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“Thanks.”

  After she swiped her cheeks, she asked, “While I think I know how you’re doing emotionally, how are you doing physically after your injury?”

  I tapped my shrapnel-scarred leg. “It still gives me some trouble from time to time, especially when I push myself too hard during a run or a workout. It also hurts a bit when I’m sitting at my desk for too long.”

  “I’m sorry.” Isabel immediately winced. “I’m sure that sounds completely lame. I don’t even know the right thing to say in a situation like this.”

  Most people don’t. “It’s okay. I appreciate the sentiment.”

  “What was it like?”

  “Getting bombed?” When she nodded, I sucked in a harsh breath. No one had ever asked me that—no one wanted to know. After a few moments searching for the right words, I replied, “Intense.”

  She shook her head. “I can’t even imagine.”

  “It’s strange because it seemed to occur both fast and slow, like time slowed down for a minute and then sped up. One minute we were just rolling along on this desert road, and the next minute this sound was busting my eardrums. Even though I’d been through training on how to handle myself and my unit, nothing can ever fully prepare you for the rush of that moment.”

  “Not to mention you sustained injuries as well.”

  “It must’ve been the adrenaline because after the initial pain, I don’t remember hurting any more. I just remember jumping into action to make sure everyone was okay and we weren’t about to come under any enemy fire. The only reason I stopped was because my leg finally gave out, and I literally collapsed.”

  “Were you scared?” she questioned softly.

  I stared intently at her. Because of the relationship we had, I felt I owed it to Isabel not to bullshit her, and for the first time, I felt I could talk about my experiences, even though I wasn’t sure why. “Hell yeah I was scared. In the moment, I think I was more scared for my men than I was for myself, but when the medivac arrived to fly me out, I started to worry I might not make it. I started thinking of all the things I hadn’t achieved yet, how hard it would be on my parents and siblings if I died.” I glanced out the window. “I guess it was all the typical things that rush through your mind when you’re staring death in the eyes.”

  At the sound of a sniffle, I jerked my gaze back to Isabel. Oh hell. She was crying—like, her chest heaved as mascara-blackened tears streaked down her cheeks. I threw a panicked glance around to make sure no one was staring at us—or more importantly, to see if they were staring accusingly at me like I was a villain who’d made her cry. Thankfully, no one was even looking our way.

  Warily, I focused my attention back on Isabel. I could lead a company of men through a warzone, but I was fucking clueless when it came to female emotions. I reached up to loosen my tie, which seemed excessively tight at the moment. “Isabel, are you okay?”

  Shaking her head, she dabbed her eyes with her napkin. “No, I’m not.”

  “Was it something I said?” That simple question revved up the waterworks. Jesus, I was worse at this comforting thing than I thought. Shifting in my seat, I cleared my throat. “Look, I know we haven’t had the easiest relationship so far, but I’m genuinely concerned about you at the moment.”

  “You won’t be once I tell you what’s wrong.”

  “I doubt that.”

  “Trust me on this one.”

  As her chest heaved several more times, I reached out to take her hand. “Will you please just tell me what it is?”

  She stared from my hand back up to me. “You’re going to hate me,” she whispered.

  “I highly doubt that.” I squeezed her fingers. “Come on, don’t leave me in suspense any longer.”

  “I’ve been sabotaging you at work.”

  I blinked at her. “Excuse me?”

  “Surely you of all people know what the word sabotage means.”

  “Of course I know what it means—I just don’t know what the hell it has to do with the two of us and work.”

  “Fine, let me spell it out for you: I’ve been trying to make you fail at your job so the powers that be would move you to another department and I could have the job as vice president.”

  After everything I’d been through in life, it took a lot to shock me, but there in the booth at Rafferty’s, you could consider me absolutely fucking gobsmacked. “You’ve been sabotaging me,” I repeated.

  “Yes.”

  “But how?”

  “Remember that day you lost all your work in Excel?”

