In My Life (3) (The Mile High Club) Read online

  In My Life

  By

  Jade Powers

  In My Life

  Copyright May 12, 2018 Jade Powers

  All rights reserved. Written permission from the author must be secured to use or reproduce any part of this book except for brief excerpts to provide critical review or articles.

  The characters and settings in this book are fictitious. Any resemblance to real persons or locations is coincidental.

  Certain images and/or photos on this page are the copyrighted property of 123RF Limited, their Contributors or Licensed Partners and are being used with permission under license. These images and/or photos may not be copied or downloaded without permission from 123RF

  Copyright: curaphotography / 123RF Stock Photo

  Table of Contents

  Title Page

  Copyright Page

  In My Life (The Mile High Club, #3)

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Author’s Note

  Excerpt from With My Soul | Chapter 1

  The Mile High Club

  The Mile High Club

  Book 1: In My Heart

  Book 2: On My Mind

  Book 3: In My Life

  Book 4: With My Soul

  Book 5: All My Strength

  Book 6: All My Passion

  Chapter 1

  ~~MIAMI, AUG 1998~~

  LAUREN WAS A KNOCKOUT in a business dress. She wore it like armor. The black mini-skirt cut just above her knees and showed off calves that were shapely and fit. The red tank top was plain but elegant, and the ruby necklace a perfect accent to the outfit. She wore a touch of mascara and neutral eye shadow. Her lipstick was glossy and shimmered in the light.

  If her suit was armor, her resume was a sharp sword, cutting opponents to pieces. If she could stomach working for the enemy, Lauren was assured that she would have this job.

  “Lauren Nuong?” Mr. Kendall, the Vice President of SpaceTech, called Lauren into the conference room for her final interview. She’d already blasted through the first two. It was hardly a challenge after working for one of the top experts in neuro-technology on a project with the kind of complexities that invited frustration, but also a level of reward that only problem solvers and puzzle seekers could understand.

  The pronunciation was off. Lauren swallowed her nerves and followed Mr. Kendall into the conference room.

  “You worked for Drake Ward?” Kendall asked, his eyebrow lifted just slightly over quizzical eyes that said he knew the man personally. That did not bode well for Lauren as her professional relationship with Drake had been hampered and eventually torpedoed by a turbulent personal relationship.

  “Yes. For five years,” Lauren said.

  “The Spokane branch. What really happened during the shooting?” Mr. Kendall watched Lauren like the judge in an Olympic ice skating competition, ready to critique a performance that had to be perfect. Those hawkish eyes were cold and eager. It put Lauren off and sent a chill down her spine.

  The question was intensely personal and more to the point, distasteful. Lauren suspected a rival company of setting up the attack. SpaceTech could have been just such a company. Worse still, she lost a close friend in one of the security guards. They were a small branch and she’d been there for years.

  Standing, Lauren said, “What happened in my former jobs is confidential. I’m sorry. I don’t think this opportunity is for me.”

  Lauren walked out the door without looking back. She was angry. The whole interview now felt like a set up to get information or to cackle privately over a coup. Striding past the receptionist and out the door, Lauren missed the conference door opening and Mr. Kendall watching.

  When the door closed behind the candidate, Vice President Kendall said, “Barb, please call the hotel where Ms. Nuong is staying. Leave the message that I would like to speak with her.”

  Barb picked up the phone to do his bidding.

  Pausing he said, “And Barb? Offer Lauren the job and tell her I can help her get revenge for her friends. She’ll know what I mean.”

  Barb had been in the military before working for SpaceTech. She knew how to keep her mouth shut and her ears open. She nodded, “Of course.”

  LAUREN SLAMMED HER hand down on the wheel of her rental car. Damn. The one nibble she’d gotten in weeks. She knew Drake wouldn’t black ball her. She knew it. Word got around in a small industry, and Drake shutting doors after his competition mysteriously lost all of their research in a fire didn’t sit well with any of them. If Lauren was going to work, she’d probably have to do it as a professor in some community college in the middle of nowhere.

  This was all Drake’s fault. Gritting her teeth, Lauren pulled into the hotel parking lot. She had paid for the hotel on her own dime. That and the airfare. So much for the job. Lauren planned to force herself to enjoy a vacation. Maybe she’d start with a trip to the beach. Her bikini was practically new.

  No one was more surprised than Lauren when she retrieved her messages. A job offer and revenge for her friends. So SpaceTech wasn’t the company behind the shootings. Lauren called SpaceTech from her room.

  “Ms. Nuong, I had hoped to hear from you. I’d like to offer you the job,” He rattled off a few numbers that Lauren countered. Soon enough, they came to an agreement. VP Kendall said, “Barb will email the formal offer. You mentioned that you could start in a week?”

  “Yes,” Lauren lowered herself to the bed. She smoothed the edge of her skirt. Her fingernails were a vivid red, elegant against the black.

  “Is there anything you would like to ask me?” VP Kendall asked. His voice held a hint of anticipation, eagerness.

  Lauren clicked her nails against her skirt, once, twice. No, this was not the time to blindly trust. Neither could she ask questions that would cost her the job. She said, “Not at this time. I believe I’ve asked all of the pertinent questions.”

