Hot & Humid (6 page)

“I know.”

“Now you know.”

Brine didn’t like the look in Fred’s eyes. She didn’t want to ask, but she had to know. “What now?”

“I trusted you, Brine.” He shook his head. “You need to apologize to Thane Elam and get him to drop the lawsuit he’s threatening us with. It’s the only way out of this mess.”

“Excuse me?”

“Apologize. Maybe I’ll be able to do something about you keeping your job.”

He was serious. Had she stepped over that professional line? Probably. She’d been aggravated as hell writing it. No, that was a lie. She’d been so twisted up with unleashed sexual frustration that she couldn’t think straight. She opened and closed her mouth twice.

“Fine.” Brine’s fingers twisted the newspaper in her hand.

Brine could only meet Steph’s wide gaze as she went to her desk to grab her bag. She shook her head with a
not right now
as she headed for the hallway. Out in the hall, Brine stabbed the button for the elevator. There was no way she’d ever apologize to Elam.

Hell could freeze, thaw, and refreeze before she ever begged Elam for anything. There’d be no apology coming in the near future. That meant she needed to start the job hunt now. Stephanie came rushing out just as the elevator doors were closing. Her four-inch heels came to a sliding stop.

“Fix this, Brine! I can’t work in this office with these men without you!”

Brine held open the door. “Nope. Not happening.”

Concern made Steph’s brows furrow. “What happened last night?”

“I don’t want to talk about it.”

“You better fix this mess!”

“I’ll think about it,” Brine said.

Brine let the doors slide shut between them. She unfolded the twisted front page of the
Enquirer
. She didn’t want to read the story beneath her picture. She just didn’t want the garbage floating around in her head, but she had to know. Her gaze went to the tagline under the picture.
Provided by Thane Elam
.

Of course it was. How nice of him.

She stormed to the parking garage and jumped into her car. She unwrapped the newspaper carefully. The article took her back to bittersweet years she no longer wanted to remember. Life was harder and in a lot of ways more complicated. She skimmed the article. It was everything she already knew to be true about her past. At least they didn’t know the truth about her family…

Tears bloomed into her eyes as she thought about the fire. Brine touched the scar on her chest. For a long time she felt responsible for their deaths, but she knew it was impossible to stop fate once a decision was made. Now, she lived her life in the moment because that was all she had. Risk wasn’t an option in her life. She protected her heart at all cost. She vowed that she’d never love again after that day.

Brine shoved aside the newspaper.
I miss you guys. I love you.

What was she supposed to do now? Her only option was to find him and deal with him again if she wanted to keep her job. The job was all she had left. She had to apologize. She needed the job. She had bills to pay. Unlike other people, she didn’t have a family there to fall back on during through rough times.

Brine dropped her head against the headrest. She
had
to eat crow on this. She had to stalk him down and apologize. Right now, she really didn’t want to do that. There were laws against stalking, but she was about to break every one of them if it meant keeping her job.

Chapter Five

Brine gripped the steering wheel as she stared out over the redwood forest where the men of Elam Industries were hard at work. She’d driven slowly up the access road and parked her car off the side without notice.

She lifted her Nikon and zoomed in through the forest. She searched for Thane, spotting him with one of his workers by his truck. She zoomed in and snapped several shots of him. He took off his yellow hardhat to wipe sweat from his brow with his shoulder sleeve. His rugged face was grim. Something was bothering him. She wondered what it was. She took several more pictures before angling the camera down to review the shots on the screen.

She could do this. Apologizing wasn’t that difficult, but it suddenly felt impossible. What if he rejected her apology? He had every right to and could move forward with filing the lawsuit for libel against her and the paper. She got out of the car and adjusted her skirt. Her matching brown leather boots, jacket, and scarf were trendy.

Midmorning sunshine streamed through the trees as Brine made her way into the chaos. She was glad she hadn’t worn heels today. Several trucks were parked near Thane’s. Off in the distance, workers were busy surveying the land.

A whistle pierced the air. “Ow, sexy mama. Work it!”

Brine froze as Thane’s gaze went from the heckler to her. He came around the truck, tossing his hardhat into the back of the cab.

“Get back to work, Eli!” He yelled.

Thane’s predatory stare went from the top of her head to her boots. She needed this apology more than he knew. She could see that he liked what he saw by his appreciative gaze, and it gave her hope. They crossed the distance, meeting each other in the middle.

“Let’s talk over here,” he said.

He took her by the elbow in a protective way to help her negotiate around the uneven ground. The gesture was surprisingly intimate and kind. Regret had her wishing she hadn’t worn her jacket so that she could’ve felt the heat of his skin on her arm. She stopped abruptly on that thought. She couldn’t think about sex with Thane. Not now. He led her to the other side of the truck and used his size to invade her space.

“I thought I told you that I didn’t want to see you at my jobsites again. It’s not safe.”

“I needed to find you.”

His gaze dropped for the briefest of seconds to her lips. “You found me. What do you want?”

“I came to talk to you about things.”

“Not going to happen now. I’m busy. You need to hit the road.”

She dug her heels into the mud. She sighed. “I know I should’ve called. It’s important or else I wouldn’t have shown up like this.”

“Yo, Thane! They’re ready!”

Thane pressed in close and his voice lowered to a seductive whisper. “I’d actually like to talk to you, too. Right now isn’t a good time, okay?”

“I understand.”

