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Kallie stormed out of J.B.’s office as if the hounds of hell were on her heels. In a way, they were. She snatched her purse out of her office and ran for the elevators. Once inside, Hank jumped in beside her just before the doors closed.
    “Kallie.”
    “Shut up.”
    “Please let me explain.”
    “Explain what Hank? That you’re a pathological liar?”
    “That’s not fair, Kallie.”
    “Life isn’t fair, Foley.” She glared at him, with eyes full of fury.
    “Kallie, please? I’ve explained about the book, my brother and my name, but you haven’t given me a chance to explain about the other night.”
    “What makes you think I care? It was no big deal, Hank. There’s no need for you to pour out another apology . It was fun but it’s over. Thanks for the great time. Now, kindly get out of this elevator.”
    “No.” Hank pushed the emergency stop button on the elevator control panel and stood in front of it, blocking it with his body. “You will listen to me. I have no idea what you think happened between us, but I can assure you it wasn’t just a ‘great time’ for me.”
    Kallie did her best to ignore him. Being trapped in an elevator with Hank would have held such appeal a few days ago. Now, it burned her ass! Who did he think he was?
    “Well what was ‘it’ then, Hank? Research for a book? Is that why you were in Tennessee? Was I some sort of escapade that will make it into your next novel? You really did follow me, didn’t you?” Kallie made a fist, ready to nail the sick bastard where he stood. One way or another she was getting out of that elevator.
    Hank held his hands up in front of him, “Whoa, Kallie. Settle down. Being in Tennessee at the same time you were was pure coincidence.”
    “I don’t believe in coincidences.”
    “Well, in my line of work, you learn to believe in a lot of things you never thought you would. Just listen to me. I went to Tennessee to visit the place my brother was killed. When I met you at the pool.” At her icy glare he said, “Okay, when I ruined your laptop…”
    “And e-reader.”
    “When I ruined your laptop and e-reader, I had just gotten back from the site. I hopped into the pool to work off the emotional pain. I really didn’t see you there. I swear I thought I was alone.”
    “You didn’t hear me screaming at you?”
    “I wear ear plugs when I swim,” he shrugged. “I have a tendency to get ear infections. So, no I didn’t hear you until I walked up to you.”
    Kallie relaxed a bit. “But what about the waterfall? You expect me to believe you didn’t follow me there?”
    Hank blushed and looked away for a moment. “Okay, yes I did follow you there, but…”
    “Creep!” He ducked as she swung at him.
    “But not for the reasons you think.” Kallie backed away and Hank uncovered his head, letting his arms fall to his sides. “I saw you head up the trail when I came off of another one. I thought I would take the chance to apologize the right way for breaking your stuff. Of course, that went horribly wrong, because I made you drop your phone into the river. Not one of my finer moments, I assure you.”
    He was telling the truth, Kallie knew it. “Why did you stand me up? I waited all night. Well, okay I only waited up until one. But that was after I drank an entire bottle of wine.”
    “When I got back to my cabin, I had a ton of phone calls from my lawyers and the police. After three hours on the phone back and forth, my lawyer said the police were willing to work out a deal but I had to come straight back here or they’d file charges for harassment and malice. They sent a state trooper to pick me up and escort me back to the city. I didn’t get a chance to tell you any of it. I was completely in self-preservation mode, Kallie. I just wanted to make this whole ‘Stanton Foley is a psycho’ thing go away. I could only hope you’d still be at your cabin when I returned. In fact, I was heading back to see you after I came here and