BRIAN (The Callahans Book 1) (63 page)

Jason

I thought yesterday had been a bad day. But today was proving to be equally challenging, if not more so.

I’d thought my company was strong, that it was well run, well managed. But I was suddenly discovering that there was corruption at all levels.

It only took a few well-worded questions to get the head of accounting to confess to compliance with Frank on the overbilling scheme. He didn’t even get anything out of it. He just turned a blind eye because he liked the guy. Stupid reason to put his job at risk.

I hate firing people. But I couldn’t have an employee who thought stealing money was no big deal.

After talking to the accounting department, I had to take a closer eye at some of the other departments. Only creative and accounting were involved in Frank’s scheme, but if they were getting away with those things, what was the acquisitions department up to? And the tech department? I was suddenly feeling as though I’d stepped back too far, taken my eye too far off the ball. It was time to take a closer look at the everyday operations instead of focusing on the bottom line.

By the time the lunch hour was over, I was ready to go home and pretend this day had never happened.

And then Joey walked into my office, her eyes weary, as she watched me from clear across the room.

She was wearing a simple A-line skirt that—unfortunately—hid her shapely legs and a thin blouse that, like the shift the day before, looked as though it had seen better days. The cuffs were a little frayed and not all the buttons matched exactly. But she carried it off well, her curves giving it something that no one else could have done.

I stood and rounded my desk, nodding to Shelly’s questioning look as she stuck her head through the doors. She immediately stepped back and closed the doors with a resounding thud that made Joey jump.

“You were gone when I woke this morning,” I said, feeling like an idiot for announcing the obvious.

Color flooded her cheeks. “I thought it was for the best.”

That stopped me in my tracks just as I was about to reach her, as I was about to run my hands over her face and take some comfort from the silk of her flesh.

Oh, hell, could this day get any worse?

She crossed her arms over her chest and looked down at the floor. She was closed off, walls moving up around her that I wasn’t sure I could break through. I didn’t understand what had happened. Last night she was more than open to my touch. And now…

“I guess you heard about Fredericks.”

She nodded.

“And I’m sure the rumors are flying.”

“They are.”

“I’m more than willing to talk to you about it. But that’s not why I called you up here.”

Tension just seemed to ratchet up in her shoulders, pulling them so tight that she was practically folding inside of herself. She looked up, and I swear I saw tears in her eyes.

“Are you going to fire me?”

And it all suddenly made so much sense.

“Of course not.”

Her eyes widened slightly. “I just thought—”

“I called you up here because I wanted to ask if you had plans for the evening. I’d like to make you dinner.”

Relief—and a little surprise—flooded her eyes. She stepped back slightly, but I don’t think it was in an attempt to get away from me. I think it was because I’d thrown her off balance.

What had this girl gone through that she automatically jumped to the worst-case scenario?

“I like you. I just wanted to see you again,” I said, moving closer to her, taking her face between my hands. I wished her hair wasn’t in a braid, I so wanted to run my fingers through it. Instead, I contented myself lifting her chin so that I could claim her lips as my own.

She moved into me, her hand sliding slowly over the front of my chest. I remembered how her fingers tips played with the script of my tattoo, and I was almost overwhelmed with a need to feel her skin against mine. But we were in my office and now wasn’t the time.

I really wished it was.

I ran my hand down the length of her back, sliding it over her ass. It was just as firm and perfect as I had imagined it would be. Better when it was uncovered, but perfect just the same. And the way she kissed, like she wasn’t even slightly aware of just how sexy she really was. There was a certain degree of hesitation to her kiss, an uncertainty that only made it that much more erotic.

Was it possible to want someone so much that all thought of decorum and self-respect can go flying out the window?

I had to touch her. It was as simple as that.

I pulled her across the room, watching emotion play over her face as we walked to the couch. Then I sat and tugged her down onto my lap. She didn’t hesitate then; she just curled up against my chest and watched as my hand slipped under the bottom hem of her skirt.

Then we were kissing again, making out like a couple of teenagers on their parents’ couch. She moved her hips and…
hell, did she do that on purpose?
I wanted to bend her over my desk, stare at that perfect ass for a few minutes before I fucked her until she was screaming like she’d done in my bed last night. Instead, I contented myself with a caress on her inner thigh and a sigh that slipped from her lips and danced across my tongue.

“Come to my house tonight,” I said.

Her eyes were bright with need. But she shook her head, the simple movement threatening to break my heart.

“I have to work.”

“Here?”

“No. I have a night job at a bar downtown.”

I groaned with disappointment even as an image of her in a cocktail waitress’s uniform made my balls ache.

“Why?”

She tilted her head slightly. “I have debts.”

I slid my hand further up her skirt, and she pressed her hand to it through the material, arresting its movement. But there was a flirtatious light dancing in her eyes.

“I know nothing about you.”

“You know a few things.”

I forced my hand further up her skirt, grabbed a nice handful of that ass.

“I want to know more,” I said, drawing her bottom lip between my teeth. I sucked on it, loving the way it felt in my mouth. And then I kissed her again, a deep kiss that I felt all the way to my toes. And then my fingertips slid under the elastic on the bottom edge of her panties. She moaned softly, as I brushed against her moist lips.

I wanted her…
fuck,
I wanted her.

“I should go,” she moaned against my lips.

“Not yet.”

She smiled, but she leaned into my kiss again. And she shifted, giving me a little more access to the prize I so wanted to earn.

