by Lucy Score
But then again, was she really any kind of judge of character?
She leaned back in the chair, jiggling her leg. What was she missing?
Her phone signaled a new email. It was from Jason.
Good morning, beautiful,
Attached is a copy of S’s work calendar for the past few months. I highlighted all of the “meetings” he had scheduled with V in case that helps.
Jason
P.S. I’m still thinking about you. And last night.
She let herself bask in the warm glow of that last sentence for a minute. She had stayed up half the night remembering the feel of his arms around her, his mouth on hers. It felt like a dream.
Unfortunately, like all dreams, she had to wake up sometime. And when she did, it was next to a snoring Steven.
Ashley opened the file on her phone and scrolled through it. The highlights started in February and became more frequent before ending abruptly in April. She scrolled back again. The first “Lunch with V” was on February 16. The day after he ran into Phil.
Coincidence? What could Victoria and Phil possibly have in common?
Ashley crinkled her nose. She was getting nowhere. She made note of the email and its date before returning to the inbox and scanning through the rest of the messages in the time frame.
Nothing else stood out.
She moved on to Steven’s Facebook account. Password123.
His newsfeed and posts on his wall were made up of mostly college friends. No surprises there. She located Phil Barden as one of Steven’s friends and reviewed their interactions. Nothing suspicious there. Photo likes, random comments. But nothing suspicious.
Ashley opened his messages. Jackpot. Steven obviously never thought that anyone would poke through his stuff. There were dozens of messages to and from Victoria dating back to February.
She started skimming. And getting angrier.
If there had been any doubts about Steven’s relationship with Victoria, the messages cleared those right up. It was also obvious who was in charge. Victoria set the times and places to meet, she instructed him on work issues, and she picked out his clothing.
“Wear the red tie tomorrow. I like how it looks with your navy jacket.”
The messages that really got Ashley’s blood boiling were the ones that mentioned her.
“It’s sad that she thinks her little job could ever be as important as your career.”
“How did you ever let her leave the house like that? I couldn’t look at her without laughing at that ridiculous outfit. Pathetic. You know I’d never embarrass you like that in public.”
And of course, Steven’s compassionate response.
“When you have the deal locked down, I’m all yours. I’m looking forward to starting a new job and a new life. With you!”
He was using Ashley as a pawn in a power play with his new girlfriend. The man was a pig. They were both disgusting and deserved everything they got.
Ashley checked the time. She had a few more minutes before she needed to get ready. She decided to take a cursory look at Steven’s browser history.
She had no idea there were that many porn sites on the Internet. And her fiancé had visited every single one of them.
Scrolling through the history, she saw a Facebook address that stood out from the xxx’s. Steven had visited it repeatedly and even bookmarked it.
She clicked the link and, recognizing the picture in an instant, felt her stomach drop. Georgie looking tan and happy on a beach in Cabo in large sunglasses and a very small bikini.
That jackass was jerking off to her best friend.
That little discovery was enough to put Ashley over the edge. She carefully put everything back in its place and deleted the browser history from her session. All the while debating throwing up or setting fire to everything Steven owned.
She decided not to share that little piece of information with anyone, including Georgie. No need to nauseate anyone else with Steven’s creeper habits.
It was time to go to her happy place and pretend that nothing else existed.
CHAPTER TWENTY
Ashley parked in the garage two blocks over and attempted to use the walk to mediate her way out of the funk. It didn’t work.
When she arrived at the store, she was still furious and had the beginnings of a pounding headache, which got worse when she noted two black SUVs parked out front. Both with understated Baine Security decals.
Ashley pushed her way through the door and nearly tripped over the leg of a ladder.
“Sorry about that,” chirped the man — very young man, Ashley noticed — atop the ladder. He scampered down from his perch and extended his hand. Realizing he still held a screwdriver, he stuffed it in his pocket.
“You must be Ms. Sapienza. I’m Dax. Mr. Baine told me to give you a grand tour.”
“Dax?” Was that short for something? “What does Mr. Baine want you to give me a grand tour of?”
“Your new security system,” he waved his arm expansively around the store and Ashley noted several discreet surveillance cameras.
“Ashley! My dear!” A tall woman with dark curly hair made a bee-line for Ashley.
“Barbara! When did you get back?” Ashley threw her arms around the woman and squeezed. “I thought you weren’t coming back until next week.”
“We cut our trip short so John could make his 45th reunion this weekend. But enough about me. Isn’t this wonderful?”
Ashley glanced around the store and spotted two other Baine employees tinkering with electronics and tablets.
“What is all this?”
“Your friend Mr. Baine contacted me. He said he knew the store’s system needed an upgrade, which it desperately did, and that he had a new system that needed to be tested.” Barbara clapped her hands together, sending a half dozen bangles jingling.
“Jason gave us a security system?” Ashley closed her eyes and took a deep breath.
“He did!” Barbara clasped her hands together. “We’re paying a ridiculously nominal monthly monitoring fee, which he wasn’t going to charge us at all, but I insisted.”
