Simple Arrangement (10 page)

Again his words felt like a caress.
Just your imagination.

Katiya walked down the hall to her office, absently waving at the various employees and patrons of the centre.

“Katiya, you’re back.” She turned and smiled as she saw Rhianna De’clare striding towards her. “Did you get Lissa Gayle to agree to teach the computer program?”

Katiya marvelled at how Rhianna could make the simple act of walking so graceful and sensual. Even though Rhianna would deny it, she still had a dancer’s grace. Now she would just have to convince her to teach the dance class she had planned but hadn’t told Rhianna about yet. As she got closer Katiya noticed that Rhianna’s soft, honey coloured skin had a light sheen of sweat and her short curly dark brown hair was messy. It was a sure sign that Rhianna was agitated about something. Her light grey eyes still had that serious look they always did. Rhianna stopped and spoke briefly with a centre worker then came the last few steps to her.

“Yes I did. We were able to work out a fair salary. It will take a few months for Lissa to get things settled in New York before she can move here to McKingley.”

“And she doesn’t have a problem moving from such a big city to New Mexico?”

Katiya shook her head. “Nope. She actually said she is looking forward to not having winters anymore. Can’t say I blame her. Even though it’s spring there, it still felt cold to me. I am glad to be home.”

“Glad you’re back and everything worked out,” Rhianna said. A guilty look flashed across Rhianna’s face. “Did you check out the computers? The techs were here since yesterday—a day earlier than planned. They mentioned they had some wiring to do and so on. They came back to install today.”

“They’ve been here two days? Yes, I’ve checked out the systems and spoke with…” Katiya’s eyes widened as she realised she didn’t even know the man’s name.

“Spoke with…?”

“The head tech mentioned they are donating comps for the offices too. He filled me in on everything.”

“Head tech?” Rhianna looked amused.

Confused, she gave her a look. “Yeah. He was in the room back there finishing up the installation.”

“I tried to tell him it wasn’t necessary,” Rhianna said.

“I know you did. He looks like he does as he pleases. Besides, it works in our favour.” She shrugged.

“So you’re cool with them outfitting the space next to the computer area as a computer lab?”

“A
what
?” Katiya demanded.

“He didn’t tell you everything.” Rhianna winced.

“Explain, Rhia.”

“It would be easier to show you.” Rhianna sighed. “Come on.”

Katiya followed Rhianna back the way she had come. She glanced into the computer room where the man was bent over lifting a computer. He glanced over his shoulder but Katiya looked away quickly, hurrying past the door. Rhianna stopped at the double doors a little distance down the hallway. When Katiya caught up with her, she opened a door and gestured Katiya to go in. Katiya stepped inside and gasped. The massive room had been empty prior to her trip. Now, it looked like a very well stocked computer lab. She’d intended for it to be that exactly, but never in her wildest dreams would she have imagined it would be so…perfect.

Long tables were lined with high backed stools bracketing each side. The wall held organisational units that filled the entire space. She counted. There were fifteen along the back wall and twenty long tables scattered around the room. Next to each table was a computer system on a smaller computer stand with a printer on the bottom. Although the set up was impressive, it was the other three walls that shocked her.

Five flat screen monitors hung on the wall, each one with a console below it. Eyes wide, Katiya walked over to the one of them. She ran her hand over the console. There were so many buttons and controls she didn’t have a clue what any were for. She counted the consoles too and noted there were five on each wall for a total of fifteen. She turned to Rhianna.

“The…ummm…head tech had them set this up.” The same amusement was in Rhianna’s tone.

Katiya glared at her. She didn’t see anything funny about this. There had to be millions of dollars of equipment here. She knew a little about computers but not enough to know what everything was. She glanced at the console again.

“When I gave him the tour he asked about what other programs we were planning. I…ummm…”

Katiya returned her attention to Rhia. Guilt was visible on her face.

“You what?”

“I got excited and started mentioning what we had planned if we could pull it off.” Rhianna sounded defensive.

Katiya bit her lip, trying not to laugh. Rhianna was as bad as she was when she started talking about The Oasis and plans they had.

