Walking back to his office she knocked before entering.
"Lock the door." Burk said, his face a cold mask of indifference. Violet was concerned, but tried to act as cold as the expression on his face. She locked the door and brought her badge over to his desk, tossing it there for him, keeping a safe distance between the two of them.
He picked it up and opened the leather casing and stared at her ID for a few minutes before looking up at her. "Why didn't you tell me to begin with? I would have helped."
"You were our main suspect," Violet told him honestly. "I couldn't. We knew you were hiding something, but I never suspected it was all the information for who the traitor in your company was. Why didn't you speak up sooner?" "Everything you need to know about the finances is on this CD here, I burned it for you while you were gone. It's a picture of all of the doctored records, every piece of information I collected and a list of how it would have been possible to do this. My main suspect is my assistant Alek. He has family back in Russia and ties to the Russian mafia." Burk's expression went dark with anger. "I trusted him, and he was setting me up to take the fall for this, and he was good, he clearly had help setting this up. I don't know who, but you may be able to get that out of him."
"You were investigating this on your own? Why?" Violet asked, surprised. She knew Burk was smart, and resourceful, but she never thought he would have gotten involved like this, it was dangerous. She wasn't sure if it made her respect him more, or worry that his stupidity could have cost him his life because he didn't really understand the danger he put himself in.
"I wanted to be sure before I handed him over to authorities. He's been my best friend for twenty years." Burk told her and slid the ID and CD across the desk to her. "Now you know my secret I guess."
"There's no other skeletons in your closet you want to tell me about?" Violet asked quietly as she tapped the CD and grabbed her ID and stuck them both in her purse.
"I guess we'll have to see where this goes between us, and you'll have to find out for yourself. I gave you the information you were hoping to find, so answer a question for me," Burk said quietly, watching her with intense eyes that had her hitching a breath in her chest as she stared back. "Anything," Violet replied automatically, then realized there were some things she couldn't tell him, so she hoped he didn't ask questions she couldn't answer.
"Was anything you felt for me real, or was this all part of your job?" Burk asked her, a flash of hurt showed in his eyes before it disappeared and Violet felt horrible for hurting him. Normally, in the past, they were angry because the men ended up in jail, but Burk appeared to be innocent, a good man, and she'd hurt him.
Oh, the guilt.
"It was part of my job, but what I feel for you wasn't. I shouldn't have gotten emotionally involved, but I did. Even before I knew you were innocent, turning you in, would break my heart. I'm glad I can take this to my bosses and tell them you appear to be innocent. What I can tell you, is this goes deeper than just Alek skimming funds. We have a kidnapped family being held hostage. We need to find out where, so we can try to get them out, they'll be offered asylum here if we can get to them in time." Violet told him quietly.
"Alek has family over there, is it possible it's his family? That would explain everything he's done," Burk said, shock skittered across his face. "But why wouldn't he tell me? Or ask for my help? I still have connections in Russia, I could have probably found his family and gotten them out."
"When your family's safety is on the line, you do whatever it takes to get and keep them safe, even when it's not the right thing to do. He'll still be held accountable for the illegal choices he's made, but we may be able to get this family safe before any harm can come to them, if they are still alive." Violet told him and then walked around the desk and put her arm on Burk's arm, feeling guilt when he flinched and pulled away. "I have to get this information to my bosses, but this conversation isn't over yet. What was going on between the two of us, we need to talk about that. I can't leave you until we've talked."
"You can come to my house tonight, but Violet, I don't know if I can handle this. I can't share you, and you going undercover for work. The risk to your life and safety and not being able to see you for long periods of time. It won't work for me, no matter how much I liked you." Burk told her gently and then excused himself to get some work done for the day.
Violet walked out of the room feeling completely rejected, but had a job to finish, so she took the files to her boss, and contemplated what she was going to do. She didn't want to lose Burk.
Violet took a deep breath before knocking on Burk's door that night, promising herself she wouldn't cry, no matter what he said. She'd followed her heart, she'd put herself out there for him and if he didn't want her, she couldn't force him.
Burk opened the door and let her in, and before he could open his mouth, Violet kissed him. Pressing her hands to both sides of his face, her tongue roughly mingling with his. Desperation made her do it. She needed him to feel what she did, to realize what he'd be throwing away if he ended it now.
Pulling away to look at him she refused to cry. "I need you Burk, I realize my job is something that we will need to discuss, but I've been thinking of getting out of field work for a while anyways. I can take a desk job, or if this works out together between us, I'd consider retiring altogether. I can get a different job, heck you're going to need a new assistant. They arrested Alek this afternoon and he confessed to everything, including all the names involved. They'll be trying to rescue his family tonight, they sent a special ops team. The information you gathered was invaluable. But enough about that, I need you Burk."
Burk just stared at her, not responding. He'd kissed her back but now he was silent, staring at her.
"Say something, please, I can't just stand here wondering if this is going to be the last conversation we ever have. I love you. I love you." Violet told him, her eyes going wide and she tried to push her panic down at his lack of a response to her words.
