Caroline pinched the bridge of her nose. Josh was more of a hero than a villain in this little soap opera of her past. She knew it was the truth. Their dad certainly wasn’t emotionally available, especially after his other-than-honorable discharge after Mom’s death. It had been her and Connor—right up until dad shipped her off to boarding school…and left Connor with nobody. No wonder he and Josh had been close. And Dad had ruined that, too.
She gazed intently at her brother. “Dad forced you to stay in school, didn’t he?”
Connor frowned. “Did you ever tell him no?”
She shook her head. “I don’t think anyone could.”
“It wasn’t that he forced me so much as his expectations.”
Caroline nodded as she walked into her living room, Connor following on her heels. She knew the power Colonel Parker’s expectations could exert, especially since she felt like she’d failed so many times to meet them.
Her anger with Connor began to subside. There wasn’t any point to it. The past wasn’t going to be remedied by being annoyed with her brother, and it certainly wasn’t going to do much to salvage her future, or solve her current identity crisis when it came to Josh and the role she should be playing in his life.
“So now what?” she said as she plopped down onto her couch. The overstuffed tan micro-suede cushions almost hugged her. It was far more cushy and comfortable than the worn-out one in Josh’s basement lair. But she was still very uncomfortable. She crossed her legs, her foot bouncing.
“That depends on you,” Connor said, his tone matter-of-fact as he sat down in the love seat next to the couch. He took up more than half of it. Caroline realized he’d changed so much from when this had all happened in high school. He wasn’t that geeky little fourteen-year-old boy anymore—neither was Josh. He’d filled out, grown up, and now, tragically, he was more of a man in her eyes than her own father.
Caroline twisted her hair up at her nape. “Half the reason I took this job was to get back at Josh, let him fail publicly. I can’t do that to him now that I know the truth.”
“You were serious about that whole revenge thing?” His reproving look, so much like their father’s, made her heart clutch. “Even if he’d been involved, which he wasn’t, you’d take it out on the man all these years later just for spite?”
“No. It’s worse than that.”
“How much worse?”
Caroline let it all out. She even went to her desk and pulled out the printed instructions from Mr. X. “Who would want to frame you for murder, Con? Who would hate you that much they’d willingly destroy you and Josh in one sweep?”
Connor frowned, his face turning hard and pensive.
“Not Josh Martin,” he pointed out grimly.
“I thought he ruined my life. Maybe in his rise to the top he ruined other lives and made an enemy that was mutual to both of you.”
Connor shook his head. “The only connection there could be is via the government if he’s got any pending contracts or proposed projects. Otherwise, we haven’t even been in the same fields for years.”
“Let’s be logical. If Mr. X wants Aeon’s plans, then it would have to be someone who knows what Aeon’s about. Right?”
Connor shrugged. “Or a competitor who has no clue, they just want to undermine Josh.”
“Then why threaten you?”
“Someone’s done their research. They know you’re not only Josh’s weak link, you’re also connected to me and that makes me your weakest link. I just happened to be a good tool to motivate you to do their dirty work.”
“Then how did they know you worked in the government?”
“Good question. How many people do you think Josh has talked to about Aeon?”
“I know he’s targeting Senator Wymer.”
Connor frowned again. “Then he’s likely approached other senators and representatives on the committees connected to funding civil space exploration. That leaves you with a pretty big group.”
Just from Mr. X’s voice and attitude alone, Caroline had pegged Mr. X as older than her. What if there was a competitor to Josh who was the son or brother of one of those congressmen?
“And as far as Josh ruining your life or mine, he didn’t. You had a fantastic opportunity to see the world, and came back with your shit together and an excellent education. Not what or how you wanted it, maybe, but it wasn’t like Dad sent you to the Steppes of Russia!”
“Close enough. I was miserable!” The more she tried to convince him of her unhappiness, and how much she’d felt betrayed, the less reasonable she sounded. She wasn’t sixteen anymore, but her viewpoint was of that same mutinous teenager even now, years later. The realization made her cheeks hot.
