“Pick it up,” he cried, bending at the waist to snatch some papers near his feet. “Hurry, before someone sees you.”
Summer swept her gaze over the wall of windows framing a foggy view of the snowy backyard, the barns, and the white-capped mountains in the distance. Exposed and vulnerable, she dropped to her knees between the desk and the credenza.
Her distress over being caught in Mrs. Wagner’s office momentarily outweighing her concern for her personal safety, she scrambled to retrieve the documents she’d sent flying.Oh God!She’d never be able to put the printed pages back in their proper folders, never mind in the correct reading order.
Spying a sheet of paper under the credenza, she pressed her chest to the floor and reached her arm beneath the heavy furniture. Her fingers skimmed over something hard, and it moved. She reached for it again, her fist closing around the small rectangle when a cold voice sent a shot of dread down her spine.
“What is going on here?”
Summer froze while a film of sweat broke out over her chest.Oh no! No. No. Please no.
“Darling,” John said, his animated tone sounding forced. “Welcome home.”
“I asked a question,” Marla snapped. “Why are you in my office, John?”
Out of sight behind the desk, and forgetting he was a complete coward when it came to his wife, Summer silently pleaded with him to let her escape detection by taking the blame and leading Marla away.
“Summer knocked some papers off your desk. I was just helping her to collect them.”
Asshole!Summer’s heart punched against her ribs, and she squeezed her eyes shut. Shoot. This was bad. Really bad. Okay. Think. She could fix this. Shehadto fix this.
Withdrawing her arm from under the credenza, she looked at the memory stick in her fist and mentally groaned.
Papers she could explain. The flash drive…
Fat chance Marla would believe Summer had just found it on the floor. Stuffing her hand in the pocket of her hoodie, she stood and turned to face her boss. “I’m sorry, Mrs. Wagner. I noticed a Lego on the floor by your desk when I started cleaning. One of the kids must have kicked it in here, and I didn’t want you to step on it and injure yourself. I knocked the tray of files off your desk by accident.”
“You were told this room is off limits. Correct?”
“Yes, I was just—”
The governor approached, her grip on the handle of her briefcase white-knuckled. “Show me your hand,” she commanded.
Summer withdrew her fist from her pocket and opened her palm flat to display the red Lego block. “I really am sorry. I’ll be more careful next time. I can assure you; this won’t happen again.”
“Unfortunately, I can’t allow a flagrant disregard for the rules to go without consequence.”
“Marla—”
She cut her husband off with a raised palm and a look that could have lasered through eight feet of solid steel. “I’m afraid I’m going to have to let you go.” She put her case down on her desk, and pressing both hands down on the brown leather, she refocused her attention on Summer as she leaned forward for added emphasis. “I will, of course, be notifying your agency to terminate your contract and advise them you’ve been released for cause.”
“But—”
“Please pack your bags and depart immediately.”
“But—”
“Now, Ms. Summers.”
CHAPTERSIX
Johnson’s menon the prowl. Jamie MIA. A premature baby. What else could go wrong? His ass sore from too many hours of sitting in the private airplane hangar, Jay adjusted his position on the hard metal chair, shifting his weight from one butt cheek to the other.
Didn’t help. His buttocks were a dead zone.
He needed to get up and stretch. Close his screen-weary eyes. Reset his body and his mind with a solid forty-eight hours of sleep. In a bed. No life-or-death emergencies shooting him full of adrenaline, no missing teammates to find, no mysteries to solve, no computers or electronic devices anywhere near his vicinity.
Fucking bliss.
