Page 24 of Daring to Surrender

“No thanks. I’ll stay here and make a few work calls.”

She had no idea what he did for work. She knew very little about him. Tomorrow, she’d make a point to find out more. He was like an onion and she wanted to peel away his layers.

Ree met her at the door. Janel’s eyes went down to the suitcase at her feet and then up to the worried look on her cousin’s face. “What’s wrong?” she asked.

“Nothing is wrong. Something is very right, but I don’t think you’re going to like it.”

She crossed her arms, preparing for what, she had no idea. “You better explain.”

“Seri and I have been invited to a think tank session with the Alexander Reid!” Rica’s screamed the man’s name and jumped up and down like a kid.

“Okay. I have no idea who that is, but congratulations.”

Rica’s mouth dropped open and her eyes grew in disbelief. “You don’t know who Alexander Reid is? Come on, Janel! He’s only the most technical-minded man in the entire world. Every piece of technology you touch has some component either designed or programed by Alexander Reid or his billion-dollar company.”

Again, she had no clue. “Wow, and you two have been invited to work with him? That’s an incredible opportunity. Why would I be upset about that?”

Rica bit her bottom lip and explained, “Well, because I have to leave today to make it there in time.”

“Why the short notice?”

She grinned and shrugged innocently, making warning bells go out in Janel’s head. Even louder when Rica said, “It’s probably best that you don’t know the hows and the whys. Let’s just say Seri saw an opportunity and took advantage of it.”

Janel’s shoulders dropped and she shook her head, giving her cousin what she hoped was a stern, disapproving look. “What did she do? Please tell me she didn’t hack their system and add you two to the roster.”

“No. No,” she said with a definite shake of her head and then changed her tune to, “Not exactly. She found two people had cancelled last minute and she plugged our names in.”

“Rica!” Janel cried.

Rica shrugged nonchalantly. “What? She was helping them have a full roster. You know how inconvenient it is to have last-minute cancellations. I’m just very sorry I’m going to leave you here alone. But really, this is your scene more than mine. Besides, I don’t think you are going to be alone very long with Mr. Grumpy Hunkster next door.”

Wow, that was a lot to unpack. She decided, for her mental health, she’d ignore most of what her cousin said and focus on the one thing that made sense. “Don’t worry about leaving me here. I don’t know how much longer I’m staying. Everything is gone. Mom’s house is now a medical building. And the diner where she used to work is something called a strip mall, which is actually just a lot of stores. I did get to visit where she went to elementary school. That was nice to see.”

“So why don’t you come with me? We can fly home together.”

She gave it only a single thought before she shook her head. For whatever reason, she wasn’t through with this town. She glanced out the window at the truck in her driveway. Maybe she wasn’t though with a lot of things. “I think I’ll stay for a while. I don’t want to leave Walter without any help.”

Rica grinned and chuckled, catching the direction of her gaze. “Yeah, you keep telling yourself that Walter is the reason you don’t want to leave. I say go for it. And to make that clear, I think you should have sex with the man next door. You will come home in a much better mood and maybe ready to get on with your life.”

Janel didn’t have much to say to Rica’s revelation because there was some truth to what she said. “Will Haris and Theo be taking you to the airport?”

“Haris will. Theo is staying to watch you work.”

It was ridiculous having constant security here. “With you being gone, I might make him lose the jacket, roll up his sleeves, and help.”

“Damn, I hate I’m going to miss that.”

They both laughed and hugged before Janel rushed to her bedroom and changed into her uniform of jeans and a t-shirt. Zipping her puffy coat up, she gave Rica another hug goodbye and rushed back out to the truck. She didn’t want to be late. No telling what that would do to Walter’s cranky level.

When she climbed into the truck without her cousin, Dozer asked, “Where’s Ree?”

“I’ll explain, but can we go? I don’t want to be late.”

“Heaven forbid Walter has to wait a table before you get there.”

“I know. He doesn’t have very good waitressing skills.” She explained that Ree had to leave because of an educational opportunity. Telling him exactly what that was, she didn’t think would be a good idea.

“So you’re going to be living here alone?” he asked, and from the tone of his voice, he didn’t approve.

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