by Kai Andersen
“Have you ever thought of jumping Logan?” Adrienne adroitly changed the subject to Marcy’s current favorite topic of discussion. Adrienne turned and moved to take her seat behind the desk. Nudging the mouse to bring the computer screen back to life, she prepared to make the revisions Jake had noted on the pages.
Marcy flopped into a chair in front of the desk.
Adrienne glanced at her idly, wondering how Marcy could move so gracefully, without rumpling her clothes, given her generous figure. When she flopped, her skirt would ride up, and her blouse and blazer would be askew. But then again, she never flopped; to do so would ruin her carefully cultivated image.
“Countless times.” Marcy sighed. “Not that it’s doing me any good. The man’s hopelessly in love with my housemate.”
“You’re too good for him, Marce. Find another man.”
“I know.” Marcy sounded glum.
The computer hummed and a few seconds later, the screen appeared. Adrienne called up the file she’d been working on earlier.
“But you’re not changing the subject on me again, Adri. I’m wise to your tricks now.”
Adrienne glanced over to see Marcy sporting a smug grin. Though only two years younger than Adrienne, Marcy had a tendency to act like a teenager at times.
“Hmm?”
“We were talking about our hunk of a boss and the increased personal time you got to spend with him. So how, uh, personal has it been, huh?”
“Don’t you have some work to do?” Adrienne continued with her revisions, although she found herself getting increasingly distracted. She didn’t mind talking about Jake -- in fact, she’d love to talk about him -- but she was afraid of revealing too much. The fact Jake figured center stage in all her fantasies was something she didn’t want anybody else to know. “Jake might object to finding his secretary idling time away chatting.”
“Oh pooh, I’m your secretary, too. Anyway, office hours are almost over.”
“Almost isn’t is.”
“You just don’t want to answer my question,” Marcy said. “Which makes me wonder what you’re hiding.”
A knock on the open door halted the conversation. Tielan, one of the most creative members of Adrienne’s team, entered the room at Adrienne’s behest. She bore a slim rectangular package. “Boss, package for you!”
Adrienne breathed a sigh of relief at the interruption. “Thanks.”
Marcy sat up, her eyes bright with excitement. “From whom? A secret admirer you’re not telling me about?”
Tielan’s eyes were wide and round. The light caught the red tints in her long dark hair, which was tied back with a ribbon. With her round, baby face, she looked too young to be working. “How exciting!”
“I have no idea who would send me a package.” Adrienne turned the box around and examined it from different angles. “No card attached, either.” Finally, she loosed the pink ribbon that was laced around the box. The irrational part of her mind whispered, Could it be Jake? At the thought, her heartbeat quickened. She started to lift the lid. “Maybe he or she doesn’t want to be --” Her voice dropped to a bewildered whisper. “-- identified?”
Nestling against a backdrop of white tissue paper and among artfully designed sprigs of baby’s breath lay a single black rose.
Adrienne drew in a shaky breath. “So nice of someone to give me such a rare flower.” Terror started to creep up on her. With great strength of will, she forced the fear aside. This was just someone’s twisted idea of a joke. It must be.
Silence hung heavy in the room.
“This is no laughing matter, Adri.” Marcy was still staring wide-eyed at the flower, which looked so innocent against a background of pure white. “It’s a black rose, for heaven’s sake. Doesn’t black portend death or something?”
“What about that black suit you’re wearing?” Her heart pounding, Adrienne made her tone as dry as she could. She would not panic over nothing.
Marcy made an angry sound, obviously impatient with Adrienne’s dissembling. “Roses come in red or white or yellow or pink or blue. Not black!”
“I’ll have you know that true black roses are the holy grail of plant breeders worldwide. The best anybody has been able to come up with is very dark red.” Adrienne picked up the rose gingerly, mindful of its thorns. “As you can see, if you look closely at this one, it’s not really black, but a very, very dark red.”
“Don’t touch it!” Marcy’s shout came a little too late. “Put it down! What if it’s poisonous or something?”
