Chapter Fifteen
Lucas
I kept my gaze on Valerie as she returned to her desk. The last thing I wanted to do was upset her. When I walked into the office with my lunch, she looked so much more relaxed, and that made me happy. Her lunch with Cassie and Emma must have gone well.
Even though we met at a work party, she rarely went to them. When I asked her about it, she just said she wasn’t the partying type. Valerie had always been so self-contained, even when we were together.
But now, I wondered why. Having Emma and Cassie take her under their wings would be good for her. I wanted her to have friends here, not just me, even though I enjoyed her reliance on me. She was very independent, and I suspected it had to do with the way she grew up.
Valerie didn’t talk about her family much, and she’d never called them when we were together. When they did call her, it seemed to upset her. Her relationship with her family didn’t seem to be a good one. But what did I know? My parents had ceased to be parents a long time ago.
I shook away my thoughts and pulled up permissions on my computer. When I tried to give Valerie access, it denied me. What the hell? Grabbing the phone, I called Asher.
“Hey, Asher, why can’t I give Valerie permission to access our financials?”
“Sorry about that. With some of the new protocols we put in place after the breach situation, I put stricter controls in place.”
That damn breach had caused one big headache, and I couldn’t blame Asher for locking down access. We did have a lot of sensitive information. “I get it.”
“I’ll add it to Valerie’s permissions. If she can’t get in today, it will be good by tomorrow morning. Sometimes it takes a bit for the servers to update.”
“What’s going on? You sound tired.”
“I’m not sleeping well, that’s all.” Asher sighed. “I’ll be fine.”
It was more than that. “Asher, the breach wasn’t your fault.”
“So Emma keeps telling me.”
“She’s right.” How could I make Asher feel better? Friends supported friends, and this was one of those times. “Do you want to play basketball after work? I’ll even let you beat me.”
Asher’s laughter made me smile. “Not tonight, but just wait. I’ll beat your ass later.”
“Looking forward to it.”
Hanging up, I glanced over at Valerie, who was staring at her screen as if it had all the answers. After Saturday, I felt like we’d cleared the air; she was open to a relationship, and that excited me. Slow down. I couldn’t rush this. I wouldn’t make the same mistakes I made last time.
When I walked away from Valerie, I didn’t handle things well. Now, I knew who I was, and I wanted Valerie in my life—in every way.
* * *
Friday morning, we met in the office before I drove us to Rustic Delights. Valerie had spent the week trying to match up our payments to Rustic’s balance sheets. Last night, she’d thrown her hands up and said it was going to take weeks. It wasn’t like her to admit defeat.
“You can do it.” I had every confidence in her abilities, but inside, I grinned. The longer she was at FI, the longer I could keep her in my life and convince her that I was worth the risk.
I pulled into the parking lot at Rustic and found one of the visitor spots.
“That was quick.” Her observation was the first time either of us spoke since leaving FI. I knew she was mentally working on Rustic’s books, and the quiet helped me concentrate on driving through Seattle’s traffic.
“They’re not far from our office, and traffic was light.”
“I never would have guessed what this housed.” She gestured to the nondescript concrete building.
“It’s not like they advertise what they do.” I glanced over at her “It’s probably going to be dusty and noisy inside. It’s going to depend on what machinery they have running.”
“You’ve been here before?” She reached for the door handle.
“No. But it’s a factory, and Marcus warned me. Wait and I’ll help you out.” I exited and then opened her door.
“This isn’t necessary,” she said as she put her hand in my outstretched one.
“For me, it is.” Once she was safely on the ground, I released her hand.
“Marcus visited here a couple of weeks ago and told me about the conditions.” As I reached to take her arm, I remembered the likelihood of security surveillance and motioned for her to precede me.
I walked beside her, close enough that our shoulders brushed.
Even that slight touch excited me for the future, being able to touch her bare skin and hear her moan her pleasure.
I closed my eyes and took a deep breath.
Yeah, the last thing I needed was to walk into this place with a hard-on.
“He didn’t notice anything out of place with the manufacturing?”
Her voice was steady. Was she unaffected by my touch? I’d have to up my game. Damn, dude, you’re not a teenager. Get control of yourself. “He only said there were some areas they wouldn’t allow him into, but we assumed it was a liability issue with nonemployees being on the manufacturing floor.”
