Taking the basket from her, he leaned forward to plant a gentle kiss on her forehead. He wasn’t sure how to take things since he was going to respect her wishes to take things slow.
Her cheeks colored, and she wrapped her arms around him, holding on to him tightly.
He might not know exactly how to take things slow, but he was starting to realize that it was probably best to play things by ear and let her lead. “The electricians and their manager are up on the roof,” he said against her ear. “The lawyers are already up there with them.”
She pulled away from him. “Have they said anything?”
Simon shook his head and motioned for her to wait outside. “Not yet. We were waiting for you to arrive.”
He stepped back inside to put the basket on the kitchen counter, then led her to the elevator.
Moments later they stepped out on to the building’s roof, a spectacular panoramic view of the city surrounding them.
Her face lit up. “It’s beautiful up here.”
The look on her face stirred something in him. During all their time together since she had started working for Dover, he had been holding back. Trying to find a balance between pursing her and staying professional. He knew they were taking things slow, but he made a mental note to bring her back up here for a romantic dinner. She deserved to be spoiled. “We can come back up here as often as you like,” he said.
She smiled, but when her eyes landed on the gathering on the other end of the roof her smile vanished. “Are those the electricians?”
He nodded. “Yes. Along with them is their company lawyer and their manager. The woman with the short hair is Miranda, one of Dover’s lawyers.”
“That’s a lot of people.” She bit her lip.
“Dover’s lawyer is there to protect both of us.” He squeezed her shoulder gently, desperate to reassure her. “I know it looks intimidating, but you’re not the one on trial here. This is a fact-finding mission, nothing more.”
“Thank you for believing in me,” she said softly.
He met her gaze and held it. “And thank you for giving me a second chance after I didn’t believe you the first time.”
She gave him a faint smile, and he vowed to do whatever it took to make sure she was comfortable today. Her name had been dragged through the mud; this was her chance to defend herself and get to the truth. When he had called her earlier he hadn’t been sure she’d accept his offer to come to his place, but when she had accepted he knew he had to do whatever it took to put her at ease. Heather was going out on a limb accepting his help like this, and he wasn’t about to let that opportunity go to waste. Today was the day they would finally start getting answers.
Simon placed his hand on her back and guided her over to the electricians and lawyers, who were sitting down staring at each other in stone-faced silence. After the introductions were made, he pulled out a chair for her and sat beside her.
“Shall we begin?” Miranda Holder, one of Dover’s lawyers, asked.
“Yes,” Simon replied. “Let’s get everything out on the table.”
“First, I’d like to remind everyone that this is an informal gathering,” Miranda said. “This isn’t a deposition or a hearing, so you’re not compelled to say anything.”
The electrical manager nodded, his baseball cap so low on his head that Simon couldn’t see his eyes. “I’ll be answering the questions.”
“Fine,” Miranda said. “We’d like to know if you were compelled by anyone to take photos of Mr. Diesel’s servers and hack into his computer system.”
The manager frowned. “Compelled? You mean like threatened?”
“Not necessarily threatened,” Miranda replied. “We want to know if you were bribed or asked as well.”
The manager leaned towards his company lawyer, exchanged some hushed words, and nodded grimly. “Yeah, well, we had an appointment scheduled to upgrade the building,” the manager said. “We were all ready to go, but we got a call from someone at Dover, Inc.”
Simon frowned. “But this upgrade was supposed to have been done in a personal capacity. Your company had done work with Dover previously, but the work you were doing on my building had nothing to do with Dover.”