The Love Game

by Regina Hart

“What was it about Iris that made Lauren suspicious?” The report in Tyler’s hands weighed heavy on his heart.

  “I don’t know. Maybe it’s because Iris is the only outsider and we all agreed one of our associates couldn’t have leaked the information.”

  “On a hunch, I asked Ted to run a report on the key-card access to Iris’s office for the day she’s supposed to have sent the email to Tipper.” Tyler glanced at the sheet of paper in his hand. “Iris is adamant about her innocence and I can’t believe she’d jeopardize her own project.”

  “Computers don’t lie, Ty. You of all people know that.”

  “That’s true,” Tyler agreed. “But they don’t always tell the entire story, either.”

  “What did you learn?” Xavier gestured toward the report.

  Tyler skimmed the report for the fifth time. He could probably recite the whole thing from memory. “I asked Ted to check the small conference room between the hours of 7:00 a.m. and 1:00 p.m. on May twenty-first.”

  Xavier nodded. “That makes sense. You said Iris sent the email at eleven fifty-three.”

  “Actually, X, we’re not sure about that anymore.”

  “What do you mean?” Xavier’s brows knitted.

  Tyler consulted the report, although he didn’t need to. “The first key-card activity that day occurred at 7:24 a.m.”

  “Iris arrived early.”

  “Actually, Iris and I walked in together that morning.” In fact, they often arrived at the parking lot at the same time. It was almost as though he subconsciously planned it. Chatting with her in the mornings always put him in a good mood. He tucked those memories away and returned to the cold, hard reality of the key-card access report. “The next activity occurred at 9:32 a.m. Then there was activity at 11:39 a.m. But someone other than Iris entered her office.”

  Xavier frowned. “Who?”

  Tyler looked into his cousin’s onyx eyes. “According to the report, X, it was you.”

  * * *

  “Thanks for meeting me.” Iris settled onto a chair at Cathy’s circular kitchen table Tuesday morning.

  “Not a problem.” Cathy added a plate of chocolate chip cookies to the table. She snatched two before claiming the chair opposite Iris. “Are you sure you don’t want me to fix us some lunch? It’s almost noon.”

  In fact, it was only a few minutes past 11:00 a.m. “No, thank you.”

  “So, what’s the latest? You didn’t sound so great on the phone.” Cathy bit into a cookie.

  “Ty fired me.”

  The stark words sent Cathy into a coughing fit. Her graphic designer friend struggled to catch her breath. “What? Why?”

  “He thinks I’m the one who leaked the test results to The Gamer’s Seat.” Iris absently stirred sweetener into her coffee mug.

  “What in the hell would make him think that?” Cathy’s perfect complexion glowed almost as red as the scarlet scarf accessorizing her black blouse and matching crew pants. Her feet were bare, exposing the black polish accenting her toenails.

  “Whoever sent the test results to The Gamer’s Seat used my computer and Anderson Adventures email account.”

  “Pete Kimball.” Cathy gritted the competitor’s name.

  Iris sipped her coffee as she mulled that over. “This isn’t him.”

  “What makes you so sure?”

  “When I confronted him this morning, he seemed genuinely surprised.” Iris recalled the shock and confusion in Peter’s eyes. “Besides, employees need a key card with a special code to get into the offices on the executive floor. I don’t think he’d have contacts with that kind of access.”

  “Are executives the only ones with the special key cards?” There was dread in Cathy’s question.

  “That’s right.”

  Cathy’s dark eyes widened. “One of Anderson Adventures’ executives framed you?”

  “It seems like it.”

  Her cookies forgotten, Cathy stared at Iris. “Holy cow. Who have you pissed off?”

  “I don’t know.” Iris stared blindly across Cathy’s little kitchen and through her sliding glass doors. “I didn’t have enough interaction with anyone to piss them off.”

  “Does anyone feel threatened by you?”

