by Katie Knight
Honestly, that was another reason she’d been shocked as hell when Devon had come on to her, let alone actively pursued her, as if she was some kind of prize to be won. As her parents always used to say, you can take the girl out of the streets but you can’t take the street out of the girl. Since her eighteenth birthday, she’d worked hard to change herself inside and out into the woman she was today—poised and polished, without a hint of grifter. But Devon had shown such disgust for people who he considered beneath him, to the point where she’d worried he’d be able to sense her history somehow—hear it in her voice, or even smell it on her skin. She’d never felt entirely comfortable around him, waiting for the day he’d discover the truth about her and turn those vicious words of his against her. She’d been on guard with Devon, even in the bedroom.
The fact she’d had dinner with Drake the night before in her bathrobe just proved how much more comfortable she was with him than she had ever been with his brother. Hell, she’d even told him about her piercings, which she never did with anyone. But there was just something about him, something that made her want to open up and share it all with him.
Or maybe that was her stupid hormones again. Hard to tell these days.
She finished the list of names and sent it to the printer, then got up to retrieve it for Drake.
“Here are the people authorized to disburse grant money,” she said, laying the paper on his desk.
“Thanks.” He scanned the names, frowning. “Are all these people employees?”
“Yes. It’s a mix of Shepperton, Inc. finance department and foundation staff.”
“Huh. Okay.” He set the list aside and waved her around the desk to where he had the queries he’d run the night before pulled up on his computer screen. “We need to figure out who else might have been involved. I don’t see any names in this query that aren’t on your list, but that doesn’t mean that every transaction is actually legit.”
He hit a few keys and printed out the results. “Look at these and cross off all the ones you know are legitimate.”
She got to work going through the pages, and when she was finished, she handed the stack back to him. “There’s only a couple of them I don’t recognize. Most of them are Devon’s, but there are a couple others too. Looks like three separate people authorized those. Want me to start with reviewing those, since Devon’s are already suspect?”
“Yeah. We eliminate everyone else, if we can.”
They each went back to work at their stations, gathering data for several hours, until the clock on the wall chimed five. Lake stood and stretched while Drake scowled at his screen. Somewhere along the way, she noted, he’d shed his suit coat and was now in just shirtsleeves, the cuffs of which were rolled up to reveal his muscled, tanned forearms lightly dusted with dark hair. Her traitorous womb quivered again despite her wishes and she quickly tamped down her attraction. She was here to work, not drool over her hot new boss.
Drake glanced over at her, his dark eyes keen. “Find out about those three people?”
“Yep. Two of them, anyway. The third one, though, is a bit sketchy.” She carried her notes over to his desk, glad to move around after sitting so long. “Carrie Bartlett’s the one I haven’t been able to clear. She used to work in accounting before being promoted to associate by Devon a few months ago. She reported directly to him and no one else. I don’t have access to her employee file.”
“Huh.” Drake looked over her notes. “Do you know her?”
“Not really, beyond what I told you just now.” Lake shrugged. “She didn’t really have anything to do with the foundation arm of things.”
“Right.” He hit the button for speakerphone and dialed, then glanced at the clock. An answering machine picked up in HR and he waited for the beep before leaving his message. “Yes, this is Drake Shepperton. Please send the employment file for Carrie Bartlett to my office first thing in the morning. Also send me the records of any vacation requests or recent leave of absence records on her. Thank you.”
After he hung up, Drake stood and grabbed his jacket and keys. “Ready to go home? I’m bushed.”
Lake smiled, then stifled a yawn as she went back to the table to gather her things. “Same. And yes. Let’s get out of here.”
Eight
Lake sat at the kitchen table that night, watching while Drake whipped up yet another delicious dinner. She felt a bit guilty, actually, letting him do all the work, but he’d insisted she relax. Still, she couldn’t help asking once more, “Are you sure there’s nothing I can do?”
“Positive.” He grinned at her over his shoulder. “Seriously. Like I said, I like doing this stuff.”
