Balancing Act (18 page)

“Lord, I’ve wanted to do that for the past forty-eight hours. I nearly bent you over my desk a couple times. The fantasy was so strong I swore I could feel my hands rubbing your ass, pushing your panties out of the way so I could plunge my tongue deep inside and taste your sweetness.”

He bent now and swung her into his arms. “Where’s your bedroom, Tessa? I think dessert is definitely on the menu, and I am a starving man.”

Tessa giggled and pointed down the hall.

He dwarfed the room with his size. As soon as they entered, he let her slide to her feet, so she could feel every aroused inch of him before he began to undress her. It was erotic to watch him as he removed her clothing piece by piece while he was still clothed in his dinner suit. When she stood before him nude, he let his eyes roam over her.

If he was a man ready for dessert, then she was a woman also starving. Tessa stepped forward and grabbed his tie. “My turn.” She kissed and caressed each part of him she bared, leaving him gasping when she knelt and wrapped her mouth around him, pleasuring him with her lips and tongue.

He pulled her up with a muffled groan and their lovemaking intensified, soon plummeting them both over the edge. As she lay on the silky sheets, he slid the head of his cock along her opening and pushed forward, filling her so they could think of nothing else while he rocked his hips. Seth arched his back and drove into her with a guttural growl of the most intense pleasure. His seed spilled into her and it was only then they remembered the condom still lying on the bedside table.

Seth stroked the hair back from her face. “I’m sorry, sweetheart,” he murmured. “I’m afraid we got a little carried away.”

“It’s okay,” Tessa dismissed. “The timing probably isn’t a factor anyway.” They dozed for a little while in each other’s arms and the next time, Seth made sure the condom was in place. Tessa had no idea what time it was when he woke her up with a kiss on the cheek.

“I’ve got to go, sweetheart, but I’ll call you as soon as I get back.”

Tessa smiled, her brain still fogged with sleep. “Bye, Seth.”

He kissed her one last lingering time on the lips and then he was gone.

* * * *

It seemed strange to be in the office the next day without Seth barking orders from the next room. Everything was so quiet and deserted, as if his mere absence had sucked the very life from the building. In a way it had. Brandon was seldom in town for long, spending a lot of time on the road in both business and pleasure. From the amount of work Seth handled, Tessa suspected Brandon’s share was mostly pleasure, and neither brother seemed happy with that. Of the elder Barlow-Barrett, there was seldom any sign, and she thanked heaven. Seth and Brandon were both strong-willed men, but they stepped around their father like they were walking on eggshells.

Tessa tried her bank again to see if they’d gotten any further in figuring out how the extra money had landed in her account, but they were still reading an error message and no one had filed any complaints yet that any money had been incorrectly credited.

“Can’t you put it in escrow or something since I’ve explained it doesn’t belong to me?” Tessa asked, her patience wearing thin.

“We’ll see what we can do,” the employee handling the discrepancy told her.

Right after Tessa returned from lunch, her extension rang. “Miss Edwards,” the young woman from her bank greeted her, “we located where the deposit came from and the date.”

Tessa listened to the girl and a cold knot formed in her stomach before she said, “That’s not possible. I was returning from Chicago that day, and I would never have authorized a deposit to my personal bank account from Barrett’s travel account. Transfer the funds back to Barrett’s account immediately, and I’ll try to figure out where the error occurred.”

Tessa hung up the phone, perplexed. She didn’t even like to think about the Chicago trip between being stuck in the elevator and the disastrous scene with Seth at the hotel. She was still trying to recall all the details from the trip when her phone rang again with an interoffice call. Tessa checked the caller ID and saw it was Miss Tallmadge, the senior Barrett’s secretary.

“Tessa Edwards here. How may I help you, Miss Tallmadge?”

The older woman’s voice sounded even colder than normal. “Mr. Barrett would like to see you in his office, Miss Edwards.”

“What time?” Tessa inquired as she started to check her schedule on the computer.

“Now.”

