“Cut the bullshit.” Nick leaned forward and picked up the bottle of scotch off the table. Not a glass, the whole bottle. “We’ve been friends forever, and thanks to being your second-in-command, I see you every day. So, tell me.”
The truth would lead to yelling, but Linc went for it anyway. “Yes, I slept with her.”
Nick blew out a long breath and mixed in some profanity while he was at it. “For how long.”
“Not long.” Certainly not as long as Linc had hoped. Not long enough to work her out of his system. But long enough that he couldn’t write it off and forget her.
“Give me a date so I can assess the damage. When did the…whatever it was, start?”
Ignoring the none of his damn business issue, Linc had a hard time seeing how this conversation could go anywhere that would help Nick sleep better tonight. “You have a lot of questions.”
Nick stared at the label on the bottle. He didn’t take a swig but sure looked like he wanted to. “Keep answering them.”
“Last night.”
Nick’s head shot up. “That was the last time?”
“Last and first.” And it pissed Linc off that he could add only.
“You’ve got to be fucking kidding.”
Linc could do a minute-by-minute replay if needed. Not that he was going to volunteer that option. “Unfortunately, no.”
“Your timing sucks.”
“I’m aware of that, yes.” Thea’s was even worse. She didn’t screw him over months ago, before the idea of taking her to bed had wormed its way into his brain and refused to leave. Nope, she waited until he was all-in and unable to pull back.
Nick nodded in the direction of Linc’s glass. “Are you going to drink that or just play with it?”
“Why?”
Nick stood up and walked through the open space and into the kitchen. “I’m about to drink everything in this condo short of the sink cleaner.”
“Not to point out the obvious, but you’re not the one who got screwed after getting screwed.” No, he owned that prize. Linc wished he could hand it off to someone else.
“No, but as a minority partner I will lose a bundle when we get sued, which is going to happen.” Nick slammed a glass against the counter and started pouring. “Thanks for making that partnership offer last year, by the way. Now it will bankrupt me.”
“You going to whine all night?”
“I’m just getting started.”
Since Nick seemed determined to panic about the legal ramifications, Linc decided to reinforce the whole who got screwed over thing. He stood up and forced his legs to move.
He made it to the kitchen before knocking back his drink. The liquid burned down his throat. He held the glass out to Nick for a new round. “I’m the one she set up. She won me over, tricked me—”
“Forced you to sleep with her?”
No way could Linc sell that, nor did he want to. “I didn’t say that.”
“I guess it’s too much to hope that will be your story when her lawyer deposes you.”
“She won’t sue.” Linc topped off the comment by draining another drink. At this rate he’d slide to the floor and sleep next to the stove tonight.
Before he could get there, Nick took Linc’s glass and set it on the counter. The intense man-to-man glare came next. “You had sex with her then fired her.”
Linc winced at that. “For cause.”
“I doubt anyone is going to see it that way. People liked her. Hell, I liked her.”
That didn’t even come close to defining how Linc felt about her. Had felt. Past tense. “So did I.”
“About that.”
Here it came. Linc considered Nick and his brother family. They took Linc in when his own father canceled holidays and turned his room into a place to store his tools. Nick stood by Linc when he started a construction company and went against the DC big boys, something everyone in the business said was stupid.
Nick had provided a home base and, for a few years, some extra cash. Now they worked together, and there was no way Nick would let this Thea thing go.
Linc tried anyway. “We’re done talking about my sex life.”
“Just one more question.”
“You can ask fifty. I’m not answering them.” Linc reached for his glass.
Nick blocked him. “How long did you fight your feelings for her?”
“What?”
“I’m thinking from about a month after she got to the office you wanted her. You should have seen how you looked at her in meetings.” When Linc didn’t say anything, Nick swore under his breath. “See, I knew I should have shut that down.”
“How exactly?” Because if there was a way to stay away from Thea, Linc hadn’t found it.
“You’ve been looking to get your hands up her skirt from early in her employment. You weren’t exactly subtle.”
Nick was about a month off in his timeline, and Linc was pretty sure he’d hid most of his hotter fantasies. At least he hoped that was true because there was nothing G-rated about his feelings for Thea. But the part about the wanting and the skirt were pretty damn accurate.
Still, one point needed clarification. “I never touched her.”
Nick’s mouth dropped into a flat line. “You’re telling me you managed to have sex without touching?”
Oh, they most definitely touched. “I meant until last night, dumbass.”
“Not in the office, right? Please tell me…” When Linc lifted an eyebrow in response, Nick groaned. “Oh, hell. And I’m the dumbass?”
“Admittedly, my judgment slipped.” And it wouldn’t happen again. The days of living for fun only and being irresponsible were long behind Linc. Thea was a blip. Nothing more. “I was interested. I thought she was interested. We’re both adults and there was consent.”
“And then you fired her.”
The sequence of events sounded pretty shitty when Nick spelled it out like that. “After you proved she lied.”
“You still didn’t answer my question.”
Linc didn’t try to pretend he didn’t understand. Not with Nick, who knew him too well. “From day one. I knew I wanted her from the very beginning.”