From his easy posture and lighter mood, it was obvious that was true, and once again, she was struck by how different the two brothers were. One time, Lake had tried making shrimp scampi for them despite her lack of cooking experience and Devon had totally balked when she asked him to do even the simplest thing for her, like stir a sauce or add a pinch of salt to something. He’d considered things like cooking and cleaning to be beneath him. He’d said his time was too valuable to waste on menial chores when he could be using it to make more money. She’d teased him then, asking if that was why he’d taken on the CFO job himself. Devon had responded by surprising her by picking her up and carrying her to bed. Dinner had burned, obviously, but at the time neither of them had cared. Now, though, she wondered if the sex that night had been just one more distraction tactic on Devon’s part to keep her from learning the truth about him and his misdeeds with the company finances.
“You look deep in thought,” Drake said from where he stood at the stove, watching her. “Something wrong?”
“No,” she said, doing her best to shake off her sudden sense of betrayal. She’d suspected for a while now what Devon had done—that his courtship of her had been nothing but a ploy all along. Silly to let it get to her so much now. Must be the tiredness she felt, or maybe hunger. Certainly not the man making her dinner because he said she needed to eat well, or the fact there was something about Drake that made Lake want to open up and confide in him about everything. She sighed and sat back, crossing her arms around her middle, wanting to shift the spotlight off herself. “Tell me about why you joined the Navy.”
He blinked at her minute, then shrugged. “Seemed like a good idea at the time.” At her flat look, he snorted. “Fine, although that’s not really a lie. It did seem like a good idea. I went to the school my parents wanted me to attend, and got the degree they demanded, but after I graduated with my bachelor’s degree in business administration from USC, I knew the family business wasn’t for me, so I took a different track.”
“Why wasn’t it for you?” She leaned an elbow on the table and rested her chin in her hand. “The way Devon talked about it, all the Sheppertons were born to it, like some divine right or something.”
“See?” Drake shook his head and faced the stove once more. The delicious smell of caramelized onions and peppers and the sound of sizzling steak for their fajitas filled the room. He frowned and turned the burner down, stirring in a handful of spices. “That’s exactly the kind of BS that had me running in the opposite direction from my family. Born to run a manufacturing business, like it’s some kind of divine destiny? What a load of crap. I’ll tell you something. The only thing I saw my brother and parents born to was a life of greed and heartlessness when it came to money.” He huffed out a breath, then reached up into the cabinet to grab a platter for the fajitas. “I learned early on I wanted no part of that after what happened to my friend Billy’s dad.”
Lake ignored the rumbling in her stomach and concentrated on his story. “Who’s Billy?”
“He was my best friend through high school and college.” Drake dumped the contents of the frying pan onto the platter and placed the dirty pan in the sink. “His dad worked for Shepperton, Inc., in one of our manufacturing plants. Anyway, he was just a normal guy. Not rich or entitled or anything.”
“S
o, not like Devon then?” Lake raised a brow at him, her tone snarky.
“Exactly.” Drake set the steaming platter of veggies and meat on the table, then went back to the counter for the warm tortillas and toppings. Lake couldn’t help sneaking a bite of onion once his back was turned. The flavor filled her mouth, sweet and spicy and completely delicious. She wiped her hand on her robe as he returned to the table again with plates and silverware for them. “Anyway, Billy’s dad got injured at work one day. It was bad. His arm got caught in a piece of machinery and they nearly had to amputate it.”
“Oh God,” Lake said, holding her stomach. “That’s terrible.”
“You want me to stop?” he asked, his gaze flicking to her abdomen. “Didn’t mean to upset you.”
“No. It’s fine.” Drake so rarely talked about himself or his past that even if his story had bothered her, which it hadn’t, Lake would have lied, just to keep him talking. “Please go on.”
He hurried over with plates and drinks, then took the chair across from her as they each filled their plates with food. “Well, my family, in their greed, tried to cut off his workers compensation benefits. They thought the costs of his hospital care and rehab were too much. They tried to say that Billy’s dad was responsible for his injuries because he was negligent.”
