CHAPTER FOURTEEN
Three days later as I drove to work, my annoyance at Jason still swirled. Who did he think he was, charging into a conversation and tossing threats around? The fact that I’d already confessed to him that Lukas possessed a frightening streak of violence was irrelevant.
Except it isn’t.
I sighed as I turned off the ignition. In my heart, I knew Jason and I would never be regular coworkers. We couldn’t be friends either, not in the traditionally platonic sense. I didn’t know what the hell we were.
Before I exited the car I checked my phone. Jason had sent me a text late last night to remind me he had a personal issue to take care of first thing this morning but he’d be on the jobsite by ten, and then he’d take the cluster of supplier meetings scheduled for this afternoon. I had stared at the text for a long time with my finger hovering over the screen, my pride warring with my inclination to reach out. We had traded some devastating truths about ourselves over dinner at Esposito’s. I wondered about the family obligations Jason had referenced before and if that had something to do with his personal mission this morning. I wondered if it was all linked to anything he’d told me about his past.
Would he tell me about it if I asked?
But I didn’t. I simply tapped out the word “Fine” and plugged my phone into the charger for the night. Yet as I stared at my bedroom ceiling in the dark, I remained troubled by the idea that I’d missed an opportunity.
Since I couldn’t sit in the parking garage all morning brooding over Jason, I headed for the office.
“There you are,” Marnie greeted me when I walked into the lobby. “Marty Lester said to send you into his office as soon as you arrived.”
“What does The Man want this early?” I asked.
She shrugged. “He didn’t say. Better go check it out, though. He was in kind of a state this morning.”
A soft, involuntary groan escaped me as I headed for my office to drop off my purse before facing The Man. The fact that my high-strung boss was “in a state” could be the result of anything from running out of cups in the break room to a catastrophic jobsite explosion.
Of course I’d already known Jason wouldn’t be in our office. I suddenly wished he were. I knew I could face our boss without him, but I’d grown used to the idea that we were a team, at least where the project was concerned.
“Come in, Audrey,” said The Man when I knocked on his door.
I had a flashback to the day I entered this office expecting to be rewarded with the courthouse assignment. And I was. But so was Jason. That day he was already sitting there in all his gorgeous glory waiting for me to show up. He was not waiting for me today.
Instead I saw only The Man, Marilyn from Human Resources, and a very pissed-off-looking Davis Brown.
“Have a seat,” ordered The Man, and I noticed he didn’t meet my eye when he said it. Marilyn was gazing at me with open pity. Davis Brown threw me a disdainful glance and then looked away.
“Good morning, everyone,” I said nervously as I sat. Whatever happened next was not going to be to my liking.
The Man actually looked apologetic as he addressed me. “Audrey, as of today, you are removed as the courthouse project manager.”
My jaw didn’t drop. I didn’t jump to my feet and start shouting. I gazed at him calmly, thinking I must have misunderstood his meaning. “I beg your pardon?”
Davis Brown spoke up. His voice sounded like it had somehow been mixed with shards of glass. “Your obvious incompetence has become apparent to one of our most important partners.”
Marilyn spoke up. “I think the point can be made without insults.”
Davis Brown didn’t agree. “Well, I think Ms. Gordon requires a strong dose of the truth. Not only has she repeatedly dropped the ball, but she gets hysterical every time someone rightfully questions her competence level.”
Lukas? Was Lukas angry enough to lodge some wild complaint?
“Am I being fired?” I asked.
“No,” The Man answered immediately. “Of course not.”
“But you are jeopardizing the largest project the firm has ever undertaken,” Davis Brown continued, addressing me directly now. “And so from now on the county courthouse will be solely managed by Jason Roma.”
His words kicked me in the stomach. I didn’t know what distressed me more, the fact that I was being unfairly removed from a project I was working my ass off for or that Jason might have been told that I’d be blindsided this morning.
“Does Jason know?” I managed to croak.
The Man nodded. “I informed him.”
