Trust by Design (Colorado Trust 2)

“What?” Mike asked with an annoying laugh. “We’ve already established you’re not Prince Charming.”

This time, he just shot him the shut-up look as he arrived at the table. “Why didn’t you wake me up?”

“Gina said you were grumpy yesterday and needed your sleep.” The man had the nerve to turn and grin at her. “I thought it would help more.”

“Me, too,” she agreed.

He bounced his glare from one to the other. “What in the hell is going on?”

His VP straightened in his chair and took a deep breath. For the first time, he looked somewhat serious. “Gina’s going to help us.”

Dean’s gaze landed back on her and stayed. Arms folded on the table, she lifted her chin while those gorgeous eyes defied him to deny her now. No problem. “The hell she is.”

“I told you,” she said to Mike.

“Now, Dean, just hear us out. She actually has a good idea.”

He stalked into the kitchen, needing the distance to get his temper under control. Caffeine would be good, too. He dumped some extra sugar in his cup, and while he stirred, he realized he was relieved she’d shown up. Wasn’t too happy about her going behind his back to Mike, but she was here, and she wasn’t giving him the cold shoulder he expected and deserved.

Then again, she wasn’t giving it to Mike, either. He frowned down at his mug.

“Dean?”

Her soft voice stiffened his spine. He turned around and couldn’t help but take in all of her in those form-fitting jeans and a light, breezy top with flowing sleeves that covered the marks on her upper arms while making her appear delicate and feminine. She was both, but looked even more so this morning.

She stood beside the island, one hand resting flat on the lower counter, and the other raised as if to hold him back even though she was more than ten endless feet away.

“Before you say no again, all I’m asking is that you listen to me. Please?”

He’d like to say it was the please that did him in, but it might have had something to do with the soft, persuasive tone of her voice that had him willing to hear more. He drew in a breath, then another. Finally, he gave a curt nod.

Surprise flickered in her eyes, but then she lowered her arm and got busy explaining in earnest. “Well, they’re just ideas, really, so how would Jackson even know I’m involved? I was thinking that you could create a second version of your current project. A dummy copy that needs kinks worked out, or maybe I could help by adding an invisible code to prove it’s yours. A watermark of sorts that only we know about. Something he won’t spot, and then we make sure that he gets that copy, and you’ve got your evidence for a case.”

He shifted his gaze as Mike joined them to lean his elbows on the island counter while she kept talking. His friend’s face didn’t hold a tenth of the appeal of Gina’s, so he returned his full attention to her.

“Or, if you want to go another route, you could hold a meeting and announce the project is compromised, or that it isn’t working, so you’re going to start brand new. We can brainstorm for a new idea to use as a decoy that will send Jackson chasing his tail trying to scoop you on it while you finish work on the real deal.”

He lifted his mug to sip his coffee. Both ideas had enough merit to make him feel like an idiot. He and Mike had been so tunnel-visioned on preventing Brady from stealing the current program, they hadn’t taken time to come up with a scenario to trap him.

When he remained silent, her eyebrows rose. “So? What do you think?”

“How about you go do the work I’m actually paying you for while Mike and I talk about this.”

It was an asshole response, but all she did was cast a hopeful glance at Mike while backing up. “Sure. I’ve got some things to do in the suite at the end of the hall.”

He waited until

she was out of sight before turning his furious gaze back to his vice president. “I didn’t want her involved.”

“She came to me,” he defended.

Noise from the back door by the garage made him lean back to see Liz shouldering the door closed, her arms full of grocery bags. He met her in the hall to grab a couple, and set them on the counter.

“Thanks.” She cast him a sideways glance. “We missed you on Saturday night.”

“Other things came up,” Mike quipped.

Dean gave him another shut-up look.