  “Yeah…”

  She pinched her eyes shut as if she were in tremendous pain. “I deleted your work and then resaved it.”

  I sucked in a breath. “You didn’t.”

  “Yes, I’m afraid I did.” Her eyes opened, and she stared sadly at me. “But that’s not the worst thing.”

  “There’s more?”

  “Oh yes…much more.” She swallowed hard. “That porn website during the presentation? I knew that was going to happen.”

  My mouth fell open in shock. “You did?”

  She nodded. “When you decided not to check the analysts’ work, I went through everything to make sure it was okay. I saw that the site pulled up cocks instead of coccyx, but I decided to leave it in there to punish you for not taking things as seriously as you should have.”

  Never in a million years would I ever have pegged Isabel for being so underhanded. Of course, at the same time, I couldn’t blame her for doing what she’d done. It was pure and simple sloppiness in my work ethic that I hadn’t checked the files. She had every reason to let me burn in front of the investor.

  In my silence, Isabel added, “I know it’s terrible. I should’ve taken it out the moment I saw it. I’m so very, very sorry.”

  “While it was epically shitty of you to delete my work, I can see your point in leaving the error in the file. A good vice president ensures that the best possible product is put forth before investors.”

  Isabel blinked at me in surprise. “Really?”

  “Yes, really.”

  She shook her head. “While that might be true, you won’t be so understanding when I tell you what else I did.”

  “There’s more?”

  “Yes, something horrible.”

  Although she was a spitfire, I couldn’t imagine her doing anything truly terrible. “Okay, tell me.”

  An agonized expression flashed across her face before she frantically shook her head back and forth. “No…I can’t.”

  “Come on, Isabel. Since when are you afraid of anything?” I countered.

  “Fine,” she huffed before drawing her shoulders back. “Last week when you got sick and had to miss the dinner meeting?”

  “Uh huh,” I replied.

  “That was me.”

  “How could that possibly have been you?”

  “When you were such a dick about me getting you coffee, I wanted to punish you. After I realized I had some dog laxatives with me, I dropped two in your coffee.”

  “Holy shit.” Okay, I take back what I previously said: apparently Isabel could be epically vindictive when it came down to it. I couldn’t fathom that she would ever do something vile. It seemed to go against every facet of her character. “I can’t believe it.”

  In an anguished whisper, she replied, “I can’t believe I did it either.”

  As I sat there staring in disbelief, a battle raged within me. On one hand, I was ready to storm out of Rafferty’s and immediately go to human resources to report her. Attacking me professionally was one thing, but Jesus, she’d attacked me personally when she’d put dog laxatives in my drink. She deserved to face the music for what she had done.

  But then I started thinking about all the horrible things I had said and done to her since coming to work at the Callahan Corporation. I had never spoken to or treated another female so deplorably. It wasn’t how I’d been raised, it wasn’t how I served in the military, and it wasn’t acceptable, not to mention
the fact that I’d taken the position she’d spent years working her ass off for. My perfect plan of being an asshole to turn her off had instead backfired against me. I’d forced her hand, causing her to retaliate. I’d seen it all before in the military.

  Fresh tears glistened in Isabel’s eyes. “You served our country honorably, Thorn. You had to leave the job you loved. You saw friends die and were injured. And me? I’m pissy that I didn’t get the job I wanted. I’m a horrible person. I just want you to know, you don’t have to turn me in to HR—I’ll resign myself.”

  When she started bawling again, a laugh bellowed out of my chest, one that surprised the hell out of both Isabel and myself. I mean, it was one thing to see Isabel as a crying drunk, but when you added in all the petty shit she’d been doing, I suddenly found it fucking hilarious.

  “You think this is funny?” she hiccupped.

  “Yeah, I do.”

  “You have a weird sense of a humor.”

  “Come on, Flannery—when you really stop to think about it, you sabotaging me is a freaking riot.”

  “You’re not mad?”

  “Of course I’m mad—I’m fucking livid, but at the same time, I guess I can understand why you did the things you did.”

