Her Unexpected Admirer (8 page)

“So we’re agreed.  We’ll maintain a professional relationship.  I’m here to help you find a criminal and you’re going to…”  The plane had landed in Denver and the two of them were walking across the tarmac towards the waiting limousine where a uniformed driver was waiting with the door open.  She’d stopped because she didn’t completely understand what Davis’ company did.  He was the head honcho, she understood that plainly enough.  And she grasped that he was brilliant and disgustingly wealthy.  But beyond that, she was clueless. 

“No,” he stated firmly, walking right beside her and keeping a hand on the small of her back.  “You’re going to try and pretend that we only have a professional relationship.  I’m going to do everything in my power to make you understand that we have more than that.”  He nodded for her to step into the back of the waiting limousine, his eyes looking down at her with a challenging light. 

Her lips compressed but she had no choice.  She could either go back to Boston and admit to her father what she’d done, or get into the car and finish this task to the best of her abilities.  “We’re not having sex,” she stated emphatically before she stepped into the car.  And she felt very proud for having the last word.  Her goal of not talking to him about this issue was helped by the ringing of his cell phone, which seemed to be her savior lately. 

She admired him for his conscientious attitude towards work.  And she thoroughly enjoyed listening to him speak in French about some oil prices or chemicals…her high school French really wasn’t up to the challenge of translating his conversation.  He was so professional, so succinct.  He didn’t let emotions get in the way of business. 

She wanted to be just like him.  She had to be professional and courteous but keep her distance.  Her father would expect nothing less of her.  She had to do this!

He finally got off the phone and slid it back into the pocket of his dark suit.  She turned slightly towards him, away from the amazing view of the Denver landscape with the tall mountains in the distance.  “What’s in Denver?” she asked, clearing her throat and trying to focus on the numbers. 

“Horses. Mountains.  Lots of people,” he teased, watching her head snap up and her eyes flash with anger.  “Okay,” he chuckled, and relented – explaining his business and how each of the cities were chosen for their location and the various advantageous characteristics of that location. 

When he was finished, she felt as if her mind was spinning.  The intricacies of each city’s purpose were well thought out.  He’d really done his research before he established each area of expertise.  “Impressive,” she replied, wishing she could be so logical.  Her paintings were never logical, she thought.  They were usually shockingly unruly, and mirrored her feelings at the time of creation.  She didn’t understand things until she’d painted them and worked small pictures or objects into the canvas.  But the discipline of painting, of figuring out which piece of the chaotic thoughts swirling through her mind needed to be painted first, was always thoroughly enjoyable and challenging.  She wanted to talk to him about that, to compare her painting technique to his business decision making process but bit back the possibility.  Her painting was not something she shared with anyone, especially not a client that might say something to her father.  That man would be livid if he heard that she was still painting.  He’d always told her it was a waste of time and money. 

Davis saw something strange light up her eyes and thought about asking her about it, but it was too soon.  She needed to trust him before she would share what might be going on in her head.  “Thank you.  So where are you going to start first?” he asked.

Kate thought back to her forensic accounting classes, trying to remember what she should do first and the process she should take to unhide the secrets of his accounting system.  “Well, since this is my first location, why don’t I go through the numbers and establish the patterns?  Once I know those patterns, I can find places where the pattern doesn’t fit.”

He nodded his head, agreeing with her.  “Sounds good.  We’re here.”

He led her through the office and Kate controlled her surprised expression at how everyone jumped, stammered and dropped things when they saw Davis.  It was more than just his startling size and shocking good looks.  She saw fear in their eyes!  Looking up at him, she understood that as well.  He was different right now, more stern and tough looking.  All the tenderness he’d shown her last night was gone, replaced by the businessman who had made billions with his intellect. 

Davis introduced Kate to his accounting department head for the Denver office, explaining that she was doing a special project for him and should have access to any information she might request.  The department head, Marcy Shuttleman, was startled to even be speaking with the CEO of her company, but she nodded her head, agreeing to provide any information Kate might request. 

For the next four hours, Kate listened to Marcy explain the accounting procedures.  Then Kate was placed in a room with a computer and lots of files.  There were stacks of them, surrounding her and blocking her in.  She took several deep breaths, trying not to become overwhelmed by the task ahead of her.  Just one bite at a time, she told herself, thinking of eating a bear.  Just one bite at a time. 

She wasn’t exactly sure where to start and thought about calling her father.  But what if she figured it out for herself?  What if she were able to start the process and he might be proud of her when she called to check in tonight? 

Eyeing all of the stacks of files, she decided that she was going to tough it out for herself.  She'd taken the classes, she knew what to do.  It was just a matter of getting into the details and figuring out all the pieces. 

So she attacked the first stack of invoices just like she would one of her larger canvases.  It was slightly intimidating to stand in front of a completely blank, new canvas, especially with so many thoughts rushing around in her mind.  This was just like it, but with files of invoices instead of a canvas, she told herself. 

Yep.  She was going to figure this one out on her own and her father would have to give her some kudos. 

So instead of giving in to the feeling of being overwhelmed, she took a deep breath and took the first file off of the stack.  One after the other, she went through the files and eventually, she understood this office’s process.  It should be the same across the company, but since humans ran the process and not robots, everything would have a slightly different flavor wherever she went.

By six o’clock that night, she felt like she was in a groove. She could pull a file off of the stack and line up the costs with the data on the spreadsheets.  Kate was pretty proud of herself, but she still hadn’t found any evidence of embezzlement.  Everything looked pretty normal. 

“You’re still going at it?” a strange voice asked from behind her. 