“That’s just fucking fantastic. Maybe you could have played it safe and not hired her?”
“How would that have been okay? She doesn’t get a job she qualified for because I can’t control what’s in my pants? Yeah, that’s a great business strategy. Not so great on the humanity scale either.”
“I don’t know. I’m grasping here.”
“Look, you wanted the truth, I gave it to you. Something about her sticks with me.” Worst part was it still did. Despite it all and how much she may have cost him in terms of work, the need still burned. “Shows what a fucking idiot I am.”
Nick grabbed the bottle again. “No arguments here.”
Chapter Four
It took two days before she stayed out of bed for longer than a half hour at a time. Thea hated that a man could rock her world so hard, but he hit her from every angle. Thanks to him she no longer had a job and she certainly couldn’t ask for a reference. Then there was the nuclear damage he’d unleashed on her personal life.
Maybe it was time to admit her feelings for him amounted to a bit more than a harmless crush.
Becky texted earlier about a messenger stopping by with the stuff from her desk. As if Thea cared about a homemade calendar and her stash of granola bars. Still, she couldn’t find her watch, and if she had to find another job, she might need one.
Ron at the security desk in the condo lobby had just asked to buzz the messenger, some guy, in so she could personally sign for the items. Only Linc would insist on that formality. But the call meant her box full of nothing would be here any second, which meant putting on sweatpants and looking down to see if she was wearing a shirt.
She just hoped Stan didn’t deliver the box personally. Last thing she wanted was a long conversation about the office. She didn’t want a short one either
. And pity. She could do without that too. One wrong look and she would lose it.
She no sooner thought about the box than the doorbell rang. With her oversized sweats cut into frayed-edge shorts and a white tee that kept sliding off her shoulders, she headed for the door. Not exactly a stellar wardrobe choice, but she didn’t plan to leave the condo building ever again, so who cared. She only showered because the DC summer humidity could make you sticky in two minutes even with air conditioning.
In bare feet, she stretched up on tiptoes to get a good look out of the blurry peephole. It was one of those you had to smash against to see, and one peek had her dropping back to her heels.
She tried to think over the hammering in her head but the clanking made it impossible. Lincoln, standing there, balancing a copy-paper box on one arm as he glanced up and down the hallway. Of all the people…why him?
She thudded her forehead against the door as she drew in big, gulping breaths. “Put the box down and leave.”
“Open the door.” He issued the command as if they were back at the office preparing for a stressful meeting.
“Not to you.”
He stared directly into the peephole, acting like his side was a window to hers. “Now, Thea.”
Only Lincoln Campbell, self-made man and construction heavyweight, would think he had a right to walk into her apartment whenever he wanted. Never mind he’d crushed her in front of the entire office floor or that he’d kissed her all over then dumped her out on the street. He thought he deserved an invite in.
The man was a complete idiot.
His ego turned her sarcasm on high. “I don’t work for you anymore, so you can kiss my—”
“You have an audience out here.”
“I don’t care.” But she thought about Mrs. Kleinman and her need to comment to everyone on every facet of the private lives of the people on the floor. Then there was the guy with the yappy dog a few doors down. If that thing woke up, it would be hours before the barking wound down again.
“Yes, you do,” Linc said. “Now, open the door.”
The guy thought he knew everything. Fine, he could win this one. She turned the lock and pulled the door just far enough to show him half of her face. “What?”
He led with the box and crowded in closer. “Could you step back?”
Not that he gave her a choice. The edge of the box pushed against the door. It slipped out of her hands, and he had more than enough room to shove past her. Instead, he waited but the stern expression suggested he could stand in that position for months, if needed.
This round to Linc.
“Sure. Come into the opulent palace of the corporate thief.” She tried to see the compact space through his eyes. It measured a bit over seven hundred square feet and all of it was hers. Well, hers and the bank’s. She loved everything from the comfy couch that took up most of the family room to the pillows stacked on her bed. “That was a joke, by the way. Would you like a tour?”
“No.” But his gaze scanned the area and hesitated on the doorway to the bedroom.
She needed his mind—and hers—off of that particular room. “Did you want to look through my desk drawers for Campbell Construction pens? Maybe make sure I didn’t steal a sticky pad.”
He rubbed a hand through his hair. “Just stop.”
The exhaustion edging his voice and weighing down his movements tugged at her. She’d seen him animated about projects and at war with clients. He brought passion to all he did, and she knew from personal experience how he well directed that energy in the bedroom. This, the weary expression and flat tone of his voice, was new for him.
But he didn’t get to play the role of victim here. Not while he still had an office to go to every day and a reputation he could depend on to keep him employed. She’d taken both for granted and now had neither.
“There’s not as much money in corporate espionage as there used to be, I’m afraid,” she said. “The days of mansions and exotic cars died with the rough market a few years back.”
“I said stop.”
His voice rose, and the short burst of anger proved just enough to get her rage boiling. “Seem ridiculous? Well, it should.”
The sound that came out of him hovered somewhere between a growl and a groan. “You just keep pushing.”