  She shook her head. “Regardless of what you did to me, there is still no excuse for sabotaging you.” With a sniffle, she added, “I’m morally and ethically bankrupt.”

  “No, you’re not.”

  “Yes, I am. My whole life, I’ve never cheated to get ahead. I’ve always played by the rules. Now I’ve completely debased my character.”

  “You did a few dirty deeds to your bastard boss. It’s not like you put out a hit on me.” I cocked a brow. “Did you?”

  Isabel stared at me in horror. “Of course not. I never wanted to hurt you physically—I just wanted to make you look bad at your job so they’d transfer you somewhere else.”

  “I’d say that statement isn’t entirely true if you were willing to feed me dog laxatives.”

  She grimaced. “I really don’t know what came over me. It’s truly horrible, and I’m so very, very sorry.”

  “If there’s anything I’ve learned from this, it’s to not rely on anyone else to get me coffee or food.”

  “I don’t blame you.” After she swiped her nose with her napkin, she gave me a tentative look. “Do you think you can ever forgive me?”

  “Do you truly want my forgiveness, or are you just afraid I’m going to report you?”

  “I won’t lie and say I don’t fear the repercussions of HR, but I hope you believe me when I say I want your forgiveness from the bottom of my heart.”

  After gazing at her for a moment, I realized she was sincere. I also knew her well enough to know she spoke the truth. She had merely been retaliating against my shitty behavior.

  “I propose this: let’s put the past behind us. I’ll no longer be Thorn, the epic asshole, and you’ll no longer be Isabel, the epic saboteur.”

  The corners of her lips quirked up. “Really?”

  “Yes, really.”

  “I concur, and for the record, I’d like to note that I stopped doing any underhand deeds after what happened to you with the dog laxatives.”

  I laughed. “I’m glad to hear I don’t have to check for any booby traps or other forms of ill will when I get back to the office.”

  “Nope. Everything is cool.”

  “And us? Can we be cool?”

  “I’d like that a lot,” Isabel replied.

  “Normally I would suggest we drink to commemorate our new peace treaty, but I think it’s safe to say you’ve had enough.”

  Isabel giggled. “What gave me away? The hysterical crying or confessing all my sins?”

  “It was a little of both.”

  “For future reference, don’t ever let me have more than one vodka orange, even if I’ve had a big meal.”

  “I’ll try to remember that.”

  Tilting her head at me, Isabel said, “Instead of a toast, we could always shake hands.”

  “That sounds like a good idea.” I extended mine across the table. “Here’s to working together for the greater good of both our careers as well as the good of the Callahan Corporation.”

  Isabel slid her palm against mine. “I wholeheartedly agree.” As we shook hands, she gave me a sly look. “Since we’re noting things for the record, I’d like to add one more thing.”

  “And what’s that?”

  “I was also attracted to you.”

  Holy. Fucking. Shit. Isabel was attracted to me. Wait, was that just the past tense, or did she still feel that way?

  Just as I started to ask for clarification, she jerked her hand from mine as her eyes widened in horror. “Oh God, I think I’m going to be sick.”

  With that statement, she bolted from the table. I hoped it was the excessive alcohol mixed with the cheese fries and not her declaration about my attractiveness that had made her nauseous. Pulling my wallet out of my jacket pocket, I tossed a hundred on the table. As I rose out of my chair, Ty appeared at my side.

  “Everything okay?”

  “Well, we reached a truce in our relationship with each other.”

  “That’s good.”

  “And then she told me she was attracted to me.”

  Ty’s face lit up. “No shit.”

  “Don’t get too excited—she just ran off to puke.”

  “You really know how to sweet-talk them, don’t you?” Ty joked.

  “Oh yeah, I’m a total ladies’ man.”

  Chapter Fifteen: Thorn

  Since Isabel and I never made it back to work after our cathartic evening at Rafferty’s, I ended up heading to the office at seven the next morning. After grabbing some breakfast from one of the food trucks, I buried my head in my computer and didn’t look up for the next couple of hours. I was just making headway when my phone buzzed.