Connor reached over and pulled a wad of tissues out of the box on the end table. “I did something shitty for all the right reasons.” He handed her the tissues. “But it’s idiotic to keep harboring resentment all these years later, don’t you think?”
Caroline scrubbed her cheeks. “Of course, since you put it in such a mature, brotherly way.
“There’s just one problem…”
Connor’s eyes narrowed, questioning her.
“I think I might really like him.” She bit her lip. “He’s sweet, Con. He’s smart. He’s funny. And for all his quirks, Josh Martin is one of the nicest guys I’ve ever met. And before you say it, it has nothing to do with his money,” she said. “I’m really attracted to him.” She heard the sound of awe in her own voice and was taken aback by it. “But that’s just silly. I can’t be attracted to him.”
“Why not?”
Caroline threw her hands up in the air, stood, and began pacing the small space between the coffee table and the couch. “Because he’s a client! I can’t date a client. Do you know what damage that could do to my reputation? Not to mention it could totally tank his plans to attract the attention of Aubrey Wymer. Besides, I’m the one who made him this way. Maybe I’m just attracted to the image I’ve created. Maybe I’m not really attracted to him at all.” Now she knew she was babbling out of control.
“And what if you are?”
“Dammit, can you stop playing the devil’s advocate for one stinking second so I can think straight?”
She glared at him and he gave her a supremely satisfied smirk only a little brother who’s bested you could manage. “Maybe you are thinking straight, you just don’t like the direction your thoughts are taking you.”
Caroline groaned and flopped back down on the couch. Bracing her elbows on her knees, she propped her head in her hands. “And now we’re back to what am I supposed to do.” Her voice was muffled.
Connor leaned forward. “Maybe you do your job and just wait and see where the rest of this goes. Perhaps Josh is really interested in Aubrey.”
She looked up at him. “He’s not.”
“Then perhaps Josh is biding his time waiting for you to come around.”
“That doesn’t help in the slightest with this whole Mr. X thing. What do I do about that? Grab the plans and hand them over and hope Josh can get them back and won’t hate me?”
“Or maybe go to Josh directly and tell him about the threat. He might have a better idea who it is and be better equipped to deal with it.”
“And what if he isn’t? Where would that put you?”
Connor shrugged. “I’ll watch my step and make sure I always have an alibi until this blows over.”
“And if I tell Josh, don’t you think he’ll be furious?”
“Maybe. Maybe not. There’s only one way to find out and that’s to tell him.”
Caroline sighed. “You know you’re no help whatsoever.”
He grinned. “Yeah, but you love me anyway.”
She half smiled at him and rolled her eyes. “You’re lucky I do.”
“You want me to talk to him?”
A sluice of cold fear shot down her spine, snapping her upright. “Oh, God, no! Don’t. Not on my behalf, anyway. He’d think I was an even bigger moron t
han when I was crying on his shirt.”
Connor lifted a brow. “When were you crying on his shirt?”
Caroline waved away his question. “It doesn’t matter. If you want to rekindle the friendship with him, go ahead. But please, I’m begging you…” She put her hands together like a prayer. “Don’t talk to him because of me. I’m insecure enough as it is at the moment and I don’t need you, or anyone else, going to my client on my behalf because I may or may not have a crush on him and could potentially cost him the biggest investment he’s ever made.”
“You know this is ironic.”
Caroline let her hands drop in her lap and glared at him.
“Just a few years ago I was listening to him go through this same kind of dog-chasing-its-tail logic about how to get you to notice him.”
Oh, she’d noticed him all right. And how strong his arms and solid his chest had been when she’d been crying her eyes out, and how her body responded when he kissed her. “That’s not funny, Con.”
Connor laughed. “I didn’t mean it to be. But you’re only just figuring out you might like the guy, while he’s liked you since forever.”
“If he still does after I tell him about Mr. X.”
“Yeah.”
“And that’s a big freakin’ if to take a chance on.”