  “I don’t think so. Why would they?” Iris pictured the company’s executives, as well as their associates. Tyler was the only person with whom she’d ever had a tense exchange, and that was only because he refused to see reason. “Anderson Adventures is a very healthy environment. I never sensed any competition between departments or hostilities between associates.”

  Silence settled between them as Iris again struggled with the enormous strain of her circumstances. How had she ended up in this situation again? What made her such an easy target for corporate shenanigans? She had to clear her name. But how? Iris spent more time glowering into her mug than actually drinking her coffee. She gazed absently around the room.

  Cathy’s kitchen was a confusing rainbow of vibrant hues: sunset-orange walls and lemon-yellow curtains. Her countertop and flooring were olive green. Her appliances were brilliant white. The result was a room bursting with a joyful cacophony of colors. It made it difficult to brood. She finished her coffee.

  “What are you going to tell your sisters?” Cathy’s question added to Iris’s anxiety.

  “I’d like to tell them as little as possible but we don’t keep secrets from each other.” Iris collected her mug and Cathy’s, then rose to pour them both another cup from the coffeemaker on the counter.

  “Just remember, this was never your fault.” Cathy held Iris’s gaze as she returned with their coffee. “Someone set you up. We need to figure out who did it and why?”

  “And what the heck am I going to do about it?” Iris returned to her seat. “I have no idea how I’m going to clear my name.”

  “You have to convince Ty that someone is framing you.”

  “How do I do that? He won’t listen to me. He’s convinced I’m the leak.”

  “Give him a day or two to calm down, then try again.”

  Iris exhaled a deep breath and lowered her head to fight back hot tears of anger. “Do you know the worst part?”

  “What?”

  Iris swallowed twice to dislodge the lump in her throat. “He told me he trusted me. And I believed him.”

  Cathy leaned closer and put a comforting hand on her shoulder. “Iris...did you sleep with him?”

  Iris hesitated. “Yes.”

  Their nights together had been precious and wonderful. They’d revealed themselves to each other in more than a physical way. Their loving had been generous and caring. They’d been vulnerable to each other because they’d had trust. Or so she’d thought. The sharing had been beautiful. Now those memories turned her stomach. How could she have been such a fool? Worse than that: How could she have given him her heart?

  Cathy squeezed Iris’s shoulder. “For his sake, that’s one secret I recommend you keep from your sisters.”

  * * *

  Tyler waited for his cousin to respond to his announcement that Xavier’s key card had been used to enter Iris’s office.

  “That’s impossible.” Xavier sounded baffled. “I haven’t used my key card in that door since Iris has been here. Are you sure it’s my card?”

  Tyler read the key-card number from the report.

  Xavier followed along, reading the back of his card, which hung from a belt loop at his hip. “That’s my number. But I swear I haven’t used my card on that door in months.”

  “Could someone else have used your card?”

  “No, I—” Xavier stopped himself. His dark eyes clouded with confusion. “But she wouldn’t...”

  “Who?” Tyler’s patience was at an all-time low. He’d just accused the woman he was fallin
g in love with of betraying him and his company. He didn’t think he’d ever done anything more difficult or more painful. It had been like tearing his heart from his chest without anesthesia. Now it was possible he’d been wrong all along.

  Xavier’s dark eyes were troubled. “Lauren needed to use the restroom. But she didn’t want to wait for Sherry to buzz her back into our offices so I loaned her my key card.”

  Tyler took a figurative punch to his solar plexus. Did this explain the leak from Iris’s computer?

  “You loaned your security card to Lauren?” Tyler’s voice sounded grim to his ears. “She doesn’t even work here.”

  “I know.” Regret was heavy in Xavier’s voice. But it was too late. The game was already in play. “I wasn’t thinking.”

  “It’s against company policy to let other people use your key card.” Why couldn’t the nontechnical people in their company wrap their minds around the critical reason for this policy: security?

  Xavier scrubbed his hands over his face. “We don’t know that Lauren used my card to get into Iris’s office.”

