Kiss Lonely Goodbye (17 page)

“She's smart and learning fast,” Marcus said. Shaun's eyebrows went up, a signal that Marcus had slipped. “Even if she does lack experience in security and management,” he added with a shrug.

“Good intentions aren't enough in a competitive environment. She can't keep up. This dude says the security business is changing rapidly since this terrorist threat started.” Shaun glanced around before continuing.

“Everybody is running to keep up with the latest technology. I was thinking we could add a few forensic people as contract employees. Folks with expertise on handwriting analysis, identity theft, and a forensic accountant.” Marcus stared down at the bouncing and kicking group below.

“See? That's what I mean.” Shaun pointed at him. “No way baby can beat you. Man, we can end up—”

Marcus glanced at him sharply. “What's with the ‘we' stuff?”

“You provide the security and I'll specialize in insurance policies against terrorist acts. Hell, we both know most businesses won't be targeted. But
they
don't know it. What with the media scaring folks to death every day, selling security systems and insurance should be a breeze.”

“Where does the money come from to pay claims?” Marcus squinted at him. When Shaun's grin widened he knew the answer.

“What claims? We bag the premiums, invest the money, and close up shop. Of course we hand them off to another company.”

“Small or even medium-sized businesses can't afford expensive policies. The word
fraud
comes to mind. We'd be misleading them.” Marcus waved a hand. “Forget it.”

“Hey, think big.”

“I'm thinking about possible jail time,” Marcus shot back.

“We've been through tough times and we always survived. I think about those days. Remember Spiderman?” Shaun played his ace.

When they were fifteen years old, a gang member had targeted Marcus. Spiderman and Marcus had circled each other for days until a contrived confrontation had led to a showdown. Two days later shots had rung out as Marcus had walked down the street on an errand for his grandmother. Shaun had appeared out of an alley and yanked him to safety. Spiderman had been shot the next day. Paralyzed from the neck down, he'd ended up in a nursing facility at seventeen. Shaun hinted he'd “taken care of” the problem. Marcus didn't believe him. Spiderman had more dangerous enemies in their world. Still Shaun had saved his life. Though he recognized the manipulation, Marcus had a rush of guilt at the sharp tone he'd used with him.

“Like I could forget the thug who tried to take me out.”

“Then you know I'd never put you in danger.” Shaun clamped a large hand on his forearm and squeezed. “No way, no how, for nobody on this earth.”

“I know,” Marcus said finally.

In charge again, Shaun released his grip and sat back. His breezy smile returned. “Back to Aliyah. I let her think we're exchanging information. All the time she's telling me way more than I'm telling her.”

Marcus had a picture of the two of them trying to outsmart each other. Despite Shaun's opinion, Marcus did not think Aliyah was so easily duped. “You better be careful. Not all women are dumb. And not all of them lose their common sense over what you've got,” he added quietly.

“Can't prove it by me,” Shaun quipped with a wink. “Ghetto girls or CEOs with advanced degrees, it doesn't matter. Combine the right sweet talk with good love and you got a fool for life.”

Marcus gazed at his friend and saw a reflection of himself
to a degree. Though he hadn't been such a blatant user, Marcus had left behind women with barely a backward glance. He could brush off the most expert flirtation unless he wanted companionship, though he hadn't been able to brush off one particular set of alluring eyes.

“You'll meet your match one day,” he mumbled, more to himself than to Shaun.

Shaun flashed a smile at a passing woman. “Say what?”

Marcus shook his head. “Nothing. I get the feeling Aliyah is after more than Russell. I'm wondering if you two have joined forces in some plot.” He studied Shaun for signs of guilt.

“Not really. She thought I'd be able to give her some inside info since you and I are pals. I put her off.” Shaun waved a hand as though the matter was trivial.

“Uh-huh. Well, she seems to think I'd be interested in jumping through hoops for her. I'm not,” Marcus said pointedly.

“All I'm sayin' is this,” Shaun replied, lapsing once more into his old speech pattern. His affable demeanor slipped away, and the hard street kid came back. “Aliyah's got skills when it comes to men.”

“I'm not looking for a girlfriend, Shaun.”

