Chapter Sixteen
The building might have been in the exact same place and hadn’t been modified by paint or construction in the short amount of time she’d been away. But it was different.
Judy stared out the window of the passenger side of her car.
Rick pulled the car up to the curb and cut the engine.
“We’ll take this one step at a time.”
Her answer was a nod.
“Today is walking through the door, getting through the stares and questions. I’ll be on your floor before five to take you home.”
“I can meet you down here.”
“Humor me.”
Fine. Humoring Rick until she found her sea legs again was OK by her.
“Let’s do this,” she said as she pushed from the car with her purse in her hand.
He walked around the front of the car and placed a hand on the small of her back. “Ready?”
She’d brushed her hair around the section that was removed to stitch her up and knew that scar was hidden. Long sleeves were useful to hide her arm and the carving the butcher left with her. A little foundation, a lot of concealer, and it didn’t look as if she’d had too many nights without sleep.
They walked together inside the building. Already the air conditioning was working overtime to keep the heat outside.
The lobby consisted of a security desk with a guard that stood behind it watching everyone as they walked in. He’d offer a good morning and addressed many people by name. There wasn’t a checkpoint that only employees of the building could walk past, and she and Rick sailed by the security guard without any words.
She didn’t notice the stares until they stood by the elevators waiting for the lift.
“Is that her?” someone whispered behind them.
Rick must have heard the question, too. His hand kneaded her lower back and he inched closer.
Inside the elevator was worse. Besides her and Rick there were seven more people crammed in. All except one person kept glancing her way.
The slow, steady climb, with several stops along the way, took way too long.
Rick led her from the elevator and onto the floor that belonged to Benson & Miller Designs.
Nancy popped her head up from the reception desk and opened her mouth like a guppy. She swiped the headset from her head and walked around the desk. “Oh my God . . .”
Rick stood back as the woman wrapped her arms around Judy as if they were the best of friends.
“We heard . . . we all heard.” Nancy stood back. “Are you all right?”
“I’m better now, thanks.”
“My ex loved using his fists. I know it’s not the same, but if you ever need to talk.”
“Thanks, Nancy.”
Nancy slid her eyes to Rick for the first time. “Wow . . . boyfriend or bodyguard?”
He glanced at Judy and started to answer.
“A little of both,” she answered for him.
Those dimples made an appearance and he winked.
“Do you have a brother?” Nancy asked.
Judy felt laughter in her gut.
“Just me,” Rick answered.
Nancy fanned herself and turned her back so only Judy could see her face. He’s hot, she mouthed.
Judy walked into her office, giggling.
Her cubicle hadn’t changed much in her absence. It was tidier than she left it and in the corner sat the tube holding the plans she’d been taking home the night of the attack. Her gaze caught the tube and held.
“This is your desk?” Rick asked.
“Yeah.”
The tube hit the ground first. Over her staccato breaths, she heard it rolling away.
“Babe?”
Shut up, bitch.
“Judy?”
His breath was on her ear, blowing against her hair. “You’re not so tough now, are you?”
She squeezed her eyes shut and when she opened them, Rick was there, leaning over to force her to see him.
“You back?” he asked.
She nodded. “I remembered something.”
“What?”
“He said, You’re not so tough now, are you? I remember being confused. His words didn’t match what he was doing.”
“You’re not so tough? Are you sure that’s what he said?”
“Positive.”
“Do you remember anything else?”
Something else was there, tickling her head and scratching at her memory. Then it was gone.
“That’s it.”
Mr. Archer walked by her cubicle and stopped. “Judy?”
It was strange hearing her real name from the man’s lips. “Mr. Archer. Hi.”
“It’s good to see you back.”
“Thanks.”
The man actually smiled. “If you need anything . . . or need to leave, just let someone know.”
“That’s generous of you, Mr. Archer, but I’ll be OK.”
