by Lauren Dane
'OK, then.' Leah's smile had nothing to do with her wishing Carlina well and everything to do with the fact this interview was over and she could turn her attention, hopefully, back to Brandon. She glanced at the clock. She wasn't needed for the afternoon session with the bigwigs for another couple of hours.
Pleeeeenty of time.
Without another word, Carlina got up. Her briefcase banged the arm of the chair, then the desk. Before she had time to turn to the door, it opened and banged the chair, which she'd shoved aside. Brandon apologised, stepping out of her way, but the only place for him to go was around the desk next to Leah and even then the space was tight.
Not that she minded, but it was distracting.
Carlina hadn't taken but one step towards the doorway when Dix showed up, leaning against the frame as casually as a man waiting for a bus.
She froze like a deer in the headlights and Dix barely held back a sneer.
'Going somewhere, Ms Southam?' He wanted to laugh at the look of surprise on her face. 'For someone who doesn't want to be thought of as a dumb blonde you're sure working hard to act like one.'
Leah's eyes flew wide for a moment but she hid her confusion quickly.
He stood in the doorway barring Carlina's exit.
'Dix?' Leah asked.
'You can't stop me from leaving. I just quit.' It was actually pretty ballsy of Carlina to stand there and pretend she wasn't holding a case filled with stolen documents.
'Why, I can actually. When you're in possession of stolen property. That is what's in the briefcase, am I right? If I'm not, you'd better produce those papers and right away or I will call the cops.' Dix couldn't believe her nerve.
Leah moved to intervene. 'Cops? What's going on here?'
'Oh, she didn't tell you she'd printed out copies of our new distribution plan and the contracts with Nationwide and Point Place?'
Carlina's heavily lined eyes narrowed on him but he didn't care if she was angry. He'd paid her well, treated her with respect and she'd just tried to fuck him over and for what? Clearly this had been her plan for a while if she had a place to run to when she left. It wasn't just about Kate and what she'd seen in the parking garage.
'It's not very clever to use your own log-in code when you're stealing from a corporation's legal department. It's so easily verified.'
Carlina spewed a very undignified curse as her mouth spread into a flat line of frustrated rage.
'Oh now, sweetheart, don't get all flummoxed. Just admit defeat. Give me the documents and anything you've removed from Allied not belonging to you. That way we can avoid any more drama.' He probably shouldn't have said 'sweetheart' but he'd fallen back to sarcasm to keep from calling her a crazy bitch.
Carlina began to squawk about his not being able to search her without a warrant, as if he were bound by the need for one. Christ. Leah looked pale and the conference guy watched through observant eyes.
Dix's smirk broke and he shifted to stand closer to Carlina. 'Well then, shall we call the police, Ms Southam? I'm sure they'd love to hear all about what you've been up to. They might even care that I'm holding you here until they arrive. Do you like to gamble?'
21
A big part of Brandon's job was knowing when to stay the hell out of the way. Right now was one of those times. Leah and Mr Dixon had confronted that blonde woman in his office and, from then on, everything had started going downhill.
It wasn't the first time he'd been asked to call the police, but, even though he'd started dialling, Dixon had told him to hold off. Apparently they needed to deal with this on their own. That was Brandon's cue to leave.
He checked on the conference space and found nothing out of place. The food had all been delivered and set up without problem and the Allied employees were taking full advantage of it. He made sure there were enough beverages and glasses and that the coffee carafes were full.
Nobody had to point out the importance of the two men and one woman who'd just arrived. He could tell by the low-pitched hum of conversation that preceded them as well as their expensive suits, shoes and accessories. They all carried iPhones and leather cases he guessed cost more than his month's salary.
These must be the big bosses he'd heard Leah say were on their way. He stepped up to them. 'Excuse me? Are you here for the Allied Packaging and Shipping conference?'
The men both turned but it was the woman who answered. 'Yes, we are.'
'Brandon Long.' He offered his hand and she shook it. 'I'm the conference-services manager here. The room for the next session is being prepped right now, but we've got some food and beverages set up for the break.'
'Thank you, Brandon.' The woman squeezed his fingers and gave him an up-and-down glance he didn't miss. 'Bob, Roger, I'm starving. I'm going to grab a bite.'
'I ate on the plane.' Roger patted his ample stomach. 'We need to meet with Leah Griffin and Charles Dixon, son. Any idea where they are?'
'Yes, sir. They're meeting in my office. How about you all help yourselves to something to eat or drink and I'll go get them?'
Roger looked at the spread of cheese, crackers and small pastries. 'Well, OK, maybe just a bite.'
The business centre had a small kitchenette area in a corner where the two halls met to make it easier to set up and break down food and drink service. Brandon filled a spare carafe from the cabinet with hot water from the dispenser and grabbed a mug along with a few Earl Grey tea bags and some packets of sugar. He didn't know how Leah would take her tea, but she didn't impress him as the artificial-sweetener sort.