“Marcy, stop being so dramatic. Someone thought I would appreciate such a rare flower and sent me this. He -- or she -- is right. See what a long-stemmed beauty this is. Be a dear and find me a vase --”
“Boss.” Tielan said, her voice fraught with tension and something else ... fear? “You might want to look at the top of the box.”
Adrienne looked up, taking in the other women’s white faces. Tielan’s gaze was glued to something on the top portion of the package. Adrienne glanced down and saw the missing card tucked into the top right corner on the inside of the carton. It had come into view when she had taken the rose, together with the tissue, out of the box. Why would someone place it in that particular spot? And upside-down, too?
Adrienne turned the package around, and the neat typewritten sentences slipped into focus. The message made her blood freeze.
Don’t think you can get away with it. I’m coming after you.
Chapter Two
Marcy went hysterical. She jumped up from her seat and wrung her hands. “We’ve got to tell somebody. The police! The SWAT team!”
Goose pimples broke out on Adrienne’s arms. Still, she tried for the voice of rationality. “I think it’s just someone’s idea of a sick joke --”
“Girl, your sense of self-preservation stinks!” Marcy leaned across the desk and shouted in Adrienne’s face. “That’s no joke! It says he’s coming to get you. If that’s not a direct threat, I don’t know what is!”
Adrienne didn’t want to get the police involved. Once this was reported to them, they would dig and dig and dig ... and then all hell would break loose. She would have to run again. She was so tired of running.
Tielan offered in a small voice, “It’s certainly not romantic.”
Marcy burst out laughing, but the laugh was totally lacking in mirth. “That’s the understatement of the century.”
Her own fear and Marcy’s panic threatened to overwhelm Adrienne, but she forced herself to concentrate on her breathing. After all, the note could really be harmless, one more prank played on her by -- she threw out a wild suggestion. “If you will just look at the note from a different light, it doesn’t have to be ominous-sounding, you know.”
“Oh yeah?” Marcy challenged, a little calmer, although her breathing was still too fast.
“Yeah. I may have something of his that this person who sent the note just wants to get back.” Adrienne managed a rueful smile. “At the moment, though, I can’t think of what it could be. I’m not exactly the type to bring home what’s not mine.”
“I don’t buy it, Adri.” Marcy’s mutinous look was reminiscent of a dog stubbornly hanging on to its favorite bone. “I still think we need to tell someone. All right, if you don’t want to talk to the police, let’s tell Jake. Then he can do something to beef up security in the office.”
“I don’t think it’s enough to warrant --”
“Take your pick, Adri. Tell the police or tell Jake.”
“Tell me what?” Jake entered the room, his tall, athletic body clothed in a dark blue long-sleeved polo shirt and black trousers. A bright yellow tie served as a direct contrast to his shirt. His overpowering presence filled the room, which suddenly seemed smaller. His enigmatic gray-brown-eyed gaze met Adrienne’s, before moving on to Marcy and Tielan.
Adrienne’s icy mask slipped into place. “Nothing.” She assumed a pose of brisk efficiency, shoving the box into the wastebasket at her feet, and then shuffling the p
apers on her desk into one organized pile.
“Adri ...” Marcy’s voice held an agonized note.
“There’s nothing to tell,” Adrienne repeated. “Tielan, you may go back to work. Thank you for bringing the package over.”
Tielen filed out, and Jake closed the door behind her. Damn. Even his backside had the ability to burn her into lust. She had read plenty of romance novels describing the hero as having broad shoulders that tapered into slim hips, but Jake’s was the only real life male body she had seen that looked like that. Her fingers itched to caress his butt, to hold onto his ass as he rode her.
He sat beside Marcy, assessing Adrienne with his intelligent dark eyes. There was none of the passion that she had imagined earlier, none of the naked lust that made her want to tear away his clothes and make fierce love to him.
Still, he had the power to affect her. Fire raged within her, making her aware of yearnings that had long been plaguing her.