Tessa was left with the click of the phone disconnecting. She sat for a moment, wondering at the abrupt summons to Barrett senior’s office. Was he going to dress her down for spending most of the weekend undressing his son? But hot on the heels of that irreverent thought, something else occurred to her, and cold seeped through her. Could it have something to do with the money that had ended up in her account? Was it possible that at the same time she’d been trying to figure out where it had come from, they had also been trying to figure out where it had gone? As she racked her brain about how it could have happened, she walked up to the next floor and down the long hallway carpeted in a sound-deadening pile.

She had been so upset when she came home from Chicago that evening and had rushed in the house. She’d wanted to hide her tears from Zach… Tessa paused outside the door to Alexander Barlow-Barrett’s suite of offices. Her computer and bag… Zach had brought them in. Had he… She shook her head. No way. He couldn’t have known the account number, could he? She went over and over possible scenarios as to how he might have accessed the account as she turned the knob. Although she didn’t want to pin it on Zach, she couldn’t fathom how it could be anyone else.

If at all possible, Tallmadge looked even icier than usual. She punched the intercom as soon as Tessa walked through the door.

“Miss Edwards is here, Mr. Barrett.” Tallmadge examined her with cold, colorless eyes. “Come with me.”

Tessa made a face behind the older woman’s back at her imperious tone, but worry haunted her. She knew Zach had been angry at Seth, but surely he wouldn’t… She didn’t even want to go there, and she knew no matter what happened, she would never admit it might have been her little brother who had fiddled with the Barrett account. She would do anything to protect him. He was a kid.

“Miss Edwards.” Alexander Barrett’s tone was as cold as a nor’easter blowing in as he turned toward her. He did not invite her to sit. “The accounting department has been researching an irregularity with one of our accounts, and it was brought to my attention you might know something about it.”

“Which account would that be, sir?” Tessa inquired, trying to stall for time. Sweat trickled down her spine. If any of this came back to Zach, her aunt and uncle would return to court seeking custody again.

“The travel account Seth and Brandon use,” Barrett said.

“What seems to be the problem?” Tessa asked, but inside she quaked.

“A matter of some missing funds, ten thousand dollars worth. I spoke to Seth, who said you are the only one who’s accessed the account in the last month.” Alexander Barrett paused. “Now, Miss Edwards, let’s stop playing games. Perhaps you should tell me what’s going on.”

Tessa raised her chin. She hated lying, but Zach had to come first. “I know nothing at all about it.”

“Then perhaps you would care to explain the note I have from your own bank saying you authorized a deposit this morning from your account to replace the money.”

Tessa could do nothing to hide her involuntary start.

“Ah, I see we’re jogging your memory.”

“I have no idea how the money ended up in my account to begin with,” Tessa protested, but she knew it sounded weak. He’d caught her in a lie, so her credibility was shot.

Alexander Barlow-Barrett eyed her with all the warmth of a pit viper. “For the sake of my son, who seems to value your…services, I am not handing you over to the police. However, as of right now, your employment with Barrett is terminated.”

“Seth…” Tessa started to protest, but if anything Barrett’s gaze became even more glacial.

“Knows what I am doing and agrees it is the only course. Since he’s out of town and can’t do it himself, he’s left your departure in my hands.” With one last look that dismissed her as being no more important than a speck of lint, he went back to the papers he’d been scanning. “Tallmadge will escort you out.”

Tessa was in shock. Seth knew? He had agreed–without even talking to her? She barely heard Tallmadge as she returned to her desk. She grabbed a picture of Zach and the fisherman’s loop Seth had tied and followed Tallmadge into the elevator. Tessa closed her eyes the whole way down, refusing to let the older woman see her fear at being in that confined space. She ignored the strange glances they received as Tallmadge walked with her all the way to the sidewalk, where a cab waited.

She sat in the back seat, her hands shaking so much she tucked them between her knees. It had to have been Zach, but she would not, could not throw him to the wolves to save herself. They had just a few months to go until she turned twenty-five and could access his trust. Their aunt and uncle would no longer be a threat to them then. She would have to find some other job in the meantime and try to keep this under wraps. No way did she want her aunt and uncle finding out.

