Slow Burn Read online

  Heather came tearing down the hall, squealing. “Aunt Tessa!”

  Leaning down, Tessa picked her up and pressed sloppy kisses all over her face until Heather eventually yelled, “Ew. Gross!”

  She grinned and set her down. Despite her protests, Heather followed her like a little shadow into the kitchen. She was a sweet little girl.

  The moment she walked through the door, Melinda said, “Hey! You got my message. Awesome.” Directing a look at the soon birthday girl, she said, “Baby, go find Paige and Britney. Mommy needs to talk to Aunt Tessa for a minute.”

  Tessa saw the mutinous look on Heather's face and thought she might be gearing up to a tantrum. Before she could speak, Melinda added, “I'll call you when we're done. Now scram.”

  Heather, appeased, gave Tessa a wave and skipped toward the stairs.

  “Hard to believe she's going to be six, isn't it?” Tessa asked.

  “Six going on thirty. The other day we were in the car and she said, 'Mommy. You better slow down. We're going to get a ticket.' I swear to God we were only going like ten kilometers over the limit.”

  “She's something else,” Tessa said, grinning.

  “My little evil genius,” Melinda joked. “She's just getting so big! And, speaking of, here is the proof for the invitation. Can you print about forty or so? We're doing a big party for her at the zoo.”

  “Oh, God. She'll love that!” Tessa imagined the little squeal of delight. Before her sister launched into a story, she added, “I'm beat. I'll make the copies and get them to you Wednesday. I'm gonna head home.”

  “You're sure?” I've got extra.” She pointed at the corned beef she was slicing on the cutting board.

  “Thanks, but I've got a hot shower and a book calling my name. Long day at work,” she said, feeling a little guilty.

  “Okay,” her sister said, frowning. “You sure you're okay? You seem a little ... off.”

  “Rough day at work. Marty tried to give me a back rub,” she said. “He's so gross. I think I'm going to report him. I'm sick of it.”

  “Good. He's a pervert. You should report him. That's a ... what do you call it? Hostile work environment.”

  “Yeah. I figured it would be frowned upon if I punched him in the face, so I'm going to go with the next best option.”

  Melinda studied her and asked, “Is that it?”

  “Matty asked me for money again,” she said. “I told him no and he blew up at me.”

  “You did the right thing,” her sister said, rounding the kitchen counter. When she pulled her into a hug, Tessa felt a little better.

  “Thanks. It still makes me feel like crap, though.”

  “He stopped calling me altogether,” Melinda said, her face a mask of pain. “I hate that I'm sort of relieved. I love him, but he's a mess. He won't agree to rehab and hell if I'm going to let him around the girls in his condition.”

  That was one thing she and Melinda agreed on wholeheartedly. He needed help desperately. “Now that I've brightened your day, I'm gonna get going. Can you tell the girls I said goodbye? I don't want Ms. Nosypants to see this,” Tessa said, waving the invitation.

  “Smart thinking. I'll make an excuse.”

  “Make it a good one, too. Like someone called my bat-phone and I had to go fight crime or something.”

  Melinda laughed and agreed. “Crime fighting. That's so you.”

  “Bite me,” she responded, though there was no heat in her voice.

  Her sister gave her one last squeeze and then said, “Thanks for making those copies. Love you, babe.”

  “Love you too,” Tessa said.

  A few moments later, when she was safely ensconced in her car, she let out a sigh of relief. Quick and painless. Now, she'd grab something to eat and head home. Then start it all over again tomorrow.

  Chapter Three

  By mid-morning, Rick had stapled packets, sealed envelopes, and was on his way to make fifty copies of a bunch of documents. And then, unless his powers of detection failed him, he'd be stapling these together later.

  The only real information he'd been able to confirm all morning was that his boss was a little prick. When he'd handed him the papers, he'd said, “Double sided, Rick. You know how to do that right?” Like he was some kind of special case who couldn't work a copy machine.

