Twenty Times Tempted: A Sexy Contemporary Romance Collection

by Petrova, Em

  “You won’t find any wrong doing from Ms. Howell or me.” Charlie spoke the words but knew he’d have an uphill battle trying to prove their innocence.

  “This isn’t the first time this has happened.” Peg pushed her black rimmed glasses farther up the bridge of her nose. “The NY, Houston, and LA offices have all had cases of this on a smaller scale. Each time we caught the person, and they are serving prison time. So, this is your last chance to come clean.”

  Charlie gaped at her. “I’ve nothing to hide. God, Peg, we went to college together, even dated once. I came to your wedding, children’s christenings, and Holiday parties. Your family spent Christmas a few years back as guests in my home. You can’t possibly believe I’d be involved in corporate embezzlement.”

  Peg leaned forward, displaying a glimpse of the girl Charlie had taken to a drive in movie and tried to neck with during the boring show years ago. “Off the official record, I advise you to get a lawyer. I have the name of a good one who specializes in corporate law and employee rights. He’ll deflect attention from you so the Board will recall his name and face rather than yours. Print off your bank records and I’ll handle them myself, keep your name as least mentioned as possible. Cooperate every way you can, be eager to help, and resist nothing I tell you.”

  “You want my personal bank records?” Charlie watched as she nodded. “Ah, I see. I’m stealing money and stupid enough to deposit it in an account under my own name. Sure, I’ll print out my bank records but you won’t find anything close to nine hundred thousand dollars in them. You’re in for major disappointment.”

  “I actually hope I am.” Peg pulled out yet another paper and shoved it across his desk. “This release will authorize us to check any and all accounts in the world with your social security number and name, legal or otherwise.”

  Swallowing the curses and words he wanted to spit took an almost superhuman feat of strength. Focus, calm, and professionalism. His career reputation, not to mention Christine’s, balanced on a razor thin line. Charlie signed and passed the release back. “Do whatever you have to do.”

  “We already suspect it’s not you, Charlie. The faked invoices are copies. The whole mess is too simple, like you said.”

  “Someone copied the invoices I had already signed, changed the amount due and routing number, and sent them through for payment to the bogus corporate account.” Charlie ran a hand through his hair. “And you think Christine Howell did it.”

  “It’s why I’m fairly certain you had nothing to do with this.” Peg stood. “Thanks for this authorization. This will clear your name for certain.”

  “Fairly certain?” He clenched his hands on his desk. “It’s an insult to even have this doubt upon me. I’ve been with this corporation over twenty years and you’ve known me even longer. To even be considered a part of this reeks, Margaret.”

  At the mention of her full name, she dropped the corporate ice queen and appeared more the friend he knew. “I’m doing my job and I understand your anger, I do. But please don’t blast the messenger. I never believed for a second you had anything to do with this. You’re one of the brightest stars in the corporation, hard-working, ambitious, driven, and you’re one of the most honest men I’ve ever been privileged to meet. You’d never do anything to jeopardize your name and honor let alone your work position. Stealing is as foreign to you as murder.”

  “Thanks for your confidence. It does so much to ease my mind.”

  “You have potential, especially with so many upper managers ready to retire soon.” Peg tapped her fingers on his desk. “You’re CEO material. The corporation recognizes excellence, plus you’re in the focus of several important stockholders, not to mention the board. Just like you said way back, you’ll be able to retire before the age of sixty and own a huge part of this corporation in the process. Don’t blow all you’ve achieved over some lowly customer service rep you have some misguided notion to protect.”

  “She’s not a lowly customer service rep.” The accusation stung, especially since Christine worked hard, perhaps harder than anyone understood and certainly more than the corporation big wigs appreciated.

  Peg raised a brow. “The corporation doesn’t have an official policy on employee relationships as long as it’s quiet and doesn’t interfere with job performance. We’re friends so I can say this: don’t think with your dick this time. There’s too much at stake.”

