It's All Geek to Me (Nerds & Geeks Book 3) (7 page)

“Yes. I left my purse sitting on top of my desk when I came down to talk to you guys. Blake passed me going the other way. Frazer, you were in Tony’s office. Blake had time to swipe the phone.”

“Nice try.” Frazer crossed his arms. “But why would he do that?”

“To try and steal the app,” Miranda said. “I caught him coming out of Rylan’s office a couple of weeks ago when he had no reason to be in there. I don’t trust him.”

Rylan scratched his beard. “I don’t, either, but if he thought he could somehow get the app off that phone he’s dumber than I imagined.”

“He has an elevated opinion of his tech abilities,” Garrett said. “He might have convinced himself he has the skills to transfer that app to another device. Then when he couldn’t, he decided to cause some trouble by making us think someone dropped it.”

Frazer cleared his throat. “This is all embarrassingly simple to explain and much as I’d like to blame Pearson, I can’t.” He glanced at Dulcie. “The phone fell out of your purse when I was kissing you in the elevator. End of story.”

“Were you upright at the time?” Rylan regarded him with a deadpan expression.

“Of course! It’s not like we were –”

“Then no way, big brother. Maybe if you were doing the wild thing I’d buy that theory, but a vertical kiss that makes a phone leap out of a purse defies the laws of physics.”

“Not if the strap slipped! You all want to make Pearson the villain because you don’t want it to be my carelessness at fault. But it was. I might think I can loosen up, but see what happens when I try? It was fun while it lasted, but it’s over. A leopard can’t change his spots.” And he left the office.

Dulcie clenched her fists and watched him go. “That phone did not fall out of my purse.”

“We all agree with you,” Garrett said. “Pearson’s up to something and this proves it to me. Trouble is, we don’t have any hard evidence against him. I’ll install additional security measures. We’re gonna nail this bastard.”

Rylan’s smile was tight. “Damn straight we are.”

“In the meantime, girlfriend,” Miranda said as she put her arm around Dulcie’s shoulders. “Do
not
let Frazer get away with that crap. Go after him. Yell at him. I never did, but that’s what he needs.”

“Judging from the way he shut down, he won’t listen to me.”

“He will listen if he knows what’s good for him. You might be his last chance.” Miranda gave her a squeeze. “What have you got to lose?”

“Damn it, you’re right.” Talking a deep breath, she marched out of Rylan’s office and straight into Frazer’s, where he sat at his desk with his head in his hands. “Frazer Krause, look at me!”

When he lifted his head, his blue eyes were bleak with despair. “Dulcie, it’s no use. You and I both know what happened.”

“No we don’t. There’s no way in hell Blake found that phone in the elevator. I looked.”

“You just missed it.”

“No, I did not! I have very good eyes and I wouldn’t have missed it. I don’t know what Blake is up to, but something. Maybe he’s trying to steal the app or maybe he was messing with us because he gets a sick thrill out of seeing us freak out. But I know in my gut that he took the phone from my purse. I didn’t drop it when you kissed me. I would have heard it fall.”

“Are you sure? Because when I kiss you, the blood pounds in my ears and I can’t hear very well.”

“Is that right?” She advanced toward his desk. “I didn’t know I had that effect on your hearing.”

“That doesn’t happen to you?”

She braced both hands on his uncluttered desk. “No, I can hear great when you kiss me.” She leaned toward him. “You make a low moan deep in your throat that gets me so hot I can’t stand it.”

Slowly the despair in his eyes gave way to the glitter of passion. “I wasn’t aware of doing that.”

“Well, you do, and it’s sexy. You also have an extremely talented tongue. I’m crazy about the way you use it when you kiss me on the mouth and also when you –”

“What are you trying to do?” He shifted in his chair, a sure sign that his pants no longer fit comfortably.

“To quote my hero Yoda, there is no try. I’m by damn going to convince you not to let Blake’s shenanigans torpedo what we’ve found. You’d be making the biggest mistake of your life and I won’t let you.”

“I see.” Pushing away from the desk, he stood and headed for the door.

She spun around. “So help me, if you walk out of here I’ll chase you down! I’ll tackle you in the hallway and kiss you in front of everybody!”

“Can’t have that.” He closed the door and twisted the lock before walking back toward her.

Her heart thudded wildly. “I want you, Fraze, so you might as well surrender now and save us both some time.”

“So this is all about efficiency?” He tossed his glasses on the desk and pulled her into his arms. “And here I thought it might be about something else.”

She drew in a shaky breath. “Like what?”

“Like love.”

She nearly swooned. “Oh, Fraze.”

“Too soon?”

“Not a moment too soon and almost too late.” She cupped his face and gazed into his beautiful eyes. “If you’re such a genius, logically you have to know I’m madly in love with you.”

“And if you’re such a pro at Gopher Hole Golf, intuitively you have to know I’m totally in love with you.”

“I thought so, but then you walked out of Rylan’s office like you were giving up.”

He reacted as if she’d slapped him. Then his eyes shimmered with a depth of emotion he’d never shown before. “And I hurt you.” His voice was hoarse with regret. “God, I’m sorry!”

“I know.” She smoothed the crease between his brows. “It’s okay, now.”

“No thanks to me. I like to think I would have come to my senses and begged you to forgive me, but who knows? You didn’t wait around to see if I would, though. You called me on it, which is . . . “ He paused and cleared his throat. “It’s incredible. You’re incredible.”

“Miranda told me to.”

“Good for her.” His eyes glowed with tenderness. “But you didn’t have to take her advice.”

“Yes, I did. You might have been ready to give up but I wasn’t.”

“Ah, Dulcie.” He sighed and pulled her closer. “I don’t know what I did to deserve you.”

“I do.”

He leaned down until his lips almost touched hers. “What?”

“You agreed to play Pin the Tail on the Donkey.”

His soft chuckle tickled her mouth. “Then it just became my favorite game in the world.”

She hoped so, because judging from the enthusiastic kiss they were sharing, he’d end up playing that game for years to come.

New York Times bestselling author Vicki Lewis Thompson has such a great time writing romance novels that she’s published more than a hundred of them and has no intention of throwing in the towel. That’s despite being awarded a Nora Roberts Lifetime Achievement Award by Romance Writers of America. If that was a signal to quit, she’s not paying attention.
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