He was also very sharp. His intelligence matched hers, surpassed it even, which was one of the things that attracted her to him. Given enough clues, he would be able to put all the puzzle pieces together and fill in the missing blanks to get the whole picture.
And her secret was one puzzle she didn’t want him working on.
“Jake, did you come to see me about something?” Cool and efficient.
“What’s this about a package?” Jake lounged back in his seat, giving the impression of the relaxed executive.
Without hesitation, Adrienne showed him the card and the black rose. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Marcy’s surprised expression.
“I didn’t want to mention it earlier, with Tielan here and all, but I suspect I might be the butt of another practical joke.” Adrienne turned to Marcy with a rueful smile and said, “Which was why I didn’t want you calling the police. Imagine my embarrassment when they find out it’s all a gag.”
Jake fingered the card. He frowned. “Practical joke?”
Marcy smacked her lap with one hand. “Why didn’t I think of them earlier?” She rolled her eyes. “The Mean Girls, you mean?”
Poor Jake looked even more bewildered. “Mean Girls?”
“I don’t know how the name stuck, but yes, I do mean them, no pun intended.” Adrienne turned to Jake. “What I’m going to tell you is strictly off the record.”
He nodded.
“Some of the marketing associates were ... let’s just say, dissatisfied with my promotion to assistant manager. The reasons being that one, they were here longer than I; and two, the fact that now, instead of being on the same level, they have to report to me.”
His small pink wedge of a tongue slipped out again.
Adrienne stared at his mouth, fascinated. In the space of a heartbeat, her arousal level shot up, leaving her wet and breathless and hungry.
“I see how that might rankle. But you were promoted based on leadership skills.”
“Nobody refuted that. They know better. If they said anything, they’d probably lose their jobs.” Adrienne decided to be blunt. “They’ve been calling me the ‘boss’s pet’ behind my back.” She gave a snort. “Instead of confronting me to my face, they play these silly jokes and pull these stupid stunts. No guts.”
“Tell me who they are.” There was a hard glint in Jake’s eyes. “I’ll have a talk with them.”
This was what she was afraid of. “No, Jake. I didn’t tell you so you’d confront them. Some of them are my team members, and I’ll handle them the way I see fit.” Her voice was firm and brooked no arguments. “Moreover, I’ve known them for far longer than you. I’ve been here for more than a year, while you started here barely two months ago. I only told you the background so you’d understand why they were playing these practical jokes on me. They want me to go, but I won’t give them the satisfaction. If they truly want me gone, they’ll have to do better than pulling a few mean-spirited pranks.”
“What have they been doing?”
“Sending me messages like: ‘You won’t last on this job’ and ‘Pets don’t think; they only obey,’ those kinds of things.” Adrienne left out a few of the others. The boss’s whore and some equally degrading remarks. “Harmless things, like I’ve told Marcy. So long as I don’t let them get to me, they can continue sending whatever they like.”
Marcy shook her head. “I don’t understand why you don’t just put a stop to it.”
“It’s simple.” Adrienne lifted her hands in a helpless gesture. “I don’t have proof it’s them. I can’t link the messages directly to them. This is all conjecture, but enough clues are there for me to suspect that it’s them.”
Jake shifted in his seat. He leaned forward and rested his hands on top of her desk. His strange piercing eyes bored into hers. “How many of them?”
Adrienne shook her head. “No, Jake.” Damn, but his male take-charge attitude both attracted and irritated her. It made her feel safe and taken cared of, but she could darn well look out for herself, thank you very much.
He held up the card. “So, with this message, you think the ‘it’ they’re referring to is your assistant manager position, and that after two months, they still can’t accept being passed over for promotion. Hence, they are out to get you.”
“Yes.”
“So, what’s with the black rose?”
“What do you mean?”
His forehead was knotted. “It’s a rare flower, one that doesn’t come cheap. Why dole out money -- good money -- to scare someone? The message would have been enough.”
