Fair Game Read Online Free PDF

projects.”
    Kyle’s was the biggest, the most important. “I can pass on the other stuff, but I’d like to keep SMG. All the setup work is done, now it’s just coordination. And it’s local, so it shouldn’t be a problem. Giving it to someone else at this point would be counterproductive and mess up all the continuity.” She realized she was making too many excuses. Plain and simple, she wanted the project. It was her baby, the biggest opportunity to come her way. She couldn’t just give it away.
    “That’ll probably work,” Ernie agreed.
    “Cool.”
    She didn’t want to give up Kyle, either. Without allowing herself a moment to think, her gut said to keep him. It. The project. She didn’t know where the whole thing might be heading, but just as Kyle had said he didn’t want to miss a wonderful opportunity, she wasn’t ready to let go. Maybe it had something to do with the shock of Ernie’s leaving. The why of it, she’d think about later. Right now, she had a new skill set to learn.
    Of course, the three hours she was in Ernie’s office with the door closed raised plenty of eyebrows around the bullpen. An unnatural quiet settled over the cubicle area when she walked out at about four thirty. Whispers buzzed like angry hornets when Ernie locked his office door and left. Ernie never went home before five. She ignored the flashing question marks in the gazes of her coworkers. Ernie wanted to do the meeting tomorrow. It wasn’t her place to say anything today.
    She hadn’t had the courage to ask how his family was taking it. One thing she did know—Connor was a stand-up guy, and whatever the company could do to help Ernie and his family, Connor would get it done.
    Her first order of business was to let Kyle know her change in status wasn’t going to affect her dealings with his project. She didn’t want him to hear it on the grapevine and think she was giving him short shrift.
    It wasn’t an excuse to talk to him, of course. She’d give the same courtesy to any customer.
    He hadn’t returned her call before the end of her workday, which was normally somewhere close to seven if she wasn’t out at a project site. By staying late she could catch up on her spreadsheet work after most people had left for the day. Then she recalled the meeting Kyle had up in Santa Rosa, which was why they’d had to schedule their meeting in the San Francisco office. He probably hadn’t come back to work.
    Her cell phone rang on the way home. Stopped for a light, she glanced at the number and didn’t recognize it. That wasn’t unusual since she used the cell for work as well as personal and most of her minutes were work-related. Tapping her Bluetooth, she said hello.
    “Congratulations on the promotion.”
    Kyle. Her heart actually started to beat faster. “Thank you. The announcement will be made tomorrow, but I wanted to give you a heads-up.” She didn’t tell him why she’d gotten it. She couldn’t talk about Ernie now.
    “That was a big sigh. Something wrong?”
    She hadn’t even heard herself. “Everything’s fine.” Except that she felt like she had one foot on Ernie’s back when he was down. It wasn’t right. She couldn’t be happy with it. This time she managed to keep the sigh out of her voice. “I look forward to the challenge of the new position.”
    He waited a beat, as if deciding whether to let it go or not. “Since you’re not my program manager anymore, we can date.”
    Obviously he wasn’t willing to let go of the sex thing. She hadn’t anticipated the impact his voice would have on her over the phone, like buttercream frosting sliding over her tongue. Sweet, leaving her wanting to lick another dab off her fingers. She followed the flow of traffic through the light. “I said in my voice mail that I was still going to manage the project.”
    “No, you said that Castle was still going to provide the same level of expertise despite the change in management.”
    She wasn’t usually so