  Charlie felt his eyes narrow to slits. The problem with having longtime friends in the corporation meant they knew too many secrets. “It’s not the same. Not at all, damn it.”

  “Perhaps not. But history does have a way of repeating itself. You like women, you always have. They fascinate you and you fascinate them. You also want to protect them. And God knows you’re a handsome charmer.”

  “You had no trouble turning me down.” Charlie leaned back in his chair, slightly at ease with Peggy behaving like a friend and not an accuser. “All the time too.”

  “I had a hell of a time turning you down.” Peg smiled. “Good thing Eric came around or I may not have. Just don’t let your personal life in this is all I’m saying. I don’t want you hurt again.”

  “Christine is not the same.”

  “You said the same about Monica. You even married her.”

  Charlie huffed out a breath. “Low blow.”

  “The truth usually is.” Peg shrugged. “Someone is stealing. I’m not really familiar with Christine Howell so I can’t attest to her character. This”—Peg picked up the stack of invoices and shoved them in her case while speaking—”reeks of an unprofessional amateur, so obvious I could have found it drunk and blindfolded. You’re a hell of a lot smarter.”

  “Thanks. I think.”

  “You’re no amateur. Something is pointing directly at two people, which doesn’t make sense, because a professional embezzler, or someone brilliant like you, would go out of his way to cover his tracks. Being so obvious means being discovered and losing the source of the money. It’s stupid and senseless; a true criminal hides his tracks well. Some people think you recognized the situation and just let it happen.”

  “Are you one of those?” Charlie folded his arms across his chest.

  “I told you, no. I can almost prove your innocence. But it’s someone who is familiar with how, when, and where you order, how changes are made, when the shipments go out, the account numbers, and the date checks are cut. Someone in your office or Ms. Howell’s since I can almost pinpoint the exact moment those routing numbers transferring the money to another account were made. I’ve investigated every person in your office, spent all of yesterday during your ‘sick’ day”—Peg glanced at him over the top of her glasses—”pouring over accounts and your subordinates’ records.”

  “And?” Charlie ignored the unspoken question about his unexpected day off. “Find anything wrong?”

  Peg shook her head. “Everyone else is above suspicion here. I’ll clear you on the flight to LA, no doubt. I answer to the CEO and board first and foremost with hard facts and documented proof. I’ll prove it’s not you. Which is going to mean Christine Howell is going to have some difficult questions to answer.”

  “Let me find out who has the balls to frame us.” Charlie placed both hands on his desk and stood. “Let me be part of the official investigation.”

  “No. I have to follow policy, and I will to the letter. The corporate investigators will nail this person and anyone who helps her is going down too.” She pointed a finger at him, her face stern. “Stay out. I mean it. You won’t help or protect Christine Howell by meddling.”

  “It’s not meddling if I can prove the truth.” He picked up his phone. “Let me call her and hash this out, clear it up in a matter of minutes. There’s a reasonable explanation. You’ve made a mistake somehow.” The girl he’d dated became buried in the professional she always appeared as Peg straightened. Damn, he shouldn’t have said she made a mistake. She could say the sky glowed green and the corporation heads wo
uld believe her.

  “On the record, you are expressly forbidden from discussing this matter with anyone, especially Ms. Christine Howell, on penalty of immediate termination. Do you understand this directive, Mr. Jergens?”

  Shit. Peggy’s furious ice queen tone. Damn. “Yes, I understand.” Which do I want more: Christine and the promise of what we started or this promotion I worked most of my life to get? “I appreciate your time meeting with me personally. If I can assist further, please don’t hesitate to contact me at any time.”

  “Thank you.” Peg walked to the door, hesitated, and glanced over her shoulder. “I really am sorry, Charlie. Please take care of yourself.”

  “You too. Hello hugs to Eric and the kids.”

