“Firing her? That doesn’t make sense,” Becky said.
This was an order Linc had no trouble issuing. “Stay out of this.”
“I run this office.” Becky started around Thea’s desk.
Funny, that’s not what the lease agreement on the place said. “No, I do.”
“Linc, maybe we should take this private,” Nick said.
“Too late.” Linc put up a hand to stop Becky when she pushed in closer to Thea. The last thing he needed was a wall of female support knocking into him. Forcing his expression to remain bland, he looked back at Thea. “You may take your purse, after security checks it.”
“I don’t understand.”
“No computer files or paperwork.”
She rubbed a hand over her face. “Wait a second.”
But he couldn’t. He had to get it all out. Get her out. Seeing her this way, shoulders slumped and pain pulling at her mouth, threatened to break him. He could not fall for her act a second time. “The rest of your personal items will be boxed up and delivered to your house.”
“Why are you doing this?” She stood up with her body close enough for their shoes to almost touch.
He would not back down. “You did this.”
Something sparked to life in her deep brown eyes. “All of this is because we had sex?”
Nick moved then. He leaned in. “What did you just say?”
No way was Linc letting her deliver some dramatic reading to the audience that was already waiting for every new word. “This is not personal.”
“It sure as hell feels personal.”
How dare she? “I thought the same thing when I found out you stole from me.” He nodded to Stan to close in.
“When did this supposedly happen?” She shook off Stan’s hand against her arm. “Don’t touch me.”
They needed reinforcements. Linc needed a drink and sex with some woman he didn’t know who couldn’t fuck him over professionally. Anyone who would remove Thea’s face from his mind.
He motioned for the two extra guards standing by the elevator to come in closer. He noticed they dragged their feet. Not a surprise. Thea knew them all by name. Welcomed them in each morning. She had their loyalty.
She was good. Damn good at weaseling her way into his business.
Linc pointed at the three men wearing blue uniforms while he looked at her. “You are going to leave and these gentlemen will see you out.”
She hiccupped and the sound echoed down to his soul. His control shook, then he thought about the thick file on his desk.
No crying. No more lies. “Thea, now.”
She put a hand against his chest. “Linc, listen to me—”
“Go.”
Her hand closed on his jacket, folding material in her fist. “No.”
Linc couldn’t take another minute. He broke contact and stepped back. “Stan, unless you want to join Ms. Marshall on the unemployment line, I suggest you do your job.”
The guard stepped forward. “Come with me, ma’am.”
Between Stan and Nick they had her turned around and out of the cubicle. She looked at Linc over her shoulder one last time. “This is a mistake.”
“No, Ms. Marshall. Trusting you was the mistake.”
Chapter Three
As the humid day gave way to the only slightly less humid evening, Thea sat at her breakfast bar with her hands wrapped around a coffee mug. Her tears had dried up and the liquid had long gone cold. Staring at it couldn’t bring it back to life, but she couldn’t find the strength to do anything else. Not that she could feel or taste anyway.
She’d been right there on that seat, still and unmoving, for what felt like the whole afternoon. The hours from being dumped on the sidewalk outside the office until now blurred. Without thinking she’d made it to the metro and home, ignoring the ringing of her cell and the people passing by her on the way. For all she knew, her keys still sat in the lock to the condo’s front door.
She’d gone blank and she couldn’t shake out of it. When curling up in a ball on her bed hadn’t worked, she’d moved to this room. And here she sat because the change in scenery did nothing to fill the stabbing emptiness.
The only solace came in knowing Linc had never stepped foot in her one-bedroom space. Which was good because no amount of disinfectant or scrubbing would wash him out of her house.
Having guests arrive fifteen minutes ago to cheer her up didn’t help. Even now Becky banged cabinet doors and clanged glasses as she unloaded Thea’s dishwasher. Tim Ray, their friend from logistics and Becky’s secret crush, sat next to Thea and swiveled his stool from side to side.
Thea barely noticed them but she couldn’t tell them to leave. Not after whipping them into a panic by refusing to pick up the phone all day. They said they came as soon as they could get away from work and Nick’s unusually watchful eye.
Tim finally broke the silence. “I give up. What happened this morning?”
“I have no idea.” Thea really didn’t. Mind-blowing sex followed by sexy whispers in the dark. Now unemployment and the whiplash of having Linc turn on her with vicious enjoyment.
Whatever they had for those months of flirting and few hours of fun meant nothing to him. She knew that much. Felt it down to her bones. Pain shook through her and the sense of loss dragged on every muscle until she wanted to roll into an exhausted ball and drift to sleep.
“You had sex with the boss?” Becky let out a sharp inhale after she said the words, as if the idea was too awful to think about.
Right now, Thea thought the assessment was fair. “Clearly a mistake.”
“How did that happen again?” Tim asked.
She pushed the mug across the counter and glanced at Tim. “Are you asking about positions or what?”
“My point is we hang out a lot and you never mentioned being attracted to the boss. I didn’t even know you two were dating.”
Becky shook her head. “Me either. I had no idea.”
