Kelly Jamieson - Sweet Deal

Yeah. He was in love with Shelby.

She wasn’t supposed to get hurt in all this, but he’d fucked things up. Now he had to try to fix things.

He pulled up on the street in front of Shelby’s apartment building and was just getting out of his SUV when he saw her car pulling out of her parking lot. Hey!

He took a step toward it, without really thinking, but obviously there was no way he could stop her. He watched her tail lights disappear down the street. Where was she going?

He jumped back into his own vehicle, started it up and laid some rubber as he pulled away from the curb.

He spotted her car a block up. She was driving fast, damn fast, and it took some effort to keep up with her in traffic. He didn’t care if she saw him, he just had to keep her in his sights. It soon became obvious she was headed back downtown. Was she going back to work?

Apparently, yes. She drove into the parking garage where she parked during the day. He hesitated only a few seconds. He had a parking spot below his own building but that was two blocks away. Or he could just go in this building and pay to park. Another car got between them, but that was okay now he knew where she was. So he waited to pull a ticket from the machine, waited for the arm to lift, waited while the goof in front of him drove slowly up each level, carefully rounded the corner and drove up the next until he finally found an empty spot. The only empty spot.

Jake kept his eyes sharp for Shelby, spotted her car on the fifth level, but no sign of her. Damn! She had to be going back to her office. Finally he found a spot, jumped out and locked his vehicle, jogged toward the elevator.

Why was he doing this? He shook his head while he waited for the elevator. Was he nuts? If she was going back to work, she must be okay.

His guts felt twisted up, though, because he’d gotten all psyched up to go see her and then she’d left. He needed to see her, needed to make sure she was okay, needed to tell her to get back in there and fight.

It took a few minutes to walk from the parking garage to the office tower that housed Gold Shield Insurance. He took the elevator up to the twenty-first floor and faced a receptionist. “Hi,” he said smiling. “I’m here to see Shelby Leighton.”

“Is she expecting you?”

“No. But…” He broadened his smile. “She’ll see me. Jake Magill.”

“I’ll try her line.”

He waited, but the receptionist hung up. “I’m sorry,” she said with a smile. “Her voice mail says she’s not in.”

“Yes she is.” Desperation edged his voice. She blinked at him. “I know she is. She left earlier but she just came back.” God, she was going to call security on him if he kept babbling like an idiot. “Maybe you could try Andrew Haddon for me.”

“Sure.” She called Andrew’s number. “I’m sorry. He’s not in either.”

Jesus. Where had he gone when he’d left Jake’s office? He turned away from the reception desk just as Andrew walked in.

He saw Jake and scowled at him. “Now what?”

Shelby stood alone in the elevator, the button for the twenty-sixth floor lit up. She pressed her lips together as she waited, flutters of anticipation and nerves like wings inside her.

The elevator came to a halt on the twentieth floor and Bram got in. They greeted each other, Shelby still feeling a touch of annoyance at how he’d gone to Andrew behind her back with complaints about her ability to manage the project. She recalled her meeting with him where she’d told him he should have gone to her, instead of going to her boss behind her back.

Exactly what she was about to do to Andrew.

Bram got off on twenty-four. Shelby stood frozen as the elevator doors closed, staring at the lit-up button for twenty-six, where the executive offices were located. Then she stabbed twenty-five, not sure if she was fast enough. The elevator glided to a stop. She stepped out of the elevator, turned and went into the ladies’ room on that floor.

She set her purse on the counter and took a breath.

Dammit, if she hadn’t already kissed this job goodbye, going above Andrew’s head would definitely do it. Her insides twisted into knots. Firming her lips, she picked up her purse and left the ladies’ room.

Jake glanced at the receptionist and smiled, moved closer to Andrew and spoke in a low voice. “I need to see Shelby.”

“She’s not here. She went home earlier. My secretary said she was sick.”

“She’s not sick. I went to her house. She was just leaving, and she came back here.”

Andrew’s forehead creased then he moved toward the door. “Come to my office.”

Jake followed him through a maze of cubicles to a corner office, glancing into each cubicle, wondering if it was Shelby’s. But he didn’t see her. Andrew paused at his secretary’s desk.

“Have you seen Shelby?” he asked her. Jake recalled sitting with her at the picnic. Uh…Susan, that was it.

She shook her head, looking up at him from behind her desk, her face full of confusion as she saw Jake. “No. She left this morning, remember?”

“Yeah, but she may have come back.”

“Oh, I doubt it. She really didn’t look well.” She squinted at Jake but he said nothing.

Andrew gave a short nod and walked into his office. Jake followed. He looked around. He’d visited Andrew’s office a few times, a long time ago. Weird.

“Did you try her cell phone?” Andrew asked.

“Yeah, but she didn’t answer. She’d know it was me.”

“Let me try.” But she didn’t answer Andrew’s call either.

“You’re sure she’s here?”

“Well. I didn’t see her walk into the building, but she parked in the parking garage.”

Andrew shrugged. “Don’t know what else I can do.”

Jake sighed and rubbed the back of his neck. “Yeah. Short of searching the building, which I guess is a bit much, huh?”

Andrew regarded him thoughtfully. “Yeah. Not that I don’t know how you feel.”

“Andrew, can we…oh.”

They both turned at the feminine voice in Andrew’s open door. Jake’s mouth dropped open to see Shelby standing there, staring at both of them.

She was stunning in a little suit that hugged her curves, killer heels, and those glasses that made her look like the sexiest little librarian he’d ever seen, even though her nose was faintly pink under light makeup.

She glared at Jake. “What are you doing here?”

Shelby stared at Jake, her heart pitching into an unsteady rhythm. Her palms went sweaty, her face hot.

“Looking for you,” he said, not moving.

“Why?” Her eyes flickered toward Andrew and then back.

“I heard about your project. I tried to call you and they said you’d gone home. I went to your place and saw you coming back here. So I followed you.”

“I don’t understand. How did you hear about my project?”

“From Andrew.”

Her head whipped around to stare at Andrew.

He ran a finger inside his shirt collar. “Uh, yeah. I went to see Jake this morning.”

“Why?”

“We had some issues to talk about.”

“As do you and I,” Jake added. “Shelby, we need to talk.”

She frowned. “I don’t think so. Besides, I’m working and I have business to discuss with Andrew.” She lifted her chin and looked at her boss. “If you have time.”

He met her eyes and nodded. “Yes. I have time.”

Jake stared at her for a long moment. “Business, huh.” He nodded slowly, rubbed his chin. “What are you going to talk about?”

What? What? “Business!” she snapped.

And then he smiled. A slow, kind of sad smile, but a smile. She blinked at him.

“Okay. Good.” He walked toward her, stopped right in front of her and spoke right into her ear in a low voice. “Stand up for yourself, Shelby Rose. Don’t let the past mess up your future. You don’t have to drag that crap around with you forever. You’re smart and talented and you can do this.” He brushed his lips over her cheek.