It Takes Two

by Allie K. Adams

  Jeremy tightened his jaw until it popped. He could do without the commentary. “It has to be high enough on the org chart for me to spend a lot of time with the CEO without anyone thinking something’s up.”

  “I don’t see any VP openings. We may have to go outside the company to a firm Goggles contracts with.”

  “The CPA firm.” Jeremy snapped his fingers before searching for the company. “Here it is. Aspen Accounting, owned by Arthur Aspen. Running a background check on him now.” He displayed it on the big screen. “Bachelors from UW. Got his CPA twenty years ago. Only has a handful of clients, all of them as large as or bigger than Goggles. Interesting.”

  “Why is that interesting?” Jason yawned. “Or is this one of those things that’s only interesting to you?”

  “Two things, actually. First, why would Goggles be with such a small, local firm like Aspen? I expected to see a name like Deloitte or KPMG. Second, how does a firm like Aspen attract these large clients? Goggles, Acumen Online.” He froze and read the second name over and over.

  “What’s up?”

  “Acumen is Goggles’ biggest competitor. Aspen can’t be the CPA for the two biggest software firms in Seattle. At least they shouldn’t. That’s a conflict of interest.”

  “No, dude. That’s our way in.” Jason stood and tossed his empty bottle into the recycle bin. It made a loud clank as it smacked up against all the other empties. “It’s your turn to take out the recycling.”

  “Those are all yours.”

  “You say that like it matters.” He opened the fridge and stared. “I’m starving.”

  “Tell you what. You take out the recycling and trash, and I’ll make dinner.” He could use the break and loved to cook. It was his escape. “I’ll even clean up.”

  “You’re on. I want spaghetti.”

  “You’ll get what I cook and like it.” He stood and stretched. As he moved to the kitchen, Jeremy thought about the CPA firm. Something was off. Whether it was his twintution talking or not, he refused to ignore it. He had a degree in accounting and could pull off the role of CPA until they tracked down this shit surrounding Bree and her sister-in-law.

  “So, that’s it? That’s our in?”

  “That’s our in,” Jeremy agreed. He grabbed steak, peppers, and onions from the fridge. If they didn’t cook the meat tonight, it would have to be thrown out.

  Jason frowned at the veggies on the counter. “Those don’t look like the ingredients for spaghetti.”

  “Fajitas. I’ll make spaghetti some other time.” He made a mean marinara sauce, he had to admit. It took all day to prepare. Maybe he’d invite Bree to dinner. In fact, if they were going to pull off this cover of being a couple, it made sense to have them stay the night with each other. He grinned and grabbed the cutting board.

  “I love fajitas.” Jason knelt and stuffed everything into a single recycle bin.

  “I’ll stop by Aspen Accounting in the morning and let them know they are being replaced. If they give me any shit, I’ll simply cite one of the many ethical violations.”

  “Shit, bro. You know how to play serious hardball. Ethical violations?” He blew out a breath.

  “Up yours.”

  He pulled the trash bag from the can under the sink and grabbed the overflowing recycle bin. “Get the door. Hurry up. This bin weighs a ton.”

  “You could always make two trips.”

  “You could always shut your pie hole and get the door.” He walked out after Jeremy opened it. “No one in their right mind makes two trips.”

  “I make two trips.”

  “I rest my case,” he lobbed back over his shoulder.

  “I’m locking you out.”

  Jason’s laughter echoed through the hall.

  THIRTEEN

  “Call him.”

  Bree shook her head and stared into her coffee. She still had the hint of a headache from drinking that entire bottle of champagne Saturday night. “No way, Whit. I never want to talk to him again.”

  And he apparently never wanted to talk to her again since he hadn’t called to check on her.

  “You’re just pissed he didn’t finish what he started.”

  Yes and no. If she’d let Jeremy and Jason take her to bed, she would have experienced the best sex of her life. She knew it. Her time with her trusty battery-operated boyfriend, affectionately referred to as BOB, only kept her pacified. But definitely not satisfied.

