by Marie Astor
The girl widened her eyes as though she was being imparted some great wisdom, looking at the two imbeciles with expertly crafted adoration.
Dennis was enjoying the spectacle so much that he forgot his usual reticence and stared openly, unwilling to miss a piece of this circus.
Sensing Dennis’s glance, the brunette shot him a direct look and their eyes locked for a moment. If he had not been waiting for Janet, Dennis might have explored this highly enticing opportunity. As it were, he would have to pass. But then whom was he kidding? Ever since he had met Janet Maple, all the women he knew and any new women he met became just that: random women. Of course he knew that he had no one to blame but himself. Janet liked him; he was sure of it. The only problem was that he liked her too. The intense sensation he felt whenever he was in the presence of Janet Maple was an emotion that ran much deeper than mere attraction. Such emotions were against Dennis Walker’s code of conduct. When it came to women, he liked to keep things simple, with no strings attached. Besides, Janet and he were coworkers, and no other combination had the makings of disaster written all over it like two dating coworkers.
Dennis had hoped that his latest conquest, Shoshanna, would free him from Janet. An heiress to a gym chain, Shoshanna was a twenty-seven-year-old voluptuous brunette. Dennis had met her in one of those swanky lounges. Surrounded by a pack of girlfriends, she was obviously bored by the types of men who were trying to gain her attention. Most men would have been intimidated to single out a woman surrounded by a fleet of girlfriends, but Dennis Walker was not most men. He had a gift when it came to picking up women in bars. A big part of this gift was his ability to guess a woman’s favorite drink—a skill that mostly consisted of keen powers of observation and generous tips to the bartenders. After supplying the bartender with a twenty, Dennis learned that Shoshanna had been drinking lychee martinis all night. Just as her glass was about to become empty, Dennis had the bartender place another lychee martini in front of her. As Shoshanna’s eyes lazily scanned the crowd for the source of this sign of attention, Dennis raised his glass to her from his corner of the bar. She smiled back, and within minutes Dennis was sitting next to her, chatting. That had been two months ago, and they had just returned from a trip to Turks and Caicos. The only problem was that Dennis had spent the entire vacation picturing Janet in a bikini.
“Hey there.” Janet’s voice brought Dennis back to reality. He flashed her a smile, hoping that his face was not betraying his thoughts.
“What will it be?” Dennis asked, drumming his fingers on the bar stand.
“A Bloody Mary.”
“Sounds like a good choice. I think I’ll join you.” He gave the order to the bartender.
While they were waiting for their drinks, Dennis turned his attention back to Janet. She had taken off her suit jacket, unwittingly giving him a tantalizing view of her lovely breasts through the two opened top buttons of her blouse. It was more suggestion than an actual view, but Dennis enjoyed it when things were left to his imagination. Not wanting to be too obvious, Dennis quickly shifted his gaze to Janet’s face. He was glad to see that tonight they were a shade of deep green, which meant that she was happy. The color of Janet’s green-gray eyes always changed with her mood: when she was happy they were deep green, but when she was angry or upset, her eyes would turn almost gray. During the past few days, Janet’s eyes had been a bleak shade of gray.
“Have you heard from Ham?” Janet asked, saving Dennis from the need to come up with small talk.
“No. I tried calling him several times but kept getting his voice mail. I gave up after my third message.” Dennis sighed. Despite having occasionally butted heads with Ham, Dennis missed his old boss. And most of all, he was angered by the unceremonious manner in which Ham had been ousted.
“Maybe he’s away on a trip or something,” Janet suggested, but the look on her face made it clear that she did not really believe her own suggestion. “Or maybe he doesn’t want to be reminded about everything that happened.”
“I can’t say that I blame him. If I were in his place, I wouldn’t want to hear from any of us either. And that pompous prick they sent in to replace Ham!” Dennis clenched his fingers into a fist. “Do you know that he had the nerve to tell me that the evidence we obtained on Wyman was inadmissible and was the reason for the case being shut down? Does he take me for a complete idiot?”
