by Lucy Monroe
She usually liked working out by herself, but this morning it had been unsatisfying. Afterward, she’d taken a swim and then returned to her apartment to shower and dress.
As the warm water cascaded over her naked body, memories of her shower with Beau made her regret leaving his place the night before. A silent breakfast of high-fiber cereal and fruit juice while she checked her e-mail left her feeling lonelier than she had since adjusting in a practical way to the loss of her husband.
She would always miss Kyle—she accepted that—but she didn’t have to ache for him. And she hadn’t. Not for a couple of years. Not with the painful inner stinging she’d known right after his death.
She didn’t feel that stinging now, but something didn’t feel right. The apartment felt antiseptic in its cleanliness, sterile in its sameness to every other corporate apartment in the building and empty.
Really, really empty.
It hadn’t felt empty before she’d let Beau spend the night and woke up to a pretty pleasant morning after. She enjoyed his company. Too much if she was going to start pining for the man after a single sleepover.
It was a good thing she’d come back here last night. It really was. How much worse would these feelings of withdrawal be when she finished her investigation and it was time to leave if she made it a habit of staying with him or vice versa?
She didn’t want to get back to D.C. and have this same sense of aloneness in her home. She’d had all she could take of that sensation after Kyle’s death.
Beau hummed along with his MP3 player as he checked over the results on the latest fix they’d tried for the problem with the antigravity project. The results weren’t promising, but he wasn’t discouraged. They were further along on the project than anyone else in the country, or out of it.
Eventually, they would find the solution for the excess discharge. It was just a matter of time and effort. Not giving up.
Beau’s innate stubbornness served him well in his job as a research scientist. It didn’t do too badly for him in his interpersonal relationships either. Making love with Elle the evening before had been incredible.
He wondered if she’d be up for a nooner. He’d never had one. Not even when he’d been dating a fellow scientist here at ETRD. But, man, Elle put his libido in overdrive. He hadn’t been this perpetually horny since first discovering what it felt like to shoot jism with an orgasm.
The woman was just too damn sexy.
Speaking of sexy, here she came. Walking with Dr. Archer Sandstone. Talk about the perfect way to ruin a nice view, not to mention Beau’s mood. What was up with the two of them being together?
Beau couldn’t hear what they were saying because of the music playing through his earbuds, but he could see by the set of Elle’s shoulders and the snarky expression on Archer’s face that it wasn’t a pleasant conversation.
The other project manager wore his thinning brown hair long, and he dressed like a flower child from the sixties. Never mind the fact that he’d been a baby at the end of that decade, not a teen influenced by the upheaval of the world around him. The small silver peace sign hanging from the leather cord around his neck couldn’t have been less fitting. A more uptight man would be hard to find. Besides which, Archer spent most of his working hours stirring up discord.
No doubt that was exactly what the weasel was trying to do now with Elle.
With grim acceptance that he wasn’t going to be able to avoid talking to the other man, Beau turned off his music. He tugged the buds from his ears and tucked them in the pocket of his lab coat. “Morning,” he said as the two approached.
Elle gave him a stiff smile and he wanted to know if that was because she was trying to back off again or the result of her less than charming company.
Archer just sneered. “Well, if it isn’t the resident whiz kid. How did the tests go on the electrostatic discharge stabilizer?”
“It’s not the fix we’re looking for, but we’ll find one.”
Archer’s expression said he doubted it.
“Was there something you needed?” Beau asked.
“I wanted to know if Frank had mentioned anything I need to know about in your morning meeting.”
Well, hell…here they went again.
Frank and Beau started each day with a quick planning session, but this was the first time in a couple of months that Archer had come by to ask what had been said. He used to make a pest of himself about it until Beau had told him flat out that if Frank had something to tell him, he’d do it. And if Beau did, he’d find him, but to stop coming by his lab wasting time asking about it every morning.
Archer had been livid and complained to Frank, who, in one of his brutally honest moments, had informed the PM that while Beau was Frank’s second in command, Archer was not Beau’s. If Archer wanted to have a daily morning meeting, he should do it with his own team and stop taking up Beau’s time.
Archer had called in sick that afternoon, but when he came back to work the next day, he’d seemed resigned to the status quo.
Beau wasn’t going to get into a big to-do over it this morning, so he simply said, “No.”
Archer’s eyes narrowed and his mouth pursed like he’d been sucking really sour lemons. “Naturally. I should have known.”
“Then why come by and ask?”
“I wanted to check on the results of the test too.”
“Are you always so curious about other teams’ projects, Dr. Sandstone?” Elle asked, her tone neutral.
“I’m usually too busy, but none of us can afford to ignore Beau’s projects. He’s Frank’s Golden Boy, or didn’t you know?”
“I’m aware he’s Frank’s second in command, yes. However, I was led to believe that each project manager was responsible for his own team’s projects, not anyone else’s.”
