Embraced by Fire (10 page)

“You don’t only have to be a contortionist though, you could do other stuff to supplement your income, or get a different job altogether,” Deron said.

“What did you have in mind? I like what I do.”

“Well, I’ve got this friend—”

Ryu’s foot bumped the rubbish bin with a thunk as he moved nearer the door. Deron and Rachael’s conversation stopped. He glared at the offending bin in annoyance.

“Never mind, Rachael, I’ll catch up with you later. I need to wash up.”

“Sure thing, Deron, later.”

Ryu leaped for the paper towels, quickly grabbing a few and drying his arms. The door swung open and Deron stepped in, glanced at him, then moved over to the washbasins.

“We got a lot done today, I was impressed with the progress.” Ryu tried to sound offhand.

“Yeah, Pete and Brett know how to crack the whip.” Deron looked at him in the mirror. “Still a lot to do this afternoon and tomorrow morning, but we’ll be ready by Thursday no prob.”

“Good job on the music, made things go a lot quicker.”

“Dude, you can’t work without tunes.” Deron rinsed the soap from his hands.

Ryu debated carelessly asking what he’d meant by “supplementing income” but was sure Deron would have a ready answer. The man wasn’t going to suddenly confess to being involved in illegal activities. With a nod, Ryu threw away the towels and left.

As the door swung closed behind him, he wondered whether he’d overhead a casual conversation between friends, or evidence of involvement in his case. If involvement, did it incriminate Rachael or only Deron? Ryu shrugged, at this point that wasn’t his call to make. He’d pass the info on to Adrian and see what he had to say. Ryu glanced at his watch. Did he have time to make the phone call before he was missed at lunch?

He pinched the bridge of his nose as he remembered it was Neil’s shift. The team lead was on call until 2 o’clock. Screw it, the message could wait. It might not be anything at all.

****

Kait saw Johnny standing alone on the far side of the room sorting his CDs, now was her opportunity to talk to him about what had been going on in her office the other day. Putting an amicable expression on her face, she walked over.

“Hey, J, what are you up to?”

“Oh, Kait, hi.” He picked up a couple more CDs. “You manage to escape the painting?”

“Yes, finally. Peter didn’t roster me on this afternoon since I’ve got last minute organising to do.”

“Kait, our Organisational Queen.” Johnny smiled absently, but didn’t look up from what he was doing.

Kait hitched herself up to sit on the table. “How are things with you? I haven’t had a chance to talk to you for a few days.”

“Kait, we talk everyday.” He leaned over and scribbled a few song titles on a piece of paper.

“You know what I mean.” She locked her fingers together and leaned closer.

Johnny put down his pen and looked at her. “Sure I do, I was just yanking your chain.” He grinned at her pout. “What’s up?”

“That’s what I asked you.” This wasn’t going as well as she hoped. Johnny could be very contrary when he chose.

“Things are fine with me.” He leaned his hip against the table and folded his arms.

She lowered her voice. “Listen, Johnny, I overheard your conversation in my office the other day.”

His Adam’s apple jumped and his face actually paled. “You overheard my conversation?”

Damn, whatever it was, it was bad. “Not the actual words, but I could hear you were upset, that’s why I didn’t disturb you.”

His shoulders relaxed. “It wasn’t as bad as it sounded, don’t fret.”

“You’re my friend, I’ve never heard you like that before. Is there anything I can do?”

Johnny patted her knee. “No, sweetheart, not a thing. Don’t worry about it.”

“Is it your mother?”

Johnny shook his head. “Nothing like that. Mom’s no better, but she’s no worse either. The doctors say it could go on like this for years. Actually, I recently moved her to a better care facility.”

“Oh, Johnny.” Kait squeezed his hand, which was still lying on her knee, feeling the chill in his fingers.

He gave a one-sided shrug. “It’ll work out. I’m dealing with it.”

“You know I’m here for you?”

“Sure. But things are fine, really.”

Kait’s brow crinkled. “If it wasn’t your Mom, then what was up in my office?”

“Just one of those things, it’s all sorted now.” He looked at her sideways, a sly smile playing on his lips. “Never mind me. What’s going on with you and the new guy?”

She pulled her hand away from his. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Sure you do. I saw you earlier with the painting, and the singing, and the dancing.”