  V.P. Kendall paused. The silence on the phone lengthened and still Lauren waited. Finally he said, “Did you receive my full message?”

  “What do you mean?” Lauren’s heart beat faster. He was going to bring up the shooting again. He was going to ask her if she wanted revenge. Hell, yes. She wanted revenge. The only question was where Kendall really stood in the deadly game.

  “Revenge, Ms. Nuong. There are only a handful of us in the industry. I know who is behind the kidnappings and attempts to undermine Drake. If you want more than a job, I’d like to have you at my side.”

  “You don’t know me. I’ve met you once. Why would you make such a strong claim on me?” Lauren wished she was on a wireless phone. The cord on the hotel phone didn’t let her pace, and right now her adrenaline was racing.

  “This is what I know about you. You held firm against threats to your family rather than divulge secrets that didn’t belong to you. In a tight industry and with little chance at another job in research, you were willing to walk away rather than share confidential information, even before you knew how much I might ask you to divulge. I will hire you either way, but when you come on your first day of work, if you want more, drop into my office at ten o-clock.”

  Lauren remembered the phone taps in Spokane. What Mr. Kendall left out was as important as what he said. She would just
have to find out on her starting day. She said, “That sounds good. I will be by your office to talk further, but please don’t take that as an agreement yet.”

  Overall it was a much better result than Lauren had expected. Pleased, Lauren gathered her beach gear, including a long towel and sunscreen. Slipping out of her business suit and into her indigo bikini, she put on a pair of shorts and a wrap. She wished her sister could have come with her. It was lonely going to the beach without anyone else.

  Sun lovers marked their place on the beach with towels, umbrellas, plastic toys for sand-castles, folding chairs, and flip-flops. Lauren’s towel was a huge pink monstrosity that her sister had bought for her when she was visiting in California. It was a bit of a joke, but Lauren truly loved the towel. It was darker and brighter than the Pepto-Bismol pink of a flamingo statue. Besides, it’s not like anyone she knew would see her.

  The sun was bright, the rolling sound of the ocean soothing. Lauren took off shorts and t-shirt and relaxed back on the towel in her bikini, letting the sun warm her body.

  A shadow fell across her face.

  Lauren opened her eyes.

  Standing between Lauren and the sun was the hottest guy she had ever seen. Not wanting to pant all over him, Lauren lifted an eyebrow and said, “You’re standing in my sunlight.”

  “May I join you?” His smile was only outclassed by his lovely tanned skin. That skin rose and fell in the most sculpted way. Not quite a body-builder, but he definitely worked out. His hair was white-blonde, and thick.

  “I don’t talk to strangers.” Lauren grinned when she said it. As serious as she was in her mind, it was hard to be grumpy with that thousand watt smile and magnificent body standing in front of her. Not that she was looking.

  “Lucas Roth. Now that we’re introduced, may I join you?”

  “It’s a public beach. I can’t tell you where to put your towel. That doesn’t mean I’ll talk to you. Name’s Lauren, by the way.” Lauren leaned back and closed her eyes. The intelligent part of her wished Lucas would go away. The lonely woman part wanted to laugh and joke and have Lucas ask her out on a date. To which she would probably say no.

  She heard him whip out his towel. From the sound, he was positioning himself about three feet away. That was a reasonable distance.

  “I have a confession.” Lucas hadn’t quite settled. Even with her eyes closed, Lauren could tell he was restless, not sure where to place himself.

  “I’m not a priest,” Lauren said, before he could continue.

  Lucas laughed, a low rumble that made Lauren’s insides feel like jelly. He said, “And I’m not a random stranger.”

  That freaked Lauren. Having worked in top secret companies, a non-chance encounter with a non-stranger was not appealing, no matter how cute he was. She opened her eyes and sat up, “What are you talking about? Who are you?”

  Fishing out his wallet with a sigh, Lucas handed it over, “I’m not scary. Really. I’m Lucas Roth. I work for General McFarland. He found out Drake had cut you loose and wanted to snap you up before anyone else could. Apparently, you’re hard to reach.”

  Emotions flitted through Lauren, anger, embarrassment, fear, more anger. When everything settled, Lauren decided anger would win. “You followed me to Miami? What right do you have? McFarland did reach out to me. I told him I wasn’t interested.”

  “He thought maybe you didn’t understand.”

  “Understand what? Are you threatening me?” Lauren stood up, her arms crossed, her taut body giving one single signal, and it wasn’t the one Lucas was hoping for. Lauren wasn’t stopping there. She said, “We had a chat. I told McFarland I wasn’t interested. I won’t roll over. If he comes after me, he’ll have a fight on his hands.”

  Lucas put his hands up in the air, his smile innocent enough to truly be innocent, which made Lauren trust it even less. He said, “Whoa. I’m not threatening or anything. I’m here to offer you a boatload of money to join our team. We know SpaceTech is courting you. McFarland thought you misunderstood the conversation, so he sent me to smooth things out.”

  Picking up her towel, t-shirt, shorts, and flip flops, Lauren said, “I didn’t misunderstand anything. You work for the low-life scum of the earth. Get out of my face.”