  Whitney leaned against the sill of the window that overlooked the northwest view of the city. The Space Needle sat high above the other buildings, and the glimmer off Elliot Bay in the distance always brought a smile to her face. She loved this city and never regretted moving the corporate offices up here. Thank God Whit had moved with her. She would have never lasted without her.

  Knowing Jeremy and Jason Bowman lived in the same city both thrilled and irritated her. Bree would see them both again, no doubt about it. She didn’t know how she felt about that.

  “Sweetie, listen to me. So your first time together wasn’t all that. It’s totally normal. Maybe he’s got something wrong with his throbbing manhood and it wasn’t, well, throbbing.”

  “Real classy.” Despite her bad mood, Bree laughed. Leave it to her sister-in-law to find a way to pull her out of her terrible mood.

  “Come on. Guys get performance anxiety all the time. Maybe he just needed an excuse to save himself from the embarrassing truth.”

  “And that is?”

  Whitney shrugged her slender shoulders, a snarky smile twisting her lips. “That he forgot his little blue pill. Don’t let it get to you. I bet you if he showed up right now, he wouldn’t be able to keep his hands off you.” She sipped her coffee. “Especially in that sexy little outfit. I love that shirt on you. It shows off the girls quite nicely.”

  Bree dropped her gaze to her cream silk top. Cut low but still passing as modest, it did show off a hint of her cleavage. The pencil skirt made her feel sexy, and she definitely needed to feel sexy after Saturday night. She even splurged and wore a pair of her lacy G-string panties and matching bra. “What’s on the agenda today?”

  Whitney tapped on the screen of her iPad. “You have a ten o’clock with those pricks from marketing who think they can sell you with a smile. Sorry, Chad. It takes more than a flash of your bleached teeth to market Goggles.”

  “I thought you were over that.”

  “What? The guy redefines the term prick.”

  “You slept with him before the monumental third date.”

  “This from the woman who rode a man’s hand before the first date?”

  She didn’t tell Whit about Jason’s part, how he’d slowly eased a slippery finger deep into the recesses of her rear, where neither man nor toy had gone before. It both thrilled and scared the hell out of her. But her reaction to the heated invasion really shocked her. She loved it and wanted more.

  “Wow,” Whit sang. “You must be in the middle of a great memory. Look at that color in your cheeks.”

  Mortification burned into her. If the board caught wind of what she’d done—or worse, if the press caught wind of it—they could have her removed as CEO. She couldn’t imagine life without this company. “Anything else?”

  “Yes, you should have locked the door and mounted him. I think another orgasm would have done you good. You’re too tense.”

  Bree looked at her. “I mean on my schedule.”

  “You have lunch at Zi Pani at noon with the department heads and then a two o’clock with Arthur Aspen.”

  “Ugh.” Bree rested her head on her desk. “I hate meeting with him. He can’t ever get his gaze above my neck.”

  “You wore the wrong blouse for that, girlfriend.”

  “Thanks a lot. Why does he need to see me? It’s August. He usually doesn’t start his panic-induced meeting about our financials for another month.”

  “He said something about terminating our contract.”

  “What?” Bree bolted out of her chair as h
er heart hit the back of her throat. She didn’t need this right now. Too many weird things kept happening. First being nearly run down by that taxi Saturday morning. Then her card wouldn’t work in the parking garage this morning so she had to park on the street and walk to the office. Next the corner of her desk caught her hose and tore them beyond repair, so her legs were commando. Now she had to find a new CPA firm during the last few months of their fiscal year.

  “Don’t worry about it. It was time to move on anyway. Arthur gives me the creeps.” Whitney tucked her iPad up under her arm. “Hey, maybe you should call Jeremy. Didn’t you say he did a little of this and a little of that? Maybe some of the little of this he can do is accounting. And maybe the little of that he can do is you.”

  “Go away, Whit.”

  “Spoil sport. I have to make myself scarce before the pricks from marketing make their way to the conference room anyway. Enjoy your day.”

