Chapter 51
Chapter
Fifty-One
“It’s all set,” Yagi said. “Now, we just need to get Kate there and make sure nothing goes wrong.”
Thomas paced around his desk. Since his call from Cyril, he’d felt a cold, steel-like resolve. “Tell me the details.”
“You’re going to take Kate on a working dinner.
Fancy restaurant in Berkeley, Chez Jouer,” he said.
“Public, but not as wide open as a stadium or the security nightmare that a public park might pose. We’ll have every entry and exit point covered.
I’ve got a full tactical team in place—my team,” he emphasized.
“Even if Cyril unleashes a squadron of demon warriors, they won’t touch you. ”
“Or Kate,” Thomas added.
Yagi’s eyes flashed with impatience. “You have to be joking.”
Thomas held up a hand. “I’ll let Victor have a shot at her, but I’m not going to just let her get killed because we were lazy.”
Yagi studied him for a moment, then nodded, his mouth pulled in a grim line. “The clock starts at seven o’clock,” he said.
“It’s not too obvious? How did we let Cyril know about it, without telegraphing that it’s bait?”
“We’ll be setting up another public event for you.
A fake,” Yagi said. “But I’m counting on your ‘private’ dinner with Kate leaking.
Honestly, he’ll probably know it’s a setup, but I think he’ll like the chances.
They’re trying to capture you, not assassinate you, so the relatively small setting and ease of access ought to tempt Victor and Cyril.
If nothing else, we’ll see how serious they are—about Kate, and about you. ”
Yagi sounded like a general, planning an attack. “And if they don’t go for it?” Thomas pressed.
“Then at least we’ve established you care about her. Next time, we’d dangle her on her own with a different, more lethal trap.”
Thomas felt his jaw clench. Every part of him rebelled at the thought. But it hammered home that, as much as endangering her tonight sucked, it might be the only way to ultimately protect her.
At least, that’s what he’d keep telling himself.
He glanced at his watch. “I’m having a meeting with her right now anyway,” he said, ignoring Yagi’s suspicious look. “I’ll be down in her office for the next half hour or so. We’ll leave from here.”
“Thomas?”
Thomas stopped on his way to the elevator. “Yeah?”
Yagi sighed. “Don’t lock the door.”
Thomas glowered as the elevator doors closed.
I wasn’t planning on sleeping with her! What, did he look like some horny teenager? How could he think of getting busy with her when there was a chance he was putting her in the line of fire?
He strode with purpose to Kate’s new office.
It was a corner one, just a floor below his.
The marketing director who had been booted to get this room freed up was none too pleased that he was being downgraded for an assistant.
There was a view of Lake Merritt and the Bay Bridge beyond.
She had a large desk, a credenza, and a state-of-the-art computer setup.
“Kate—” he started, then he stopped short.
She was wearing a new outfit, a black, wasp-waisted jacket with matching pencil skirt, with black heels that ended in spike points.
Her dark hair was pulled up in some kind of a bun thing, making her stern expression look that much more severe.
Combined with the huge glass desk, the state-of-the-art dual screen computer system, and the imposing view behind her, she looked formidable.
With the added gleam in her eyes, she looked pissed, determined… almost sinister.
Holy mice, he thought. She looks like the devil’s secretary or something.
That said, the look really worked for her.
She glanced at him over the rims of her glasses, her fingers still clacking away on her keyboard.
“I was just going over Ginny’s files,” she said.
“There’s barely anything here, and what is available is a total mess.
She kept a lot on paper. So do you, come to think of it.
Still, I think she actively hated technology. ”
“Well, she did love her phone,” Thomas remembered. “She gamed on that like a pro.”
“That, I remember,” Kate said ruefully, and for a second, her face softened into the smile he was more familiar with. “I swear, every time I tried to ask her a question, she had that thing chiming away.”
They were quiet for a second, then Thomas sat across from her.
“I know it’s not an ideal situation,” he said, and for a second, he wasn’t sure which one of them he was reassuring. “Signing your soul. Working for any corporation in general, and a guy you’ve slept with in particular. But it’s the best we’ve got, so we might as well make it work, right?”
She tilted her head, her green eyes staring at him intently. She seemed…expectant. After a long moment of apparently not hearing what she wanted to hear, she sighed.
“It is what it is,” she said with that little chin tilt he’d learned was Kate at her most stubborn. “I’ll do what I have to.”