“I'm not talkin' about bling-bling in the bedroom. She can get weak-minded dudes to do almost anything. And our buddy Russell is the weakest I've seen. She's got his tongue hangin' out, brother. You make friends with her and she can get him to do just what you want with that company.”

“No.” Marcus shook his head hard.

“I know you've got your own plan to deal with Nicole. Once she's outta the way, you're still stuck with this Russell fool. Aliyah can convince him to sell out to you. Ain't that what you want?”

“Like you said, I've got my own plans. Those plans don't
include trusting Aliyah,” Marcus said low and with intensity.

“She couldn't blow your cover without you blowing hers. Hey, lots of business arrangements are built on quid pro quo.” Shaun lifted a shoulder as if his logic was obvious.

“I'm not sure I want to go through with my original plan anyway. Even if I did, I sure wouldn't include Aliyah.” Marcus drank the last few ounces of his smoothie.

“You got some other brilliant move, huh? C'mon, let your boy in on it.” Shaun's eyes sparkled with curiosity.

Marcus tapped his fingertips on the table for a few minutes. “Okay, I'm thinking maybe starting my own security company can wait. I gave Nicole's dad my word and—”

“Whoa, whoa. Back it up.” Shaun waved both hands as though directing traffic. “What's with this ‘I gave my word' nonsense?”

“I don't have to step on her for something the old man did. Her uncle promised to sell me the company, not her.”

Shaun glanced around. The last couple seated at a table left. They were now alone. The counter girls were busy gossiping at the other end of the snack shop.

“Those people will walk all over you, man. They'll get rich off what you know and make sure you never become serious competition.”

“Nicole's dad has already figured out I plan to be my own boss one day. They didn't get rich by being dumb, Shaun.” Marcus smiled. “I kinda like the old dude and her uncle Lionel.”

Shaun's eyes narrowed. “Nah, I'm not buying that line.” He studied Marcus for a long moment. A smile spread across his face. “You plan to marry into the money and the business. Now that's the Marcus Reed I know.”

“You don't understand.”

Marcus remembered the fresh taste of Nicole. She was sweet and sharp, like the finest Creole hot sauce. Against all
reason he wanted Nicole to show her family she could stand on her own.

“Damn, I can't believe this! You have lost your mind over a woman.” Shaun's expression was a combination of dismay and disappointment.

“I revised my strategy, that's all. Look, just because we grew up ghetto doesn't mean we have to operate like thugs,” Marcus said quietly.

“Thugs walk around dressed in gold chains, with gold teeth, acting stupid. Thugs end up dead or broke and in prison. I'm no thug!” Shaun leaned close to make his point.

They stared at each other for several tense moments. Marcus sighed. “I didn't mean it like that, man. I meant we didn't come this far to throw it all away trying to be slick.”

Shaun took in a deep breath and let it out. “We're at each other because of some—” He broke off when Marcus frowned at him. “Okay, okay.”

Both seemed to realize they were on the edge of doing damage to their friendship. They'd had disagreements before, yet somehow Marcus sensed this one could spiral into something serious.

“I'm just saying I've got a Plan B now, all right?” Marcus smiled to calm the suddenly stormy atmosphere between them. He punched Shaun's shoulder playfully. “Who knows which way it will go.”

“Yeah, all right.” Shaun wore a brief sulky face, then his expression opened up. “If you do get married, I'll be your best man. I'll be surrounded by rich desperate women.”

“You must stay up nights thinking of ways to play folks.” Marcus couldn't help but feel affection for his old friend. “And I didn't say anything about marriage,” he added and pointed a finger at Shaun's nose.

“Don't be modest. I've got full confidence in you. You
learned your moves from the master.” Shaun stuck his chest out.

Marcus laughed. “Let's go work up a sweat on the handball court.”

Shaun grabbed his arm to stop him from walking away. “Serious again, Marcus. Old man Summers lied to you. She's one of them. Watch your back.”

“I know what I'm doing,” Marcus replied. “So, don't worry about me.”

With a nod, Shaun let go of his arm. He seemed to let go of the subject as well. “I got ya, man.”