  He moved to the small supply room that held the copy machine. He'd really have to talk to Wallace Chase about all this stapling shit. Being buried in that office wasn't helping him achieve his objective. Maybe he could investigate other angles. Background checks, phone records, that sort of thing.

  As he rounded the corner and walked into the supply room, he found the copy machine occupied. Tessa looked up at him and said, “Oh. Hey, Rick.”

  “Hi, Tessa,” he said. “I've been upgraded to making copies today. I'll come back when you're done though.”

  Her eyes widened and she said, “No. No. I'm done now. It's okay.”

  Before he could reply, she snatched her original from the glass and stuffed it into a bright orange file folder along with her copies. She turned around and darted toward the door, skirting quickly around him.

  Rick frowned at her odd departure, then shrugged it off and then placed the first original under the glass. He squinted down at the small touch screen. Now, how the hell did he make this thing print double sided?

  After copies had been collated and then stapled, it was thankfully time for lunch. He clocked out and went downstairs to the commissary to grab himself a cup of coffee and a sandwich. He vaguely thought about checking in on Mike, but decided against it. As much as he hated the interning, it was nice to get out of the office.

  As much crap as he gave Mike, he was capable. More capable than Rick had given him credit for. Last night he'd gotten a message from Dean about the fraud case they had just taken on. He had commented on Mike's professionalism.

  While he ate, he tried to think of different ways to identify the leak. There weren't any security cameras in the lab, so there wasn't exactly any footage he could go over. IT had already informed him that access to the particular server that held the project files was limited to personnel working on the project only, so anyone accessing the files would appear to be doing so as part of their job.

  Since all of these people worked on the project daily, there was no way to leak misinformation. He could run a background check on everyone in the lab, but that would be expensive and may not yield much of a result. The only real way this could work would be to narrow the suspect pool. But how?

  As he was finishing his sandwich, he saw Tessa walk quickly through the lobby. His eyes caught a flash of the orange file folder sticking out of the top of her bag. Shit.

  Was Tessa the leak? Thinking back, her surprise this morning could have easily been guilt. What had she been copying? Company files or something personal? Why was she taking it out of the building?

  He had to admit, he'd been curious about her on a purely personal level. It was a little disappointing his interest had to shift to strictly professional. He'd run a background check on her tonight.

  He frowned, no longer interested in finishing the sandwich. He glanced at his watch and saw he was almost out of time. What kind of company only gave half hour lunches? Jesus. He felt like a high schooler.

  After refilling his coffee, he went back upstairs. It was good to have a place to start, but she really didn't fit the profile. Normally he would trust his gut instincts, but he knew his judgment was cloudy where Tessa was concerned.

  He tried to look at it objectively. Aside from Marty, she seemed to like her job. If it wasn't her being a disgruntled employee then maybe she was being motivated by money. Stranger things had definitely happened. Maybe the background check would yield some sort of results.

  By the time he slid into his car that afternoon, he was almost fuming. He'd been put on beaker washing duty in the lab, which was actually much better than being on stapling duty. Marty had been kind enough to give him a little b
reak from the washing in order to go downstairs and pick up his dry cleaning from the delivery man. Oh, and he'd been able to fetch coffee too!

  The only thing that stopped him from knocking the kid's teeth in was the fact that this was a fake job, anyway. No sense in getting arrested for punching a guy he'd never have to see again after this shit was over.

  On impulse, he pulled into the gym on the way home. He'd hit the speed bag. Maybe then he'd be calm enough to do the rest of what he had to do tonight. He wasn't looking forward to running the check on Tessa.

  Forty minutes later, he had moved from the speed bag to the heavy bag when he heard a voice say, “Rough day, Rick?”

  He blinked as the object of his thoughts appeared off to his side. A smile pulled across his lips of its own volition. “Tessa,” he said in greeting. “I didn't realize you went here. And ... yeah, today was rough.”

  “I'll let you get back to beating the hell out of that thing, then,” she said, holding up her hands and stepping back.