Crud, Johnny noticed as well. Had everyone seen her make a fool of herself? “We were all messing around, Deron and Marielle too.”

“You don’t mess around.” He looked at her straight on. “I know Deron and Marielle were there, but you weren’t interacting with them the way you were with him.”

“How was that exactly?” she asked tartly.

“A little dabbing of paint here, a little dabbing of paint there. Lots of eye contact. Him wiping the paint away while you stared love-struck.”

She pressed hands to her hot cheeks. “Love-struck? I looked love-struck?”

He shifted against the table as if the question made him uncomfortable. “Um, yeah, you did a bit. I mean, I doubt he could tell or anything. I only noticed because I know you so well.”

“Oh, cripes, how embarrassing.” She swallowed around the hot brick blocking her throat.

“Not really, I thought he seemed interested. Well, until he stepped away and started laughing with Marielle.”

“He’s a sociable guy.” She wasn’t sure who she was trying to convince. Her hands clenched tighter.

“It’s not like you to act all flirty around a man you’ve just met. What’s the deal, Angel-face?” He raised an eyebrow in her direction.

“There is no deal,” she mumbled, wishing he would change the subject.

In fact, why were they talking about her? They were meant to be talking about him. She looked at him from under her lashes. Except, he clearly didn’t want to talk about whatever was bothering him, and if she pressed he might shutdown completely.

“Come on, spill. You know you can trust me.” Johnny draped an arm around her shoulder.

She looked at him. Should she? She could do with getting this off her chest, and he was a guy, he might be able to give her some advice.

“If you divulge a word of this, I’ll kill you.” She narrowed her eyes menacingly.

He gave her shoulder a squeeze. “Consider it officially under the seal of the confessional.”

She took a deep breath. “I knew him at school and had a crush on him. He didn’t know I existed. No big deal. We moved on, went our separate ways. Grew up.”

She looked down at her hands, which were knotted in her lap. “Now, here he is, back in my life and I’m going crazy. I’m seriously attracted to him. Not because I knew him before, although I’m guessing that adds to it, because unless he’s changed I know he’s a decent guy. But there’s something about him…”

She shook her head. “I don’t know how to describe it. He was a nice enough kid, hence the crush, but the man…wow.” Heat sneaked across her cheekbones.

“Shit, you got it bad.” Johnny sounded sympathetic.

She swallowed against the bitter taste in her mouth. “You’re telling me. What am I going to do?”

Johnny frowned, silent for a moment. “I think he might be attracted to you. It looked like it, until he stepped back as if nothing had happened, but that could be a ruse—guy trying to play it cool.”

“I don’t think Ryu is the kind of man who bothers playing it cool.”

Johnny snorted. “Every guy is concerned with things like that, but you’re probably right for the most part. Maybe you should grab him for a coffee, chat. See if you can suss out how he feels.”

“The trouble is, I’m not sure I want to find out.” Kait nibbled the inside of her lip.

“What do you mean?”

“I mean, yes, I like him, but I’m his manager. It wouldn’t be appropriate for me to date him—even if he liked me, and that’s a pretty big
if
. When you have the power to fire someone you can’t date them. It’s not ethical.”

“Why the hell not?”

Tears stung the corners of her eyes and she blinked furiously. “Because they might only agree to date you because they fear losing their job.”

“That sucks ass.” He leaned forward to get a better look at her face. “Aw, hell, here.” He pulled a neatly folded handkerchief out of his pocket and handed it to her.

“I’m okay, really,” she said wetly, pushing the hanky back.

“Aw, hell,” he said again, scrunching it into his pocket.

Kait nodded.
Hell indeed
.

They sat there in glum silence, digesting what she’d said.

He finally broke the silence with a sigh. “Babe, much as I hate to say it, if you can’t date him then you need to forget him. Forget about trying to find out how he feels about you, and ignore how he makes you feel.”

“I don’t know how to do that,” she said in a small voice.

“I don’t know either, Kitty-Kat, but you’re going to have to try.”

Chapter
11

That Thursday Rachael leant against the wall with a dramatic sigh. “I can’t believe he’s gay.”

“Who’s gay?” Kait didn’t look up from the clipboard she was holding.

