Page 68 of Reckless Kiss

“You hire him a babysitter,” Maddie quipped. “Just make it a male babysitter. We can’t afford for him to have another affair with an employee.”

“Hey now, all those allegations are false, remember?” I shot her a playful look to go along with my healthy heaping of sarcasm. They weren’t false and we all knew more than we wanted to.

Gwen gagged. “Maybe he’s more trouble than he’s worth.”

Unfortunately it was something we’d all been thinking. The scandals were taking up more and more of Oscar’s time and it wasn’t great for our public image. But then again, our clients were happy with the work we were doing so we’d gotten a few more very large names signed. The money was good. The drama made my skin crawl.

“For now we support our client,” Marie said without looking up from her tablet. “But if he goes down in flames I won’t shed a tear. Moving on. Gwen?”

Gwen took over at the front of the room. She was in charge of the strategic plan so I had to pay attention and chime in when necessary. Still, my mind kept drifting.

I knew Esme turned off the stove. I remember hearing the knob click.

She smiled and kissed me before she left for work.

My car hadn’t made any strange noises.

Our meeting was progressing well.

So what the hell was bothering me?

That’s when the conference room door opened and our security guard poked his head in. “Mr. Hancock?”

The room fell silent.

“Yes?” My weird feeling turned into an itchy sensation. It was like my skin didn’t quite fit any longer.

“There are a couple of gentlemen here to see you. They don’t have an appointment but it seems important.”

I glanced at Marie. She waved me away.

“Show them to my office. I’ll be right there.” I took my sweet time gathering my stuff before sliding quietly out of the conference room.

My office door remained open so I could see the two men were wearing matching suits. “Special Agents Capp and Dixon?” I closed my office door.

The one of the left looked surprised. “Yes. How do you know our names?”

I had to force down my desire to be sarcastic. I needed to be cool and emotionless. “I make it a point to know who follows me around like a lost puppy. Can I get you anything to drink?” I didn’t plan on actually getting them anything. I wanted to sound bored when really I wanted to throw them both out the window.

“No thank you. Mr. Hancock we’re here because we need to ask you to come with us.”

I sat behind my desk. “Go with you? Where? Why?” The hell I was going anywhere with these two.

“We need to ask you a few questions.”

“You can ask them here.”

The one on the left fixed me with a stern look that I’m sure was hisI mean businesslook. It was highly ineffective in my opinion. I’d be laughed out of contract negotiations if made such ridiculous expressions. “Mr. Hancock, we have questions that need to be asked on the record. You can come with us willingly or we can arrest you. It’s your choice.”

I faked a shiver. “Oh, so very serious. I’m appropriately terrified. Sit your asses down if you want to talk to me. I’m sure your phones have the ability to make recordings?”

Capp and Dixon glanced at each other. I liked that they looked thrown. Flustered people don’t think clearly.

Dixon shrugged and pulled out his phone. He rattled off the date and location before asking me to confirm my identity and that I consented to the recording. “You understand that you’re voluntarily answering our questions without a lawyer present?”

“Yes I do. I have nothing to hide, gentlemen. Ask your questions.”

“What is your relationship with Dr. Rosalind Brown?”

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