And then came the day when they’d received the news – the tumors had shrunk. Not a lot, but enough to give them all hope. Even her oncologist had cried that afternoon. Megan had been too weak to cry, but her heart had leapt at the news.
Unfortunately, it had been another full year before the tumors had finally disappeared. And several more months before she’d been strong enough to walk again. The treatments had devastated her body, destroyed her muscles. From the moment she’d realized something was wrong until she’d slowly, relentlessly walked out of that hospital, it had been memories of Jake that had gotten her through it all.
Now he was back in her life. And furious with her.
Megan didn’t blame him. He didn’t understand and…well, she couldn’t tell him. She’d made the decision in college that she wouldn’t put him through the devastation and turmoil of dealing with her cancer. Back then, she’d known that Jake would go on to brilliant things, do work that would change the world. There was no doubt in her mind that Jake would succeed. He’d been older, ahead of her in college by several years, but she’d known instinctively that Jake was special. And there was no way that she would hold him back from the most beautiful life he could have, especially since there was no guarantee that she would survive.
And now…now she knew that the power he had over her hadn’t diminished in the slightest. At the first sight of him, she’d wanted to run to him, explain everything and beg him for forgiveness.
But then she’d remembered all those painful years, the waiting in the hospital rooms, the boredom and agony and fear of her body from the inside out. She couldn’t put him through that. The tumors might be gone now, but they could come back. There was no guarantee. The longer she was cancer free, the better her odds of living a long life. But there was absolutely no guarantee! Megan’s mother had been there for her, forcing her to fight, encouraging her to believe, and Megan knew the heartache that her mother had suffered every day, every pain-filled, torturous treatment. Jake was strong, but…Megan couldn’t put him through that.
Every day was a gift, she reminded herself as she picked up the contract, flipping mindlessly through the pages.
She should find another company. Going back, working with Jake…it would hurt too much. Being around him and knowing…
But no other company had thought she could produce results, she told herself, mentally shutting down the impulse to just run. That was cowardly and, after all she’d been through, Megan had vowed to never, ever, be cowardly again. She’d endured chemotherapy and radiation, she would not be brought down by anything now.
Looking at the contract, a warm bubble of happiness filled her chest. Jake believed in her. He’d believed in her idea! The legalese aside, Jake believed! He might hate her. He might not trust her after the way she’d left him. But he believed in her idea!
If there was anything she was sure about, getting results was one of them. She might not know if she would be alive in six months or a year, but she knew that she could finish developing this idea! Megan knew that her idea would work. She just had to prove it to the world and JJH Technologies had the resources to help her.
She slumped down into the soft, plush chair, stacks of books rising from the floor on both sides. Reading was one of her deepest pleasures. She read anything and everything. Megan loved books.
What she didn’t love was cancer.
Thinking of the challenges of working with Jake, of being around him again, or finding another sponsor to help her, Megan knew one thing: she had to do this. She had to get her idea to work, get it out to doctors and hospitals. If Megan could save even one person from going through the hell she’d endured, it would be worth it.
Locking the front door, she flipped off the lights, grabbed her glass of wine, and headed up the stairs. She got ready for bed, slipped on her silk negligee and curled up in her soft sheets, pulling the contract closer as she finished her glass of wine.
Shockingly, the terms of the contract were extremely fair. If anything, they were more in her favor than for JJH Technologies! Why would Jake do that? Why would he give her seventy-five percent of the royalties if the project worked and was launched into the marketplace? The product could be worth millions!
Megan read through the contract again, looking for loopholes. She’d have to get her lawyer to read it, but it seemed pretty straightforward and oddly generous.
Chapter 3
Megan stared at the entry to JJH Technologies, impressed all over again by the solid, intimidating architecture. Taking a deep, slow breath, Megan wondered if she should turn around and run in the opposite direction as fast as she could. Jake was in there somewhere. She couldn’t see him at the moment, but she could sense his presence, his power. He was too strong, too powerful, and too dynamic of a personality for her not to sense him.
Just thinking about Jake made her tremble with awareness and helpless need. This wasn’t just any man. She could handle the average male that crossed her path. Normal men were easy. Some were a bit more perceptive than others, but in general, she understood them and wasn’t affected by them.
Jake…she’d never been able to control him. Years ago, he’d spotted her in a coffee shop, studying by the sunny window and her life had never been the same. He’d sat down across from her and the gasp as she took in his presence was obvious. From that moment on, she’d wanted to spend every minute with him.
With the other men she’d dated in high school and college, sex hadn’t even been a question. She’d never even been tempted to initiate a more intimate relationship with them.
With Jake, intimacy wasn’t a question, but a need. He’d kissed her after that initial meeting. By the time he’d walked her back to her dorm after dinner on their second date, they hadn’t been able to stop kissing. And it hadn’t been just Jake pulling at their clothing. Megan had been equally desperate, her need fueled by every touch, every kiss, every caress. In fact, that first night, it had been a miracle that they’d actually made it to a bed!