Up until now Caroline could never say she truly detested her job. But setting up Josh with Aubrey Wymer was killing her. Sure it was her job, but now that she realized she might actually like him, it seemed cruel and unusual punishment to set him up with someone who might not even give him the time of day and worse still to think the girl might fall for him and they might actually end up together. As she waited on the other side of his desk at Softech for him to finish up a business call, she began to wonder if perhaps he felt the same way.
“Sorry that took so long. Now I can give all my attention to you.” His smile started up that fizzy sensation in her limbs and a little swoop in her stomach. Suddenly the guilt of what she’d planned to do to him over Mr. X and the plans for Aeon turned the swoop into a churn of discomfort.
She shifted in her chair. “Well, before the benefit gala, we need to arrange a casual meeting between you and Aubrey to break the ice.”
“How casual?”
“Just running into her at a party, happening to get coffee at the same place.”
Josh swiveled his desk chair, putting his feet up on his desk. She was pleased to note he was wearing the handmade loafers she’d suggested rather than his Converse. “She lives in L.A. and I live in Seattle. How do you think she’d believe it feasible that I’d just randomly run into her?”
“That’s why I suggested the party. Carvales thought it would be a good chance for you to meet and mingle with some of the prime people you’d like to get to invest in Aeon.”
“He’s got a point.”
“He always does.”
“You’re really integrating into the team here. I like that.”
“I try my best to be an asset.”
“You’re more than that, and you know it.” The sexy edge to his voice and the intensity in his blue eyes caused her body temperature to bump up several degrees.
Her breath caught and Caroline inhaled deeply to get rid of the pressure in her chest. “I don’t know if I can keep doing this.”
“Doing what? We’re just talking.” The words were prosaic. The intent behind them was anything but.
“You can’t be pursuing someone else if you’re serious about pulling in Aubrey’s interest.”
“Maybe I’ve found something that interests me more.”
“Okay, let me rephrase that. You can’t be pursing me if you’re serious about pulling in Aubrey’s interest.”
His dark brows drew together and the blue in his eyes darkened from cornflower blue to something closer to sapphire. “I thought we were making progress.”
“We are. I mean, we’re making progress in a getting-you-to-your-goal kind of way rather than progress in an us-ever-becoming-an-item kind of way.”
His faced smoothed out. “So you’ve at least thought of us as an item.”
Caroline popped up out of her chair and began to pace in front of his desk. “Just hear me out. I know you like me. I happen to like you. But we are partners in this venture of the moment, this goal of getting you Aubrey, and Aeon, and of launching your legacy. We’re more like Luke and Princess Leia here, okay? We’re on the same side, and while you think you may be interested in me, you don’t know everything about me you think you do. And for that matter, we’re a good team, but maybe we aren’t meant to be together, romantically speaking.”
“Are you telling me you’ve got a Han Solo hidden somewhere waiting for you?”
She stopped mid-step and glanced at him. “What?”
“A boyfriend. Do. You. Have. A. Boyfriend?”
Caroline bit her lip, tempted to say yes. A yes would keep them at arm’s length, something she needed right now, but she couldn’t stand to lie to him any more. “No.”
“Then what’s the problem?”
She splayed her hands out on his desk. “Where do I begin?” The temptation to tell him about her issues with Mr. X was nearly unbearable, but she couldn’t bring herself to blurt it out. “The problem is, I’m working my ass off to set you up with Aubrey Wymer because you told me that’s what you needed to pull off this launch of Aeon and get you on People magazine’s list of sexiest men. If you’re going to sabotage yourself, and me, by trying to pull me into your bed, then I’m out. I’m not going to see you tank this entire project because of your libido.”
She watched his gaze dart for an instant down to her chest and realized she was giving him an unintended view of her cleavage. She snapped her fingers in his face as she stood up straight. “Up here, Josh!”
His intense blue gaze snapped up to meet hers, a slow, sexy smile crossing his mouth. “So you want me to keep my eyes, and hands, off you. Is that it?”
