Seraphina wrapped a long arm around Kay’s bunched shoulders. “Once, I let a student take the blame for one of my screw-ups. It was my first week, and there were at least thirty other undergrads who wanted the teaching assistant slot.”
Kay had to force herself not to turn and stare. Talk about out of character.
“Today, I like to tell myself I’d be braver and take the punishment. In fact, before I left, I came forward and admitted to the professor what I’d done. He laughed and told me I wouldn’t have been a good aide if I didn’t let students know how it was in the real world occasionally. We don’t always get the kudos we deserve, and sometimes an electrician’s bad work gets blamed on the plumber, as the saying goes. I still don’t feel right about it. It’s not something I’d ever do again. But most importantly, Kay, I didn’t beat myself up over it for the rest of time.”
Kay chewed her lip. “I’m not trying to punish myself. Not intentionally, anyway. It’s just this unfinished business. I thought I’d turned a corner and revealed my true nature. A girl who can’t commit. But since then, I haven’t slept with anyone. So, maybe it was personal, after all. In the end, Finn had so many questions. I wish I could answer them. I hate myself for what I did to him.”
Seraphina gave Kay one last squeeze, then sat forward to fish cashews out of the bowl of trail mix. “You’re right. It’s still affecting you, all this time later. Maybe you need closure. A chance to say the things you just said to me. You should consider calling Finn. Find peace with him, find peace with yourself.”
* * * *
Molly’s phone number came up on Oliver’s screen as a series of nonsense symbols, the way some people spelled out cuss words to avoid spelling out a cuss word.
“Hey.” A beat of silence greeted him. He frowned at that. “Molly?”
“Yeah. It’s me.” The resignation in her voice came over the line clear as a cloudless summer day. Oliver’s frown deepened, but he kept mum. “Sorry it took me so long to dig up this girl’s backstory. Red Hill is really isolated. I had to send someone out to the cabin to track down Finn Welk. A discreet call to Harper Designs revealed he took leave after the breakup with Kay, then left Neve’s employ altogether.”
Oliver rubbed his chin thoughtfully. “Broken heart?”
“How’d you guess?” Molly sounded a little more like herself then, an eager, gleeful gossip. “We planted a guy at the local bar. Finn Welk is a swell fellow. He’s got nothing but lovely things to say, until someone mentions Kay Bing. Then Welk clams up, and you couldn’t pry his mouth open with a crowbar.”
“Then how—”
“Whiskey keeps no secrets. We both know that.”
Oliver ignored that last bit. “So, what we’d learn?”
“First, Oli, tell me, what’s your impression of Kay?”
Oliver rose from his recliner and padded into the kitchen. Whiskey sounded about right. He reached for the decanter on the counter with one hand, held his phone steady with the other, and answered honestly. His answer was for the sake of the job, not personal. Keeping his opinion to himself wouldn’t help the cause. “I think she’s trying too hard. I also think it won’t be a leap for her to figure out I’m the one who left the article on her desk. I’ve got nothing for when she confronts me, which I don’t doubt she’ll do.” I also think she has a fantastic ass and legs that make up in shape what they may lack in length. “That do it for you, Molly?”
“As a person.” Molly was impatient and gruff. “As a human being, how do you see her?”
He paused to pour a finger of whiskey and tossed it back soundlessly. “Tell me why this matters.”
“It’s a test. How well can you read others?”
“Pretty damn well, granted they’re being upfront.” He let that settle between them like a stone. “Well enough to guess Kay is probably morally sound, a decent judge of other people, and receptive. You want to get to the good part, now we’re done with trivial bullshit?”
“I don’t think it’s trivial,” Molly shot back. “I think it’s damn near poetic.”
Oliver squeezed his eyes shut against an oncoming headache. “Can you just tell me what I need to know? Despite all the very good reasons we aren’t best friends, we still have to work together. Do you have something or not?”
Another strange beat of silence, so unlike Molly. “Fine,” she relented. “Your girl is cheating scum. She bought a love shack with this dude, then went and got cozy with someone else—another carpenter, mind you—while leading a small side project for Neve Harper.”
