In Bed With The Devil

Nine

Meri needed coffee more than she needed air. It had been another long night but not for any fun reasons. She’d tossed and turned, not sure what to do with her life-something she hadn’t wrestled with in years.

She was supposed to have things together by now. She was supposed to know her heart as well as she knew her head. Or did being so damned smart mean she was destined to be stupid in other ways?

The coffee had barely begun to pour through the filter when someone rang the doorbell. She hadn’t seen anyone else up yet so she walked to the front door and opened it.

Andrew stood on the porch. He held a single red rose in one hand and a stuffed bright-green monkey in the other.

“It’s possible I behaved badly yesterday,” he said with a shrug. “More than possible. I want things to work between us.”

She didn’t know what to say. While she was relieved to not be fighting, she wasn’t exactly in the mood to throw herself into his arms. Which meant that there was a whole lot more for them to deal with.

“Andrew, this is really confusing for me,” she said. “You’re right. We were apart too long. Things have changed.”

“Is there someone else?”

“No,” she said without thinking, then had to wonder if that was true.

Not Jack, she told herself. Okay, yes, they’d gotten intimate, but just the one time and nothing since. He was her past. The problem was Andrew might not be her future.

He handed her the monkey. “I brought you this. I thought it would make you smile.”

She took the ridiculous stuffed toy. “He’s adorable. What about the rose?”

“That’s for me. I plan to wear it in my teeth.”

He bit down on the stem, which made her laugh. Andrew always made her laugh. Wasn’t that a good thing? Shouldn’t she want to be with him?

“You want some coffee?” she asked. “I have a pot going.”

“Sure.” He took a step inside, then grimaced as his cell phone rang. “Sorry. I’m dealing with some stuff at work. Give me ten minutes?”

She nodded and stepped inside. Still carrying the monkey, she returned to the kitchen. Only this time she wasn’t alone. Colin stood pouring coffee. He wore jeans, an unbuttoned shirt and nothing else. But it wasn’t his unusual outfit that got her attention. Instead there was something about the way he stood. Something in the tilt of his head or the set of his shoulders.

“Colin?”

He turned and smiled at her. “Morning.”

A single word but in a voice she’d never heard from him. It was low and confident. He was a man at peace with himself and the universe.

She felt her mouth drop open. “You had sex with Betina.”

Colin didn’t even blush. “It wasn’t sex, Meri. It was making love. And, yes, we did. She’s amazing. She’s the woman I’ve been waiting for all my life.”

With that, he collected two cups of coffee and carried them back to his room.

Meri laughed out loud. She set the monkey on the counter, then turned to find someone to share the good news with.

But she was alone in the kitchen, so she ran upstairs, taking them two at a time, then burst into Jack’s office. He was on the phone but hung up when he saw her.

“You look happy,” he said. “So it’s not bad news.”

“I know. It’s fabulous. I saw Colin. He’s someone completely different. He and Betina slept together and I think they’re seriously in love. Isn’t that fabulous? Are you jazzed?”

One corner of Jack’s mouth turned up. “Good for Colin. I didn’t think he had it in him.”

“Oh, there was a tiger lurking behind those silly plaid shirts. And we’re a part of it. We got them together.”

Jack held up his hands in the shape of a T. “There’s no ‘we’ in all this. They got themselves together.”

“Don’t be silly. We pushed. And I mean we. You were a part of it. You acted like a matchmaker. I’m so proud.”

He groaned. “Leave me out of it.”

She crossed to the window, then turned back to face him. “This is great. They may get married. We can go hang out at the wedding and take all the credit.”

“I don’t think so.”

She wrinkled her nose. “You’re not getting in the spirit of this. It’s happy news.”

She spun in a circle, holding her arms out and tilting back her head. Soon the room was turning and turning. She lost her balance and started to fall. Which should have worried her, except Jack was there to catch her.

She collapsed against him, then smiled up into his face. He had the most amazing eyes, she thought absently, then she dropped her gaze to his mouth. That part of him wasn’t so bad either.

“You need to slow down,” he told her.

“No way. Light speed isn’t fast enough.”

“You’ll get hurt.”

What were they talking about? She found she didn’t know and she sort of didn’t care. Not as long as he held her.

“Jack,” she breathed.

He released her and stepped back. “Meri, this isn’t a good idea.”