  “Mr. Callahan, Ms. Flannery is here to see you.”

  I glanced up from the computer to stare at the phone in surprise. Damn. Had I forgotten we were supposed to meet this morning? So much for having my shit together. “Does she have an appointment with me?” I asked tentatively.

  “No, sir. She just said there’s something she’d like to speak to you about.”

  Exhaling a relieved breath, I replied, “Send her in.”

  After saving my work, I rose out of my desk chair and started across the office. The door opened to a reveal a much fresher and more put-together-looking Isabel than I’d last seen. From her determined gait, I couldn’t help but be intrigued.

  When she smiled at me, warmth radiated in my chest, which immediately made me feel like a giant dope. There I was, a thirty-one-year-old man getting all giddy like a teenage boy just because my crush smiled at me. I was seriously hopeless.

  “I hope I’m not interrupting anything, Mr. Callahan.”

  “Mr. Callahan?” I cocked my head at her. “It was my understanding that after I held your hair back for you to throw up, we had moved past unnecessary formalities.”

  A flush entered her cheeks, and I was sure she was remembering what had happened the night before. Just before we got in the car to go home, Isabel had gotten sick again. With only a trashcan in sight, I’d been a knight in shining armor by holding her hair back. “We did. It’s just…I wasn’t sure if the informalities of an informal dinner correlated to the workplace.”

  “Considering how you also saw me yesterday evening, I think we’re good to go.”

  “For the record, I’d once again like to apologize for throwing up.” She shuddered. “I’m pretty sure I haven’t thrown up in a trashcan on the street since I was in college.”

  I laughed. “I’m pretty sure we all have an incident with a trashcan on the street from our younger days.”

  “True, but I would have much preferred to leave those memories in the past. It certainly was an epically mortifying moment to end an embarrassing evening.”

  “It’s okay.” Sensing we needed a sub
ject change, I asked, “Now what is it you wanted to see me about?”

  “Yes, about that.” After licking her lips nervously, Isabel began pacing around in front of me. I hadn’t ever seen her so unhinged. “In spite of the alcohol I consumed, I didn’t get a lot of sleep last night.”

  “Please don’t tell me you were afraid I was going to report you to HR.”

  A nervous laugh bubbled from her lips. “No, that’s not what kept me up.”

  “Then what was it?”

  “I was thinking about ways I could atone for some of the underhanded things I did to you.”

  At the idea of atonement, my mind did a nosedive straight into the gutter. I immediately imagined that Isabel had come to offer herself as a token of repentance. Even though I shouldn’t have imagined it, I was more than happy for her to work a little sexual healing on me.

  I cleared my throat, which had run dry. “You want to atone for your sins?”

  “Very much so.”

  “Last time I checked, I wasn’t a priest, so I’m not sure how you can atone outside of confession.”

  She laughed. “Considering I’m Baptist, confession isn’t really in my wheelhouse.”

  “I see. What did you have in mind?”

  “If you’ll come to my office, I have a present for you.”

  I was hoping to get down and dirty in my office, but what the hell. A change of scenery wasn’t too bad. Of course, I would have preferred taking her back to my apartment or to a hotel to ensure we had enough privacy.

  “Fine. Lead the way.”

  Isabel appeared both energized and nervous at my declaration. As I followed her down the hall, my mind was assaulted with so many different fantasies. When we reached her door, I licked my lips in anticipation. The moment I stepped inside, I did a double take. Sitting in her desk chair like he owned the world was a dog.

  “What in the hell is that?”

  “That’s a dog.”

  I rolled my eyes. “Yes, I’m aware of that.”

  “He’s a Belgian Malinois,” she pronounced.

  “While that wasn’t my next question, it’s good to know.”

  “Ah, I get it—you’re wondering what he’s doing here, or more precisely, you’re wondering what the hell he has to do with my atonement,” Isabel said.