She kissed his shoulder as she came again, and he held her so tightly she thought she might crumble. When it was over, she lay very still on top of him. The last of the fireworks exploding over the ocean could not compete with the thudding of their hearts.
There should have been something to say. Jessica should have come up with a snarky joke or a reasonable compliment to match his of her. But nothing came. He pulled one of the mismatched blankets over them and tightened his grip on her. Jessica was rarely at a loss for words, but everything she considered saying seemed empty compared to the way he’d just filled her up.
Chapter 11
“I’m not sure I’ll make it out of here tonight,” Mathew apologized to a disappointed Jessica on the other end of the line as he watched the growing crowd surround West Oil.
“You’re bailing on my awesome date because you know I’m going to win this bet, aren’t you? I was right and you were wrong. Life is better without all the glitz and glamor.”
“I haven’t even had my shot yet,” Mathew said through a smile, Jessica’s sweet voice settling his ragged nerves. “That’s not the problem. There’s a crowd of protestors gathering here. I’m sure the news will be by any time now. I’ve got to go down and see what the hell is going on.”
“Protestors?” Jessica asked, sounding concerned. “What are they doing there?”
“I have no clue. Most of the controversy with West Oil is behind us. We’ve addressed all the major issues and laid out very comprehensive plans for the future. I’ve been incredibly clear with James that transparency would be the only thing to save this place.”
“I’ll come by,” Jessica said hurriedly, sounding like she was already sliding into her shoes and running for the door.
“I’m not sure that’s a good idea. This is going to take some delicate handling. My gut says you wouldn’t be the right bull for this china shop. I’m actually glad James isn’t back yet. He wouldn’t be much better than you.”
“Have I not shown you how quickly I can adapt to a situation? You underestimate my skill.”
“I never underestimate you,” Mathew cut back quickly. “But I think the only thing you can’t adapt to is when you see someone under fire, and I’d imagine that’s what I’m about to walk into. Better just stay clear of here for now. I’ll call when I have some resolution. Maybe we can still salvage the night.”
“All right,” Jessica acquiesced finally, and somehow he knew she was lying.
“All right,” he repeated. “I’ll call you later.”
“All right,” she parroted again.
“So I’ll see you in a few minutes?”
“Yes,” she said flatly. “Yes, you will.”
And true to her character, her complicated, flawed, loyal character, Jessica showed up.
“It’s not as bad as it looks,” Mathew explained as Jessica fought her way through the crowd and met him in the back of the lobby.
“There has to be two hundred people here. What are they protesting?”
“I’m about to find out,” Mathew said as he stepped up a few stairs and whistled loudly, drawing everyone’s attention. “My name is Mathew Kalling. I’m the CFO of West Oil.”
A wave of angry voices roared toward him, and he raised his hands to quiet them. “I could have easily had security clear this lobby. You could all stand outside, but I let you in. Invited you in. So can someone tell me what this is about?”
“What a joke,” a woman shouted as she pushed her way to the front. “Like you don’t already know?”
“I can assure you I don’t. I have limited time down here. So now’s your chance to enlighten me.”
“We know all about the plans for West Oil. You’re going to do more drilling; you’re going to dump coal ash everywhere too. You’re ruining the planet, and we’re not going to stand for it,” a bald man with a heavy lisp shouted as he slammed his fist to his palm.
“We don’t deal with coal at all,” Mathew said, cutting him off. “Wherever you’re getting your information it might be time to check your source. West Oil has been transparent with our plans.”
“Oil companies are never transparent. Look at what you did to all those people and their families when they got hurt or killed on the job. You’re despicable.”
“I’m not going to stand here and defend the past issues with West Oil. If anyone wants to have an intelligent and informed conversation about the future, then let’s talk.”
The crowd was not appeased; his words were creating more anger. This needed to go away. Immediately. If the news got here, if James caught wind of the issue, it would be a nightmare. Especially considering how wrong everyone here was about where West Oil was headed.
“We’re not going to stand for this,” Jessica shouted as she stepped up on the stairs next to Mathew. His heart sank at the thought of her throwing fuel on the fire. “I formally request a meeting with you to discuss these issues,” she said firmly as she stared at Mathew aggressively. “I have heard that West Oil is investing heavily in safety and training of their employees. I’ve heard you plan to close and convert many of your rigs and move more toward utilizing alternative fuel and power sources. But how do we know this is the case?”
Mathew leveled his face and addressed Jessica as though she were a stranger, which in this moment of sheer adoration of her was harder than he thought it would be. “You have my word,” he asserted. “You have the word of James West Jr.” The grumbles in the crowd grew but quieted when Jessica cut in.
“You can understand the concern,” she said, propping a hand up on her hip as though she wasn’t convinced.
