Reckless (Benson Security 1)

“Mum!” Julia’s cheeks turned red and she shook her head. This was one of the reasons she kept her life compartmentalised—the rest of her family had missed out on the shame gene.

Her mother laughed. “How’s it going? I want to know.”

“Fine, it’s going fine.” What else was t

here to say? The building was crawling with tradespeople, the team was completely dysfunctional and she had an aneurysm every time Joe came near her. None of which she planned to tell her mother.

“Mmm,” Libby mused. “I think your father and I need to make time to take you out for lunch. You can show us around the building. Introduce us to your colleagues.”

“No!” Julia took a deep breath. “I mean not right now. Soon. It’s just that it’s a terrible mess around here and we’re in the middle of a very tense, hush-hush case.”

“Are you sure you aren’t avoiding us?” It wasn’t an accusation. Her mother knew it was a very real possibility and she was concerned. Julia had spent a lifetime avoiding her completely over-the-top family. It had been her survival mechanism growing up. Not that she didn’t love them. She did. She adored each and every one of them. Just in small doses.

“Not this time, I promise. We’ll set something up as soon as I have a little more time.” Something that happened far away from the office. Or anyone she knew.

Lake had made it very clear when he hired her that he’d deal with her many personal issues, but he wouldn’t tolerate her family exposing the work of Benson Security to the media. If she wanted to keep her job, she had to keep them away from the office. Which was almost impossible now that she was in the same city as her parents and siblings.

“I’m holding you to that.” It sounded like her mother was settling in for a long chat. “Now tell me about the men. Which one do you fancy the most?”

Julia groaned, but was saved by the light flashing that there was someone else on the line. “I’ve got to go, Mum. Someone else is calling and I’m manning the phone.”

“Typical. Just when we get to the juicy stuff. One way or another we’re going to weed information out of you, Julia Collins. Okay, go play spy. I love you.” She made kissing noises and then hung up.

Taking a deep breath to cope with the whirlwind that was her mother, Julia connected to the other line. For once she didn’t bemoan the fact that there wasn’t a receptionist to cover the calls.

Chapter Twelve

Megan found Julia in her tiny office, which was positioned behind the front desk in the entrance area of the building. At some point the team would hire a receptionist. For now, with the building still being modified and the business not officially open yet, Julia was watching the desk. This entailed keeping the front door locked and speaking to everyone via the intercom. Julia had issues, bless her wee heart.

“Hey.” Megan plopped down in the lavender-coloured chair on the other side of the desk from her flatmate. “I just kissed Dimitri. Again.” Yep, those words had really come out of her mouth.

Julia stopped sticking post-it notes all over a wall-sized whiteboard and turned slowly to stare at Megan. “Are you crazy?”

“I’m beginning to think so.” She took out her ponytail holder and ran her fingers through her hair. “One minute he’s making me madder than hell, the next I’m playing tonsil hockey with the man. There must be some medication I can take to stop this from happening. Do you think valium would work?”

“No.” Julia gave her the same look Megan had received from her older brother over the years. It was somewhere between disbelief and horror.

“It’s probably just the stress of the situation,” Megan said hopefully. “People kiss each other all the time when they’re stressed. Right?”

“I don’t.”

Julia was not helping and there was no point calling Claire—she’d only ask for details. Sometimes her twin acted like a little devil on Megan’s shoulder. So no, she wouldn’t be calling Claire. It looked like, for this situation, she was on her own.

“Maybe I should go for a run, work off my stress. If I’m exhausted I’ll be less likely to jump Dimitri’s bones if the situation arises.”

“You don’t run,” Julia helpfully pointed out.

“I can learn. Seriously, how hard can it be? It’s like walking, only faster.” She pointed at the wall which was neatly covered in Julia’s project management timetable. “They have spreadsheets for that.”

Julia shook her head as though coming out of a daze. “I know, but they don’t have screens this big. I like being able to see every detail of the project in one glance.” She gave Megan a shy smile. “The renovations are ahead of schedule. The team will start on our flat at the beginning of next week.”

“Fab.” Megan helped herself to a chocolate mint from the bowl Julia kept on her desk. “Are you still keeping two flats on the top floor?”

That was the set up now, but there had been some talk of changing it. Megan had no doubt that whatever was decided the newly renovated space would look amazing. Julia had great taste in décor. Once the building was finished it would be a subtle melding of blue, lavender, cream and silver. The furniture was functional, but modern and stylish. She’d even managed to weave in a little bit of accent pattern throughout the place. Overall it gave the feeling of a discreet, upscale, professional business. She doubted the guys who owned the business would notice how classy it was, but Megan was sure their clients would.

“No. We’ll have one self-contained flat—the one we’re in—and the rest of the floor will be converted to hotel style en suite rooms. That way operatives will have somewhere to stay overnight, or short term if need be, while retaining a unit for those of us who are between accommodation and need to stay a bit longer. If the people in the rooms need to use a kitchen, they can come down and use the one on the office floor.”

“Operatives.” Megan grinned. “I’m an operative. How cool is that? Maybe I should get it on a T-shirt.”