Fair Game Read online

  Todd said something Kyle didn’t catch. Coyote Ridge extracted a bottle-grade sand that was also good for fiberglass insulation. The deposit had been harvested since the seventies and much of the plant’s equipment was outdated. Kyle, Todd, and Will had worked with the Castle engineers for three months on a new design utilizing existing machinery while incorporating new technologies. They’d also spent considerable time with Castle programmers flowcharting the in-house ticketing system that would tie the customer order to the truck making the haul, record both tare and heavy weights, issue the government-required ticket, and feed it all into the billing system. If it worked well, they’d install it in their other plants, paying Castle a licensing fee, and Castle would have a new product line. It was a win-win for both companies.

  Josie flipped through a chart in front of her, pointing when she found whatever she’d been looking for. “We’ve got the operators scheduled for two days of training the week before we start bringing the new systems online for testing and qualification.” Ah, so Todd’s question had been about the complexity of the new operations protocol.

  Todd rubbed a hand round and round his bald pate. Kyle had worked with him for almost ten years, but even back then, at thirty-five, the guy had been bald, with the same habit of rubbing his head.

  “Seems like the training should be done simultaneously, in case there are any hiccups.” It was a bit of a juvenile comment, but Kyle figured Todd was testing Josie. That was Todd’s style.

  She took the question at face value, shaking her head, her dark hair brushing her shoulders. “You’re going from manual operation to computer controlled and making a lot of upgrades all at once. Your guys need to know what every flashing light, signal, or warning means before they start making product.”

  Will Stevens popped Todd lightly on the arm with his fist. He was a head shorter, twenty-five pounds lighter, and ten years younger than Todd, but he never missed an opportunity to give his boss crap. They actually had a damn good working relationship. “Yeah, dude,” he said, “it’s like all those little warning lights in your Beemer. You gotta take it down to the shop to figure out what they mean.” Will then glanced keenly at Josie. “What about my guys?”

  Josie pointed to the same chart with an unpainted fingernail. In a world with silicon breasts, fake nails, and dyed hair, she seemed the genuine article. “Machine maintenance personnel,” she said, “require three days total training time.”

  Will crossed his arms, rocking slowly in his chair, then nodded. “Makes sense.”

  It wasn’t just the equipment itself, but, as Will had alluded to, the electronics required to run it all. Their guys would now have to troubleshoot at a whole new level. What they’d get in return for the capital outlay was significantly higher efficiencies in production and loading, which translated to improved gate-to-gate times. Gate-to-gate was a key factor. The shorter the amount of time a hauler was inside the gate, the more customer orders could be filled in a day.

  “What’s our downtime going to be?” It was the first Kyle had added to the conversation, letting his team get their questions out there before his. He already had a good estimate, but he wanted to see what she’d come up with.

  The lady didn’t hesitate. “We’ve arranged the various installations to coincide with your production schedule. Once you’ve filled the silos”—the silos housed the glass sand—“we’ll remove the dryer for the new coating and install the temperature automation at the same time. It’ll be back online before the silos are empty.” She flipped to another screen on her presentation. “This schedule shows each installation and indicates that total downtime will be less than two days.”

  The timetable was better than he’d expected. “We’ll hold you to that.”

  She met his gaze head-on. “I’m sure you will.” A lick of heat flashed in her eyes, giving a whole separate meaning to the exchange.

  Damn. He started getting hard all over again. Now, however, was not the time.

  “I’ve got the charts on hard copy for you,” she went on, focusing once more on Todd and Will, “which I’ll have couriered over to you this afternoon.”

  She’d obviously forgotten to bring them with her. Then again, her boss, Masters, had been a no-show. Perhaps he’d had them.

  “No need to courier it to me,” he said. “Just e-mail it, and I’ll have Kisa print it off.”

  The corner of her mouth quirked. Ah, she’d obviously noticed the little byplay in the lobby this morning.

  “Same for us.” Todd slid his business card across the table. “An e-mail’s fine. We’ll get a couple of copies printed up.”

