NINETEEN

Allison slept until late morning. Liam was already dressed in jeans and a button-down shirt. His ever-present gun was on his hip. He looked relaxed. He’d rolled up his sleeves and was in the kitchen talking on the phone.

She put on her pink robe and headed to the refrigerator for a glass of orange juice, but as she tried to pass him he turned and saw her. His phone conversation stopped in midsentence. Putting his phone on mute, he took a step toward her and pinned her against the counter. Then, with his hand behind her neck, he pulled her to him and kissed her. She felt as though she were melting on the spot. He didn’t seem to be affected at all. As soon as he ended the kiss, he went right back to talking on the phone. She didn’t move for several seconds, waiting until she was sure her legs would support her. When she finally had the strength, she opened the refrigerator, took out a gallon of milk, and walked out of the kitchen. She made it to her bedroom door before she realized what she was carrying. Without a word she turned around and took the milk back. To his credit he didn’t laugh, but she knew he wanted to.

What had just happened? He had kissed her as though it was the most natural thing in the world and didn’t affect him in the least, and yet it had made her weak-kneed. Might as well face it, she told herself. Liam was a sophisticated and worldly man, and she was inexperienced and naive about such things as sex and romance. What meant everything to her was just sex to him. It wasn’t as though he hadn’t spelled it all out for her from the very beginning so there wouldn’t be any misunderstanding. Sex was just sex, he’d told her, and because he led such an unpredictable life, a long-term commitment to any woman wasn’t possible. The fact was, he didn’t like the notion of being tied down anyway. Her eyes were finally open, and as painful as it was, she had to deal with reality.

After she showered and dressed, she returned to the kitchen. Liam was still on the phone. She drank a glass of orange juice and took a bite out of a granola bar that was as hard as nails and smelled like gerbil food. After tossing the rest of the bar into the trash, she waited for Liam to end his call. Then she wanted to know why he thought she needed protection. She personally thought it was ridiculous that Bale, a federal agent, would hold a grudge against her. If he were a child, perhaps it would make sense, but the man was an adult. Didn’t he have anything better to do than stew over his bad luck?

Liam patiently listened as she ranted, and as soon as she wound down he told her that Phillips would be talking to Bale later today. Until then Allison was stuck with him. He would be sure to tell Phillips to ask why Bale was acting like a child. Would that satisfy her?

She didn’t care that he was humoring her. “Yes, thank you.”

Liam turned to make another call.

“I’ve got to get out of here,” she whispered to herself. She rushed into her bedroom, checked her overnight bag to make sure she had everything she needed, zipped it closed, and headed to the door. Liam was still on the phone. She dropped the bag on the floor just as she thought she heard Liam call someone “darling.” Shifting from one foot to the other, she waited until he finished his conversation, then said, “I’ve decided to drive out to Nathan’s Bay. I’ll spend the night there and come back tomorrow afternoon. Why are you shaking your head at me? I wasn’t asking permission, Liam. I was informing you of my plans because—”

He stopped her. “If you go anywhere I’m going with you. Understand?” His voice was unbending.

“Yes,” she said to placate him. She had already made up her mind that, with or without him, she was leaving.

“That was Phillips I was talking to—”

“You call Phillips your darling?”

“I . . . What?”

“I heard you say ‘darling.’”

He shook his head. “I don’t know what you heard, but I didn’t call anyone darling, and if I did, it sure as hell wouldn’t be Phillips.”

She realized her imagination was playing tricks on her, so she didn’t pursue the subject. If she asked any more questions, Liam might have thought she cared. She wasn’t in the mood to argue. She wanted to leave.

“You’re going to cooperate, aren’t you?” It wasn’t a question so much as a statement. He expected her to cooperate.

“Yes, of course. It’s got to get better. I’m staying optimistic. Even though I was informed that Bale is coming after me because I tattled on him. Let’s get going to Nathan’s Bay.” She reached for her bag.

Liam put his hands up and stopped her. “Not so fast.” There was no way he could put a positive spin on the situation, so he was blunt with his announcement. “Phillips wants you at the cyber unit.”

“No,” she groaned.

