Revenge With Benefits

“Help,” she said. “Not rescue.”

“Zoe doesn’t strike me as a woman who needs to be rescued.”

“Yet you just said there was something tragic about her. It worries me after what happened with Kelly.”

It still bugged Ryan that he’d mishandled the situation with Kelly Briggs. Well, maybe mishandled wasn’t the best description for what had happened. He’d taken her at face value and failed to look below the surface for what had motivated her.

From the first Kelly had shown great promise, establishing herself as a clever and talented member of his team. She was also beautiful and if she hadn’t been his employee, he might’ve dated her. They’d had wonderful chemistry both professionally as well as personally. Several times he’d been tempted to cross the line, but he never had.

That wasn’t to say things didn’t get blurry from time to time. Especially after he’d discovered that Kelly’d had ongoing troubles with an ex-boyfriend who had refused to accept that they were done. Ryan hadn’t considered there might be repercussions when he’d come to her rescue one evening in the company parking lot. Or that he might be sending the wrong signals when he’d offered to help her out if the guy came around again.

“What happened with Kelly was a brief lapse in my judgment. And Zoe’s different. She’s wary and prickly. I think she’s been through something difficult and hasn’t fully healed.”

He had a hard time picturing Zoe as someone who was going to fall for him just because he was nice to her. No, if he wanted Zoe, he was going to have to work damned hard to get her.

“Do you think it’s a good idea to get involved with someone like that? Can’t you find someone uncomplicated to date?”

“Uncomplicated is boring.”

“As an old married woman who adores her husband and two darling children, I can tell you that uncomplicated is perfectly wonderful.”

“So much so that you decided to run for office? If you were as completely happy as you claim, then you’d be satisfied with your brilliant law career and perfect home life.”

She frowned at him. “That’s unfair. Being satisfied doesn’t mean you don’t want more. Part of being happy with my life is challenging myself and growing as a person. Running for office is part of that.”

A knock sounded and Ryan glanced around to see Gil standing in the open doorway. Susannah invited him in and he took the chair beside Ryan.

“What’s going on, Gil?” Susannah asked.

“What do you know about the woman you were talking to?” Gil asked Ryan.

“Zoe?” Ryan glanced at his sister to gauge her reaction and saw she was equally puzzled. “I don’t know anything about her. Why?”

“I was talking to Tonya and she says she’s getting a bad vibe off of her.”

“What sort of bad vibe?” Susannah asked, beating Ryan to the punch.

“She’s just been very evasive about her background and why she wants to work for the campaign.” Gil fixed his gaze on Susannah. “She showed up the day Abernathy announced he was running in this district. I just think the timing is suspicious.”

Ryan didn’t like what the campaign manager was insinuating. “Suspicious how?”

“What if Lyle sent her here to spy on us.”

“Seriously?” Ryan scoffed. “Does she look like a spy?”

“Of course not. That’s what makes her so perfect. Tanya said she used a PO Box for her home address and asked a lot of questions about everybody who works here. I think we should do more research on her before giving her anything that would tip our hand about our strategy.”

“You have to be kidding about this.” Yet even as he continued to argue, Ryan noted a shift in his attitude. His twin’s earlier concern that he was intrigued with Zoe reclaimed his attention. Was she another bad choice? Ryan hated that he continued to question his instincts. “Susannah, are you buying this conspiracy theory?”

Another way they were different was in her measured approach to all situations. Where Ryan tended to jump in and deal with the consequences later, Susannah waited, calculating all options before making a move. He liked to think they balanced each other out. She encouraged him to slow down. He persuaded her to follow her gut.

“You’re having dinner with her, aren’t you?” she asked him. “I agree with Gil that we need to learn a little bit more about her.”

To his dismay, Ryan noted an uptick in his own doubts. This campaign meant a great deal to Susannah. She was sacrificing a run at making partner at her law firm and taking time away from her family to chase her political dreams. If something like misplaced trust in a campaign volunteer created problems that led to her losing to a hack like Abernathy, she would be devastated.

“I like this woman,” he protested, knowing he would do everything in his power to protect his sister. “I’m not going to treat her like an enemy combatant.”

“You don’t have to go full-interrogation mode on her,” Susannah said with a mocking smile. “Just use that special Ryan Dailey charm of yours and get to know her better.” She arched an eyebrow.

“Fine, I will do my duty to the campaign and learn every single detail about her life.” He paused, noting that Gil didn’t look particularly happy with the exchange. “Why don’t you give me a copy of her information form and I’ll see what I can find out from Paul?”