Now, she was about to work with him. And she didn’t think that he meant that they’d be working as a consultant and corporate sponsor. She suspected that he would be an integral part of the process to bring her idea to market.
“So, you showed up.”
The deep voice startled her and Megan swung around. Looking up into Jake’s hard features, she wasn’t sure what to say. She knew that he’d come from inside the building because he was wearing a suit, although the jacket was missing and the cuffs of his tailored shirt were rolled up, indicating that he’d been at work for several hours already.
“Yes,” she replied, wishing there was a more intelligent response. Something smart and pithy that she could say to put them on equal footing.
He gazed at her for a long moment and it took all of her concentration not to squirm.
Finally, he led her through a door she hadn’t noticed last time. They bypassed the normal security and headed into the depths of the building. At an elevator, he pressed the button, and turned to look out the window, his back to her.
She noticed that his shoulders actually looked larger. Broader. She wasn’t sure that was possible. So many times, he’d been…over her. Moving inside of her and she’d look up at his shoulders, amazed by the power in them. Then she’d look into his eyes and…!
“You’ll only be allowed to enter through that door,” he snapped at her, pulling her out of the sensual memory with a jerk. “This is your badge. It must be visible at all times.” He pulled a plastic card from his pocket and handed it to her. She looked down and realized that it was a security badge with her picture on it. How he’d gotten that picture, she wasn’t sure, but she took the card and clipped it to the collar of her jacket.
“Got it,” she told him, then fell silent again, not sure what to say. She understood why he was angry. Megan even respected his anger. She’d left him merely a brief note saying goodbye. No explanation. By the time he’d woken up that last morning, she’d already packed
up her dorm room and gone home. Home to fight the cancer, but he didn’t know that.
Seeing him now, she knew that she’d made the right decision. Jake was strong and powerful, more vital than any man she’d ever known. They’d had fun back in college, but she hadn’t been important to him. Jake had been the kind of guy on campus that all the women noticed and vied to gain his attention. By contrast, Megan had been shy and studious, so why he’d sat down across from her that afternoon had been a mystery.
The elevators opened and he gestured for her to precede him. She stepped into the small cubicle and waited, staring up at the numbers over the door as he stepped in as well. When he stood slightly behind her, she could literally feel the heat coming from him. He was wearing a light blue dress shirt and beautifully tailored slacks, but no tie. She smiled, thinking about Jake in a tie. She just couldn’t see it. He was too powerful; a tie would hinder him. Choke him.
“This is amusing to you?” he growled.
She jumped, startled by his question. “Not at all.”
His grey eyes narrowed, a clear warning that he wasn’t happy. “Then why the smile?”
She shrugged, wishing she could understand him. Instead of explaining why she was smiling, an issue he wouldn’t understand and probably wouldn’t appreciate, she changed the subject. “Thank you for the contract, Jake. The terms were more than generous.”
He shrugged and looked away. “It is your idea and, from what I read in the presentation, you’ve done a huge amount of the coding already. I’m guessing the work has taken you several years already.” He paused for a moment, as if contemplating those years. But he finally continued, “You just need me and my company to pull everything together and get it to market.”
That was true, but the way he said it sounded…wrong. His words made her feel as if she were using him in some way, but that wasn’t her intention. “It’s an important innovation,” she asserted, wanting him to understand that she wasn’t doing this for the money.
“I know that,” he replied, but she didn’t have a chance to respond since the elevator doors opened. Turning around, she prepared to step out of the elevator but froze when she looked at the room they were about to enter. It was a huge computer laboratory with a group of people waiting. Seven women and five men were standing around a table, chatting softly amongst themselves. Surrounding them were computer stations, all the very latest in technology. Megan took it all in, awed and more than a little envious! This was an impressive lab! She’d never seen anything like this outside of movies and it looked…complicated and glorious!
Jake stepped out from behind her, taking charge as he normally did. It was just his personality, what defined him.
The team stopped talking and turned to face Jake as soon as he appeared, everyone alert and attentive. Jake was brilliant and a born leader, Megan realized, not for the first time. He had this kind of impact on everyone that he ran into. People looked up to him. Not simply because of his height and muscles, but because his personality, his authority, emanated from him in ways that were…well, undefinable but perceptible, regardless.
He looked around at everyone, nodding as he announced, “Thanks, everyone, for getting here early. This is Megan Carmichael. She’s in charge. We’ll all be working hard to get this project up and running in as short a period as possible. We have a tight timeline, so let’s sit down and figure out the best way to pull everything together.”
They all sat down and Jake handed her a notebook. “This is everyone’s acknowledgement that the coding you’ll release to us is proprietary to you and you alone. The system we build will be a combined effort, but everyone knows that you’re the owner and originator.”