  He stopped, lifting his shirt up to wipe the sweat off his face. A wry grin on his face, he said, “Nah. I've been at this for a while now. I think I'm actually done for the night.”

  “I saw you got moved up to dishwasher from secretary,” she said, tongue in cheek.

  “And errand boy. I was even able to fetch his dry cleaning this afternoon,” Rick said with mock excitement.

  “What a dick,” she stated, bluntly.

  With a nod of agreement, he said, “I just keep reminding myself how good it will look on my resume.”

  “Duties Performed: dish washing, stapling, photocopying.”

  “I prefer to think of it as excelling in a task oriented environment and practicing my team building skills,” he said, grinning.

  “Smooth,” she said, nodding her head in approval. “Let me know if you need a reference. I'll be happy to vouch for you. The beakers are so clean I can practically see myself in them.”

  Despite himself, he laughed. “I'll keep that in mind if this whole forensics thing doesn't pan out and I need a job as a dishwasher at Mr. Taco.”

  “A fall back is always a good idea,” she said, laughing. Her face was more serious when she added, “Don't take it too personally, Rick. He's a giant asshole to everybody.”

  He snorted and said, “I picked up on that. How can you stand to work for him? Me, I'm just temporary.”

  Completely straight faced, she confessed, “Red wine.”

  After a surprised laugh, he said, “Nice.”

  “Not really,” she said. “I've been known to have a glass with dinner, but alcohol isn't really my thing. I just try to ignore him. Please don't mention this, but I don't think I'm going to be with the company all that much longer.”

  “I won't,” he promised. “Congratulations. I mean, I assume this is a good thing, right?”

  She nodded and said, “I can't really talk about it, yet. I don't want to jinx anything.”

  “Understood. I'm glad. I'll miss you though,” he said. “You're the only person that talks to me, really.”

  “Scientists are known for being a little squirrely and you're a giant. You intimidate them,” she said, grinning. “Since I'm part giant too, I thought it important we stick together.”

  He raised an eyebrow and asked, “Giant?”

  “You've gotta duck when you go through standard door frames, don't you?” she asked, answering his question with one of her own.

  “Not usually, but the older places, I do,” he said. He appraised her and asked, “So you're only part giant?”

  “Only part,” she said, grinning. “Still, I felt it my duty...”

  He gave her a mock frown and said, “Duty, huh? That's a little disappointing, I've gotta say.” He knew his flirting was unwise.

  “Not entirely duty,” she conceded, a light blush tinting her cheeks.

  He studied her flushed face for a moment and then asked, “There's hope then?”

  “Hope for what, exactly?”

  “That if I were to ask you to have dinner with me on Saturday night, you wouldn't shoot me down,” he said, ignoring the very loud and insistent warning bells going off in his mind.

  “There's hope,” she confirmed shyly.

  He couldn't remember the last time he'd been so intrigued by a woman, suspect or not. He threw caution to the wind and asked, “Would you like to go out on Saturday, then?”

  The flush crept back into her cheeks again as she said, “I would. I don't exactly have a pen on me at the moment, but I'll give you my number tomorrow so we can work out the details.”

  “I'd like that. I'll see you tomorrow then?”

  At her nod he said, “I need to go soak in the whirlpool. I might have overdone it a little.” He gestured at the punching bag.

  She gave him a sympathetic wince and said, “I hope that helps. I'll see you tomorrow.”

  He watched her walk away, silently thanking the inventor of yoga pants. When she was out of sight, he retreated to the whirlpool and soaked his aching back. As he rested against a jet, he tried to convince himself he hadn't just made a huge mistake.

  Could he in good conscience date her even as he was investigating her? He was still far from sold on her guilt. So what if she made some copies? She was leaving Cynertex? No big deal. He probably would too if he had to work for Marty full time. Perhaps he could treat this fact finding mission as a way to eliminate her as a suspect.

  Even as he thought it, he knew his logic was flimsy at best. It had been years since he'd truly wanted anyone for himself. He hadn't been a monk by any stretch of the imagination, but he hadn't pursued anyone in long time. Certainly never a suspect.

