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Julianne
jumped at the chance because it would put her in front of people who might know
more about Kane’s business. Unfortunately, when she arrived Wednesday morning
to conduct the interview, she was shuffled off to a graduate assistant closer
to her age than Kane’s, and the information he gave her could have been found
on her own. She asked questions designed to elicit the kind of information she
knew Patti would want, but he wasn’t able to answer them.

The
only useful tidbit she picked up was that the system the Weathermen had
designed was mentioned in nearly every coding class at the graduate level. They
didn’t teach it, per se, as it was proprietary information, but they did use
the basic model as an example.

Julianne
smiled at him just enough to entice him to print off a syllabus or two, and a
few examples of the system they’d been given permission to use by Kane himself.
She would file those away and examine them later when she dug around in Rob
Marin’s background a bit more.

She
managed to put together a decent piece, and Patti said it would have to do for
now, but suggested she try to do a follow up by asking Kane directly for more
information. Julianne smiled and told Patti she would be more than happy to do
that.

By
the time Friday morning came, she was on edge. She told herself that if he
didn’t call or text by noon, she would contact him. He texted right before
noon, and asked if she could talk.

She
called him right away. “Thanks for staying true to your word. No matter the
outcome of this morning’s meeting, I have a request for a follow up piece on
the curriculum at
NorthEast
University.”

“
Oh?”

Julianne
outlined the story she’d done and what Patti wanted in addition to it.

“
Have you abandoned your original idea, then?”

She
smiled at the humor in his voice. “Not at all, but this is right up your alley
and won’t require you to give away trade secrets.”

“
That is true, and I would love to do it. I also want
to discuss your original story plan with you, but not on the phone. How do you
feel about sports?”

A
shiver ran down her spine. What kind of sports was he referring to? “Excuse
me?”

He
laughed softly. “That question came out of nowhere, didn’t it? Let me rephrase
that. How do you feel about hockey?”

“
I follow it a bit.”

“
Great. The
NorthEast
Demons
play tonight at the Augusta Arena. I have a loge there. I thought we could have
dinner and watch the game while we discuss these projects.”

She
swallowed hard and pulled her phone away from ear for a second or two to stare
at it. Was he asking her out on a
date
?
“Um … okay. Sure. That sounds like fun. I’ve never actually been to the arena.”
And I’ve certainly never been in one of
the private loges.

“
Do you know where it is and how to get there?”

“
Yes.” It was on the other side of town, and she knew
one of the trolley cars went straight to it because several people she worked
with had season tickets to every sporting event there was.

“
You’ll love it. Very state of the art. Shall I meet
you there around six, then?”

“
Sure. Okay. I’ll be there.”

“
There’s an entrance for loge owners on the east side
of the property. You can’t miss it. Big banner across the top. I’ll meet you
there.”

“
I’m looking forward to it.”

“
So am I, Julianne.” Had his voice always sounded so
sexy and intimate?

After
she disconnected the call, Julianne tried to return to work, but her mind raced
with endless possibilities. She finally went home because she wasn’t getting
anything done. Tonight would either mean she’d soon be writing two more
stories, or it would be the worst disaster of her
life.

Alone
in a loge with Kane Bannerman? What the fuck had she been thinking? It didn’t
escape her notice that he’d given her no clue what the other Weathermen had
said at the meeting. He was making her wait to find out.
Shit.

Chapter
Four

Kane
almost called her back and offered to pick her up and take her there. What kind
of a gentleman asks a woman to meet him somewhere she’s never been?
This isn’t a date!
Sure it wasn’t.
That’s why he had already arranged to have dinner delivered to the loge, and
why he planned to discuss business with her there instead of in here in his
office before quitting time.

Fuck.

He
ran his hands through his hair and paced behind his desk. What the hell was he
doing? This was the same woman who had taken several lines of innocuous text
five years ago and concocted a whopper of a story from them. It could have hurt
him or his business if the retraction had not been printed, and it had pissed
him off royally. He and his friends had been dodging sleazy tabloids all their
adult lives. He had no respect for them, or for the people who wrote for them.

Now
he had a date with one of them.
Correction
.
Julianne
used
to work for one of
them. She was no longer one of their reporters. Now, she was one of their
former reporters who had barged her way in here on Monday and tried to convince
him to go public with a covert team. Was he totally out his mind? What was this
woman’s power over him?

She
would not be happy when she learned what he and the others had come up with. It
was still a way for her to get her story, but Kane knew it wouldn’t be close to
what she wanted. She should stick to the idea he’d given her, plus this follow
up piece on the curriculum at
NorthEast
University. He’d
written some of that, and he could talk about it all day long without
jeopardizing what they were trying to do in secret. Couldn’t she understand
that?

