Some people were adrenaline junkies, and the thrill of the chase or getting caught turned them on.For some reason, he didn’t think Mac was one of them.He couldn’t see the adrenaline of swimming with sharks as a turn on.Who knew breaking Miles’s window would be?
“I never would have guessed,” Mac husked; her gaze fixated on his lips.She started swaying forward.If he let her touch him again, he wasn’t sure he’d have the willpower to deny her.
“Hold that thought.We’ll be back at the hotel shortly, or do you want to go to your place?”She had to work in the morning, and all of her things were there.He didn’t care where they went so long as he got her on a flat surface.
“My place.”
“Hold tight then.”Barry reached for the keys in his pocket only to remember he had given them to Mac.She held them up, dangling between her finger and thumb, with a siren grin on her lips.
“Looking for these.”She shook the keys.The metallic clanging echoing in the small, confined space of the car.
Barry took them and started the engine.Mac settled into her seat and reached over the console, stroking her hand from his knee up toward his crotch.
Barry captured her wayward hand in his and interlaced their fingers as he took off, speeding onto the dark road with only the headlights to guide them.It was going to be the longest ride back to her house, if she didn’t cause him to crash first.
Chapter 32
Like yesterday, Barry escorted Mac to the dock and watched her and her team leave.Mac looked like she wanted to ask him something—probably about his mission today—but there were too many ears listening in.
Her team was curious about him, but Mac avoided any questions.She didn’t know how to explain him without giving away she was looking into Miles.Though after the warning yesterday, it was obvious what she was up to.However, her team was good enough not to ask questions about that.
“Be careful,” she said, staring up at him intently as if she expected this to be the last time they saw each other.This was a walk in the park for him.She had nothing to worry about.
“I will.I’ll see you when you get back.I’ll be waiting at the hotel.”
“Are you going to go through stuff before I get back?”she questioned hesitantly as if she thought he was going to keep her in the dark about what he found.
“I’ll start a preliminary search, but I’ll save some for you to help me go through.”
Mac nodded and gave him a kiss before getting on the boat.After watching her leave, Barry went back to his hotel and checked the cameras that he’d placed last night.The construction team was already well underway.In the back of the hotel where the crane was, it was now moved closer to the tree line, and people were standing at the back of the building looking up.
So, the broken window had already been discovered.Barry brought up the program to check the recent audio from Annabelle’s bag.
“I can’t believe this keeps happening.There wasn’t even a storm this time,” Miles ranted.Barry heard something smack a solid surface and then a crashing sound as if Miles had swiped his hand across his desk and knocked everything over.“I can’t catch a break on this project.”
“I don’t know, Miles.The crane was near it.Maybe one of the workers dropped something that hit the window and was afraid to report it,” Annabelle replied in a placating tone.Barry may not personally care for the woman, but he hadn’t been lying when he’d said she was underutilized.He didn’t know what the draw was to working for a man like Miles.
“I don’t pay people for their incompetency.If that’s the case, they can pay for the window this time.I’m tired of it coming out of my budget.We’re already months behind schedule and in the hole on cost.”
“That was the concern with building on this side of the island.We’ve been over this numerous times.But I won’t beat a dead horse,” she quickly added.Barry didn’t doubt Miles was giving her a death glare at that moment.“I’ll take care of the window situation.”
The timestamp on the recording was thirty minutes before Barry had walked Mac to the docks.Barry checked the data on Annabelle’s phone.She had already called the repair service.It had been shortly after her conversation with Miles.It was sad the woman had them as a saved contact in her phone.
Barry pulled out his phone and called the number.“Sunrise Windows, this is George; how can I help you,” a man answered cheerfully.
“Hi, George, this is Stephen with MB Hotel.I just want to confirm what time the repair team is coming.”
“Of course, sir, the team is scheduled to be there at ten today.”
“Thank you so much.”Barry hung up and checked his watch.He had two hours until they would be there.He would sneak in with the team and get inside.Hopefully, Miles would be out of the office to avoid the noise at that time, and then he shouldn’t have any problems getting onto the computer.
As he waited for time to pass, Barry continued going through data on Annabelle’s phone.There weren’t any new emails.He scanned through her photos, and they were only of job sites, nothing personal.This woman had no private life; everything was work-related.
He looked up her in the database.Annabelle Delaney, thirty-one years old.Graduated from Cornell with BS degree in business administration almost eight years ago.She’d graduated top of her class and started at another company, worked for them as a project manager for three years before moving on to work for Miles.
Now why would a person with this kind of background switch from a lucrative company like that to menial paper-pushing.She was capable of so much more.Was it loyalty that kept her?Or something else?
It looked like Miles Banks wasn’t always the rich businessman.He had caught a lucky break in politics and gotten backed by financial supporters to start his hotel chain, and then he’d branched out a few years later.
