Free Bailey: Independence #1 by Karen Nichols Page B

his bed for hours.
    Christ those thoughts went straight to his cock. He adjusted his slacks and took the folder, striding back to his office.
    “Janet,” he said as he went past, leaving the door open.
    “How’d the presentation go?”
    His admin had been working on something but she was up when he spoke, following behind him, waiting.
    “Some pissed off people who better get their act together if they intend to be here this time next year,” he answered with a shrug. “I need a file from human resources and I want it kept between you and Tanya.”
    Janet raised her brows at the mention of the head of the department.
    “Alright,” she held her notepad up. “Who?”
    “Bailey O’Conner.”
    “Bailey? What in the world did she do?” Surprise filled the soft features. She knew her boss very well. Or so she thought. The look in his eyes was new and well hidden by the stoic expression on his face.
    “You know her?” Gabriel kept his features noncommittal, his voice level. Something he’d honed through the years.
    “We’re not lunch buddies,” Janet answered with a little shrug. “But I hear things.”
    “Then spill what you hear.” Gabriel leaned back in his chair, hands up behind his head, long legs stretched out before him.
    “She’s well liked. Quiet. Usually hiding in the bowels of the IT department fixing computers or other people’s screw ups. She took the training position about eight months ago and it was the best thing Craig could have done. She’s good, thorough and patient,” she pulled in a slow breathe, searching her memory. “I know you’ll find barely a handful of people with issues with her. She’s…nice. She’s older than most in that department, but loves the work and she’s very good at it.”
    “Seems I don’t need HR after all. How long has she worked here?”
    “A little over three years, I think. Monday’s are training days,” Janet grinned. “I did talk to her once about the suits she wears. She said that it makes the people she’s training take her seriously. Quite the disciplinarian in the classroom, I’ve heard. Strict on the cell phones and toys rule and if you don’t pass her test at the end, she won’t sign off on the training and you repeat. The rest of the time, she’s casual and funky like most of your company,” she teased, taking in his typical three piece suit. “Aside from you.”
    “Hey, I wear jeans on Fridays,” he tossed back with a laugh. “Forget HR. You gave me what I wanted to know,” he looked at the stack of folders on his desk and sighed. “Signatures.”
    “Stop putting it off and they won’t grow while you’re gone,” she told him with a shrug, closing the door behind her as she left him alone to his thoughts. Huh, she mused. Bailey O’Conner.
    He had to let the police know where and who she was. Time for that before the end of the week, he decided, pulling an envelope and sheet of paper from one of the lower drawers. His pen was poised, his mind working out the right words to keep her on edge but not enough that she would run. Again.

Chapter Nine
    When nothing catastrophic happened by the end of the day, she kept telling herself that she’d slid past. That he bought her line about just being another face in a crowd. She could be convincing, she thought in the morning, dressing for work. She’d been there for over three years and had never run into him. She could easily go another three without ever seeing him again.
    Why did that thought make her stomach hurt?
    Bailey buckled the last one on her boots and straightened the skirt before grabbing up her pack and keys, running to her car and dodging the light November rain. It was almost ten when Jeff came into the server room, calling out to her.
    “Back here on the floor,” Bailey looked up, blinking and finished the connections before easing herself to her feet. “What did you need?” She asked the man who’d been the lead in the IT department for the last year.