Erica Lucke Dean - To Katie with Love (11 page)

He got out and retrieved my packages from the trunk before coming around to open my door. I handed him my keys as I had done the night before, and he took my hand and led me to the front door. When he unlocked and opened it, we stepped inside and stood in the shadows. He carefully laid my packages on the floor and backed me against the wall.

The desire with which he kissed me erased any shred of doubt as to how he felt about me. It was as if he thought he would never see me again, but we both knew he would. We had made definite plans for Friday night. I knew I wouldn’t see him at work the next day, but that was probably necessary if I was going to be able to do my job with any degree of competency.

And yet, he seemed frantic at having to go a whole day without me—as if he always spent every day at my side. It was slightly irrational, but I felt the same way. In the back of my mind, I
knew
I had just traded one obsession for another, but at least I was living. For the first time in my adult life, I was allowing myself to exist outside of work… or fiction.

When it seemed he was certain he had thoroughly kissed me senseless, he stopped and—of all things—laughed. I couldn’t help but laugh with him, though I had no idea what we were laughing at.

He stepped back. “I dare you to think about anything else for the rest of the night.” And then he left.  

He didn’t play fair.

“So much for being competent at work tomorrow,” I muttered.

THE MYSTERIOUS WIRE TRANSFER

T
hursday morning, I woke up with plenty of time to get ready. I even took the time to run through my torturous exercise routine, which I had neglected to do since Friday. After thoroughly battering my body with lunges, crunches, and curls, I showered slowly, savoring the feel of hot water running through my hair and over my skin.

I had shaved my legs the day before, but I shaved them again, making certain they were smooth all the way up. I remembered not to neglect the bikini area, because according to Vicky, no one ever should. I shaved under my arms too, for good measure. I wasn’t taking any chances. Cooper could have changed his mind after that magnificent kiss and decided to show up at the bank. Surely, he would have thought about me the entire night too.

I dressed in new clothes, not the outfit Cooper liked so much, but another one he’d seemed to like almost as well. I wanted to save his favorite for Friday’s date.

I still didn’t have a coat, but I did have Cooper’s. He’d forgotten to take it, and as I wrapped it around me, I was very glad. It still smelled of his spicy citrus cologne and even a little bit like peppermint. I ransacked the pockets, trying to find the source of the mysterious peppermint breath, but was disappointed when I came up empty.

I was never the first one to arrive in the mornings. I wasn’t actually first that day either, but I was second, and that was almost as rare. When I let myself in, Phil stood in the middle of the lobby, staring at me as if I’d grown a tail.

I laughed at his shocked expression. “Good morning, Phil.”

“What the hell happened to you?” he asked.

I had no idea what he meant. “Um… nothing?” I held up my hands in mock surrender.

“Uh, no, James, there is definitely something different about you.” He was still staring, and it made me feel a little self-conscious.

I scurried to the restroom, where I stared at my reflection in the mirror for a full minute. I turned as far around as I could to look at my backside. I couldn’t see anything out of the ordinary. In fact, I thought I looked pretty damn good.

I marched back into the lobby and stared Phil down, hands on my hips. “There is absolutely nothing wrong with the way I look,” I said with more attitude than I had intended.

Phil just rolled his eyes. “I never said there was anything
wrong
with the way you look. I’m just a little amazed at how put together you are these days. This is the third day in a row you’ve put me at risk of saying something I shouldn’t. Are you trying to get me fired for sexual harassment?”

I made a sour face, shaking off the image that brought with it. “Oh, ewww, Phil. I like you better when you’re just one of the girls.”

“What? Save the boozing for Friday nights. We’re on the clock here.”

I didn’t stick around to explain why there was something very wrong with what he’d just said. I made a beeline to my office to wait for the others to arrive. I’d never been so anxious to see Vicky in all the time I’d worked there. After my recent shopping trip, and heaping dose of confidence, courtesy of Cooper, I felt as if I could finally give her a run for her money in the sexy department.

It didn’t take me long to remember why I was never excited to see Vicky. She slipped into my office while I was reading emails and plopped down in the chair across from me.
Cooper’s chair
, a little voice told me. I shook it off and focused on Vicky.

“What?” I asked when she didn’t say anything.

“I’m trying to see if you look different.” She pinched her eyebrows together and stared at me.

I glared back with total incomprehension. “Why would I look different?”

“Phil said you look different. But I don’t see it. I figured I would be able to tell if you’d done Cooper yet, but you don’t look any different to me. Maybe a little more fashionable.” She gestured toward my new outfit. “Same vacant expression in your eyes, though. You definitely haven’t had sex in a very long time.” When she was satisfied she had figured me out, she got up and walked out the door.

Just to walk back in less than thirty seconds later. “You have kissed him, though. So it’s only a matter of time. I may have to let you have him. He looks like a lovesick puppy around you, anyway.” The disgust was evident in her tone.

“You know, Vicky, some of us prefer to build up the mystery a little before opening our legs. You should try it.”

“Mystery, shmystery… you’re simply a prude. But really, it’s okay, Katie. I get it. It’s your thing. And obviously Cooper likes that sort of
thing
if he keeps sniffing around. I’m over it.”

Good
. I wasn’t going to share him regardless. It would be better if she just gave up and moved on. She could always have Dean. I laughed at the visual of Vicky and Dean making out in the vault.

Just before nine, I decided to venture out to see what everyone was up to. I was no longer current news. Phil had given me a slight resurgence after telling everyone I had somehow
changed
since yesterday. But Vicky reassured everyone I was as pathetic as always, just a bit more polished.

And as some sort of cosmic exclamation point to punctuate that sentiment, I managed to trip coming around the corner and nearly rammed my head into a wall. After that, no one paid me much attention. Everyone knew Cooper never came in on Thursdays.