“I can,” he said, nodding gently. “I do understand. But I’m asking you to consider your sources of information. Where did you hear this garbage about coal ash? I know if you all dig deep you’ll find it’s lies. Until you get that answer West Oil will continue to be an open book. We’ve been regularly releasing where we’ve been funneling investments into the company. Ask our employees. Ask them if things are changing and getting better. They’ve all been equipped with better safety technology. They’ve all been given schedules of training and certifications that will make them better prepared to do their jobs. As far as the environment goes,” Mathew said, turning toward the crowd, “you can quote me on this: There will be no other company with the capacity of West Oil that will do more to clean up this industry. We’ll start with our own deficiencies and opportunities. But we won’t stop there. We’ll be champions of your cause. We’ll be pioneers. I can promise you that. So don’t stand here and block our way, stand with us.”
“You expect us all to just go home?” Jessica asked, now playing the part of angry protestor a little too well in Mathew’s opinion.
“No,” he said, waving his security guard over. “This is Daryl. Daryl is going to order some pizza. You are all welcome to stay for dinner. I have some meetings I have to attend, but I encourage you to please stay.”
“Are you trying to buy us off with some peperoni?” Jessica sniped, looking over her shoulder at the crowd who appeared torn. Were they more hungry or angry? They didn’t seem sure.
“Of course not,” Mathew said disarmingly with a smile. “You’re all planet-loving, sign-making activists. I’m sure most of you are vegetarians. We’ll do half peperoni.”
A roaring laughter rolled up from the crowd, and people’s shoulders seemed to settle. “This is Texas,” a man shouted. “Even us earthy crunchy environmental folk still eat meat here. Don’t get carried away.”
Like a live bomb Mathew felt as though he’d skillfully cut the correct wire to abruptly stop the ticking timer. “I appreciate everyone’s passion here. Let’s see if we can turn it into something good. Anyone against a few beers?” Mathew asked, glancing out over the crowd that looked on the brink of cheering his name. “Daryl, let’s get some beers in here too. Nothing gets the good ideas flowing like some cold ones. And let’s move this to the large conference hall upstairs. More room, comfy chairs. I’m sen
ding down my head of safety and a member from the executive team to answer any questions you have.”
He felt Jessica sidle up to him and follow him toward the elevators.
“Call the news,” he said in a low whisper.
“I thought you were trying to keep this quiet,” Jessica countered.
“That was before I just turned a protest into a pizza party. That shit needs to be on the front page.”
“It’s amazing what some food and beer can accomplish.” She laughed.
“And maybe some help from the most beautiful fake protestor I’ve ever seen.” The urge to kiss her was rising in him. “Sorry you didn’t get your date. I know how much you like to prove you’re right, and you lost your chance for the evening.”
“We’re still going to have our date,” she said, blinking her sultry eyes at him. “All these people are going to stuff themselves with pizza and beer, and while they are we’re going to slip away. My date was planned for here anyway.”
“For here? The West Oil corporate office? How could you possibly spin that into a date?”
“Meet me on the roof in fifteen minutes,” she said, sauntering away from him before he could argue. He had a valid point to make if she would have stuck around long enough to hear it. Mathew had tried to treat her to a rooftop date not so long ago, and she went running for the hills. The hypocrisy was not lost on him.
But he soon found this was different. When he pushed open the heavy metal door and stepped out into the night air, there was no private band or white clothed table. There were no candles lined across the perimeter or bottles of champagne on ice.
“I’ll be honest,” he joked as he looked around the stark roof. “I was expecting something bigger.”
“Bigger is always better, right?” Jessica asked as she patted the beanbag chair next to her.
“How did you even get these things past security?” he asked, eyeing the brightly colored, back-breaking, poorly designed chairs. “More importantly where do you keep the time machine you used to go back and find them?”
“I called Libby, and she forced James to make calls to have stuff brought up here. Have a seat already.”
“I haven’t sat in one of these since middle school.”
“I know you’re probably ordering chairs from Italy that are made from plaster molds of your ass cheeks that you’ve mailed over there.”
“You’ve bought chairs from Tony Palgrino Designs before?” he asked, raising a brow and loving the exasperation in her reply.
“Are you sitting or what?” she asked, shrugging as though she didn’t care. “I put a lot of thought into this date.”
Mathew looked over at the small table between the two chairs as he finally sat down. It was covered with bowls of assorted candy.
“I didn’t know which kinds you liked,” she said as she snatched up a handful of licorice. This quiet moment with her, the way she flashed her eyes up at him as she nibbled on her long string of candy, had him half hard.
“We’re going to just eat candy and sit on the roof?” he asked, finally settling into the large pink beanbag chair.
“No,” she said through a mouthful of candy. “I’m going to kick your ass in this.” Jessica reached to her side and pulled a box to her lap.
“Scrabble? We’re going to eat candy and play a board game?”
“When’s the last time you played one?” she asked in her familiar ready-to-fight voice. “When’s the last time you didn’t have your phone in your face trying to fire off one more email. When’s the last time you did something this simple?”
Jessica reached down again and grabbed two beers. “I don’t think it’s that you don’t want to play, I think you’re scared I’m going to beat you so bad you won’t be able to show your face tomorrow.”
“Oh please,” he chuckled. “I’m going to crush you.”
“It sounds like we should raise the stakes, how about strip scrabble? Or are you too chicken?”
