Colin Slade had probably never had anyone reject him before. His appearance, his politeness, his obvious wealth… who could say no to all that? Everyone was waiting for me to say yes (and with gratitude in my voice too). But I wanted to say no so badly.
My mom’s voice was in my head telling me to go.Getting away sounded kind of nice, especially a break from Grant (at least on Friday).I’d probably have time to do something fun in Chicago.As I tried to convince myself that it was the right thing to do, my gaze landed on Kaitlin’s haughty look at me and then back at Colin, and I said, “Absolutely, I’ll do it.”
His face broke into a measured smile. “Wonderful.” Colin Slade was not a man who reacted. He listened, assessed, and chose his words carefully, as if every one of them had weight. Even when he smiled, there was a sense that it was deliberate.
For him, this was probably just another work trip. For me, since it was my first, it was like stepping off a ledge.
What would I pack? What would I do with myself in my time off? Was I going to sit next to Colin on the plane? Was anyone else going? I had so many questions, but the meeting ended. Colin left first, and by the time I walked out of the room, he was gone.
“I’ll send you the flight and hotel information as soon as I have it,” Kaitlin said behind me.
“Sure, thanks,” I said. I didn’t bother to check if her expression matched the sour tone she used.
In the elevator, a few of the other directors congratulated me. I smiled and nodded, but my mind was elsewhere—on Colin and the way my body seemed to be turning against me. The weekend ahead would be difficult if I couldn’t learn to stay more composed around him.
It wasn’t until I got to my floor that I checked my phone. Five missed calls from Grant. And several texts.
Grant:Answer the phone!
Grant:Kirkman left the house with a gym bag. You’re not answering, so I’m going in.
Grant:Why aren’t you answering?
Grant:I’m not going to tell you what I found.
The blood drained from my face.
CHAPTER FIVE
Islipped into the bathroom and called Grant back. As it rang, I checked to make sure no one was in any of the stalls, but it went to voicemail.
“Ugh,” I groaned.
The rest of the day crawled by. It wasn’t until two o’clock that I did a double take and saw Grant walking toward our work area.
“Well, well, well…” I said, looking at my wrist even though I wasn’t wearing a watch.
“Well, well, well… you must be dying to know what I discovered,” he said, throwing himself into his chair.
I swiveled to face him. “It must not be that important if you didn’t come right out and tell me as soon as youdiscoveredit. So you couldn’t have found Maggie.”
He smiled like a little boy with a secret.
“You found her?” I asked, even though I had already guessed the answer.
“Okay, no, I didn’t find her.Butwe can definitely keep Kirkman on our list of suspects.”
“Why? What did you find in the house?” I asked, hoping I wouldn’t be called upon to testify against Grant in a court of law.
He spun in his chair and turned on his computer. “You know, K, you were being pretty judgmental about my investigative methods, but now you seem to want to be given all the findings for free.”
“Free? What, you’re going to charge me? Get over yourself.” I also turned to my computer.
“Well, if you agree to go out with me this weekend…” he trailed off.
“Ha!” I’d never been so happy to throw something in his face. “This weekend I will be traveling on the company dime with Colin Slade for the Sheldon & Bing account.”
He threw both hands on the desk. “Goddammit! You said you didn’t want a promotion. Were you just trying to get me to lower my defenses? That’s very sneaky of you. Well, I’m definitely not telling you what I found now.”
