Looked like another solo night for his sex life, which was par for the course.
Back at his flat, he warmed the meal his housekeeper had left and scanned the financials for the day. The stock market hadn’t closed at much different than it had been when he left the office. Not much there to interest him.
Unwilling to sit, he carried the plate to the wall of glass overlooking the city, eating quickly and feeling the return of that mean edge. He’d thought to leave it behind in gloomy London, blaming his depression and its flip side, sullen anger, on the fog and rain. It had felt that way for a time. But now it roared back in, demanding release.
He’d hardly be good company for a date or even a one-night stand, if he was desperate enough. That wasn’t why he’d more or less abstained since coming to the States. Not entirely. He’d been busy, hadn’t he? Working his way into the new position, learning the ways of American culture. Relearning to live by himself. The past couple of years had been a good healing period, getting back on his feet.
Or had he been numb? Kidding himself that he’d left the worst of it behind. Instead it seemed it had simply waited him out, looking to sneak back into his psyche through a sweet-faced girl.
The sudden fixation—he wouldn’t go so far as to call it an obsession—with his far-too-appealing young assistant likely heralded the end of his self-imposed isolation. A bell signaling that stage in his life should be over. Time to move on. Begin dating again.
Dating. At his age. What a bloody cliché.
No worse than the one he’d been living, with nightly sessions of porn and masturbation. He was a sorry sod and he knew it. And look where it had led, to an unhealthy interest in a young woman with her entire life ahead of her. She was better than that.
Hell, he was better than that.
Chapter Three
Today I will not flirt with my boss. Be professional, dammit.
Amber recited her mantra, refusing to let herself go refill her already full water bottle, just to see if Mr. Knight had come in yet. Usually he was at his desk before she got in, but she’d gotten in early. Awakened an hour before her alarm and bouncing with energy. Thinking about him. Replete with extra time, she’d even curled her hair and taken special care with her makeup. Not because of Knight. Okay, not only because of him.
And, because it looked to be a gorgeous spring day and was Casual Friday, she put on a silk dress, teal and sprinkled with rosebuds, instead of one of her suits. The swirling skirt showed off her legs, especially with a pair of strappy sandals. As a nod to the pervasive office air conditioning, though, she added a matching pink cardigan with pearl buttons.
It felt a little prurient, though, sorting his emails and carefully not reading the ones she shouldn’t. Like walking through his empty office and rifling through the drawers. The day before he’d been her boss—the big boss—remote, admirable and holding the reins of her future. Now she saw him in a different light.
How wrong would it be to have an affair with her boss?
Wrong. Very wrong.
But holy hell, so very hot.
She heard his voice before she saw him, resisting the urge to pop her head over the cubicle wall—then kicking herself for the blown opportunity when he finished his conversation and moved on without passing her cube. Which, of course, he did. He’d only ever stopped by her cubby once, the day before, and she’d acted like an imbecile, nearly falling out of her chair. And look at her, mooning over him instead of focusing on her work.
This is why it would be wrong.
Resolutely, she typed in a private memo to herself—Never Shit Where You Eat.
“Good morning, Amber.” Her immediate boss, the one she should really be concerned about, rapped her knuckles on the cubicle divider, a parody of door-knocking. Jean raised her eyebrows. “You look nice today. Hot date after work?”
“I wish. No—just felt springy. And Casual Friday, right?” Abruptly uncertain, especially when Jean seemed to be frowning at her cleavage, she glanced down. The wrap dress covered everything, but maybe it was too clingy.
“Right.” Jean gave her a close-lipped smile, indicating her own khaki pants and crew-neck sweater. “Casual. Not garden party.”
Another excellent reason to think work, not flirt. Dammit. “I apologize. It won’t happen again, Jean.”
