“You’d rather I was mean and surly?”
“It’s easier to handle.”
Easier to keep her distance? Mitch wasn’t sure why he wanted her closer, but he did.
“Can you at least tell your kid I’m not a total jerk?”
She frowned. “What happened with Erin?”
“She told me that I’d made you cry and heroes didn’t do that.”
“She was listening in when I was talking to my sisters and Dana. I know she was upset, but I didn’t think she’d say anything to you.”
“She did.”
“I’ll talk to her.”
“Thanks.”
“I shouldn’t bother,” she told him.
But she would because of Erin. Because it was the right thing to do.
He stood and circled around the table. She rose and moved away before he could reach her.
“Don’t,” she whispered.
“I wasn’t going to do anything.”
“You were going to touch me. I can’t do that again, Mitch. I can’t…It’s not a game to me. I don’t know what it is, but it’s not nothing.”
“It’s not nothing to me, either.”
“Then we should avoid it and each other until we can figure out what it is.”
SKYE ESCAPED to the office where life made slightly more sense. It was easier to focus on the work to be done than worry about what was going on with Mitch.
She did believe he was sorry for dealing with Garth and that his offer to help her half brother had been born from pain and a need to lash out. But that didn’t erase the sense of betrayal she felt or ease the feeling of loss.
She’d barely turned on her computer when T.J. called.
“Hey, beautiful.”
“Hey, yourself.”
“I heard about Jed. How are you holding up?”
“I’m doing okay. I hope you don’t believe the stories. You should know it’s not anything Jed would do or condone.”
“I know. Jed’s his own man, but he’s also smart. He wouldn’t risk his company with something like illegal arms. Are you having any trouble with the press?”
“Not yet. We’ve had a few calls to the house, but they get the machine and give up after a couple of tries.”
“If you need anything, if I can help, let me know.”
She smiled. “I will. Thank you for that.”
“I’d like to see you again. You up for dinner?” T.J. was a nice man. Funny, charming, uncomplicated. She should be all quivery at the thought of spending the evening with him. She was…sort of.
T.J.’s biggest flaw was that he wasn’t Mitch. For all Mitch’s betrayals and complications, he still made her blood run hot and her insides melt just by looking at him. If he touched her, all bets were off.
“Skye? It wasn’t supposed to be that hard a question,” T.J. said.
“Sorry. It isn’t. Dinner would be great.”
“I’ll be by the house at six-thirty,” he said.
“Why don’t we meet at the restaurant,” Skye told him. “It would be easier. Erin’s only eight. I’m not sure she’s ready for me to date.”
There was also the issue of Izzy, but Skye wasn’t going to mention that. She wasn’t sure what her sister had going on with T.J. She just knew that Izzy was stubborn and would do almost anything to prove her point that she was the more desirable sister.
“The restaurant at seven, then,” T.J. said. “I’ll make reservations.”
“An excellent quality in a man.”
He chuckled. “I’ll see you then. I’m looking forward to it.”
“Me, too,” she said, and they hung up.
She ignored the flicker of guilt that whispered that T.J. would never get her attention the way Mitch did. T.J. was the better bet. At least on the surface.
Although she could hear Izzy’s voice in her head telling her she wasn’t fooling anyone. That she was only pretending to be interested in T.J. because of Jed and the same could be said for T.J. That the only Titan sister he really wanted was Izzy.
“She’s just playing a game,” Skye whispered to herself. Izzy had always been the wild one and men gravitated to her. Yes, Jed had pushed Skye on T.J. but she refused to believe his charm was all a game. No one was that good. Izzy was just being a bratty younger sister.
“Do you have a second?”
Skye looked up and saw Trisha, her CFO, standing in the open doorway. “Sure. What have you got?”
“Nothing good,” Trisha admitted as she walked in carrying a folder. “We’ve started the investigation. So far we’ve discovered there
Skye sank into her chair. “We’re that vulnerable?”
“We’re not supposed to be,” Trisha said as she took the seat opposite. “I’ve been in touch with the security company responsible for protecting our system. At first they claimed it was impossible for anyone to hack in. But now that I’ve shown them it is, they’ll be working to find out how. And who.”
Skye already knew who.
“We’ll figure it out,” Trisha told her. “I believe that. But we have a bigger issue. This is the second problem with the foundation. People are starting to talk and ask questions.”
Skye didn’t want to hear that. “Donors or staff?”
“Both. People who work for nonprofits have a very specific drive to make a difference. They don’t want to work their butts off only to discover the money being raised is going to buy someone a Mercedes. Donors don’t want to be fooled, either.”
“You think that’s happening here? That the books showing the payouts are correct?”
Trisha gave her a small smile. “They can’t be. I found a check to myself. I never authorized that. I’m the one who signs the checks and I know I didn’t sign it and it sure never showed up in my bank account.”
“That’s a relief. But don’t you sign all the checks?”
“Yes, but I review only a percentage of them. Otherwise that would be a full-time job. Payroll is computerized, as are payments to the local food banks and shelters we fund.”
“So we don’t know if the other questionable checks got through or not.”
“I’m pulling all bank statements and reconciling them specifically with those checks. Unfortunately the rule of thumb is if a business is keeping two sets of books, that company also has multiple bank accounts. The money could come from anywhere.”
This was a nightmare, Skye thought grimly. She hated that it was happening and didn’t know how to make it stop.
“You’re going to lose good people over this,” Trisha told her. “I’m hearing rumors that people are looking.”
“Are you?” Skye asked bluntly.
“Not yet.”
She couldn’t tell the world what was going on. Not only wouldn’t it help their cause but she had a feeling that blabbing about Garth would only make him happy. Still, she could tell Trisha.
She leaned forward. “You know a little about my family. You’ve met my father.”
“A couple of times. He’s an interesting man.”
“That’s one way of putting it. About thirty-five years ago, he had an affair with a young woman named Kathy
