Taking Care of Business (16 page)

'And I'm saying Leah couldn't have stopped her. Why? Because you had no protocol. If Dix hadn't figured out she'd taken the files in the first place -'

'I should've had her fill out the paperwork anyway,' Leah said.

'None of that paperwork's been approved yet. You can't use something you haven't approved. You can't use a process you haven't approved. That's the whole purpose of this meeting.' Kate stabbed at the file with a finger. 'And that -' she only barely held off calling Blondie bitchface '- employee knew it. She used it to manipulate the system.

She signed the confidentiality agreement and attempted to remove material covered under that addendum anyway. A basic sweep of the network when employees separate from the company would be wise as well.'

Dix took a deep breath and held his hands up. 'We'll get the paperwork approved and all these protocols set into place so this doesn't happen again. Thank you, Kate. Your input has been invaluable.'

Did he just dismiss her? He did not, could not be. That would undermine her and toss Leah to the wolves when the three people from corporate were far more to blame for not wanting to spend the time and money to get the new contract addendums in place.

Kate didn't speak to him for long moments, not wanting to say something she'd regret. Instead she stared into Dix's eyes and dared him to dismiss her again.

In the background, the three corporate folks began to discuss the new policy options she'd presented them with. Leah was silent and Kate knew she'd need to talk to her friend about this whole thing later on after they'd quit for the day. If Kate knew her best friend, Leah was busily making herself culpable for Blondie's actions and probably global warming too.

She just kept thinking over all the things on her 'to do' list without breaking her stare at Dix. A great skill she'd learned back as a second-year law student. Didn't look like Dix's skill was as honed as hers. Hah! He shrugged very slightly and broke her gaze.

'Let's get this session going,' Dix said firmly and stood. 'Brandon, is the room ready?'

Band Boy nodded and went into action. The rest of the Allied people got up, still talking. They opened the door and Kate heard people begin to come their way. But Leah remained seated, looking pale and upset. She hadn't finished her tea.

'Leah,' Kate said, so low no one else but Leah could hear, 'are you coming?' She wanted to ask more but she knew Leah would hate to have attention brought to her like that.

She looked into Kate's face with a smile so fake Kate's mother would have been envious. 'Actually, if you'll excuse me, I'm going to go back to my room and check in with the office to make sure everything's under way.' She paused and looked past Kate to Dix. 'I don't need to be here for this session, right?'

'No,' Dixon said.

'No.' Kate moved in close to pick up her things, turning her back to the group near the door. 'Are you OK?'

'I'm fine.' Leave me alone, she added with her eyes. Kate bit her lip and shook her head.

'You and I are going to talk later,' Kate said before standing again and moving back.

Leah felt well enough to roll her eyes at Kate before she gathered her things and left by the door at the other end of the room.

Kate snagged Brandon's elbow as he made for the door. 'You are going after her, aren't you?'

Brandon looked at her, remembering how she and Leah had laughed together the night he'd met them. He had guy friends who were close, but he knew he'd never understand what it was like for women to be best girlfriends. 'Should I?'

She nodded and let go of his sleeve. 'I think so.'

He smiled. 'I was going to anyway.'

'Good boy.' Her mouth tilted into a grin. 'Don't let her shut the door in your face.'

'I won't.'

When he reached Leah's floor a few minutes later, he found her standing in front of her door holding a bottle of Coke. Her shoulders had slumped and her brow creased as she rubbed it. When she looked up at him, her expression pained, he hoped she'd smile. She didn't.

'You have my key,' she said.

'I do. Sorry. Let me get that for you.' He pulled the keycard from his pocket and slid it into the lock, then opened the door for her.

She pushed past him without a word and set her computer case on the desk. After a moment, Brandon followed. Gone was the earlier sweet tension and anticipation.

He let the door close anyway, less concerned with getting in her pants than making sure she was OK. She didn't look OK.

'Looks like everything's going to work out all right.' He stood in the middle of the room while she stared at him, her arms crossed, without expression.

'I hope so. She could have caused a lot of trouble for the company. Firing trouble,' Leah said in a voice devoid of emotion. 'It could have meant my job. I really screwed up.'

He didn't know what to say to that, or how to make her feel better, or if he should even try.

'This wasn't how you imagined it, huh?' Her laugh twisted her mouth. 'Sorry to disappoint you.'

'It's all right, Leah. I didn't come up here just for that.'

She laughed again, the sound mocking. 'Right. Sure. Then I guess you can just leave now, right? Go on.'

She didn't know him, he reminded himself. An orgasm didn't mean she did. He shook his head. 'Not until I know you're OK.'

'Aren't you a goddamned Boy Scout?' she said and gave him her back.

'Eagle Scout,' he told her to make her laugh, but it didn't work.

She looked over her shoulder at him. He couldn't read her eyes. She twisted the cap off her pop bottle and drank from it, tipping her head back and not looking away from him. He watched her throat work, watched her swipe her tongue along her lips. She acted like she was pissed off.

'Look. If you want me to go, I'll go. I just thought -'

'What?' She put the bottle down and took a couple of steps towards him. 'You'd get to fuck me now? Is that it? You came up here hoping I'd lift my skirt for you again, right?'

He took a step back at the vehemence of her tone, but she'd whipped out a hand to grab his wrist and pull his hand close to her hip.

'Touch me like this, right?' She laughed, low and throaty. 'Like that would fix anything.'

'I'm not trying to fix you,' he said in a low voice, not pulling his hand away because that would be too much like giving her what she seemed to want.

'You're just being nice, right?'

'You make that sound like a bad thing, Leah.'

She dropped his hand from her hip but didn't move away from him. Her throat and cheeks had flushed and her breasts rose and fell rapidly with her breathing. Her eyes were a little glassy, with lust or tears he couldn't be sure and refused to take a chance on figuring the wrong one.