  “Oh, before you go.” She handed Whitney her card. “Can you get this recoded? It wouldn’t work in the parking garage.”

  “That would be my fault. There were some shady characters hanging out by the entrance last week so I had the box recoded over the weekend.” Whitney took the card. “I completely spaced it. Sorry about that. I’ll get it fixed right away.”

  Another weird thing Bree couldn’t ignore. Maybe she should call Jeremy, at least to tell him about the unwelcome company hanging outside the parking garage. After running her own search on the Bowmans, she still wasn’t convinced they worked for a covert agency. She didn’t find a single thing to prove TREX even existed. Both brothers disappeared off the radar for days and sometimes weeks at a time, which made no sense. With the number of surveillance cameras out there and everyone posting pictures of the most frivolous things imaginable to social media, everything was online. That made everything searchable.

  And yet, the Bowmans were nowhere to be found at certain times, no matter how deep she went in her search. Why? If they really were part of this TREX as they claim, did the covert agency have that much influence to redact images of agents from everywhere searchable?

  “Earth to Bree.”

  Blinking out of her trance, she shook her head and smiled. “Sorry. Was there anything else?”

  “Yeah. What were you just thinking about? I completely lost you.” When Bree didn’t answer, Whitney made the logical leap. “You really have it bad for this guy, don’t you?”

  “Is it that obvious?”

  “And then some. You know what? You should take him to that thing this Saturday.”

  She was just about to take a seat, but stopped and straightened. “What thing?”

  “Troy Gua will be at the Seattle Art Museum for a private showing of his new exhibit before it opens to the public the following Monday. It’s a fundraiser for SAM to build a new permanent exhibit honoring local artists. All attendees were handpicked by the curator. You have to go. And, for the record, I’m beyond jealous. I have two of his pieces hanging in my living room.”

  “Then you should go.”

  “It’s because I have two of his pieces that I have no money to donate to SAM,” she fired back. “Besides, if I went, I’d end up taking out a second mortgage to buy another piece. Art is to me like shoes are to you. You can never have enough.”

  Bree couldn’t deny it. She had an entire closet dedicated to shoes, half still in the boxes. Most people bought spoons and shot glasses to commemorate trips. She bought stilettos.

  “I better get on the million emails I have waiting in my inbox. Let me know if you need anything.”

  She nodded and fell into her chair as Whitney left the office. Just hearing about the lineup on her schedule already had her exhausted. She’d need a lot of coffee to make it through the day.

  * * * *

  Bree struggled to stay awake through meeting after meeting, call after call, and even the lunch—that she ended up paying for with her personal card since she’d misplaced her corporate card. Her mind continued to drift to Jeremy and whether or not she should call him. After he and Jason had mentioned she could be in danger, she noticed everything around her now.

  Like the way the deadbolt on her condo door rattled when she’d never noticed it doing that before. Or the dark sedan that had followed her to work this morning. When she’d parked it sped off, but she noticed it. It was probably nothing and hated that she’d let the Bowman brothers get to her.

  In more than one way.

  A knock on her door sounded her two o’clock. Whitney poked her head in and batted her baby blues. “Arthur Aspen is here. Would you like to take the meeting in the conference room?”

  “No. This won’t take long. Send him in.” Bree stood from behind her large oak desk and sat on the edge as Arthur walked in. By the way he held himself, pointy chin thrust out and thin lips pursed, something had him full of prickly attitude.

  He squared his small shoulders and adjusted his thick glasses while staring at her boobs for several seconds. She gave him a few more seconds before clearing her throat, pulling his attention to her face.

  “Mrs. Harrington, I’m here to terminate our contract.” Down went his gaze.

  “May I ask why?”

  He ignored her question and jerked a piece of paper at her. “I just need your signature.”

  She knew better than to sign her name to anything without having her legal department review the document. “I’ll have legal take a look at this.”

  “I beg your pardon?”

  “Mr. Aspen, you know I can’t just sign it.”

  “I respectfully request that you sign it now.”