She crossed her arms over her breasts to hide the rigid peaks of her nipples. “I want to be able to do my job. You told me getting you noticed by People magazine was part of it. If I’m going to do that, you’re going to have to be seen in the Hollywood set. Aubrey on your arm can get you there. Me on your arm won’t even get you a footnote in the Seattle Times.”
“Fine. I’ll stop flirting with you on one condition: have dinner with me. Just the two of us. No crowds. No work on my image. Just us. And for one evening be yourself, instead of what you think people expect you to be.”
“And then you’ll leave me to my work.”
“Yes.”
“Fine, but I have a counteroffer. I will have dinner with you, but first you have to meet Aubrey in person at the party Carvales has arranged for you to attend in Los Angeles.”
His smile was smug. “Agreed.”
Chapter Eleven
Caroline wove through the crowd at the A-list party in the Hollywood Hills. Carvales was somewhere in the mass of people, as was Josh. The room echoed with the buzz of conversation and laughter, punctuated with the clink of glasses and silverware against plates, and the low thump of music. She ignored the savory scents of roasted chicken, grilled steak, and lobster, and passed the tables laden with trays of cheeses, fresh fruit, and hors d’oeuvres. Her stomach growled and she pressed a hand to it. She grabbed a small plate and promised herself she’d cruise the sumptuous buffet later. Right now she needed to locate Aubrey Wymer.
She’d seen pictures of the senator’s daughter at social events, but never met her in person. Caroline made a slow circuit through the crowded house, then headed for the patio. She stepped through the massive wall-to-wall sliding glass doors out onto a flagstone patio. Strings of colored lights made the outdoor setting romantic and festive.
Tiki torches threw flickering light on the tan concrete and the giant kidney-shaped pool shimmering aqua in the dark night. The California coastal breeze carrying the scent of coconut lotion, surf, and sand caressed her skin and rustled the
fronds of the palm trees. Down in the valley the lights of the city glittered with promise. Across the patio, on the far side of the up-lit pool, she spied the senator’s daughter. A sheet of pale blond hair shifted over her deeply tanned, bare shoulders. Her tight dress was a brilliant aqua blue that accentuated her tan and matched mile-high strappy shoes. All in all she looked like a Malibu Barbie doll. So, this was the woman Josh was trying to impress? Caroline eased close enough to eavesdrop on her conversation.
“Is it just precious? Look at that face.” Aubrey Wymer was flipping through pictures on her phone, and from a brief strategic glance Caroline saw it was her little Pomeranian.
“She’s adorable,” Caroline said.
“I know. Aren’t dogs the best?”
Caroline nodded, giving Aubrey a wide smile and offering a hand to shake. “Hi, I’m Caroline Parker. You’re Aubrey Wymer, right?”
“Yeah.” Aubrey shook her hand.
“Then that must be Coco.”
She frowned, looking a little confused. “Have we met before?”
“Not formally, but I feel like I know you. All that work you do for Homes for Heroes and your guest appearance on Supernatural and all.”
Aubrey smiled at the compliment. “I couldn’t bring Coco tonight. Too much human food around. Gives her horrible gas,” she said, her face turning completely serious as if her dog’s gastrointestinal distress were incredibly important.
“So…do you have any new roles you’re trying out for?”
Aubrey brightened, turning more animated, if that were even possible, and spent fifteen minutes discussing callbacks she’d received. The rest of Aubrey’s conversation was just as vacuous, leaving Caroline to wonder what the hell Josh would find to interest him in her beyond familial connections. She certainly didn’t have the intellect to keep up with him in any capacity in a chat over dinner, let alone as his long-term girlfriend. But that was not her concern. Not now.
“Hey, I’ve got someone I think you’d really like to meet. A friend of mine, Josh. Super nice guy. Really thinks your Homes for Heroes is a great cause. I know he’d love to talk to you more about supporting it. I’ll be right back.”
The Geek Billionaire Makeover Page 12