Dangerous Secrets (8 page)

Inside, he looked at her. Her brow was furrowed and
she seemed a little distracted, letting him pull her wherever he wanted, so he
let her be for the moment and ordered for them both. Collecting their drinks,
he led her to a table and pulled his chair in next to her.

“You going to talk to me or keep spinning your
wheels?” he asked taking a sip of his coffee.

That seemed to bring her back to the moment.
Blinking, she looked around and frowned. “Why are we in a coffee shop?”

“You were thinking hard, so I made a call on where
to take you. Now, answer the question please.” He gave a shrug and took another
drink.

She gave him what could only be called the stink
eye. His mother used to give him that look when he was being a little shit.
Actually, now that he thought about it, she still did.

“No matter how much I try not to think about it, my
mind keeps coming back to this drive he seemed to think I had,” she admitted
quietly.

Glad she was keeping her voice
down,
Trent still looked around to ensure no one paid them undue attention. Leaning
on the table, he looked at her. “What about it?”

She heaved a breath and flicked a nail to her cup,
then shrugged. “I keep wondering why he thought I had it. I mean, I’m a chef,
not a spy or anything like that. So where would I even get this drive?”

He’d been wondering the same thing, but he let her
talk it out. Trent was curious to see where she went with the line of thought.

“The only thing I could think of is that either it
was sent to me by mistake, like through some screwed up digit on the address,
or someone gave it to me and I forgot about it. But I haven’t gotten any
parcels in the last four months that didn’t contain anything more than
lingerie.”

Trent perked up at that and made a mental note to
ask about the lingerie later.

“And I can’t think of any packages beyond those, other
than the ones that come to the restaurant.” She looked at him. “But they were
all addressed to the restaurant.”

“What was in them?” he asked.

“Orders of spices, replacement uniform jackets,
aprons, the new menu boards and dozens of other things that we get in on a
daily basis,” she said with a sigh.

“Okay.” He nodded. “Any packages that you signed
for that were addressed to the owner that you didn’t open?”

“No,” she said shaking her head. She looked ready
to say something else, but then she stopped and stared blindly in his direction
for a moment. “No, wait, there was. Three weeks ago, a box came in to the
attention of my boss. It had the name of some magazine on it that I know he
advertises with so I signed for it and tossed it on my boss’s desk.”

“How big was it?” he asked.

Mallory held her hands up to show him the size.

“That would hold a hard drive,” he said. “With
padding to keep it protected during shipping. And since you signed for it...”

Putting a hand over her mouth, Mallory stared at
him in horror.
“Oh, God.
That’s why he thought I had
it. My name was on the tracking information.”

He nodded slowly.

“But why wouldn’t he go to the restaurant and look
there? That’s where it was shipped to.”

That was a very good question. “Maybe they did. But
I know where we need to go this afternoon. After Vincent gets you set with the
alarm, he and I will head over there.”

“I should come with you, Trent.” She put a hand up
when he opened his mouth. “I have free rein there. I’m the head chef. I can go
places you won’t be able to, especially if my boss isn’t around.”

Damn. She was right. He absolutely hated that she
was right but she was. Something must have shown on his face because she gave
him a big, shit-eating smirk.

“Do not,” he said, pointing a finger her way. “Rub
it in, woman.”

Mallory batted her lashes and lifted her cup to
take a slow sip.
“Who me?
Never.”

Yeah.
Like he was going to buy
that act.

Lifting his cup, Trent sipped and watched her over
the rim. She looked a little too please with herself. He found he also liked
this confident version of Mallory. It was fucking sexy as sin, truth
be
told.

Damn it, he thought with an internal groan. He had
to shift in his chair slightly as his cock twitched when he saw her lick a drop
of coffee from her lips. Suddenly, all he wanted to do was take her back to her
place, strip her naked, and put that sexy little mouth to other uses.
Unfortunately, there were a few too many people at her place. It was going to
be a very long day, of that he had no doubt.

Chapter Nine

She knew that Trent was still trying to figure out
how to keep her home.
Which was fine.
Mallory knew
that he knew there wasn’t an option. She was right about the situation, and he
was still trying to come to terms with it.

He and Vincent chatted, heads together in a huddle,
trying to figure out how to leave her behind. Snickering, she went to get her
jacket and purse. Humming softly, she found a pair of shoes and, because it was
going to be chilly, she dug out a scarf and her mittens.

When she was dressed, she went to stand by the
front door and began to tap her toe.

Both men turned to look at her. “So, I’m going to
head out. If you feel like joining me...” She shrugged. Then, smiling brightly,
she left the apartment.

She could hear the mad scramble behind her as she walked
to the stairs. She was a bad, bad person to do that to them.
Especially
Trent.
She liked him, a lot.
More than a lot.
She was pretty sure he felt little something for her as well.
Maybe more than a little if she was lucky.

Stopping at the door to the stairwell, she waited.
She was out of sight of her apartment so she knew the men would come barreling
toward her. Stepping slightly out of the way, Mallory leaned back against the
door and waited.

The slam of her apartment door was easily heard
before heavy, thundering steps came her way. Trent round the corner first and
his eyes went wide when he spotted her.

Lucky for her, he slammed his hands to the door
behind her, one on each side of her head, to stop himself. Unfortunately,
Vincent didn’t have the same luxury. He slammed into Trent’s back, but Trent
barely budged. He definitely grunted though.

“Hi,” she said with a smile, lifting her chin
slightly.

His lips curled into a smile and he lowered his
head. “Hi.”

