Chapter 1

My phone twinkles. “Hey, baby. What time are you picking me up tonight?”

That slick willie Paul Tariq doesn’t reply right away. “About that....baby, we need to talk.”

My blood runs cold. “What about?”

“It’s just not working out, baby. You know how it is.”

My scalp prickles. Then my dread turns to rage. How dare he do this over the phone? The least he can do is face me like a man, but I guess this means he’s not a man―at least, not the way I thought he was. He might have the equipment, but not the balls.

“No, I don’t know how it is, so why don’t you explain it to me, and use small words so I’ll be sure to understand. You told me not three hours ago how much you loved me and how much you wanted to take me out for a nice dinner to treat me like a lady. Now you’re telling me it’s not working out. Which is it?”

Paul’s voice takes on a hard edge. I’ve never heard him like this before. “Listen, Lena, you’re my boss. That’s a recipe for disaster outside of work, and besides, I never really went for dominating women.”

“Since when did I ever dominate you? I’ve given you everything you wanted since the day we met.”

“Come on, Lena. You know that’s not true.”

I can’t keep still. I stand up and pace around my living room with the phone glued to my ear. “What are you talking about? I’ve bent over backwards to make you happy.”

“You want me to give it to you straight? All right. Here it is, but just remember, you asked for this. I wanted to let you down easy, but you wouldn’t let that happen. You are the most controlling woman I have ever had anything to do with, and no man in his right mind would date you if he knew what you were really like. I fell for you in the beginning because you’re so successful and beautiful and....well, dominating. But then I got to know you, and look out! You manipulated me to wring every last drop of life out of me, and you did it all under the guise of managing me on your team. I can’t wait to get as far away from you as I can.”

I stop pacing. I can’t be hearing this....again. “So what about work? How’s it going to be with us working together?”

Paul regains his composure. He could be talking to my answering service. “When you get to work on Monday morning, you’ll find my letter of resignation on your desk.”

A lump sticks in my throat, but I keep my voice calm no matter what. “Where will you go? What will you do?”

“I didn’t want to say anything until I was sure, but I just got offered the management position at Tempo & Sons.”

I gasp. “The competition? How could you do that? How could you stab our company in the back after all the work we’ve done together? I thought you believed in this company.”

“That’s just like you, Lena. You think everyone is as obsessed and driven as you are. Some people aren’t, you know. I had to get away from you. That’s all there is to it, and with the experience I gained working under you, Tempo & Sons made me a very attractive offer.”

I close my eyes, but I can’t shut the raw truth out of my mind. “Fine, then. If that’s the way it’s going to be, I’m better off without you.”

Paul snorted. “Yeah, right.” He hangs up, and the phone goes dead.

I stare at the screen for a second while the tragic reality sinks into my tortured soul. Then I hurl the phone across the room with a feral shriek. I spin away and stride across the room, as far away from that phone as I can get.

I pace up and down in front of the full-length windows overlooking the central city, but when I gazed out over the park, my emotions catch up with me. I collapse on my cream leather couch, my shoulders slumped, and I sob into my hands.

How many times have I gone through this same ordeal over the years? I can twirl these men around my little finger for so long before they break and run in the opposite direction. My luxurious condo apartment on the upper floors of an expensive building in the city’s center doesn’t hold them. I always wind up alone in the end. Will I ever be able to trust anyone enough to love them and let them love me?

I throw my head back and blink the tears out of my eyes. I can’t let that scum drag me down. I have too much going for me in life. I rush across the room and retrieve my phone from the cushions of my recliner. At least the cushions protected it from destruction. I’ve replaced my phone four times in the past year after random outbursts of emotion, but at least I had them in the privacy of my own apartment. I never let myself lose control at work or in public.

I tap my phone and call Tanya Reynolds. Tanya always answers right away. “Hey, girl. What’s up?”

“I thought you might like a break from all the wedding plans to go out for a drink.”

“What’s the occasion?”

“Does there have to be an occasion to get together with my best friend? I want to see you. Isn’t that enough?”

“You’re sweet, but I can’t. I’m sorry. I have to go to a cake tasting with Ron.”