  Two hours later, he as he read over the background check on Tessa, he set it down with a frown. A month after Armitage had taken their last prototype to market, Tessa had purchased a house off Roncesvalles. It could be a coincidence, though, he reminded himself.

  Chapter Four

  Tessa laughed as she pulled him toward the Twirling Teacups.

  Rick groaned and asked, “You know they're gonna take away my man card, right? I just have to give it to the guy taking the tickets.”

  “C'mon,” she said, nudging him. “We can't come to Centreville and not ride the teacups!”

  She tried not to laugh as he made a big production out of it. He counted the tickets, then looked at the ride. Then he looked back at her and asked, “I can drive, right?”

  Deadpan, she said, “I thought I would drive.”

  He raised his eyebrow but said nothing. The slight smirk on his face spoke volumes though. It clearly said, “There is no way I'm letting a chick drive me around in a teacup.”

  “Fine. You can drive.”

  Rick grinned and handed the tickets to the ticket collector, who clearly overheard her complaint if the smirk on his face was any indication. He just pointed and said, “You folks can have the pink one on the right.”

  Tessa laughed and said, “Oh good. My favorite color.”

  Rick said nothing, though his look promised retribution. He merely slid into the tea cup and patted the bench next to him.

  When she was seated next to him, her thigh brushing against his.

  His tone conversational, he said, “So, this is the most emasculating first date I've ever had. This is a record.”

  “So, I guess that means no carousel?” Tessa teased, as the music started up and the ride began to slowly move.

  In answer, he grinned and then spun the wheel so she swayed into his chest. She started to right herself, but Rick put a halt to that when he wrapped an arm around her. Most of her upper body was now pressed against his chest.

  The look on Rick's face was a mixture of both amusement and desire. As they continued to spin, neither of them manning the wheel, his smile faded. With a look of concentration, he slowly closed the distance between their mouths.

  Tessa stretched up, pressing her lips against his. At the first brush of her lips against his, she felt a jolt of awarenes
s run through her. When his hand came up to cradle her cheek, she let out a soft sigh of pleasure. He took the opportunity to deepen the kiss, his tongue exploring her mouth, twining with hers.

  She couldn't stop the soft moan that rose from the back of her throat as his hands cruised lazily along her hips and back. Even through the layers of her sundress and the thin cotton sweater she wore, she could feel the heat of his hands on her body.

  His hands moved to tangle in her hair as he gentled the kiss. But instead of backing away as she expected, Rick began to nibble at her jaw and then trace a path down the side of her throat with his tongue.

  Tessa could do nothing but tilt her neck and enjoy the sensations as he swirled and nipped at her. Her arousal grew with every hot, open mouthed kiss he placed against her sensitive neck. It was clear he knew exactly what he was doing.

  He released her when the tea cup finally wound down to a halt. Tessa took his hand as she stood on shaky feet. As he led her back out to the main thoroughfare, she struggled to remember the last time she'd been so turned on by nothing but a few kisses.

  Rick slid an arm around her and asked, “Where to now?”

  Though a few highly inappropriate thoughts ran through her mind, she glanced around and eventually said, “Everything else seems like it's for children and I'm going to have to veto the roller coaster.”

  “Fair enough,” he said. “Let's walk along the boardwalk, then.”

  Hand in hand, they headed toward the back part of the island. As they walked, they both shared stories about themselves. Rick talked about his time as an MP and about his nephew, Mike. The way he spoke of him made it seem like he thought of him more like a son. That only made him more endearing.

  Tessa talked to him about why she'd gotten into science in the first place. She glossed over any talk of her own family. Even now, the loss of her father and the way things fell apart afterward was a sore subject. He seemed to realize it was a touchy subject because he shifted topics relatively quickly. The rest of the walk they played the age old game of “Which would you rather?” in between kisses. It was pleasing to see that the sixteen year age gap didn't present much of a problem for them. They agreed on most books, movies, travel, and music.