Deanna Lee

by Barenaked Jane (lit)

  He nodded and then to my amazement laughed softly. “Seth and his team are only here for the day. After that you won’t see them again until they provide me with an in-depth report on the staff currently employed here.”

  “All of our employees are thoroughly investigated before being hired.” I picked up my coffee. “You have those reports.”

  “Seth does things a little differently, and one weakness in your staff could be a vulnerable spot in my security system. I have to be sure.” He tore the bagel that Casey had slipped his way in half and shrugged. “I realize that the interviews are making the sales and administrative staff nervous, but if they have nothing to hide then there is nothing to worry about. You might as well know I’ve scheduled a drug test tomorrow.”

  “What percentage?”

  “Nothing random about it. I’m testing everyone.”

  My mouth dropped open briefly and I glanced toward Casey, whose gaze had dropped to the table. “Everyone?”

  “Everyone. It’s in the employment agreement that they signed. I’m bringing in a lab first thing in the morning to take blood and hair samples from every staff member.”

  “Okay.” I glanced down at the list I’d made and pursed my lips. There were a few questions about the drug testing running around in my head, but I wanted to ask them in private. “The staff interviews are a part of that process as well, I can assume?”

  “Yes, I have to be sure of everyone in the building.”

  “The special focus gallery?”

  “Isn’t going to be ready for your high school students’ show. I’m sorry, but I’m going to have to rewire the entire room and the veranda.”

  That sucked. I looked at Casey. “Any ideas?”

  Casey raised an eyebrow and cleared her throat. “Well, I know we’re saving the central space for the Abigail Grayson show. Since the high school show will be only two days, we can set it up and still have three days to clean up and prepare for the Grayson show.”

  “It would be tight but workable.” I nodded. “Why don’t you get started on that?”

  She bounced up with a smile. “Sure thing.”

  Mathias said nothing until she left. “You just made that kid’s week.”

  “She’s hardly a child. She graduated the top of her class at Berkeley.”

  “Last year?”

  “Four years actually; she just looks very young.” I laughed softly. “Now, about the drug testing?”

  “We’ve found trace evidence of marijuana and cocaine use in three different employee bathrooms. Seth wants to bring in a drug dog, but I thought that would be excessive.”

  “Pot and cocaine.” I rubbed my mouth in disgust. “I guess our antidrug program is not as effective as we could hope.”

  “Male and female bathrooms.”

  “Could it be the cleaning crew?”

  “If the staff tests clean, we’ll approach the cleaning company with our concerns and get those people tested. But I’m fairly sure of who it is.”

  “Based on?”

  “I watch these people a lot,” he reminded carefully. “I’ve been watching them for nearly two weeks. If you spent a week or so observing them, you’d know too.”

  “Am I going to be disappointed?” I asked softly, thinking of Casey. I didn’t know her as well as I should, but she’d never given me any cause to think she had a problem like that.

  “You and Mercy both have a few perceived favorites, and from what I can tell they are all clean, including Casey. But to prevent any rancor, all staff will be tested.”

  “Sales?”

  “The male is in sales and the female is in administration.”

  “Great. Any other stellar news to share?” I asked, dejected but relieved.

  “I handled your employee background check personally.” He pulled a folder out of the briefcase that sat in a chair next to him and pushed it across the table at me. “No surprises for you, I’m sure.”

  I opened it up and stared at the picture of me, and then skimmed through the report. “I can assume that Mr. Brooks will get this.”

  “Yes, and Mercy.”

  They both knew I’d been a cop in my past, but I doubted either of them had dug this deep. The previous security firm had only ever provided a yes or no on the people we submitted to them for review. When asked, they would provide a summary on those who failed to meet their standards, but we rarely requested that.

  “That’s fine.”

  “It’s not. But there isn’t much of a choice.” He sat back in his chair and picked up his coffee. “I realize that Seth and his men are making people uncomfortable around here.”

  “I guess that’s their purpose.”

  “In a way.”

  “Your regular staff won’t look like them?”

  “There will be armed men in the building at all times, but those on the sales floor will not be armed in an obvious way. It’ll be your job to train them to meet your needs. They’ll already have met mine by the time they walk into the building.”

  “Okay.”

  “I promise, no blunt objects. I save those kinds of guys for more varied assignments and bodyguard situations.”

  “What about the earpieces?”

  “Those will stay, but the regular staff will have a more sophisticated and less visible system. You’ll be able to contact any member of security throughout the building without alerting the patrons.”

  “Good.”

