Night Moves (G-Man Series)

by ANDREA SMITH

  I gave her a petulant scowl. I know she couldn't see me, but I felt that it added effect all the same. "What do you mean a guy like that?"

  "Umm? A guy who we literally caught at my rehearsal dinner, screwing his assistant? And then a couple of weeks later he merges his company with your dad's, promoting you as his new assistant. You know - that guy? And I know he's my half brother-in-law and everything, but what were you thinking?"

  Leave it to good ol' Lindsey to restate the obvious.

  "It's complicated," I explained lamely.

  "Well," was her reply, "I talked to Jill yesterday, and she'll be in town tomorrow night. Taz has baby detail, so maybe you'll be able to explain your complicated love life to the both of us at dinner tomorrow? We'll have drinks and you can unload the whole shebang to us. Deal?"

  "Hell yeah," I said, clicking and dragging another file to its parental folder. "Same rules apply: Jill covers valet and overall tips, you buy drinks, and I buy dinner?"

  "Yep!" Lindsey confirmed. "Oh, and this can't wait until tomorrow. Guess who's been asking Taz about you?"

  "Santa Claus," I stage-whispered into my cell. "Yeah . . . London kind of put me on the naughty list."

  "Save it for tomorrow night, lovely," Lindsey responded. "No. Darin asked about you."

  Whaaat?

  "Why?" I asked.

  "I guess he's been desperately lost without you," she told me with stage effects of her own. "He's been trying to get Taz to talk to me so that I'd talk to you."

  I mulled that one over.

  Lindsey continued, "You know, at least he's admitting his mistake. Doesn't everyone deserve a second chance? I mean, you did kind of give Easton one."

  Low blow.

  I tried to close my gaping mouth. "Oh come on, Linds. Totally different scenario. Easton and I . . . we were just physical. Darin and I, on the other hand, well, I was with him for how long?"

  A couple of seconds went by. "You're rolling your eyes, aren't you?" I asked/accused.

  "Damn, you're good," she acknowledged with a laugh. "Can I at least tell Taz that I did say something to you?"

  "Whatevs," I told her, already a little mentally exhausted at the thought. "I really don't give a shit. But for the record, I don't see Darin and I going anywhere."

  "You never can tell," she countered in her sing-song voice. "Meet us at Busbee's around six tomorrow night, okay?"

  "I'll be there." I hit END-call.

  Several minutes later Nelson Pratt was in my office to keep his 4:15 appointment with Easton.

  "He's not here," I said, as I walked over to the file cabinet.

  "We had a 4:15 appointment," Nelson replied, frowning.

  Duh!

  "He must've forgotten, Nelson. He left with a female employee for lunch and hasn't returned."

  There. That ought to stir some shit…

  "I see," he said, obviously perplexed. "That's odd. Nevertheless, I guess I'll catch him tomorrow."

  I finished up in the office and then headed home where I filled Eli in on everything that'd happened after he'd stopped by at lunch.

  "No!" he said, obviously aghast at the situation.

  "Oh yeah," I replied, shaking my head. "Do you believe he's tapping that again?"

  "Honey," he said, taking my hand into his consolingly. "Men can be real pigs at times. There's no doubt about it. I'm glad you're going out with the girls' tomorrow night."

  "I know you're right," I replied. "Right now I just need my girl buddies to help me with . . . whatever this is."

  "Hey, what am I?"

  "You're my brotha from anotha." I tossed him a huge smile and an even bigger wink.

  ~ Easton ~

  Today was royally fucked. There was no other way to describe it. I was starting to wonder why I simply didn't thoroughly clean house with all of my holdings and make it a 'male-only' corporation. Females and their constant struggles with hormonal imbalance, mood swings and overall bitchiness was tiring.

  I'd been hit with Darcy's hostility first thing this morning on an issue where she was clearly at fault. She was lucky we weren't in the bedroom. My palm had been twitching to find itself against the soft skin of her ass at full velocity in response to the haughty attitude she presented. I'd think long and hard about an appropriate disciplinary action for her behaviour and insubordination.