  That settled, she continued with her presentation. Kyle enjoyed the way she moved, sometimes resting her hands on the table, ass thrust out slightly, or pacing to the screen to highlight an item with her pen. She strode, not so much with gracefulness as with efficiency, an economy of movement.

  Despite his fascination, his mind didn’t wander again, and the meeting was concluded with her same proficiency, all questions answered, and a plant tour scheduled for the following afternoon, Tuesday. He found it amazing how much she’d accomplished without even visiting the site yet, though with her résumé of projects— Connor Kingston had furnished the list, including dates and duration—she’d become familiar with most types of mining operations. In her eight or so years since college—he guessed her age at about thirty—she’d accomplished a helluva lot at Castle.

  After Will and Todd left, Kyle took the extra minutes as she shut down and stored her computer, shoving yellow pad and papers into the case’s front pocket, to discuss some final points.

  “I’ll walk you out,” he said when she was done.

  “There’s no need.” She lifted her lips in a polite smile. “Thank you, but I can find my way.”

  Hell, yes, there was a need. Just inside the door, he stopped her when she would have left him in the dust. “I’d like to see you again.”

  “I’ll be seeing you tomorrow at the plant.”

  He smiled. She was being difficult. “Personally, not professionally.”

  She blinked, then pressed her mouth into a flat line. “First, I don’t date clients. Second, I don’t date, period. In case you haven’t noticed, I have a very demanding job.”

  “I’ve noticed. Let’s skip the dating part, then, and get right to the sex.”

  Her eyes widened, her lips parted, then she huffed out a breath of air. Finally she found her voice. “I can’t believe you just said that.”

  He chanced a step closer to her and lowered his voice. “I couldn’t believe you’d rub my cock in a crowded elevator. But you did, and I would say that bears further exploration.”

  “If I’d known you were my client, I wouldn’t have done it.” She straightened her shoulders, standing slightly taller. “I don’t mix business with pleasure.”

  “And I’m not going to pass up a wonderful opportunity simply because I happened to meet you at work.” He smiled to take the bite out of anything he said. “We’re both adults and perfectly capable of separating business and pleasure.” Tipping his head, he let his gaze travel across her face, then back to meet her eyes. “Besides, we met personally first, business came later.”

  She huffed again, and her cheeks flushed. “I wouldn’t call that meeting.”

  Her indignation amused him. “I’d call it intimate, which is even more important.”

  “I’m not going to argue with you.” She stepped back, gave a longer-than-necessary look. “The answer is no.”

  Kyle studied her a moment, saying nothing, then finally raised his hands. “I go down in defeat.”

  Josie was almost sorry. A tiny part of her wanted him to try harder. She liked that he called what happened between them an opportunity. Somehow it took his proposition out of the realm of sleazy and into intriguing. Tantalizing. In today’s careful business atmosphere, where a man’s compliment could be construed as harassment and therefore men simply stopped complimenting at all, she like
d that he was a person who asked for what he wanted.

  She still wasn’t going to screw up her career for a . . . screw. No matter how handsome Kyle Perry was. The guy somehow came out to be more than the sum of his parts. Tall, a couple of inches over six feet, toned physique, clean-shaven face with decent bone structure and a strong jaw, all of it coming together in a rather devastating package. Not to mention how big and hard he’d felt in her hand.

  All through the meeting, she’d been really, really thinking about how good he would be, but she had to get that idea out of her mind. Since they’d be working together, the man was off-limits.

  “Perhaps you should try Little Miss Snowflake,” she quipped, giving him a big, toothy smile. “She seemed quite eager.” Damn. Did that sound like jealousy?

  “Little Miss Snowflake?” Kyle laughed, then cut himself off, but his blue eyes still sparkled. “No.”

  “Well, then”—Josie raised her hand—“gotta go. No need to walk me out. Honest.”

  “Tomorrow.”

  She’d turned, on her way out the door for the second time. “Tomorrow?”

  “The sand plant tour. I’ll pick you up at your office at two thirty.”