“Do you have to do that now? Can’t you postpone it?”

“Sorry, honey. I already forgot about it once and had to reschedule it for now. If I don’t go, there’s a $500 fee. Let’s do it tomorrow.”

I can’t exactly say, “But I need you RIGHT NOW!” I couldn’t bear the indignity of that, so I just say, “Okay. Call me when you’re ready.” Then I hang up.

Well, I can’t sit around an empty apartment all day. I have to get out into the open air. That’s the best way I know to deal with these situations, and heaven knows, I’ve dealt with enough of them.

I take the elevator down to the parking garage and head out to the state forest. Even the drive does me good, and by the time I park and look out over the unspoiled countryside, I can see past Mr. Slick Willie to life beyond. There are plenty of other fish in the sea, and they all want a tall, athletic woman with a decent disposable income. I’ll have another man begging to take me out before the end of the week.

I think I might go to my favorite watering hole tonight and pick me up something nice and muscular. The idea excites me, and I head down the trail with a smile on my face.

I enjoy pushing my limits, and I’m panting by the time I get up to the lookout. I can feel the blood rush to my cheeks, and my hair waves down into my eyes, but I’m happy again. The pure air clears my head and cheers me up no end.

I slow down when I get to the top when I spy two guys standing next to the wooden lookout bench. I don’t mind the look of them, and they give me that knowing smile to tell me they’re thinking the same thing.

“Do you guys come up here much?”

“Not much.” The shorter one has beautiful blue eyes and curly hair. “We’re visiting from out of town.”

“What brings you to town?” I ask.

“A business meeting.” The other one is slimmer, but just as strong and square around the shoulders. He has straight dark hair and bright black eyes. Yum.

“Too bad about that. Do you get out much when you’re not in business meetings?”

“This is our first outing.”

Outing? I haven’t heard that word since kindergarten. They might be foreign, but they don't have any accent. “I’m going out to a bar I know tonight. You guys should come along.”

The tall one gives me a gorgeous smile. “We just might do that.”

I hand him one of my business cards. “Here’s my number. Give me a call, and I’ll tell you how to get there.”

Tall Boy pockets the card. “Great. Talk to you later.”

I tear myself away. I’ve done everything I can do. If they don’t call, I’ve lost nothing by trying. I head downhill, but I haven’t gone more than a dozen yards when I notice clouds gathering around the hilltop. That’s strange. I didn’t notice them there before. I must have been distracted.

I walk faster. The first raindrops patter on my cheeks, but I catch sight of the parking lot. There’s my car, and just in time. The sky opens up and pelts me with rain. I break and run for it, but just as I cross out of the trees into the open, a woman’s scream rips through the woods. It sets my hair on end, and I look back over my shoulder.

If I don’t get into my car right now, I’ll get soaked, but I can’t ignore that scream. People don’t scream like that unless they’re in serious trouble. Whoever it is keeps screaming and yelling, “Help! Help!”

I hesitate for a fraction of a second. I really don’t want to go back out into that storm, but I have to go back and try to help her. I race back down the path. The rain plasters my hair to my head and neck and runs down into my shirt, but I follow the sound almost all the way back up to the summit.

At the last moment, I veer off into a side clearing, but when I get there, I don’t find anybody but the two guys I met at the lookout. I stare back and forth between them. “Did you guys hear a woman screaming?”

They only shift from one foot to the other. They won’t look at me or each other. They look at the ground and at the trees.

I try again. “You must have heard it. I heard it all the way down at the parking lot, and I followed the sound up here.”

The tall one shrugs. “We didn’t hear anything.”

I narrow my eyes at them. I don’t like this at all. Something tells me to get out of there in a hurry when the short one springs to life. He points over my shoulder. “Look over there! That must be the woman you heard.”

I turn around to look and my jaw drops. Bright lights flash between the trees, and a dark shadow shape moves toward me. “What is that?”

I don’t hear any reply, and when I look back over my shoulder toward the men, I don’t see any sign of them. They’ve vanished into thin air.

At that moment, I feel a pinch in my leg, and that’s the last thing I remember.