Kasey rubbed her temple, then crossed her arms over her chest as if for protection. “I still can’t believe Shirley’s dead. It’s still like a bad dream.”
“I’m sure,” Tanner responded with grim under-tones. “Promise you won’t let it get you down.”
“I can’t. I have Brock and this agency to think about. They both need me.”
“And so do I. Don’t forget that.”
Kasey didn’t dare look at him for fear of what she’d see in his eyes. Even so, she was aware of him with every nerve—his big powerful body, how sharp he looked in his sports coat and slacks, the fresh smell of his cologne, the leashed passion in his every move.
“How ’bout I take you to dinner?”
Kasey jerked her head up, then licked her lips. “Uh, no, thanks. I need to get home.”
He looked like he wanted to argue, but didn’t. “No problem. Maybe another time.”
“Maybe,” she said in a hesitant voice.
His eyes swept over her once again before he turned and headed to the door. “I’ll be in touch,” he tossed over his shoulder.
Sweat saturated her body and her breathing was labored.
Kasey felt her heartbeat with every bounce of her running shoes as they slammed against the rubber on the treadmill. Once she and Tanner had concluded their business, she’d been a ball of nerves and her head ached.
Consequently she’d come straight home, changed into her workout clothes and climbed on the machine. She had considered running outside, but the churning clouds had looked so dark and stormy she opted to remain inside.
This grueling exercise session was a good thing. Both her mind and body needed relief. And exercising hard was soul-cleansing.
Even so, Kasey hadn’t completely rid herself of the demons raging inside her, most of which centered around Tanner Hart. She wasn’t sorry she’d taken him on as a client. She had come to terms with that. But she was nervous from both a professional and emotional standpoint.
She dreaded working in such close quarters with him. But in order to do the job and please him, she had no choice. However, she mustn’t treat him any different than she had countless others in his stead.
Only Tanner was different. He wasn’t just any client, and she’d best remember that. She couldn’t ever let her guard down around him. Cool and clearheaded were the operative words.
He would be in constant contact. She knew he would want input on every project she worked on. Her discussion with him had proved that.
After he had left, Kasey had sagged against the desk exhausted, feeling as though she’d been caught in a whirlwind. She hadn’t remembered him being so full of energy, on such high alert. But then, she hadn’t known him all that well despite…
Kasey had tromped down on that thought and gathered her belongings. The office had lost its appeal for more reasons than one. Shirley’s absence was a dismal reminder of what had happened. And without Tanner, all the vitality seemed to have deserted the room. She no longer wanted to be there.
Without a backward glance, she had walked out and closed the door behind her.
Now, as she pulled her mind off Tanner and back on her love-hate affair with the treadmill, Kasey blinked against the sweat burning her eyes. Deciding she’d had enough, she steadily lowered the speed button and was soon walking at a slower, but still brisk pace. Sweat continued to cleanse her pores. She reached for the towel draped over the bar and mopped her face and neck.
After a hot bath Kasey lay on the chaise lounge in her bedroom, a cup of chocolate on the table beside her and a legal pad braced on her legs. She had every intention of toying with ideas for Tanner. Whatever she and the staff put together had to be their best efforts. Pleasing him on her best days would be difficult. But challenging. That was the fun part. And the scariest.
Kasey lowered her head and stared. Not only was the yellow page blank but so was her mind. Except for Tanner’s face. She blinked, but his image wouldn’t disappear nor would details of the fateful night that changed her life.
“You’re tipsy, aren’t you?”
She giggled and pulled his head down close to hers. “So are you.”
“Whoa,” he said with a chuckle against her lips, “not so tipsy that I don’t know what’s happening here. You’re about to get me in a heap of trouble with my friend and your fiancé.”
“It’s his own fault. He deserted me for an old baseball game.” She licked her lips and grinned. “And he’s the one who asked you to take me, even though I barely knew you.”
“Still—”
“You don’t find me attractive?” she asked in a petulant, but cajoling tone, running her finger back and forth across his lower lip.
He groaned, then trapped that finger and sucked on it.
“Kiss me,” she whispered, grinding her hips into his hardness.
His moist lips adhered to hers in a long, hot kiss.
“Do you know what you’re doing to me?” he gasped, pulling back and staring down at her.
“The same thing you’re doing to me, making me hot.”
Without taking his eyes off her, he yanked open her blouse and sucked on her nipples until they were wet and torrid.
“I want to touch you,” she whispered.
Without taking his glazed eyes off her, he unzipped his jeans, reached for her hand and placed it on him.
She gasped, then with wonderment began to caress the rock hard but soft skin.
“Sweet Kasey,” he rasped, jerking down her panties, then leading her to the nearest sofa in the deserted parlor where he spread her legs and entered her.
A moan from deep within her stopped him midway. He stared at her wild-eyed. “Shit, I can’t, not when you haven’t—”
“Please, don’t stop now,” she pleaded, lifting her hips.
“But I’ll hurt you.”
“It’ll hurt worse if you don’t.”
