right at her. Green eyes, dark look and concentrated focus.
Her hand shook as she fumbled with the door. There were few certainties in life, but she knew without any doubt that Forest Redder could mess up her plans. She ran out before that could happen.
Chapter Two
Subject Report on Cam Matthews: When check came, he said dinner was on me. Then he said, “that’s real equality for you.” —Member 14
Need to Know admin staff: Confirmed payment.
FOREST CLAMPED HIS back teeth together to keep from shouting. He still thought about making a lunge for the keys jangling in Wen’s hand. After the messed-up excuse for a meeting with Ryan that lasted forty-five minutes longer than planned, Forest’s patience had expired.
He’d voted for delivering the bad news via conference call. Wen was the one who’d insisted they visit Ryan in person. As far as Forest was concerned, that meant Wen was solely to blame for the wasted work time and having to listen to a grown man swear, grovel and cry. The last part made Forest’s head pound. It also got him up and out of the conference-room chair in about two seconds. He didn’t need to be a part of that sort of nonsense.
He and Wen made it off the elevator and halfway to the guest spot in the underground parking garage before Wen started talking again. “That went well.”
Leave it to Wen to try to find the positive in a heaping pile of negative. “Not for Peterson.”
“I meant for us.”
“Then, yes.” But Forest wasn’t convinced that was true, either. Now they had to double back and restart the process with a new construction team. He wanted the project moving. The preparation meetings were pissing him off.
Their shoes clicked against the pavement as they snaked through the lines of parked cars. The steady beat echoed around them. Forest tried to concentrate on the hammering, but the face of Ryan’s temp kept edging into his mind. He’d caught only her last name—McAdam.
Not that he cared.
Sure, the long wavy brunette hair was hot. The slim skirt and pink shirt that skimmed her body all worked for him. And the face, round and pretty with big brown eyes... Okay, maybe he cared a little, but no way was he making a play for her.
He’d have to know her name. He could find it out easily enough. A few well-placed questions and a call or two to temp agencies would do it. But he vowed to let it go. Last thing he needed was a fling with a woman who made a living working in offices where he might have business meetings. That promised a bunch of awkward post-sex conversations.
No thanks. He’d settle for some heavy-duty sex fantasies about those spiky high heels and what she hid under that black skirt instead, then move on.
Wen stopped at the driver’s side of his sleek two-seater. “Word is, without our business, Ryan could be out of his own firm.”
A topic that didn’t involve Ms. McAdam’s long legs or high, round breasts. Yeah, Forest could handle this. “Last I checked we weren’t a charity.”
“He might have bigger troubles anyway.” Wen clicked a button and the locks chirped.
“Such as?” Forest got in, checking his cell and barely listening as he mentally planned the rest of his day. A quick dinner, then back to the office to plow through the stack of paperwork on the corner of his desk.
“Need to Know.”
It took a second for Forest to realize his second in command had gotten into the car and stopped talking. He hadn’t bothered to turn on the engine. He just sat with one hand balanced on the wheel and stared.
Forest stared back. “Excuse me?”
“Need to Know.”
Forest wondered exactly how many minutes of conversation he missed while unlocking his cell. “Repetition isn’t helping.”
“The website.”
The last threads holding Forest’s patience ripped apart. He turned in his seat and sent Wen a get-to-it-now scowl. “What the hell are you talking about?”
“Didn’t you hear the guys at the club talking?”
His least-favorite place. Forest didn’t fit in with the “in” crowd and he was more than fine with that. “I go there for business lunches because I have to. The rest is pure bullshit and not how I ever want to spend a day.”
Wen smiled as he put the key in the ignition and the sports car roared to life. “Because you suck at golf.”
Something else that didn’t bother Forest. “I wear that as a badge of honor.”
“Anyway, it’s a website.” Wen put the car in gear and eased out of the spot.
At this point in the post-meeting process Forest usually dove into his work emails or his schedule. Small talk during car rides was one of the many things he had no interest in. Just like golf and charity events and Monday holidays.
But Wen acted like whatever he was saying mattered, so Forest didn’t turn off his attention just yet. “What is?”
“Need to Know. Stop frowning at me and take a look.” Wen slipped his cell out of his suit pocket, hit a button and handed it over.
“You’re showing me a member-login screen.”
“For an anonymous site where women post information on their dates with D.C.’s business and political elite.”
Now, that sounded a bit more interesting than anything Forest had heard today. He rested his cell on his thigh and reached for Wen’s. Forest tried the site’s home link and contact screen. It all struck him as some big puzzle that led nowhere. “You can’t access it without signing in.”
“But word is getting around. Some of our business associates are being named on it, and not in flattering ways.”
“It sounds like tattling, more in line with something a preteen girl would do than an adult woman.” Forest glanced up and realized the car hadn’t moved. They sat idling in the middle of a lane, a good thirty feet from the security gate at the parking exit. “Drive.”
“You’re not getting this.”
Not for lack of trying. He used his own phone to search for information about the site while he poked around, but after a quick check he couldn’t track it back to a name. “Enlighten me.”
“The women have to be approved for membership. They’re vetted and then once online they post about their dates, rate the sex, even comment on a guy’s body and breath. They talk about whether a guy is financially viable or known for cheating.” Wen lifted his hands off the wheel and smacked them down again. “I’m telling you, nothing is sacred.”
Forest tried to imagine the whining the men at the clubs must be engaged in over this. Now, that made him smile. “Cheating isn’t sacred. Any man who is stupid enough to do it should get caught, but I get your point about the rest. Question is why anyone