He
contented himself with knowing she’d understand it by the time this evening was
over. Either that or he’d never hear from her again. As that thought formed,
Kane knew he didn’t want that. He hadn’t stopped thinking about Julianne in
five years. He was in deep shit here.

Then why didn’t you simply tell her
the outcome of the meeting over the phone?

He
knew exactly why. He wanted to get her alone, not try to seduce her in his
office. She’d see right through it. She wasn’t stupid.

Kane
slammed his hands on his desk. What the fuck was wrong with him? He was acting
like a teenage boy who had never even kissed a girl. What was it about this
woman that had him so rattled? He needed to get his act together and quickly.

****

Julianne
changed her clothes ten times, disgusted with herself for acting like a teenage
girl going out on her first real date. She finally chose the first outfit. It
was a hockey game, not a formal dinner. Jeans and a sweater were appropriate.
The fact that she’d also chosen her sexiest short black boots was beside the
point. So was the fact that her jewelry matched the lime green and yellow
accents in the sweater. Completely irrelevant.

You’re so full of shit.

She
stared at her reflection in the mirror, wondering whether she should do
something with all that hair, and then decided to leave it alone. She wasn’t
playing in the damn hockey game, after all. She was merely going to watch it.

Making
sure she had two recorders this time, along with a notepad and several pens,
just in case, she tossed in her small makeup bag at the last second. Better to
be over prepared than to wish she’d brought something along.

Right. Because you’re not planning
on staying out more than a few hours.

No,
she was not planning on that. She was not going to end up spending the night
with Mr. Gorgeous and his damn sexy glasses. That would not happen.

The
trolley was crowded with people going to the arena, dressed in the Demon team
colors of red and black. If only she’d been thinking clearly she would have
worn a black sweater, but she wasn’t going back home to change her clothes.
They’d be in a private loge. No one but Kane would see her.

The
crowd was rowdy and fun, and she found herself smiling and laughing by the time
they reached their destination. Maybe this would turn out to be more enjoyable
than she’d been anticipating?

Kane
was waiting for her at the entrance he’d described. He looked too damn sexy in
jeans and a
NorthEast
Demons polo shirt. Her gaze
traveled lazily over him as she walked, slowing her pace on purpose so she had
time to gather her thoughts. She’d forgotten what a handsome man he was, and he
looked much more relaxed in casual clothes than he had in his suit and tie at
the office on Monday.

“
Thanks for coming,” he said, grinning.

“
Did you think I’d stand you up?”

“
For a story or two? Never.”

She
was about to tell him she hadn’t shown up only for the stories, but decided to
keep her mouth shut for once. He held out his arm, surprising her, and she
wrapped her hand around it. His skin was warm, and the memories washed over her
once more. How could such a short encounter years ago still affect her so much?
She was actually shocked that he hadn’t told her on Monday to go fuck herself
and never show her face inside his building again. Then again, he had come
close to tossing her out.

Nostalgia
for games at Fenway Park overwhelmed her as they made their way inside, and she
breathed in the scent of popcorn and hot pretzels. She hadn’t followed pro
hockey much, but she had followed baseball. Her family came from a long line of
Red Sox fans, and she had fond memories of attending games with them in her
younger days.

She
was one of the lucky ones. Her entire family had survived the storms and been
able to get underground before things got really bad. Most of her friends
hadn’t had that same experience. She glanced up at Kane as he led her to a
gilt-edged elevator, guarded by a burly man in a uniform. Was his family here
with him, too? What about the other Weathermen? Were they each alone under the
earth, making their billions and trying to take back the planet? Or did they
have loved ones to turn to for comfort and companionship?

Kane
showed ID to the guard, and then he nodded toward Julianne. “She’s my date for
this evening.”

His date?

The
guard gave him no more than a cursory nod before stepping aside. As the doors
closed, Kane leaned close and she caught a whiff of woodsy cologne. Sexy as
hell, it evoked yet more memories of their forty-seven minutes in his office.
This was ridiculous. It’s not as if that had been her one and only sexual
encounter in twenty-eight years.

But it was the best one.

Yes.
It had been the best one. No doubt about it. Would it be repeated tonight? She
glanced up at him. “New guard?”

His
soft laugh sent a shiver down her spine. “Have you turned into a mind reader? I
was just about to say he was new. I never have to show ID.”

“
You poor thing. Forced to live like the rest of us.
How will you survive it?”

“
I see you haven’t lost your smart mouth.”

“
A good reporter needs one.”

“
What else can you do with that mouth, I wonder?”