He buried himself in her…
Suddenly Kasey jerked herself upright, her body bathed in a cold sweat while a wave of despair washed through her. Nothing she could ever say or do would excuse her despicable behavior that night so long ago.
She would never forgive herself.
Having grown up in a strict, religious home where guilt was the weapon of choice, Kasey had had little freedom before going away to college. Once on her own, she’d been highly susceptible to the fun and parties of the campus fraternities and sororities.
At one of those functions, she’d met Mark Ellis and soon after they had fallen in love. Or so she’d thought. One evening he had reneged on taking her to a private party. Because she was so upset at not getting to attend, he’d asked a frat buddy to sub for him.
Nothing had prepared Kasey for the charismatic and charming Tanner Hart. The second they met, sexual tension had leaped between them. After hours of laughing, dancing and drinking, they hadn’t been able to keep their hands off each other and ended up making love.
Nine months later and much to her shame, Kasey had given birth to a healthy baby boy.
She had never told Tanner that she’d borne his son.
She had told Mark that she couldn’t see him anymore, that she was pregnant with another man’s child, a man who would remain nameless. Mark was devastated yet he had assured her that he could forgive her for betraying him, that he loved her and wanted to marry her. He’d gone on to promise her that no one would ever hear the truth from him and that he’d raise Brock as his own.
Kasey, determined not to further humiliate herself or her family, had settled into the role of student, wife and mother, giving up all her dreams of becoming a successful career woman.
Suddenly the phone rang, startling her back to the present. With an unsteady hand and pounding heart, Kasey lifted the receiver.
“Hi, Mom.”
“Hi, darling,” she whispered around the tears in her throat.
Eight
It had been several days since he’d seen Kasey and she had accepted his offer. Since t
hen, he’d been on a short campaign jaunt that had gone really well considering he’d been in enemy territory, so to speak.
Right now, he and Butler appeared to be running neck and neck according to the loosely taken polls. Jack and Irene, along with the rest of his backers, were jubilant.
“By the time November rolls around,” Irene had told him on the way home, “you’re going to kick his ass.”
He shot her a side glance before concentrating once again on the road. “Don’t get too cocky. We’re just getting started.”
“You had them eating out of your hands.”
“Butler’s good at that, too, remember.”
“He might have a pedigree, but that’s all he has. He’s just a big bag of hot, stale air.”
“I’m sure the same is being said about me.”
“Only you’ll do what you say you’re going to do. He won’t. His record proves that.” Irene paused, then changed the subject. “You should be excited by the way things are going.”
He was, but cautiously excited. He knew that Buck Butler intended to hold on to his senate seat no matter what the cost.
Though his passion for Texas and the possibility of serving its constituents burned as brightly in him as it did Butler, Tanner had every intention of sticking strictly to the issues. Slinging mud was distasteful to him. He had an idea that wouldn’t sit well with Jack or Irene, but he didn’t care. If he couldn’t win the election on the issues and his reputation as a solid, dependable businessman, then he just wouldn’t win.
So far, he hadn’t had to worry. Surprisingly Butler had also kept on the high road. Now that Tanner had caught him in the polls, Butler’s true personality would likely come out. Underneath that charming, good ole boy facade was a backstabbing bastard.
No one knew that better than Tanner. Years ago, before he’d made it big in his developing company, he’d had a business deal with Butler that had gone sour. Butler had left him holding the bag to the tune of a half million dollars. It had taken him years to pay that off.
Butler wouldn’t hesitate to hit below the belt again. He had plenty of ammo—Tanner’s past. Butler could have a field day with that if he were able to get Tanner’s juvenile records. They were supposed to be sealed, but nowadays, nothing was sacred.
Tanner wasn’t proud of his past, but it was obviously something he couldn’t change. He was stronger for it. He had learned that life was filled with hard knocks and that if you didn’t knock back, you were screwed.
He grew up as an only child without anything—love or amenities. His dad had been killed in Vietnam when Tanner was in elementary school. His mother, weak and whiny, had turned to the bottle for comfort, leaving him to fend for himself.
As a result, he’d been in and out of trouble with the law, often taken away from his mother and put in the foster care system. Then she’d shape up for a while and he’d be back with her. But her good behavior never lasted. She’d get back on the bottle, and he’d be whisked away again.
The year he’d graduated from high school, she died of liver failure. He’d been on his own, had to scrape for himself. Because he was intelligent and had done well academically, he’d received a partial scholarship to college where he had excelled. After graduating at the top of his class, he’d had the good fortune and sense to marry Norma. Under her influence, he’d fine-tuned some of his rough edges. But it had been his combination of book and street smarts that had gotten him where he was today.
Along with his drive, ambition, and love of competition, he had accomplished far more than he’d ever dreamed. And now, he was riding even higher, thriving on his newfound love—politics. If elected, he had a chance to make a real difference in people’s lives. That appealed to him.
Still, he wouldn’t sell his soul for a seat in the senate.
On the other hand, he would sell his soul for a chance to make amends to Kasey Ellis. Just thinking of her made his heart race. He had seen her twice now, and both times, he’d felt a jolt—a sock deep in the gut that was palatable.