  Lauren stalked off, wishing she could stop to put on her wrap. It would have been a lot easier than carrying everything. She didn’t look back. If she had, she might have run. Suddenly Lucas was chasing after her like a puppy.

  “Wait! Come on. I don’t care if you accept the deal or not. At least let me take you out to lunch. I saw you give that talk at MIT last year. I’ve wanted to ask you out for ten months. It was my idea to bring you on board. I told my bosses about you last year. That’s why I’m here. At least give me a chance.”

  “I’m not working for McFarland,” Lauren said. She wondered if she stuck a leg out and tripped the guy, if he’d stay down or keep coming. Probably keep coming. Instead she started jogging down the beach.

  “How about dinner then? I’ll take you on a date and we’ll talk about nanotechnology,” Lucas ran alongside, easily. He was in better shape than Lauren, whose bikini body wasn’t bad. She took kickboxing and yoga classes every week, but she wasn’t a runner.

  “My work is confidential. Sorry.” Lauren stopped running. It wasn’t like she was getting away. This guy was in shape.

  “Seriously. I just want to go out. I’ll talk about my family, my hobbies, my ethics,” Lucas drifted off.

  Glancing to the side, Lauren watched Lucas, the muscles in his calves, not too bulging, but defined enough. His butt. She couldn’t linger there, but his thighs were nice, too. His back was smooth and while there wasn’t much one could say about a back, there was nothing off-putting about it. Had he not admitted to basically being a spy against her, she probably would have dated him.

  The real question was whether or not she should be honest. Lauren went for honesty and ended up blunt, “Look, I don’t date people who are spying on me.”

  “But I told you the truth. I could have lied.” Lucas said.

  “And you would have gotten a first date with the lie. Eventually I would have figured out the agenda and dumped you. Which I bet would have been within three dates.” They were almost to the concrete. Lauren dropped her flip flops, and pulled her wrap over her bikini. In one smooth motion, she was mostly dressed and walking toward the parking lot.

  “Fine. Here’s my card. I think you’re making a big mistake. If you end up needing help, you can call me,” Lucas handed Lauren his business card and turned back toward the beach.

  Lauren felt a moment’s disappointment. Somehow she had expected him to follow her all the way home. Of course, that would have creeped her out, and she would have liked him less for it. She watched as Lucas jogged back to his towel. Lauren thought he was just there to scope her out. She was surprised when he stretched out on the towel and put on a pair of sunglasses.

  One thing was certain. She would never call Lucas Roth, not if her life depended on it. At the hotel room Lauren tucked the card into one of the card slots in her checkbook. She told herself it was just in case she had trouble with more of McFarland’s lackeys. Lauren had dated plenty of liars. It was too much to hope that Lucas was actually telling the truth, even a bastardized version of it.

  LUCAS FOCUSED ON A ship on the horizon as he jogged away. No way did he want to turn around and check to see if Lauren was watching him. Initially he hadn’t intended to hit on his target. No one mentioned that Lauren was such a cutie. His job was to swoop in, offer Lauren the money, convince her that McFarland was the way to go, and swoop back out again. Had she not been so darn luscious in that bikini, Lucas might have pulled it off. Hard to say how much of her refusal was impulse because she didn’t like him personally and how much was her hatred of McFarland.

  Still, it wasn’t like him to screw things up so royally. He would give anything to see what she was doing now. Hopefully she was still watching him. It would be a low blow if she
had immediately turned away without even considering him.

  She didn’t even ask how much McFarland was offering. Lucas didn’t know if he was more perturbed that she had turned him down personally or that she had turned down an offer to work for General McFarland without even hearing how much he would pay. If she hated McFarland that much, he didn’t have a chance at a date.

  At least he had sun, sea, and sand. Closing his eyes, Lucas stretched out. It was too fine a day to be wasted on spy games.

  Chapter 2

  LAUREN MISSED THE SPOKANE gang. Following Stephanie Krauss from cubicle to cubicle as her new supervisor introduced the team was bad enough, but then Stephanie dragged Lauren into a conference room to watch a video on lab procedures and equipment. After procedures came the safety video. The day was wasting away and Lauren hadn’t even set foot in the lab. At least she had her own office, small but with a window that peered out over the parking lot and a trio of palms. She also had an empty bookcase. Someday she would sort out her books and bring some in.

  At nine-fifty Stephanie dropped in, “Are you ready for Kendall? Don’t let him intimidate you. He’s a nice guy, just intense.”

  Lauren wondered if they were talking about the same person. Of course, she wasn’t one to let anyone push her around, so maybe they were. She said, “Thanks. Yeah, I’m ready.”

  “He’s in 735. Just knock on the door. I’ll be in my office when you get back,” Stephanie said.

  Lauren found Kendall’s office in short order. A desk blocked access to Kendall’s inner office. His secretary waved Lauren in. “Just knock at the door.”

  Lauren wasn’t one to hesitate. She knocked on the door and pushed her way through when Kendall called for her. Kendall lived large. His office looked more like a suite. It had a huge picture window, two sofas, a desk with its own zip code, and a statue that might have been gaudy or modern depending on the person you asked.