Rebecca Zanetti - Forgotten Sins

“Why is he a pain?” Josie stretched her neck.

Tom flushed. “She. She’s a pain.”

“Oh?” Josie bit back a grin. “Is she flirting with you?”

“Yes.” Tom cleared his throat. “The woman is all hands.”

“Do you like her?”

“Maybe.” His eyes warmed. “Though I’ve been waiting for you.”

Josie shrugged, unease filtering down her spine. “I’m a mess. Don’t miss out on something because of me.”

Regret flashed in his eyes, followed by humor. “Good enough. So, when will Malloy be here?”

“He’s on his way.” She hated lying. “Also, Johnston’s office is just down the hall. He’s always the last to leave.” Which was usually the truth. But today he’d gone to meet with the board of directors of the biggest bank in town. Gaining the bank as a client would be huge for the accounting firm.

A phone buzzed. Tom grabbed his cell from his pocket, reading the screen with a frown. “Okay. I have to go. Call me tonight so I know you’re safe.” His smile didn’t reach his eyes.

Darn it. She’d really screwed up his life. The guy had been knocked out last night. Josie sighed. Why couldn’t she have fallen in love with a great guy like Tom?

“I’ll call. Good luck with your client.”

He nodded and hustled toward the door, running into Daniel.

“Hey. I was just going to head to your floor and see if you wanted to go for a drink,” Daniel said. He’d shucked his fancy coat and had rolled his monogrammed shirt up to the elbows. Even his Burberry tie looked askew.

Tom shook his head. “I have a meeting with a client. Plus, we have a basketball game tomorrow night.”

Daniel rolled his eyes. “Drinking doesn’t affect my game, Sally.”

Tom snorted. “See you tomorrow.” He hurried down the hall.

Daniel rubbed his clean-shaven jaw, glancing at Josie. “You’re working late.”

She lifted a shoulder. “I’m trying to keep up with you. Rumor has it you got the school district account on the golf course.” Apparently playing golf with the superintendent led to business.

“Yes. A lot of business deals are made on the golf course.” He frowned.

“I don’t play golf.” Especially with men. Life sucked.

Daniel exhaled, exhaustion dimming his eyes for a moment. “So you don’t play golf with the guys. Many women own businesses in the area—join the chamber of commerce and meet some. Join women’s groups like the PTO and meet some. Use what you have, Josie.”

Why was Dan giving her ideas? She lifted both eyebrows. “That’s actually good advice.”

He shrugged. “I like the playing field level. Simple as that.” He turned on his Italian loafer and disappeared from sight.

Interesting. Maybe Dan didn’t suck as much as she’d thought. Josie grabbed her calculator, adding and reading the figures on the spreadsheet before her for Agers Hardware. Why wouldn’t they match up? She bit her lip, grabbing the rest of the file from the bottom drawer.

Her door closed.

She hissed out a breath, pushing back from the desk. “Shane. I didn’t hear you.”

He shrugged. “Good. Hopefully nobody else did, either.” A click echoed. He’d locked the door. Prowling forward, he stood next to her chair, his hands dropping to knead her neck. “There’s a patrol car out front, no doubt watching for me.”

Josie lowered her chin to her chest. Heaven. The man had magic fingers, and she should really move away. “Yeah. The detective didn’t buy my story.” She fought a groan as Shane worked out the knots in her neck.

Her thighs began to soften.

Warmth lit her abdomen.

She cleared her throat and pushed away, swiveling the chair to face him. “So, what now?”

Shane slid his hands into the pockets of well-worn jeans. A dark T-shirt covered his thick chest and brought out the deep gray flecks in his eyes. “Now I borrow your computer.”

With a shrug, Josie relinquished her chair, taking her notebooks to the other side of the desk. “What are you looking for?”

Shane sat, punching keys on the computer. “First I want to hack into my military records. Then I want to find my brothers.” He frowned, dark gaze shifting to her. “I had a dream. I saw them. Matt and Nathan—if I had to guess, I’d think they were both older than me. We were at some type of camp—maybe a military one?”

Intrigue sped up her heart. She’d never even known their names. “How old were you?”

Shane shrugged. “I don’t know. Maybe eight?”

Josie wrinkled her nose. “A military camp at the age of eight? Seems young.” She cleared her throat. “When you had the nightmare about losing your brother, you yelled out the name Jory.”

Shane’s jaw hardened. “Jory. Yeah. Mattie mentioned that name in the dream.” Shane rubbed his chest. “Jory.” He turned his focus back to the computer.

Josie returned to her files, working through deductions for Fuller Labs. Her favorite client. Always paid on time, always kept good records. Since they had labs all over the United States, she’d been able to keep the client as she made the move to Washington. Why couldn’t all clients be this good?

She ordered a pizza and met the pizza girl at the elevator, bringing the large pie into her office and shutting the door.

Shane looked up and smiled. “Do I like pizza?”

How odd not to remember. Josie returned the smile, placing the box on the desk and flipping open the lid. “Yes. You like pizza with pepperoni and pineapple.”

Shane frowned, his gaze on the colorful pie. “Really?”

Surprising humor bubbled through her. “Well, kind of. You like pepperoni, and I always wanted pineapple, so we learned to compromise the first month of our marriage and order it this way.” She handed him a piece.

“Thanks.” He took a bite, slowly chewed, and then smiled. “All right. The combination works for me.”

“I remember.” She took a bite. They’d been happy as newlyweds. She’d moved into his apartment, immediately repainting the walls a homey tan with white trim. Away from the base, so they had privacy. “We got married in Las Vegas.”

He squinted, a smile playing on his face. “Just the two of us?”