  “And I respectfully decline.” She circled around to sit behind her desk. “As soon as legal gives the okay, I’ll sign it and have it delivered to your office.”

  “It’s just a termination agreement.”

  “And I’m sure you understand I can’t sign it without approval from my legal department.”

  “She’ll sign it.” Jeremy walked into her office and didn’t slow until he’d placed himself between Bree and Aspen. He had on a smart suit that hugged his wide shoulders and trim waist like it was tailor-made.

  She straightened as her lips parted and a gasp escaped. Those intense blue eyes, so soft and full of heated passion Saturday night, were foreign to her now. Cool. Impersonal. She didn’t know this Jeremy Bowman. He held such a hard expression. The ice behind his eyes sent a chill racing up her spine.

  “What are you doing here?” she demanded in a shaky voice much weaker than she would have liked.

  “As your new CPA, I felt it necessary to take care of this personally.”

  “My what?”

  “We’ve moved all your corporate financing and accounting needs in-house. I’ll be heading up the internal auditing department.”

  Arthur Aspen’s mouth fell open. “You… You…” When Jeremy glared at him, his expression unyielding, Arthur conceded. He then stiffened and pushed his chin out even further. “Fine. If you want to do business that way. You’ll still need an external firm to sign off on the audits.”

  “I’m very well aware of that, Mr. Aspen. Thank you for your concern.” Jeremy marched up to her desk, so close his masculine scent invaded her senses, overloading them. It took a few seconds to recover. By the time she had, he’d already pressed the intercom on her desk. “Whitney, would you please show Mr. Aspen out?”

  “Quit pushing my buttons.” She slapped his hand away.

  “Is that what I’m doing?” His lips quirked.

  “Hello,” Whitney sang as she walked in, pulling Bree’s attention from Jeremy. “How did I miss you coming in?”

  He flashed a grin so damned charming Whitney swayed. Bree swayed, too. “I’m Jeremy Bowman.”

  He held out his hand as Whitney’s jaw dropped to the floor. She quickly recovered and shook his hand. “Pleased to meet you, Mr. Bowman.”

  “Would you please show Mr. Aspen out? I have a few things to discuss with Mrs. Harrington.”

&nbs
p; “Sure thing.” Whitney rested her cool gaze on a very confused Arthur Aspen. “Right this way, Mr. Aspen.”

  As she led him out of the room, she glanced over her shoulder and mouthed Oh My God! to Bree. She’d definitely never hear the end of this from her sister-in-law. Whitney closed the door behind her, leaving Bree alone with the man she hadn’t been able to stop thinking about.

  Instead of hiding under her desk until he took the hint and left, she folded her hands in front of her and studied the way the light from the window hit him just right. It brushed across his handsome features and made her ache for where they were Saturday night.

  He unfastened the button on his jacket and perched himself on the corner of her desk, swinging his thigh so close the heat seared into her. “About the other night.”

  “I won’t discuss that with you, not here.” Bree squeezed her fingers together until they were white to stop herself from reaching for him.

  “Fair enough.” He stood and refastened the suit coat. “I’ll have a car ready at five.”

  “A car?”

  “TREX will be escorting you to and from work until we’ve figured this out.”

  “Not this again.” Bree pushed away from her desk and stood to face him. Parting her mouth to say something, instead his lips covered hers.

  He devoured her with his kiss. Lips. Tongue. Teeth. Tender nips sent rushes of erotic pulses through her, centering as a tingling deep in her soul. Her body responded by brushing a whisper of sensitivity over her. His fingers slipped into her hair and held her to him. She couldn’t breathe and she didn’t care. Her nipples twisted against the lace of her bra. Hunger spiked inside her and attacked her clit, swelling it as it throbbed angrily.

  Bree fisted his hair and held his lips to hers. When he darted his tongue against hers, she shuddered and arched to him, desperate for just a little friction. She was only distantly aware of his hands caressing her arms, her hips, and resting on her backside. He squeezed and she sucked in a breath, breaking their kiss.