The front door bell announced a new arrival. Barbara glanced past Ashley. “I’ll help these ladies, and Dax, you can give Ashley the grand tour. We’ll catch up later.” She winked and sailed off to greet the customers.
“Ms. Sapienza,” Dax approached. “If you have a moment, I’ll show you the system.”
Forty minutes later, Ashley escaped down the back hallway. She was just going to take a few deep breaths and try not to murder anyone. The only ones within murdering distance were just collateral anyway.
First, peeling back the layers of Steven’s deception and disgustingness, making her feel like the biggest idiot in the world. And now, Jason sweeping in and invading her workplace. Damn it. Dwell was her sanctuary. She didn’t need interference here. What the hell was he thinking?
She shoved the back door open, startling a sleek blonde in a fitted gray suit.
“I’m sorry! I didn’t realize anyone was out here.” Ashley stepped out into the sunshine.
The woman lifted her gaze from the tablet in her hands. “Do me a favor,” she said in a clipped British accent. “Stand here and let me see if this works.”
“I take it you’re with Baine, too.”
“Of course,” she said, frowning at the screen. “OK, now lift your face.”
Ashley raised her chin. “Um, exactly what are you testing?”
“Mmm-hmm, now turn around and face the door,” she said, gesturing without looking up from the screen. “OK, look down and slowly turn around.”
Ashley complied, feeling like a dancing monkey. “Stop. Keep your face down. OK, that’s good.” She nodded, still frowning, and made a few more swipes across the screen. “Excellent.”
She tucked the tablet under her arm and extended her hand. “Patricia.”
“Ashley.” They shook.
“Right then, Ms. Sapienza. I’m sure Dax has given y
ou an overview of the system. So let me just show you how this particular piece of it works.”
She turned the tablet toward Ashley. “Here you’ll see a video feed of the back door. It’s a relatively wide angle. When there is movement detected, the system automatically begins recording until the movement ceases.”
Ashley nodded in feigned interest. She was still preoccupied with her roiling anger.
“Now, this is a new feature that’s still in development, but Mr. Baine thought this would be the right system to test it on.” Patricia selected a video on the screen and pushed play.
Ashley watched as camera footage of the back door of the store rolled. She spotted Patricia alone, huddled over the tablet just before the door burst open and she stepped out.
The camera immediately zoomed in and locked on her face.
“Wow.”
“Indeed,” Patricia nodded. “This is the beginning of a line of facial recognition projects that my department has been working on. The cameras lock on to the face and try to capture it from as many different angles as possible. It’s going to make recognizing individuals from security footage much more efficient.”
“That’s impressive.”
Patricia nodded briskly. “Mr. Baine seems pleased with the project.”
“Right. Mr. Baine.” Ashley didn’t care how pleased Mr. Baine was with anything. She was going to have a loud chat with him about boundaries. “Well, thank you Patricia. If you’ll excuse me, I think I’ll go talk to Mr. Baine.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
Barbara had no problem letting Ashley leave to “discuss the system” with Jason. “Please tell him thank you from all of us,” she reminded her on her way out the door.
“Why isn’t anyone else upset by this?” Ashley muttered to herself as she pulled out of the garage. It felt like a ... debt. Who would give so generously without expecting something in return?
Jason’s office building wasn’t hard to find. It jutted into the downtown skyline in sleek sharp lines. The heavy glass doors opened to a marble-floored lobby and a bank of elevators just beyond a security desk. She paused long enough to watch the tide of people entering and exiting with swipe cards.
Swipe-card-less, Ashley opted for the security desk. “Excuse me, I need to go to Baine Security.”
“Of course, ma’am,” the desk attendant said politely. “May I see your ID please?”
Ashley passed him her driver’s license and held her breath. She wasn’t going to be on any list. She should probably just text Jason, ask him to come down, and then causing a scene in the lobby.
“Ms. Sapienza, you are cleared to visit Baine Securities. Mr. Baine left you a passcard, which is yours to keep so you can come and go as you please.”
“I’m sorry, I wasn’t expecting to be on the list. I didn’t tell Mr. Baine I was coming.”
The guard chuckled. “If you’re trying to surprise him, don’t bother. Nothing gets past him.”
So he was expecting her. He was expecting her before she even decided. For some reason that pissed her off even more. Ashley strode toward the elevators, ready for battle.
The doors opened and she found herself face to face with him. All six feet three inches of perfection. And he absolutely did not look surprised.
Jason reached for her hand, which rose automatically to meet his even as she shook her head.
“Ashley. I’m glad to see you. Come upstairs.” He pulled her back into the elevator with him while she continued to shake her head.
A crush of people joined them in the elevator, nearly all of them nodding at or greeting Jason by name. He returned their greetings, using their names, because, of course, Jason would know everyone. He still maintained a tight grip on her hand.
“How did you know I’d be here?” she said, keeping her voice low as the elevator rose.
Jason shrugged and kept his gaze forward.
Ashley let the adrenaline carry her up the 20 floors to where Baine Security occupied the building’s top two floors. When the doors opened, Jason pulled her toward the front desk.
“Good afternoon, Mr. Baine,” chirped the young man behind the desk of Bain Security.