Kate glanced around, trying to find the source of the voice. It wasn’t Davis, of that she was sure.  Davis’ voice was deep and sexy.  This one was obviously male, but not nearly as deep.  Nor did it make her toes curl with desire, like Davis’ voice always did. 

She smiled up at the younger man who was standing in the doorway.  “Hello.”

The man smiled and stepped closer, extending his hand.  “I’m Tom.  I work in the accounting department with Marcy.”

Kate dropped her pencil onto the desk and turned around to shake Tom’s hand.  “Kate,” she replied. “How are you Tom?”

He flushed when she smiled, shifting nervously on his feet.  “I’m good,” he said, blowing out a bit of air and looking more nervous than when he’d first stepped into the office.  “Well, I was just wondering…” he blushed and his hand came up to wave his statement aside, “actually, all of us were wondering if you wanted to join us for a drink.”

Kate blinked, not sure what he was asking.  The people in her office back in Boston regularly went out for happy hour to the bar across the street but she’d never been invited.  She’d always been left back at the office, hearing the groups of people hurry out of the office, happily talking about “relaxing with a beer” or some other sort of drink. 

“A drink?” she asked, trying to clarify. 

Tom shifted again, sliding his hands into his pockets.  “Yeah.  It’s just a small group.  But you’re here late.  And none of us really have anything to go back home to.  All the married people have already left for the day but we’re just sort of hanging out.  And we’re going across the street.”  He looked around at the stacks of files, just noticing them for some reason.  “But if you’re too busy, I understand.  I’ll just let the rest of the group…”

Kate heard him backing out of the invitation and jumped to stop him. “No!  Really, a drink would be nice,” she said hurriedly.  The thought occurred to her that Davis might be looking for her after work, but he hadn’t said anything to her.  It was after six o’clock and if he’d wanted to speak with her, he should have said something.  She ignored the sharp pang of disappointment at that realization and brightened her smile towards Tom. 

Tom’s eyes widened with surprise.  “Really?” he gushed.  “Well…um…yeah, that would be fun.  What time are you going to pack up here and call it a night?”

Kate looked around at the stacks.  She could go for a drink and then come back to get more work done.  Or maybe she could just bring some of the work back to the hotel.  It suddenly occurred to her that she actually had no idea where she would be staying tonight.  She’d left her suitcase on the plane, too intent on letting Davis know that they wouldn’t be having a physical relationship to worry about anything other than getting her point across. 

It was a very odd sensation to not know where one would be sleeping.  Perhaps he thought she would be getting her own hotel room.  Wow, she really didn’t understand how this kind of project worked.  The devil was in the details, her father always said.  She should have asked about hotels back in Boston. 

“How about if I just finish up this one issue and I’ll meet you guys over at the restaurant?  You said it was just across the street, right?”

Tom’s cheeks and forehead flushed and he stuffed his hands into the pockets of his jeans.  “Yeah.  So far, there’s only a few of us and we usually get a table in the back of the bar area.” He shuffled his feet again for a moment. “Okay, well, then I guess we’ll see you over there in a few minutes.  Whenever you’re ready.  No rush.”  A moment later, he was gone.

Kate smiled at the man, thinking he was sweet.  But her next thought compared Davis’ tall, muscular body to Tom’s pale, shorter and much less muscular frame.  Poor Tom, she thought.  Then a moment later, she sighed and thought “poor Kate” since no man would ever measure up to Davis’ amazing physique. 

She hurried through her last few issues to match up and, when she came to a logical stopping point, she shut down her laptop.  Grabbing her purse and her computer, she walked out of the office.  She felt a bit awkward with so much baggage coming into the bar, but at least she didn’t have her suitcase as well.  Not that it was overly large.  She didn’t have a big suitcase in the first place since she only traveled short distances and hadn’t ever had a need for a large suitcase. 

She easily found Tom with two other guys sitting at a table towards the back of the bar.  Smiling, she raised her hand awkwardly, relieved when Tom spotted her.  “Hi!  I wasn’t sure if you really were coming,” he said, taking her laptop back and carrying it to the table for her. 

“I said I would come by,” she said, not sure what he meant.

Tom flushed and the other two guys looked down at their drinks. “Yeah, but you’re too gorgeous to be actually hanging out with the likes of us guys.  We thought maybe you were just being nice and trying to get me out of your office.”

Kate stood there, stunned for a long moment before she laughed, thinking the guys were sweet in a very insecure way.  Since she could relate, she felt much more comfortable with them.  “Believe me, I’m thrilled that you invited me out for a drink.  This looks like a fun place,” she said as she looked around, her hands under the table since she wasn’t exactly sure what else to do with them.

Tom pulled the chair from one of the other tables for her then asked her what she wanted to drink.

“Oh, just a glass of white wine is fine with me.” Kate thought of that watermelon martini that she had the previous night while at the bar with Davis and her mind cringed from the banal white wine. But she didn’t want to be a burden or order something too girly. Everyone else at the table had a beer in front of them so she stuck to the mundane.

“So what do you guys do for DA International?” she asked, trying to get the conversation moving. 

The four of them discussed different things about accounting with Kate doing most of the listening.  She sipped her white wine, but it was so much worse than the wine she’d shared with Davis last night at his hotel that it was hard to swallow. 

Her cell phone buzzed and she looked down at the text, startled to find that it was from Davis.  “Where are you?”  A warm glow suffused her body, simply because he’d contacted her.  Goodness, she was easy, she thought. 

Kate wasn’t sure how he’d gotten her cell phone number but she immediately texted back, “Having a drink across the street.”  She didn’t think anything of it and tried to hide her body’s instant reaction to even electronic communication.  Her fingers were shaking and she tried to pretend like her breathing rate hadn’t increased.  But it was hard.