Biting her lip, she put a hand on his chest and
scratched a nail lightly over his shirt.

“Okay, if you two start making out I’m going to be
seriously pissed.”

Trent rolled his eyes and then turned his head.
“Shut up, Vincent.”

“Just saying,” the other man said.

“We should get going,” she said with a laugh.
Pushing off the door, she looked up into Trent’s eyes. She smiled, then turned
and pulled the door open.

****

“Nice place,” Vincent said as they entered the
restaurant.

It was. Mallory shrugged, trying for indifference,
but knew the smile on her face gave her away. “It’s a job. An awesome one at
that,” she told him. “Come on, the kitchen’s back here, and we can get to my
boss’s office through there.”

Trent’s hand was warm on her back, even through the
layer of her jacket and sweater. It was comforting and reassuring to know he
was right there.

“Mallory!” someone called out.

Mallory lifted a hand and waved. “Hi, Camilla,” she
grinned. Stepping forward, she gave the woman a hug and grunted when the woman
squeezed too hard. “
Careful, that
still hurts like a
son of a bitch.”

“Oh, God, sorry,” the hostess stepped back. “How
are you doing,
hon
?”

“Good, getting better each and every day. I start
physical therapy next week and then it’s just the waiting game until I can come
back. Listen, David said he had some papers for me for the medical and stuff,
is he here?” Not a complete lie, but she wasn’t supposed to pick them up for
another week.
After her first therapy session, technically.

“No, he had to run over to the new place.
Apparently, the contractor called with an issue on the tile. I thought his head
was going to explode,” Camilla said, rolling her eyes. Then she turned her
attention to the men with Mallory. “Hello there,” she said, her voice dropping
a full octave and picking up a purr. “And who are you two?”

Groaning, Mallory turned. “Trent, darling, this is
Camilla. I’ve mentioned her a time or two during our phone conversations.”

“Yes, of course,” Trent smiled. Holding out his hand,
he shook Camilla’s firmly before letting go.
“Nice to meet
you finally.
I’ve heard a lot about you.”

“All good I hope,” Camilla said.

“And this is Vincent, he works with Trent
occasionally. He’s just in town for the night, so we’re heading out to dinner
after I grab the papers.”

“Aww.”
Camilla pouted.
“That is such a shame. You should come back soon, though.”

Vincent took her hand and kissed her knuckles. “I
just might at that, darling.”

“Camilla,” Mallory said trying to regain the
woman’s attention.
“
Yo
, Camilla.
I need the keys to David’s office.”

“Oh, sure,” she said. Digging in her pocket she
held them out in a loose grip.

“Vincent, why don’t you stay and get to know
Camilla better. I won’t be but two shakes,” Mallory said.

Trent gave her a nudge when it became obvious that
Vincent was up for keeping the hostess occupied. “We may need to pry him loose
when we have to leave,” he commented.

“More than likely,” she said with a laugh.

Leading him into the kitchen, she waved to a few
people and stopped to get a hug from her fellow chef. Talking for a minute, she
slipped free when a batch of orders came in.

Thankfully, they weren’t stopped again and they
were in David’s office quick enough.

“Any idea where the box could be?”
Trent asked.

“By this time?”
She looked to him and made a face. “Not a clue.”

“Okay, go through his drawers quick and then we’ll
do a fast but systematic search of the rest of the room. We need to keep our
eyes open just in case he opened the box and set the contents aside without the
box still in play.”

“Right,” she muttered.

Ten minutes later they had nothing and nowhere else
to look.

“Maybe he took it home?” she asked. Grabbing the
disability and health coverage papers, she tucked them into an envelope and
headed back to the kitchen with him.

“Maybe,” he said.

Not the answer she’d wanted but, since there wasn’t
anything in the office, that was the next logical place to look.
At least in her opinion.

“So what now?” she asked after they were back in
Trent’s truck with the engine idling. She’d returned the keys to Camilla and
pried Vincent from her clutches before they’d retreated to the parking lot.
Trent and Vincent were going over the pros and cons of going to David’s house
to wait for him.

They needed to know if he actually had the drive or
not. If he didn’t have it, then they were royally screwed. That was her opinion
on the matter. But they had their own opinions on everything.

The main one was how to approach her boss. Trent
was of the mind to ease in and ask. Vincent was in favor of being more of a
bull in a china shop and getting in David’s face. Go figure.

While she didn’t know Vincent very well, what she
had seen said he was much more an action first, consequences later kind of guy.
It definitely had its benefits in the right situation, just not one involving
her boss.

Figuring it might be time to speak
up,
she slipped forward and stuck her head between the
seats. “Hi.” She smiled at them both. “Listen, I’m all for bashing heads now
and again but with David, the less violent and harmful path may be better. He’s
a great guy, but he has a heart condition so getting up in his face is not the
way to go.
Just my two cents on this.”

Vincent shot her an annoyed look. “So what do you
suggest?”

“Ask him about the package,” she said with a shrug.
“I’ve never known him to lie. Now, I’m not saying he won’t lie, just that I’ve
never known him to. Ask and see what he says.”

That didn’t make Vincent any happier.

“Any idea how long he’ll stay at the other place?”
Trent asked.

“Since it’s in the midst of an overhaul, I’m
guessing about an hour from when he left here. Any longer than that and his
stress levels get too high, from what he’s said in the past. He’ll stop by here
briefly, just to peek in and then head home. He always calls the kitchen and they
prepare him a meal that he collects. Since he lives alone, he doesn’t tend to
cook.”