Marc (4 page)

“I’m just saying that now that she works
for you that you’re going to need to keep on top of things concerning her. She doesn’t
strike me as the asking for help type.” Marc nodded as Khan went out the door. “She’s
very beautiful, even Monica says so.”

“I don’t care how beautiful she is,
Khan. I have had my mate and she’s gone. Falling in love with her is not going
to happen, if that’s what you’re thinking.” Khan flushed with embarrassment.
“I’m glad you’re thinking of me like that, but I’m not going to find love like
you and the others have. And I’m fine with it.”

“I love you, Marc. I only want to see
you happy. And this girl…I thought she’d make you smile again and not work all
the time.”

After Khan left he went back up to his
bedroom, then to the bathroom to shower. He was standing under the spray when
he thought of what Khan had said. Marc thought it was time he left the area. Maybe
go down and stay with Eric for a while, until he knew want he wanted to do. Maybe
he’d see the world like he’d planned to do after college. Anything but stay there
and have his family try and set him up. It hurt too much.

By lunch he had most of his laundry
finished and his shirts ready to go to the cleaners. Pulling up his calendar,
he saw that first thing Monday he had an appointment with someone from the
sheriff’s office, and then he had another appointment with the same man at one.
Great, she was already fucking up his day. Making a note for her to let him
know which time was the correct one, he called his office and retrieved
messages. After that he sat down to file a report on the murder, and then he
went into town to have some dinner. It was only nine when he went to bed. Setting
his alarm, he laid down, trying to word how he was going to tell his family
that he was selling his house and leaving within the month. They were going to
be pissed no matter what he said, and was preparing for that as well.

His phone chirped once, then went silent
at around four in the morning. As he didn’t recognize the number, he didn’t
answer it and let it go to voicemail. When that notification sounded, he was
nearly asleep and thought he’d get it in a minute when all of a sudden his
alarm was going off. It was morning. He was in the shower when he remembered to
check the message, and forgot when he went downstairs to find that his
refrigerator was broken. He was over an hour late getting to work because he
had to find a repair man as well as deal with all the food getting warm.

Chapter 4

Jonny tried the number again and it went
straight to voicemail. She was getting frustrated as she set her lunch on the
counter at work and put her bottle of water in the refrigerator. She smiled at
Sheri Pitts, one of the other people in the offices, as she came in looking
like she’d spent the better part of the morning doing her makeup. The woman
always looked like she was ready to go down a ramp like a fashion model. She
was also extremely nice.

“You have anything for a headache?” Jonny
shook her head. “I bet you never have headaches, do you? You look so healthy
that a headache or any other form of sickness would shy away from you.”

Jonny didn’t answer, because Sheri was
right. She never got sick and she rarely got a headache. She supposed it was
because she was a freak. As Shari put her coffee in a mug, Jonny went back to
her little desk. She saw that the door to the office was open again and shut it
as she sat down and took the phones off service. She was answering the man at
the other end when a gorgeous man walked in, stepped by her, and entered the
office behind her. She supposed he didn’t see her with the phone that he was
screaming into plastered to his head, but she went in right behind him and
waited for him to stop so she could find out what he was doing there. When he
put his phone down and buried his head in his hands, she cleared her throat.

“Unless you have a very horrible cold
and are clearing your throat to tell me something, I would suggest you get out
of here. I’ve had a shitty morning so far and I’m in no mood to screw with
anyone right now.”

“Well that’s good for you, but I don’t
have a cold and you don’t have an appointment. I would know because I would
have made it for you. As for you being in this office, you know that you’re not
supposed to be here either. You’re name isn’t on the desk placard and not on
the door. Well, no one’s is on the door, but I know it wouldn’t be yours.”

He lifted his head, and she nearly took
a step back. Christ, he was more than gorgeous. He was…eatable. She cleared her
throat again and he cocked a brow at her. She didn’t squirm like she wanted to,
but lifted her chin a little higher when he looked like he was going to laugh
at her.

“Now see here. You need to get out of
this office right now before Mr. Bowen comes in. He has…he has a nasty temper,
and once he lets it go, you’ll…you’ll regret it.” He leaned back in the chair
and she had a thought. She took a step back, then another before he finally
spoke.

“Don’t move.” She stopped, not really
sure why she’d obeyed him but she had and now she was stuck there. “I’m
assuming that you’re my new secretary.”

She nodded and turned her head to see
the distance between her and the door. She could make it, she figured, and
turned her body to leave when he suddenly grabbed her arm. Without thought as
to what she was doing, she slammed her free hand into his nose, then kicked him
in the groin. Jonny took off to the door again and tripped when he grabbed her
ankle.