Thomas struggled not to feel guilty. He remembered his talk with Cyril until the feelings backed off. “We all do what we have to,” he replied.
“This place is bigger than my last apartment,” Kate murmured, leaning back in her black leather chair. She swiveled to look at him, steepling her fingers together. “Seems like a lot for a girl who’s just going to be scheduling meetings and getting your files together.”
“You’re special.” And damned if that wasn’t an understatement.
Kate leaned closer, and he got a whiff of her perfume. She smelled like vanilla, he thought. Something warm, cozy, comforting. Delicious.
It seemed wrong that he needed to set up someone who smelled like goddamned Snickerdoodles.
He swallowed hard, then plowed forward.
“I have one year to get my soul back. This company—these companies,” he corrected, “have been my focus and my life since I was about sixteen years old. I’ve been able to juggle and compensate, but the focus this year has to be taking care of the Cyril business.”
“That’s one way to put it,” she muttered.
He ignored the sidebar. “You’ve probably noticed that I’ve got a lot of plates spinning, and my systems have been less than ideal.
I want you to fix that. You’ll give me the heads up if there’s anything wrong that I need to be involved in.
You’re going to be my filter and my gatekeeper.
That means keeping my calendar, but it also means going through my reports, reading a lot of my emails, and triaging things I can’t focus on myself. ”
She blinked. “Wait, seriously?”
He hadn’t meant to go into all that. He’d had a few people in that position, mostly men because Ginny was so incandescently petty and jealous, but she’d also insisted on trying to have that job for herself. She’d actively sabotaged anyone who tried to fill that position.
Maybe he was being optimistic, but if Kate survived, this would be what he wanted. “Why did you think I offered you a job?”
“I don’t know,” she muttered, then glared at him. “You’re into some shady shit, Thomas. I figured you might have something more… nefarious in mind.”
He wiggled his eyebrows. “Day’s still young.”
She let out a startled bark of laughter, the tiniest blush riding her cheeks. He suddenly remembered what she looked like when that rosy blush covered all her skin.
So much for “there’s no way I could be horny in a situation like this.” He mentally slapped himself.
“But you really did want me to be your secretary.” She sounded baffled, and bemused. “I can’t promise I’ll be the most professional, but I do know how to get shit done.”
“Exactly what I was looking for,” he said, holding his hand across her desk. She shook it with a laugh, and he held it for a second, savoring the softness of her skin.
Then he took a deep breath.
“Tell you what,” he said, forcing his voice to stay natural. “I’ve been hearing a lot about this Chez Jouer place. You used to go to Berkeley, right? I’ve heard that’s right next door, so we’ll be in your old stomping grounds. We’ll get down to brass tacks over some fancy farm-to-table.”
She sighed. “While wining and dining me sounds great, and I’d love to go to that restaurant, we both know that it’s not necessary. I can book a conference room and order us something.”
Shit. He hadn’t anticipated this. “I don’t have time to right now,” he lied. “Other meetings, stuff I’ve been putting off. Tonight would be best.”
Her chin went up again.
“Thomas, I just don’t think we should go out to dinner.” She didn’t look at him, instead getting up and walking to the windows. He stood up, moving next to her. “It’s…Listen. Last night was…”
It took a minute for Thomas to connect the dots. She was dragging her feet about going out to dinner because she thought he was trying to seduce her. She was balking because of the sex.
She glanced at him, her green eyes sad. “Getting involved with you, even on a casual basis—maybe especially on a casual basis—would be beyond stupid.”
“You think this is romantic?” He laughed in relief. “No, no. Trust me. This is all business.”
She looked taken aback, and he realized he could have sounded a touch less cheerful about that. “Oh,” she said, her face now fully flushed a deep red. “Well, I still think we can keep it business more easily if we stay in the building.”
He saw his plans—and Yagi’s carefully created trap—start to jump the rails.
“Kate,” he finally said, his voice firm. “I know you’re used to doing your own thing, your own way. But this one’s an order, okay?”
She looked startled. Then he saw a quick flash of something in her eyes.
“Of course,” she relented. “You’re the boss, right?”
He sighed. “I’ll get you at six forty-five, and then we’ll take the car service over. Bring your laptop.”
He retreated before she could say anything to make him feel guiltier. I’ll make it up to her, he thought.
Assuming she survived.