“He asked me to show him the room we wanted set up for training to build computer systems. Before I knew it, he had somehow commandeered the area and had people in here installing things. He said if people could build the computers, there should also be the option to program them too. Then he put those things”—she pointed to the three walls with flat screens—“in so they could design programs and software. I don’t know how he did it. I was…” She shrugged, looking both bemused and sheepish at the same time.

Katiya stared at her in shock. The usually unflappable Rhianna had been steamrolled. Katiya started to chuckle and leaned against the console, careful to not touch any buttons. “I was trying to figure out what it was about him that was so…”

Rhianna glanced at her sharply. “So…? You’re attracted to him.” Shock was clear in her tone.

Katiya winced and straightened. Rhianna knew her too well.

“No. He’s just so commanding. Like he is in charge or something.”

Rhianna gave her a strange look then her lips twitched and she grinned.

“Yeah, yeah. He’s in charge of setting things up.” She waved her hand at the room. “And from the look of things has some major clout with Taylor Bytes to get all this for us and done in a day no less. But we don’t have anyone to train on this stuff.” She paused and looked around again.

Excitement filled Katiya. The computers she wanted were installed and the added bonus of the offices getting outfitted, too, was more than enough. Now this—a computer building, programming, and software design. She had only dreamt of setting up a lab. All of this was so much more.

“I’ll have to call Carlson to upgrade our security system. With all this in here, we will need it. Stein will need to hire more security persons. Also we have to find someone who knows this stuff to train people well,” Katiya said.

“Stein already is working on it. I know that tone. It is… Wow.” Rhianna’s usual eloquence had deserted her.

In this case, Katiya didn’t rag on her. It was understandable.

Rhianna continued, “We already have plenty of people to teach.”

“Really, so soon? How much it is going to cost us?” she asked, still looking around the room in awe.

“Nothing. They are volunteers,” Rhianna answered.

“Volunteers?” She looked at Rhianna.

“The owner of Taylor Bytes and some of his other employees have volunteered to. Not only set up training programs, but the head honcho has stated that they will keep us supplied with whatever we need for this program—equipment, parts and knowledge.” Rhianna had a grin on her face again.

“Really? Wow. I’ll have to make sure and thank him. Wait a minute. The
Mister
Taylor was here. You met him. No fair, I didn’t even get to meet him.” Katiya pouted.

Rhianna started to laugh.

“What is your problem?” Katiya demanded. “I’ve never seen you grin so much,”

“Heeee…” Rhianna was laughing too hard to continue.

Katiya shook her head. “You better tell me.”

Rhianna put her hand up, making the sign to give her a moment. She took a breath then seemed to gain control.

“You al—”

“Ahh…Rhianna. I’m looking for Miss Wright,” a languid male voice said.

Rhianna stiffened and her face went cool.

Katiya blinked, intrigued, and raised an eyebrow at Rhianna, who gave a quick shake of her head. Katiya made a note to question her later. Curious, she glanced around Rhianna. She made a
hmm
sound as she took in his lanky frame lounging in the doorway. His lazy smile curved his full lips. His tanned skin highlighted his sharp features that came together to create an extremely sexy face. His dark hair rested over one shoulder in a long braid that almost reached his waist. She lifted her head, meeting his gaze again, and his smile widened.

“You’ve found me. Cut out the Miss stuff. It’s Katiya. And you’re Calix. Right?”

“Yep.”

“Sorry, I was supposed to meet you in my office. We got a little sidetracked.”

“No prob.”

Katiya stood straight. “Let’s go. I don’t want to keep you from something else.”

“I’m almost done with Rhianna’s set-up. Just waiting for everything to download.” Calix shrugged.

“Okay. Rhianna, I’ll catch up with you later for you to bring me up to speed on what has been going on.”

Rhianna nodded. Katiya walked over to Calix. He straightened and stepped out of the way as she passed him.

“Rhianna,” Calix said.

“Calix.” Rhianna’s tone was cool and dismissive.

Surprised, Katiya looked between the two of them. Calix had a smile on his face and Rhianna was turned away from her so she couldn’t see her expression.

“After you,” Calix said to her.