They headed toward the handball courts trading good-natured insults about each other's athletic abilities. Beneath the banter Marcus could tell the undercurrent of their exchange still flowed. He knew Shaun well. Shaun would find another way to approach him about some kind of alliance. Hours later Marcus realized Shaun had not answered his question about how much he'd told Aliyah. Marcus also contemplated his response that he knew what he was doing when it came to Nicole. Did he? He was still trying to sort out the tangle of emotions she'd stirred to a boil. Despite what he'd told Shaun, there was no Plan B.

N
icole stared at the report. Jesse wore a grim expression. Andre tapped an ink pen against his teeth until Jacinta pinched his arm. Imani stared ahead as though in a trance. Marcus walked into the conference room and shut the door with a hard thud. Russell alone wore a satisfied expression.

“This is the result of leniency with employees,” Russell said. He gazed at Nicole with a smug curve to his upper lip.

Marcus sat down next to Nicole. He glanced at Russell. “I just got off the phone with Dayna. They haven't drawn any firm conclusions yet. And I don't see how inviting more staff input is related to a theft at one of our security sites.”

“If your friend the detective has any brains, she'll be looking for connections. Summers Security is the common denominator.” Russell looked around at the others as though letting his words sink in.

“He's right.” Nicole heaved a sigh. “We have to face facts. Two incidents might be a coincidence. Now we have four in three months.”

She clicked on the computer. A graph appeared on a
screen. Everyone swiveled around to stare at it. Nicole had assigned Andre and Jacinta to gather data and create the presentation. No one spoke for several minutes. They studied the color-coded results.

“One thing jumps out at me,” Jesse ventured, then hesitated when the others looked at him. “Course I didn't go to college like y'all.”

“You've got brains and experience. Go on,” Marcus prompted.

“Well, take a look.” Jesse pushed his chair back and went to the screen. “First thing is they started out in the high-crime neighborhoods. Which is why we didn't think nothing of it at first.”

“We expect a certain level of shoplifting and petty theft,” Marcus agreed.

“Sure. Everybody gets hit in those areas.” Andre reached over and tapped a few keys. Another screen appeared. This one showed crime rates by neighborhoods.

Jacinta nodded. “But if you look at it farther back than two months, we've got a bigger pattern.”

“Now they're hitting clients in the high-end neighborhoods. So?” Nicole frowned as she tried to sort through their logic.

Andre split the screen. “Another thing, the thefts were spaced out before two months ago.”

Russell sat forward. “The fact is we've had a string of problems concentrated in the last two months.”

“Why would the thefts and security lapses increase so fast?” Jacinta squinted at the figures. “Something changed.”

“It sure did.” Russell looked at Nicole.

“Let's do an
objective
analysis,” Marcus shot back. He and Russell glared at each other.

Nicole put a hand on Marcus's arm. Russell lifted an eyebrow at the motion but said nothing. “Everybody just take a deep breath. Both points should be examined.”

“Okay,” Marcus replied. He turned from Russell. “What changed besides the fact that we got a new CEO?”

Imani leaned an elbow on the table. “Russell did most of the hiring until six months ago. Then Mr. Summers reorganized duties. Jesse started supervising and hiring security personnel.”

“Yeah. Most of the guards Russell hired are still around,” Andre put in.

“Don't try to turn this around on me!” Russell stood.

“If I've made any decisions that contributed to this predicament I'll be the first to own my responsibility,” Nicole said.

Jesse cleared his throat. “Can I say something else?”

“Of course,” Marcus said, cutting in while Russell's mouth was still open.

“I looked at the schedules. Tameka and five others volunteered more than anybody else to work overtime.” Jesse opened a folder in front of him. “Here are the time sheets. I struggled to do one of those handy computer programs. I didn't get too far. Ended up doing it all by hand.”

“Don't worry about it. Low tech can be just as good sometimes.” Nicole got up and went to where he sat. She read where he pointed. “I'll be—”

“Yeah, they filled in at about half those sites,” Jesse said. “With Mr. Summers getting so sick the last year things were kinda unsettled for a while.” His voice trailed off.