  After Peg departed, Charlie paced his office. The colors of light blue and gray, designed to help him relax, did nothing to calm him now. The huge windows maximized the beach views, but as he leaned against one to watch the waves, he felt more unsettled than the choppy surf. Jesus, what a tangle. There must be a simple solution, yet after reviewing the invoices and talking with Peg, he’d reach the exact same conclusion the corporation had if he weren’t so familiar with Christine and her code of honor. So if neither he nor Christine could be the criminal, then who?

  His cell phone vibrated in his pocket. Home and fine. Talk soon. He punched her direct dial button then paused. What should he say? ‘Glad you’re back, and by the way, the corporation thinks you took nine hundred thousand dollars and tried to hide it as false orders.’

  He had to find the answer, corporate directive or not. He’d be damned if he’d sit by and let some bastard frame him or Christine. She didn’t return to her office for a couple of days; he had time to clear their names. He took her scarf from his pocket and held it to his face. He had to protect her, couldn’t let her be hurt, not after all she’d been through. He saw her in the half-light smiling as their bodies joined and she whispered his name. Everything she felt shone in her face. She was the most open person he’d ever met.

  And yet he couldn’t read her when she left. Guarded, something he’d never known from her. Uneasy, unable to gaze directly at him, she hid something, emotion, secrets, what? He rubbed the silk against his cheek and refused to believe the woman who shared every inch of herself with him could be capable of stealing nine dollars, let alone nine hundred thousand, and then hiding it from him. He believed in her.

  But how could he solve this without talking to Christine? He’d start where the accounting department had: trace the invoices from their source. Peg may have taken the originals, but he’d scanned the dates and knew which ones to look up. Charlie stuffed her scarf back in his pocket and sank into the chair behind his desk. He’d deal with the professional then with the personal. Damn anyone who said history repeated itself.

  ***

  Christine drove to work the next morning with serious exhaustion dragging her every movement. It was jet lag, pure and simple, adjusting back into daily routine, and had nothing to do with Charlie not returning her text, email, messenger greeting, or not being on Skype last night. What would it be like when she called him later for the week’s orders? Would their conversation be the usual friendly and flirty? Or awkward? She parked and headed inside. No time to worry; her desk no doubt overflowed with work.

  “Hi, Christine.” The soft greeting came as she entered the building.

  She smiled at the IT guy whose phone extension she knew by heart and stepped into the elevator with him. “Hi, Tom. How are you? Have a good weekend?”

  Tom nodded and returned her smile with a shy one. At twenty-one, he would soon be head of the IT department, the youngest ever. “I redid a friend’s system matrix so it zips along. Did you enjoy Oz?”

  “I loved it. I’ve got loads of pictures.” Christine laughed. “I’ll probably have to call on you to help me fit them into emails so I can annoy all my friends.”

  Tom adjusted his dark glasses. “The program I recommended before you left will help make them into thumb nail size, but you’ll lose clarity. I’ll work on something for you, research some programs.”

  “Oh please don’t go to any trouble.” Christine felt guilty. Tom must have dozens of people calling about time sheets, email problems, and server connections. “I haven’t even tried to download any. They’re all on my camera memory card.”

  “If you want to bring it in, I’ll see what I can do.”

  Christine patted his arm as the elevator reached her floor. “Thanks, I might. Have a great day and hopefully, I won’t have to call and bother you too many times.”

  He waved as she stepped out. “Never any bother. See you later.”

  She greeted coworkers, chatted a bit, and then went to face her desk with a massive cup of coffee. Oh dear lord, she’d figured things might pile up, but this? In her absence, everything and anything no one wanted to handle had been shoved into her office until files and books covered every inch of space.

  So much for Laci handling everything. Christine sighed, wondered how long the coffee would last, and where she should even start. Ninety percent of the files were marked ‘asap’. The others were labeled ‘immediately’. Ah, the return of normalcy.

  “Yo, Ho-well. Glad to be back yet?”

  “Good morning, Laci.” Christine hated the way her coworker murdered her name but to whom could she complain? Make the boss’ mistress angry, and one’s life became hell. “Yes, thank you.”

