Killian (Hope City #8) - Kris Michaels Page 0,14
the door hit you on your ass on the way out.”
Her mouth dropped open. Shell shocked, she stammered, “You… what?”
“I’m not going to entertain your witch hunt.” He leaned forward and stabbed the desk with his finger. “I have worked fourteen-hour days for as long as I can remember to make this company the fucking font of integrity. I am this company. I follow every law to the letter, and the reason this company is successful is that I run it on a razor’s edge between profit and loss. You want dirty dealers? You’ll find them, but not here. Never here, Ms. King. When you attack my company, you attack me.” Duke stood up and growled, moving toward the door, obviously picking up on his anger but not understanding why Killian was upset. He snapped his fingers and the dog heeled immediately.
Bekki held her arms wide. “Will you help me find them?”
He sneered, “Why should I?”
She reached up and pulled off her Marauder’s cap, running her hand through her thick brown hair. “Look, I get that my assumptions pissed you off, and you know what, okay I jumped the gun, and I haven’t found anything that would lead me to believe you are on the wrong side of the law, but something is going on. I can feel it.”
“I wouldn’t start with general contractors.” There were so many other areas that could be leveraged for profit.
“Then who? I need a starting point.”
He rolled his eyes. “Fine. What evidence do you have?”
Bekki sighed and flopped into the chair. “I have stacks of information, but I need help to put it together.” He leaned back in his chair and Duke nosed under his hand for a pet. He stroked his dog. Bekki leaned forward. “I need to make up for accusing you of wrongdoing and I’d like to show you what I have. Could I interest you and Duke in a home-cooked meal, maybe a beer and a peek at a story that could launch me into a major market?”
“Ah…” Now it made sense. She was looking for a promotion. He stroked Duke, and against his better judgement, he nodded. He’d spend a few minutes looking at what she had and then this—whatever this was—would be over.
Relief slid off the woman in a wave. In a rush, she spoke, “Thank you. You won’t regret it, I promise. Tonight? Eight. My place. Oh, you need the address. What’s your phone number, I’ll drop you a pin.”
He recited his cell number and watched her tap it in, and a second later, he had her address. “You’ll see, there is something there, I can feel it. I just don’t know enough to know what it is.”
“And if there isn’t anything?”
She screwed up her face in a look of disgust. “Well, there’s always the marathon.”
He had no idea what the hell that meant. Talking with this woman could give him whiplash. “Excuse me?”
“Never mind. Just a fallback plan. Hey, do you run?”
“Ah, only when I have to.”
The woman bounced out of the chair. “Too bad. Eight o’clock. Any allergies?”
He shook his head.
“Cool. I’m so excited to show you what I have. But I need to organize it. Yeah, I can work on it today. Perfect. Okay. See yah.”
The woman opened the door and dropped out of the trailer, leaving a vacuum of silence in her wake. Duke whined and then laid down with another groan. “Yeah, my sentiments exactly, boy.” The woman had balls the size of Texas, and how in the hell had he ended up agreeing to go to her condo tonight? He reran the conversation in his head. Ah, that’s right. He was going to look at what she had, and then leave.
Lord, the woman was unlike anyone he’d ever met before. Thank God. Not only was she obviously high maintenance, she was exhausting. Whoever ended up with that woman was in for an eye-opening experience. Thank God it wasn’t going to be him.
Chapter 5
Bekki hurried to the entrance of Eternity Park where Caitlyn was waiting for her. “You’re late.”
“I know, I’m sorry. I lost track of time.” She apologized as they started on their normal route.
“What kept you this time?” Caitlyn asked as soon as they made it to the jogging path.
“Killian is coming over tonight, so I—”
Her jogging partner stopped. “Wait. Explain that.” Caitlyn sent her a confused glance.
Bekki turned her head and then spun around. “Why did you stop?”
Caitlyn’s eyes popped and she practically shouted, “Killian is going to yours?”
“What?