"You'd throw away your career on chance to be with me?" Burk finally asked her quietly, the expression on his face softened, though he didn't respond to her declaration of love.
"I wouldn't be throwing away my career, I'd be trading it for something better. You. I know we've only known each other a short while, but I want you in my life and if that means making changes to make it happen, I'll gladly do it. This will be my last mission in the field like this. I won't be going undercover anymore. I've accepted a promotion that will be a desk job, I'll be answering phones, filling out paperwork, but it's safe." Violet told him and took a step forward putting her hand on his cheek again, trying to get him to show some emotion that would let her read him. When he was closed off, he was one of the hardest to read people she'd ever met.
"Would you be happy?" Burk looked down at her and shook his head, "I can't take away your happiness, and if you change for me, and you come to resent me, this won't work."
"I was thinking of retiring from this type of undercover field work for a while, I'm getting too old. The statistics of something bad happening the longer I do it start going up. I'm smart enough to know when I've had a good run and should move on to something else." Violet told him and put her hands around his neck, pressing herself close to him. She could feel his cock respond through his pants, and knew at the very least he couldn't hide his attraction to her, even if he tried not to show any other emotions. "How can I trust you if you have to keep secrets from me constantly?" Burk didn't move, but didn't go to hug her back, and he ignored her perky breasts rubbing against his chest. Or tried too.
"You kept a secret from me, a big secret. A secret that if I'd known earlier, would have gotten Alek arrested a lot faster." Violet whispered to him before pressing a kiss to his neck, her sharp little white teeth nibbling at his collar bone before she pressed another kiss to the base of his throat, feeling his pulse jump beneath her lips.
"I guess we both kept secrets. Do you think we can base a relationship that was start
ed on lies and secrets Violet?" Burk asked her, and finally his hands came up to grab her waist, and he was undecided if he wanted to grip her harder, or push her away.
"I think we can sit down and make this work. No more secrets. I may not be able to tell you every detail at work, but I won't be doing anything I can't generically talk about. I'll be here for you, it will be regular hours, and I want to give this a shot between us Burk. Please…." Violet trailed off, realizing that if he said no, she'd leave here and wouldn't know what to do with herself. The fear of a broken heart suddenly overwhelmed her and she felt the urge to jerk away from him. Burk must have felt her tense, because he tightened his grip on her and held her close.
"I don't know where this will lead us Violet, but you've worked your way into my heart, and I'm scared of having it broken. You're the first woman I've met that had me breaking all my rules. Bringing you to my home, dating someone from work. When I'm not with you, I think about you. When my cell phone rings, I check it constantly thinking and hoping it might be you. I can't just walk away from you. I thought maybe I could but this afternoon, all I could think about was you." Burk told her and then sighed. "This isn't going to be easy to work out. I work long hours sometimes, and some of the people I work for are shady and may or may not have criminal backgrounds. I don't get involved, and you have to promise to stay out of my business unless the law actually gets broken. You're inquisitive, or you wouldn't have done undercover work and I need to be able to trust that our personal life and work life isn't going to completely collide and destroy whatever we have together."
"That's fair, but if something happens, and the agency investigates it, I can stay out of it and support you, but I can't lie, hide, or do anything illegal for you. I'm sorry I had to lie to you while I was undercover." Violet told him bluntly. She had her rules too, and criminal activities was a hard limit, except when working undercover and it had been part of her job description.
"I can live with the first part, and I accept your apology. I won't apologize for trying to save my company my way though." Burk told her. Then he kissed her before she could respond, his hand coming up to press on the back of her head, and his arm tightened around her waist. A few moments later, he scooped her up in his arms, still kissing her and carried her to his bedroom. Walking over to the bed, he set her down and started to work on taking off his clothes.
"I love you Burk," Violet whispered as she took her clothes off and kneeled naked on his bed, watching him slowly strip off his clothes in front of her.
Burk nodded at her, and then proceeded to make love to her for the rest of the night, when he thought she was asleep and curled in his arms, warm and sated, he whispered that he loved her too.
She heard him and smiled silently into the pillow. Burk always had to do things on his terms, but she could live with that.
THE END
Billionaire’s Unexpected Rival
Chapter 1
Ryder Tompkins sat at the head of the large cherry wood conference table in the largest conference room. Normally he wouldn’t pull a power move such as this because it just wasn’t his style, but desperate times and all that. The company his mother started with his step father, Edu-Tech Industries, had not been doing well for the past few quarters and as CEO it was his job to figure out why. So he needed to project power and authority, no matter what anyone at the table thought of him. Especially his step brother, Hunter. “Does anyone want to tell me why sales have been stagnant for almost a year?”
Hunter stiffened immediately, his defenses in place and ready to attack anyone who dared suggest this was his fault in any way. He stared at Ryder, who stared right back at him. “I guess this is my fault, right? You wouldn’t know a goddamned thing about bringing in new business Ryder because you spend so much time behind your precious desk!” Arms crossed defensively, Hunter arched a thick blonde brow in his direction. The gauntlet had been thrown and in front of others too.