“I’ll call you later today when I get a chance. It may be later rather than earlier,” he said. “Give me your number.”

She did and he wrote it on a piece of paper from his pocket. “I’ll be up late.”

“Good. Let me walk you out.” He looked around for her car and took her elbow again as they negotiated the rough terrain.

He opened the car door and waited as she sat inside. He hovered inside the door. He spotted the camera on her passenger seat, but he didn’t ask. “I’ll call you later. Promise me you won’t show up at another site again.”

“Promise.”

He shut the door and waited as she started it up. She drove away with him watching her taillights disappear down the road. She was at the bottom of the access road when she realized her heart was hammering for all the wrong reason.
I can have you any time I want.

The memory of his words was a whisper of seduction on her mind. She couldn’t wait for him to call her.

Chapter Six

He never called that night or the next day. She’d waited up with her phone sitting on her pillow and had fallen asleep close to midnight. It had taken her hours to find out where Thane was going to be tonight.

Brine was stalking Thane. The Portland Art Museum was glowing with golden lights that gave it an ethereal appearance within the darkness. She checked her lipstick in the visor, then flipped it back up.

Desperate times were starting to call for desperate measures.

Brine headed up the stone stairs to the Art Museum. She’d gotten worried that she might not find him at all. Finally, she’d called in a huge favor from an acquaintance that worked in the same building Elam Industries occupied.

The charity event for the local Children’s Hospital GI department started an hour and a half ago. Brine had studied the program she printed off the Internet. The event was for patients living with Eosinophilic disorder, a condition where the body perceives food as a foreign substance. White blood cells are sent to attack it and bodily tissue as the food passes through the GI track. Brine could only imagine the pain the children suffered from.

Brine didn’t want to crash this event, but she had no choice.

She had to get in, apologize, and get out.

Dance music vibrated through the large open doors. She steeled her nerves as she approached red velvet ropes that ushered guests to the center where they were cross-checked by a list. When Brine got to the front, the woman looked her up and down.

“Name?”

“Uh, I’m with Thane Elam.”

“Your name?”

“Ms. Torin.”

The woman’s manicured fingernail went down the clipboard. “I’m sorry, we don’t have anyone by that name.”

“Uh, let me give him a call.”

Brine slipped away and dug her cell phone from her purse. She headed around the corner while she pretended to call someone. She had to find a way into the building. Stalking him to his home or office was so not an option she was willing to entertain right now.

Around the side and below a large balcony, a door was propped open. She headed down the stairs and crossed the sidewalk to what looked like a maintenance door. Brine peeked inside to see a chef barking out orders in a busy kitchen. The door was slammed open by one of the staff hauling out empty boxes. Before the door could close, she slipped inside, sidestepped the action, and headed through the kitchen into the museum. No one noticed.

Somewhere in the building a DJ was getting the party worked up. The hallway cornered to the right and opened into an arching modern art center. She froze.

Holy shit.
He was there and with a woman. Brine’s sweaty palms tightened into her dress as she watched Thane lean into the blonde. His right hand was pressed against the wall. She was beautiful. The kind of girl a man like Thane would take home for the night. So, now she knew.

Brine’s heart was racing out of her chest as she watched the unaware couple from afar. The woman laughed at something he said and put her palm against his cheek the way lovers do when they share a private moment. The woman tilted up her lips and kissed him on the cheek.

Brine was breathless and felt her emotions spinning out of control. She shouldn’t be watching them. It was
so
wrong. She had to get out of there before he saw her. Forget about apologizing face-to-face, the thought of looking him in the eye right now made her sick. She’d send him an e-mail. Brine spun around, knocking into a server pushing a cart. Silver pans crashed to the floor.

“Oh, geez. I’m sorry…I didn’t see you there.” Brine ducked down to help the woman pick up, hoping Thane didn’t see her and wouldn’t.

Wrong.
Brine stood just as Thane stepped out of the shadows with a fierce look of possession on his face. It was as though his thoughts were telegraphed through the room into her mind.

You are mine.

Shivers ran over her skin. His right hand was in his pants pocket as his heavy-lidded gaze undressed her head to toe. She told herself it was going to be okay, that this was a good thing. Once she apologized, she could be on her way. No harm, no foul as far as she was concerned. The blonde at his side said something, and Thane nodded without even looking at her. The woman shot Brine a speculative look before she left.

The server got the floor around the cart cleaned up and pushed it back into the kitchen. Brine fidgeted by the windows that overlooked a courtyard. Thane headed her way. From the other end of the hall, Brine heard the chef go ballistic and cringed.

“I didn’t expect to see you here,” he said.

“I came to apologize. For everything.”

“That’s a really long list, don’t you think?”

His tone was light and teasing as he came in closer. The invasion of her space made it difficult to concentrate. “I suppose it is a rather long list. What is it they say? Go big or go home?”

“Usually they say that for contact sports,” he said.

His laughter was an erotic seduction she couldn’t ignore, but she knew she had to if she was going to get through this. “I thought it was noncontact. Well, anyway. I just wanted to tell you I am very sorry for the article I wrote. I’m sorry to interrupt your evening, too.”

“It’s going to take more than an apology.”

Exasperation had her reaching for a wineglass from a passing waiter and taking a sip. “What am I going to have to do?”

“Easy on that.” He took the glass away. “I want you stone-cold sober tonight.”

“You’re funny.”