“Right.” Nicole knew Russell had created quite a bit of turmoil by fighting Marcus on everything.

“I still should have caught this trend.” Marcus tapped a fist on the conference table's polished surface.

“Why would you?” Nicole said quickly. She strode to the screen and used a laser pointer. “Felony thefts in each of these areas have been stable.”

“We've had news stories constantly on the crime rate inside Houston. One-third of our customers are still in the city.” Andre sat back.

“Until two months ago our competitors had similar rates,” Jacinta said.

“How do you know?” Nicole looked at her with surprise.

“I've got my own connections in the police department.” Jacinta wore a brief grin, then got serious again. “Robbery division does their stats by businesses. All I had to do was look at who provided them with security.”

“We make it a point to know the market share,” Marcus said.

“Right,” Jacinta replied.

“Which brings us back to two months ago,” Russell insisted.

“I say we give Jesse's information to Detective Tyler,” Andre said.

“Definitely. She can really look at them with a microscope.” Marcus grimaced. “But I still feel like we'd better get an answer for ourselves.”

“We're supposed to be leaders in private security, giving our customers more peace of mind than even the police,” Nicole added.

“Because we're not spread so thin. They've got the entire city.” Imani turned back to the graph on the screen.

“Let's start with another examination of those guards and their background checks, Jesse.” Nicole pointed to the folder in front of him. “Then we'll interview our customers again about the thefts.”

“Go back six months.” Marcus glanced at Russell.

“Let me.” Andre waved a hand in the air like an eager student. “I've got a program that will look for parallels and calculate probabilities.”

“And just what do we tell our customers so that they don't get nervous? They're bound to wonder.” Russell wore a sneer.

“We've already told them we're looking to improve security.” Nicole ground her teeth in annoyance.

“I've been talking to them all about new technology,” Andre added. “They're used to me asking a bunch of questions.”

“Sounds good. End of the week I'll meet with Jesse and Andre for an update. Any major problems or developments, call me or Marcus immediately.” Nicole nodded to signal the meeting was over.

The others bustled out, talking about their assignments. Russell held back and seemed about to say something more. Instead he merely gave Nicole a mean smile, saluted, and strolled out. Nicole and Marcus went to her office. She dropped into her leather chair. Every muscle in her body was wound tight from tension.

“What a day,” she groaned and kneaded the back of her neck.

“I can promise it will get better.” Marcus closed the door.

When he crossed the room and took over the massage, Nicole gradually relaxed all over. “Oh, yeah. Just what a woman needs, a man who keeps his promises.”

He leaned forward and put his lips close to her ear. “I meant after we leave the office.”

“How romantic. There's only one problem. We won't be leaving the office for a long time.” Nicole wiggled with delight as his strong hands moved to her shoulders.

“When doesn't matter, baby. It will happen tonight.”

Marcus continued to caress her arms. Soon he switched his attention to her sides. Nicole bent forward so that his
hands could travel down her back. Suddenly the tailored navy blue jacket she wore over an emerald green satin tank top felt too restrictive. She allowed him to help her shrug out of it. The touch of his skin against the bare flesh of her upper arms brought on another round of sighs. He used his fingertips to gently rake her biceps. The pressure sent shivers down her spine.

“Keep going,” she whispered, her head pressed against his midsection.

“Nicole, I think you ought to see this report and—” Cat froze with one foot in the air and stumbled as she entered the room unannounced.

Jacinta bumped into her. “Geez, Cat! Give me a signal next time. What's your problem anyway?” She was about to say more when she glanced at Marcus and Nicole. Her mouth flew open.

“I, I should have waited.” Cat's words tumbled over each other.

“Yeah, we're leaving. In fact, we're gone. No, we never even came in. Right, Cat?” Jacinta blinked rapidly.

“Right.” Cat pivoted and did a neat sprint out the door, leaving Jacinta alone.

“Bye.” Jacinta performed her own sharp turn and vanished.

“The word is out.” Nicole looked up at Marcus.

He glanced at the digital clock on her desk. “I'd say the office will know some version of the story in about one hour.”

“I've got a dollar that says fifteen minutes,” she tossed back.