Ryder was frustrated because, dammit, he didn’t know much about bringing in new business because his mom and Jonas had never even let him try. Hunter is the outgoing one, they said. He’s friendly and charming, let him have this. They had cajoled and manipulated until Ryder gave up and stop wanting to do it. He’d done exactly as they’d asked but not asked, which was why he stared at two quarters of dismal sales. “That may be the case Hunter, but it isn’t my job. It’s yours.” He watched the emotions play over Hunter’s mossy green eyes. Hurt and anger morphed into arrogant indifference, his default emotional setting. “Now, I’m not blaming anyone specifically,” he sent a meaningful glare to Hunter, “but we need to figure out what the problem is and how to correct it. Any suggestions?”
“Actually, I’ve been thinking.” Cressly Parker cleared his throat and spoke up. The man was as competent as they came, but he’d proven better at managing the business development department than bringing it in. “I think what we need is a marketing specialist. Hunter is doing a damn fine job, but he can only do so much to reach out to all the organizations that need our products.”
Ryder leaned in. “I’m listening.”
A small smile passed Cressly’s lips. “We, well Hunter has been doing his thing. Meeting with potential customers but,” he flashed Hunter an apologetic look, “these bureaucracies take forever to make decisions, sign contracts and agree on budgets. So we will likely see the fruits of his labor but it could be another two quarters from now.”
Ryder looked to Hunter, who seemed stunned by the support of his boss, and then back to Cressly. “Sound good. Really good Cressly. Do you have any contacts we could use?”
“Yes Mr. Tompkins, I’ll get them to you right away.” He gave Ryder a nervous smile.
“Thanks. And call me Ryder.” He didn’t like formality, especially when it came to men decades older than him. He refocused on his step brother. “Hunter is there anything you need that could help?”
His green eyes blazed furiously and he visibly bristled. “I’m not some special needs kid you have to keep after, brother.”
Ryder’s jaws clenched in frustration and he released a weary sigh. “Dammit Hunter you don’t think I know that? I’m just trying to make sure we’re doing everything we can to bring in new business and this business keeps growing.” Slamming closed the leather folder, his piercing blue eyes held an icy glare. “Not everything is about you Hunter. My job is to make sure my employees have everything they need to succeed and whether you like it or not, that includes you.”
Cressly and the others read the room correctly and quickly gathered their things, beating a hasty retreat before the atmosphere became too volatile. “I’ll have Mimi send everyone a copy of the notes today,” Ryder said to their retreating backs.
Hunter sat staring up at Ryder, who stood reining in his anger, resentment the only emotion in his eyes. He hated, still hated the fact that Ryder was made CEO. Even though the job seemed boring as fucking hell, he still would have liked to be considered for the job. But no, his parents had insisted he’d be better at business development because he was charming and had that damned party boy persona. Truthfully he really did like schmoozing boring educators and administrators at expensive meals, it was fun and he was damn good at it. But then moments like this brought home the fact that Ryder was the boss. His boss. “Sure boss. Whatever you say.”
Ryder didn’t react because he knew that’s what Hunter wanted. “So you have everything you need, then?”
Hunter stood, mossy green eyes level with velvety blue ones. “I just said I did.”
“Then why have we gone six months with no new business?”
“You heard what Cressly said,” he practically growled at his brother.
Ryder stared at Hunter long and hard, skepticism making it hard to believe him. “That may explain some of it, but I’ve seen your expense reports and it doesn’t make sense so you need a better answer than that.”
Hunter snatched up his deep red leather folder. “Sure thing, boss man. I’ll have answ
ers for you soon.” He stood and gave Ryder’s assistant and friend, Mimi, a meaningful look before he fled.
Ryder scoffed and shook his head as he gathered his things. Every single meeting with Hunter ended the same way. He was overly sensitive and always ready to fight about anything, no matter how insignificant. He couldn’t even worry about his brother right now because he had other things on his mind.
“You know Ryder, you could take it easier on him.” Mimi gave him the same soft and sympathetic look she’d given him when he’d been upset about gaining a new brother.
Ryder sighed and looked at one of his oldest friends. “I could but what good would it do?” The truth was that Hunter only listened when Ryder flexed his muscles, which he hated to do. “He knows he screwed up but refuses to own up to it because it’s me. I can deal with it at Mom and Jonas’ house but not at work.” If Hunter wasn’t his brother with a stake in the company, he would have fired him long ago.
Mimi patted his shoulder sympathetically. She’d spent the past two decades watching Ryder and Hunter compete, fight and antagonize each other over any and every damn thing. If there was a first place to be had, a winner or loser, you could guarantee they would battle to the death for it. It was exhausting to watch and she loved them both, albeit in different ways. Hunter was the difficult brother, the one you had to peel back layers to see he was a decent guy while Ryder easy going and level-headed. Hunter was charming and Ryder could be awkward. “I get that Ry, but as the CEO you have to be the bigger man. That’s why they pay you the big bucks.”
SHEIKH'S SURPRISE BABY: A Sheikh Romance Page 20