Nice of him to finally notice she had a backbone. Now she planned to give him a live demonstration. “This is my damn condo. I can say anything I want. And you can get out.”
“Not until we talk.” He dumped the box on the floor.
Again, like he owned the place. “Since when do you run mundane office errands?”
Shifting, she eased her body toward the front door. Her heel slammed into the wood and she bit back a scream. But she never let go of the knob. If the opportunity arose to usher him into the hallway, she was taking it.
“Not important.”
“You have a guy pick up your lunch so you don’t have to leave your desk.”
“Forget that and tell me why.” He stepped in front of her, with all that tension pounding off of him and smashing into her.
Words backed up in her brain until she could only call up one. “What?”
“Thea, come on.” He put his palms on the door on either side of her head. The edge left his voice and the heat radiated off his body. “Don’t fuck around. Just tell me.”
“You should go.” The phrase came out as a whisper because she couldn’t find the strength to increase the volume.
He leaned in until his body brushed against hers. “Did you need money?”
She called on every reserve to keep standing there when all she wanted was to bolt. “No.”
“Are you connected to Tanner Building in some way?”
Campbell’s main competition and the same company that seemed to know the intricacies of Campbell’s preliminary bid on the university project. Being included in the pool of qualified candidates to compete for the project should have been a slam dunk for Campbell. It would have been if Tanner hadn’t taken Campbell’s preliminary numbers and undercut them, making Campbell’s projections look high and threatening to keep Campbell out of running for the final bid.
Thea still remembered the day Linc got that phone call. She had no idea who waited on the other end or exactly what the person said since Linc used his private cell. But he locked his office door and didn’t open it again until he called for Nick, and neither one of them exited with a smile hours later.
“Thea?”
“No money issues and no on Tanner.”
Linc dipped his head, bringing his cheek next to hers. “Talk to me.”
The closeness chipped away at her defenses, but she knew the truth. This was about getting the upper hand. She sensed it and tried to throw up a shield, but her body rebelled, putting it on a collision course with her mind.
She backed in tighter against the door and tried to get some distance from him. “Linc, don’t.”
His forehead fell against the door and his warm breath blew over her shoulder. “God, why do I still want you?”
Before she could think, her hands came up. She stopped right before her fingers found his sides. Dropping her arms again, she wrestled with the conflicting needs bombarding her. “You think I stole from you and you want to have sex anyway?”
When he lifted his head, blue eyes shimmered with an unidentifiable emotion. “I know it’s sick. I can’t explain it.”
The only thing that saved her from embarrassing herself was the brief breath of distance between them. If he’d run his fingers over her or even held her hand, she would have crumbled. Without his touch she found a pulsing energy welling inside her and tapped it.
“I can name it in one word—power.” As he frowned, she broke out of the circle of his arms and put a few more feet between them.
“Meaning what?”
“This is one more of your maneuvers. Sex in your office. The scene at my desk when you kicked me out. Now you want me to talk while I, what, take off my shi
rt?” She ticked off his sins on her fingers. “Honestly, Linc, you’re not that hard to figure out.”
His jaw tightened until it looked like it might break from the strain. “You stole from me.”
He kept making the accusation but wouldn’t give any details. And he missed the most important piece. “Why would I do that? I loved my job.”
She rushed in every morning just to see him. There was no way she would blow it, and stealing business secrets didn’t make any sense to her at all. He clearly found her to possess an appalling lack of loyalty. And wasn’t that charming.
“I don’t know why but you did it.” He shook his head. “Was there some sign I missed? A birthday I forgot.”
“Right, because I’m that shallow.” His conclusions said it all. He’d heard a rumor or a piece of information and spun it into some sordid tale. Forget what they’d shared or the idea of giving her the chance to answer the charges. He jumped to his conclusions and kept leaping.
“Give me a clue. Tell me where to go from here.”
She had a very specific place he could go to next. “You could beg for forgiveness.”
He looked at her as if she’d suggested they go out and kick puppies. “Why would I?”
Time to give up. He wasn’t getting it, and while she’d spent months helping him with everything, this he had to muddle through on his own. “Well, when you do realize the mess you’ve made here, you can email me with your apology.”
“You’re sticking with this take?” His frown deepened until it etched lines on his forehead. “Despite the evidence, you’re insisting you didn’t do anything wrong.”
She threw up her hands. “What evidence?”
“I just want you to talk to me.”
Now they were done. She didn’t even understand why he’d bothered to show up, unless it was one more chance to torture her.
“Listen, because this will be the last time you hear my voice ever.” She pulled the door open and pointed into the hall. “Get. Out.”
The weeks passed and Linc was not one step closer to finding a satisfactory answer. He’d studied every document uncovered by the investigators Nick hired and the firm regularly used. The big payments into Thea’s bank account, the ones that tipped off the investigators in the first place, turned out to be insurance payments for her parents. Linc knew because he traced them and realized for the first time just how alone Thea was in the world.
Baby, It's Cold Outside: Men at Work, Book 1 Page 4