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Alyssa felt as if her heart suddenly dropped to her stomach, then bounced back up to pound at her ribs when she realized what he meant. Before she could find her voice, Caleb gave her a quick kiss on the forehead, then picked up his boots and walked across the room and out the door without a backward glance.
Staring at the closed door, she had to force herself to breathe. Now she knew for certain that she’d landed on the other side of the rainbow. Either that, or she and Caleb had both been taken over by aliens. After all, they were in Roswell, where the unexplained was not only accepted, it was expected.
But as she reached up to turn off the bedside lamp, she shook her head. She knew what had gotten into her and it had nothing whatsoever to do with friends from a faraway galaxy. From the moment Caleb Walker had strolled into her office, she’d fought it, tried to ignore it and even denied its existence. But the truth was, she was attracted to her new boss.
She burrowed deeper into the bed and pulled the covers up to her chin. What on earth was she going to do now?
In the past few minutes, she’d abandoned the two most important rules she’d set for herself. She’d allowed one of her coworkers to witness her emotional side and she’d practically thrown herself at him when he’d offered her comfort.
She sighed heavily. There was no way around it now. Her departure from Skerritt and Crowe was not only inevitable, it was imminent.
Closing her eyes, she tried not to think of the damage she’d done to her professional reputation and willed herself to relax. She probably wouldn’t be able to sleep, but at least she wouldn’t be sobbing like a baby when Caleb returned this time.
What seemed like only a few minutes later, the ringing phone roused her. Who on earth could be calling at this time of night?
She grumbled about wanting to hurt whoever was on the other end of the line as she switched on the light and snatched up the receiver before it could ring again. “Hello?”
Dead silence greeted her.
“Is someone there?” she asked impatiently.
“Who is it?” Caleb asked, sounding groggy.
She sucked in a sharp breath as she glanced over at the other bed. Apparently she’d been asleep longer than she’d realized. He’d not only returned to their room, but he’d been sleeping as soundly as she’d been.
“Ms. Merrick?”
“Yes.” She looked at the digital alarm clock on the nightstand. “Who is this and why are you calling at two in the morning?”
“This is Clarence Norton, A.J… . Ms. Merrick. I’m sorry to wake you,” the security guard from Skerritt and Crowe said apologetically. “The motel operator was supposed to connect me with Mr. Walker’s room.”
“Is there a problem?”
“The firm’s silent alarm went off at the police station about an hour ago,” he explained. “They called me to come down and let them in so they could do a thorough search of the building.”
Fully awake, she asked, “Was there a break-in?”
“No,” Clarence assured her. “But the alarm system shorted out and—”
“What’s going on?” Caleb threw back the sheet and sat up on the side of the bed. “Give me the phone.”
Alyssa held up her finger to silence him, but it was too late. Clarence had already heard Caleb’s voice.
“I-Is that Mr. Walker?” From the tone of his voice, the security guard was shocked right down to his big flat feet.
With Caleb reaching for the receiver and Clarence stammering on the other end of the line, she surrendered the phone without another word.
Her worst nightmare had just been realized. Clarence Norton was the biggest gossip in Albuquerque. By the time she and Caleb returned to the office the day after tomorrow, everyone at Skerritt and Crowe would know that they’d spent the night together.
Four (#ulink_7a402569-e486-5dda-a1c5-f1204706b30a)
Caleb set the cruise control, then glanced over at the silent woman seated on the passenger side of the truck cab. Other than answering direct questions, Alyssa hadn’t said more than a handful of words to him since the kiss they’d shared the night before. She’d been congenial and outgoing enough when she’d discussed financial options and outlined plans for the two potential clients they’d met with in Las Cruces and Truth or Consequences. But whenever they found themselves alone, she clammed up.
“I’m pretty sure we’ve picked up Mr. Sanchez and Mrs. Bailey as clients,” he said, trying once more to draw her out.
She nodded. “It looks that way.”
“Are you going to handle their accounts personally or turn them over to someone else?”
“I’ll probably turn them over to Richard Henshaw or Marla Davis.”
When she let the discussion drop once again, he released a frustrated breath. “Talk to me, Alyssa. Tell me why I’m getting the silent treatment. Is it because of what happened last night?”
Nodding, she stared straight ahead. “I can’t stop thinking about Clarence’s phone call and the rumors that I’m sure were being passed around the office today.”
“You’re worried about what’s being said at the office?” he asked incredulously. He hadn’t given much, if any, thought to the phone call. His mind had been occupied with that kiss. To say she’d damned near knocked his socks off was an understatement.
