Free Harrowing by S.E. Amadis Page A

strange. Your boss never does meetings after hours.”
    Calvin shrugged.
    “Today he did.”
    “Was it so urgent that he just happened to have to hold the meeting at night? Couldn’t it wait till tomorrow morning?” I grimaced a bit, measuring my hands across Calvin’s muscular back. “Jim Daniels is a bit weird, isn’t he? Oh, did you know I’m starting a new job tomorrow?”
    Calvin grinned faintly.
    “Sounds wonderful, babes,” he said. But he didn’t answer my question.
    I patted his shoulder.
    “Why’re you so down?” I repeated.
    Calvin bristled with impatience, wrestling his way out from under my healing hands.
    “’S nothing, babes. Nothing.”
    But I knew it wasn’t just nothing. We’d only been together for five months, but I already had a keen sense as to what made him tick.
    I left him moping about and went to make dinner. Calvin hopped into the bathroom for a shower, dropping his clothes onto the bedroom floor as usual. That slovenly habit of his drove me crazy. And even more so taking into account that he didn’t even live here – yet.
    I grabbed his clothes and plonked them onto a chair. Something fell out of the pocket of his jacket. I stared at the gold-embossed index card that had landed on the faded yellow carpeting. It could have been just Bruno Jarvas’ card that he had picked off of Bruno a couple of weeks back at the Queen Street Station.
    I glanced more closely at it.
    Although the company was still Herbert and Mons, the name was different, as was the address.
    “Lars Herbert,” I read. “President and Chief Executive Officer.”
    “What’s this card, honey?” I said when he came out of the shower. “Why do you have a card from Herbert and Mons? I thought we’d agreed you’d forget all about Bruno Jarvas.”
    “You mean, the asshole?” Calvin grimaced as he pronounced the despised name and rubbed a towel through his hair. “I have forgotten about... What was his name again?” He grinned.
    I threw a dishcloth at him.
    “But yes,” Calvin continued as he pulled on a pair of pyjama bottoms. “As I said, I have forgotten about him.”
    He noticed the business card in my hand and gestured at it.
    “It’s not what you’re thinking. That’s the card of my new client.”
    “Your new client?” I repeated, parrot-like, my brain too numb to understand the implications. “Bruno Jarvas is your new client?”
    Calvin shook his head and reached for the card.
    “No, no, no. Definitely never. Not Bruno Jarvas.” He tucked the card hastily into his jacket pocket. “His company is my new client. They’ve hired us to design some sorta boutique out in the boonies. That’s what the meeting was about tonight. Seems it’s urgent.”
    He followed me into the kitchenette and wrapped his arms warmly about my waist, rocking me back and forth.
    “I thought you just said you didn’t know what it was about.”
    “And I don’t, really,” he hastened to reassure me. “When I found out it was Herbert and Mons, pretty much nothing else was able to make its way into my little head. I was dumbfounded. I mean, what bad luck, no? It’s so weird. Everything just went in one ear and out the other during the entire meeting.”
    He rocked me some more.
    “But don’t sweat it, honey love. I made it clear to Lars Herbert that I have no interest whatsoever in maintaining any sort of contact with his Vice President. I said he’d worked with a friend of mine once, and the friend didn’t have a very positive impression about that guy. Lars Herbert agreed, and he’s my sole contact in that company. End of.”
    I let him continue to rock me. But I didn’t trust him one whit. I was still sure he was up to something.
    Or he and Lindsay both.
    *
    My eyes were sunken with fear. No amount of concealer could hide the raw terror, verging on panic, reflected in them as I faced my first morning back to work. I put on a minimum of makeup, dreading the idea of appearing too sexy and seductive to my new