Page 82 of Stripping Bare
And she’d won a game of Steele Survivor. She was kind of abadass.
She injected that into her voice when she told Jonah, “Don’t do it again. Don’t ever leave me behind to protectme.”
By the timehe and Tessa made it to the Charlotte biotech company where Carson Grimes worked, Jonah was so on edge it took all his acting skill to smile at the receptionist and casually lean a hip against her desk. “We’re looking for a new employee of yours. Name’s CarsonGrimes.”
The receptionist’s brow furrowed for a few seconds, then her face brightened. “Oh, you mean the one fromSeattle.”
“That’shim.”
She picked up her phone receiver, her finger hovering over the buttons. “May I give him yournames?”
Jonah upped his smile a notch even though it pained him. “We’d really like it to be a surprise. We’re old friends and we wanted to welcome him totown.”
“Gotcha.” She hit a couple of buttons and smiled flirtatiously at Jonah while she waited. “Is this Carson? Great. You have some people here to see you. You can meet them in the receptionarea.”
When she replaced the receiver, her expression turned apologetic. “Sorry, but I can’t let you in the office since you don’t have anappointment.”
“No problem,” Tessa chimed in, her voice cheerful. “We completely understand corporate espionage when it comes to R and D.” But her smile at Jonah was edged with shark teeth. Yeah, she still hadn’t forgiven him for trying to ditchher.
Rather than standing in eyesight of the hallway he assumed Carson would emerge from, Jonah waved Tessa toward the exterior door, “We’re going to step outside for some fresh air,” he told the receptionist. “Carson can meet us outfront.”
Outside, Tessa asked, “Why not talk to him in thelobby?”
“Because I didn’t want him to bolt.” He urged her to the opposite side of a neatly trimmed hollybush.
A few minutes later, the front door whooshed open. With the speed he normally used on a keyboard, Jonah rounded theshrub.
Carson’s eyes popped wide. “What thehell—”
“I’m asking the questions today.” Although Jonah wanted to grab the guy, he tried to breathe through the tension wadded in hisstomach.
Slow and easy. You don’t know that he’s behind allthis.
“Jonah?” Tessa’s tone was soft, as if she instinctively knew his control was fraying by thesecond.
Carson’s skinny chest was rising and falling rapidly, and his eyes were darting left and right. “What…what are you two doinghere?”
“I ran a multibillion-dollar gaming company. You don’t think I got there by being stupid, do you? You weren’t hard to track down. Now you’re going to tell me why you’re threatening Tessa or I will reach down your throat and turn your organs insideout.”
Great. That was sure to convince Tessa that you won’t lose your shit on someoneelse.
“You two need to leave me alone.” Although the temperature was hovering in the low forties, the dude was sweating as if he were trapped in a sauna, and his gaze was ping-ponging between Jonah and Tessa. “If you don’t, I’ll go to thepolice.”
“Oh, that’ll be handy. You can march your ass in there and explain how you hacked Tessa’s files and painted threats on herwalls.”
“I…I don’t know what you’re talking about.” His Adam’s apple convulsed, and he nodded toward Tessa. “She’s the one threatening me. Telling me to give her money or she’ll blab to people about our counseling sessions. She did the same thing to Davey and he ended up dead. There’s something wrong withher.”
“You could’ve written that blackmail e-mail, trying to throw suspicion offyourself.”
“Dude, I just started a new job. I don’t have time to play games like that even if I wantedto.”
“I think he’s telling the truth,” Tessa saidsoftly.
“What about me?” Jonah demanded. “What do you have againstme?”
“Other than the fact that I think you were stupid to sell your company? Not a damn thing. I liked working for SteeleTrap.”
“Then why did you quit and move all the way to Charlotte? Why did you follow me to NorthCarolina?”