A deep sigh left Oliver’s chest, and his eyes opened to slits. He could feel his lips as they twisted into a grim, sardonic smile. “Hits a bit close to home.”
“Almost,” Molly said with mocking sweetness. “They were engaged.”
Oliver’s brows went up in spite of himself. He didn’t think anything could surprise him, but he wouldn’t have expected that sort of thing from Kay, cheating on her fiancé. She seemed too noble, if not innocent.
He kept that to himself and focused on Molly. Her attitude made sense now. “What did you expect me to say, Molly? That I sensed Kay and I had something in common? I haven’t got close enough to her to guess at anything in her personal life. She’s buttoned down, not at all the person we were led to believe. Now, I’ve got my finger on why. Thanks. I have to go. Cappy Don would probably be interested to know precious little Ms. Bing has a dark side.” As do I, Oliver thought with an eye roll as he hung up.
A year ago, guilt would’ve eaten him up the rest of the night. Not that he and Molly had been anywhere near engagement. He hadn’t even considered what they had a legitimate relationship. Molly had felt differently. Unfortunately, she’d waited too late to make her feelings known.
Oliver sipped on a second glass of whiskey. Sometimes, people cheated because they didn’t realize they were cheating, such was Oliver’s case. Sometimes because they were pathetic louts with no self-control. Kay Bing didn’t fit neatly into any category, and yet, she’d been in a long-term committed relationship. Hard to confuse that with a fling.
She’d cheated on her fiancé, then she’d let him discover the adultery. Why? She was smart; she could’ve kept her secret for eternity.
Oliver smirked into his glass. Keeping the secret would’ve defeated the purpose. Sometimes, people cheated for another reason—an easy break, with simple answers. A cut-and-dried end to the relationship, with no complicated explanations of emotions that defied them. It was only a theory, of course. One he might be able to prove if he could get close enough to Kay.
Chapter 4
“You’re quiet today.”
Oliver’s casual observation woke Kay from her gloom. She’d been staring out the car window, her mind a hundred miles from the scenery flashing by. Oliver’s sedan sped down the highway at a nice clip, a few notches over the speed limit. Hills dotted with rocks and trees whizzed by. She made herself sit up straighter.
“Just thinking.” She forced a light tone, hoping to borrow some of his careless affectation. Thinking was her problem these days. If she was going to reach out to Finn, she needed to grit her teeth and get it over with. Wallowing wasn’t her style. A ménage of frustration, shame, and despair roiled over her like bad weather.
She gave Oliver a sidelong glance. She’d have had more fun bringing Amos or Guillermo along. But Amos didn’t like to leave the lab unless he had to, and she’d sent Guillermo to finish their bathroom project. She’d had to send Jasper along, too, or they wouldn’t complete the work today. Hopefully, they’d didn’t come back to work in pieces tomorrow morning.
“Why’re you so excited to visit the greenhouses?” she asked idly.
Silence greeted her. Oliver chewed the inside of his cheek. His mouth opened twice as if to answer, only to close again.
Kay narrowed her eyes. “I don’t know what to make of you sometimes, Oliver. You were buddies with Roscoe. From your own mouth, I gather the guy’s a pig. You don’t see
m close to anyone else, not even Amos or Guillermo, who’re both decent folks. The fact that you’re unaccountably friendly toward me makes me curious. You’re calculating, but you hide it well.”
He gripped the steering wheel with both hands, and his jaw clenched. It happened in a split second, so quick Kay almost missed it. “Calculating?”
“Sure.” She shrugged carelessly. “You’re about making the right connections. You don’t bother with people like Amos or Guillermo because they can’t help your career. But Roscoe could. And I can. So what if he was a douchebag and I’m a bitch.” She shook her head, unaccountably disappointed by her own conclusions.
Oliver pressed his lips together and nodded. His gaze was pinned to the road, and it gave Kay ample opportunity to take in his profile. He’d never looked more serious. He cast her a quick glance, wearing an unreadable expression. “Maybe I’m just a nice guy. Roscoe was lazy. I picked up the slack so he wouldn’t get canned. And you...well, it’s my job to keep track of your e-mails. Like the ones you get from the National Horticulture Society, the American Botany Society, and Purdue University’s garden publications. Did you know Purdue has one of the most successful and highly regarded genetic engineering programs in the country? I bet you did.”