“You drive me crazy,” I said, as she slid her lips over my chin and began to nibble at the little bit of my neck that was vulnerable above my collar. It was my turn to shift, moving my hand so that I was cupping her cunt in my palm, my fingers caressing the full lips that wanted to open to my touch. She groaned, moving her hips against my hand, encouraging me, as her fingers slid under a gap in the front of my shirt. I couldn’t stop. I couldn’t control the need that was burning deep inside of me.

But then Shelly had to bring me back to reality with a crash.

“Jason, we—”

She stopped, and when I looked up, her face was a shade of red I don’t think I’d ever seen before. She immediately turned and walked back out.

Ten years she’d worked with me, and that was the first time I’d ever caused her reason to be embarrassed.

“I should go,” Joey repeated, untangling herself from my touch and climbing to her feet, tugging her skirt back into the right position.

“Joanne,” I said, standing to follow. But she was out the door before I could catch her, storming through the reception area—past my secretary and Shelly—her eyes on the ground.

Damn, damn, damn!

What was I doing?

Joey

“Three beers,” I called out, as I stood at the bar, leaning against the worn wood and lifting my foot so that I could relieve a little of the pressure that was causing my instep to ache.

“How’s it going, Jo?” a guy next to me, a regular who always seemed to be sitting in the same spot every night, asked.

“Not too bad, Howie. How are you?”

“Well on my way to a good whiskey fog.”

I patted him on the shoulder before I lifted my newly refilled tray and headed back out onto the floor. It was Thursday night so we were crowded. The Thursday night football game was on, so there was a lot of cheering going on at weird intervals, along with the groans when one team or another failed to meet expectations. I had to watch my step carefully, dodging flailing arms and legs that were sticking out where they didn’t need to be, and the drunks who thought it was okay for them to grab at anything they could reach.

It’d been a long day, and I was so ready to go home. Not that my day would be done then. Rosie hit me with two new orders the moment I walked through the door, both of which would require sheet cakes to be ready for decorating in the morning. So I was going to be up half the night baking.

And all I could think about was Jason.

I had really thought he would fire me the moment I walked into his office. But then he starts in with the invitation for dinner and the kiss and…I knew it was dangerous. Sleeping with the boss? How many women have discovered what a mess that could become? But when he looked at me the way he did, I melted like butter in the microwave.

Mrs. Constantine called me to her office when I went back downstairs. She wanted to know what Mr. Brooks had wanted with me. I didn’t know what to tell her. I couldn’t exactly admit that we’d made out on the couch, but she wouldn’t stop with the questions.

Did I know why Mr. Fredericks was fired? Did I report something upstairs that should have gone through her first? Was I involved in the questionable billings that had been passed back down to our department? Did I have some idea of what Mr. Brooks planned to do about replacing Mr. Fredericks?

I think it was that last part that really had Mrs. Constantine riled up. I think she was hoping that she was in the running for head of the department.

Mrs. Constantine wasn’t the only one curious about the number of times I’d been called upstairs. Lesley wouldn’t stop whispering questions over the top of the divider between our cubicles. And the others stared at me every time I left my cubicle or as they walked past it on their way to wherever they felt the need to go twice as often today than any other day.

I don’t know what they thought I knew. The truth was, I knew just about as much as they did. It wasn’t like Jason and I talked last night or this afternoon.

Not much, anyway.

I hoped all this blew over fairly quick. Things like this usually did. But there were other rumors. Some were saying that Mr. Brooks was planning to replace the heads of all the departments. Others were saying that he was getting ready to sell the company and that’s why he was making all the changes. And still there were other rumors, most farfetched, but people believed them anyway.

Someone suggested that the Brooks family was planning to take over the company because Jason wasn’t running it well enough. That was a rumor that had circulated since I started working there. I didn’t think there was any truth to it. But anything was possible.

I delivered my beers and headed back to the bar. I was surprised to see Rahul standing there, watching me.

“Hey,” he said, his eyes moving slowly over me as though he was looking for injuries of some sort. I set my tray down and rolled my ankles again, wishing I didn’t have to wear these boots to work. But it could be worse. Instead of jeans and a super tight tee, I could be dressed in heels and a short skirt like the waitresses at a neighboring bar had to wear.

“What are you doing here?”

“Rosie said you got home safe, but I wanted to see for myself.”

“I’m sorry about last night. I should have texted.”

“She said you fell asleep.”

I nodded, as I bit my bottom lip, my cheeks once again burning with a blush. “It was a real disaster.”

“The guy ever get home?”

“Yeah. Imagine his surprise when he walked into his house and found a huge cake sitting there and a snoring girl curled up inside.”

“I doubt you snore.”

But he was smiling, clearly amused by the image.

“Yeah, go ahead and laugh. Rosie had quite the laugh this morning.”

“Sorry.” He tried to wipe the smile away, but it wasn’t going anywhere. “How did you get home?”

“I walked to the front gate and called a taxi.”

“Next time, I’ll stick around. I don’t care about the circumstances.”

“That’s the last time I fill in for Rosie. I think three jobs is plenty for this girl.”

“Speaking of which”—he pulled an envelope from his back pocket—“this is your cut from last night.”

“Thanks.” I slid it into my pocket as one of my tables began screaming for attention. “Gotta go,” I said gesturing in the general direction.

“Hey.” Rahul grabbed my arm and pulled me against his chest, dropping a kiss on my cheek. “I’m glad you’re okay.”

I smiled as I extricated myself from his grip. And then I turned and caught sight of Jason Brooks watching from a table at the back of the room.