Texas Lightning. Gerry Bartlett
there were the two men who clearly had nothing better to do than to fix themselves an after-dinner drink and talk about the ongoing basketball season. When they’d seen her grab her replacement phone, they’d given her privacy to get her numbers restored and catch up with texts and emails from her friends and family back home. She decided there was no reason to explain her move or the delay in answering any of them. She just sent them a quick response, enough to let them know she was okay. For now, anyway.
Ron Zenonsky kept watching her, probably worried she’d have a meltdown and be unable to continue her work. She’d noticed King, on the other hand, had zoned out when she and Ron went over the new equipment. Clearly her host wasn’t into tech.
Too bad her boss was off limits. He was just her type, smart and able to talk her language. Ron wore neatly pressed designer shirts and jeans and had his medium brown hair professionally styled. Cute. No surprise that he was pale compared to King Sanders. If Ron ever got out in the sun, it was only because his four-year-old daughter dragged him out to watch her play in his pool.
“Are you all right, Anna?” Ron finally asked what he’d obviously been wondering.
“Yes, no, I don’t know.” She fell onto the couch next to King. “I feel like my world has been turned upside down.” She tapped her phone. “Crooks have my old phone. They’ll probably break into it and…”
“Nothing. It was deactivated as soon as you called me. Mona saw to that. It’s nothing but a paperweight now.” Ron smiled. “You think we didn’t take care of that? How do you like your new one? The latest upgrade. Facial recognition.”
“It’s cool.” Anna meant it. She loved tech. She felt King looking over her shoulder and handed it to him. “Just came out. I’ll have fun exploring all the features.”
“Anyone worried about you, Anna?” King frowned at it, clearly mystified by the fact that the familiar buttons on his phone were missing and it was smooth glass. He passed it back with a shrug.
“No. My family is used to me ignoring my phone when I’m in the zone. They know this program is my priority right now.” She sighed and leaned back against the soft leather. “I’m so close to finishing too. It’s important to all of us. I got interested in it because of my grandmother. She almost died because of a drug interaction. We thought she had dementia. Turned out her confusion and other symptoms were caused by the combination of drugs she was taking.”
“No kidding!” King stared at her. “So this isn’t just a job to you, it’s personal.”
“That’s right.” She stood. “Which is why I’m anxious to get back to it. My notebook had some things I’d jotted down last night that I want to try tonight, so I have to recreate my notes.” She rubbed the back of her neck. “Do you think I could make some coffee? It helps me stay sharp.”
“Conchita will fix you a pot. We can set it up in the library for you.” King was on his feet, close beside her. He told her the security code for his Wi-Fi. It was ridiculously simple and made Ron smile.
“Bud, no one should use their phone number for access like that. Tighten up.” Ron stood and headed for the bar. “At least throw in a word or two.”
“He’s right. After I get in, I’ll change it to something stronger and write it down for you. Now, surely Conchita goes off duty after dinner. I hate to bother her.” Anna turned to Ron. “Thanks for bringing the computer system here. It’s even better than what I had before.”
“You deserve the best, Anna.” Ron set his empty glass on the bar. “Don’t work too hard. You’ve been through a traumatic experience. You should take a night off.”
Anna was tempted to take that night off. She was so tired. No, a jolt of caffeine would fix her. “I can’t. The sooner this is done, the sooner people can be helped. My grandma is fine now, but she could have died or ended up in a nursing home because of her meds.” She headed toward the kitchen. “I’m going now. Good night, gentlemen.”
“Good night.”
She heard the rumble of male voices and the front door close, then the roar of a four-wheeler. King must be driving Ron to his car. She found Conchita cleaning the kitchen and arranged for a pot of coffee and a mug for the library. It took some persuading, but she finally got the housekeeper to leave for her own place.
“I can’t believe Conchita didn’t insist on setting up a coffee service in here.” King almost startled her into dropping the mug.
“She wanted to. I had to bully her to go home. By tomorrow I’m sure I’ll have a mini kitchen at my fingertips in here.” Anna carefully set the mug next to her keyboard. Her fingers were itching to explore this new gear. She hoped King wasn’t going to make a pest of himself. But then, she was in his office. “Do you need to get something? Am I in your way? This isn’t going to work, is it?”
He stared at her for a moment. “It’s fine. Except I’m worried about you. Have you dealt with today’s trauma? Where’s your dog?”
“YoYo’s with Doug and Conchita.” Anna felt a stab of guilt. “Honestly? I think it makes her nervous, having the dog in here with your expensive rugs. They love him already and she really wanted to keep him out there so I agreed. I’ll get YoYo in the morning for a walk. My work schedule isn’t kind to him. He doesn’t rest well when I pull an all-nighter.”
“You’re pulling an all-nighter?” King shook his head. “After what you’ve just been through?”
“I have to, King. I want to try to recreate my notes while they’re fresh.” She sipped her coffee. Yes, that helped, even though exhaustion made her lean back in his ergonomic chair and wonder where and how to start.
“You’re crazy. How productive can you be after the day you’ve had?” He stood beside her and pulled her to her feet. “Come on, admit it. The notes can’t be that important. They’re just notes!” His hands tightened on her arms. “Ron does not expect you to push yourself so hard. He told you as much.”
“I push myself.” Anna jerked out of his grasp. “This is important to me! Don’t you get it? I’ve spent years on this project. Years. I’m close, really close, to finishing. I have to keep going.”
“What I get is that when you’re tired you make mistakes.” He wasn’t backing off. He just stood there, so sure of himself, so tall and strong and masculine.
Anna inhaled. And swayed, almost falling back into the leather office chair. Well, hell. He was right. She couldn’t run on fumes and expect to produce any quality work. And as for those notes? Her brain was mush. The only thing in her head right now was this man in front of her smelling like something spicy and delicious. Okay, that was proof enough that she might as well call it a night. She didn’t have the energy to even lift her hand to her keyboard, much less explore the arms that reached for her again and lifted her into—
“What the hell are you doing?” Her head fell against his chest. He’d picked her up, his arm firm under her butt as he carried her out of the room.
“Taking you to bed. Do you realize your eyes were closing? Woman, you need a keeper. And, for now, I’m it.” He kicked open her bedroom door and laid her on the queen-sized bed. “Do I need to undress you?”
Anna stared up at him. She found a smile. “Try and I’ll pull my gun from this bedside table drawer.”
“All right then.” He did reach down and jerk off her tennis shoes. “See you tomorrow.” He dropped the shoes beside the bed and walked out, quietly shutting the door behind him.
Anna lay there, mustering the energy to get up and take off her clothes, brush her teeth, and put on her new sleep shirt. By the time she was in bed again and enjoying a truly great mattress and high-thread-count sheets, she realized she could never have accomplished a thing on her computer after the day she’d had. She ran her hand over the pillowcase, a pretty pink, then pulled the extra pillow to her and hugged it close. Comfort. She needed