He knocked on his office door and waited for an answer before he went in. Inside, Dixon was sitting on the edge of the desk glaring at Carlina, while Leah stood with crossed arms in the corner. The silence in the room was enough to deafen him.
'The people you need to see are here,' Brandon said.
Dixon looked up. 'Thanks.' He went back to staring at Carlina, who wasn't saying anything.
Brandon eased past Leah to put the carafe and the mug on the desk. He put the tea bag in the mug and poured the water over it, then handed it to her. She looked at him with an expression of faint surprise.
'I thought you could use this.'
Her expression turned steady and assessing. 'Thank you.'
He smiled at her. 'You're welcome.'
It took her a few seconds, but she smiled back.
'Should I send them down here or tell them you'll be up?' Brandon had no idea what, exactly, was going on, just that none of the three looked happy about it. At least the cops hadn't shown up yet.
'Don't tell them to come here. We need to get this squared away first,' Dixon said sharply.
'Brandon, I need to print some documents from my laptop. Can I use your printer?' Leah's gaze had gone cool and professional again.
'Of course. Absolutely.'
She reached into the pocket of her suit jacket and pulled out a keycard. 'My laptop is in my room on the desk.'
'I'll get it for you.' He took the keycard. Their fingers brushed. It was the wrong time to be thinking about being in her room
and what he'd rather be doing there than fetching a computer, but he thought it anyway.
The small flash of interest in her eyes led him to believe she was thinking it too, but Brandon simply took the keycard and left the room. Once in her room, he found the computer, including the case with all the necessary cords that had been shoved on to the floor by the chair, without a problem and returned to his office in less than fifteen minutes.
Now Leah sat at his desk while Carlina remained in the other chair and Dixon had taken a place in the corner. Their conversation hadn't even paused when he came in. Dixon was outlining some sort of list of actions and Carlina was agreeing, sullenly. Leah had an occasional comment.
Brandon didn't need to get in the way. He set up Leah's laptop for her on his desk and plugged in all the cords, making sure the USB cable reached to his ancient printer. It only took a few minutes, but, by the time he'd finish
ed, all three of them were staring at him.
'Let's get on with it,' Carlina said irritably.
'For someone who's in possession of stolen documents with a threat of police involvement hanging over her head, you're pretty demanding,' Dixon said.
Carlina launched into a litany of complaints to which Dixon only laughed and that meant nothing to Brandon. He paid attention only to Leah, who looked over her computer set-up, then at him.
'Thank you,' she said.
There was a wealth of meaning in that simple phrase.
'You're welcome,' he answered.
She met his gaze. From behind them, Carlina let out another string of muttered accusations, each met squarely by Dixon. Leah looked over at them, then back at Brandon.
'We'll need some more time here. Fifteen minutes, at least.'
'I'll come back then.'
She nodded and bent her head over the keyboard, her fingers tap-tapping away. Brandon made himself scarce again, heading upstairs to check once more on the conference facilities. The food had been devoured like a scourge of locusts had gone through it, and he used his walkie-talkie to call down to housekeeping to come and clean up the mess. He looked for the three big bosses and spotted them sitting together in the cluster of armchairs at the far end of the conference area.
Fifteen minutes hadn't yet passed. He didn't know exactly what was happening in his office, only that she'd asked for some time before facing the trio of bosses now sipping coffee and talking so seriously about stuff Brandon knew had to be so boring he'd poke out his eardrums if he had to deal with it for longer than a few minutes.
'Can I bring you anything else? More coffee?' He'd been a waiter during college and the skills had come in unexpectedly handy in conference-services management. 'Hot tea?'
'No thanks.' Bob, the oldest of the three, looked at his watch. 'Listen, what's taking them so long? We need to get this show on the road.'
'Just take us to the office,' Roger said. 'This is ridiculous.'
Brandon glanced at his watch. It was cutting it close, and he didn't owe these people anything. However, he wasn't about to let them into his office if Leah wasn't prepared to handle them.
He didn't have to worry about figuring out a way to keep them there, though, because Leah and Dixon showed up, both looking ready to do battle. Not for the first time, Brandon was glad he'd chosen a career far, far away from the hassles of the corporate battlefield. His job might not have a lot of prestige or a big salary, and he might have to do a bit more bowing and scraping than he liked, but at the end of the day he went home and didn't have to think very much about anything.
'Thank you, Brandon,' Leah said. 'For everything.'
'Anything you need,' Brandon told her and, after a second, she nodded.
It was a promise.
22
Kate took the call with a frown as Dix stalked away with Band Boy.
'Katherine? It's Chandra Pulliam.'
The senior partner who'd been her liaison through the transfer.
'Hi, Chandra. What can I do for you?'
