Page 33 of Meant to Be

“Come in.”

A second later my door opened to reveal my assistant. “You didn’t cancel the permits in Washington, did you?” Katrina questioned, looking at me through confused eyes.

“Of course not,” I answered. “I’m heading out there in two days. Why would I do that?” We were breaking ground on a project in Washington state and I was scheduled to head out for a few days to oversee a couple of things.

“I didn’t think so,” she sighed. “We may have a problem.”

I narrowed my eyes on my highly competent assistant. She didn’t get rattled easily and she’d been with me for nearing on a half a decade. She’d seen a few problems throughout her time with me, so if she said we might have a problem, I knew some bullshit must’ve been brewing.

I sat up in my chair, now turning my full attention on Katrina. “Get Aaron’s office on the line and let him know I won’t be able to attend this afternoon’s meeting. Then make arrangements for the plane to be gassed up and ready to head to Washington tonight,” I ordered before directing my attention to my desktop to begin sending out emails, alerting my staff in Washington of my early arrival. “When you’re done with that, gather everything we have on this deal because we’re going to go through it with a fine tooth comb before I get on that plane tonight.”

“Sure thing.” Katrina nodded.

My hands paused over the keyboard. “Katrina.”

“Yes?”

I hesitated, looking to my assistant before shaking my head. “Never mind.” I went back to typing, dismissing her. Once the door was closed and the emails sent, I pulled out my cell phone from my desk drawer.

“Hey.”

Her voice was breathless but I ignored the chill that ran down my spine.

“Are you busy?”

“No, I’m on my lunch break and decided to pick up a few things for dinner. Since you hated the scrambled tofu, I’d thought I’d make a proper carnivore meal for you tonight. Grilled steaks, roasted potatoes, and grilled veggies.”

I inhaled at the thought of the sound of the meal. And for the first time in … forever, I regretted my damn job. That was not a good sign.

“Sounds delicious but I’ll have to give you a raincheck. Duty calls. I need to head out of town a few days early for work.” Again, I ignored the voice in the back of my head that reminded me that Inevertook the time to explain to a woman my comings and goings. I just consoled myself with the knowledge that this particular woman was living in my home, and that we weren’t anything more than friends … old friends.

“Liar.”

I sat up. “What?”

The sound of Kay’s giggles pushed through the speaker of my phone and my grip tightened around it.

“You’re just leaving so you don’t have to put up with the early morning workouts, huh? Liar.”

I pushed out the breath I’d been holding, chuckling. “Keep laughing, I’ll have you flat on your back in no time, again.”

A sharp inhale on the other end of the phone silenced the laughter. Tense silence filled the space where her giggles had once been. I probably should’ve regretted my words; I realized they could’ve been interpreted a number of different ways. And the quiet coming from Kay’s end told of just how she was interpreting them, but instead of backing off, something deep inside of me urged me on. So I pushed some more.

“Cat got your tongue?”

“N-not even close. Someone once told me I’ve got a pretty killer elbow strike. A takedown won’t be so easy,” she retorted saucily.

We were no longer talking about self-defense. Or were we?

“I’m betting I could handle it.”

“You’re a betting man these days?”

“My whole life, sweetheart.”

Shit!I silently cursed when my assistant knocked on my office door. For a few short moments, I’d forgotten I was at work. Something that’d never happened to me before.

“I’ve gotta go. I’ll call you when I’m in Washington.”