“I’m not too chicken to see you naked when you lose,” he teased, hurrying to open the game box and line up his tiles.
“Bring it on.”
Chapter 12
“You’re going to be upset.” Jessica was fidgeting with the oversized sleeve of her sweater as she stood in the doorway of his office. He couldn’t imagine she was right. Things were going so well it would take a lot to upset him.
“You’re not backing out of my week. You have to jump through all the hoops.” He leaned in his chair and expected her to come farther into his office, but she didn’t. Her unease was beginning to feel contagious.
“It’s not that I don’t want to. But I’ve got a job on a movie, and I can’t turn it down. If I do it’ll mean I’m going to have to travel to find my next gig. Nothing is popping up around here, and I’d like to stay in town.” She was avoiding the end of that sentence, and he couldn’t blame her. It felt early to admit Jessica wanted to stay close by because she wasn’t ready to walk away from the start of something between them.
“I get it,” Mathew said earnestly. “I’m glad to hear you’ll be staying in town, and you’ve found work. I can wait for my week until you have more time. What’s the movie?”
“It’s Pierre’s actually,” she explained, her sheepishness morphing suddenly into confident defiance. “An action movie, I’ll get to do lots of gore and blood makeup. It’s a welcomed change after that romantic comedy.”
“What?” he asked, assuming he must have heard her wrong. “You aren’t seriously going to work for that asshole.”
“I’ll never even have to see him. Trust me, I made my demands clear when I said yes to the job.”
“So he reached out to you,” Mathew said as though she were missing the point. “I trust you. It’s him I don’t trust. Pierre doesn’t seem to give a shit about people’s boundaries or demands. I had to strangle him to get him to back down.”
“I’ll be fine,” Jessica said, tossing her chin up. “I know you saw me in a moment of weakness with him, but like I told you, I was just shocked. I have it under control.”
Mathew clenched his jaw. “I don’t like it,” he admitted flatly. “Why do you think he called you? There aren’t any other makeup artists in the state he could hire? For Christ’s sake, he could get someone from anywhere in the world. But he just has to have you?”
“And it can’t be because he knows I’m talented and hard-working?” Her hands perched high on her hips now, and Mathew knew he was about to set a foot onto burning hot coals. It wasn’t too late to turn back. He could tell Jessica he respected her judgment, believed in her talent, and would support her decision. But there was one problem. Mathew had a dick, which meant sometimes he was a dick. Even when he knew better.
“You’re a smart girl, Jessica,” he started, and it was clear she had some hope that he’d choose the right path, but it was quickly dashed. “Don’t make a dumb choice because of some guy you’re obsessed with. You and I have something. If you need money, I’ll give you money.”
“Not one more word,” she ordered, tossing a finger in the air. “I like you. You’re about to make me hate you. When I hate someone I commit to it. So if you care about me at all you won’t say another word.”
“I do care,” he argued, but she waved her finger again.
“Zip it,” she barked.
“That doesn’t work on me,” he retorted, rising from his chair and placing both his palms down on his desk. “Don’t take this job. It’s a bad idea.”
“Bye, Mathew,” she said so casually he didn’t take her seriously at first. But her back was all he saw as she strode away.
“Fuck,” he grumbled as he yanked his cell phone from his pocket and dialed James’s number. “Where are you?”
“I’m about to sit down for a meeting with the head of our safety division. You were supposed to be here too. But I’m guessing you’re not coming.”
“Has Libby told you about this Pierre guy?” Mathew asked, uncharacteristically avoiding th
e conversation related to work.
“Yes,” James said, clearly trying to tamp down his annoyance. “But it’s a no to this meeting, right?”
“That asshole just hired Jessica for his movie. He’s a manipulating bastard, and he’s going to take advantage of her again. He’s going to—”
“Steal her away from you?” James interrupted, lowering his voice so the people around him couldn’t hear.
“I’m calling my brother,” Mathew said angrily.
“No.”
“Yes. We left him in the lurch back in Boston. He was pissed we didn’t go ahead with the launch of our company, leaving him out of the job as head of security. But I know him. If I ask him to come solve this problem, he will.”
“I am a short-tempered, hot-headed, unforgiving son of a bitch who gets us in plenty of trouble, right?”
“Yes,” Mathew replied tentatively.
“Well, I look like a fluffy adorable kitten next to Emmitt. You cannot bring your brother in right now. Things with West Oil are finally getting on track. He’s going to bring us a lot of unwanted attention when he fixes your problem. We have a head of security for West Oil. I’ve known him most of my life. I trust him. Just give him a call.”
“This is personal,” Mathew argued. “He’s going to pay if he hurts her. Your company man won’t be willing to go far enough will he? I’m calling Emmitt.”
“You’re really into her, aren’t you? I knew she was taking up a lot of your time, but I didn’t realize you were ready to do battle to keep her.”
“It’s not about keeping Jessica to myself; it’s about keeping her from him. You didn’t see her that night when she bumped into him. It was like she’d seen a ghost. I don’t like the control he has.”
“Libby would tell me to tell you to just talk to her.”
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