I couldn’t take a breath right away. Somehow the fact that Jason knew and hadn’t seen fit to warn me stung even more than the demotion.
Marilyn cleared her throat. “Audrey, you’re still a very valued employee here. We want to make sure you’re aware of that.”
I looked at her. Her words were gentle but something in her eyes blazed. Whatever was happening here was bullshit and she knew it.
Davis Brown heaved his heavy body to his feet, his knee joints popping audibly. “Now that this has been handled, I’ve got someplace to be.” He held out a hand to The Man. “Marty, now that we all understand each other, I’ll leave the situation in your capable hands.”
“I’m afraid we don’t,” I said, my loud voice echoing in the conference room.
The two men looked at me—The Man a little uneasy and Davis Brown irritated that he was required to waste another word on me.
“Don’t what?” he said rather crossly.
I rose to his level and tipped my chin up. “We don’t understand each other,” I said. “I deserve to know who has been slandering me so I can decide how to proceed from here.”
Davis Brown’s beady eyes narrowed. “Mark Bracero’s word has been good in this industry since before you were born,” he sneered.
“Mark Bracero.” I chuckled in spite of the situation. “Mark Bracero is a condescending, sexist pig who has probably been searching for a way to kick me off the project since the moment we met.”
“Okay now,” Marilyn said, trying to inject some peace into the room before the situation grew explosive. “Let’s all sit down and discuss this calmly.”
But no one was going to be sitting down and discussing anything calmly, because an instant later Jason Roma flung open the office door.
“Well, look who’s decided to join us,” I snapped. “I assumed you were just taking the coward’s way out with your so-called personal issues.”
“You assumed wrong,” he said. And that’s when I noticed that the fury in his expression was even more pronounced than it had been the moment he charged Lukas Lund. But it wasn’t directed at me.
Jason stopped in front of The Man’s desk. “I received your gutless email,” he announced, tossing his phone on the desk. “You really didn’t think something of this magnitude rated a fucking conversation first?”
“The decision has been made,” Davis Brown declared. “You ought to be grateful for the opportunity, Jason.”
“Grateful?” Jason snorted. “To work for a company that would toss one of its most dedicated employees under the bus? And on the word of an idiot like Mark Bracero?”
I got up and stood beside Jason with a glower at my boss. “You might have bothered to ask a few fucking questions before accepting Bracero’s version as gospel.” Normally I would never use profanity to make a point in front of management. But there was nothing normal about this situation. I cast a sidelong glance at Jason, our eyes locked, and he gave the slightest of nods. He hadn’t betrayed me. We were on exactly the same page.
The Man looked uncertain. Davis Brown looked thunderous. Marilyn nervously glanced at the open door and started to get up, presumably to close it.
“Leave it open,” Jason demanded when he saw where she was going.
Marilyn sat back down.
Davis Brown panted like a bulldog, his florid face a doughy blob of anger that was now directed at Jason. “You little shit. Mark Bracero has been my friend for over thirty years.”
“I don’t give a fuck,” Jason fired back.
“You should,” Davis snarled. “If you give a damn about your career.”
“I don’t, not if it means enduring this garbage. Mark Bracero has treated Audrey with an abominable lack of professionalism since the moment he met her.”
I broke in. “It’s true. The man has made openly sexist remarks, belittled me, and he has consistently refused to communicate with me directly, for no legitimate reason.”
“I should have mentioned it sooner,” Jason said. “I never believed he would take his grudge as far as demanding Audrey’s removal from the project. I owe her an apology for my silence.” He looked directly at me. A tinge of regret flecked his expression. “I’m sorry, Audrey. This is bullshit and you don’t deserve to be treated this way.”
I suppressed a smile as relief continued to flood through me. We really were a team, Jason and I. Bracero and his bitterness didn’t stand a chance against us. “It’s okay, Jason. It didn’t occur to either of us that management would be so easily cowed.”
“Now you listen here,” Davis Brown spat, but Jason shouted over him.
“No, you listen, asshole. Audrey Gordon is a brilliant project manager and the most dedicated employee you have. I am confident anyone who has ever worked with her will say the same if testimony is required.”