“It shouldn’t take long.” He managed a smile. Nothing with Phillips was quick. To her credit she took the news in stride. He came to that conclusion when she didn’t start crying. She also didn’t move. “I guess you could try to hide,” he suggested with a straight face.

Allison thought he was serious and shook her head. “No, he’ll make a ruckus if I don’t go in right away.”

“A ruckus?” He put his arms around her and gave her a quick hug. “I like that word. Want to make a ruckus in the bedroom?” he asked with a laugh.

Of course she did. “Absolutely not.” Her voice lacked conviction.

He opened the door for her. “Come on. Let’s get going.”

Usually when Phillips pulled her in on weekends, she took the time to change to her work clothes, but not today. Today she was taking a stand. She was wearing worn-out snug jeans, a cotton shirt, and sneakers. She wasn’t going to change. If he didn’t like her casual attire, too bad.

Liam left their bags in the apartment and drove her to the office. Rain was coming in. Black clouds rolled overhead as they turned onto the isolated stretch of road, and strong winds battered the tree branches. A clap of thunder shook the car, and Allison flinched. Even though she knew it was illogical, storms frightened her. She wasn’t nervous today, though, because she was with Liam. Nothing much ever fazed him, and that was a comfort.

Fortunately they reached the unit and walked inside a scant minute before the downpour. As usual, Phillips was waiting for her outside his office. “London needs your special talent,” he told her. “There’s a small glitch in their system, and they’d like an outsider to look at it.” Then he turned to Liam. “I just got a call.” He gave a tilt of his head in Allison’s direction and said, “He’s coming in. You might want to talk to him.”

Liam nodded. As soon as Phillips went into his office, Liam walked by her side to her office.

“Does Phillips live here?” she asked.

He laughed. “No, he lives with his wife.”

“He’s married?” She sounded shocked.

“Yes, he is.”

“Who would marry that man? He’s a classic type A personality, and he’s obsessive-compulsive. He’s—” She suddenly stopped. Wait a minute. She had just described herself.

“I’ve met her. She’s nice.”

“Who?”

Exasperated, he said, “Phillips’s wife. They’ve been married a long time.”

“I know why their marriage works. He’s never home.”

He pulled the chair out for her, and as he turned to leave, she said, “I heard Phillips tell you someone is coming in. Who is it? Is it Bale?”

He didn’t answer her. He simply walked away.

“You’re becoming as rude as Phillips,” she called after him.

He obviously didn’t understand she was trying to be insulting or he wouldn’t have laughed.

The little glitch turned out to be a whopper, and it took her the entire day to straighten it out. She also found and removed two bugs. Her hope of spending a relaxing weekend on Nathan’s Bay had been crushed. Maybe another time, she thought, trying to stay optimistic.

She closed down her station and headed toward Phillips’s office. She didn’t have any idea when she’d be able to leave. She knew he would want her to explain what she’d found in the London office. With an ordinary person that might take twenty minutes, but with Phillips it could take half the night.

She had just rounded the corner in the hallway when she came face-to-face with Curtis Bale. He looked surprised; then his expression quickly turned to anger. Allison tried to maneuver around him, but he blocked her path.

“I know what you did,” he said, sneering.

Allison was shocked at first and then took offense to his accusatory tone. “Tell me. What did I do?”

“You made yourself look good. You couldn’t find what Scott and Phillips wanted, so you manufactured it. I had nothing to do with those leaks, and yet you did whatever it took to make me and my department look bad. Tell me, Miss Trent, was this all just a game to you, or did you deliberately set out to destroy me?”

“I don’t even know you, Mr. Bale. Why would I do that?”

“Don’t play innocent with me. Are you aware of how many lives you’ve ruined?”

He was becoming more agitated, and Allison could see there was no reasoning with the man. She took a quick step to the side and passed him. As she walked away, he shouted after her, “Gloat while you can. This isn’t over.”

Her heart was still pounding from her encounter with Bale when she reached Phillips’s office and found it empty. She looked up and down the hall, and there was no sign of him or Liam. Checking the time, she realized it was already night. She needed to calm down, and because she hadn’t had anything to eat since the disgusting granola bar that morning, she took the steps to the cafeteria. Even though it was Saturday, she knew it would be stocked with meals for the weekend techs. The dining room was empty except for a table of four men, who were having an animated discussion as they munched on their sandwiches and chips. They stopped talking and turned in her direction when she walked in. Feeling a bit self-conscious, she smiled as she passed their table and walked over to the refrigerated case. She took out a salad with chicken. When she turned around and started for an empty table, one of the men waved to her.