Beau gave his fellow scientist an exasperated frown. “Archer isn’t responsible for the antigravity experiment.”
“I should have been. If I were, it would be further along.”
“Are you more qualified than Dr. Ruston for a project of this type?” Elle asked, sounding just this side of sycophantic.
Archer visibly preened. “Well, he has a PhD in quantum physics and mine is in chemistry, but I’m the older scientist. I have more experience. Anyone can tell you that counts for a lot in the world outside academia.”
“You’re older than me by eight years, Archer, but you’ve only had your PhD two years longer, and you didn’t start working at ETRD until a couple of years ago, whereas I’ve been here since interning during my doctoral program.” It was an old argument, and even as he made it, Beau was frustrated with himself for letting Archer pull him to his ongoing contentiousness.
“Be that as it may, the project should have been mine.” With that, Archer stormed from the lab.
Chapter 16
“Asshole,” Beau muttered. Then he frowned at Elle. “What was that sycophantic BS about?”
“Just doing my job.”
“Your job is to wind up the current drama monger?”
“If that’s what it takes to get him to reveal his inner thoughts and motivations.”
“Because he’s a suspect?”
“Yes.”
“So, I guess I should be glad you don’t count me as one.”
She grinned, eyes shining silver with mischief. “I already know what motivates you and it isn’t petty office politics. It’s a lot sweatier.”
Oh, thank you, ma’am. She was not going to try backing away again today. “You ever had a nooner, sugar?”
Her laugh sent heat straight to his groin. “Yes, are you offering one?”
“Yep, I sure am.” He stepped closer to her, invading her personal space and inhaling her scent. “I, myself, have never had the pleasure. Wanted to try something new.”
She laid her hand against his chest, rubbed just slightly with her thumb. “Is that your excuse for middle-of-the-day sex?”
“Does it sound convincing?”
&n
bsp; She gave him a sloe-eyed look that curled his toes. “Very.”
“Good. Do we have to wait until noon, though?”
“Yes!” She shook her head, laughing. And wasn’t that sound sweet. “You are such a horn dog.”
“You think?”
“Yep,” she imitated his drawl. “I so do.”
“I don’t think about sex all the time.”
“Right.”
“I don’t.”
“Prove it.”
“So, what were you and Archer talking about when you came in? Neither of you looked happy.” There, definitely a topic designed to keep his unruly sexual thoughts under control.
She frowned and stepped back as if mention of the other man was enough to cool her ardor too. “He doesn’t think ETRD needs a security upgrade. That man likes to complain, and he managed to lodge about a dozen complaints with me just between his office door and here.”
Beau rolled his eyes. “Sounds like Archer.”
“He asked a lot of questions about what I was doing specifically to check current security levels and beef them up.”
“And you didn’t tell him a thing, which is why he looked so sour.”
“Right. I don’t think anyone besides you and Frank needs to know every aspect of security here. Especially regarding the new measures.”
Beau wasn’t sure he agreed. “We can’t keep our employees in the dark about things that concern them, not even Archer.”
“Don’t worry, they’ll be apprised of all security measures that affect them directly. But some measures won’t affect them directly—unless they breach security with unethical or criminal behavior.”
Interesting. “Give me an example of something you don’t think they need to know.”
She did a quick check around the lab, confirming other members of his team were far enough away not to overhear. She hadn’t done so when they’d been talking about their nooner and he counted that as progress.
“I intend to fit all computers with new firewalls. Everyone will know about them, but what they won’t be told—though they could certainly speculate to be the case—is that if an attempt is made to enter a computer’s database through a backdoor method, that will trigger an alarm. The hacker will be back-traced.”
“You mean if Archer tries to hack into my system, he’ll be caught.”
“Exactly.”
“I thought we already had something like that.”
“Nope.”
“Oh.”
“Another example is that the facility will be swept randomly for listening and other spycentric devices.”
“If we’d been doing that, we would have found the bug in Frank’s office sooner.”
“Exactly.”
“It’s pretty pathetic that we need to keep such a close eye on the people who work for a company dedicated to the betterment of the human condition.”
Elle just shrugged. “Archer Sandstone works here.”
“Yes, he does.” Beau sighed.
She squeezed his arm. “Don’t let it depress you. A few bad apples might require security measures that wouldn’t otherwise be necessary, but they don’t really have the power to spoil the whole barrel. Not when it comes to people.”
“That sounds like something my granny would have said.”
“From what you’ve told me, it sounds like she was a wise woman.”
“She was. I’ve never been real sure how my daddy turned out the way he did, having her for a mom. They were so different.”
This time Elle stepped into his personal space, meeting his gaze with a direct look. “When was the last time you talked to your parents?”
“When my sister went into the Peace Corps.”
“Have they tried calling since then?”