“Will.” Jason nodded in greeting, and without pausing hauled Ashley down the hallway.
She had a feeling the front desk guy was dialing everyone in the office about seeing Mr. Baine drag a woman around the office. Unless it was a daily occurrence.
Jason stopped abruptly, and Ashley smacked face first into his very solid back. He pulled her around to his side. “Ashley, this is Mona. Mona, this is Ashley. Ashley is the reason you are so happy with your birthday gift.”
Ashley smiled reflexively at the woman behind the huge desk that guarded a pair of frosted glass doors. Her silver streaked hair was pulled back in a severe bun. Her jacket fit her slim shoulders in a precise way that hinted at custom tailoring. Her face gave nothing of her age away. Sharp blue eyes measured Ashley behind stylish glasses.
The glass vase filled with a spray of pink calla lilies dominated the front corner of her desk. Lorenzo had outdone himself, Ashley noted.
“So you’re the one who deserves the credit,” she rose from her chair and eyed Ashley.
Ashley had the fleeting feeling that she was a noisy student come face-to-face with the librarian.
“Thank you for the lovely gift,” Mona said, her face softening into a motherly smile, and Ashley felt herself relax.
“You’re so welcome. Jason knows you very well and gave me good information to make suggestions on. He’s obviously cares about you very much.”
“I told you you’d like her.” Jason winked at Mona and pulled Ashley toward the doors behind her.
“Wait a minute, Jason. Before you drag Ms. Sapienza into your lair, don’t forget your three o’clock and I have the forms from the lawyers for your meeting tomorrow morning. So don’t leave the office without them.”
Why did everyone call her “Ms. Sapienza” here? Was there a memo? Ashley also thought it was interesting that Mona was the only person in the building who called Jason, “Jason.”
He frowned and glanced at his watch. “That’s fine. Have the papers sent down to my car.”
“It was nice to meet you, Ms. Sapienza.”
Jason pulled Ashley with him through the glass doors.
“It was nice to meet you, Mona. I’m glad you like the vase —”
Her reply was cut off by the closing doors.
She whirled on Jason. “That was rude! And speaking of, what’s with you invading my store with a security system that I didn’t ask —”
His mouth was on hers, cutting off her tirade and train of thought. Jason cupped her face and moved his lips over hers in an urgent assault.
She melted into him, hands gripping the lapels of his jacket. His hands dropped to her hips, pulling her tighter against him. “I’ve been thinking about doing this since last night,” he said between kisses.
Ashley grabbed on to what was left of her common sense and pushed him back a pace.
“Why did you give us a security system?” She couldn’t cover the breathlessness in her voice, but she did manage a glare.
“Isn’t that like asking why did you throw the life preserver overboard to the drowning sailor?”
“No. It’s like asking why you installed a security system worth tens of thousands of dollars in a little retail shop without asking for anything in return.”
“You’re angry.”
“Of course I’m angry!” Ashley spun around to pace the expansive office. “You went to my boss, behind my back. You invaded the store with your team of tech nerds. And you didn’t even say a word to me about it.” She ticked the items off on her fingers. “Not to mention that isn’t some run-of-the-mill home security system. I can’t even imagine what it costs.”
Jason frowned thoughtfully. “So, you’re upset because I went to a business owner with a mutually beneficial proposal that would keep you and your co-workers safer while working.
And then had the audacity to have my team of professionals install a very adequate security system. All without consulting the business’s manager, who also happens to be the woman I want to sleep with.”
Ashley sputtered. Verbal arguments were not her strong suite. She always lost herself to the mad and then spent the next several hours coming up with brilliant comebacks in the mirror.
She could feel herself losing ground. “You should have asked me.”
“You would have said no.”
“And why is that?”
“Because you would feel like it’s too expensive of a gift and too much of an interference with your job, which is quite possibly the only place you feel in control. Also, you probably don’t want to face speculation about what the ‘hot security expert’ is doing lurking around you and your store.”
Ashley bit her lip. Yep. That was pretty much her argument.
“So you knew I’d say no and why I’d say no and yet you did it anyway?”
“You’re working in an environment that does little, if anything, to mitigate threats.” His tone was clipped now.
She opened her mouth to interject, but he continued on.
“Your store’s system was lacking, which, in this city isn’t just careless, it’s dangerous. I happen to have the resources to correct that. Everyone wins.”
“It’s invasive. It’s ... And why the hell are you so concerned over the store’s safety?”
“Your safety,” he corrected, temper beginning to show. “I want you safe.” He crossed to her.
“What about people speculating about us?”
“Let them.” Jason pulled her into his arms. “I want you. And I want you to be safe.” Ashley felt her resistance waiver. She couldn’t think with him so close, his hands on her.
“Damn it, Jason. I’m not done being angry.”
They grappled in the embrace. Anger warred with lust. Ashley felt him hard against her belly and she couldn’t stop herself from pressing against him. Jason’s hands coursed down her back crushing her to him. His hands slid lower still over her behind and down to the hem of her skirt. With skill, he slid his hands under her skirt and back up, bunching the material around her waist and leaving her legs bare.