Page 23 of Possess

“Are you sure?” Wes asked Allyson the next morning.

“Yes.” Allyson shifted in her seat in front of Wes’ desk. She’d pulled up several jobs this morning before this meeting and found stuff had been changed. “I even took screen shots.” She handed them to Wes. Thank goodness she had the foresight to do that.

“Well, I’ll be damned. Let me get IT on this. They should be able to trace it.”

“All right. I’ve changed all my passwords to be on the safe side. But this is very concerning, Wes. Someone was also able to change the plans on one of the Riggs jobs.”

“How do you know that?”

“I received a complaint about environmental concerns.”

“All of those are supposed to come through me.”

“I know. I assumed I got it because you sent it to me and because I approved the original plan. It was an empty lot when the plans came in. I reviewed and approved them. So when I got the complaint, I followed up with Riggs Construction and met with them yesterday afternoon.”

“What did you find?”

“Besides protesters? I talked with Mr. Riggs, because I’m aware he’s environmentally conscious. All his jobs include green space, so it didn’t make sense. It wasn’t until I saw his plans that the complaint didn’t make sense.”

“Maybe Riggs filed the wrong ones.”

Allyson shook her head. “I would have thought that too if I hadn’t seen the originals. I pulled the plans when I got back yesterday. All the green space was missing. Something is off, Wes.”

“I agree. Anything else?”

“No. But did you see I received a Starr Construction job?”

Wes nodded. “Rudy claims he’s overloaded.”

Allyson prevented herself from snorting at the comment. More like he didn’t want to do the work. “Right.” With that, she left Wes’s office and went back to her own. She stopped short in her doorway.

There was a teddy bear with balloons sitting on her desk. She glanced over her shoulder. Someone must have delivered it while she was in Wes’s office. Allyson snatched the white envelope sitting in the teddy bear’s arm with her name on it.

She ripped it open.To a beautiful lady, may this make you smile,and remember I’m nothing but a big teddy bear. ZR.Laughter burst from Allyson’s lips. Zeke thought he was a big teddy bear? She loved the gesture, but he couldn’t do this. Someone was going to get suspicious or call it out.

“Well, well, well, it looks like someone has an admirer,” Rudy said, lounging against the door frame to her office.

Her good mood vanished. “What do you want?” She tucked the card away in her pocket and moved the bear and balloons off her desk onto the small side table. At least he thought she had an admirer.

“I understand you got a Starr Construction job.”

“Yes, but I haven’t looked at it yet.”

“Be sure you give them plenty of notice when you want to meet up. They’re not asaccommodatingas Riggs Construction is.” Rudy’s smarmy comment wasn’t lost on Allyson.

She ground her teeth together so she wouldn’t make a smart-ass remark. “I’ll keep that in mind. Now if you’ll excuse me, I have work to do.”

“Sure.” Rudy left, and Allyson wondered why he’d even stopped by. Probably to get under her skin. She rolled her shoulders, and the teddy bear caught her attention. A smile crossed her lips, but she’d have to talk with Zeke about sending her presents to the office. It wasn’t professional.

* * * *

A week later, Zeke glanced around the café expansion. It was almost done. After talking to the engineer about the wall, they’d had to change the position of the door between the two cafés, which had changed the plans somewhat from what the originals. Not unusual. There were also a few other changes.

He’d already talked with Allyson and asked her if she could meet him at the job so they could discuss the changes. He had the new plans in hand and would file them once he talked with her. He was going to make sure all his jobs were on the up and up. Not that he hadn’t before. But if he was going to convince Allyson to take a chance on him and keep seeing him outside of work, then he had to make sure to keep their work time to work.

At a knock on the door, he raised his head from where he was studying the plans. There she was. His heart skipped a beat. He took in her jeans and work boots, then moved to the dark blue long-sleeved shirt, and the smile on her lips. He grinned as he strode to the door and opened it.

“Right on time, as always.”

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