He’d
asked the question under his breath, but she heard it. As she pondered the
meaning behind it, and tried to think of a smartass comeback, the doors opened.
He led her down a cinder block hallway lined with carpeting. Signage at
intervals pointed them toward numbered loges, each marked by a door that
resembled the ones on the elevator. About three quarters around a curved
corridor, he stopped before one and swiped an electronic key.

“
Here we are.” He pushed open the door and stepped
back, allowing her to cross the threshold first.

“
Wow.” It was much larger than she’d been imagining,
and decorated in muted tones with soft lighting. The wall facing the arena was
covered by a shade that was partially opaque, and she couldn’t hear the noise
below. “Is it soundproof?”

He
stepped inside and closed the door behind them. “Yes. We can watch the game on
a large monitor or open the shade and experience the crowd. Come and see.” She
followed him to the shade which he opened with a remote. The crowd noise
drifted up, and then he opened a nearly invisible door set against one edge of
the shade. “It’s safe.”

Julianne
followed him out onto a balcony with a glass partition that was taller than she
was. It offered an unencumbered view of the arena and the crowd around them.
She glanced right and left to find opaque barriers. “Do those separate this
balcony from the others?”

“
Yes. We have privacy, even out here.”

“
Unless someone glances up, of course.”

His
grin sent her hormones into overdrive again. “Yes, unless they do that.”

“
This is amazing, Kane.”

“
I enjoy it.” He held out his hand and she took it
without hesitation. “Come on back inside. I’ll give you a tour. We have almost
two hours before the game starts. Dinner will be here in about fifteen
minutes.”

He
closed the door to the balcony but left the shade open as he moved his arm in a
circle. “This is the main room. It seats twelve quite comfortably. Once, about
four years ago, all the Weathermen were here at once and we came to a game.”

“
How fun.”

“
We don’t have enough opportunities to get together as
a group.”

“
Doesn’t one of you have a wedding coming up?”

He
gave her a curious look. “Your source?”

“
Gossip columns. Ace Easton is getting married in two
months in
NorthCentral
. Can I assume you’re all
attending?”

He
glanced toward her bag. “Is your recorder on?”

“
No.”

“
I’ll take your word for it. Yes, we’re all attending
Ace’s wedding to Harper.” She followed him to a door which he opened. “Bathroom
is in there. It even has a shower.”

“
Impressive.”

The
next door her opened led to a kitchen. “Fully stocked, and not too large but
there’s enough room to move around in.”

She
stepped inside. “Are you kidding? This is the same size as half my apartment.”

The
corners of his mouth turned up, and then he led her down a short hallway. “Part
of the building is open twenty-four hours. There’s a security staff, plus a
small staff to serve the needs of loge owners. I could stay here if I needed
to.”

He
opened the door to a richly-appointed bedroom, complete with a four-poster bed.
“You’re kidding. Have you stayed here?” The second she asked she wished she
hadn’t. What he did with his dates in this loge was none of her business.

“
Only once.”

“
Do you plan to stay here tonight?”

His
grin evoked images of the two of them, naked and sweaty in that big bed. “I
don’t know. I haven’t decided yet, but it might be fun.”

She
averted her gaze because looking at him in here, so casual and playful, was too
much for her failing willpower. They were totally alone, and her mind worked
overtime with the decadent things they could do.

“
Would you like to keep the shade open, or watch the
pre-game festivities on the big screen?”

“
Let’s keep the shade open for now.”

He
pointed toward a comfy-looking sofa. “Have a seat. Dinner should be here soon.”

“
Thanks again for this, Kane.” She sat on the right
side and he took the middle seat. “Are you going to tell me what they all said
this morning in the meeting?”

His
gaze dropped to her bag again, so she picked it up from where she’d placed it
on the carpet and dumped it out on the coffee table. She picked up both
recorders and showed him that they were off. “Okay? I won’t turn them on until
you say I can.”

He
had the grace to look guilty. “I’m sorry. Old habits die hard I guess.”

“
You’re the one who asked me to meet you here, Kane.
Not the other way around. What is this, anyway? I mean for real? Why couldn’t
you simply discuss the stories with me at your office?”

This
time, he averted his gaze, and then he ran his hand through his hair. She
frowned as she watched confusion pass over his face, but he was saved from
having to answer her when a knock sounded on the door. He rose to open the door
and let in the delivery person. When Kane glanced toward the table, Julianne
scooped up the contents of her bag and watched the woman who had brought the
food and drink lay it out on the table. Kane tipped her, and then they were
alone again.

“
I hope you like this. It’s from a place that caters
most of the functions at my company.”

“
You went to a lot of trouble tonight.”