Mr. Archer looked at Rick then back to her. “Well, if it changes. I know José is backing up so you can pick up with him. We have someone new in the mail room, so don’t bother there.”
“Sounds good.”
Rick stood and offered a hand. “Rick Evans.”
“Oh, sorry.”
“Steve Archer.” They shook hands.
“Mind if I took a look around, Steve?”
“Not at all. The police already did. I don’t think they found anything in here.”
Rick leaned back on his heels. “I won’t take long.”
Mr. Archer walked away, leaving the two of them alone.
“You won’t blend walking around the office.”
“I don’t want to blend. I want everyone in this place to know my face.” He leaned forward and brushed his lips to hers. “I want everyone to know I’m your boyfriend.” He kissed her again. “I want them to know they will be messing with me if they mess with you.”
She stopped his next kiss. “Territorial much?”
“Very.”
He kissed her again and someone cleared their throat.
Judy jumped back.
Debra Miller stood by the cubicle wall. “Is this a kissing booth and where do I buy tickets?”
“Ms. Miller.” Judy felt her cheeks warm as Ms. Miller’s smile grew wider.
“So good to see you back, Judy.”
“Thanks.” Judy glanced at Rick, who leaned against her desk as if he belonged there. “And sorry. Rick just wanted to make sure I made it here safely.”
“That’s understandable.”
Judy made introductions.
“So a bodyguard and a boyfriend? Isn’t that a conflict of interest?”
“Not to us.”
Ms. Miller didn’t question further. “Security has been escorting all the women to and from the garage during off hours and most of us leave in groups. We’ve all been on edge.”
Judy hadn’t thought of that. She wanted to tell her boss that the attack felt personal, that she didn’t think anyone else needed to worry. Instead, she kept that to herself in case she was wrong. She’d hate to have something happen to someone and be the reason they weren’t watching their backs.
“Rick wants to look around the office. We cleared it with Mr. Archer, but are you OK with that?”
“Be my guest. Why don’t you show him around?”
“A quick tour, and I’ll get to work.”
“Great. I’m looking forward to that project we talked about.”
When Ms. Miller walked away, Judy felt much better about being back.
Meg glanced up from the computer screen and pushed away from the desk. “I think a temporary move of the business is necessary,” she told her boss, who directed her son to the backyard and balanced her not-quite-two-year-old daughter, Delanie, on her hip.
Samantha shifted Delanie to her other hip. “I was hoping you wouldn’t say that.”
She clicked a few links and brought up the database. “If Rick and Neil are right, and the police manage a search warrant, all this information would make it into their hands.” It wasn’t that Alliance itself had anything to hide. The clients that used Alliance, on the other hand, had plenty to worry about going public. “The move will be temporary. Once Rick clears his name in this we can move everything back.”
“You’re right. I know you’re right but it feels crazy to have Alliance anywhere but here. We’ve considered an office location more than once but it didn’t feel safe.”
“So skip a storefront. The phones all forward to the mobile. Keep the number here. Since I’m your main girl on the computer, I’ll take this baby home and set up an office. It will be better for all of us for a while.”
Delanie rejected her mother’s arms and Samantha placed her on the floor and shadowed her while they talked.
“The more people coming in and out of Michael’s home right now the better. The security is stepped up there.” Meg continued to plead her case.
“Fine. I can’t say I’m in love with the idea, but I know you’re right.”
Eddie ran in from the backyard, a handful of flowers with plenty of dirt-covered roots dangling from his fingertips. “Look what I found for you.”
Meg laughed at the trail of dirt the boy brought into the house.
Samantha knelt down, scooped her flowers into her hands, and hugged her son. “Thank you so much. They’re lovely.”
“Daddy says boys give girls flowers.”
“They do.”
Eddie’s big eyes took in Meg’s presence and he turned around and ran back outside.
Samantha put into motion a team of movers to come to the house and, with Meg’s direction, remove the files and everything Alliance, and move it to Beverly Hills.