  “Relax, Jane, by the time I’m done this gallery will be the safest place in Boston and people won’t even know why. They’ll come in here and think for all the world that they are not being watched and scrutinized.”

  “Yet they will be?”

  “Yes. I have a man coming in from Vegas to help with the security cameras and the face-recognition software. He’s designed some of the most sophisticated systems in the world.”

  “Facial recognition?”

  “Yeah, they use it in Vegas to watch for known cheaters and to do background checks on their guests without alerting the guests to the scrutiny.”

  “And we need that?”

  “I’ve been in the gallery ten times in the last two weeks and there isn’t a member of your security staff who has ever remembered seeing me.”

  “Oh.”

  “Carl is vastly understaffed, as I’ve already told you; his system is outdated—it was outdated ten days after it was installed. If the man didn’t have an overdeveloped sense of personal honor and deep appreciation for art he would have changed jobs by now. The stress and frustration level is so high in that man I’m surprised he hasn’t given James Brooks an earful every chance he’s gotten in the last five years.”

  “Milton Storey rarely ever let complaints get out of the building. He liked to show a profit and as a result never fully informed Brooks of the gallery’s security issues. Honestly, it wasn’t much of an issue in the past.

  “The Holman Gallery is an institution in Boston—popular and moderately successful in the past because it is run to support a charity organization that the blue bloods love to contribute to. All of that has begun to change; with new artists in our collection and a series of vibrant shows, we are growing popular in a way we never have before.”

  “Every penny the gallery makes goes back into the Holman Foundation?”

  “Yes. After salaries, bills, and the like are taken care of. The gallery was opened to fund the foundation and its various community activities.” I stood up and went to the coffeepot. “Would you like some more?”

  “Please.”

  I went back to the table with the pot and topped off his cup. “Are you comfortable with Mr. Wilkes remaining here?”

  “If I wasn’t, he would be on my list of removals.”

  I put the pot back, went back around to my chair, and sat down. “How many?”

  “You have fifteen security officers. Only three are on my list to stay.”

  “Including Mr. Wilkes?”

  “Yes.”

&nbs
p; “Can we afford to do such a mass replacement so close to the Castlemen show?”

  “We can’t afford not to.”

  “Okay.” I nodded. “Have you told Mr. Brooks?”

  “Yes. He told me that you could handle the details and that we should go to Mercy with any concerns.” He opened his laptop. “You were CC’d on that e-mail.”

  “I haven’t checked my e-mail this morning.” I was avoiding it. The last time I’d opened it two hundred messages had downloaded.

  He closed the laptop again and focused on me. “Okay, now enough business.”

  I laughed softly. “It’s supposed to be all business when we’re here, Mathias.”

  “I know. I just have a question.”

  “One question?”

  “Yeah, one question.”

  “What is it?”

  “Will you have dinner with me tonight?”

  I jerked a little and blushed at his amused smile. The man sure knew how to throw a woman off. A real date? We’d really skipped over that part.

  “Aren’t we passed dating?”

  “No, and we’d be cheating ourselves not to indulge in that little ritual.” He chuckled when I frowned at him. “I can make moves on you, you can make moves on me, and we can pretend that we don’t know how the night will end.”

  “A little dating game?”

  “Yeah, of sorts.”

  It sounded fun and dangerous. That much time together would lead to real conversations and getting to know each other.

  “Okay, a date. I pick the place and you take me dancing.”

  “Deal.”

  I’d made a deal with a devil and he was standing there in my doorway looking like sin on a stick. The suit was dark blue, was tailored, and looked perfect on him. I wanted to invite him inside and get him out of it.

  “I hope you have a jacket to put over that or you’re going to freeze to death.”

  I laughed and glanced down at the barely there black dress I’d chosen from my closet. The skirt was swingy; it was cut too low in the front and so low in the back that it probably wasn’t legal in some states. No butt crack, though; I have rules about showing my private parts to strangers.

  “I have a cape in the closet.” I walked to it and opened the door. “Did you have problems getting the reservations?”

  “No; it pays to have a famous brother.”

  I laughed. “You know, I’ve had him book a few places for me as well. He’s a good sport about it, and people do tend to fall over themselves to make him happy around here.”

  “They don’t want him to leave Boston. Having an internationally famous artist in the city is good for tourism.”

  “Perhaps.”

  “Let’s go before your dress does me in.”

  Great food, a little too much wine, and an hour of dancing later I could hardly remember why I ever thought that there wasn’t a place in my life for Mathias Montgomery. Perhaps it was foolish to think of him as a fixture in my life, but I’d already passed some crazy line in my mind. I could barely imagine life without him in it. It was insane to be so wrapped up in a man I barely knew, but there it was, and I couldn’t very well ignore it.