“Come join us,” he called. He stood and pulled up another chair to the table as the other men scooted theirs aside to make room. Once she was seated, he introduced himself. “I’m Sean,” he said, and extended his hand. He pointed to each of the others, saying, “And this is Jeff, Paul, and Andy.”

They greeted her with smiles, and then Andy said, “We’ve seen you around. You must be doing something pretty important to have that office all to yourself.”

Allison’s answer was deliberately vague. “I’ve been given specific assignments. I’m under contract for only a few months.”

Paul spoke up. “I’ll bet they’re complicated assignments. I was in the security room when you came in and found that breach a couple of months ago. I have to tell you, I’ve never seen anybody get to a source that fast, especially one that intricate. You were amazing.”

Embarrassed by his comment, she said, “I had seen something very similar before, so I just used what I knew.”

“Still, that was mighty impressive work,” Paul said.

“Where did you go to school?” Andy asked.

“I just graduated from Boston College,” she answered. When she told them she had lived in the Boston area her whole life, the conversation turned to more personal topics, everything from which restaurant served the best chowder to who was their favorite Red Sox player. At one point Sean pulled out his wallet and showed her a picture of his one-year-old son dressed in an infant Red Sox uniform.

“I’m definitely going to miss Boston,” she admitted.

“Where are you going?” Jeff wondered.

“I plan to move to California when my contract is up,” she answered. “I’d like to start my own software company.”

“That’s a shame,” he responded. “We could sure use your talents around here.”

While the men around her continued to talk, her thoughts began to wander toward her future. She had planned everything so carefully. Just as soon as she could, she would move to California and start her company. No more long hours under Phillips’s thumb. No more interruptions to her life by FBI agents. In California, she would be her own boss. It was exactly what she wanted, wasn’t it?

On the other hand, she loved Boston. This was her home and she had good friends here. Why did she have to go to Silicon Valley to take on the boys? She could do that here . . . anywhere, actually, as long as she had a computer. As surprising as it was to admit, the idea of staying was appealing. Who knew she was going to like the work at the cyber unit so much? Certainly not her. She did like it, though—very much, as a matter of fact. Who wouldn’t have loved solving problems all day? The men at the table were friendly and intelligent and interesting. Working alongside them would be fun.

Jordan had asked to be part of the new venture, and together they could build a great company. Both of them could continue to write code and design software. Jordan could also fine-tune what Allison had already created. The two of them had other commitments, so it would be a slow-growing company, but that didn’t bother Allison. If she stayed in Boston, she’d be able to continue her work at the cyber unit, though she would have to renegotiate the terms of her employment. She absolutely was not going to continue to work eighty-hour weeks. The more she thought about the possibilities, the more excited she became. She felt as though a weight had just been lifted, and she couldn’t wait to tell Jordan.

The topic at the table turned to new and innovative software that was being developed. When the talk became even more technical with a discussion about coding, Allison realized not only was she having a wonderful time, but she was where she belonged.

Liam found her surrounded by the four men. They were all smiling like simpletons and hanging on her every word. He grabbed a couple of sandwiches from the refrigerator, pulled out a chair from another table, and pushed it next to hers, then sat. He knew he was being territorial, but that didn’t stop him. He draped his arm around her shoulders and gave her admirers the “get the hell out of here” look. They got the message and one by one left the table.

“I think you scared them,” she said, frowning over the possibility.

“Thanks. It’s nice you noticed.”

“I wasn’t complimenting you,” she replied.

“Sure sounded like it.” He tore into the sandwiches, drank a bottle of water, and was ready to go.

On the way back to her apartment, he asked her what she would like on her pizza.

“You’re still hungry?” she asked, and before he could answer, she said, “Do you know how many . . .” She suddenly stopped.

“Do I know what?”

She felt silly telling him. “Calories. Pizza has a lot of calories. I’m used to eating salads and snacking on carrot sticks. I’m slowly turning into a rabbit.” Embarrassed now, she shyly admitted, “Old habits die hard.”