  “Did you access Iris’s office?”

  “No, but...it never occurred to me that she would use my card to sneak around the company.”

  “That’s why the security policy exists. It takes away even the possibility of someone using another person’s key card for stuff like this.” Tyler tamped down on his anger. He wasn’t here to beat up on Xavier. He was after the truth.

  Xavier rose and paced to his office window. He spoke over his shoulder. “You think Lauren used my key card to get into Iris’s office and send the email to The Gamer’s Seat?”

  “Why else would your key card show up on the report the day the email was sent to Tipper?”

  “But Lauren doesn’t have Iris’s computer password.”

  Tyler rubbed the back of his neck. “Unfortunately, Iris doesn’t always lock her computer before leaving her office.” He knew this. He’d been in her office when she’d forgotten and he’d had to remind her. Why hadn’t he listened to her when she’d tried to tell him that earlier? Because he’d put Anderson Adventures’ needs first.

  Xavier looked over his shoulder. “Another person who doesn’t follow the security rules. We must drive you nuts.”

  “Yes, you do.”

  Xavier turned back to the window. “This is hard to accept.”

  “Believe me, I know how you feel.”

  “I trusted her. Why would she leak confidential information about our company to the press?”

  “Ask her.” Tyler had wondered the same thing about Iris when he thought she’d tried to sabotage the company. Now it seemed she’d been set up.

  I’m asking you to believe me. Trust me, Ty.

  Tyler heard Iris’s words again and was sick to his stomach. He should have listened to her. He should have trusted her.

  Xavier checked his watch. “Lauren’s meeting me for lunch in about an hour.”

  “All right.”

  “What do I do if she admits to everything—taking the test results, using my card to gain access to Iris’s office, sending the email to The Gamer’s Seat?” Xavier faced Tyler.

  Tyler’s temper stirred. “We could have her arrested and charged with the federal crimes of leaking trade secrets and confidential company information.”

  He’d threatened Iris with those charges. His heart twisted in his chest.

  Xavier crossed back to sit at his desk. “How could I have been so stupid?” He held his head in his hands.

  They’d both been stupid. Xavier had trusted a woman who’d betrayed them. Tyler had accused a woman he should have believed in.

  “I’d rather avoid the negative publicity of having Lauren arrested.”

  Xavier lowered his hands. “I agree.”

  “But for the sake of the company, she has to be banned from our offices.”

  Xavier met Tyler’s gaze. “How hard was it for you to confront Iris?”

  “Extremely.” Tyler rose from his seat. “I’ll let you get ready. In the meantime, I’ll send a company-wide reminder that no one is to loan their key card to anyone. Ever.”

  “Ty.” Xavier’s voice brought Tyler to a stop. “I’m sorry for the trouble this has caused you and Iris. Frankly, I like her. It was hard to believe she could have been the leak.”

  “As it turns out, she wasn’t.” Tyler shoved his fists into the front pockets of his gray Dockers. “I should have followed my instincts and asked for the key-card access report sooner.”

  Iris had asked him to trust her. He hadn’t, not at first. When he asked for her forgiveness, would she be as unrelenting? What could he do to make things right between them?

  Chapter 14

  Iris hesitated in the doorway to Tyler’s office Wednesday morning. She ignored the way his ice-blue button-down shirt spread across the width of his broad shoulders. He rose from his seat at his small conversation table and crossed to her. Iris looked away from his lean hips and long, powerful legs clothed in granite-gray Dockers.

  “Iris, thank you for coming.” Tyler pushed the doorstop free with the toe of his black loafer, allowing his door to close, then gestured toward the table. “Please have a seat.”

  Her heart pounded against her chest. Judging by Tyler’s tense expression, he wasn’t looking forward to this meeting, either. Then why am I here? Are they planning to sue me? Do I need a lawyer?

  Iris squared her shoulders and strode into the room. She sat at the table, setting her briefcase on the floor beside her, then folded her hands on the Plexiglas surface. She channeled her inner Rose. Don’t show weakness.