“Aren’t you concerned?” She looked at him like he’d sprouted horns and a tail. “Clarence Norton is the biggest gossip this side of the Mississippi and he’s not going to let something like my being in your room at two in the morning go by without putting his spin on it. By now, I’m sure he’s told everyone who will listen that we slept together last night.”
“Technically, we did sleep together,” Caleb said, grinning. “Just not in the same bed.” The cab of the truck was dark, but he’d bet every last dime he had that her cheeks had colored a pretty pink. He wished like hell he could see them.
“I suppose that’s true. But do you honestly think anyone will believe that?” she asked.
“Maybe.” He shrugged. “But the way I see it, our only option is to tell the truth. After we explain things, it’ll be up to everyone else to draw their own conclusions.”
“You know what that will be.” She glared at him like she thought he might be a little simpleminded.
“We can’t control what others think or say about us, Alyssa.” He gave her what he hoped was an encouraging smile. “But even if they are talking about us now, this time next week someone else will be the topic of conversation around the water cooler.”
“I hope you’re right.”
“I’m sure—”
He stopped short when he noticed steam rolling out from under the truck’s hood. Glancing at the temperature gauge on the dash, he said a word that would have had his mother washing his mouth out with soap if she’d heard. It was a dark, moonless night and they were miles away from the last gas station.
“Why is your truck smoking?” she asked, clearly alarmed.
“It’s my guess we have radiator problems.”
“That’s not good.” She pushed her owlish glasses up her nose with a brush of her hand—a gesture he’d come to recognize as a sign of her nervousness. “What are you going to do?”
“I’ll have to find a place to pull over so I can check it out.” He’d no sooner gotten the words out than they passed a sign indicating a rest area less than a mile ahead. “Looks like we’re in luck. At least it will be well lit and I can see what I’m doing.”
Ten minutes later, Caleb stood in the parking lot of the rest area with Alyssa peering around his arm at the truck’s steaming engine. “The radiator hose is busted,” he said when he noticed her questioning expression.
“Do you think you can fix it?”
He shook his head, stepped back and slammed the hood. “I’ll have to call roadside assistance.” Pulling his cell phone from the clip on his belt, he asked, “Is there another town between here and Socorro?”
She looked anything but happy. “No. This rest area is about halfway between Socorro and Truth or Consequences. And I’m sure that everything in either direction is closed by now.”
Pushing the button with the auto club’s preprogrammed number, Caleb gave their location and the nature of the problem, then waited for the customerservice representative, identifying himself as Jason, to contact the nearest associate. When the man came back on the line, the news wasn’t what Caleb wanted to hear.
“What do you mean they can’t get to us until tomorrow morning?” he demanded.
Alyssa cringed. “They won’t be here until morning?”
“I’m sorry for the inconvenience, sir. We have only one associate garage in that area and the mechanic is out on a call,” Jason apologized. “After that he has three more to take care of before he can get to you.”
Thinking fast, Caleb asked, “Could you send someone with a rental car?”
“Just a moment, please.”
“What did he say?” she asked anxiously.
“He’s checking.” Caleb smiled. “I’m sure we’ll have a car here in no time.” At least, he hoped they would.
“Sir, your rental car will be delivered to your location by four in the morning,” Jason said, sounding as if he’d accomplished something wonderful.
“Four!” Caleb checked his watch, then shook his head. “Five hours is unacceptable, Jason. Even if the car is coming from Albuquerque, it shouldn’t take more than a couple of hours.”
“I’m sorry, sir,” Jason said, beginning to sound like a broken record. “The agencies in both Truth or Consequences and Socorro are closed, the one in Las Cruces has all of its cars rented right now and the one in Albuquerque is having to call someone in to drive the car down to you.”
Caleb glanced over at Alyssa. She looked fit to be tied.
“So that’s the best you can do?” he asked the young man.
“I’m afraid so, sir,” Jason answered. “If there’s any-thing else we can do for you, please let us know.”
Caleb snapped the phone shut as he turned to Alyssa. “I guess you’ve figured out by now that we aren’t going anywhere until around four tomorrow morning.”
Looking more pale than she had a few minutes ago, she nodded and started for the passenger door. “I think one of us must be related to Murphy.”
“Who the hell’s Murphy?”
“I’m not sure, but his law has plagued us throughout this trip.”
“Ah, yes. Anything that can go wrong, will go wrong, and at the worst possible moment.” He helped her into the truck. “Well, things could be worse.”
She looked at him like he had spit for brains. “How on earth could things be any worse?”