I debated whether or not to call him. Just to say “Hi.” Surely that was allowed? Wasn’t it just yesterday he told me he was in love with me? Maybe I should have told him how I felt. No, not
maybe,
I
should
have told him, and I regretted not doing it.

Everyone sat around the giant news monitor in the lobby, watching something unfold. It was local, so I plopped down across from June and pretended to care. I wasn’t really interested. I was too busy wondering what Cooper was doing and if he was thinking about me. I was still so very pathetic.

“Katie, did you see that?” June asked. “Someone killed a superior court judge downtown. They said it was some kind of mob hit. That’s the second one in less than a week.”

“Killers on the loose in Atlanta. Wooooo.” Vicky waggled her fingers at June.

“I wonder who paid for
that
. I imagine it’s very expensive to knock off a judge, even in Atlanta.” Only Silvia would think of the financial aspects of murder.

“Speaking of money,” Vicky interjected, “Katie, did you see the large deposit that went into Cooper’s account today?”

My mouth fell open. “Why are you poking around in Cooper’s accounts?” I was flabbergasted, but honestly not that surprised. This
is
Vicky we’re talking about.

She shrugged. “I was just curious. Why didn’t he come in today?”

I shook my head. “You know he never comes in on Thursdays.”

“I just figured now that you two are an
item
.” She made quotation marks in the air.

“Why should that matter?” I said defensively as I stood up, brushing imaginary lint from my pants. Why did that irritate me so much? He said he would be working. He must need to work sometimes.

“Does he normally deposit money without going through you?” She wouldn’t let it go.

“Not normally,” I muttered. It was strange he wouldn’t have me do the deposit.

“How much do you think someone would pay to knock off a judge?” Silvia asked, changing the subject back to the news. I didn’t think she was paying much attention to the separate conversation going on between Vicky and me.

“At least a hundred grand,” Phil answered.

“Only a hundred grand? Cooper’s deposit was
twice
that amount. Maybe now that you’re dating, he’ll want someone else to handle things for him.” Vicky’s bright blue eyes sparkled with enthusiasm. “It really was an awful lot of money. He might not want you knowing how much he has now that you’re
involved
.”

“I know everything I need to know about Cooper.” When had I become such a prolific liar?

“You could have fooled me,” she said, turning back to the TV.

I was desperate to know exactly how much money Cooper had deposited and why he was making deposits I didn’t know about when I was his banker, but I felt inordinately guilty about checking. And I was definitely going to check. It was still my job, and I couldn’t imagine him asking me to give his account to someone else.

The story on the news was rapidly getting under my skin, so I hurried into my office and closed the door behind me. I needed to hear his voice. I dialed before I was fully seated and waited impatiently while it rang. After several rings, someone picked up, but it wasn’t Cooper.
Voicemail.

I slammed the phone down without leaving a message and pulled up CNN on my computer. There were no new details about the mob killings in the city.

I was being silly. Did I really think Cooper was a hired assassin just because I couldn’t reach him on his cell? Or because he’d received a huge deposit on the day of a murder? Or because he refused to tell me what he did for a living? Or because I heard him threatening to kill someone just
last night?

What was the only thing he
would
say about his job?
I’m an international man of mystery… a contracted employee of a large organization.

I pulled up his accounts on my screen and did a search for deposits.
Holy crap
.
Two hundred thousand dollars
! But why hadn’t he gone through me? Because it was a wire transfer from a bank in New York, of course.

Somehow that didn’t make me feel better. I tried to remember the last time he’d had funds wired into his account. I couldn’t recall anything, so I did a quick search of his record to find the information. It took a little digging, but I discovered a transfer of almost the same amount six months ago.

Feeling a little ridiculous, I did a cross reference with CNN to see if any other high-profile murders had occurred in Atlanta around the same time. I found four. The dates weren’t exact, but close. Could I ignore the coincidence?

I shook my head.
This is all because of that phone call I overheard last night. Who am I kidding? This is all because of that last kiss.
He’d left me with a desperate feeling that carried over to the next day. I was going to give him a piece of my mind… if he’d ever answer his phone. I was being paranoid. I needed to forget the whole crazy idea and get back to my job.

“Katie, did you hear what I said?” my three o’clock appointment asked, rapping her knuckles on the desk.

I sat across from Christine Craig, shaking myself back from wherever I’d been, and tried to give a crap about what she was telling me. “I’m sorry.” I blinked at her a few times. “I was just trying to decide what would be best for your needs.” All right, I lied. It was becoming painfully obvious my quality of work was slipping. I needed her account.

“Oh, okay,” she said, apparently content with my explanation.

I managed to open a full package of accounts and pushed her out of my office just after four. I took a deep breath. It had been the longest day of my career. Cooper hadn’t called.

I packed up my briefcase and logged off my computer, even though I knew I still had almost an hour before I could leave. I didn’t really care. I had satisfied the one requirement Phil had given me for the day—opening a new account. And technically, I was doing pretty well, thanks to Cooper’s mysterious wire. I was measured as much by my existing accounts growing their deposits as I was by bringing in new ones.

So Phil could kiss my ass. I was going home early. I had a headache.

Not really. But that would be my
official
statement.
Katie had a terrible headache and had to go home. Katie was going to do some laundry tonight and maybe even clean her house, and if she didn’t hear from Cooper by dinner time, she might even buy a new book, or maybe… a cat.

I rolled my eyes at my own absurdity. How likely was it I would do laundry?

“James, are you still here?” Phil asked as he passed my office.

I looked at the clock, expecting it to be inching toward four thirty, but it was just after five. I had no idea where the time had gone.

I jumped up, pulled on Cooper’s jacket, and grabbed my bags. “Nope, Phil, I’m gone.”