Katiya walked with him down the hall. As they passed the computer room she glanced in. The man was still in there, typing on one of the systems.

“What is his name?” She gestured to the door they’d just passed.

“You mean Giga?” Calix asked.

Katiya frowned. “The man setting up systems in there? Giga, as in gigabyte?”

“Yep, that’s Giga,” Calix replied.

They continued down the hall, stopping briefly as she spoke with various people along the way. Finally reaching her office, she unlocked her door and went inside.

“Sorry about the delay.”

“It’s what you do. Being the head of a centre this large you’re in high demand. I know the feeling. Wow. That’s a beautiful desk set you have there.”

Katiya looked around her spacious office. It was richly decorated in her favourite colours—pale yellow, burnt orange and dark brown. Two sofas were on opposite walls with lots of pillows. Her desk was massive and made of six different kinds of exotic wood, including ebony and Carpathian elm, and pieces of custom glass.

“Thank you, it was a gift from my good friend Iona—she designed it. Iona’s a descendant of the family the town was named after.” She glanced at the floor-to-ceiling matching credenza with hutch and bookcases built into the walls—all with the same design. It was the first thing most people mentioned about the office.

Going to her desk, she started to boot up her computer. “So what’s your job at Taylor Bytes?”

“I run the Research and Development area of Taylor Bytes. The head honcho did it to punish me.” He gave her a puppy dog look.

Katiya snorted. “I can imagine you probably did something to deserve it.”

“Yeah, I did. At least that’s what he said. It’s a lie—he just likes being the big brother and messing with the little brother,” Calix said matter-of-factly.

Startled, she glanced at Calix. “Taylor is your brother?”

“Yep, when I choose to claim him.” Calix laughed then said, “Are you booted up?”

She glanced at the screen. “Yes.”

“May I?”

“Oh, sure,” she said moving from behind the desk out of his way.

Calix went behind the desk then sat in the chair and started typing. She leaned against the desk and watched his fingers move fast over the keys. When he started humming, she tried to make out what song it was. Calix attached an external drive to her computer.

“Okay. This will take about two hours. I’m downloading your files and any software you added to your computer onto this.” He patted the drive.

“Don’t I have to tell you what I did?”

“Nope, I checked your configurations and know already. Before we install the new one we’ll double-check that everything is on this. Don’t touch the computer while this is running.” Calix stood.

“I won’t.”

“I’ll be back in a bit to check on how things are doing,” he said striding across the office to the door.

“Calix.”

He stopped and looked at her.

“I want to thank you and Taylor Bytes for all you are donating to us. I plan on thanking your brother personally when I finally get to meet him. This is so generous of you all.”

Shock filled Calix’s face then a huge grin curved his lips. Katiya shook her head. It was similar to the one Rhianna kept giving her. She didn’t know what was going on but she would get to the bottom of it.

“Okay, I’m tired of these weird grins. What is everyone finding so funny?”

“Everyone?”

“Rhianna gave me the same type of grin you are. So, what is up?”

Calix bit his lip. “It’s probably because—”

The walkie-talkie crackled. “
Calix, come in
.”

She recognised Giga’s voice.

Calix picked up the walkie-talkie clipped to his belt. “Calix.”

“
I need you in the comp room
.”

“Got ya. On my way,” Calix replied. He clipped the talkie back to his belt then glanced at her. “Gotta go. I’ll be back to check on things.”

Before she could reply he turned and strode out of the door. She stared after him and sighed. She hadn’t got the man’s name or an answer to her question. The phone rang, interrupting her thoughts. She strode over to her desk and answered the phone. “The Oasis.”

She sat and listened to the caller. Before she knew it she was busy. Throughout the next few hours she was swamped with work. Calix came and went a few times, checking on the download and bringing in her new computer system, printer, scanner and fax. He placed the boxes on the floor next to the desk. Katiya raised an eyebrow. She’d known about the computer but the rest was a surprise.

“We’re a full service crew,” Calix said cheerfully. He winked and left the room.

Katiya got up to check the boxes and whistled. All the equipment was top of the line. She had checked them out longingly but knew they were not part of the budget. She returned to her seat on the couch and went back to work.