Her smile thawed a little. “You’re young yet. And open-toed shoes aren’t exactly against dress code. But, as women, we have to think about the impression we give.” Somehow she managed to make “impression” sound like “stripper.” “I have to leave early this afternoon and, since Joe’s out, you’ll have to take notes at the partners’ meeting at four. Hopefully that won’t interfere with that hot date you claim you don’t have.”
The better part of discretion there would be not to argue. “Not a problem! I’m happy to do that. Also, let me update you on what I finished yesterday.”
At least Jean left satisfied that she hadn’t been shirking her work. Fridays were always busy, with all the department heads preparing their reports and week-end summaries for the partners’ meeting. The frenetic pace kept her distracted well past Jean’s departure at two, right up to the meeting time. Amber took a minute to hit the ladies’ before the meeting, in case they went on a couple of hours and didn’t take a break.
The dress wasn’t that bad. No cleavage showed anyway. To be safe, she buttoned up the cardigan, adding that extra layer. Nothing to be done about the shoes—she could hardly wear her subway sneakers into the partners’ meeting. Live and learn.
Undocking her laptop, she carried it into the fishbowl—the exec conference room situated in the middle of their floor, with glass walls on all sides. Though no sound leaked out of the room when the doors were shut, the partners felt the glass added a sense of transparency, part of their official corporate policy. Getting to be actually in on the meeting would be very interesting.
In her eagerness—clearly the code word for the day—she got there early. Being first let her get set up at the corner desk. Lily Straven strolled in not long after. Senior woman in the firm, Lily wore her dark hair up in a severe French twist and, glory be, strappy high-heeled sandals with her red power suit. Her dark eyes took in Amber over the gold wire frames of her elegant glasses.
“Adorable shoes,” Lily commented. “Amber, isn’t it?”
Somewhat shocked that the woman knew her name, and uncertain if the shoe comment was sarcastic or not, Amber stood and shook her proffered hand. “Yes, ma’am. I’m Jean’s assistant’s assistant.”
Lily pursed her lips. “Jean left early again, did she? And call me Lily. You make me feel like my Atlanta granny when you say ‘ma’am.’”
Apparently not needing an answer on Jean—to Amber’s great relief—Lily set down her tablet and turned, leaning against the table and folding her arms. She tilted her head, gold knot earrings winking. “Tell me about yourself, Amber. I know a little from your resume and hiring profile. You went to Yale?”
“Yes, business. Dad’s footsteps, all that.”
“Not an MBA?”
“Not yet. My dad thought—well, I thought, too—that I should get my feet wet first. See if I like finance. Or if I should do law or...something else.”
“Else?”
“Yes. Um. Like maybe something I haven’t thought of yet.” She’d become a blithering idiot, withering under that sharp-eyed perusal.
Fortunately Lily glanced over her shoulder as two of the other partners arrived, saying hello to them. It didn’t help Amber’s equilibrium that right behind them walked in Alexander Knight, wearing a silver-gray three-piece suit, who didn’t so much as glance at Amber but gave Lily a mock glare. “Don’t grill my assistant, Lily. I don’t want her scared off already.”
Lily made an unladylike snorting sound and kept her back to him, keeping Amber pinned
by raising her perfect black-winged eyebrows. “Nonsense. I’m not scaring you, am I?”
“No, ma—Ms. Straven.”
She rolled her eyes dramatically and shook her head. “Gracious. Now I’m my maiden Aunt Rachel.” But she smiled more warmly and took her seat. The other female partner, Hai Lin, had already settled herself and taken out an Excel printout. Bill Worstler, senior partner and CEO, gave her a cheerful smile and nod.
The four horsemen, some of the junior staff called them. If so, Alec would be Conquest, with his intense eyes and cutting words.
“Record on?” Bill asked, bringing her back to reality.
“Ready,” she replied.
And they got to it.
* * *
He should have picked a seat where he didn’t have to look at Amber. Would have, if there’d been any other chair available on that side of the table. He’d timed it badly, making sure to get there late so as not to be alone with her, and not considering that meant he wouldn’t have his pick of chairs.