Kay’s mouth went dry. “It’s called research.”
“It’s called not knowing your shit,” Oliver shot back. He cast her another glance, this time his face was a study in annoyance. “I’m trying to help you the same way I helped Roscoe. I gave you advice about your team, didn’t I?”
Kay glared at the side of his face. “You sure did. I’m still trying to figure out what the hell you gain from your little helping hand.”
That tick in his jaw came to life again. He inhaled deep, exhaled loudly. Then his shoulders relaxed, and he shook his head. “I’m a calculating son of a bitch, remember? According to my math, if you suck at your job, I can’t excel at mine. Let’s stick with that. No use explaining myself when you got it all figured out.”
Kay stared out her window and tried to ignore her clammy palms. She didn’t care what Oliver said; there was more to him than met the eye. He’d figured out her deep, dark secret. He didn’t seem like the type to use it against her, and she couldn’t think of anything he could gain from blackmailing her with the information. A raise? Better benefits? A glowing recommendation for Merit? Merit already liked Oliver. Kay’s opinion didn’t factor into the equation.
But it seemed naïve as hell to believe he was just a helpful dude, with nothing riding on the return from his investment. Her dad was in law enforcement, and Oliver was exactly the kind of guy slinking behind scams and white-collar crimes all the time. Unassuming, charming, seemingly helpful. Just a regular guy. A “good guy,” neighbors would describe him. Keeps to himself and doesn’t bother anyone. Says hello with a friendly smile when they pass in the stairwell.
She hadn’t forgotten his eagerness to visit Capital Acres, either. She spoke into the loaded silence simmering between them. “You still haven’t explained why coming out here is so important. Merit sees what she wants to see, apparently. But my dad helped profile criminals in the burglary unit, and I didn’t miss the gleam in your eye when she brought up the greenhouses, and you realized an opportunity.”
She was going to keep digging, but Oliver beat her to the punch. “Why are you brooding like some emo kid who ran out of eyeliner?”
A lesser mind would’ve missed the very real edge to Oliver’s sarcastic remark. Kay took note, but didn’t comment. Instead, she snorted, moved by another realization. “Neve Harper would love you. She really would. Anyway, I’m not brooding. I told you, I’m thinking. Some of us have big brains, and lots going on up there.”
Oliver’s mouth quirked up at one corner. “Maybe my tiny brain can help your big brain.”
“You think so?” She rolled her eyes. Why did men always think women needed their help? And how could he go from a snit to extending an olive branch in the space of a few minutes? Hoping to throw him off his game, she replied glibly, “How are you with boy trouble?”
“Ah. Thinking of the lover you spurned?”
She hadn’t expected an answer. Oliver’s took the breath from her lungs. She glared at his profile in silence, until he finally sent her a questioning glance.
“What? It was a joke. You look like I insulted your mother.”
A joke. Right. A joke blithely uttered, as if he already knew the secret she’d departed for the first time yesterday. Besides Seraphina, only Neve knew about what had happened with Finn, and Neve didn’t gossip. Kay’s senses went on high alert.
Another clue, another not-quite-right string of words tumbling from Oliver’s mouth. Kay went back to her dad’s training. When investigating a crime, it was essential to let expectations and assumptions melt away. Focus on what was known, and take nothing else for granted.
What did she know? Oliver had done more than sort her e-mails for her. He’d read them and correctly guessed the truth behind her voracious amounts of research. He befriended her, and while it seemed genuine enough, he’d also befriended her dirtbag predecessor, which didn’t quite explain his motives, but was evidence he certainly had some.
Neve always told her to trust her instincts, but not let herself be ruled by them. They provided information, but they didn’t have to dictate her behavior. So, what next? Kay could pretend he hadn’t said anything important. She smiled at her reflection in the glass. Why play along when she could blow shit up?