  Jeez, that sounded idiotic, forgetting about the plant tour. “I can drive myself.” She cocked a hip. “Is this another come-on?”

  He smiled. “I like the way you smell.”

  He could have made an excuse. Instead, the honest comment sent heat rolling through her body.

  “I won’t touch,” he added.

  She almost hoped he’d break the promise.

  She’d known her share of persistent guys. But he was so low-key about it, it was enticing. She was a girl like any other girl, and it was nice to be desired. She found his attention flattering. She could also easily find herself wanting more of it, which was not good in this particular situation. “Okay, two thirty.” So why was she agreeing?

  “Wear a short skirt.”

  She narrowed her eyes at him. “Cool your jets. No means no.” But God, she liked it. She liked him. He was intelligent, confident, authoritative, and exceptionally hot in suit and tie. A lethal combination. She liked a man who dressed up well.

  “No means no,” he agreed, “unless a woman has already put her hand on my cock.”

  Which she had. That robbed her of all arguments. “I’ll e-mail you the presentation package and see you tomorrow at two thirty. No need to come in, I’ll be out in the parking lot.” Then she beat a hasty retreat. Was that him laughing as she passed down the hall?

  She stopped in the ladies’ room before heading out. The mirror revealed the telltale flush on her cheeks. The guy got her motor running. But really, this was a huge job. Her boss was Ernie Masters, but it was Connor Kingston she wanted to impress. He wasn’t just family, being Faith’s husband and all; he was CEO of Castle Heavy Mining. Faith’s father, Jarvis, would retire soon, and then Connor would be chairman. He’d given her a big chance to make good with this project. She wouldn’t let him down by having a fling with the lead client contact.

  Leaving the stall, she washed her hands, then dried them. It wasn’t just Connor. Business and pleasure did not mix in any way, shape, or form. Especially if the man had any power over you. He’s in charge, you’re the one who gets screwed. And not in a good way. Been there, done that, got the T-shirt to prove it. Granted, she might be judging Kyle harshly based on a college love affair gone sour, but hot as he was, casual sex wasn’t worth taking the risk, not where her career was concerned. She had a couple of good guy friends to take care of those needs.

  That was it. She was just horny. She needed a little roll in the hay to get Mr. Kyle Perry out of her system.

  2

  BY the time she got back to work, Josie had managed to move Kyle Perry to the back of her mind and was now ready to read Ernie Masters the riot act for ditching her. It was the principal of the thing. Even if he was her boss, he shouldn’t have left her in the lurch without the presentation package. She would have tackled him right away, too, if she hadn’t gone to her cubicle first to check her voice mails. The most significant was Connor, saying he wanted to see her ASAP when she got back. The slightest edge of tension laced his tone. Kind of odd for Connor, since nothing seemed to muss up his calm.

  She left behind the hubbub of FI&T—Furnish, Install, and Train—of which Program Management was only one department. The cubicle arena housed not only her group, but the buyers, installers, instructors, et cetera. The phones never stopped ringing, and the voices rose to fever pitch as the day progressed and nerves frayed. A program manager was the center of a customer’s attention. When the crap rained down, it rained right on the project leader’s head. Yet Josie loved every minute of it. It was her job to make sure everything came together on time and on budget. If she screwed up, okay, not so pleasant. But when it all went right, she was a hero.

  Her noisy, frenetic, predominantly male work environment was in marked contrast to the relative quiet along the executive row hallway leading to Connor’s office. She’d always felt as if she needed to genuflect, which was a holdover from when Jarvis Castle was running the whole shebang. Now the old man only came in two or three days a week. He spent a lot of his time with Faith and three-and-a-half-month-old David. The way old Jarvis gloated over the baby, you’d think no one had ever had a grandkid before.

  Connor was on his cell phone, feet propped on his desk, ankles crossed. Open folders lay strewn across his desktop, a ring from his coffee mug seeping through a couple of papers, the messiness uncharacteristic of him. There was something about his smile that said he was talking to Faith. Josie couldn’t adequately describe that smile, except to say that it made her heart beat faster. She wasn’t used to good marriages—her own parents’ relationship was akin to walking through a minefield—but Connor and Faith, that couldn’t be anything other than love and total commitment. The forever kind. See, sometimes marrying the boss’s daughter worked out.