“How awful. They said he caused his own accident?”
“Pretty much. Billy’s dad sued, as he should have, and went to court, but he couldn’t afford the best lawyers like my family could. The Shepperton attorneys dug up a bunch of stuff about Billy’s mom. She’d been sick for a while with MS and Billy’s dad was her primary caretaker. They used that in court against him. Said his exhaustion made him less careful. Said he didn’t go through the proper checklists before operating his machinery. Said if he’d been well-rested and acting responsibly, he wouldn’t have gotten hurt. Lying bastards.”
Lake nibbled on a tortilla and frowned. “Was he at fault?”
“No. Not at all.” Drake tore into his fajita-stuffed burrito with more viciousness than necessary. He chewed and swallowed before answering, visibly forcing himself to speak calmly. “Billy’s dad did absolutely nothing wrong. In fact, I went to the factory myself to look at the maintenance records on that machine, once I found out what was going on. That was when I found out that Shepperton didn’t keep that equipment in good repair at all. The fittings were outdated, and it was only a matter of time until they failed. Billy’s dad just had the misfortune to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. I went to my family with that information, stupidly thinking that it might sway them to make a fairer decision, but it didn’t. They just gave my facts to their attorneys who then buried them so deep no one would ever find them again. Billy’s family went bankrupt trying to fight for compensation and my family and Shepperton, Inc. walked away owing nothing. That was the final straw. I knew I could never work for the company after that. Even now, remembering it turns my stomach.”
“Wow. That’s…” She swallowed hard. “I don’t even have words for how bad that is.”
“Right?” He finished his fajita and started making another, his dark brows furrowed. “Bet if you’d known that going in, you’d never have gotten involved with Shepperton, Inc.—or with my brother, huh?”
She took a deep breath, the question of why exactly she’d slept with Devon Shepperton swirling in her head, as it had been since she’d first discovered his deceit.
“Sorry,” Drake said a moment later. “Forget I said that last part. Your choices about my brother are your own business.” He filled his tortilla with veggies and meat, then put the fork back on the platter. “It just pisses me off so much, the things my family got away with because of our money.”
“Understandable.” She finished her plate and pushed it away, her appetite appeased for now. She frowned, toying with her glass of sparkling water. “And I can see now why you’d rather enlist than be a part of that legacy.”
“Yep.” He finished another bite of food and took a swig of his ale. “Honestly, being a SEAL has been the best part of my life. Traveling the world, experiencing other cultures, giving back through my service. I’ve loved every minute of it. Even the hard times. Maybe especially the hard times because that’s what makes you feel most alive. Righting wrongs, restoring justice and order.”
“Sounds great.” And it only made her own past stand out in sharper contrast. In truth, she suspected she knew exactly why she’d gotten involved with Devon Shepperton. It wasn’t because of his money or his flashy clothes or cars or even the fact he was drop-dead handsome. Nope. The secret behind Devon’s appeal to her had been what he’d represented. Stability. After years of living on the run with her parents, never knowing where the next meal was coming from or when the cops might show up on their doorstep, being with a man who seemed to have it all together had been far too tempting to resist. She pushed back her chair and stood, carrying her dishes to the sink and sneaking a glance at Drake from beneath her lashes. Too bad she’d chosen the wrong brother. Devon might appear to be a catch on paper, but Drake was the real deal. A good man through and through. “How long do you plan to stay in the Navy now?”
“As long as they’ll have me,” he said, wiping his mouth with a napkin. “As long as I can serve.”
Lake nodded and turned away, reality slapping her upside the head. The fact was she had no business swooning over Drake Shepperton, no matter how wonderful he might be. He’d be leaving again as soon as he found a buyer for the company, and she’d be on her own again to deal with the pregnancy and her future as a single mom. Best not to start down that road with him to begin with. She’d been heartbroken enough for one lifetime, thanks so much. She forced a smile she didn’t quite feel as she rinsed her plate to put it in the dishwasher.
