LITMIR.BIZ

       Two

      Rachel hurried through the plate glass doors of Lansing Employment Agency and nodded to her receptionist as she passed. She didn’t stop to chat as was her habit, but went straight to her office and collapsed into her chair. It wasn’t until she’d deleted half her inbox that she realized she hadn’t read any of the emails. Sagging forward, she rested her arms on the desk and her forehead on her arms. Reaction was setting in. She was frustratingly close to tears.

      “That bad, huh?” a male voice asked from the hallway.

      Rachel nodded without looking up. “It’s worse than bad.”

      “Oh, you poor thing. Tell Devon all about it.”

      With a great effort, Rachel straightened and looked at the man who sat down across from her. In a stylish gray suit with lavender shirt and expensive purple tie, he dressed to be noticed. Only the dark circles beneath his eyes gave any hint of his sleepless night.

      “How’s your mother?”

      “She’s doing fine. My sister just arrived from Austin and is staying at the hospital with her.” Devon leaned back in his chair and crossed one leg over the other. “How’d it go at Case Consolidated Holdings?”

      “Worse than I’d hoped.”

      “Damn. They didn’t hire us?”

      “They hired us.” Rachel’s eyes burned dry and hot. As she blinked to restore moisture, it occurred to her that she’d cried a river of tears over Max five years ago. Maybe she’d used up her quota.

      “Then what’s the problem?”

      “Max Case needs an assistant immediately.”

      “But we don’t have anyone available.”

      Rachel grimaced. “That’s why I’m filling in until we do.”

      “You?” The gap between Devon’s front teeth flashed as a startled laugh escaped him.

      No one knew what had happened between her and Max in Gulf Shores. She figured if she kept it to herself, no one could criticize her for running away from her farce of a marriage and jumping into bed with a virtual stranger, and those amazing four days could remain untarnished in her memory. But she’d been wrong to start something with Max before she’d legally ended her marriage. And she’d paid the price.

      “I was the expedient choice.” The word tasted bitter on her tongue. Why had it bothered her that she was merely a convenient business solution to Max? Had she really hoped he might still want her after she’d kept quiet about her marital status, and let him betray his vow never to get caught up in an affair?

      Those days in Max’s arms had been magical. She hadn’t felt that safe since her father died. It was as if she and Max existed in a bubble of perfect happiness. Insulated from the world’s harsh reality.

      Heaven.

      Until Brody showed up with his threats and dragged her back to Mississippi.

      “I hope you told him no.”

      “Not exactly.”

      “Then what exactly?” Her second in command frowned as if just now grasping the situation.

      “It’s not like he left me any choice. I signed the lease for the new offices. We need this placement fee to move into them.”

      “You agreed?”

      “He backed me against a wall.” She leaned back in her chair, remembering too late that the ancient mechanism was broken. She threw her weight forward before the cursed thing tipped her ass over teakettle.

      Devon oversaw her antics with troubled eyes. “I still don’t understand why he wants you personally. There are a dozen agencies that he could call.”

      She hesitated. As much as she liked Devon, she wasn’t comfortable talking about her past. Five years ago, she’d been a very different person. Explaining how she knew Max meant she had to own up to the mistakes she’d made. Mistakes that haunted her.

      “Once upon a time we knew each other,” she said.

      “Knew …” Devon’s focus sharpened. “As in business associates? Friends?” His eyes narrowed. “You dated?”

      As much as she hated talking about her past screwups, she decided to put her cards on the table. She owed Devon the truth. He’d been with her since the beginning and had labored as hard as she had to grow the agency. In fact, she was planning on making him a partner when they moved into the new offices.

      If they moved.

      “Not dated, exactly.” She played with her pen, spinning it in circles on her desk.

      “You slept with him.”

      “Yes.”

      Rachel shifted her attention from the silver blur and caught Devon’s stunned expression. He looked so thunderstruck she was torn between laughter and outrage.

      “Don’t look so surprised. I wasn’t always the uptight businesswoman I am now. There was a time when I was young and romantic.” And foolish.

      “When?”

      “A long weekend five years ago.”

      Devon’s lips twitched.

      “What?” she demanded.

      “It’s just that Max is well-known for the volume of women he dates. I’m a little surprised he remembered you.”

      “He probably wouldn’t have,” she muttered. The truth hit closer to her insecurities than she wanted to admit. The thought had often crossed her mind that she’d had a pretty brief interlude with Max. Since moving to Houston, she’d learned a lot about the man who’d swept her off her feet in a big way. She’d often wondered how she’d feel if she ran into him and he looked right through her without recognition. “Except he was pretty angry with me at the time.”

      “Why?”

      “Because I didn’t tell him I was married.”

      Now Devon really goggled at her. “We’ve worked together four years and this is the first I’ve heard about that.”

      Rachel rubbed her right thumb across the ring finger of her left hand. Even after four years, she recalled the touch of the gold band against her skin and remembered how wrong she’d been to ignore her instincts. She wouldn’t make that mistake again.

      “It’s part of my past that I’d prefer not to talk about.” And in five more years, she’d be completely free. At least financially. She’d live with the emotional scars for the rest of her life.

      “Not even if I tell you I’ll expire from curiosity if you don’t dish?”

      “Not even,” Rachel said with a chuckle. She loved Devon’s flare for the dramatic. Having him around was good for her. Kept her from taking herself, or her problems, too seriously. She’d done that all too often in the past and turned molehills into mountains.

      “Do you think Max is trying to start up with you again?”

      From one unwelcome topic to another. “Hardly.”

      “I don’t know.” Devon shot her an odd look, half surprised, half crafty. “Demanding you act as his assistant, even for a couple days, seems a little odd for a businessman with Max’s no-nonsense reputation.”

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