Page 10 of Bearing North
“I vet every employee on an individual basis,” she said. “I chose to select them based on their rehabilitation and exemplary qualifications, rather than their…checkered records. They’ve been loyal and hard-working. I don’t have any regrets.” Her voice grew more forceful as she went, and she seemed to realize how loud she’d gotten. “Tee hee hee…”
“Don’t our clients have qualms about that?”
“I’m not keeping it a secret if that’s what you’re implying.” Orson wasn’t sure how she kept that smile on her face when her eyes were so angry.
Mama bear, his grizzly warned him.Don’t mess with a mama bear.
8
ALEXANDRA
Alex knew this would come up eventually.
Most companies, especially security businesses, wouldn’t think twice about excluding people with arrest records. But her faith in the men and women she’d hired had paid off in spades. They had everything to prove and held back nothing. Alex treated them fairly and rewarded them amply, and they returned her trust with absolute loyalty.
Alex went on, trying to keep her voice light and gentle.Sparkle!“Convicted felons can’t be assigned certain federal jobs, but we have a lot of work they are uniquely qualified for. I haveneverhad a personnel problem with them. Their contribution to our company is unquestionable.” She hated having to balance Sandra’s warnings not to challenge Orson with her loyalty to her people. She was willing to go to bat for them, but if she came on too strong, she’d just put Orson’s back up and end up doing them more harm than good.
Why was this such a minefield?
Why did the company ownership have to change and jeopardize everything she’d worked so hard for?
And why did Orson Davison have to be so damn hot?
Alex was glad when the pizza came quickly and Orson was distracted by the slab of hot cheese and meat. They both abandoned formal manners in the face of the culinary temptation and empty bellies after a long day of travel. The drive had taken much longer than she had hoped because they stopped so frequently.
“This isgood,” he said in earnest appreciation. If he was devastating when trying to be frigid, he was twice as appealing when he seemed to forget his scowling mask and got invested in something. He was like a husky puppy, forgetting the size of his own paws. Then he glanced up at her with a hungry look that had nothing to do with pizza and Alex caught herself thinking about Sandra’s suggestion to seduce him.
It was dangerously easy to talk to him while dealing with finger food, chuckling over the Alaskan decor and the foul-mouthed party of wildland firefighters in the next booth. He seemed to forget to be gruff and grumpy, and he made sly remarks that surprised laughter out of Alex several times.
More bothersome, she hadn’t reacted physically to someone like this in a long time. She was too busy for relationships and didn’t find one-night stands any more fulfilling than a dirty book and a vibrator…and they were infinitely less complicated. It was impossibly unfair that the time she was genuinely interested in aman, it was the one person she couldn’t risk screwing up with. If she played her cards wrong, she’d lose her business and ruin the lives of people depending on her. It wasn’t worth a sweaty night or two of passion.
But Sandra had a different plan. Her plot became clear when they arrived at the rental cabins and were given two sets of keys to the same room.
“No, we reservedtwo cabins,” Alex told the receptionist. “Twoseparatecabins.” The idea of sharing a room with Orson Davison made her knees weak with unwelcome desire, but she wasn’t going to let her libido torpedo her resolve.
The clerk gave Alex a thousand-mile stare that suggested she’d been dealing with tiresome tourists all day and didn’t appreciate the late check-in. “I have you down for a single cabin. The Fireweed. Check-out is at eleven AM.”
Orson was no help at all, back in his silent stalwart mode with his arms crossed as he frowned at the taxidermy.
“Well, do you have another room we could rent?” Alex asked desperately.
The receptionist gave a littlehahathat was about as close to a laugh as the giggle Alex had used for the past two days. “It’s midsummer,” she pointed out. “We are booked solid. You only got this cabin because we had a last-minute cancellation. Everyoneelsehas already checked in for the night. There’s nothing I can do for you.” She looked at Orson rather speculatively, like she might offer him her own room. Alex was surprised at how the idea of that made her bristle.
It wasn’t like she had any claim on the man. He’d given her a few appreciative looks, and Alex thought they might have chemistry if they weren’t so busy trying to navigate their professional relationship, but that wasn’t anything to baseownershipon.
Alex took the keys. Maybe it had two beds?
It didn’t.
It was a one-room cabin with one fluffy bed in the middle, a king-sized, quilt-covered bed that took up most of the space. There was a tiny bathroom with a shower.
A pillow barrier down the middle of the bed? It didn’t even look like there was room for one person on the floor beside it. Not a person of Orson’s size.
“I can sleep in the truck,” Orson offered unexpectedly.
“You’re taller than me,” Alex countered. “And I’m used to sleeping when it’s light outside, which you aren’t.”
The frown he gave her wasn’t the one she’d gotten used to when he was trying to cover up his enthusiasm. This frown was a thoughtful one with an overlay of stubbornness. “I’m going to insist,” he said firmly.
