About a month earlier Henry had sent Jo to interview the mayor of Summit, the construction manager, and a member of the town council regarding a large low-income housing project that the town was putting up. Henry had said the project needed good PR, and the staff member that usually covered these types of events was out. After the interview, as Jo was walking back to her car, a construction worker had covertly pushed a piece of paper in her hand. Jo knew better than to look at it right there.
When she got far enough away from the site she pulled over and read the tiny slip of paper. All it said was ‘bad material.’ When she got home she did a little research using LexisNexis, a subscription site that gave her access to all forms of public documents. Jo didn’t see anything out of the ordinary, but she didn’t know much about the construction business either.
The next day Jo had spent hours putting together more research regarding construction and that particular project. She mentioned what she was working on to Henry and he encouraged her to ‘go for it’, however she had not had any more opportunities to do more research because Henry had kept her busy doing other fluff pieces that he insisted needed her writing skills. Then a week later she’d been laid off. During her final two weeks at the paper, Henry continued to keep her busy, so she had been unable to work on her new story.
Jo couldn’t believe the entire file was gone. There hadn’t been too much in it, but she did remember she had gotten her hands on the investor list. Jo sat back wondering what could have happened to everything. She had no idea when they were even taken.
Jo got up and turned on her computer. She rummaged through her files and found that her folder that was labeled Housing Project was empty. She couldn’t believe it. Someone had taken her hard copy files and wiped her computer files. Then Jo had a sickening thought. She backed up her work documents on her phone, not iCloud, but simply on a word application on her phone, and that had been stolen. Jo didn’t like what she was thinking. For most people this would have been scary and most importantly a major deterrent, but to BJ Ross it was a battle cry. She’d obviously been on to something, and someone didn’t want her to pursue the story.
Jo thought about the purse snatching and the paint thrown at her car wondering if it all three things could be connected. The only thing that didn’t make sense was that she hadn’t worked on the article in three weeks. Jo glanced at the clock and saw that it was 6:30pm. She closed her laptop and went in to change for her date. She put all thoughts of the lost files out of her mind. She was so ready for a good evening with Wes.
Chapter 11
Date night
Wes rang Jo’s bell at precisely 7:00pm. The door next to hers opened and Nick stepped out. Both men stood surveying each other before Jo opened her door.
“Hi Wes.” She said happily looking at her date. She then saw Nick. “Hi Nick."
“Hi Jo.” Wes handed her a bouquet of wild flowers.
“Oh my gosh I love these thank you.” She took the flowers from Wes.
“Wes this is my neighbor, Nick O’Malley.”
The men shook hands. They were the same height but Wes had more muscle packed on to his large frame than Nick did.
“Are you guys going out?” Nick asked.
“Yes, why?”
“Oh, no reason, have fun.” Wes watched Nick walk to his car on the street, before following Jo inside her home.
“Nice place.” Wes commented.
“Thanks. It's home.”
Jo put the flowers in a vase and placed the vase prominently on her kitchen counter. She plucked off a daisy and wove it through her bracelet so the flower sat right on top of it.
“That’s clever.” Wes said taking her hand in his. He looked at her handiwork then turned her hand over and kissed the underside of her wrist.
His simple kiss took her breath away. “My Mom taught Lou and me all sorts of crafty things like that. She was a hippy at heart.” Jo giggled. Wes liked hearing her laugh and how her face lit up when she smiled.
“Are you ready?” Wes asked.
Jo nodded and once again Wes put Jo in front of him and placed his large hand at the small of her back guiding her out the door. When she went to lock the house he took the key from her hand and did it for her. They walked to Wes’ Porsche and he opened the door for her before helping her to sit. As Wes walked to his door he surreptitiously surveyed the area. He was looking for the car that had been there the week before. Instead he saw Nick’s car parked down the road, hidden around the corner. He knew that he would personally be checking out Mr. Nick O’Malley.
Wes drove to a nearby town that was known as a Lake community. The area homes were posh and the ones that sat right on the large lake were multi-million dollar mansions. He pulled into a lot near the water and sprinted around the car quickly to open her door. He then extended his hand to her and as he’d done before, he gently pulled her to her feet and shut the door. This time however, he did not back up, and she found herself flush against his firm chest.
Jo gasped and Wes held her to him and tilted her chin up seductively.
“There is no way, sweet Jo, that I can sit through dinner without kissing those luscious lips of yours first. Do you mind?” His voice was gravelly and Jo dampened immediately.
Her response was to place her hand on the back of his neck, stretch up on to her tip-toes and pull his face down to her. Their lips met in a soft reunion. The kiss lasted for a good ten seconds, Jo clung to his strong shoulders and Wes’ hands spanned her hips holding her against him.
When they pulled apart Jo touched her lips with her fingertips and smiled up at Wes who was content simply touching and looking at her.
“You are so good at that.” Jo whispered.