Chapter 2
Cade
Team building was off to a great start, if you counted Daria ignoring me the entire ride to Vermont while she listened to an audiobook. She had the thing playing so freaking loud that I could hear it through her headphones and over my music.
Snowflakes started to fly as we were about halfway to our destination. I hoped we didn’t encounter much traffic, otherwise we stood a good chance of running into trouble on the icy roads.
At one point, I turned to her. “You want to stop for coffee? I could use the energy boost.”
No response. She couldn’t hear me because she had her volume up so loud.
A couple of minutes later, I raised my voice. “Do you want to stop for coffee?”
She jumped. “Damn! No need to yell.”
“Well, you couldn’t hear me before.”
“I had the volume turned up higher for one scene. I didn’t want to miss any of it. But I turned it back down.”
“What was so important about it?”
She shook her head. “You wouldn’t get it.”
“Why?”
“It’s a romance.”
I arched a brow. “Oh, you’re embarrassed because it’s corny?”
“No, actually, I’m not ashamed of what I read at all. I just don’t think you’ll get it.”
“Try me.” I turned the windshield wipers on. “What was happening in that scene?”
“The hero just killed a guy for staring too long at the woman he cares about.”
What the hell kind of shit is that? “That’s a little fucked up.” I chuckled.
“Well, he’d been stalking her for some time and invested a lot in their relationship. It pissed him off, so…”
“And that turns you on?”
“It’s a dark romance—just fantasy. He offs people for other reasons, too. Not just when he’s jealous.”
“You fantasize about murderers…”
“Only imaginary ones.”
“Here I was thinking you were listening to some soft romance like my grandmother used to read. Figures you have a dark and twisted side.”
“You say that like it’s a bad thing.” She flashed a mischievous grin.
“I didn’t say it was—it might even suit you.”
“I’ll take that as a compliment.” She looked out her window. “And yes, I would like to stop for coffee.”
I pointed to a sign we were about to pass. “There’s an exit coming up. Dunkin’ or Starbucks?”
“McDonald’s.”
I grimaced. “McDonald’s?”
“Yeah.”
“Not the first place I think of for coffee.”
“Their coffee is just as good, and it’s cheaper. Plus, I like their fries.”
Five minutes later, we’d ordered coffee and fries from the McDonald’s drive-thru—breakfast of champions—but it was slow as molasses getting to the pay window.
“Great.” I sighed. “Now we’re stuck in this long-ass drive-thru.”
Daria turned to me. “Do you have somewhere else to be, Grumpypants? It’s not like you’ve been looking forward to this weekend. Why the big rush?”
“I don’t want to get stuck on the road in the freaking snowstorm that’s coming.”
“We won’t get stuck,” she insisted as we finally pulled up to the pay window.
I handed the attendant my card and told Daria, “If we do get stuck, I’m blaming you and your damn McDonald’s.”
“Don’t get McMad at me, Cade McMahon.” She laughed as I handed her a red container of fries. “Eat your fries and be quiet,” she ordered.
“Be quiet so you can get back to your murderous fantasy man?” I took my card back from the guy at the window and chomped on one of my fries as I pulled away. “If that’s the kind of man you’re looking for—one who’ll off people for you—it’s no wonder you don’t have a boyfriend.”
“Who says I don’t?” she said as she chewed. “I never told you that.”
“Deek said you were single.”
“For someone who doesn’t want anything to do with me, you sure seem interested in my business, Cade.”
“I was merely curious whether there was a man out there who would put up with you.” I winked. “So I inquired.”
She searched the brown paper bag. “Damn. They forgot the ketchup.”
“Want me to go back and kill someone?”
“No need.” She licked some salt off her finger, causing my dick to twitch.
Yes, my dirty little secret was that I was quite attracted to this she-devil. But I’d never admit it. Daria was gorgeous, though. Long, fire-engine red hair and bright green eyes. Tats all the way up her arms and curves for days. She drove me nuts, but her beauty couldn’t be denied.
Three hours later, we finally arrived at the cabin, just in the nick of time. As we carried in our stuff, it really started coming down outside. The place was sick, though—a fireplace, huge living area, and everything was brand, spanking new.
“Wow. This is beautiful,” Daria said as she wandered around.
“Yeah. There are worse places to be stuck in a storm. That’s for damn sure. Billie wasn’t kidding.”
She checked her phone. “Speaking of our boss, I wonder what time they’re all supposed to get here. I don’t know if we’re supposed to start this party without them or what.”
“Let me call and see how far away they are.” I took my phone out and dialed Billie.
“Yes, Cade...” she answered.
“Hey! Where are you all? We just got here.”
“Oh good, you made it.”
“We did. How far away are you?”
“I’m in New York, actually. Sitting in my living room cuddling my kids. And Deek and Justine are still in New York, too.”
“Um…why?” I scratched my head. “You should be at least halfway here by now.”
“Well, you see, there’s been a change of plans.”
“What are you talking about?”
“We’re not coming.”
“What?” My eyes widened. “Why?”
“Because you two need to figure out your shit, and you don’t need us there to do it.”
A rush of adrenaline hit me. “You set us up?”
“I wouldn’t call it a setup. More like an opportunity.”
The balls on her. I gritted my teeth. “If you weren’t my boss…”
“You’d what?” she challenged.
“I’d fire your ass.”
Billie cracked up.
Daria squinted and mouthed, “What’s going on?”
“I arranged for someone to deliver food earlier in the day,” Billie said. “So you have plenty of grub and a box full of games so you can get to know each other. Stay until the storm passes, and figure out how to get along.”
“And if we don’t?”
“Then don’t come back to the shop.”
Tugging my hair, I exhaled. “Damn, boss, you play a tough game.”
“It’s all out of love,” she said before hanging up.
Daria crossed her arms and huffed. “What the hell is going on?”
I let out a long breath. “It’s just us this weekend. They set us up. There was no retreat.”
Her eyes went wide. “What?”
“This whole thing was orchestrated for you and me—so we can work out our issues.”
“Or kill each other,” she seethed.
“Now, now, I’m not like your book characters,” I teased.
“Seriously, Cade? This isn’t a joke?”
“Unfortunately, it’s not.”
“What’s the weather say? Is there any chance we can make it back?”
I pulled up the forecast on my phone. It looked like the heaviest bands of snow were coming straight at us in the next hour. “No, this says we’re pretty much fucked.” I pointed out the window. “You can see it’s really coming down now, too.”
She looked around and sighed. “Well, we’re stuck here, I guess.” She walked over to the kitchen. “Let’s see what there is to eat.”
Daria opened the fridge. There was a tray of cold cuts and other prepared foods.
“At least they didn’t leave us to starve,” I said. “We wouldn’t have had much time to buy food ourselves before it started getting bad.”
We unwrapped the tray, pulled out the other food, and ate in silence for a while, noshing until we’d made enough of a dent in it for one meal.
And thank God they hadn’t forgotten the alcohol.
I had a nice buzz going, which made everything more tolerable.
Made Daria look pretty damn hot, too. Okay, who was I kidding?
She was hot. But again, I’d never give her the satisfaction of knowing I felt that way.
“We should play one of these team-building games while we’re nice and buzzed so it’s not so miserable,” I suggested.
“What did she send…puzzles?” Daria asked.
“Let’s open the box and find out.”
I located scissors and sliced open the top of the box Billie had given me to take with us. When I looked inside, I didn’t even know what to say. These were not the kind of games I was expecting.
I scratched my chin. “Okay…well, um…”
“What?” Daria asked as she poured wine from across the room.
“So…Billie’s a freak.”