The event was due to start in less than half an hour. She didn’t have time for Rachael’s theatrics. She ticked several boxes on her check-sheet before she finally turned her eyes to Rachael.

“Mr Fire.” At Kait’s blank look Rachael added, “The new guy, the fire-eater, Mac. Any of this ringing any bells?”

“I know who he is. I hired him a week ago. I just hadn’t heard him called Mr Fire.” Ryu,
gay
? She didn’t think so.

“It’s my new name for him. Of course, I might not keep it now he’s not going to be my new flame.” Rachael tugged a strand of her hair back into place.

“Are you sure? He never struck me as gay.” Anything but in fact.

“Of course I’m sure. When have you ever known me to be wrong? However, I expected your scepticism so I went for proof.” Rachael wrinkled her nose. “Actually the proof was as much for me as for you, I didn’t believe it at first either. It’s down right criminal a man so delicious is playing for the other team.”

With a sigh Kait rested her hip against the side of one of the tables filling the room. She could see Rachael wasn’t going to leave until she said her piece. “What proof?”

“First, I did my never-fail flirt routine, nary a nibble. He even declined a casual let’s get to know each other better wink-wink-nudge-nudge cup of coffee.”

“Maybe he doesn’t like coffee.”

Rachael pouted. “Sarcasm doesn’t suit you, Kait, this is serious.”

“Yes, I can see that. What else?”

“I asked him to tie up the back of this top.” Rachael half-twisted so Kait could see the threaded ribbon that was the only thing covering her shapely back. “Not even the subtlest of sneaky feels.”

“Maybe he’s a decent guy who doesn’t cop sneaky feels.”’

Rachael gave her a pitying look. “What planet are you from?”

“This one. There are decent guys out there you know—”

“Third,” Rachael interrupted, “I arranged a ‘wardrobe malfunction’ and he got a real eye full. Instinct, if nothing else, should have triggered a reaction. Nothing. Not a thing. I don’t know what other proof you need but as far as I’m concerned that clinches it.”

Gay? Kait looked over at where Ryu was standing talking to Johnny. They were both looking equally fascinated by Johnny’s equipment.
Music
equipment, her brain quickly corrected. Although if Rachael was right, maybe she shouldn’t be so quick to qualify. Rach had never been wrong before. Her stomach surged uncomfortably.

She turned the idea over in her mind trying to make it fit, but she couldn’t get her hormones to accept he might be off the menu. Although, it might explain the way he’d reacted while they were painting. She tapped her pen against the clipboard. There were two ways she could view this. One made her happy, the other didn’t. Either he was hetro and not into Rachael, in which case, for once, she was in with a chance; or Rachael was right and neither of them had a hope in hell.

“Maybe you’ve finally met a man who’s immune to your charms, Rach,” Kait said. “Leaves the field open for the rest of us.”

Rachael snorted. “Doubt it.”

“It’s bound to happen eventually.”

“There isn’t a man alive who hasn’t fantasised about being with a contortionist.” Rachael’s eyes narrowed. “Wait a minute, you said ‘leaves the field open for the rest of us’. Do you mean leaves the field open for
you
? I spotted you flirting the other day but thought I was dreaming. Are you interested in Mac?”

Kait pushed away from the table. “I never said I was interested.”

“No, but that’s what you meant isn’t it? You want him and you’re glad he doesn’t want me.”

“He’s an employee, it wouldn’t be right.” Kait refused to meet Rachael’s eyes.

“Bollocks to that.” Rachael’s gaze flicked over to Ryu then back to Kait. “I think you like him.”

“It’s not like that.”

“I think it’s exactly like that, and I hate to be the one to tell you this but he is definitely gay.”

“Saying it again and again doesn’t make it true.” Kait’s pen cracked and she stared at it in shocked surprise. She’d squeezed it so hard the plastic actually split.

Rachael look even more surprised and she held up her hands in surrender. “Fine, he’s not gay.”

Kait slumped back against the table. “Okay, I admit it, I’m attracted to him.”

Rachael pulled out a chair and sat down. It was quite clear she wanted all the details. “I can’t believe it. I wouldn’t have picked him as your type.”

“Really, what do you think of as my type?” Ryu was
exactly
her type as far as she was concerned.