With a handful of dirt-filled flowers, Meg waved good-bye to her boss and waited for the additional help.
It was after noon when Rick made his way into the house. He stopped at the office door and frowned. “What’s going on?”
Meg continued to pack a box and seal it with packing tape. “What are the chances of this place being searched?”
Rick dropped his keys and cell on the top of the desk with a sigh and helped her pack.
“Hey, babe?” Rick said when Judy walked into the foyer of her work at the end of the day. In his hand were three pink roses.
“You didn’t have to.” But she had to admit she was happy he did.
“I told you I was picking you up.”
She sniffed the flowers and smiled. “The flowers, you didn’t have to.”
“Doesn’t that make them more special?” He handed them to her and removed the tube from her hand.
“Thanks.”
He turned to Nancy, who was packing up her things. “Are you walking out?” he asked.
“I-I’m in the garage. Just waiting on the group I walk out with.”
The office buzzed about the attack in hushed tones all day. Judy knew her presence would get people talking, but for the most part, no one treated her differently.
Like when he’d dropped her off, he parked in front of the building in what was usually reserved for loading and unloading. The security guard outside the building waved and smiled at Rick as he walked by.
“I take it you made some new friends.”
He opened her door and tucked the tube in the backseat. “I’d rather not be responsible for your car getting towed.”
Rick pulled into the mass exodus of traffic and drove in the opposite direction of home.
“How was your day?”
He looked over the rim of his sunglasses. “I’m much more interested in yours.”
She reflected on it as she watched the cars around them. “Good. It was nice to get back to work, do stupid meaningless crap most of the day that kept my mind away from . . . well, away.”
“You went to lunch with someone from the office like I suggested?”
“Nancy. She wanted to know all about you.”
He lent a smile but didn’t comment.
“Where are we going?”
He inched through the street traffic at a crawl. “It’s not the Getty. Just a dinner date to celebrate you getting back to work.”
“You used to ask and now you’re just going for it, eh?”
She really did love his smile. “Yep, that’s about it.”
Cozy and tucked back from the main road, Carino’s tempted her taste buds the moment she stepped from the car. “I love Italian.”
“Much as I want you to think I’m a genius, I asked Meg. She said you and pasta were like this.” He lifted his hand and crossed two fingers.
They walked hand in hand into the restaurant, where the aroma seeped into her pores.
The hostess seated them immediately when Rick told her his name. There was already wine at the table. “Wow. Impressive.”
“That’s me, Mr. Impressive.”
While she settled behind the table, Rick poured the wine and lifted his glass. “To saying good-bye to the word babe.”
Judy held her glass but didn’t clink his. “To first dates.”
She wasn’t a huge wine drinker, but the red was light enough to tempt her into another taste shortly after the first. “I don’t know what impressed me more, the fact that you asked Meg what I liked, or that you confessed asking her for the information.”
“It’s useful having your girlfriend’s roommate working within shouting distance. It will be strange without her there.”
Judy opened the menu. “Where is she going?”
“She and Samantha moved the office today.”
“Why?”
The waiter arrived to tell them the specials before disappearing. Rick’s lack of answering the question made her think he’d forgotten it. “Why did they move?”
He took a sip and looked inside the glass. “This isn’t half bad.”
Now she knew he was avoiding. “Rick!”
He toyed with his glass. “The nature of Alliance is all about privacy. They’re a little concerned about the police searching the house.”
Oh . . . oh. “You’re really worried they’ll try and pin this on you.”
“I’m not worried. Not about me.”
That made one of them.
He reached for her hand and squeezed it. “Let’s talk about something pleasant. Something we can actually control.”
“There has to be a way we can control this.”
“If you figure it out, you need to let me know. Now, tell me about the project you brought home with you.”
Thankful for the distraction, she launched into her design ideas and really loved how Rick listened and asked questions. “I know Ms. Miller won’t pick my design, but to think something grabbed her attention enough to ask me to work on it is huge.”