“I trust the professionalism of our employees. They'll get started on those important assignments first. Then they'll take a coffee break and start talking,” he replied dryly.

“What should we do?”

Marcus patted her arms, then walked to a nearby chair and
sat down. “Continue to run an efficient operation. Get back to work. I'm not feeling guilty. Are you?”

Nicole heard the real question. “No. But we should be more careful. I don't want a false issue to distract from the great work we're doing.”

“Is it a false issue? You've got to be objective about every employee's job performance.”

“You're doing a magnificent job. No question about that,” Nicole said promptly.

Marcus let out a bass laugh that bounced off the oak paneling. Nicole drank in the rich sound as though it were cool chocolate milk flowing down her throat. She wanted to wrap herself around the essence of him. He shook his head and smiled at her with affection.

“Now that sounded
very
objective,” he said after his laughter died away.

“It's true,” she countered. “My family and a lot of other folks in the business think you walk on water.” She grinned at him. “Even my father thought you could have made a fine CEO.”

Marcus wore a thoughtful expression for a few seconds. He carefully placed the expensive pen back in the brass holder on her desk. “Except for one thing. I don't have the right pedigree.”

“I'll make a promise.”

“I'm listening,” he said.

“If anyone, including my parents, is crazy enough to criticize you, I'll set them straight. They know better than to tangle with me.” Nicole put both hands on her hips.

He stood with a rigid set to his handsome face. “I speak for myself. I earned my job with hard work and brains.”

“I didn't mean—”

“So, don't think you're going to run interference between me and Daddy, all right?” Marcus said heatedly.

“I heard you. Now listen for a change.” Nicole crossed her arms with a grimace.

“Sure. Just needed to be said.”

“We should deal with any kind of reaction together. So, you might want to drop that defensive attitude with me.” Nicole narrowed her eyes as she gazed at him.

Marcus rubbed his eyes. “Sorry, long day.”

“From now on nobody but me gets to say nasty things about you,” Nicole quipped.

His dark brows pulled together briefly, then relaxed. Marcus gave a tired laugh, then beckoned to her as he stood. “Okay.”

Nicole walked to him. At first he didn't touch her. They stood so close that she could hear the soft whisper of his breath. She was eye level with his broad chest. Instead of looking up into his eyes immediately, she took in the shape of his muscles beneath the dress shirt. Nicole savored the delicious anticipation of waiting. Eyes closed, she enjoyed the scent of him. Obsession for Men mixed with his body chemistry to create a tantalizing result. Finally Marcus pressed his lips to her forehead tenderly.

“So, we've officially made up,” Nicole whispered.

“This is part one of making up.” Marcus put a hand under her chin, lifted her face, and kissed the tip of her nose. “Tonight?”

“Tonight,” she replied.

The spell lifted for the moment, and they parted. Each seemed to know it was time to get back to business. Marcus smoothed down his tie. Nicole went back behind her desk.

“I'm happy with the office manager we hired in Lake
Charles. He's already hired support staff and has made progress setting up the computer system.”

“Jesse was supposed to go this week to help him hire the first security guards. And Andre was going along to work with the computer contractor.” Nicole sat down hard.

“I'll set them up to do a series of teleconferences for now. They can do the road trip next week maybe.” Marcus glanced at her. “You agree?”

“Sounds good. We've got to get through this latest crisis. What are our customers saying?” Nicole frowned.

“Everyone is complaining about the crime rate, so no one has singled us out yet,” he replied.

“
Yet
is the key word. I'm going to get with Jesse and we'll talk to those employees together.”

“Okay, boss lady.” Marcus headed for the door.

“What did I tell you about calling me boss lady?” Nicole snapped as she punched in Jesse's extension on her desk phone.

“Did I mention I have a problem with authority?” Marcus grinned at her from the door, then left.

“You didn't have to,” she said as the door shut. Nicole laughed out loud.

 

“Your friend is being stubborn.” Aliyah puffed on a cigarette. She crossed her legs, and the olive green short skirt hiked up her thigh another inch.

Shaun handed her a glass of brandy. “Because he didn't jump right into your bed.”