  Then the lunch with Lacee clearly wasn't what she'd expected. I knew immediately with the way she was dressed and made up she figured I was re-inviting her into my life and into my bed. Not even close. I'd decided to invite her to lunch in order to deliver the news of the disciplinary action I was imposing based on the information I received from Devon Roberts. I'd learned during my visit to Leeds that Lacee had assured Devon that she'd call in daily to Leeds while Devon was out. Lacee had promised her she would apprise me if there were issues in meeting deadlines or if anything was slipping. That hadn't happened. What's more, when one of the entry-level admins called Lacee to raise the red flag on the Turkish bid proposal not being finished, she'd deliberately kept it from me.

  Lacee hadn't taken it well when I gave her ten days off without pay and advised her that a letter of reprimand was going into her personnel file. She'd barely contained herself in the restaurant, grabbing her handbag and storming out, mumbling profanity the whole way.

  I took another sip of my bourbon and branch, relaxing against the sofa in my hotel room trying to chill out and gather my thoughts. It was damn difficult working around Darcy again and keeping my dick from rising to the occasion every time she sashayed in and out of my office. Fuck. I couldn't keep my eyes off of her when she was leaning over to open a file drawer. I'd purposely moved all of the expense files to the bottom drawer of the filing cabinet in my office for that very reason. I enjoyed the view while she was filing.

  Yeah - I know. I'm a pig but what's the harm in appreciating her fine ass as much as possible?

  She was so damn prickly with me in London, taking off like that when she knew damn well I needed to clue her in on what it takes to be a manager and eventually a leader. The first lesson she needed to learn was to take orders. I could tell she wasn't accustomed to that, but then again, her old man had given me fair warning. This morning she'd acted like she wanted me to fire her ass, almost daring me to do it. Fuck that! Darcy Nicole Sheridan's not going anywhere yet.

  My mobile rang and I saw it was Nelson Pratt.

  Bloody Christ! What now?

  "Nelson," I answered, "What can I do for you?"

  "Sorry to bother you after hours, Easton, but I'm not going to be in the office until after lunch tomorrow. I wanted to see if you were available in the afternoon to reschedule our meeting relative to the letter we're putting in Lacee's permanent file."

  Reschedule?

  "I'm sorry, Nelson, I'm at a loss. Did I miss an appointment?"

  "No worries," he was quick to answer, "We were supposed to meet today at 4:15. Your assistant said you'd forgotten about it and hadn't returned from . . . uh . . . a long lunch when I went down to your office."

  The little vixen! She'd said my schedule was clear for the day . . .

  "Sorry, Nelson. Apparently Darcy and I got our wires crossed. Yes, we can meet tomorrow. I gave Lacee the news she's getting a couple of weeks off at lunch today. I felt it best to deliver that in a public place, off site."

  "Very good point," he replied, "So then we'll finish the letter tomorrow afternoon?"

  "Certainly. Stop down anytime. I'm at your disposal."

  I smiled after we ended our call. Darcy was an addictive girl who was addicted to trouble, it seemed.

  I got up and refilled my glass, dropping a few more cubes of ice into it.

  Well, she'd definitely found some.

  I took pains with my work attire the following morning. It wasn't as easy as the magazines made it sound going from office attire to after-five attire without changing outfits. Since I was meeting Lindsey and Jill downtown, there was no time to leave work to run home and change
before six o'clock.

  I selected a form fitting red knit dress and accessorized it with a red and black print bolero jacket that would hide the fact the dress had spaghetti straps and a snug bust-line making it totally a cocktail dress without it. I pulled my hair up into a ponytail not wanting to fuck with it since I'd over-slept a bit this morning. I shoved a pair of fuck-me shoes into my over-sized shoulder bag and slipped on a pair of sensible pumps for the office. I made sure my make-up case was in my bag so I could at least freshen it up before leaving the office. It wouldn't do for Lindsey or Jill to think Darcy Sheridan was less than well-coifed these days.

  Eli had left for his morning ritual at Starbuck's. It was his damn fault that I'd over-slept! He'd invited Cain for a sleep-over and their fuckfest had kept me awake for hours! I'd grab some strong coffee at work. Maybe I was just grumpy because everyone I loved had someone and I had no one. Maybe it wasn't all that crazy to consider talking to Darin again. I mean was there really any harm in hearing what he had to say?