“It’s remarkable, the way you know things. You know what I think, Oliver? I think you know all about Finn. You probably know he lives in Red Hill, his last name is Welk, and he was Neve’s master carpenter. I think you left the newspaper article on my desk. And I’m damn sure I’d like to know why, on both counts. That way, when I fire you for whatever breach of privacy it took for you to gain personal information about me, Merit won’t be able to contest my decision.”
Oliver had pulled off the highway and turned down a packed dirt road. Signs warning that trespassers would be violated crowded on either side of the lane. He cleared his throat. His face had flushed a fetching pink, not unlike a particular group of Amos’s precious peonies. Her hunch had been a wild toss of a dart into a black void. She was almost as stunned as he was to realize she’d struck something solid.
She pressed her lips together and nodded. She even turned in her seat as far as she could to face him. She wanted him to feel her scrutiny, like a bug on a slide under the lens of a microscope. “No witty explanation?”
She didn’t know who he was or what he was supposed to be doing at Free Leaf Concepts, but she knew she was going to find out. If she had to kidnap him, toss him in her trunk, take him back to her place and start a waterboarding session, she was going to get some answers. Daddy would probably help her cover up the crime if she asked real nice. She glanced up as they rounded a hill, and the road spread out into a huge gravel parking area. A field of white tents in the distance marked the greenhouses. They’d arrived. She turned back to Oliver.
He’d parked and was looking at her with intense consideration. His stare was fastened onto her with unnerving stillness. A lick of sexual awareness danced up her spine as their gazes locked.
This time, Kay didn’t fight the pull. Instinct always warned her to tear herself away, to shut down the connection before it sparked and caught flame. Now, she let the warmth spread between them. Oliver’s eyes were a brilliant green in the morning light. They widened suddenly. He blinked rapidly, snapping the moment in two like a twig underfoot.
Kay didn’t wait for him to pop off with some flippant remark. “We’ll talk later.” She gave him a smile to put the Joker to shame and flung open her car door.
* * * *
By some miracle, Oliver’s forehead wasn’t beaded with nervous sweat. His head was wrecked. Had Kay hacked his secure e-mails? Had he let something slip, burbled the captain’s name while napping in the break room?
He’d expected Kay to figure out the news article. He was a prime suspect for that. But she wasn’t supposed to whip the rest of the nuts and bolts together like a goddamn do-it-yourself kit. And just who the hell was she to call him calculating? It was his job to maneuver, manipulate, and manage.
So, why’d he keep taking Kay’s opinion so personal? It didn’t matter. She didn’t matter. She was a tiny, annoying obstacle. A gnat. He could rally, deny she’d totally hit the bullseye. Or he could roll with the punches. Cappy Don had wanted to bring her in, and now it looked like he’d gotten his wish. At least Oliver didn’t have to waste any more time painstakingly trimming old newspaper articles.
Kay marched ahead of him, toward a gate and a small outpost building. A ten-foot-tall chain link fence marked the boundary of the compound. Compound certainly did the place justice. A hundred acres, surrounded by high fences covered with black mesh fabric to keep the wandering eyes of Free Leaf’s many competitors from getting a glimpse of any proprietary material.
Rowan, one of Tallulah’s assistants, greeted them at the secure entrance and led them inside the small building, hardly bigger than a garden shed.
She removed a thick pair of canvas gardening gloves and offered a darkly tanned hand to Oliver, nodding to Kay. “Pattie asked me to bring y’all around. Nice to meet you, Kay. Don’t see you often enough, Oli,” she added with a grin. Her dark eyes flashed with mirth.
Oliver set his teeth and wrenched a grin from the depths. God, he hated that nickname. As much as other people seemed to love it. “I’m inclined to agree. Top-side execs act like you’re keeping state secrets out here.”
“We’re keeping secrets, they got that much right.” Rowan laughed, clueless at how the comment made Oliver’s skin prickle.
The sensation deepened as he glanced over and realized Kay had her gaze set on him. Something worse than irritation gripped him. He was supposed to be studying her, not the other way around. He smoothed his features and followed Rowan as she led them through the gate and into a small security building.
Love on the Vine Page 6