“Yes.” She took another bite, the pineapple cooling the pepperoni on her tongue. It’d been two years since she’d enjoyed the combination of flavors. “You were on leave, and as a new accountant at the firm, I only had one day off.” The memories rushed through her, bringing both pleasure and the pang of eventual loss. “You bought me a dress.” He’d already taken her heart, but with the white dress, he’d stolen her soul. The white silk had been perfect, better than she’d ever dreamed.

He inhaled. “I can’t wait to remember that day. While my brain is fuzzy, my emotions are clear, Josie. I know I loved you.”

A tingle started at her heart and spread through her entire chest. She pushed the feeling aside. He couldn’t make such a claim without his memories. No matter how badly she wanted to believe him. Even if she did learn to trust that the love was real, he’d still left her alone. She cleared her throat. “So how’s the research going?”

He gave a short nod, letting her off the hook. “Not great. But I’ll find what I need.”

“Good.” They needed answers before another attack came. Josie pushed the pizza box aside and grabbed the file on Agers Hardware, a small hardware store whose owners weren’t as good at record keeping as some of her other clients. Good thing she knew her job. She’d find the deductions the young couple needed to pay the IRS less.

Shane went back to typing. Hours passed. Finally, Shane looked up at her and frowned thoughtfully.

Did she have pizza sauce on her face? “What?”

He studied her, his eyes the color of a stormy sky. Not moving an inch, he kept his focus entirely on her, as if she were the only thing in his world. Tension thickened the air around him, his predatory stillness a warning that he’d soon lunge.

Memories assailed her. She’d forgotten the feeling of being everything. Her heart picked up its pace, and heat slid through her veins like a fine whiskey. Desire slammed into her abdomen. With just one look from him, electricity zipped through her body to pulse between her legs.

His nostrils flared. “I remember you.”

Josie struggled to stay calm as she stared at Shane. “You remember me?”

He frowned deeper and rocked back in her office chair. “Yes. At a coffee shop. You were wearing a blue yoga outfit that showed off your ass.”

Josie snorted out a laugh. “The day we met.”

“Yeah.” Shane focused on her face, his smooth Southern drawl deepening. “Some guy was bothering you. I asked if you needed help.”

“I said yes.” She wrinkled her nose. “I felt like such a wimp. But you helped.” Her hero. Right from the first moment. He’d stepped in and dragged the jerk outside. Then he’d come back inside and bought her an iced coffee. “You said I was smart, not wimpy.”

“I remember.” His gaze ran over her face. “Your hair was shorter and you had a tan.”

“It was California. You had a darker tan, too.” And biceps that made her want to take a bite. So maybe now he could explain why he’d been stalking her before that day. She cleared her throat. “Remember anything else?”

“Not yet.”

But he would. What would happen then? “Did you find anything about your past?”

Shane kicked back in her chair, overwhelming the gray leather. “Not really. My military record is good; lots of missions dealing with problems on our soil. A couple of biological problems from factories.” He frowned. “There’s more. I know it. But I haven’t gained access yet.”

“What about your brothers?”

His face turned to stone.

Josie studied him. He seemed like one cold bastard. But he wasn’t. Fire burned hot through him, so hot he forced ice into himself. To keep control. God, she used to want to make him lose it. Completely. Just with her. Only with her. She licked her lips.

Sparks flashed into his eyes in response. His gaze dropped to her chest.

Her nipples hardened to sharp points. She licked her lips again and swallowed. Her nerves fired. Oh man, this was a bad idea. “Shane. Stay focused.” Her voice came out breathy.

“That tone. I remember it.” His voice lowered to a rumble that wrapped around her heart. “Sexy as hell. Almost as if you’re whispering, your breath heating my cock.”

Jesus. The way he talked. Husky. Male. He used to whisper her name in her ear as he came. As if she was the only tether he had to this life. As if she was everything he needed.

Desire slid to temper. She wasn’t everything he needed. He’d left. “Knock it off. It isn’t going to happen.” Liar. The word echoed through her head. She was such a liar.

“Yes, it is.” His eyes darkened until nearly black. “Maybe not right now. I’ll wait until we figure this out.” He leaned forward, forearms on her desk. “But make no mistake. It is going to happen.”

Her sex clenched. “What did you discover about your brothers?”

“Nothing. Not a thing.” Anger tightened his jaw. “I found a couple military academies with pictures; nothing like the place I saw in my dreams. I searched their names, my name, hospital records. Death records.” His eyes swirled with emotion at the last. “Nothing.” He threw a pencil on the desk. “That’s not all.” Rising, he extended one hand into the kneehole of the heavy oak desk and casually lifted it a foot from the floor. “I’m seriously strong.”

Josie stood. Her heart slammed against her ribs. Nobody should be able to lift the desk so easily. “Apparently.”

He let the desk drop with a thud. “Did you know that about me?”

She tried for a nonchalant shrug. “I knew you were strong. Not that strong.” Apparently the guy had hidden more than his past from her. Who the hell was he? Anger began to slide through her veins. What was she doing even thinking about trusting him again?

“Close your eyes. What do you hear?”

She kept her eyes open. “The hum of the heating unit.” Other than that, silence echoed through the night.

Shane shook his head. “A block away a couple is having a spat about the tip the man left at dinner.” He stalked around the desk. Toward her. “The elevator has gone up twenty-three times in the last couple hours; gone down twenty-seven times.” His hands reached out to grab her forearms. “I need thirty-three steps to walk from here to the elevator. There are three exits from this building where I wouldn’t be seen.” His gaze dropped to her neck. “Your pulse rate increased when I grabbed your arms. I can hear it.” The large hands tightened around her biceps. “And you’re a liar. When you say it isn’t going to happen, you’re lying.”