah, we could go down there. I'm in the mood to get out of town, that's for sure."
She beamed at him. "Perfect." Within a few minutes, the frittata was cooking and she'd mixed up some blueberry muffins and put them in the oven.
"This is good, our going today. It will give you another look at the land if you want and--"
"Hold on, are you talking about the project?"
"Yes."
"I don't think you should assume that your family is still going to want me to design it for them."
"I'm not assuming anything. They've stayed updated on this whole mess through Maggie--remember she's Sam's sister? And they aren't idiots. Nothing has changed their minds about you being involved."
"Maybe something should have changed their minds."
"What are you talking about?"
"Holly, I'm the one who hired and trusted the bastard who took the bribe. What does that say about my judgment?"
She had her hands on her hips and stood looking at him for a minute. "What it says about you is that you're human. You can't know everything about a person. What my family sees is how you came forward so quickly upon finding out about the problem. How up front you've been. You are a man of integrity, Jason."
He busied himself making another cup of coffee. Turning around abruptly to face her he said, "I don't know how to deal with this--this attack on my work. My work is who I am. I've poured my life into it for years now. I don't know how to fight the bastards that are doing this."
"Time will help. And getting involved in a project that is outside the city might be a very good thing right now."
"Isn't that the same as running away?"
"More like running to something, I'd say. Meanwhile people are going to notice when someone like Rob Tremaine lets it be known that he wants you as the architect for his latest project."
"Rob doesn't have to--"
"Of course he doesn't have to. He wants to let people know that. Right now you have to let other people express their belief in your honesty and morality." She watched his face carefully to see if her words were sinking in. She saw a lessening of tension around his eyes. He still looked shell-shocked to some extent, but not as blankly devastated as last night when he'd first arrived. As she pulled the muffins out of the oven, she called out over her shoulder, "Get the butter from the fridge, would you?" Within moments they were seated at the table with hot muffins and a ham, pepper, potato and onion frittata.
"Now isn't this better than a protein shake?"
He gave her a smile. "Just about anything is better than a protein shake. This--this is a feast. And these muffins are unbelievable."
They ate in a companionable silence. Holly wondered whether she should suggest her next proposal to him and decided to wait. Get him to Sully Point first. Then they'd see.
* * * *
Jason found the drive down to be relaxing. He and Holly didn't talk much, but listened to music instead. At one point she'd gotten him to sing along with the radio with her, and they'd eventually ended up laughing. If you could laugh your life wasn't over, right?
He knew he needed to pull out of the funk he was in, to get up and fight. But he felt so drained by all that had happened, however, every mile away from the city seemed to lift some of the darkness from him. Holly was a big part of that. She wasn't perky or too cheerful, she was just herself. She wasn't careful about him, which would have put his teeth on edge.
"I have an idea for tomorrow," she said into the quiet of the Jaguar. "I think we should go out on one of Cody's boats and go fishing."
He glanced over at her in surprise. "Now that is an excellent idea. I could definitely use some time out on the water."
"Good, because I called Cody yesterday and arranged it."
"You were that sure you cou
ld convince me to come here with you?"
"Well, I wasn't positive, but I thought I had a good chance at it. I was prepared to fight dirty."
He laughed. "It's a good plan. Getting away is exactly what I need."
She smiled at him and he felt his breath catch in his throat. She was so damn beautiful. It hit him sometimes like that, out of the blue. Her golden hair fell in waves around her shoulders and her brown eyes sparkled as she looked at him now. He suddenly wanted her desperately.
"What? What is it? You have this look on your face...oh."
"We're almost there, right?"
"Yes, about fifteen more minutes."
"Think we could go parking again on the project land?"
She laughed. "I have a much better idea. My sister Anna has this loft she used to live in before she married Sam. Then Julia and Cody lived there before buying their house. Anna hasn't really used since she put in a studio at the beach house. When I mentioned you might be coming down, she offered it to you to use whenever you're in Sully Point. It makes more sense than staying at Maelynne's motel every time. This way you can have a comfortable place to stay, and you can stay as long as you want."
"That's awfully generous of her. I'm not sure I feel comfortable--"
"Before you say anything, remember it's just sitting there now, not being used."
"Well, that is a good point. It sure would help out for when I need to be down here."
"And, since I know where the key is, we can go straight there and let ourselves in, bypassing family entirely until we're ready to see them."
"Ah. Now that sounds like a very good plan since I feel like getting you out of those clothes as soon as possible."
"It's good how we're on the same wavelength."
He laughed.
Later that day, after they'd worn each other out and taken a short nap, Jason decided that Holly might be the best antidote there was for what he'd been going through. He felt one hundred percent better than he had when he'd arrived at her apartment last night.
He was sitting on the couch thinking while Holly got dressed. It seemed to him that there wasn't much point in going into the office this coming week. He had literally no business. He probably should lay people off. Maybe Holly would have some ideas about how to handle the employees. Perhaps giving everyone a week's vacation made the most sense. He knew he needed to catch his breath and regroup.
Love Captures the Heart (Sully Point, Book 3) Page 8
