Double Dare by Karin Tabke Read Free Book Online Page B

have some stuff going on that I need to work through.
    Anything I can help with?
    No. But thank you.
    Did someone upset you?
    And then some.
    Whose ass do you want me to kick?
    Katy choked back a sob. No one had ever asked her that before. No one cared enough to. At that moment she lost a chunk of her heart to Simon. Sniffling back the sudden onslaught of tears, she texted through watery eyes. That’s sweet of you to offer, but this is something I have to handle myself.
    The offer stands.
    TY.
    Then she added xo because if he was there, she would hug him and kiss him for his thoughtfulness.
    She finished tying her laces, grabbed her key card and water bottle, dragged herself out to the street, forced herself to stretch, and ran.
    She ran through the Presidio, across the Golden Gate, and into Sausalito before she turned and headed back. For hours she pushed her body to the limit as she attempted to clear her mind, recreate events, and strategize her options. Her final conclusion? She was screwed. It was career suicide if she hung Evan out to dry by exposing his pictures, texts, e-mails or, God forbid, the details of their last night together. In her business, the good old boys ran the club and if word got out of her affair with Evan, it wouldn’t matter that he’d been the one cheating on his wife and lying to her. She’d be the laughingstock, no longer taken seriously, regardless of how brilliant her research proved to be.
    How ironic that in her occupation, the theft would be the more forgivable crime. She couldn’t fight to clear her name on the theft without Evan parading their night of debauchery at the San Diego symposium before an entire courtroom! It wouldn’t matter in their good old boys world that the respected Dr. Evan Scott was the instigating and very willing participant of a ménage. What would matter was that she, a female scientist, had indulged in such a tawdry incident and would forever be branded Dr. Slut, and with that brand, her credibility would be shot. She’d never be taken seriously again.
    It made her sick to her stomach that she might have to give up everything she had worked so hard for because of a spiteful man she had trusted.
    Having walked out her run, Katy slowly made her way back to her apartment. A normal person would have been solely focused on fighting the corporation, and the men who spearheaded it, that wanted to shut her down, but Katy was not normal; maybe that was part of her problem. Because as much as she was furious over what happened this morning, and the potential loss of everything she had worked for, it was another man that occupied her head space, and he gave her cause to sigh, which in and of itself presented a whole ’nother set of woes. One guy had screwed her into a corner and the other one wanted to screw her every which way but loose.
    As she set her empty water bottle down on the table, Katy remembered the black velvet box. Retrieving it from her briefcase, she walked down the hall to Rosie’s place and knocked on the door. A minute later, a sweaty, heavy-breathing Rosie answered the door.
    “Katy, come in, I’m almost done with my Tae Bo.”
    Shaking her head, Katy followed Rosie into the retro apartment. It was like walking onto a
Laugh-In
set.
    Rosie must have sensed something was wrong because she hit pause on her DVD. “What’s up, buttercup?” she asked Katy as she threw a towel around her neck, dabbing at her flushed cheeks.
    Katy opened the box and shoved it under Rosie’s nose. “What are these and what am I supposed to do with them?”
    Rosie looked inside and smiled. “Those are a lovely set of Ben Wa balls. Whoever gave them to you has very nice and very expensive taste. Those look like they’re gold.”
    “How do you know someone gave them to me?”
    “Because you sure as hell didn’t go out and buy them yourself,” Rosie chortled, “especially if you don’t know what they are!”
    Katy’s eyes narrowed. “What am I supposed to do