Double Dare by Karin Tabke Read Free Book Online

security guard to her office, and they watched silently as she cleared out her desk, grabbed her briefcase and purse, and almost ran from the building.
    It wasn’t until she was securely behind the locked door of the town car that she broke down and cried.

 
     
     
     
    ormally, Katy used a car service as her ride to and from work. Other times, she’d take the car to the club and, weather permitting, walk or jog home. Today she had planned to hit the club but instead asked the driver to simply drive around the city. For nearly an hour, she thought about what the hell had just happened in Room 526 of the Genomtec building.
    She didn’t know what hurt more—being accused of being a thief or a sexual predator. It was too surreal to be happening. Attempting to compartmentalize one over the other was proving to be too emotionally taxing. Other than the patent, and the two sexual harassment documents, she had no idea of what, if any, evidence there was against her. The only thing that kept her from completely losing it was the truth. And she would rely on the truth to set her free, but to do that she needed a sharp attorney, a woman. A barracuda. A woman who despised men as much as she was beginning to. Every damn man in her life had screwed her. Every. Single. One.
    Angry frustrated tears welled again. As she opened her briefcase to get the little packet of tissues she kept in there, Katy caught her breath.
    A small black velvet box with a sleek red silk bow was nestled amongst her papers. As she touched it, there was no denying the familiar scent of person who had last touched it and therefore placed it there. How would she categorize him? Her sexting partner? The man who made her come? AKA the sex guru, Captain Simon, the green-eyed cop.
    How did it get into her briefcase? She caught her breath again when she realized there was only one window of opportunity between last night and now—when she had left her office to face the four henchmen. Had he come by to see her? Her heart thumped against her chest. He
had
come to see her!
    She pulled the box from the case and slowly untied the red silk ribbon. Opening the lid, she stared perplexed at the two golden balls nestled side by side in black velvet. She picked one up and saw that they were attached by a silk string no more than six inches long. Okay, what were they, and why would Simon give these to her?
    She put them back in the box and closed it.
    Stupid questions to be asking herself. Instinctively she knew those balls had a sexual purpose and that Simon must have charmed his way into her office. She straightened.
    She’d told herself she wasn’t going to be the one to text first, but she should thank him for the golden balls. That’s what she told herself anyway. In reality, she was at the bottom of her emotional well and she needed a friend right now, and aside from Rosie—who she would eventually confide in—she had no one. Except Simon, who wasn’t really a friend. Not even a friend with benefits; he was just a benefit. But oddly, it was Simon’s comfort she yearned for at the moment, not his dick.
    Sliding her phone from her pocket, she texted, Hey.
    It wasn’t until the town car pulled up to her building that her phone pinged with a return text. Good morning.
    Hardly, yet her body responded warmly to Simon’s greeting. Depressed or not, she’d probably always respond to him. Despite her gloom-and-doom mood, Simon made Katy smile.
    It was on the tip of her fingers to spill the beans about what had happened in Room 526, but she didn’t. Simon wasn’t interested in her life, her career, or her feelings; he was only interested in what was beneath her lab coat and how he could get his hands on it.
    The driver opened her door, then ushered her to the front of her apartment building. “Thank you, Charlie,” she said.
    “Pick up same time tomorrow, Dr. Winslow?” he asked.
    “No, I’ll call you when I need you.” She turned to swipe her key card, and as