Janet hastily looked away, busying herself with her drink.
“I, for one, am not giving up that easily. Kingsley reeks of foul play, and I intend to find out whom he’s working for.” Dennis fixed his eyes on Janet. “What exactly do you know about the guy? Please, I need to know.”
Janet shook her head. “I don’t want to talk about it, Dennis, okay? It won’t make any difference anyway.”
Dennis halted. Ever since Kingsley became the new department head, Janet seemed constantly on edge. She said that she had worked with Kingsley at the DA’s office, and Dennis intended to find out just what was it that Janet knew about their new boss, but he had to tread lightly. On several occasions he had tried to get Janet to talk but she had snapped at him, which was incredibly uncharacteristic of her. There had to be a reason for Janet’s reaction, and Dennis was determined to find out what it was. At the moment, however, it was difficult for Dennis to concentrate on the task at hand. It had been a while since he had been out with Janet alone. Usually, whenever they went out for drinks after work either Laskin or Ham Kirk would join in. But now, alone with Janet, Dennis was suddenly as nervous as a schoolboy. Objectively speaking, this was not a date at all, but this knowledge did not stop Dennis from wishing that it were.
Dennis forced himself to focus. “Come on, Janet. Don’t you want to get back at the guy? If not for our sake then for Ham’s? We can’t let Kingsley destroy everything we’ve worked for. Granted, some of the evidence was not exactly procured by the book, but until Kingsley came into the picture no one gave a rat’s ass. And now, all of a sudden, all the blame’s been put on Bostoff, Muller’s been exonerated, and we’re being told to shut up. Don’t you want to know who’s behind all this?”
Janet downed the rest of her drink in one long swallow. “Fine, I’ll tell you, but if you hate me afterwards, blame yourself.”
After she had finished the account of her relationship with Alex, Janet felt Dennis’s searing eyes upon her. “You dated the guy, and you’re just telling me now? Don’t you think it would have been prudent to tell me ahead of time?” Dennis glared at her.
“I didn’t think that my personal life was any of your concern,” Janet snapped, wishing she could disappear. It was not her fault that Alex had dumped her and while he was at it had taken credit for her work, but for some inexplicable reason she felt like someone stung with social leprosy. But then she knew the answer why: Alex was the victor and she was the loser. Alex’s career was soaring, and from the smug, cocky way he carried himself, Janet guessed that he was doing equally well in the personal life department. By comparison, Janet’s fortunes were bleak. The direction of her career was once again uncertain, and the status of her personal life was equally nebulous. A fact that was made painfully obvious by her spending Friday night in a bar with a coworker. A very handsome coworker, but still only a coworker.
“Your personal affairs do not concern me,” Dennis replied coolly. “But when it comes to work matters, I think that professional courtesy behooves you to keep me in the loop.”
Janet felt her face burn. So there it was: she was of no concern to Dennis Walker.
“I’m sorry,” Dennis retreated. “I didn’t mean for it to come out the way it did.”
In spite of herself, Janet’s heart quickened. Did that mean that he really cared? Could it be that he too, just like her, yearned for them to become something more than whatever it was that they were to each other?
Dennis finished his drink and signaled to the bartender for another round. “Janet, don’t you realize the importance of everything that you just told me?
Alex is a crook, and what’s worse, he is working for even bigger crooks.”
“Yes, but what’s to be done?” Janet struggled to hide the disappointment in her voice: Dennis only cared about work after all.
“Don’t you see it?” Alex asked.
Oh, I see it, Janet thought. It’s crystal clear. You only need me when it’s work-related. Like when you got me to get all that evidence on the Bostoff case.
“Alex sabotaged your work on the Borrelli case because his superiors told him to do so, and he got promoted in return. Now, the same thing is happening with Emperial. David Muller must have friends in some very high places,” Dennis continued, oblivious to Janet’s mood. “But this time”—Dennis paused, placing his hand on Janet’s arm— “you’ve got me by your side. I won’t let Alex destroy everything we’ve worked for.”