“I can get the rest of this,” Drake said, moving in beside Lake at the sink a short time later. His skin tingled as she brushed against him and he tamped down his reaction hard. Living with her like this, sharing their space and opening up about their pasts, was more intimate than he’d expected. Worse, he liked it. And that was dangerous stuff, considering their current predicament and the fact she was carrying his brother’s baby. So, instead of letting his forbidden desires grow, he changed subjects while she took a seat back at the table. He wanted to know more about her but didn’t want to pry, so he talked about what he hoped was a safer topic. The foundation. “What’s your game plan for organizations to sponsor in the next quarter? Got your eye on anything new?”
“No. Not yet.” She sighed and he felt that breathy sound clear to his toes. “Honestly, I’m afraid things will be more difficult than ever with Devon gone.”
“Why’s that?” he asked as he washed the pans and utensils he’d cooked with.
“Because if this scandal gets out, no one’s going to want to deal with a charity that’s tainted by scandal.” She hung her head, her dark brows knitted. “Besides, who knows if there will even be a foundation once the new owners take possession of the company? There’s a chance I won’t even have a job when the sale’s all done and dusted.”
His mind went back to the two idiots he’d talked to earlier that morning and knew they’d never think about giving away their cash to those less fortunate. One more reason to cross them off the list of potential buyers, as far as Drake was concerned. Good riddance. But there was still the truth that no matter who he ended up selling Shepperton, Inc. to, they might not want the burden of a charity and all the paperwork and regulations that went with a non-profit along with the company. And once Drake signed on the dotted line, he’d have no say in the new owner’s decision at all. He could, however, ease at least one of Lake’s fears for now. “Well, regardless of what happens, my offer holds. I’ll make sure you and the baby are taken care of. It’s the least I can do.”
She shook her head, not meeting his gaze. “Thank you, but the baby and I will be fine. My biggest concern right now is getting to the bottom of this financial mess so I don’t have to keep looking o
ver my shoulder. I don’t like being afraid.”
The fear in her voice made his chest squeeze tighter, as did the paleness of her face. She stood to walk into the living room and without thinking, he took her hand, stopping her. He stepped closer, near enough to feel her warmth and smell the floral scent of her shampoo. Her brown eyes had tiny flecks of gold in them. How had he not noticed that before? Her soft pink lips parted and tiny lines of confusion formed between her raised brows. Before he could stop himself, Drake rushed on. “You don’t have to be afraid, Lake. I’m here and I’ll protect you, no matter what. No one will harm you or the baby under my watch, I promise.”
Her cheeks colored and he started to reach up to brush his fingertips over her velvety skin before he stopped himself. “Thank you,” she said. “I appreciate all you’re doing for me.”
Lake swayed slightly toward him and he put his other hand on her waist to steady her. This close, her warm breath fanned across his face and her breasts brushed against his chest. His throat dried and his words creaked out past the lump of need constricting his vocal cords. “If you want, I can move you into one of the open offices down the hall from mine tomorrow. That way we can go over the information we need to without the hassle of going to one location or the other. We’ll be together.”
Her eyes dropped to his lips, her pupils blown wide, as she murmured back his last word. “Together.”
Maybe it was the stress. Maybe it was crazy situation they were in. Maybe it was just the moment, but whatever it was, Drake leaned in and kissed her, needing to taste Lake more than he needed his next breath. She let him, her mouth opening beneath the pressure of his lips and her tongue sliding against his. He groaned low and pulled her tighter against him. It was too much. It would never be enough. It was…
Over.
Lake placed her hands on his shoulders and pushed hard, breaking them apart. Her face was flushed and her lips were swollen from his kiss. She looked wild and wanton and as confused by what had just happened as he felt. Drake dropped his hands to his sides and fisted them to keep from reaching for her again, his pulse racing a mile a minute.