Davis Brown blinked. “Testimony?”
I knew where Jason was heading with this. “For the costly discrimination lawsuit I plan to file if you don’t immediately reverse your terrible decision,” I said.
“And as soon as I leave this office, I plan on sending a detailed email to every member of the Lester & Brown Board of Directors to ensure they have an honest version of events,” Jason added.
For a moment utter silence reigned in the room and in the office beyond. I fought the urge to smirk in triumph. The Man now looked contrite while Davis Brown had deflated, his fat shoulders drooping noticeably.
Marilyn, however, was sitting upright in her chair and smiling. I was tempted to smile with her, despite feeling choked up. No one except my brother had ever gone to bat for me the way Jason just had.
“Audrey,” The Man said with an apologetic grimace, “you have my very personal and very heartfelt apology. The decision to remove you from the project was made too hastily and without all the facts. You are reinstated on the project, and I will be speaking to both our lawyers and the board about nullifying Mark Bracero’s contract, given his conduct.” He glared at his associate. “I think we can agree these actions are all in the best interest of the firm. Right, Davis?”
“Agreed,” Davis mumbled in the tone of a man who knew he’d been defeated.
“Good,” Jason said as he picked up his phone from the desk. “Now let’s stop wasting time and get back to work.”
He stalked out of the room without waiting for anyone to respond. I wanted to break into applause. I was sure a few people listening in the gray cubicles beyond the door would have joined in. Instead I shook The Man’s hand, shot Davis Brown one final glare, and left with Marilyn.
“Congrats,” she whispered after we closed the door. I wasn’t sure it was the right sentiment in this case, but who wouldn’t get a big kick out of watching the evisceration of the corporate bosses? Then she gave me another smile and hurried off in the direction of the ladies’ room.
Helen popped her frizzy head up over a cubicle on the other side of the room and gave me a thumbs-up. I wanted to run laps around the office in celebration, but there was something I needed to do first.
When I walked into the office Jason and I shared, he was sitting at his desk typing away like he was finishing a novel. He didn’t look up when I entered.
“Jason,” I said, approaching his desk and flattening my palms on the surface.
“Just a minute,” he said brusquely, continuing to type. He was quick, attacking the keys with a purposeful vengeance.
I waited for several minutes, pulling up a chair as he finished pounding on the keys. This must be that email.
“You could have just taken the golden opportunity and run,” I told him. “But I really appreciate what you did in there. Thank you.”
Jason looked up at me. He hadn’t shaved today, unusual for him. I liked it, though, liked the dark scruff around his jaw. I wouldn’t have minded feeling it against my skin.
“You shouldn’t thank me,” he said. “It’s a shitty world when people have to thank each other for doing the decent thing. I should have mentioned to management weeks ago that Bracero was a problem. It never occurred to me he’d pull a stunt like this. I meant it when I said I was sorry.”
I digested that. “I hope this little sideshow didn’t interfere too much with your plans this morning.”
“My plans?”
“Yeah.” I cleared my throat. “Whatever personal obligations you had to deal with.”
I wasn’t trying to pry, but I could admit to being a little curious. Maybe Jason had had a job interview. The idea unsettled me.
“My father had a doctor’s appointment,” he said. “That was my personal obligation. Taking my father to the doctor.”
I was surprised. From what Jason had told me about his father, I wouldn’t expect them to have a great relationship. I tried to imagine bringing my own father to the doctor and I couldn’t. He would balk at the idea that anyone ought to miss a morning of work to help someone else. My father’s work ethic had always been rigid, uncompromising. Somehow over time I’d begun to adopt the same principles. And I was discovering I didn’t much like the idea of turning into my father.
“You’re wrong about something,” I blurted to Jason, and he raised an eyebrow, waiting for me to continue. “You’re wrong that people shouldn’t acknowledge when someone goes out on a limb for them.” I shifted in my seat, struggling with how to express myself. “Jason, what you did today, standing up for me even knowing it might hurt the career you’ve worked so hard for . . . I don’t have a long list of people who would do that for me.”