Then it hit her. She’d run to Jack instead of Andrew. That couldn’t be good. Had Betina been right all along? Had there been more on the line that getting revenge or closure or any of the other reasons she’d given herself for wanting to sleep with Jack? Dear God, what had she done?

“I have to go,” she whispered and hurried out of the room. She ran all the way to her bedroom, then closed the door behind her and leaned against it. Where did she go from here?

Jack poured coffee. As he raised his mug, Colin walked into the kitchen.

Meri was right-there was something different about the guy. An air of confidence. He wasn’t just a nerd anymore.

The love of a good woman, Jack thought humorously. Apparently the old saying about it being able to transform a man was true. Lucky for him, he’d escaped.

“How’s it going?” Colin asked.

“Good. With you?”

“Great.”

“No one seems to be talking trash in the dining room today,” Jack said.

“Meri gave us the day off.”

Probably to ensure that Betina and Colin spent more time together. It was just like her.

“Andrew was here before,” Colin said.

“What happened?”

“Something with his office. He had to leave.”

“You sound relieved.”

Colin shrugged. “He’s not my favorite.”

“Mine either.”

They were an interesting group, these scientists, Jack thought. Brilliant and humble, funny, determined and willing to make fools of themselves on Jet Skis. They looked out for Meri. Hunter would have liked them a lot.

“What?” Colin asked. “You have a strange look on your face.”

“I was thinking about Meri’s brother. He would have liked you. All of you.”

“Meri talks about him. He sounds like a great guy.”

“He was. A group of us became friends in college. We called ourselves the Seven Samurai. It was dumb but meaningful to us. Hunter was the connection we all had with each other. He brought us together. Held us together.”

Then he’d died and they’d drifted apart.

Jack thought about his friends-something he didn’t usually allow himself to do-and wondered how they’d enjoyed their months in Hunter’s house. Had their worlds been flipped around and changed or had the weeks passed quietly?

“It’s good to have friends like that,” Colin said. “Meri’s a lot like him. She draws people together. Gets them involved. She handpicked the team for this project. They let her do that because she’s so brilliant.”

Jack nodded. Meri’s brain was never in question. “She’s more outgoing than she used to be.”

“She’s grown up. It’s hard for us, the freaks.” Colin grinned. “That’s what she calls us and herself. We all had to deal with not fitting in and stuff. Meri wants us to put that aside and deal with life as it is. Look forward. That sort of thing.”

There was affection in his voice, but not the romantic kind, so Jack didn’t have to kill him. He realized that the reports might have told him the specifics but they hadn’t allowed him to get to know the woman she’d become.

“I was thinking about your business,” Colin said. “There’s some new military software that could help with your security issues.”

“Military software? Is it classified?”

Colin grinned. “Sure, but I know the guy who wrote it. There’s a couple of beta versions floating around. I might be able to get you a copy to test out-you know, as a service to your government.”

“Lucky me.” Jack eyed the other man. “You’re a lot more dangerous than you look.”

Colin grinned. “I know.

“Left foot green,” Betina called.

Meri looked down at the Twister sheet on the floor and groaned. “I’m not built to bend that way.”

“The very reason I don’t try to play the game. But so not the point.”

“You’re basically mean,” Meri muttered. “I don’t know why I didn’t see that before. Sorry, Robert. I’m going to have to slide under you.”

Robert arched his back as best he could. “Good luck with that. You do realize you’re in danger of hyperextending your shoulder.”

Colin looked up from his awkward position. “I’m not sure she would hyperextend it. Technically speaking-”

“Stop!” Meri yelled. “I don’t want any technical talk right now. Let’s pretend to be normal.”

Colin and Robert both frowned at her. “Why?”

She started laughing, which made bending and stretching impossible. But she still tried, because the big green dot was just out of-

She wobbled, leaned, then collapsed, bringing everyone down with her. She landed on Robert, and Colin sank down on top of her.

“I’m not sure I approve of this,” Betina said from the sidelines. “Colin, do we need to talk about fidelity?”

“Not really.” He grunted as he rolled off Meri, then scrambled to his feet. “Unless you want to spank me.”

Meri gagged. “I so did not want to know that about you two.”

“I’m surprised,” Robert said from his place on the floor. “Usually men who enjoy domination have powerful positions in their work life. It’s an attempt to obtain balance and let someone else take responsibility.”

Meri looked at him. “Is there anything you don’t know?”