“Makes sense. I’m glad you told me jeans and boots.”
“Safety issue and, this way, you don’t look like an accountant.”
“And what does an accountant look like?”
She gazed up at me, and I almost leaned down to kiss her. “That is a trap and not a question I’m prepared to answer.” We stopped in front of a steel door, and I rang the bell. It took a few minutes before a man wearing a hardhat and safety vest opened it.
“Can I help you?”
“We’re from Fantasies, Inc.”
“Come…on…in. I’ll go get the boss.” We stepped inside, and he slammed the door and walked back the way he’d come with a “wait here” thrown over his shoulder as he passed through a gate in a floor to ceiling chain link barrier.
The sign above the gate cautioned entry.
HARDHAT AND SAFETY GLASSES BEYOND THIS POINT, over a list of other safety concerns.
No open-toed shoes, no food on the manufacturing floor, no photographs permitted, and about ten more rules.
“Interesting,” Valerie said.
“What?”
“He looked surprised to see us.”
It was odd, but there could be an explanation. “Well, we didn’t use the front entrance, so it’s possible he didn’t know we were coming.” Rustic had been given plenty of warning we were going to be here.
“Maybe, but there was more than shock when you said we were from FI.”
“Oh?” What did she see that I didn’t? I was usually pretty good at reading people, but my attention had been focused on Valerie. I gave myself a mental shake to remember to keep my head in the game.
Valerie had always had a better internal radar than I did with certain things. That would come in handy today. Before she could elaborate, a large, balding man, slightly out of breath, walked through the gate and up to us, hand extended. “Welcome, I’m Fred Kline, the owner of Rustic Designs.”
“Lucas Bryer and Valerie Ray.” Fred was older; I was estimating he was in his late fifties. We shook hands.
“Nice to meet you. Ready for the tour?”
Why did Fred seem stressed? “Yes. We’re both really interested in how your furniture is made.”
“I was surprised when I got your call the other day. Marcus was here two weeks ago.” He glanced around.
“This is a big acquisition. Our boss wanted our perspective.” It wasn’t a lie, but I wasn’t about to mention we were in finance. It was easy enough to find out if one looked.
Fred nodded, but his eyes looked worried. “Safety concerns and insurance prohibitions prevent me from taking you onto the manufacturing floor, but I’ll take you to the area where we can view the completed products.”
“I was under the impression Marcus had been shown the manufacturing process.”
“Oh, yes.” Fred pulled a handkerchief out of his pocket and mopped his forehead with it. “We weren’t in production, so I allowed him to look over our equipment.”
He was nervous. This was curious. “I see.” It was awfully quiet here for manufacturing to be happening.
Fred took us through a side door and down an enclosed corridor to an area where the finished pieces were stored prior to packing and shipping. Some of the designs had multiple pieces, and others just one. Valerie shifted from one foot to the other.
“Are you okay?” I asked her quietly.
“Yes. But I need you to explain some of this to me later.” She waved her hand. “I’m not sure what I’m looking at.”
“I see.” I looked at Fred. “Is there a liability issue if I show Valerie how some of this works?”
“Not at all. Just be careful.” A female voice called his name. “If you’ll excuse me… I need to see what that’s about. I’ll let you roam the floor. My office is over there.” He pointed to the corner. “Just come in when you’re ready.” He scurried off, and I frowned.
“He’s nervous,” Valerie commented.
“I noticed.” I nudged her forward. “He has no clue whether I know how the equipment works.”
“You do, don’t you?”
I grinned. “Yes, I do. He didn’t seem so concerned with us being alone here as he was with us seeing the manufacturing.” I tucked that information away for later. “Let’s check everything out.”
“Thank you. I feel a little silly asking.” Her voice was soft.
“Don’t be. You’ve probably never seen some of this equipment before.” I hadn’t expected her to know about the furniture or their functions. While we’d played at kink before, it was mostly home bondage and teasing.
“I do recognize the St. Andrew’s cross.”
“That’s probably the most recognizable one, even if you’re not in the lifestyle.” I guided her past the cross to another piece of equipment. “This is a spanking horse.” I frowned. There should be padding on it. I placed my hand on the piece. The wood was slightly rough.
“That doesn’t look very comfortable.”
“It should have padding on it.” I noted there was definitely something wrong with their quality control.
“I would hope so. If it did, how would it work?”