  He pulled me closer and ran his hand downward to rest on the small of my back. “We should probably leave soon.”

  “Yeah.” I glanced up at him and sighed. “I need to be at work early in the morning.”

  “Then we definitely need to go, otherwise I won’t have time to do all the perfectly filthy things I’ve been thinking about doing since I picked you up.”

  “Sounds like a plan.”

  I curled my fingers against his as he led me off the dance floor and toward the front door. The jazz club wasn’t very crowded, but it was busy enough that it took us about a minute to get to the door. He retrieved our coats and we slipped out. Preoccupied with my own dirty thoughts, I barely took note of getting in the car or anything else until he parked in front of a building that did not look like mine.

  I frowned at the window and turned to him. “Where are we?”

  “I thought I’d show you my place.”

  “Oh.” His place. Not a hotel room, but a place. “Renting?”

  “No. I purchased the building.” He left the car.

  I watched him walk around the car and open the door for me. “The whole building?”

  “Yeah, it has two apartments.”

  “One on each floor?”

  “Side by side, but neither of them was big enough on their own so I had the building gutted and renovated. The floors and walls are in. The majority of the furniture will arrive in about a week.”

  I followed him up the stairs and waited patiently while he unlocked the door. The first floor was wide and open with a set of stairs against one wall. A large flat-panel television was on one wall in front of a leather couch, and a pool table was to the left of the front door. He flipped on the lights.

  “So, a TV, a couch, and a pool table.” I looked at him and laughed. “Basic necessities?”

  “And a bed.”

  A bed. I pursed my lips as I pulled my cloak off and walked toward the couch. Past the couch and TV I saw that the back part of the building had been turned into a kitchen with bar and table seating. I couldn’t even begin to speculate how much money he’d spent renovating the place.

  I dropped my purse and cloak on the couch and turned to look at him. “It’s beautiful.”

  “Thanks.” He shoved his hands into his pockets and glanced around. “It’s starting to feel like home.”

  I walked back to him and stopped just short of touching him. “Wanna show me upstairs?”

  “Yeah.”

  Mathias touched my jaw with the tips of his fingers and then pulled me close. His mouth covered mine, and I wrapped my arms around his neck without another thought. I nodded and moaned a little when he picked me up. I’d never really enjoyed being carted around until him. I figured I’d let him carry me wherever he wanted.

  The upstairs appeared to be divided into several rooms, but only one really mattered to me. Once we were in his bedroom, he put me down on the bed and knelt at my feet. “What are you doing?”

  He chuckled as he picked up one foot and pulled my shoe off. “I figured I would take off all of your clothes and then spend at least the next hour exploring those filthy plans of mine.”

  “Oh yeah.” I winced briefly as he tossed my shoe aside. “You’ll scuff them.”

  “Don’t tell me you’re one of those women with a shoe fetish.” He plucked off the other shoe and put it down gently.

  “Yes, I am.” And I wasn’t remotely ashamed of it either.

  My breath caught in my chest as his hands slid up one leg to the edge of my stockings. Seconds later, his fingers caught the strap of my garter belt.

  He paused and sucked in a deep breath. “Are you trying to make me stupid?”

  “Of course not.” I laughed softly when he stood and pulled me from the bed. “Most men would appreciate lingerie.” I slid the straps of my dress down my arms and dropped the dress.

  “Well.” His gaze dropped to my breasts and then slowly downward. “I’m not complaining.”

  I slipped back on the bed and watched him undress through half-closed eyes. Spreading my legs, I laid back on the bed when he joined me. I lifted my hips when his fingers grasped both the garter belt and my panties. He pulled them carefully away and tossed the tangled mixture of hose and silk aside.

  He sat back on his heels and spread my legs wider with firm hands. My fingers twisted into fists against the blanket beneath us, and my body tensed with both arousal and anticipation. It didn’t matter what he had planned for me, I knew I would enjoy it.

  “You’re already wet for me.”

  “Always.”

  Mathias released one knee and pressed his thumb against my clit. The pressure felt amazing, and immediately I rocked against his hand, trying to add friction to the mix. He lifted his hand from my body, and I groaned in frustration.

&n
bsp; “Bastard.”

  He laughed softly and moved over me until we were eye to eye. I moved against the weight of him, pleased by the heat and feel of his body against mine. It felt amazing and perfect.

  “You make me want things I’ve never even thought about before.”