'I received a rather interesting phone call a while ago. A woman told me she'd come upon you and Charles Dixon having sex in a public place this morning.'
Ice slid down Kate's spine. That fucking bitch.
'I'm sorry? Did you just say sex in a public place?' All those years as an attorney and she found it wasn't that hard to sound stunned. She was stunned.
'That's what she said.'
'I saw Charles Dixon this morning. I've worked with him rather closely on this issue. He's their legal counsel. I didn't have sex with him this morning.' Which, well, OK was a slight lie depending on your definition of 'sex' and 'with'.
She had no words to express just how pissed off she was at Dix's psycho assistant. She wasn't in trouble. Not per se. But having a senior partner receive a call, even from someone with an obvious angle like that stupid cow Carlina, wasn't a good thing.
'Let me hazard a guess here. Was your caller Carlina Southam by any chance?'
'Yes. You're familiar with her, then I take it?'
'She's Dix's assistant. He and I were in the parking lot earlier today. I'd gone out to retrieve a file he'd left in his car. She approached and went off. She didn't want to let me pass when I tried to leave. Made odd threats. I suppose now I know what she meant. Chandra, I am friendly with Dix, you should know that.'
'Being in a parking garage isn't a crime. And unless you meant retrieving a file as a reference for public sex, I'm not worried.'
Walking a thin line here, she was playing a silly game of words, but Kate wasn't going down for what Carlina thought she saw or, hell, for what happened. Not without a fight. What she'd done was stupid, yes. But the call to her boss by that bimbo was ridiculous.
'No, Chandra, it wasn't a reference. He did have a file in his car and I did retrieve it from him and left him out there with her.' All true.
'Fine then. As for you being friendly, well, look, there's no problem with you having, um, relations with Charles Dixon.
You're both adults and you're not technically employed by the same people. But this sort of thing, public sexual activity, you could be arrested, lose your licence to practise here before you even start working. It's not good for the firm.' Chandra paused. 'Now, all the stuff needed to be said has been said. What is going on with this woman anyway? She didn't sound particularly together when she called.'
Kate let go of a bit of her internal tension. Chandra was a good person and had the potential to be a friend. She'd been given a reprieve and there was no way she'd find herself in a compromising situation like that again. She had to keep her head around Charles Dixon and her panties in place.
'I don't think she is. Apparently she made some sort of threat so it's no surprise she called you, I suppose. I've spoken with Dix about this particular employee. I understand she may have attempted to remove documents from Allied's system. There's a meeting right now between Dix, Allied's HR manager and Southam.'
Chandra blew out an obviously disgusted breath. 'An unreliable witness then, isn't she? Damned loosey-goosey system they've got at Allied,' Chandra grumbled into the phone. 'I've got faith in you. But if you're in a room with her, just know where the nearest exit is.'
Sad but true. Contracts attorneys didn't deal with as many insane people as some others did, but Kate agreed Carlina was a potential threat. 'Well, that's why they hired us. They did use the non-compete and confidentiality documents I drew up for them. The woman signed them as well as the whole legal department. I don't know about the rest of the company. This is on the agenda for today. Their out-of-town big power is coming in this morning.' Kate kept her voice low but she did notice when the bigwigs came into the room.
Kate made her goodbyes and quickly finished reading over the papers she'd been sent. She had a feeling she'd be needed soon enough.
Nausea roiled through her as she tried not to think about how stupid she'd been downstairs. She never should have let him touch her much less shove his hand in her panties. And what possessed her to jerk him off out there afterwards? It could have waited but, no, she had to do it out there. In public and look what happened!
It was her own fault and an error in judgement she couldn't afford to repeat. That road meant the loss of her career. She loved what she did and was damned if she'd let her pussy take control because, unless she radically changed her work conditions, her pussy couldn't pay her mortgage.
Kate had managed to get through the papers and to get herself together by the time Leah came out some moments later, Dix at her side. Leah motioned her over.
'I know you've met via phone and through correspondence but let me do the official introductions here. Katherine Edwards, this is Bob Adams, CEO of Allied, Roger Santiago, CFO, and Lara Conrad, Senior Vice President. Katherine is our of counsel on the matter of the confidentiality and non-compete employment contract issues.' Leah's voice was cool but Kate knew her friend enough to see the strain around her eyes.<
br />
She shook hands and demurred a bit when Roger gave her a few compliments. Kate noticed the gaze at her breasts and was glad she wore a suit jacket. It was time to get hard on these people.
'On that topic, we've got a problem.' Dix straightened his tie.
'I'll get Walt started working on the other sessions while we discuss the Carlina situation,' Leah said. She excused herself as Brandon showed them down a long hallway to one of the breakout rooms.
'You can meet in here. It's private. I'll have some beverages sent in momentarily.' Brandon was gone quickly.