He called a pizza place he knew and liked, put in his order, and swung by on their way. There was a liquor store next door. “You’ve got beer, right?”

“Yes.”

“The real stuff, not the light stuff.”

“Light beer is the same as the real stuff.”

He scoffed at the notion, and after they picked up what Allison believed was a ten-pound pizza, they went into the liquor store to purchase beer and Diet Coke.

They’d just gotten home when Giovanni called. “Is this a good time?”

Allison was glad to hear his voice. “It is,” she said. “How are you?”

He filled her in on his hectic life and finally got around to the reason he had called. “I know you’re retired, sweetie, but Maureen, one of my models who is your height and weight, broke her ankle and won’t be able to work for quite a while. It’s a huge event at the Hamilton. I have four models ready, but I need you, too. Just three designers are invited. It’s quite an honor.” He thought to add, “And it’s all for an important charity.”

“Of course I’ll do it. When is it?”

“I’ll e-mail you the particulars, and, Allison, bless you for helping me.”

Liam was standing close enough to hear the entire conversation. He opened a bottle of beer, leaned against the kitchen counter, and said, “That’s quite a schedule you’re filling. You’ve got the Brett thing coming up soon. Now you’ve added a runway show.”

“At the Hamilton,” she volunteered.

He nodded. “And in between those two engagements you’re going to be working your pretty little backside off for Phillips. Anything else you have planned?”

Inside her head, a voice said, “Tonight I’ve penciled in a shower and sex. Tomorrow, I’ll want to hit something, so I’ll plead with you to take me to the batting cages. Then, when I arrive back home, sex again.” Every part of her wanted those words to come out, but she couldn’t let them. In the back of her mind, there was the aching hope that he would want to go to bed with her. She thought he’d liked being intimate with her, yet now she had to reevaluate. He sure wasn’t in any hurry to touch her, which in her mind meant he hadn’t been very impressed. And that, she decided, was mortifying.

It wasn’t her fault, was it? He had far more experience than she did. He’d probably slept with at least twenty women, maybe more, who knew what they were doing. She’d only slept with one other man, and it had been a disaster. She couldn’t think about the god-awful experience without shuddering.

She didn’t respond to Liam’s question. She went into her bathroom, showered, and put on a short white sleeveless cotton nightgown that just reached her knees. Although it was a bit low-cut, she couldn’t see through the material, and she thought it was modest enough. There was no way she was going to make herself vulnerable again. She hated feeling so awkward around him. She wanted to hide, so she opened her laptop and did exactly that.

Liam was on the phone for over an hour putting out one fire after another. By the time he finished work, he just wanted to crash. He opened the bedroom door and stood there, smiling at Allison. She was sitting propped up with pillows against the headboard. Her long, gorgeous legs were stretched out, and her computer sat open on her lap. Her head was dropped down, but he could see her eyes were closed. She looked as sweet and innocent as an angel.

He got ready for bed, and when he walked into the bedroom, she was in the same position. She hadn’t moved all the while he’d been making a racket in the bathroom. He picked up the laptop and noticed what was on the screen. There were three names with a little information about each, and he could tell she had been doing a search for Will’s friends. He was surprised Will had any friends at all. He read the names again so he could check them out, then closed the laptop and put it on the dresser.

Allison was exhausted. There were deep circles under her eyes. And no wonder. She’d been putting in such long hours at the office with no end in sight. He pulled the covers back and tucked her in. She needed the rest. He didn’t trust himself to sleep in her bed again, so he grabbed a pillow with the intent of sleeping on the sofa. He made it to the bedroom door before he stopped, turned around, and went back to the bed.

I’ve got to be out of my mind, he thought, being so close to her. After moving the covers out of the way, he stretched out as far away from her as possible. Fifteen minutes later, he was finally drifting off to sleep when Allison rolled over and snuggled up against him. Her warm body pressed to his was driving him crazy. He wanted nothing more than to have her wake up and reach for him, but that was being selfish. She was exhausted, he reminded himself. He was not going to have sex with her. He repeated the declaration a good five times to fortify his resolve, but it didn’t make his struggle any easier.

Oh yeah, he was definitely out of his mind.