  Easton was already in his office when I arrived at work. I could hear him on a conference call with some of his GM's over in the U.K. I loved listening to the British banter usually, but this morning I was in major need of caffeine. I slipped down to the cafeteria to fill my mug and saw Eli talking to one of the transition team peeps. I smiled and shook my head as I filled my mug. Eli and his friggin' gossip.

  As I turned to walk back towards the hallway, I heard him call out.

  "Darce, hold up," he said, catching up to me looking all perky and well-rested.

  Pshhh - yeah, right!

  "I'm surprised you can move that quickly this morning, Eli," I said, taking a sip of my hot coffee.

  He blew me an air kiss. "Good morning to you my gorgeous, jealous friend." Glancing around him he quickly added, "But never mind that, I just heard a very juicy tidbit from Rochelle over on the transition team."

  "Do tell," I said, continuing down the hall.

  "Well. You know when you were pissing and whining last night while Cain and I were trying to watch The Real Housewives' of Wherever about Easton doing the nasty with Lacee on his lunch break?"

  He definitely had my attention now. I stopped dead in my tracks, coffee sloshing over the side of my mug.

  "Yes?"

  "Didn't happen," he replied, a smug look on his face.

  "Okaaaay, and you know this how?"

  "Well Rochelle's fucking Nelson Pratt, and --"

  "Ewww!" I interjected, not really loving the visual I was getting on that.

  "Shhh," he said, "Let me finish, please?"

  "Sorry, yeah that was just not a way to start a sentence." I closed my eyes wishing I could burn my corneas. "Continue."

  "Well apparently last night's pillow talk shed some light on the lunch date Lacee had with Easton. He took her to lunch so he could let her know she's being given two weeks off with no pay and having a formal letter of reprimand put in her permanent personnel file. She evidently fucked something up at the Leeds facility. Nelson was supposed to get with Easton yesterday to finalize the letter, but I guess Easton missed the meeting so they're wrapping it up today."

  …Shit.

  Eli noticed my expression and frowned. "I thought you'd think that was good news," he said not hiding his disappointment.

  "Oh sorry, Eli, yeah of course it's good news, I guess. No, wait a minute. Why the fuck should I care?"

  He rolled his eyes at me, shaking his head. "Which is it Darce? Good news? Or you don't give a shit?"

  "I don't know. I'm not sure anymore. We'll talk later," I said, turning off to the hallway that led to the executive offices."

  "Have a nice day," he called out after me, still sounding all chipper for someone that hadn't gotten much sleep but for the right reasons.

  Bitch!

  Once I was settled at my desk and signed onto my computer I saw I had an email from Easton. It was short and didn't sound very sweet.

  'Would you kindly step into my office Ms. Sheridan'

  Thaaaat's not good.

  I downed the rest of my coffee as liquid courage and grabbed my notebook and pen, heading into his office. He didn't bother to look away from his laptop but he knew I was there.

  "Take a seat, Darcy," he said, "I just need to finish this last sentence."

  I sat down, crossing my legs and waited. Several moments later he stopped pecking on his laptop and turned his attention to me. His gray eyes flickered over me as if he was seeing me again for the first time. He folded his hands on his desk in front of him and looked me in the eye. I couldn't read his mood.

  "When I called in yesterday, I was given the information by you that my schedule was clear all afternoon. As it turns out, it wasn't. I missed a meeting with Nelson Pratt at 4:15. He called me last evening to re-schedule."

  The butterflies were back, doing nervous somersaults in my stomach.

  "Oh, really?" I asked, feigning self-disappointment with a sprinkle of surprise."You know, I bet I had the wrong day pulled up on your calendar." I looked down at the floor, trying to appear repentant for making a mistake. "I'm so sorry, Easton."

  He quirked an eyebrow at me trying to decide whether he believed me or not and remained silent as I squirmed in my seat.

  He's giving me the rope to hang myself. Bastard!

  The silence and his perusal of me lingered until I couldn't stand it another second.