  Josie tapped lightly on the doorframe.

  Glancing up, he said into the cell, “Josie’s here. Gotta go.” He waved Josie in. “I’ll be home on time”—he paused, sighed—“and yeah, some TLC would be in order. Love you, baby.” Then he punched the end button and slid the phone onto his desk.

  “You guys are sickening,” Josie quipped, because that amount of gushing love made her nervous, even if she was on the outside looking in.

  Connor grinned, then slapped his feet onto the floor, sat up straight, and toyed with his tie. His suit jacket hung on a coatrack by the door, and he’d rolled his shirtsleeves to his elbow.

  She sensed the stress beneath the grin as she slid into the chair opposite his desk. His dark hair was messed up, too, as if he’d run his hands through it.

  “Find a replacement VP yet?” she asked. “Because if you haven’t, I’m still willing to take the job.” A little levity might help, because obviously that was a joke.

  Connor was acting head of FI&T since their VP resigned a couple of weeks ago. FI&T was a massive undertaking, and she knew she wasn’t ready for that responsibility. She didn’t have the managerial skills yet. What bugged her, though, was that she wasn’t getting them with Masters standing in the way. The guy had no ambition and no desire to climb the ladder. How was she supposed to move into his job and get the experience she needed if he was never going to give it up? Not only that, his work had been on a downhill slide lately.

  And here she was getting herself all pissed off again because he’d blown off that meeting.

  Connor wasn’t getting the levity in her comment. In fact, the grin died on his face. “No VP yet,” he said. “And I wanted to tell you that we’re also losing Ernie Masters as well.”

  Yes! Woohoo. She had a shot. Just when she thought life was a bitch.

  Then she thought about the phrasing Connor had used, We’re losing Masters. “Are you firing him?” She might be pissed, but she didn’t want him fired. The guy had two kids he was putting through college.

&nb
sp; Connor gathered a few of the papers on his desk, frowning at the coffee stains. “No. He’s going on medical leave.” Then he glanced up. “He won’t be coming back.”

  He wasn’t coming back? Ever? Josie felt her jaw drop. Enough to catch flies. She couldn’t believe it. “Why not? What’s wrong with him?” She felt idiotic, like a middle school kid who couldn’t get fractions, but with that seemingly simple sentence, Connor had ripped the rug right out from under her.

  “He’s got cancer.” The muscles of Connor’s face flexed, stressed, and suddenly the strain she’d heard in his voice made sense. “Pancreatic,” he added. “He has months, at most.”

  The air in the office felt so harsh it burned her throat as she dragged it in. When Connor said Ernie was leaving, in her own mind, she’d cheered. Her first thought had been about taking Ernie’s job.

  Jesus. Even if it was only to herself, all she’d done for months now was bitch and moan about the guy’s slacker habits, how it affected her, that he was standing in her way, yadda yadda. What about how angry she’d been this morning? Ernie hadn’t made it to the meeting because he was busy telling Connor he was dying. God. She started remembering how haggard he’d looked over the last few weeks and months, how tired. Yet he came to work every day, and she’d never even asked if he was okay. Good Lord, the man was only fifty-two, almost her dad’s age.

  “He thinks you’re the best candidate for his job.”

  Good God, Ernie was recommending her. She was such a fucking selfish bitch.

  “You should meet with him this afternoon so he can turn everything over to you. He also said you can call him any time you have a question.”

  Oh man. She wasn’t a crier. Not even after what happened in college. But dammit if her eyes weren’t burning right now. Connor was giving her the job, yet it felt like stepping over Ernie’s dead body.

  “It’s not your fault, Josie. He didn’t tell anyone what was going on.” Connor wasn’t that much older than her, thirty-five to her thirty, yet in a lot of ways he was so much more together than she was.