Megan took the notebook, startled all over again by how fair he was being. Other firms had tried to steal her idea, wanting to get it to market without her. She’d known that could happen and had taken steps to prevent the theft of her intellectual property, but this…this was amazing! She swallowed past the lump in her throat, hugging the notebook to her chest. Touched by his consideration and appreciation for all of the hours she’d already labored on this effort.
“Thank you,” she whispered, and glanced around the table. They appeared excited and eager to get started. And there was an intelligence in their eyes that told her this team could handle the heavy work ahead of them.
“You’re welcome. Now…” and he started to brainstorm, outlining his vision for how the JJH team would progress.
Megan sat back, looking at Jake’s profile as he discussed the details of building such a huge project in such a short period of time. His authority was absolute, but he encouraged everyone to participate in the conversation, wanting their ideas and feedback. He might be in charge, but this was a collaboration. Not a dictatorship.
After several hours of brainstorming, assignments were divvied up, time tables established, and everyone agreed on both the absolute privacy, as well as the energy needed to get this project done in the established schedule.
When the conversation ended, Jake looked around with a satisfied nod, looking at each team member. “Okay, then let’s get to it. We’ll meet at the beginning of each day to discuss tasks and then come back together at the end of the day to discuss our progress as well as any problems encountered.”
The team stood up, each person moving to a different computer station. There was a larger monitor on the wall that showed the progress of each person’s contribution.
“That was amazing,” Megan murmured as she stood up next to Jake.
He looked down at her, his grey eyes moving over her features slowly. “What?” he demanded, their faces inches apart. But neither moved away.
Megan gestured to the others, already sitting at various work stations around the room, making notes or talking quietly together in order to collaborate on a specific aspect of the project. “The way you got everyone to help, allowing them to talk about various ideas and collaborate.”
His grey eyes seem to harden. “I listen to people, Megan. I don’t shove orders at them and expect blind obedience. I won’t force anyone to do something they don’t want to do.”
He walked away and Megan wondered if they were talking about the project or about their past and the way she’d walked away from him. Either was possible and she swallowed her anger. If he was talking about her abrupt departure years ago, then he had every right to be angry. He didn’t know the whole story, but that had been her decision. So, she’d have to take what he dished out and hope that he eventually got over it and moved on.
Deciding that it was better for her to ignore the issue…or maybe not better, but easier…she walked over to the only empty computer station and contemplated how she wanted to start her end of the project. For several moments, she considered options, jotted down a few notes, and then…her fingers flew over the keyboard, looking from one monitor to the other, her thoughts ten steps ahead of her fingers.
For the next eight hours, Megan worked hard, answered questions from the team, consulted on coding direction, and got lost in the excitement of building something important. Lunch was brought in and she nibbled on a sandwich, but she was more interested in getting the next issue fixed, overcoming one hurdle after another. By the time everyone gathered for their end of day meeting, she wasn’t ready to stop. Megan was excited by the progress the team had made and wanted to get back to her computer to finish up a task.
But instead, she stood by and listened, brainstormed on several other issues, then everyone left the conference table. Some went back to their computers while others grabbed their bags and headed home.
Megan went back to her computer and got back to work, tweaking the code she’d been working on all day while checking through the others’ work, trying to find issues or obstacles to pulling the whole system together.
“It’s late, Megan,” a deep voice came from behind her.
Megan spun around in her chair. Jake was leaning against the conference room table, his arms folded over his chest
and all she could focus on were the bulging muscles his position revealed. He was a fine man. A very fine man!
“Megan?” he prompted.
Blinking, Megan pulled her eyes away from his arms. “Yes?”
One dark eyebrow lifted in query. “Are you heading home any time soon?”
She looked around, trying to figure out why he would ask that. But as Megan glanced around the room, she was shocked to realize that everyone else had left. Even the people on the team who had gone back to working after the end-of-day meeting were gone. “Um…” Glancing at her watch, she realized that it was past midnight. “Oh!” Standing up, she looked around, startled by the time. “I didn’t realize that it was so late.”
She turned back to her computer and saved her work, logged out and…
Jake chuckled softly, his deep, rich amusement stopping her fingers. “Megan, it’s okay. It’s not a problem if you want to work late. It’s just…well, midnight is a bit past the point of working late, I think.”
She turned to look at him over her shoulder and…he’d been looking at her butt! When his grey eyes pulled away and looked into her darker eyes, she felt heat steal over her. Heat and something else. Something she didn’t want to define. Not after all these years!
Straightening, she grabbed her bag and slung it over her shoulder. “I’ll…uh…” she looked around, trying to figure out what she should do.
Something…anything besides throw herself into his arms and beg him to kiss her like he used to.
Taking a deep breath, she tried to steady herself as she thought about kissing him. Kissing and never stopping and... No, that would be bad. Really bad. He hated her now. And she understood why he hated her, but that didn’t stop her from wanting him to kiss her. From wanting to feel his strong arms pull her in close the way he used to.
Inconveniently Tempted (The Diamond Club Series Book 10) Page 3