  “What’s this about?” Hopefully her voice sounded more forceful in reality than it did in her head.

  Tyler joined her at the table and took his sweet time answering. It was a test of her self-restraint to remain still under his intense regard.

  Finally, he broke his silence. “I wanted to formally apologize for accusing you of leaking the test results. Further investigation proved that you weren’t involved.”

  “Then who was?” Iris’s heart rose to her throat. What is Tyler saying? Has my name been cleared?

  “Lauren. She used Xavier’s key card to enter your office. She must have been able to get into your email account because you hadn’t locked your system.”

  Lauren? Iris hadn’t been expecting that. “How do you know it was Lauren?”

  “She admitted to everything.” Tyler shook his head as though in disbelief or denial. “Taking Xavier’s copy of the failed test results, using Xavier’s card to access your office and sending the email from your account.”

  The extent of Lauren’s deception stole Iris’s breath. Was this really happening—or had someone cast her as a secondary heroine in a prime-time soap opera without her permission? “Why would she do that?”

  Tyler rubbed the back of his neck. “She wanted to make me look incompetent so that my father would name Xavier CEO of Anderson Adventures instead of me.”

  A flash of hot, stinging rage shot through Iris’s system. “That evil witch.”

  “Agreed.” Tyler’s voice was grim. “Her ambition caused a lot of damage, some of it possibly irreparable.”

  “No wonder your aunt doesn’t like her.”

  “What makes you think Aunt Kayla doesn’t like Lauren?”

  Iris surprised herself with a burst of laughter. It eased the frown from her expression and startled Tyler. “Do you really think your aunt can’t remember Lauren’s name or what she does for a living? Of course she can. But pretending to forget is a mother’s way of telling her adult son that she doesn’t approve of his girlfriend.”

  “That sounds like something Aunt Kayla would do.” Tyler’s face eased into a warm grin that stopped Iris’s heart.

  She pu
lled her gaze from Tyler’s lips and focused instead on her hands. They were folded in a white-knuckled grip on the table. Iris made herself relax. “Xavier must be devastated. He’d trusted Lauren.”

  Equally as devastating as learning the person you love doesn’t trust you. Iris inhaled sharply at the pain in her chest.

  “I’m sure this experience will make it hard for Xavier to trust someone again.” Tyler’s ebony eyes were clouded with concern.

  “I’m glad you were able to get this cleared up.”

  “I’m sorry it happened. I’m even sorrier for my reaction.” Tyler hesitated. “I know my accusation hurt you. I truly regret that. I should have believed in you, Iris. Will you accept my apology?”

  Tyler’s voice was deep and low. Seductive. Iris struggled under his spell. His dark eyes pleaded with her. She looked away. Deep inside she was angry with him and she wanted to remain that way. But in her heart she knew there wasn’t any reason to hold a grudge. Enough people had been hurt by Lauren’s selfish aspirations. “Yes, I’ll accept your apology.”

  “Thank you.” Tyler gave her another heart-stopping grin. “Would you also be willing to help us complete the campaign launch?”

  Iris stiffened. That was a little trickier. “Yes, but I’d prefer to work from home.” She braced herself for an argument. It never came.

  “All right.” Tyler’s words were thick with disappointment.

  Iris was disappointed, too, and hurt. She’d begged Tyler to believe her and his response had been an unequivocal no. How could he expect her to work from Anderson Adventures’ offices after that? She couldn’t work that closely—literally or figuratively—with Tyler any longer. In fact, Iris needed to leave. Now. “If there’s nothing else, I have to get back to work.”

  Tyler’s muscles tensed as he watched Iris collect her purse and briefcase. She rose from her seat. She couldn’t leave, not yet.

  “There’s one more thing.” He stood on legs that weren’t quite steady and circled the table to stand beside her.

  “What is it?” She faced him as though they were polite strangers, as though the memories and passions of the past three months had never existed.