All the mistrust she thought she had put behind her surged back tenfold. How could Seth have gone along with his father without even speaking to her? She knew he did what he felt was his duty to Barrett Newspapers, but didn’t what they’d shared give her some claim on a portion of that loyalty? Was this what his words of love were worth? Tessa pushed Seth from her mind. She had to, for her own sanity. She couldn’t afford to think about him. He was like everyone else. When it was all said and done, the only person she could trust was herself. Hadn’t she learned that lesson the hard way?

Tessa called her old employer as soon as she got back to her apartment, but hung up the phone with a dispirited shrug. They had filled her position and things were tight right now. They couldn’t even take her on a temporary basis. She had to find a job, fast. If Aunt Kathleen and Uncle Edwin got any inkling her and Zach’s circumstances had changed... Tessa didn’t even want to go there.

The real problem was going to be replacing the income she’d lost. Zach would start school in two weeks, and she still had uniforms to buy, plus other items on the long list of supplies he needed, not to mention the remaining tuition payments. Tessa poured herself a glass of wine and curled up on the window seat. When the phone rang late that evening, she checked the caller ID and recognized Seth’s cell number. She turned away and let the answering machine pick it up.

Thursday morning she took a hard look at what skills she had. Her degree in social work wasn’t getting her anywhere. She had computer and organizational skills, but she now also had no reference from Barrett. She had waited tables in college to help with some extra spending money and had done pretty well, but again, what reputable restaurant was going to hire her, much less pay her what she’d made at Barrett? Tessa tossed the newspaper onto the coffee table and grabbed her gym bag. She would go to the Y and swim. Maybe she could think of something while doing laps.

Another young woman joined her, asking if they could share lanes since the pool was crowded.

“No problem.”

The woman towered above Tessa and looked like a Nordic goddess in her suit. They kept an even pace, and when they finished working out, they headed back to the locker room together.

“I wish I could just swim every day,” the woman confided. “But I have to throw some running in there too in order to keep my figure or I’ll lose my job.”

“Are you a model?” Tessa asked.

“Lord, no.” The lissome blond laughed. “I’m a dancer.”

“Ballet?” Tessa asked at the same time she was thinking the woman was a little tall for that.

This time the blonde almost doubled over with laughter. “No, I dance at Flamingo Road.”

Tessa had heard of it. It was a ‘gentlemen’s’ club, although it did have a reputation for being high class.

“My name’s Lucy, but at work I’m known as Jasmine Le Fleur. Fancy, huh?” She laughed as if it was all a huge joke. “What’s your name?”

“Tessa Edwards. And my name’s the same no matter where I am.”

The two women shook hands and grinned at each other. Lucy invited Tessa out for coffee. It was while they were sipping away on lattes that Lucy asked, “So what do you do?”

“Nothing at the moment. I just got fired from my last job, so I’m looking.”

“Any luck?”

“Not so far. My job before the one I got fired from was filled and they’re not hiring anyone else right now.”

“My boss is.”

Tessa stared at Lucy and almost spit her coffee out as she started to laugh. “No offense, Lucy, but I can’t picture me doing exotic dancing. I mean, let’s be realistic. You’re almost six feet, I’m barely five-foot-two. You are built and I’m…”

“Built,” Lucy finished for her. “Look, Roberto’s not looking for dancers right now. He’s looking for a waitress. The pay is good and the tips can be even better.” Lucy named a figure that at last caught Tessa’s attention.

“What do I have to wear?” she asked the taller woman, unable to keep the skepticism from her voice.

“It has a top.” Lucy laughed. “And a bottom. Not much of either, that’s for sure, but the important parts are covered. You’d be a knockout with that red hair of yours. Most of the wait staff works six to three. You should come with me and talk to Roberto. I can vouch for the fact that he’s an excellent boss–and a great guy. The shoes are tricky–high, high heels–but you get used to them.”