Corporate Fire: Corporate Romance Book 1 (16 page)

“That sounds like a good deal.” Royce held out his hand and shook Jill's.

“You guys make me sound like a paranoid recluse. Next you're gonna be saying I set the fire.”

“Oooo, yeah,” said Jill. “I could sell that story to the press. Hang on. I need to tweet about it.”

Grace tried to whack Jill with her crutch, but Jill was too nimble. They kept joking as they got into the car, but Royce grew silent. Sitting next to him in the backseat, Grace could feel the worry coming off him the same way she could feel his tenderness when they were intimate.

“It's going to be okay,” she said.

He nodded and kissed her, but she knew the worry still ate at him.

They watched the news as they ate pizza together. The fire at Mile High was definitely arson, and the reporters brought up the layoffs as much as they could without directly saying the Java programmers were suspected.

Sitting next to Royce on the futon, Grace put her hand on his and said, “If Jeff did it though, wouldn't the security guards get fired and not you?”

“Do you think they're going to fess up to not taking the keycard when they can blame it on me instead? My only chance is for Ted to have heard the whole exchange.”

“You're up shit creek if you have to rely on that asshole,” said Jill before she took a bite of pizza.

“He's not that bad,” said Royce. He sounded tired and annoyed. “He just has an obnoxious mouth.”

Grace wanted to change the subject. Hearing the same report over and over on the television wasn't doing anyone any good. And everyone had been giving her crap about not opening up. It was time to change that. She blurted out, “I have something to tell you about, Jill.”

Jill drained a glass of wine and said, “Something more than hooking up with the ax man?”

Royce actually grinned and leaned in to kiss Grace like he knew what she was about to say. He probably did.

She clicked off the TV and took her extra phone from the corner of the coffee table. She played with it a moment, and the chimes sounded for the beginning of her game.

“What is this?” asked Jill.

“This is a program I wrote in my spare time. Royce said he'd help me market it, and I was wondering, if you liked it, if you'd tweet about it when I have it up and running.” She handed her phone over to Jill.

“You made this?” asked Jill, sitting up.

“It's awesome,” said Royce. “Totally addictive like those Facebook games.”

“How would you know?” asked Grace.

“I spend my fair share of time on Facebook.”

“How do you play it?” asked Jill.

Grace showed her and watched her friend catch on faster than Royce had. She gave him a sidelong glance, and he said, “Well obviously it's aimed more towards women than men.”

“It's okay. Jill's the queen of app games. Believe it or not, I was planning on asking her to be one of my beta testers before I got laid off.”

“Oh, official terms. You've been reading the links I sent you.”

Grace hit him with a pillow. “I knew about beta testing before you told me.”

Jill paused the game and said, “This rocks. When are you planning on uploading it? I'll tell all my friends about it.”

“I hope pretty soon. I just had a few secret levels to add in because it seems like app games don't have as much in the way of secret levels as other games.”

“So true. Can you put it on my phone? I should go home and get some sleep so I can keep up with everything tomorrow. On the bright side, if we're all out of a job, we'll incorporate with Grace and make her churn out the app games. We can ride on the coattails of her hard work.”

Grace rolled her eyes. “It's not going to be another Flappy Birds.” She held out her hand for Jill's phone and asked Royce to get her a connector from a drawer in the entertainment center so she could transfer the game over. When it was loaded up Jill took off, leaving Royce and Grace finally alone again.

Unfortunately Royce made no move to resume where they'd left off.

He leaned back against the futon and stretched an arm behind Grace’s shoulders. “So I have a suitcase in the car. Should I go get a hotel room, or can I crash here?” He sounded exhausted and definitely not in the mood to pick up where they'd left off before Jill arrived.

Grace didn't know whether to push it or not—their relationship had tumbled into new territory for her from the beginning. All she knew was he'd be gone again tomorrow. “I just assumed you were staying here tonight.”

He lifted up her chin with his finger, and the gaze from his dark eyes smoldered with desire. “I never assume when it comes to you. Should I sleep on--”

“My bed.”

He smiled and kissed her. “I wish I wasn't so tired, and I know that my boss will call me early in the morning. How are you holding up?”

“Pretty good. I'll be glad when tomorrow is over, but not when you leave.”

They kissed awhile on the futon—chaste and tender, her heart reaching out to his more and more. When he finally withdrew like he intended to stand up, Grace took both his hands in hers and kissed the tops of them. “I love you, Royce. I'm sorry about the scene with Jill, and I’m sorry I shut her out when I was let go. It wasn't my intention to hurt everyone. I was so worried about protecting myself that I didn't see the pain I was causing.”

He flipped their hands so hers were on top and kissed them in return. “I'm so glad you're letting us in...” he gave her a lopsided grin. “Well, particularly me, but having Jill as a friend will be really good for you. I love you too, which is hard for me to believe so early on in our relationship. Be patient with me about my job. I have a lot to figure out.”

Grace nodded. He let go of her and stood up. “The keys are in the basket,” she said. “I'll get ready for bed since it takes me at least five times longer to do everything.”

