Facade

“I just got here a few minutes ago, but he’s not ready to go to dinner yet.”

“You’re going to dinner dressed like that?” he asked.

I looked down at my clothing and tried to force a giggle. Fuck. I was in my jeans and a T-shirt with my leather jacket on. How the hell was I gonna play that shit off?

“I know exactly what’s going on, Miss Samantha.”

The way his voice dropped made me nervous.

“What do you mean?” I asked.

“I know what you’re doing. Why you’re here, in Emma’s office. Why you keep asking me all sorts of questions about her. Why you’re dressed the way you are.”

My heart started pounding in my chest as I moved my hand toward my pocket. I was ready for anything this man threw at me. I didn’t have any reason to suspect Jacob of anything like this, especially since he was attacked, but with the look in his eye and the way his voice changed, there was something off about the whole thing.

“Enlighten me,” I said.

A grin tugged across his cheeks as he leaned against the doorway, his arms crossed over his chest.

“You’re checking out the competition, aren’t you?”

“What?” I asked.

“The competition. Emma. You’re checking up on her.”

“Why would I be doing that?” I asked as I slid my knife back into my pocket.

“Because we both see the looks that girl gives Derek. You want to make sure she can’t take him away from you, and I get that. Derek’s a great catch. Always has been. And Emma’s had a crush on him for years now. Probably as long as she’s been here.”

“I didn’t realize those looks had gone on this long,” I said.

“Yep. And it’s fine. I get it. Emma does have a bit of that crazy-eyed stare to her at times. And she’s not a fan of yours. I hear her talking around the corners sometimes, bitching about the exotic slut on his arm.”

“Exotic slut,” I said.

“You didn’t hear it from me, but she’s not a fan of yours. And you should be worried about her going after Derek romantically. She’s been trying for years.”

I sighed as I leaned back in Emma’s chair, my eyes staring at her entire personnel file.

“Don’t tell Derek, okay? He doesn’t like self-conscious women,” I said.

“Don’t worry, beautiful. It’s our little secret. But coming from me? You don’t have to worry about Derek going after Emma. He’ll never pursue her romantically.”

“How do you know?” I asked. “Men do all sorts of weird things.”

“Putting aside the fact that they have official paperwork in HR stating this fact so Emma could keep her job, I see the way he looks at you. You’re very different from a lot of the other women he’s had in his life, but I see the effect you have on him. You’re good for him, and I’d venture to bet he’s good for you too.”

I smiled and nodded as Jacob’s words spun around in my head.

“Anyway, I’m off to get my wallet, but make whatever you’re doing quick. I hear Derek shuffling around in his office.”

I watched Jacob walk away as I scanned the file in front of me.

Her personnel file didn’t have much, but it was odd that it was downloaded directly to her home screen. There wasn’t much in there that shocked me. Everything from her prior employment to the date and time she was interviewed and hired for the job all confirmed my suspicions. Quit after her father was fired. Interviewed for this job two weeks later. Hired a week after that. She had wasted no time in hopping companies, and that flew a red flag for me.

But with her office door not being locked and her computer not having a passcode, it didn’t exactly scream “mastermind” to me. More like “ignorantly blissful.” Bobble-headed. Ditzy.

Like Emma came off as.

I clicked through a few more files and found nothing exponential. Her personal hookup to his calendar. Some notes from some meetings. Random pictures of her and a cat and Derek’s work email logged into automatically. Things I would expect to find on a personal assistant’s desktop work computer.

Fuck.

I left her office, closing the door behind me. If it wasn’t locked before, I wasn’t going to lock it now. The last thing I needed was to throw flags like that. Jacob walked past me again and nodded in my direction. Then, he sent me a little wink like we were somehow friends now.