Under the direct gaze of Dennis’s eyes, Janet felt something inside her shift. He looked so sincere, so concerned. But he didn’t care about her; work was the only thing that mattered to him. Work and one night stands. Part of her wanted to storm right out of there, but she knew that she had to finish her story since Dennis was bound to find out anyway. “Dennis, I haven’t told you everything.” Janet gulped, anticipating another outburst from Dennis.
Instead, his voice softened. “What is it, Janet?”
“During my meeting with Alex he asked me to be his eyes and ears … He wanted me to snitch on you.”
“It seems that I’m rather high on Kingsley’s list. I presume that you agreed? This is going to be fun,” Dennis added, rubbing his hands.
“What do you mean agreed? Of course not.”
“You refused?”
“Yes,” Janet mumbled. Not only had she refused Alex’s task, she had told him exactly what she thought of him, which was not much.
Dennis fixed his eyes on her. “Janet, tell me exactly how the conversation went.”
Janet took a long sip of her drink. “I told him that I wasn’t going to spy on my colleagues, to which Alex replied that he had the power to fire the whole team, one by one. And I told him that there wasn’t anyone else left of retirement age on the team, so he wouldn’t be able to bully people into retiring like he did with Ham and Ann.”
Janet braced herself for Dennis’s indignation; instead, she saw a smile on his face, and what looked like a glint of awe in his eyes. “Janet Maple, you’ve got guts.” Dennis squeezed her arm. “Don’t get me wrong, I think it was very brave of you to tell Alex off that way, but perhaps—”
“Perhaps it was not the smartest thing to do?”
“Look, I’m not here to criticize you. If anything, I’m grateful. You could have taken Alex up on his offer and not told me anything about it. But instead you warned me. Thank you for that.”
Their eyes met, and Janet thought she saw a flash of something far stronger than gratitude in Dennis’s gaze. But then it was probably nothing more than her wishful thinking. “So you’re not mad at me?” Janet blurted out, cursing her own sheepishness. As if Dennis Walker had any right to be mad at her. If anything, it should be the other way around.
“No, I’m not mad at you, Janet.” Dennis squeezed her hand this time, moving in closer. “But I hope that you’ll consider my suggestion.”
“What is it?”
“I understand how you feel about Alex, but if you want to get back at the sucker, you’ll have to put your emotions aside. Do you think you could do that?”
“What do you have in mind?” Janet asked. A suggestion coming from Dennis Walker could never be simple.
“Go into his office on Monday and apologize. Then do what he asked you to do.”
Janet crossed her arms on her chest, flaring with indignation. She was not apologizing to Alex. “Why don’t you do it yourself, Dennis? What’s stopping you from sucking up to the new boss?”
Dennis shook his head. “Janet, you really need to learn how to cool it if you want to outmaneuver a man like Alex. And for your information, I would gladly suck up to him, but the prick hates my guts. He’s been sent here to shut me up, and there’s no way on earth I can ingratiate myself with him. But you, on the other hand,” added Dennis, eyeing Janet appraisingly, “have all the necessary equipment.”
Janet tightened her arms around her. “If you’re suggesting—”
“I’m suggesting that we expose that hypocritical bastard Kingsley for the slime that he is, and in order for us to do that we’ll both need to swallow our pride. Please, Janet, just trust me on this. Together we can outmaneuver the dirtbag.”
“Fine,” Janet sighed. She didn’t like Dennis’s idea in the slightest, but then she didn’t really have much choice. At least this way she would have a fighting chance with Dennis standing by her side.
Chapter 6
Janet paced the floor of her office, clasping and unclasping her hands. The prospect of apologizing to Alex turned her stomach, but she had promised Dennis that she would and there was no going back now. How many women ended up having to apologize to their ex-boyfriends? Not many, but she was one of the lucky few. There was no use grumbling about it. She might as well get the humiliation over with.
With leaden steps, Janet walked down the hallway that led to Alex’s office. She was about to knock on his door when the sound of a female voice stopped her. “Do you have an appointment to see Mr. Kingsley?”
