Baby, It's Cold Outside(2)

And now he knew what she wore under those body-highlighting suits. Thigh-high stockings and tiny black underwear so thin he could smell her through the material.

He shifted as his pants tightened against his fly. “Son of a bitch.”

So much for thinking he’d put his playboy, reckless days behind him. Attraction, sure. That was normal and he felt a kick of it with women at parties and at the gym. But full-scale, ignore-everything-for-fun lust? He’d thought he’d given up that crap years ago after he crashed his third car and sent his sister to the hospital.

Maybe his father was right. The uselessness was in the blood.

After two knocks the office door pushed open. Linc’s chest pounded at the possibility of seeing Thea after an agreed-to morning of ignoring each other. And didn’t it piss him off that the mere anticipation of being near her had him smiling like a simpleton. He needed meds or something.

But the person standing in the doorway was too hairy, too tall and way too male to be Thea. No, Linc knew all about this visitor, including the fact his usual relaxed smile had taken a vacation. “What is it?”

Nick Talbott, friend since college and the Vice President of Campbell Construction, stormed in. Gone was his lazy walk and easy joking. With his head down and his shoulders straight, he stalked across the office, his focus never wavering from the thick folder in his hands. “We have a problem.”

They were balancing multiple projects, including the biggest one of their careers. The same one on the verge of falling apart thanks to an information leak. Then there was the part where Linc had broken every HR rule on the books by sleeping with his assistant and probably a few more by mentally planning when he could do it again.

That sort of shit tended to throw a guy off his stride. “Only one?”

“The report came back.” Nick stopped on the opposite side of the desk and dropped a thick file. It landed with a thwap against the wood top.

Linc’s gaze went from the closed folder to Nick’s face. The tic in his friend’s cheek couldn’t be good. “What’s with the dramatics?” Linc asked.

“It’s about Thea.”

His stomach hollowed out. There was no fucking way the news got out this fast. They’d been careful. He’d dropped her around the corner this morning, and she came in with coffee alone, as if she’d gone out for a beverage run after parking her car in the downstairs garage early. He’d sauntered in, forcing his gaze away from her as he slipped by her desk fifteen minutes later.

“Linc, do you hear what I’m saying?”

“Not really.”

Nick’s expression had what’s wrong with you written all over it. “How can you be this calm?”

“What are we even talking about?” Linc asked, trying to sound cool even as he wondered if he should call his business attorney for a reality check.

“Thea.”

“You said her name already.” And it looked as if that cheek tic Nick had picked up wasn’t going away, which meant Linc couldn’t outmaneuver this one. Leaning back in his chair, he forced his shoulders to relax. Going in defensive was not the right strategy with Nick. They’d known each other too long. “I can explain last night.”

Nick frowned. “Okay.”

“I take full responsibility. Not that I regret a damn thing, but there are rules and I ignored them. There was probably a smarter way to go about it, with a contract or something.”

“A contract?”

“But, really, who wants to plan these things.” And since Linc intended to keep on ignoring the rules and contracts and everything else that sucked the life out of mattress time, he needed to speak with HR about easing up on the no-office-dating rule. Seemed a bit strict and unbending now anyway. If coworkers wanted to date, the office could figure out a way to separate that out from harassment and coercion.

Nick dropped into the closest chair. Silence fell over the room as he continued to stare.

Fine with Linc. He’d grown up with a feisty baby sister who liked to torment him by playing games like this. She’d been engaging in them since she was two and he turned nine. Twenty-five years later he could win trophies for knowing when to stay silent versus spilling his guts to fill the quiet.

The chair creaked as Nick leaned forward with his elbows balanced on his knees. “What the hell are you talking about?”

“Huh?”

“The last three minutes. You rambled on about something. I’ll be damned if I know what.”

No way was Linc biting. “It’s nothing.”

“Feels like something. What the fuck is going on?”

So this is what happened when grown-ups acted like naughty teenagers. They made up excuses and got caught in their own fumbling. Linc had no idea how the businessmen he knew conducted their clandestine affairs. Remembering the stories, juggling routines. Even ignoring how stupid fooling around was, who the hell had time for this shit?

“You go first.” As the boss, Linc figured he was entitled to make that demand.

Nick steepled his hands together. “The trail leads back to Thea.”

That didn’t clear the confusion up one bit. Linc blew out a long breath, grabbing on to the last of his control. “Now it’s your turn. What are we talking about?”

Nick opened the cover of the file and tapped his finger against the memo on the top page. “The fact your assistant stole the draft bid proposal for the university job and gave it to our competition.”

The thundering in Linc’s head made it hard for him to hear. He leaned forward as he tried to shake the rattle loose. “Excuse me?”

“She’s the mole.”

Now and then Linc had heard guys at the gym talk about how something would happen and their minds went blank. How they received news and the world slowed to a crawl. Linc always thought the idea sounded ridiculous, like something a dramatic preteen girl might say, but now he got it. Voices muffled and the air slowed until he thought he could see it move.

As soon as he snapped back to life, denial rushed up and clobbered him. “No way.”

“Maybe she needed the money. Who the fuck knows.” Nick shook his head. “She could have a sick dog or a hospitalized aunt without insurance. I’m sure there’s a sob story, unless this was the plan all along. Get in close with you, earn your trust then rob you.”

The words wouldn’t go in. It was as if Linc’s brain got stuck on permanent misfire. He just hoped the feeling would soon return to his fingers. Every muscle had gone numb. “I said no.”

“I know you handpicked her, but—”

“No.” Linc stood up fast enough to send his chair shooting back against the bookcases behind him. In three steps he was in front of the oversized window staring at the stoplight at the intersection below. “The investigator is wrong.”

He heard the chair squeak and the soft thud of footsteps against the carpet. A piece of paper flashed in front of him as Nick held it then joined in the man-versus-traffic staring contest. “She used her key card to the management suite two nights in a row. The cameras we set up show her in your office and at your computer. Then going to your safe, all after-hours. The confidential bid proposal was leaked the next day. Thank God we were tipped off to the draft being stolen so we could replace the final version with a fake.”

Linc didn’t touch the paper. Didn’t glance at it.

“Look, man.” Nick leaned against the window and faced Linc. “I didn’t want it to be her either.”

This was so much worse than Nick could imagine. This was about betrayal. About being sucked in by a pretty face and long pair of legs. About being so into her, he’d ignored the rules.

Years ago when he’d cleaned up his life, Linc had made a vow never to be that guy again. But here he was, stepping right back into the crap. Being led by his dick.

“It can’t be.” He said it, but each time he repeated the words he believed them less.

The pieces fell together in his head. Thea happened to be available when he needed an assistant. He gave her access to every damn thing. She was one of the few people with the information on their preliminary bid for the project at the University of Maryland, the lucrative project every firm in town had been prepping for since the announcement last year. The same bid information Linc knew had been leaked to his main competition.

And now someone had stolen a copy of what they thought would be the final bid. Joke was on them…or Thea. Or maybe on him for being so damn dumb to trust her in the first place.

Nick rested his hands on the window ledge behind him and stared at his shoes. “You have a soft spot for her.”

Now there was an epic understatement. “She’s my assistant.”

Nick pushed off and stood up. He lifted his hand and held out the paper again. “She takes care of you and your schedule. Everyone knows they have to get through her to get to you.”

This time Linc took the document. He scanned the last paragraph, the bottom line but the only words that jumped out were “culpable” and Thea’s name. The paper crumpled from the force of his clenching fist.

But he couldn’t turn his mindset this fast, not from kissing his way up her legs one day to shoving her out the door with the threat of a lawsuit over her head the next.