Free Double Dare by Karin Tabke Page B

reports, my college boyfriend did, too. Evan used me for sex and I think to steal my research notes. And Simon, he used me, too.”
    “How? From what you’ve just told me, he sounds like a hunk of burning hot patience.”
    Katy smiled through her swollen eyes. “He
is
patient with me, but he won’t even tell me his last name! He must have something to hide.”
    “Maybe he told you the truth. Elliot got a clean print off the elevator panel in the hallway. It came up unknown on every scan. He’s probably CIA or something.”
    “You watch too many movies, Rosie.”
    “He could have lied to you, he didn’t. You’re the one blowing this by not coming clean with him. Tell him everything you told me about those bastards at Genomtec and BioGen. If he cares for you even a little bit, he won’t cast judgment. In fact, if he’s the man I think he is, he’ll go slay those dragons for you and bring back their bloody heads!”
    Two days later, with some of her strength back, and summoning all of her courage, Katy called Simon with the sole intent of wiping her slate clean. She didn’t expect anything from him, but she needed to come clean with herself and for the first time in her life, with a man she cared about. He answered on the first ring. “Hello?” His voice was clipped and guarded.
    “Something is wrong with me. Every man in my life beginning with my father has deserted me. I’ve never mattered enough to anyone to be first. I’ve always come in last.” She sniffed back a sob. “I was never good enough. I was Evan’s dirty little secret. I don’t want to be anyone’s consolation prize anymore,” she confessed as the tears streamed down her face. “And that’s not even the tip of the iceberg. I have sexual issues. Hang-ups that turn men off because of my fear of rejection. I’m just a dud, Simon. When you eventually figure that out, you’ll break my heart, and I can’t take that. So it’s not you. It’s me. I can’t be fixed.” She sniffed and reached for a tissue and blew her nose. “Trust me, I did you a favor.”
    The line was graveyard silent. Had he hung up on her? Couldn’t blame him if he did.
    “Are you done now?” his asked impatiently.
    “No. I was fired. And I’m probably going to go to jail.”
    “Why were you fired?” he demanded.
    “For starters, I’ve been accused of stealing a genetic coding process, which I developed, from BioGen, the company I worked for before I started at Genomtec.”
    “Did you? Steal it?”
    “No! I hadn’t even begun the research until I started at Genomtec, and that is where I developed it. But someone stole it from me and sold it to BioGen, and when they got their thieving hands on it, they rushed a patent through. And to make matters worse, Evan and my research partner at BioGen have filed separate sexual harassment claims against me! Add that to my other fucked-up-ness, Simon and I’m a recipe for disaster.”
    It took her several deep inhales and exhales before Katy could regulate her breath. She had just let all of her skeletons loose. Now she waited for him to slam the door in her face. And she wouldn’t blame him. She was a hot mess.
    “Are you done
now
?”
    “Yes,” she rasped.
    “First, thank you for trusting me with that. Second, have you retained counsel?”
    “No.”
    “I have several overqualified attorneys who owe me big time. I want you to let me help you with this. Will you do that for me?”
    “I—”
    “Let me be your hero, Cinderella,” he said, with gentle warmth that would have made her swoon if she had not been sitting. “I’m good at it.”
    She wanted to cry and at that moment lost another hunk of her heart to Simon. “Together. We’ll work on it together.”
    “I can do together. Now, last but not least, get yourself cleaned up and put something sexy on, and I’ll pick you up at nine for dinner.”
    Amazed by his first two responses, she was floored by his third. He still wanted to see her?