“We’re not dating.” They were nothing. Linc made that clear when he labeled what they had as sex only and said it with disgust.
Every minute had counted for her. She could close her eyes and call up his scent and his knowing touch. When the fantasy floated through her mind now, she cut it off by remembering the fury that thrummed through him as he had guards throw her on the street.
Tim took a fresh cup of coffee from Becky. “Well, you’re not seeing him at this second. But until this afternoon—”
“It was just sex.” It actually hurt to say the words. Rubbed Thea’s throat raw.
Becky never stopped moving. She dumped Thea’s old cup in the sink and got her a new one. “For him but what about for you?”
For her it signaled a restart. A celebration of moving on and letting her feminine side take the front seat for a change. For him…nothing. “Does it make a difference?”
Becky glanced at Tim before returning to Thea. “It kind of does.”
“No.” Thea was clear on that, no.
Becky kept biting on her lower lip. Much more and she’d cut clean through. “I wish I’d known.”
“Why?” Tim asked.
“None of this matters. I thought it was one thing…” Thea groaned as she dropped her head in her hands. “How could I be so stupid?”
“Enough of that.” Becky put a hand on Thea’s shoulder. “Let’s forget the personal stuff for a second. Do you know exactly what he’s accusing you of doing?”
“Good question.” Between the bouts of anger and dragging sadness, Thea tried to reason that part out. She worked long hours without complaint and did everything to keep the pesky office details out of Linc’s way. She handled the daily chaos. Truth was, she’d been a damn good assistant. It was when she mixed business with pleasure that her world imploded.
Before she could figure out her next step or think about finding a new job, she had to know the extent of the career-reputation damage. Money wasn’t an immediate issue. She lived within her means and h
er parents had left her money, not that she’d touched a cent of that or the insurance payoff so far. With or without it, she intended to work because sitting around wasn’t her style.
But this wasn’t about paying bills. This was about her ability to find other work and rebuild. “What was everyone saying when I left?”
“That Linc lost his mind,” Becky said. “That for once he actually got a business decision wrong.”
Tim leaned over and grabbed the ceramic jar that held the cookies. The lid rattled as he lifted it and reached inside. “The dickhead sent around a memo announcing your removal and making it clear the subject was over. His office door stayed shut most of the afternoon, then he ran out of the place before we could stage a revolt.”
Thea couldn’t help but smile. “Dickhead?”
“Yeah, that’s how I now think of your precious Linc.”
That killed her short spurt of amusement. “He’s not my precious anything. There are a whole bunch of words I’d use to describe him and precious is not on the list.”
Tim munched on the cookie a second before swallowing. “Prick.”
“That one works too.” She’d hurled every terrible name she could think of at Linc from the safety of her bedroom. Then she’d collapsed into her pillow and stared at the wall. She feared the cycle would return and repeat as soon as her guests left.
As if she couldn’t sit still, Becky topped off their coffee and set the pot back down with a clunk. “The whole thing is ridiculous.”
Tim shrugged. “Whatever happened is related to the huge project at the University of Maryland.”
Becky hit a glass with her elbow and liquid spilled across the newly cleaned counter. “Damn.”
“This is about a building?” Thea felt the rage simmer inside her again. The idea of her life heading into a tailspin over property pushed out her sadness and replaced it with adrenaline. “Embarrassing me and accusing me of things I didn’t do comes down to a building?”
Tim grabbed another cookie. “Technically, about a multimillion-dollar residential hall and commercial property project.”
Becky frowned at him. “Is now the time for that?”
“What?” Tim frowned right back. “It’s a huge deal.”
Unable to hear another word, Thea slid off the stool and walked into the family room. “Almost as big a deal as being accused of something no one bothers to explain then escorted out of the office in shame by the man who was all over you the night before?”
She stared out at the National Zoo entrance, which stood diagonal across the street. A chill still shook her body, and she rubbed her hands up and down her arms to ward it off. Anything to generate a little warmth inside her.
Tim snorted. “When you put it that way.”
Becky followed Thea through the open layout and sat on the end of the sectional sofa. “Everything about this sucks.”
“Let’s go kick his ass.” Tim’s grumbling sounded pretty serious.
Thea turned around to find her friends in the room right behind her, each taking a position on the short arm of the couch. Their legs touched and excitement lit their eyes as they talked about treating Linc to a little revenge.
For about the hundredth time, Thea wondered if Tim and Becky realized what a good match they were. He was a few years younger, but both had the sexy hipster vibe with their round glasses and preference for lounging for long hours in coffee shops. Not the chain kind. The independent, brewed-in-some-special-way-Thea-didn’t-understand type.
They were perfect together but what the hell did Thea know about men. She’d thought she and Linc fit. Look how that turned out.
“I say we hire a lawyer.” Tim turned to Becky. “There are about a billion in this town.”
Becky shifted in her seat to face him. “She needs to move on, not wallow.”
“Nah, we’ll find one and sue Linc and the company he cares about so much. That will teach him to fuck with our Thea.” Tim’s enthusiasm drained away as he looked at Thea. “Literally.”