“That’s a damn shame, Audrey,” Jason said, leaning closer until less than a foot separated us across the desk. His shirtsleeves were rolled above his corded forearms, and I remembered too well the feel of his strong hands on my body.
I swallowed, then shut my eyes briefly, trying to banish a sense of dizziness. I was glad I didn’t have to fight for my job every day before nine a.m. But I was well aware that the early confrontation in The Man’s office wasn’t the reason my pulse was racing now.
My hand landed on his. “Can I buy you lunch today?”
He looked down. “As a way to express your gratitude?”
“You might say that.”
“No.”
“Oh.” I started to withdraw my hand but he took it and laced our fingers together.
He exhaled. “Audrey, I don’t want to spend a casual lunch with you today, trying to be repulsively professional and refusing to say what’s really on my mind.”
I raised an eyebrow. “When have you ever shied away from saying what’s really on your mind?”
He slowly brought my knuckles to his lips. “All the time where you’re concerned.”
“I’d never guess it from all the sexually charged one-liners.”
He squeezed my hand and flashed his bad-boy grin. “Make this at least a little easier on me, okay?”
“You’re the one who turned down my lunch invitation,” I sniffed.
“Only because I want more.”
His thumb was idly stroking my wrist, making concentration difficult.
“How much more?” I whispered, already guessing. And my guesses were all distinctly X-rated.
But the answer was unexpected.
“I want you to be my date Saturday night.”
“Your date?” Huh? “Where would we be going?”
“A wedding.”
“Whose?”
“Dom and Melanie’s,” he answered, as if it should have been obvious.
The heat of a blush unfurled across my skin. Jason wasn’t suggesting a night of emotionally detached sex. He wanted to bring me to his best friend’s wedding.
“Um, I’m pretty sure you need to clear it with the bride and groom weeks ahead of time if you plan on bringing a guest.”
He nodded. “True. And I did.”
“You already told them you were bringing someone?”
“I told them I was bringing you.”
I gaped at him. “But it’s two days away and you hadn’t asked me yet.”
Jason shrugged, unconcerned with the details. “I was waiting for the right time. This is it.”
“Jason Roma.” I shook my head, startled by how pleased I was over the invitation. “You are full of surprises.”
“So you’ll come to the wedding on Saturday?”
“I’ll have to find a dress.”
“You’re beautiful no matter what you wear, Audrey.”
I’d never taken compliments well and my face grew even hotter. Jason was still holding my hand and I had an irrepressible urge to kiss him. If someone happened to be watching through the tiny square of glass on our office door, I didn’t give a damn. I reached across, intending to give him a quick peck on the lips, but Jason had other ideas. He must have been anticipating my move because his free hand seized the back of my neck and pulled me into a deep kiss full of heat and tongues and unyielding demands. I wasn’t complaining, not even when his unshaven jaw scratched against my smooth skin. In fact I moaned into his mouth and nearly cried out in frustration when he pulled back.
“Say you’ll come,” he whispered, inches away from my face, his tongue teasing my bottom lip.
I was surprised I could form words. “I’ll come,” I whispered back.
Actually, I might come right here and now.
“Good.” Jason released me and settled back in his chair with a small, victorious grin. He was proud of himself. Yet the fact didn’t trouble me in the slightest.
I had a rather goofy smile on my own face as I made my way back to my desk.
“Hey, Audrey?” Jason said from his chair.
“Yeah?”
“Been meaning to ask you, why the hell did you name me ED on your phone?”
Heat rose in my cheeks. “What?”
“There was a day at the jobsite a few weeks ago when you were so engrossed in your phone you didn’t notice that I was standing right behind you. Not thirty seconds later I received the message you’d furiously typed and addressed to ED. Does it stand for something?”
“Uh, no,” I stammered. “Just a mistake.”
Five minutes later, when his attention turned elsewhere, I swiftly grabbed my phone and reclassified ED.