“I'll be right back,” he said with no hint of desire to make love when he returned.

Damn it. Even though she knew she was tired, just having him around was keeping her awake like she'd had ten cups of coffee. She cleaned up, but he still hadn't come back. It really shouldn't take so long to get his suitcase.

She pushed back the worry that he'd ditched her and gone to a hotel. She'd already been through that at the ski resort and didn't want to do it again. But as she sat on her bed in fresh satin pajamas and waited and waited it became harder to think that he'd stuck around.

At last she heard the front door open. She hopped to the doorframe and peered out. Royce left his suitcase by the door and slung his laptop onto the futon.

“I thought you left,” she said.

He looked at her, his face a blank slate. “I considered it. I'm not going to be good company right now, but I decided that would really torpedo our relationship. I don't want to lose you.”

“What's wrong?”

“I drove somebody to arson, Grace. It's a little bit of a wake up.”

“Don't be testy with me. All I've heard is how I need to be patient and understanding about your job.”

“I don't want to fight about this. The CEO in Tulsa is thinking about what I said, but I don't think I won him over. I want to run the numbers again to see if there was something I missed so I can save some good workers.”

“But what about the next job when you have no control over who gets fired? You should be using your talents for something else. You've outgrown this job, but you don't realize it. I'm tired, and my leg hurts. I'll see you in the morning.”

She flipped the light switch off and hopped over to her bed. As she slipped under the covers, she wished Royce would join her and tell her she was right, but he never did.

21| The Police

Grace woke to the sound of Royce's voice in the living room. 7:05 AM. Had he gotten any sleep or stayed up all night? His voice paused and started again like he was talking on the phone. She hobbled out of bed and to the bathroom before retrieving her crutches and hoisting herself out to see him.

He stood in fitted boxer shorts and a t-shirt, his muscles defined like an underwear model’s. Her heart raced even though there'd be no time to make love to him this morning. He held a phone to his ear, but when he saw her, he told whoever it was that he had to go and hung up.

“Hey,” he said. His eyes were shadowed and a tinge bloodshot. If he'd slept, it hadn't been much. “I meant to get up and fix you breakfast, but my boss called, followed by Ted. It's going to be a shitty day.”

She turned up her thermostat, thinking he must be freezing. Not everyone liked the cold, but she usually kept her apartment at 65. “That's okay. Cereal is good enough for me. Want some?” She made her way to the kitchen.

He met her there and wrapped his arms around her and kissed her until she had to break it off just to breathe. He said, “Your apartment is freaking cold.”

“Well, if you'd joined me in bed last night, I could've kept you warm.”

“I'm sorry. I really needed to try to convince the CEO to save some people. And then I had to think about what you said about outgrowing my job. I told you before that it's no fair using my own lines on me.”

“It seems to be the only thing that makes you stop and think,” she said.

He shook his head. “You make me think. You make me see my life in a completely different way.”

“Then you're quitting?” Her eyes widened as she spoke, but her face fell when he shook his head again.

“I can't do that. You got a severance package, if you ever bother signing the paperwork in your folder. I'll have absolutely nothing if I just quit.”

Before she could answer, her phone rang.

Royce let her go and retrieved it for her.

It was Jill. Grace said, “Hey, what's up?”

“I wanted to warn you that the police are interviewing all the former Java employees today. They just came by and asked if I thought any of them were more likely to do this than the others. I told them you were totally psychotic and not to believe your alibi.”

“Is this about me not telling you about Royce still?” The two friends laughed together until Grace said, “Didn't they arrest Jeff?”

“I have no idea. I didn't want to say anything about him because why should I know what happened between him and Royce?”

“I thought I was the paranoid one. Thanks for the heads up. Gotta get ready for my doctor appointment.”

She hung up the phone and said, “Jill says the police are interviewing all of the Java programmers who were let go.”

Royce looked up from pouring two bowls of cereal. “Shit, hopefully I'll be gone before they get to you. According to Ted, the security guards are saying they don't know anything about a keycard. As far as they know, I took all of them that day.”

“You’re kidding me. Does that mean you're a suspect?”

“That means I'm sure they'd love to talk to me, but as far as everyone knows, I'm in Tulsa. I imagine I'll get a call eventually. Let’s eat.” He took the bowls to her kitchen table.

Her stomach churned. Doctors and police officers—her throat tightened at the thought of the police officers. But she hadn't done anything, and Royce hadn't done anything. There was no reason to freak out about the possibility of being interviewed by them. Still, police. They were coming to her apartment.

“I'm not hungry.”

Instead of sitting down Royce came back to soothe her. “It's okay. I have no motive. Why would I want to set it on fire? Ted heard me tell the security guards to get Jeff's key.” His voice sounded pinched and exhausted.

“You're worried. I can tell.”

“Then let me worry. Not you. Soon you'll be all doped up again and trying to talk me into sex.”

She grinned before he kissed her again. It was a momentary reprieve, but the thought of the police being in her apartment hung at the back of her mind.