Much more of this and they’d launch some sort of internet campaign or worse, office campaign, and get them both in trouble. Thea opposed all of those options. “Linc pays your salaries.”
“And you’re our friend,” Tim said in a voice lower and more serious than a second ago.
The show of support was exactly what Thea needed to hear, but she still had no intention of letting them get in trouble. “I appreciate that. I really do.”
Tim shrugged. “You’d do it for us.”
That wasn’t the point. “I’ll take care of all that. You guys stay out of it.”
Becky frowned up at her. “Are you sure?”
They wanted to call in the attack guards and look for a big payday. She wanted a simple explanation. That’s it. Not even revenge. Just a ten-minute conversation where she could defend her actions or at least find out what she should be defending. “I just wish I understood what happened between last night and today.”
Tim’s mouth dropped open. “Wait a minute. You slept with him yesterday and he fired you this morning?”
“It was our first time together.”
Becky rolled her eyes. “Oh, come on. That’s awful.”
“Worse, I slept with him all night and into this morning. That’s my point. Only a few hours passed between the good and the bad.”
Becky hummed under her breath. “So, it was good?”
Tim’s mouth dropped open. “Becky what the—”
She shrugged. “What, Thea at least deserves that.”
Good paled in comparison to how much Thea really enjoyed it. When she’d lost everything else this morning, she’d lost the amazing memory of those hours as well. “Maybe it would be easier to let it go and move on if it did suck.”
Tim stood up and started pacing the area between the back of her couch and the small dining room table by the breakfast bar. “I can’t believe this.”
“What do you want to do?” Becky asked.
“Shake Linc until his head pops off.” That wasn’t all, but Thea thought it would be a good start.
“Do you love him?” Becky asked.
Tim froze and looked up but he didn’t say anything.
The question echoed in Thea’s brain. The answer should have been easy and quick and maybe include a few words about her not being an idiot. Instead the comment stayed locked inside her.
She couldn’t love Linc, refused to, but what she felt went so far beyond attraction. She’d thought about him all the time and spent months lost and grumbling as women called the office, asking for him.
Losing him so soon after having her shot was less about a loss of love and more about the death of hope. For a few hours it had flickered, and he snuffed it out without a thought or a reason.
Bottom line, he didn’t deserve her. So, she gave the answer she should give. “Of course not.”
There was another question in Becky’s bright blue eyes. Probably had something to do with the big delay between question and answer. “But you’re into him.”
Now there was an understatement. “Not anymore.”
The tense silence following her words only ended when Tim let out a long, loud exhale. “So, what are you going to do?”
Thea could answer that question without thinking it over. “I don’t know.”
Linc sat on his condo’s black leather couch with his feet propped up on the coffee table. He still wore his dress shoes. He’d managed to take off the tie and jacket and unbutton the top few buttons of his shirt, but that was it.
Spending most of the afternoon sitting at his desk, reading that damn investigation file over and over, hadn’t helped. Neither had coming home. Nothing sounded good to him except staring.
He balanced his arm on the rest and let the hand holding the glass dangle off the side. Ice cubes clinked together, but Linc ignored the drink as he looked out his floor-to-ceiling windows barely seeing the city beyond the glass.
From his penthouse at 1010 Massachusetts A
venue, he had an impressive view of Logan Circle, and the White House sat about six blocks away. So long as he didn’t go into his bedroom or the kitchen or even slide over and sit on the other couch in the room, he was fine.
All of those places reminded him of Thea. She’d been in his condo for all of twelve hours and he felt her everywhere.
Getting screwed over sucked in every way possible.
Still in his suit with only a loose tie to show for the end of the workday, Nick sat down across from Linc. Having ignored Nick most of the afternoon, him and everyone else, Linc had to face his friend now that he’d shown up and refused to budge. The guy did have a key, so it was tough to kick him out.
Nick’s shoulders blocked the view of the city as the lights popped to life. “So, sex?”
“I don’t find you attractive. Sorry.” Linc swirled the liquid in his glass. This time he thought about downing it but decided to keep spinning it instead.
“I’m serious. You slept with her?”
He let his head drop back against the cushion and stared at the stark white ceiling, which matched the stark white walls covering all twenty-six hundred square feet of high-end, overly polished place. Up until yesterday, the condo’s pristine, no-clutter look had worked for him.
He’d vowed to leave the stacks of papers and boxes filled with yard-sale finds behind when he moved out of his father’s house. Even in his first apartment, a small studio in a part of town that didn’t even qualify as up-and-coming at the time, Linc hadn’t allowed anything to accumulate and kept all his furniture to shades of black and white.
Then her bra had hit the floor and her skirt hung over the back of the couch. Suddenly a little clutter appealed to him. Even seeing her purse with its contents spilling out over his glass dining room table hadn’t bothered him last night.
She’d left a mug on the counter and squeezed the toothpaste from the middle. All things that should have driven his need-for-order brain to the point of explosion, but they seemed…normal with her.
Not that he wanted to dwell on her for one more second. “To the extent my personal life is your business, and it’s not, I’m still not interested in talking about this.”
Baby, It's Cold Outside: Men at Work, Book 1 Page 3