  I broke. "Okay! So I told you that your afternoon was clear yesterday when you called. I told Nelson you'd forgotten, I admit it. Happy? You can stop giving me the hairy eyeball now."

  "Why would you do that?" he asked, studying me carefully.

  I paused for a couple of moments not because I didn't know the answer, but because I didn't want him to know.

  "It's complicated," I replied, those words evidently becoming my own personal mantra these days. "I'd prefer if we could simply drop the subject. I apologize. I was wrong and it was extremely immature of me."

  "I still want to know why."

  If I was a woman of prayer - this is totally where I'd do it.

  "Okay, fine. I thought Nelson was meeting with you to discuss what type of disciplinary action you intended to take against . . . me."

  "And," he said, waiting for me to continue, his eyes boring into me. "There has to be more to it."

  I breathed a heavy sigh. "And because I thought you and Lacee were having a nooner."

  "A what?"

  "Hooking up during your lunch hour," I snapped.

  I saw a flicker of amusement in his eyes, as he stood up, placing his knuckles on the desk and leaning forward so that he was gazing down at me beneath those thick, sooty lashes.

  "And would that bother you?"

  I narrowed my eyes at him. "Truthfully? Yes, it bothered me yesterday. It doesn't today."

  He cocked his eyebrow, which apparently was becoming his own personal non-verbal slogan with me. "I see," he replied, "So, you've had time to come to terms with the fact you've no claim on me, and I'm perfectly free to hook-up with whomever I choose? Glad to see we're on the same page, love."

  "Well . . . ," I stammered, "that's not exactly the case, but you know, whatever gets you through the night, Easton. I mean, we're both free to hook-up with whomever we wish, that's always been the rule. It's just that you and I - well, we won't be hooking up anymore." I saw him freeze momentarily. He was usually so good at hiding emotions, but this had clearly caught him off-guard.

  "I'm not certain that's your decision to make," he replied casually.

  Fuck me! He DID not just say that?

  I stood up now, and placed my knuckles on his desk, leaning forward in a show of defiance, giving him a glare that I'd mastered in third grade.

  "It most certainly is my decision to make and I've made it, Mr. Matthews," I spat. "Unless you plan on forcing yourself on me. Cuff anyone to a bed lately?"

  She shoots and …….. Score!

  He gazed down at me with shuttered eyes, making a show of studyin
g his hands and using his fingers to rub his palm. "Trust me, love, you take to my cock like a fish takes to water. If ever I force myself on you, it'll be because you begged me for it that way."

  I felt my cheeks flush with color at the confidence with which he made the statement.

  "Are we through here?" I asked.

  "For now," he replied, not taking his eyes off of mine.

  I made a hasty retreat back to my office, slamming his door behind me. I didn't want to see him, hear him, or smell his masculine scent at the moment. His fucking audacity was boundless. All of a sudden, Darin Murphy was looking better and better.

  I got through my morning routine without having to lay eyes on Easton again. His office had a door that led into mine and another one that led to the main hallway so thankfully he was using that one and staying out of my way.

  Right before lunch my phone rang. It was Betty at reception telling me I had a delivery in the lobby.

  "What is it?" I asked, puzzled.

  "Come and see for yourself," she said mischievously.

  When I got to the reception lobby, Betty nodded to the table behind her desk. There was a gorgeous bouquet of two dozen red roses in a beautiful crystal vase sitting there.

  "For me?" I felt my eyes widen to the size of planets. Easton wouldn't be raising the white flag this soon, surely?

  "Umm hmm," she said, her eyes twinkling. "Looks like someone's captured a heart," she teased.

  I blushed, lifting the heavy vase of roses and headed back to my office. I placed the vase on the credenza behind my desk, taking the small envelope from the placard anxious to see what it said. I pulled the card out to read and as I did, my heart thudded; my butterflies crashed and burned:

  Darcy,

  Unbreak my heart, baby. I love and miss you so much. Please forgive me.

  Darin

  I tucked the card underneath the vase, and was rearranging some of the baby's breath when I heard a loud whistle from behind me. I whirled around, knowing it was Eli by the whistle.

  "Awww, you remembered to call him 'Sir', didn't you?" he teased.