  The other woman leaned against the door frame. Blonde, leggy, built in a men-always-notice sort of way, something hard glittered in her green eyes. Christine never trusted her. “Meet any Aussie men who went down under?”

  As if Christine would ever confide in the office gossip, who delighted in spreading rumors. The entire corporation would hear it in less than thirty minutes. “Did you have any trouble with any accounts during my vacation?”

  Laci laughed but not in a fun way. “We actually survived without you, just muddled right on through somehow. No one missed you at all.”

  “Great to hear. Thanks for handling things.” Tone it down. Laci’s not stupid, and even a tiny bit of sarcasm is too much. She picked up a stack of papers. “I better get busy.”

  Laci shrugged, the movement pulling her tight sweater to seam-bursting proportions. “I’m not a menial desk slave with delusions of importance like you. What needed to be done got accomplished. Jim has no problems with my work, so complain to him if you want. I’m sure I can turn his thinking to my side with a little private time.”

  If she expected Christine to react, she’d be disappointed. Christine didn’t mind being a ‘menial desk slave’. It paid her bills and allowed her to talk to Charlie. “I have no complaints, just lots of work to catch up on so talk to you later.”

  However, the other woman refused to be dismissed. “Margaret Bensen has called for you several times.”

  Mrs. Bensen, the head of the corporation accounting department, dealt with upper management and reported directly to the CEO. Christine had met her only at corporate functions. “She asked for me by name?”

  “I’ve taken several of her messages, and she always asked for Christine Ho-well. What have you done?”

  “I didn’t realize you were regaled to be my secretary.” Christine sank behind her desk to hide behind the towers of files. What a way to return to work. “How demeaning for you.”

  “I’m not.” Laci huffed out a snort. “Just passing the messages along to help you out.”

  You’d like to help me right out the door and take over my position. Christine shook her head. Everyone had seemed fine a few minutes ago; no one gave a hint anything could be wrong. Christine reached for the telephone to call Kathy, the office manager. Whatever Mrs. Benson wanted had become the most immediate matter. “I’m sure you must have a lot to do.”

  Laci stood still. “I’d love to hear you get terminated, so I have nothing else to do.”

  Christine’s heart skipped a beat. The corporation HR department would terminate her, n
ot the corporation accountant. Whatever Mrs. Bensen wanted concerned money, accounts, or invoices. Had Christine messed up an important order so a customer called and complained? She stood and walked to her door. “I’m sorry, Laci, but I do have work. If you’ll please excuse me?”

  Her gaze swept over Christine’s cluttered office. “Yes, you really should stop slacking and get this mess cleared up for the new person taking over. I’m handling all the Hawaii accounts from now on already by the way. Have a lovely day, Ho.”

  Christine closed her door to take several deep breaths. Laci now handled Hawaii? Why? A knock sounded on her door, probably Kathy to help her contact Mrs. Bensen. She walked toward her desk as she called, “Come in.”

  Margaret Bensen entered with Jim right behind her. “Ms. Howell, we need a few moments of your time, please.”

  Crap. Christine twisted her hands together. “Um, sure.” She moved files and manuals off the two chairs in front of her desk, trying to smile and be calm. “Please have a seat. Would you like some coffee?”

  “No.” Mrs. Bensen shut the door behind Jim who did not speak, his faces set in hard lines. Laci hadn’t had time to go running to him yet. Christine’s throat all but closed as her boss sat without greeting her. The scent of the cigars he favored filled the small space and made her breathing even more difficult.

  Christine hurried behind her desk, shifted a few stacks, and laughed. It sounded strained even to her ears. “Please excuse the mess, I’ve been away the last two weeks, a dream vacation to Australia, so dreamy I almost called in sick today even though I’m running behind since things have sort of backed up.”

  “Ms. Howell, we need to ask a series of questions regarding recent purchasing orders and invoices.” Mrs. Bensen interrupted as she pulled a sheaf of papers from her brief case. She gave Christine the first set. “Is this your signature?”