When Jean sent him the note that Amber would fill in, he’d nearly kicked himself for not predicting the repercussions of that. Between the partners, they rotated whose assistants and admins would take notes for the Friday afternoon meeting. But, given the timing, none of the partners insisted if someone wanted to trade the job away. Jean always managed to offload the task to Joe, who did it efficiently and cheerfully enough that Alec had never given it a second thought.
Of course it had to be Amber, right at the end of his day, sitting behind Lily, looking as fresh and sweet as one of the rosebuds on her dress. He’d avoided seeing her all sodding day and here she sat, long legs crossed, pink toenails matching her high-heeled sandals, delicate fingers flying over her keyboard as Bill reviewed the stats for the week.
She’d curled her hair today, so it lay in glossy ringlets over her shoulders, tucked behind her ears to keep it out of her face as she worked intently. No doubt she thought the little cardigan looked modest, all buttoned up, but the way it hugged her narrow waist and flared over her generous breasts—
“Did Bob confirm the errors you spotted, Alec?” Bill asked. “I suspect your memo was deliberately vague.”
With a mental sigh he forced his mind to the figures. At least they let him look somewhere else. “Sadly, he did confirm. I spent most of the day reviewing. It could be a rounding error, but looks to be edging into approximately two million.”
“Approximately?”
“Depends on how you slice it. I’ve not yet determined what happened.”
“But it’s Curlew’s account.”
“It is, yes.” He raised his brows at Lily, keeping careful focus on her and not the young woman assiduously taking notes behind her. “As he’s yours, I thought it worthwhile to wait for this meeting, get your take on how you want to proceed.”
“I’d like to proceed by kicking his worthless ass,” Lily snapped, swiveling idly in her chair. “Do you think he’s skimming?”
Probably. But dicey territory. “We’d want to build the case if so. Could be lousy attention to detail. He hadn’t accessed the timesheet edit reports for nigh on four pay periods. Possibly longer.”
Lily hissed between her teeth. “So at worst he’s embezzling and at best he’s lazy. How do we determine?”
Either way, he understood her anger. They’d channel it into a finely honed weapon in this particular battle. Curlew seemed to be an okay bloke, but this would be a substantial hit on the company’s integrity. Even if this was all. If it were only the tip of the iceberg, however...
“We need to determine the scope of the problem,” Bill decided.
“That’s best,” Alec agreed. “Audit all of his accounts for the last several years.”
“Fine.” Lily pulled off her glasses and rubbed the bridge of her nose. “I’ll cancel my weekend plans and go—”
“It should not be you,” Hai Lin spoke up. “If we determine it’s fraud, we’ll have to bring in an outside auditor, but it’s best if Alexander continues the review, to avoid any appearance of you having covered for Curlew.”
“As if I would, that fucker.” Lily spun her chair to Amber. “Delete that expletive, please.”
Amber glanced up and flashed a sly smile. “I never heard one.”
When he’d walked in, the young woman had been practically squirming with discomfort under Lily’s notoriously acerbic interrogations. She’d recovered quickly, her sharp intelligence back at the fore with enviable resilience.
“No, that’s fine.” Lily turned back and folded her hands on the table. “But I think we need to move quickly and I hate to ask you to give up your weekend to this, Alec.”
“I had no particular plans.” Or plans at all, except the vague thought of attempting to revive his sex life so he could get his head on straight again.
“Still, you’ll need help.” Bill frowned. “No reason to go it alone and a second set of eyes and hands can make a difference.”
“Bob can—”
“No,” Hai Lin interrupted. “Already gone to New Hampshire.”
“Have Amber help.” Lily spun again to look at the young woman. “You’ve already heard the details, so we don’t have to air this further, which is a plus. A good opportunity for you. Unless you have plans you don’t want to cancel?”
“Lily—don’t put her in that position,” Alec protested.