Adrienne was stumped. This was one angle she hadn’t thought of. Jake was probably the only one who could outthink her, and if she didn’t come up with something fast, he’d become suspicious, and he’d continue digging and digging until all her secrets were revealed.
“I -- I don’t know.” Her brain whirled, trying to come up with a passable reason to satisfy Jake so that he wouldn’t even think of going to the police, like Marcy had suggested just moments ago. Her hands busied themselves, arranging the sheaf of paper that was her proposal into a neat pile. “But if they were thinking to make me lose face by calling the police, being scared enough by the black rose to do it, then they just might spend that money for the authentic threatening feel. Not only would I be embarrassed, but the firm might even punish me harshly for the negative publicity.”
“But it’s perfectly within your rights to call the police,” Jake pointed out. “Creative Minds has no authority to punish you for calling in the law; in fact, that’s what you should have done. The police can get to the bottom of this for you.”
Which is what I’m afraid of. They might get to the bottom of who I am, too, and then I’d be running again. David, too. I can’t uproot him when he’s settling down so nicely ... “Please, Jake,” Adrienne tried to persuade without begging. “This is my personal problem. Let me handle it the way I want to; just give me a little time. I promise, I’ll settle this with them within the month.”
Jake held her gaze for a few seconds more, as if weighing her capabilities. Finally, he nodded. “All right.” His lips twisted. “I didn’t know we have such petty and vindictive people on the team.”
“Not everyone is as well-rounded as I am,” Adrienne said dryly, trying to inject a light-hearted tone into the whole scenario. Yet, the questions Jake raised left a disquieting doubt in her mind.
Jake stared at her, and then his lips broke into a huge smile.
Marcy gasped. Adrienne could relate, as thoughts of a sheet-rumpled bed, their bodies reaching and limbs entwined, rioted within her. Lord, the man could smile. If they could patent and manufacture it, they could easily make a billion in a year.
His eyes twinkled. “Have you finally let your hair down and made a joke?”
“I didn’t know I was so stiff.”
“Not stiff. But too serious most of the time. You need to lighten up. Remind me to show you how.” The look in his eyes had turned intimate, and his voice warm, as if there were only the two of them i
n the room.
Adrienne stared at him, disconcerted.
Jake, flirting with her? Was he suggesting what she thought he was suggesting?
Or was she in fantasy mode again?
“Will you show me too, Jake?” Marcy cooed beside him.
Adrienne gripped the thick sheaf of paper so tight her fingers grew numb. She wanted to lift it high and slam it down on Marcy’s head with all the force in her slim body. A moment later, she was appalled at her violent thought. Marcy was her friend! The only one who had stayed a friend through all the petty jealousies in the office; how could Adrienne fall out with her over a guy, a guy she had no intention of letting in on her secrets?
Jake grinned down at her friend.
Maybe Adrienne would slug him instead, take out his eyes so that he wouldn’t be able to see anyone but her. But then, he wouldn’t be able to see her either ... Darn.
The file hit the desk, crashing down with unnecessary force. Both Jake and Marcy jumped, their expressions startled as they turned toward her.
“Now that that’s settled,” Adrienne said, managing a cool smile despite the turmoil boiling within her breast, “what was it you came to see me about, Jake?”
Jake’s eyes narrowed, but he didn’t contradict her. “I’ve set the meeting with the client. Be ready to leave by two in the afternoon.”
Adrienne lifted an eyebrow. “Tomorrow?”
“The day after.”
* * * * *
After only half-listening to his eldest brother, Jared, ramble on and on for what seemed like hours, Jake suddenly grew aware of the unexpected silence. Startled from his thoughts, he looked up to find Jared glaring down at him. Jake immediately went on the offensive. “What?”
Jared wasn’t the least bit cowed. If anything, his frown deepened as he adjusted his feet a little for more balance. The chair that he was sitting on was poised precariously on its two back legs; only his feet resting on the low table in front of him kept it upright. “You dare to ask? Okay, repeat everything I’ve said.”