Janet turned around and saw that the question had come from Georgiana Russell, the flashy blonde Janet remembered Alex introducing as his assistant. “Hi, Georgiana. No, I don’t, but I was hoping I could see him.”
“I am in charge of Mr. Kingsley’s schedule,” Georgiana replied, pouting her pink lips for emphasis. “I will check if he is available.”
Before Georgiana had a chance to attend to her task, Alex’s door opened and the man himself stood in the doorway. “Janet! What a pleasant surprise. Come in, come in.”
“Thank you, Alex.”
Alex leaned against the door, holding it open with his shoulder. “Please, have a seat,” Alex offered, motioning at the chair that stood across from his desk and closed the office door.
Janet sat down and crossed her legs, her skirt hiking up a few inches above her knee. When they had been together, Alex had often told her that he loved the shape of her legs. She might as well use every weapon in her arsenal.
“Alex,” Janet started tentatively, “I wanted to apologize for speaking out of turn during our meeting last week.” She lowered her eyelashes for added effect and then looked up at him again. “I don’t know what came over me. I’m not like that at all. You are the head of this department now, and I want to assure you that I will diligently carry out any task that you choose to delegate to me. I can’t tell you how sorry I am and how badly I feel about what happened.”
“No need to apologize, Janet,” Alex assured her, waving his hand magnanimously. “I understand completely. We are all human, and we all can be guilty of overreacting at times.”
“I am so glad that you understand.” What a pompous prick Alex had become. He was so full of himself he could not see past his own nose.
“And I am so glad that we have an understanding, Janet. I promise that you will be well-rewarded for your cooperation.”
“So, is there anything in particular you’d like me to do?” Janet asked.
“For now, I just want you to keep a real close watch on Dennis Walker. I tell you, Janet, the senior management is none too happy with the stunt he pulled during the Bostoff / Emperial investigation. He won’t get away with those kinds of antics on my watch. Not him, not anyone else for that matter. If you see anything that doesn’t look right, you let me know immediately.”
“I will, Mr. Kingsley.”
“Now, Janet, such old friends as us hardly need to bother with formalities, wouldn’t you agree?”
“Thank you, Alex.”
“Thank you, Janet. I’m so glad to know that I have a friend in you.”
“Of course, Alex. I’d better get back to work.” Janet
rose from her chair and moved toward the door.
“And Janet?”
“Yes?”
“Let’s grab a drink after work one of these days.”
“Sure. I’d like that.” Janet hurried to leave before Alex would come up with a place and time.
***
“So, how did it go?” Dennis looked at Janet across the table. They were having lunch in a pub several blocks away from the office. Dennis had specifically chosen a table that was facing the door to survey any new arrivals.
“I think he bought it.”
“Told you so. Aren’t you glad that you listened to me?”
“I’ll be even gladder when we nail the bastard.”
“Boy, I wouldn’t want to cross you, Janet. So, what does the boss want you to do?”
“Oh, nothing other than spy on your every move and report to him immediately any suspicious activity.”
“Sounds like you’re going to have your hands full.”
“Oh, and he also mentioned that he might want to have drinks sometime.”
“Oh?” Dennis’s eyebrows rose. “Look, Janet, I wouldn’t want you to do anything that you’re not comfortable with.”
“Relax, Dennis. I’m a big girl. I can handle Alex,” Janet’s voice was playful, but inside she was sizzling with delight at Dennis’s reaction. The man was definitely jealous.
“I just meant that I wouldn’t want thing to get too far out of hand.”
“They won’t. I wonder if I’m the only one Alex asked to spy on you. I wonder if he spoke with Laskin at all. Do you think we should ask him?”
“Oh, I don’t think we should. He might get overexcited. He’s great at muckraking in Excel spreadsheets, but when it comes to undercover work he can’t handle the stress. He might blab us out to Alex.”
“This is hardly undercover work, Dennis.” Janet shook her head. Male vanity never ceased to amaze her. It was not enough for Dennis to know that he was far better looking and charming that Laskin, he had to stomp on the poor chap every time he got the chance.