“Don’t doubt yourself, Utah. Zach and Michael have both told me how talented you are. Who knows where this will take you.”
She pushed her plate aside, surprised at how much she’d managed to eat. Rick eyed her leftovers and she pushed the plate closer to him. That man really packed it away and yet didn’t have an ounce of fat on him. “Where do you put it?”
He lifted an eyebrow. “It’s the workout.”
She knew he must dedicate some serious hours to keeping himself in shape, but she’d not seen him actually do anything but drive her around and come to her rescue. “What’s your routine?”
“My workout?”
The wine gave her a nice little buzz, which beat the headache that seemed to plague her daily since the attack. “Yeah.”
“A little cardio, a little weights, a lot of laps through the boot camp track at the park.”
“Boot camp track? What’s that?”
“I’m sure it’s not called that. There’s a hill course by the house with stops every quarter mile with different activities. Pull-ups, push-ups, stuff like that.”
Her gaze ran down his thick shoulders and a nice hum of appreciation of how he filled out his shirt spread heat throughout her body. Peeking out of one of his sleeves looked like a graphic inked into his skin. Unable to stop herself, she reached over and lifted his short sleeve to see a tattoo wrapped around his biceps. “From your military days?”
He glanced at his arm. “This one is.”
“You have more than one?” She never wanted a tattoo of her own but was always intrigued about the draw for those who had them.
“A couple.”
The desire to lift his shirt to see them herself was strong. “Not going to tell me where and what?”
He shoveled more food in, swallowed. “If you want to see me naked, Utah, all you have to do is ask.”
She gave his shoulder a playful slap.
“I’m serious,” he told her.
“I’m sure you are.” Behind his laughing eyes was a thin layer of heat that if blown on, would probably blossom into a ball of fire. “Can I join you on your workout? Meg and I used to do an organized workout in Seattle that was called Boot Camp. There are programs here, but they’re so expensive.”
“Are you up to working out again?” His gaze softened.
Her bruises were gone, all the soreness of the attack nothing more than a nightmare. “I’m ready.”
“You can join me on one condition.”
“Oh, I’m given conditions now am I? OK, Mr. Negotiator . . . what’s my condition?”
“You bring Meg and let me teach you both some self-defensive moves.”
His request took her back a notch and removed some of her smile.
“I want you safe and I can’t be at your side every second of every day.” It was more than that. He was worried about when and if the police were going to pin the crimes of another man on him. Yeah, Judy had met Russell and Dennis, both “colleagues” and both watching her anytime Rick wasn’t. But Rick was invested.
“I think that’s a great idea.”
“I work out early.”
She narrowed her gaze. “Trying to talk me out of it?”
“I’m like a drill sergeant.”
“Hello, Mr. Marine . . . I’d expect nothing less. If I get to call you my boyfriend, I can’t go getting all soft.”
His dimples put fire in her belly.
Suddenly the restaurant was entirely too busy and home felt too far away.
Taken by Tuesday
Catherine Bybee's books
- Taken by Storm (Give & Take)
- Taken
- Baby for the Billionaire
- Desire by Design
- Saved by the Bride
- Saved by the Rancher
- Tempted by Trouble
- The Baby Jackpot
- Lassoed by Fortune
- Tempted by the Soldier
- Kissed by Moonlight
- Wreck Me
- Seduced by the Sultan
- Seduced by Fire
- Need You Tonight
- Wife by Wednesday(Weekday Brides Series)
- A Good Debutante's Guide to Ruin_The Debutante Files
- An Engagement in Seattle
- Her Two Billionaires and a Baby(BBW Menage #4)
- Chasing Abby
- Crashed(book three)
- Not the Boss's Baby
- Claimed By The Alien (Heavenly Mates Book 2)
- Kidnapped By The Alien (Heavenly Mates Book 3)
- This Lullaby (v5)
- Hello, Goodbye, and Everything in Between
- The House of the Stone
- Trial by Fire