A few key strokes later a blurred video image appeared on the screen. Brow furrowed, Kale angled his head and squinted. “What the hell am I watching?” As the image focused, understanding dawned. “Holy fuck,” he bit out and nearly fell off his chair.
Erin gasped. “Ohmigod.”
He twisted around to see her. Her face paled, her hands flew to her mouth. “Ohmigod,” she repeated.
Kale jumped from the chair. Shock segued to rage as he watched a digital slide show of Erin writhing beneath him in the research room while he brought her to orgasm. “Who the hell…” His gut clenched, along with his fists.
He jabbed the eject button and tore the disk from the computer. He spun back around to face Erin. Eyes open wide, she stood there, slack jawed, staring at the blank screen.
“Erin, what the hell is going on?”
She reached for the envelope and fished around inside until she produced a note. As she scanned the words, her face paled even more.
“Ohmigod,” she repeated, and held the paper out for him. “Lab…recorder…still running…director…distracted…forgot to turn off…Hooker Barbie…watching me…pink camper…run her over.” Her words were fractured and she wasn’t making sense. He was definitely missing something.
Kale dropped the disk onto the desk and grabbed the paper from her hand. He read it once, and then a second time. “Jesus H. Christ.”
“Shit. Shit. Shit,” Erin blurted out, pressing the butts of her palms to her eyes. “Stupid. Stupid. Stupid.” She turned her back to him and paced toward the door. “My list of people to kill just grew by one.”
“Where are you going?” He closed the small distance between them, grabbed her by the waist, and turned her back around.
“You read the note. If I don’t step down, Hooker Barbie is going to send a copy of this to the director.” She rubbed her temple and mumbled another round of curses. “Playing sex games in the research room during work hours isn’t going to get me that promotion, Kale. It’s going to get me fired.”
“Who the hell is Hooker Barbie?”
“Deanne Sinclair. She wants my job. Obviously.” This was turning out to be some pissing contest.
He scoffed and shook his head. “I had my own run-in with her. And it wasn’t my job she was after.” The details of the encounter weren’t worth mentioning.
She closed her eyes in distress and then nodded toward the paper. “What does she mean, you’re on probationary status?”
Kale let out a long sigh. “A few months back I fucked up at Castech, and if I fuck up again, I’m out of a job.” He scrubbed his hand over his jaw. “Apparently Deanne’s been busy, doing a little research of her own. She’s been digging into my confidential records.”
“Like Deanne said, if I don’t step down, I’ll be dragging you with me. And I’m not about to do that.” She got quiet for a moment and then added, “Talk about one hell of a bump in the road, Kale. I guess this is your exit.”
The significance of her actions didn’t elude him. Erin was willing to give up her career, the one thing that meant the world to her, to save his. A sudden rush of warmth enveloped him as his heart tightened in his chest. No woman had ever done anything so meaningful, so touching for him before. His chest swelled as the love he felt for her grew to insurmountable proportions.
“What are you talking about, Erin? I’m not going to let you step down.”
Her tongue darted over her lips, moistening them. Her eyes opened wide as surprise registered on her face. “You will if you want to save your own ass.”
“Fuck my ass. Wait.” He shook his head, flustered. “That came out all wrong.”
Perplexed, she looked at him. “This is your out, Kale. Why would you go down with me when you don’t have to?”
He hauled her into the circle of his arms. “Unless it’s in the bedroom, sweetheart, neither one of us is going down. Besides, I take full responsibility for what happened this afternoon.”
Dark eyes flashed with tumultuous emotions. Her chin came up a notch, astonished. Her voice was low. “A man who takes responsibility. That’s so refreshing.” She conjured a smile. “But you weren’t the only one in that room, Kale.”
Eyes riveted on hers, he dragged a finger over her chin, her cheek, and brushed her hair from her shoulders. “It doesn’t matter. I’m the one who seduced you.”
Erin arched a brow. “And here I thought it was the other way around.”
He snaked his arms around her waist and held her tighter. “You worked your tail off for this position, and Hooker Bambi is not going to take it from you.”
“Hooker Barbie,” she corrected.
Hooker Bambi, Hooker Barbie, the name didn’t matter. He knew her type all too well, had dealt with conniving women like her many times. He shook his head as he considered the situation a moment longer.
“I don’t believe Deanne has any plans to take this to the director. The information stored on the digital video recorder is highly confidential. If she’s tampered with it, or made copies”—he reached behind him, scooped up the copy she’d sent them, and held it up—“she’ll be implicating herself.”
“She could send it to him anonymously.”
“I don’t know how anonymous she thinks she can be. It is her job to record and log the responses from the digital data, isn’t it?”
“Regardless, even if she’s not bright enough to figure out she’ll go down with me, I don’t want a copy of this landing in the director’s hands. Or on the Internet.”
“I really don’t think that’s going to happen, Erin. Even on the net, it could be traced back to her. Trust me, I have dealt with her type many times. She’s bluffing. I’d bet my last dollar on it. But if it will help ease your concern, I’ll go to the lab and erase it from the hard drive.”
Incredulous, Erin lifted her eyes to his. She swallowed. “Really? You’d do that?” Her voice