He grinned. “We could have broken down before or after we got to the rest area.”
“Small consolation,” she said, settling herself on the bench seat. “We’re still stranded.”
“Yes, but at least we’re stuck at a rest area with vending machines.” He hooked his thumb over his shoulder. “I’m going to see if they have bottled water. Do you want one?”
She nodded. “Thank you.”
As Caleb walked the short distance to the row of vending machines, Alyssa took one deep breath, then another. How much anxiety could one woman handle before she lost her mind?
She’d been stressed enough over her behavior when he’d kissed her. Then, after the phone call from the se-curity guard, she’d spent the rest of the night tossing and turning as she’d thought of the office gossip that would surely be spreading like wildfire. Now, she was having to spend another night in Caleb’s disturbing presence.
Watching him get bottles of water from the machine, then start back toward the truck, she shivered. He looked darned good in his sports jacket, dress shirt and jeans. On some men, the combination just wouldn’t work. But on Caleb, it was sexy beyond words. And she had to admit that spending more time with him wasn’t an unpleasant thought. He wasn’t just devastatingly handsome, he was intelligent, easy to talk to and had a nice sense of humor. And boy, oh boy, could he kiss.
Her cheeks heated and she had to force herself to breathe. The more time she spent with him, the more she wanted to know about him, the more she wanted him to kiss her again. And therein lay the problem.
For heaven’s sake, they worked together. She shouldn’t want to spend more time getting to know him. And she definitely shouldn’t want his kiss. She knew all too well from past experience that becoming friendly with a coworker spelled disaster with a great big capital D.
But the choice had been taken out of her hands. Fate had stepped in and taken over—first with the room mix-up and now with a broken radiator hose.
When he opened the driver’s door, he handed her two bottles of water and a package of cookies before remov-ing his sports jacket. Tossing it on the seat between them, he rolled up the sleeves of his white dress shirt, then slid in behind the steering wheel.
Her breath caught and she decided she was in real trouble if all it took to make her insides hum was the sight of his bare forearms. But as he turned up his shirt sleeves, the movement drew attention to the play of muscles and sent her pulse into overdrive.
“I thought you might get hungry while we’re waiting on the rental car,” he said.
She glanced down at the package of cookies. It was only a stale vending-machine snack, but his thoughtfulness touched her more than she could have imagined. No one, including her father, had ever shown her a lot of consideration. She’d always been the bookish nerd who blended into the background, no matter where she went or who she was with. There had even been times after her mother had died that she’d suspected her father had forgotten she existed.
“Thank you,” she said, barely able to get the words past the lump clogging her throat.
“Are you all right?” He reached out to put his arm around her, then, moving his jacket out of the way, pulled her to the middle of the seat. “I know being stuck here is upsetting, but—”
“I’m fine. Really.” Wanting to change the subject be-fore she made a complete fool of herself, she asked, “Do you really think going on picnics and getting closer with the employees is going to make Skerritt and Crowe a more efficient consulting firm?”
He nodded. “Let me ask you this. How much do you know about the people who work under you?”
Thinking hard, she shook her head. “Not much.”
“Exactly.” Twisting in the seat to face her, he leaned back against the driver’s door. “Would you say Geena Phillips has been working up to her potential lately?”
She didn’t have to think twice about the matter. The woman had been late several times in the past couple of weeks. “No. Lately, she’s seemed distracted and I’ve been meaning to talk to her about it.”
“Don’t,” he said, shaking his head. “A disciplinary talk will only add to the problem.”
“I take it you know something I don’t.”
His mouth flattened into a grim line. “She’s battling a case of morning sickness. It’s her first pregnancy, she doesn’t know where the father of her baby disappeared to and she’s scared witless that she won’t be able to handle things by herself.”
Alyssa was shocked. “I had no idea Geena was going through anything like that.”
“That’s because in the past it’s been company policy to check your private life at the door when you come to work.” He shook his head. “Geena’s a good accountant who’s hit a rough patch in her life. She needs our support and assurance that she’s not going to lose the job she’ll need to support herself and the baby. That kind of encouragement from an employer can go a long way to instill loyalty in an employee, as well as inspire them to work harder for the company.”
She could see where a change was definitely in order in that area. “I’ll talk to her about coming in a couple of hours later until she starts feeling better.”
Yawning he nodded his approval. “Now you have the right idea.” It seemed that he’d no sooner gotten the words out than he was sound asleep.
As she leaned her head back against the seat and tried to get comfortable, she had to admit that Caleb’s approach to management made a lot of sense. By the book wasn’t necessarily the best way to handle employees.