It was just that she was so damn sexy and didn’t seem to know it. Her sassy smile, the subtle whisper of passion in the sway of her hips, the way her lipstick looked like she’d been thoroughly kissed, had awakened his carnal instincts.
His reaction was crazy and could go nowhere. However, he couldn’t control how he felt. What he could do was keep his feelings under wraps. No one, least of all Kasey, must ever know his true motivation, or she’d slam the door in his face quicker than he could take his next breath.
Contrary to what he’d told her, he had known her plight, known that she’d been in financial trouble since Mark’s death, that she was struggling to keep her son in school, and that she’d returned to Rushmore and gone to work for Shirley Parker.
His deep sense of guilt, shame and betrayal had been the driving force behind his underhandedness. He saw a chance to make up finally for some of the pain he’d brought her.
What he hadn’t known was that Kasey had witnessed Shirley’s death. On learning that, he’d been more determined than ever to help her. Miraculously, she had accepted his offer.
Now, maybe he could start the healing process within himself. Or maybe that wasn’t possible. Maybe he would never be able to atone for his sins that night years ago. When he thought about what happened, which was far too often, he got down on himself.
Only a lowlife would take a friend’s girl to a party then take her virginity.
Tanner let go of a harsh breath, then rubbed the back of his tense neck, feeling the muscles bunch under his hand. When he raised his head, Paul Darby, the right-hand man in his company, was standing in the doorway.
Paul was big and robust with a wide mouth and cauliflower ears that were more pronounced due to the horn-rimmed glasses that hooked over them. He might be homely, but when it came to overseeing the construction sites, he was a gem. Tanner didn’t know what he would do without him, especially now that he’d entered the political arena.
“If this is a bad time, I’ll come back.” Paul’s tone was hesitant.
Tanner motioned him into his office. “Actually, your timing’s perfect. My mind should’ve been on business and it wasn’t.”
Paul grinned. “Bet you were thinking about the campaign.”
Tanner offered no explanation. Instead, he said, “Something’s going on, or you wouldn’t be here.”
“Right, boss, and I sure hate to bother you with—”
Tanner waved his hand, cutting him off. “It’s your job to bother me when there’s so much at stake.”
The project that was underway was one of his biggest ever. Amidst fierce competition, Hart Development Corporation had landed its most lucrative and challenging job to date—building a high-rise office complex and parking garage on the west side of Rushmore.
Construction had started several months back, and for the most part, things had gone smoothly, which had been in his favor since his mind and loyalty were now divided. However, he’d been expecting a setback, knew it was inevitable.
“It’s the material,” Paul said. “Or the lack of it, rather.”
“Have you contacted the manufacturer?”
“Several times.”
“What’s the excuse?”
“Don’t really know.” Paul scratched his head. “Can’t get a straight answer.”
“Damn.”
“Like I said, I hated to have to bother you with this, but without material, we’re at a standstill, which is something I don’t have to tell you.”
“I’ll see what I can do. But our best bet is to locate another source.”
For the next hour, they worked out the particulars of solving this latest debacle, then Paul said his goodbyes and left.
Alone again, Tanner frowned. If he won the senate seat, he’d have to promote someone from the ranks to manage the company, although that didn’t sit too well with him. Before he turned politician, he wasn’t beneath putting on a hard hat and working alongside his men.
/>
He enjoyed the physical side of construction as much as the mental. Hard labor honed his body as well as his mind. For the time being, however, the senate race demanded he don a tie instead of a hard hat.
His mind having returned to politics, he shifted his gaze to the phone. Should he call Kasey? He was curious if she had anything to show him. Actually, he didn’t give a damn whether she did or not.
He just needed an excuse to see her.
Kasey made her way into the boardroom long after the staff had gathered.
Before she had called this meeting, she had assured herself she was up to the task. Her son’s timely phone call last evening had elevated her spirits as nothing else could have done. He hadn’t wanted anything in particular; he’d just wanted to check on her and chat—all the more reason why the call was special.
However, now that all eyes were focused on her, her courage floundered.
This morning was the employees’ first day back since Shirley’s murder. Right off, Kasey had picked up on the tone and mood in the office. It wasn’t good; everyone seemed to be walking on eggshells.
Now, as she quickly perused her audience, she noted the staff was all present and accounted for, except Monica Lee, the girl Friday who remained at her desk to man the phones.
The department heads, three in all, were sitting together at the table closest to her. Red Tullos, the art director, fit his name to a tee. He was redheaded, red-faced and red-hot tempered. Kasey suspected it was his volatile nature that fueled his creativity and made him one of the best in his field. Temper or not, she liked him.
Left of Red sat Lance Sagemont, the media director. He was a short, small-boned man with a prominent nose that didn’t fit his fine features. However, he dressed with an impeccable flare that helped buffer his odd looks.
On the right was Don Hornsby who was in charge of sales and marketing. In his mid-thirties, he was a brash, good-looking young man with a crew cut and well-preserved body. The only flaw that showed was a mole above his upper lip that he fingered constantly. Because of his charm, he was great at what he did.
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