'Your job is to make things work out around here, right? Well, you did that, Brandon. Very well too.'

'Thank you. ' Why were they fighting? And she'd said his name, which made him remember once again the taste and smell and feel of her. He didn't back up.

'So now you think you need a reward, is that it?'

At last, annoyed, he advanced a step to stare down in her face. 'It's not about that!'

'No?' she challenged, not retreating. She had to tilt her head to look into his face, but she was right up in it.

'What's so wrong about just being nice to you? Making sure you're all right? Where's the crime in that?' he asked, angry, his own breath coming faster as his hands itched to yank her towards him and bury themselves in her hair.

'I don't need you!' Leah shouted as both of her hands came up to shove his chest.

On instinct, Brandon captured her wrists as she pushed him. Her pulse beat fast there, against his palms. He held her tight so she couldn't get away. She didn't try. Slowly, carefully, he lifted first one of her hands to his mouth, then the other, to kiss each of her fists.

'But you want me,' he said.

Dix tried not to look at Kate too often during that next session. The set of her mouth spelled trouble. For him most likely.

They'd managed to get Carlina to hand over everything she'd printed and copied from their system. It was over. And it

highlighted the need to institute company-wide protocol. Not just exit interviews but better employment contracts.

'This isn't just a plus for the employer, although it certainly is that,' Kate said in her smooth, cool Katherine voice. 'It's also good for the employee because you need to offer them something as an incentive to sign this contract. If you offer them something long term in exchange for their loyalty to Allied and you show them that loyalty, you'll keep your employees longer and you'll lose the ones who are integral to Allied's system far less often.'

By the time they'd finished, she'd bullied and coaxed even the most reticent of the Allied old-timers into finally approving the protocol he and Leah had been pushing for months.

'Let's break for lunch then. The next session will begin in ninety minutes.' Dix tried not to look immediately her way as the meeting ended but failed.

She was already involved in an intense conversation with Roger, who'd tried several times to silence and bully her to absolutely no benefit. She'd just blinked at him for long moments and then moved on to her next point.

Dix moved in close and joined them.

'No thank you. I appreciate the offer, I do. But I've just transferred to the Philadelphia office of the firm. I'll continue on as you need me. Charles here is more than able.' She waved in Dix's direction without looking at him. 'Too many lawyers at Allied would end in murder.' She did look at him and he tried not to wince at the vicious gleam in her eyes. 'You don't need two attorneys on staff anyway. This was a specialised situation and now it's taken care of. Now if you two will excuse me, I have several things I need to attend to.'

Without another look at either one of them, Kate left the room, back ramrod straight.

Kate didn't let go of her emotions until she'd ordered room service. She slipped her iPod into the dock, found the correct playlist and hit PLAY. She probably shouldn't be listening to Peaches during the workday but she was really pissed off.

That scene in the garage wasn't Dix's fault. She was an adult. He hadn't forced her to act that way. No, Kate had wanted it, wanted the thrill of the illicit contact.

Even the crazy assistant wasn't his fault. Not most of it anyway. His reaction though? That was his fault and it really set her teeth on edge.

Mostly, she was mad at herself for allowing things to go as far as they did and they would have concluded with her making him come all over her hand no doubt. During business hours. While she was on the clock at a conference. That was simply not acceptable.

She could have lost her job. Worse, she could have lost the respect of the community of people she dealt with professionally.

After all the years she'd spent carefully erecting the wall around her professional life she'd nearly tossed it all away and for what? It wasn't like she couldn't have sex with him in private at another time. She wasn't a thrill junkie. It'd just been flat out stupid and she only had herself to blame.

Kate wished like hell Leah was around to talk to but, from the look on Leah's face when she left the session, she had her own problems. Later Kate would check on her but it looked like Band Boy had that handled at least in the short term and hopefully Leah was riding him like a pony.
Heh.

Sighing explosively, she went to the door for the food but found Dix out there with the room-service cart, actually making another order. The nerve of the man.

'Oh, Katherine, there you are. I thought we could go over some of the earlier session together. I've just placed a lunch order and I'm told it'll arrive shortly.' He smiled at her, a sparkle in his eye.

'Charles, I was actually taking a work break for a bit.'

He laughed and pushed in with the room-service cart.

'Sorry to make you work, Katherine. But you know what they say.' He sat and watched as the food was laid out on the low table and she signed for it.

Once the hotel guy left she rounded on Dix. 'What the fuck are you doing?'

'Sitting here, looking at a woman I can't wait to be inside of. I'm a bit hungry though. Those conference bagels are like rocks.' He rubbed his flat belly.

'Your humour is unsuccessful.'

'Look, you're pissed about the whole thing in the garage, let's just hash this out.'

He had no idea. He'd summed it all up as being about him. What a tool. 'I'm not interested in operating on your schedule, Charles Dixon!' God she was being pissy. 'And by the way, why the fuck do you call yourself Dix instead of Charles?'

He had the nerve to laugh. 'If your name was Charles and you wanted to be able to touch real live women and see them naked, would you call yourself Charles?'

She rolled her eyes. 'You think you're funny.'

'I am funny. Just admit it like you need to admit you want to fuck and we'll be aces.'

She sat and began to calmly unwrap her food. Calm on the outside anyway.

'For the record, Charles, even if my name was Charles I'd be able to get women naked.' She sniffed. 'I have actually, more than once.' She let that settle into his brain while she began to eat. 'Also? I'm not pissed at the whole thing in the garage. Not at you anyway. I wanted what we did. It brought me a great deal of pleasure. I'm not some fifteen year old who can't face her own desires, thank you very much.' She took a rather savage bite of her salad and levelled a glare his way.