“Stop right fucking now before I hurt
one of us.” She kicked out at his face and nearly connected when he yanked her
hard toward him. Before she could move he was laying over her and holding her
hands above her head. She tried to bite him but he was too quick. She froze
when a voice from the doorway spoke.

“You two have met, I see. Marc, this is
Joan Savior. Joan, this is our boss, Marc Bowen. Marc is usually a really nice
guy once you get to know him, but occasionally he needs the shit knocked out of
him like you did. Are you bleeding?”

She looked up at the man who still held
her down and noticed the blood on his nose and lip. Jonny had the most incredible
urge to lick him. Shuddering, she shoved him off her, and she was pretty sure
he let her. They stood up together, and he told Dennis Gibbs, the other man in
the offices, to watch the phones while he talked to her.

She stood when the door closed and
continued to do so after he told her to sit. It was on the tip of her tongue to
ask him if he wanted her to pee on a sheet of paper too, but bit her lip
instead.

“I’m not mad. Hurt but not mad at you.
So why don’t you have a seat?” He sat behind his desk again and wiped at his
mouth with a tissue. “We can start over from here if you want.”

“Am I fired?” She liked working there
and she loved the money she made. She’d managed to save over seven hundred
dollars and had been putting it in plastic bags in her backpack she carried
with her everywhere now.

“No. I made a mistake by not introducing
myself to you. Then I grabbed you. You were reacting like a woman who didn’t
know her attacker. Now that we know each other, I hope you won’t have cause to
hit me again.” She mumbled that she wasn’t sure about that, and he laughed. She
hadn’t thought she’d said it that loud.

“I’m Marc Bowen, owner of this
establishment. I heard from my family that you’re replacing Mia while she’s out
on medical leave.” She nodded and glanced at the door when the phone rang.
“He’s done it before, so he knows what he’s doing.”

“Did you mess with the calendar?” He tried
to think what she meant with her subject change so quickly, and nodded.

“You had the same appointment set up for
different times of the day.” She started shaking her head. “Yes, you did. One
for nine-thirty, the other for one this afternoon.”

“He needed both appointments. One before
his court appearance this morning, then the second one to ask you about some
work after the hearing. He said depending on how it went he wanted to ask you
for help. The service filled the slot again and now he’s out in the cold. And
when I tried to call you, you didn’t answer.”

The phone call he’d not recognized. So
far he was batting at a negative with her. He started to stand when she
stiffened. She might put on a brave front, but she was afraid of him. He sat
back down.

“I screwed up and I’m sorry. When Danny
comes in I’ll tell him what I did and meet him for lunch. Does that fix it?” She
shrugged. “Are you going to have a seat? If my mom comes in here and you’re
standing while I’m sitting she’ll box my ears.”

She mumbled again and waited for him to
say something. She was pretty sure he’d heard her again, but since he didn’t
comment on her thinking he’d been hatched and not born, she sat down. She’d
have to stop saying things under her breath if she was going to work with this
man. He must have the hearing of a bat. When he nodded at her, she tried not to
fidget, another bad habit she had when she was nervous.

“Tell me about yourself.” She looked at
him, trying to figure out his angle. He had to have one. Men didn’t want to
know about the people who worked for them, especially men like the one in front
of her. Not to mention she was pretty sure he knew everything about her. Well,
nearly everything. She wondered what he’d do if she suddenly became a great big
black panther in front of him.

“I don’t know what you want to know. Mia
Bowmen hired me and she said that I’d be fine here.” She’d actually told her
that she’d be safe here, but she didn’t trust that any more than she did Roy. “If
you’re not going to fire me, I have work to do.”

“I’m not going to fire you. I just…I
would like to get to know you, that’s all. I like knowing all the people who
work for me.”

She stood up and so did he. She waited
for him to do something, move toward her, attack, but he simply stayed where he
was. Jonny moved to the door slowly, backing to it so she could keep an eye on
him.

“I won’t hurt you. You can trust me on
that.” She nodded but didn’t answer him. “You don’t believe me, do you?”

“I don’t know you well enough to believe
anything you say to me. And I don’t trust anyone. Everyone lies to get what
they want. The trick is finding out early on what it is so you can figure out
if you want to give it to them or not. It’s the best way of dealing with
people.”

“I don’t want anything from you but a
good day’s work.” She nodded again. “I guess you don’t trust me on that
either.”

“I’ll give you a good day’s work, Mr. Bowen,
but that’s all. I want to work here, but it’s not the end of the world if I
don’t. I’ll just move on.” She touched the doorjamb with her fingertips and
reached for the door. “If you grab me again, I will kill you.”