Paul Watts, owner of Watts Cyber Security, had helped Ryan figure out who’d sabotaged his engineering firm to the tune of two and a half million dollars and had been instrumental in building a case against Kelly Briggs.

More importantly, he’d been Ryan’s best friend since kindergarten. A fascination with technology had sparked a friendship between the two boys and kept them tight as adults. In addition to growing up in the same neighborhood, they’d attended the same schools through college.

Despite their many similarities, each man had chosen a very different career. Ryan had started his own engineering firm while Paul had turned his back on his family’s shipping business, choosing a career in law enforcement instead. That had put him at odds with his father and brother, leading to bitter arguments and an estrangement that went back several years.

Unsure where he might find his friend at the moment, Ryan shot Paul a quick text, suggesting they meet for a drink. Paul was a self-proclaimed workaholic. Often he would get lost in his work and forget to eat and sleep. Things had gotten worse in the last year while he’d chased a gang of cyber thieves who had hacked one of his clients and stolen financial data on tens of thousands of their customers.

I’m home. Stop on by.

Ryan collected Zoe’s information form and headed to his car. He looked for her as he strolled through the campaign office, but she was already gone.

After making a couple quick stops, Ryan stood on Paul’s front porch armed with cold beer and a loaded pizza from D’Allesandro’s. Paul was barefoot and freshly showered when he answered the door, but despite his well-groomed appearance, he had dark circles beneath his forest-green eyes.

“Geez,” Ryan commented, shocked at his friend’s paleness. “Have you been getting any sleep?”

“I worked all night,” Paul muttered as he took the pizza and led the way into his kitchen.

“You do know it’s five in the afternoon.”

Paul set the box down and raked his fingers through his thick sandy-blond hair. He glanced at the clock on the microwave. “Is it?”

“I don’t even want to ask if you’re eating.” Ryan pushed aside his own issues for the moment so he could focus on his friend. He popped the top on one of the beers and handed it over. “How’s Grady doing?”

Grady Watts was Paul’s grandfather and one of his biggest influences in life. A man who worked hard and played harder, Grady had been in failing health over the last several years. And things had really gone downhill after he’d suffered a stroke a month ago that affected his speech and paralyzed his right side.

“It’s not looking good,” Paul replied, his manner grim. He braced his hand on the counter, took a long swig from the bottle and stared off into space. “He just doesn’t have the will to get better and I don’t know how to reach him.”

“Have you talked with your dad and brother about it?”

“What do you think?”

Ryan kept his opinion to himself. He loved his friend, but Paul had a black-and-white view of things that made compromise impossible. And although he’d never admit it, the way his family had refused to support his decision to join the police force had badly hurt him.

“That really sucks,” Ryan said. Maybe it was being a twin or the fact that his parents were so supportive of everything he’d done, but Ryan couldn’t imagine being estranged from any of his immediate family. “Is there anything I can do to help?”

A ghost of a smile crossed Paul’s lips. “You’re here with pizza and beer.”

Ryan winced. “Well, it’s not exactly an altruistic visit.” He pulled out the copy of Zoe’s information form and slid it along the marble-topped kitchen island toward his friend. “I have someone I need you to check out.”

“Who is she?”

“Someone who recently joined Susannah’s campaign and Gil is suspicious of her. He thinks she might be a spy for Lyle Abernathy.”

“Why would that matter?”

“Have you come up for air at all in the last few days?” Ryan asked, his tone split between amusement and frustration. “Abernathy has switched districts and entered the state senate race against Susannah.”

“I guess I heard something about it but didn’t put two and two together.” Paul grabbed a slice of pizza and took a bite while perusing the sheet of paper with Zoe’s information. “So what do you think is going on with Zoe Alston?”

“I’m reserving judgment.”

For a long moment Paul studied his friend. “Are you attracted to her?”

“Yes.”

“So is this really about your sister’s campaign or are you having me investigate her because of what happened with Kelly Briggs?”

“Maybe a little of both,” Ryan admitted, hating that he no longer trusted his gut when it came to women he was drawn to. “Look, there’s nothing wrong with erring on the side of caution. And I’m not the one who raised the alarm.”

While that was true, it was also the case that he wasn’t rushing to defend Zoe as innocent. Gil’s paranoia had aroused Ryan’s suspicions and they weren’t going away without concrete proof that she wasn’t a threat to Susannah.

“I’ll check into her,” Paul said. “Just promise me you’ll back off if I turn up anything.”

Ryan recalled the hit to his libido dealt by Zoe’s delectable scent, lean curves and full lips. Something about her put his senses on full alert and he doubted he’d be able to walk away without getting her into bed first.

“I’ll think about it,” he said, knowing he would do no such thing.

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