“I’m not putting her in any position. Amber is a big girl and can say no. I’m giving her an opportunity. She knows that.”
Over her shoulder, Amber was nodding, bright-eyed and eager. “I’d love to help. I don’t really have any plans to cancel. I can work all weekend.”
“It’s really not necessary,” Alec tried again. “I can work fine by myself.”
Bill gave him a concerned look. “Do you object to Amber’s assistance for some reason? I know she doesn’t have much experience yet, but she’s available and I hear she’s a hard worker.” He smiled over at Amber with a paternal expression Alec quite envied. Clearly it hadn’t occurred to his CEO that anything untoward could occur. Which, naturally, it would not. Jesus, he could keep his hands—and thoughts—off the girl and focus on work, couldn’t he?
“No, of course not.” He tried on the same fatherly expression and felt filthy doing it. “If Amber is willing to give up her weekend, I’m happy to have her help.”
“It’s settled then,” Bill gave Amber a nod of approval. “You get what you can over the weekend. And we’ll discuss on Monday. I don’t have to tell you two to work discreetly on this, right?”
“No, sir.” Amber looked very serious and revved at the same time. Sometimes he thought her enthusiastic ambition turned him on as much as the thought of reddening her creamy white skin. Stop that.
The meeting broke up and Amber carried her laptop off to proof the meeting notes, promising to log the draft as confidential. He managed not to watch the seductive brush of her blue silk hem against the backs of her knees by pretending to check his phone for messages. As if he cared about the damn things.
“A word with you, Alec?” Lily leaned her hip against the table and pulled off her glasses to tuck them in her jacket pocket. A smart businesswoman and mother, she rarely minced words.
By the look on her face, he was in for a reprimand and he had to stop himself from wincing. Had she noticed the drift of his thoughts, the way he couldn’t seem to not notice Amber in a sexual way? Bloody hell, he hadn’t even touched the chit.
“What’s your reservation about using Amber?” she asked.
He had to scramble to untangle his thoughts from the ripe vision that popped into his head at the suggestion of using the girl. “I beg your pardon?”
Lily frowned at him. “She’s smart. According to your reports and Jean’s, she’s careful, diligent, detail-oriented. She has the
fire in the belly we like to reward around here. If you have a problem with having her work with you because she’s female, I think we should lay it on the table right here. It’s not fair for you to discriminate against her—even if it’s unconsciously done.”
A deeper trap, this. He could hardly admit that he dreaded spending the weekend working with the girl because he didn’t trust himself to keep his hands off her. And yet, he almost desperately wanted to seize on sexism as an excuse. Yes, keep her away from me as I’ll only treat her badly. No, it wasn’t fair. Not a bit of it.
“Not at all,” he told her, taking refuge in a bit of icy politeness. “I happen to agree with you on all counts. I’m pleased to have her assistance.”
“Then what was with the throat-clearing and hemming and hawing?” She narrowed her eyes at him. “I like you, Alec. I think you’re a great addition to our firm, but I also feel a responsibility to mentor the young women who work here. If you can’t treat Amber fairly, I’ll take her onto my team.”
Knee-weakening relief warred with bitter denial. Amber would be on another end of the floor, well out of his sight, if not his fantasies. “I wouldn’t want it to seem as if she’s being penalized for poor performance,” he offered, not sure which way he hoped this would go.
Lily lifted a shoulder. “I can make it seem like a promotion. However.” She raised an eyebrow at him. “Work with her this weekend. It’s settled anyway. If she’s not as good or better than any of the boys, let me know and we’ll set it up. But I want you to give her a fair shot. Put her through her paces. Test her if you have to. Don’t pull any punches.”
He gave her a tight-lipped smile, internally reeling that the woman seemed to have no idea of the way his darker nature spun her suggestions. Of course she wouldn’t. This was business and he had no reason to let his mind go down that salacious path. “I’m sure I’ll be delighted with her performance.”
Under His Touch Page 3