“How to get the girl. Any girl.”

“We’ll talk later,” Meri said, offering her hand and helping him to his feet. “I’m on a roll. Are you interested in anyone in particular?”

Before he could answer, Jack walked into the room. There was something about his expression that warned Meri he didn’t have good news.

“What’s wrong?” she asked. “Is someone hurt?”

“No, but we need to talk.”

He took her arm and led her into the kitchen. She didn’t like anything about this.

After folding her arms over her chest she said, “So talk.”

His dark eyes were unreadable. “Andrew isn’t who you think.”

She’d thought maybe her father had been in an accident or had a heart attack. But Andrew?

“Not who I think? You mean like secretly a woman?”

“I’m serious, Meri. I have some information on him. His background. He’s not the man he’s pretending to be. He’s in it for the money.”

A thousand different thoughts flashed through her brain. At any other time she would have paused to marvel at the exquisite structure of the human mind-of how it could hold so many contradictory ideas at any single moment. But right now all she cared about was being strong enough to punch Jack in the stomach.

“What the hell are you going on about?” she asked, her voice low and cold. “Why would you know anything about Andrew?”

“I had him investigated.”

Anger burned hot and bright. “You have no right to get involved in my personal life. Who do you think you are?”

“I know you’re upset-”

“Upset? You have no idea. Dammit, Jack, this is wrong on so many levels.” She glanced toward the door to the living room and lowered her voice. “Just because we slept together doesn’t mean you get to tell me what to do. You gave up that right the day you walked out on me after Hunter died. You were supposed to be there for me and you weren’t. So I don’t care what you think about anything.”

She started to walk away. He grabbed her arm and held her in place.

“You have to listen to me,” he said.

“No, I don’t. Not that it matters, but I already had Andrew investigated. Thoroughly. He’s clean. He comes from a comfortable background. He doesn’t have my trust fund, but he’s not hurting for money. He’s a good man.”

“He’s married.”

Her entire body went cold. She knew intellectually that her core temperature was what it had been five seconds ago, but the sensation of being on the verge of turning to ice was incredibly real.

“You’re wrong,” she breathed. “My investigator-”

“Did exactly what I did the first time I learned about Andrew. A basic investigation. That’s usually good enough. But when you said you were thinking of marrying this guy, I had my people dig deeper. It was eight years ago. They hooked up and conned an old man out of about two million dollars. Three years ago, they took another heiress for the same amount. I’m guessing you were their next target.”

She couldn’t deal with the news about Andrew, so she turned on Jack. “You dug into his background? What gives you the right?”

“Someone has to look out for you. Your father is useless. With Hunter gone, there was only me.” His gaze was steady. “I couldn’t do what Hunter asked-I couldn’t stay in your life. I was too destroyed by what had happened. Still, I had a responsibility to look out for you. So I did. From a distance.”

“You spied on me?”

“Call it what you want. I made sure you didn’t get into trouble.”

He’d paid people to watch her? To poke into her private life? But he’d never cared enough to get involved himself?

“Bastard,” she breathed and raised her hand to slap him.

He grabbed her by the wrist and held her still. “It was for your own good.”

“That’s a load of crap. You were trying to assuage your guilt by doing the least you could. You weren’t a good friend to my brother and you sure as hell weren’t a friend to me. You don’t get to do this, Jack. You aren’t running my life. I’ll marry Andrew if I want and you can’t stop me.”

“Bigamy is illegal in all fifty states.”

Andrew-married? She couldn’t believe it. He might not be the handsome prince she’d first imagined, but married?

“He’s not playing me,” she insisted even as she wondered if he was.

“How do you know? At least look at the report. Then make your own decision.”

There was nothing to look at, she thought sadly as she pulled her hand free of his grip. Nothing to consider. She wasn’t in love with Andrew. She’d been fighting that truth since he’d shown up here. Their time apart had demonstrated that big-time. She hadn’t missed him.

Had she ever been in love with him? Did it matter? If he was married and playing her, then he was nothing but a weasel.

“Your gender sucks,” she muttered.

“I agree.”

“You most of all. I will never forgive you for spying on me. For spending the last eleven years hiding in the shadows.”

“I cared about what happened to you.”

“Is that what you call it? I would say you were nothing more than a coward trying to quiet a ghost. But I know my brother. I know Hunter would never stop haunting you. He expected more, Jack. And so did I.”