in her eyes, his whole being constricted with the fight not to take her in his arms and annihilate her with his mouth.
“What if someone else gets to my computer and it’s not even Anna?” he said as the bizarre thought took hold. “What if she gets blamed for something she didn’t do?”
“What are the chances of that?” Stephen asked.
“Slim. None.”
“Relax. Here comes Brittany.” Stephen gave his sister an inviting wave. “Let’s torture her.”
But Parker’s heart wasn’t into teasing his sister, so he let Stephen and Brittany talk while he stared at the horizon.
A beautiful redheaded model glided by and gave him an interested smile, but he just looked past her, his mind seeing a different woman altogether. A little while later, Brittany introduced him to her newest waitress, Tiffany, and he barely noticed her generous cleavage, so she turned her charms on Stephen. Even the arrival of two Miami Heat cheerleaders didn’t snag his attention.
Brittany brought him another beer. “Your first one’s flat and warm by now.” She picked up the barely touched pilsner glass. “If I didn’t know you as an arrogant master of the universe, I’d say you were lovesick tonight.”
Parker pulled his focus from the darkening Atlantic Ocean to his sister. “I’m not lovesick, Britt.”
She laughed. “No argument on arrogant, I see.” When he didn’t respond, she added, “Then what’s your problem?”
He swallowed the smart-ass retort he’d usually give his sister and just shook his head. “Business, of course.”
“Of course,” she said, perching on the rattan armrest of the sofa. “It’s never anything else with you, is it?”
“What’s that supposed to mean?” he asked.
She shrugged. “Just wondering if there’s a heart in that big old chest of yours, or just a calculator.”
Was that how he seemed? To her? To everyone? To Anna? The thought made his chest ache. Not the way a calculator would at all.
A customer called Brittany and she stood, giving Parker a rare squeeze on the shoulder. “Too bad you’re such a machine, Parker. If you’d loosen up, I might actually like you.”
He looked up, ready to remind his sister that she had the right to be flighty; she was the youngest. He, on the other hand, had the weight of the family name on his firstborn shoulders. But Brittany had taken off, and Stephen was flirting with the new girl.
He’d had enough.
“Where are you going?” Stephen asked when Parker stood and set the new beer on the table with a thud.
“I’m leaving,” he said vaguely.
Stephen frowned at him. “You changed your mind?”
Parker opened his mouth to argue, but just held up a hand. “I’m going to handle this my way.” He hustled away before his brother could argue.
If she was the spy, he’d catch her in the act. Forget tracking her keystrokes and placing blame, he’d walk in and find her there, make her freeze before she had time to close whatever info she was stealing and then they could have it out.
He’d fire her and she’d be gone, no chance for an excuse.
This catching-her-with-software was just not his style.
Propelled by the need to take action, and maybe by the need to see her again, regardless of what he found her doing, Parker was in his car in no time. He zipped back over the causeway and whipped down Brickell toward his office. He parked underground in the high-rise and made it to the elevator in a few steps, his blood already spiked.
Would he tell her he’d set her up? Would she be gone already? The elevator seemed to drag up each of the twenty-two floors as his gut tightened in anticipation.
The soft ding of the elevator echoed in the empty hall. To his left, the wide glass doors of Garrison, Inc. were closed and locked, the reception area bathed in shadows formed by up lighting under the brass Garrison logo on one wall.
He had a key, of course, and turned it quietly, then locked the door behind him. He stood for a moment near Sheila’s desk, listening. He heard nothing.
Could Anna be gone? Something like disappointment shifted in his stomach and he walked soundlessly down the hall to his office.
Anna’s desk was empty, her computer off. But the file with the spreadsheet information was right on top. Curious, he opened it. It was untouched. She hadn’t done it yet? In two hours? Had she spent the entire time raiding his computer?
His door was closed tightly and he paused, wondering if he should just use his key or jiggle the handle. The latter could alert her and she could quickly clear the screen.
But her moves would be tracked with the software.
He jiggled, but it was locked. Quickly, he slid his key in and with a dramatic thrust, pushed the door open.
The room was empty. A Garrison, Inc. logo danced around as a screen saver on his computer. That meant the computer had been untouched for at least half an hour.
He stepped toward his desk, and then he heard it.
High-pitched, heartfelt and as flat as a sick puppy. Singing.
She could have danced all night.
Audrey Hepburn might roll over in her grave at Anna’s rendition of a signature song, but Parker Garrison simply froze and imagined the woman he wanted… wet, naked and belting out a ballad in the shower.
If she was a spy, he’d fire her. If she wasn’t, he’d…
Join her.
In two steps, he was at his keyboard, typing the password to access the results of some investigator’s programming.
She hit a high note. It hurt.
He tapped a few more keys and there were the results.
He blinked and leaned closer to make sure he was reading right. And he was. Anna Cross hadn’t so much as touched his keyboard, even though she’d had two hours to raid about four dozen “proprietary” files on his hard drive.
Anna Cross wasn’t the spy.
A slow, satisfied grin pulled at his mouth. He was so happy that he could kiss her.
He walked to the bathroom door, put his hand on the knob and decided he would do precisely that. And anything else she’d let him do.
Anna held her arms out until her fingertips touched either side of the slick marble walls. The dual shower heads pulsed rivers of warm water down her back and over her chest, giving her the sensation of being suspended in between two waterfalls. She dropped her head back, let her hair slide down her back and nailed the final note with a flourish even she had never obtained before.
The