“Once. They left a message. I ignored it.”
“Still angry?”
“Yeah.”
“You’ve never tried calling them since?”
“No.” He’d thought about it, but being disowned by his parents once in his lifetime had been enough. He wasn’t giving them another chance to reject him.
“What about your sister?”
“We talk whenever we can, e-mail a few times a week and send each other care packages.”
“What does she say about your parents?”
“We agreed not to talk about them after they initially disowned me.”
“Do you think maybe they’ve changed their tune since losing you?”
“They didn’t lose me; they threw me away.”
Elle nodded, but she said, “It’s possible they regret that.”
“Maybe.”
“You might consider talking to your sister about it.”
What was going on here? “You want me reunited with my parents?”
“It couldn’t hurt.”
“Why?”
“Because everyone needs family in his or her life.”
“Frank and his wife are my family.”
“So? There’s enough of you to extend to your parents too.”
Beau looked away from her but was drawn back to that staid rainwater gaze. “Why does it matter to you, Elle?”
“I like you, Beau. No matter how you deny it to yourself, you’re hurting from the estrangement with your parents. Maybe that can’t be fixed, but then again, maybe it can. If it can, I think it should be. What’s the use making the world a better place if we don’t share it with people we love?”
“A lesson you learned coming back to California?”
“Yes.”
Chantal grinned as Mat growled at the techie. Some things didn’t change. But when the other man gave her a pleading look, she had to admit that that at least was different. Either her intervention on Friday was showing its effects, or the fact that in the two hours they had been at work, Mat hadn’t let her out of his sight was.
Lucky for the technician, Chantal’s cell phone rang just then. Mat was at her side before the second ring sounded. She checked the ID and the breath froze in her chest. It said blocked call, just like all the other times she’d been contacted by the man demanding she procure the antigravity project’s plans.
She pressed the call button. “Hello?”
“Ms. Renaud.” She knew that voice. It was unmistakable, the subtle South African accent apparent in even that short greeting.
With one look at her no doubt stricken face, Mat had his own cell phone out and was dialing. The techie took the chance to escape Mat’s wrath, disappearing from the lab with speed.
“Why are you calling me at work?” she asked, not having to fake the nervousness in her tone. “Don’t you know how dangerous that is for me?”
Elle had told her to play scared and to keep the guy on the phone as long as possible. Well, frightened was easy—she was. The other, she could only hope she could do.
“It is a little reminder what you have to lose if you do not cooperate with us. You do enjoy your job at Environmental Technology Research and Design, don’t you? You are pleased with your life?”
His emphasis on the word life sent chills skittering down her spine. “What do you want from me?”
“You know the answer to that. We want the plans for the antigravity plane. Give them to us, and you will never hear from us again.”
Like she would believe him. If she had allowed her fear to get the better of her and had gone along, she was sure they would have no compunction about using her actions as leverage for getting her to get other delicate information for them in the future. Sheesh, did people really fall for that line?
“You’ve gone silent, Ms. Renaud. Is this a bad time?”
“No. There was someone in the lab with me, but they’ve left,” she lied. Sort of. The tech had left, but Mat was still there.
He laid his big hand in the center of her back, confirming that she was not alone and giving her courage.
“Good,” the man said.
“I told you before, I don’t work on that project.” Elle had told her not to g
ive in too easily or her cooperation might be considered suspect.
“That’s not what Eddie Danza said.”
“You know where Eddie is?” she asked. “You’ve been talking to him?”
“Don’t concern yourself with your previous lover. I’m sure you miss him, but you’ll be missing a lot more if you don’t have the plans for us by this Friday.”
“Who is ‘us’?” She’d asked every phone call. “Who are you?”
“Does that really matter? You need only know that we are willing to do whatever it takes to achieve our objective.”
“But—”
“Do you understand, Ms. Renaud? We will do anything.”
“I understand.”
“So…”
Elle came into the lab, moving quickly and silently.
“Despite what Eddie told you, I’m not an official team member on the project.”
“But you can get access to the plane’s plans.”
Elle stopped right beside Chantal, indicating she should tilt her phone so that Elle could hear as well.
“It’s not a plane.”
“So, you have seen it.” Eagerness had crept into the man’s voice.
“Yes.”
“And you can get the plans.”
“I don’t know.”
“I suggest you figure it out, Ms. Renaud. You have until Friday.”
“That’s only a few days. What if I can’t get access by then?”
“You’re an intelligent woman. I’m sure you can be equally resourceful given the proper motivation.”
“You mean your threats.”
“Crudely put, but yes.”
“If I don’t help you, you’re threatening to destroy my reputation with lies, but what difference will that make if I get caught trying to steal technology secrets from my company?”
“I suggest you don’t get caught.”
“What if I can get the plans? How am I supposed to let you know I have them, much less get them to you?”