Monahan 02 Artificial Intentions Read Online Free

their board meetings, and the one scheduled for the following week, in New York, was planned to be a regular, run-of-the-mill, quarterly meeting. The agenda he had prepared for the meeting contained all of the standard stuff: approval of the minutes of the last meeting; review and approval of quarterly financial statements and the 10-Q; five-year forecasts; executive bonuses, etc., etc. The meeting was scheduled for early Wednesday morning, so Cleve flew out late Tuesday night. We had booked him a hotel in Manhattan, near the Phoenix offices.
    Feelings of deja vu overwhelmed me as I worked on the file before the meeting. They weren’t good feelings but I brushed them aside, trying to re-establish the feelings of excitement I used to have whenever I worked on the file. All I could remember though was feeling like a failure because when my marriage fell apart, I left Scapelli’s for good and had my mid-life crisis, early. I had worked temp for a while, hopping from job to job, trying to overcome the depression.
    The day before he left for the board meetings in New York, Cleve had asked me to call Tommy and speak to him about the agenda and any last minute changes. Tommy was in a meeting and I ended up speaking with his secretary, Carrie.
    “Tell him it’s Kate Monahan at Cleve Johnston’s office. Cleve needs to know if there have been any last minute changes to the agenda.”
    “I’ll give him the message,” she said. “And Kate?” She hesitated for a moment.
    “Yeah.”
    “He’ll be pleasantly surprised to find out you’re working with Mr. Johnston.”
    “Pleasantly surprised?” It was the first time I had spoken to anyone at Phoenix since I started with Cleve.
    “He speaks fondly and very highly of you.” Her manner of speech was somewhat stilted, and I pictured an older woman, sitting primly at her desk with her steno pad centered on her blotter with a sharpened pencil at the ready.
    “Uh, thank you. Did Mr. Johnston not mention that I was working with him?” I knew this was going to be awkward and when she had said Tommy was in a meeting, I had been glad not to have to speak with him.
    “Not that I’m aware of. Thank you for calling and I’ll make sure Mr. Connaught gets the message.”
    When I returned from lunch later, there was a message on my voicemail from Tommy. It made me blush.
    “Kate, Kate, Kate. Surprise, surprise, surprise. I couldn’t believe it when my secretary told me you were working with Cleve. That’s great news.” There was a long pause in the message and I was about to hang up when he spoke again. “Come to New York for the meeting. We could renew old acquaintances.” He chuckled into the phone. “Call me back.”
    He’d finished the message speaking in that soft, sexy voice that I remembered so well. I quickly hung up the phone and buried my head in the filing cabinet while I waited for my face to return to its original colour. I didn’t tell Cleve about the phone call because I had no intention of going to New York.
    Cleve called exactly at five the next day.
    “Checking up on me?” I teased him.
    “Uh no,” he said, sounding distracted.
    “Why are you calling? You’re supposed to be on a plane. Did you miss it?” I had booked him on a 4:00 p.m. flight out because the board meeting had been scheduled to finish by 2:00.
    “No. I’m still at Phoenix’s offices. Listen, Kate. Are there any messages for me?” I heard voices in the background.
    “Nope. Want me to check your voice mail?” I offered.
    “No. I already did. Tommy didn’t call?”
    “Tommy? Isn’t he there with you?”
    “Just a sec.” Muffled sounds came through the phone and then he was back on the phone. “Thanks,” was all he said. Then he hung up the phone.
    I couldn’t believe what had just happened and I stared at the receiver when the dial tone started. My fingers flew as I punched in the phone number at Phoenix’s offices. I asked for Tommy’s secretary.
    A voice that I didn’t