She shut the door behind her as she left
his office. Sitting in her chair, she had to put her head between her knees and
breathe several times before she felt she could stand again. There was
something about him, something that wasn’t really terrifying but scary. She
staggered to the kitchen to get herself something to drink. She was sitting at
her desk again when Marc’s first appointment showed up.

~~~

“Are you even listening to me?” Marc
looked at his mom and tried to think what they’d been talking about when she
answered his question. “I see. And what case are you trying to solve while
you’re having dinner with me? If I wanted to have a meal with someone who
didn’t listen to me I’d eat with your dad. I do hope it’s a nice divorce case
and you’re only required to take pictures instead of getting the snot beat out
of you again.”

“No divorce is nice, Mom, and you know
that. Think of all the humans you know that have gotten them. Have any of them
said, ‘Well that was special. Let’s marry again so we can go through that again’?
I doubt it. No, I was thinking about the girl who works for me. Something about
her bothers me.”

“Like what? I talked to her the other
day. She’s very…I was going to say stubborn, but that’s not it. She’s very
distrusting, isn’t she? I get the feeling that whatever is in that pretty
little head of hers is frightening.” The waiter sat their dinners in front of
them and he had a sudden thought as to what Joan might be eating tonight.

“I don’t suppose she told you where she
lives, did she? I’ve tried finding it out from Mia, and she told me to behave
and to leave her alone before she quits me. Why would she quit? I’m an easy
person to work for.” She’d been working for him for two weeks since he’d been
back, and all she’d said to him was who was there and that she was going to
lunch. He hated that she wouldn’t speak to him about anything.

“Perhaps she doesn’t like you very much
and doesn’t want you to know. Ever think about that?” She laughed when he
snorted at her. “She is very quiet. Monica says she had a good lock on her mind,
but she said she’s not going to try and breach it. I personally think she knows
more about Joan than she’s saying, but that’s neither here nor there.”

So did he. He wished that Jack and Dylan
would get back so he could have him look into her mind and find out. But they
were at their cabin for the summer months and he didn’t want to disturb them. They
loved it there, and when they came back, they were so refreshed and happy that
he hated to ask them to do this for him. But she was driving him crazy.

“I think she might be homeless.” That
made him look at his mother, and he asked her why she said that. “Did you ever
notice that Mia comes by on payday twice? I think she’s helping her cash her
checks. And when she returns, Joan looks so relieved that she can hardly breathe
through it. I don’t think she trusts that Mia will return with her money.”

He had no idea and he was supposed to be
this great detective. He decided that the next time checks went out he’d pay
more attention. He realized then that he had no idea when payday actually was. Damn
it, he was a slug, and was going to start paying attention to the everyday
things in his office.

He ate his meal, trying to think of why
this woman, of all the women he knew, was on his mind so much. He looked up at
his mom when she laughed. He flushed, knowing that he’d missed something again.

“She’s got you all twisted up, doesn’t
she? I wonder why.” He said that he wished he knew as well. “Have you slept with
her yet?”

He nearly choked to death on his drink. When
she smiled at him, he decided that she’d been teasing him. He started to tell
her it wasn’t the least bit funny when she spoke again.

“Marc, why do you hold yourself back
from women?” He wasn’t sure how to answer that, so he didn’t. “You’re a good
man. You have a great job, money in the bank, and you’re not too bad to look at
either. That is when you clean up and don’t wear those horrible ties. Why don’t
you ask her out? Ask her back to your place for a roll in the hay or whatever
you men call it these days.”

“I’m not discussing my sex life or the
lack of one with you. I’ll have you know that she’s not really my type. I’m
more of the….” Christ, he hadn’t been out in so long he had no idea what this type
was. “I go for the more flashy type of women. The kind that doesn’t cringe
whenever I’m near them and doesn’t avoid getting closer than a foot to me every
time I’m speaking to her.”

He realized he’d said too much when she
looked at him oddly. He started to change the subject but he found he couldn’t.
Really, he wasn’t sure if he wanted to talk to his mom about Joan, but he had
to speak to someone.

“The first day I came back from Illinois
I was on the phone getting a repair man to come out and see if he could fix my
fridge. I walked past her without seeing her. She came into my office and
nearly threw me out. I touched her.” He sat back in his chair, no longer
hungry. “I grabbed her arm to stop her from leaving and she hit me and
then…unmanned me. When I grabbed her foot to stop her again, she broke my nose
with her foot. I had to hold her down to keep her from hurting me. After I apologized
to her and told her she wasn’t being fired, she looked at me and told me if I
touched her again, grabbed her, she’d kill me. I believe her.”