Good Karma

by Donya Lynne

  “And what did Daniel tell you?” she said, abandoning her overflowing inbox.

  “That you were the most stunning woman in the room. And I believe it. Daniel texted me a picture of you in that amaaaaazing dress. Girl, that picture didn’t even look like you. So sexified.” Lisa sipped her coffee, her brown eyes twinkling. “Aaannnd, Daniel told me you had a little mini tryst with some hot, mysterious man.” She coyly lifted one shoulder as she offered Karma a sidelong glance.

  “He was nobody.” Karma concentrated on a stray tea leaf floating in her mug.

  “Uh-huh. That’s why your face just turned as red as that dress you wore Saturday night.”

  There was no way Karma could hide the effect Mark had had on her—that he was still having on her. Men like him, who were urbane and held themselves in a calm yet controlled way that deigned the world as theirs, weren’t easily forgotten. In Chicago, they were probably the norm, but in Indiana, where conservatism ruled and false modesty was a way of life for the wealthy, she had never come up against a man like Mark, and she had certainly never imagined catching such a man’s eye.

  Lisa checked her watch. “Well, you can tell me all about him later. I’ve got to get back. Some consultant is coming in today and I need to print off a few personnel reports for him.”

  “Consultant?”

  Shadows crossed Lisa’s face. “I found out Friday.”

  Karma knew a consultant coming in wasn’t good news. This could mean layoffs.

  “He’ll be working with Don,” Lisa said, hugging her coffee mug inside her palms.

  Don Jacoby was the Director of Operations and Karma’s boss.

  “Great,” Karma said. “That means I’ll be working for him. Just what I need. Not that I’m already behind since Jolene doesn’t pull her share of the weight in her department.”

  Lisa smiled sympathetically. “I know. But look at the bright side. Maybe this consultant will see what’s going on with Jo, and if he recommends letting anyone go, it will be her.” Her cheery smile was almost comical.

  Lisa’s ability to see the silver linings in all bad situations was refreshing, and Karma was grateful for her optimism. “I can only hope.”

  Jolene was an expert at skirting her work, which meant the sales managers often came to Karma for administrative support. Don understood the situation, and as long as his work took priority, she was free to assist the sales teams when necessary.

  Still, the dysfunction added to an already defective relationship. Jolene was best friends with Karma’s brother and sister-in-law and had been since they were kids, which meant she had been part of the posse that had made her childhood a living hell. The ramifications of which Karma was still feeling as an adult if her rapid exodus from Mark’s room Saturday night was any indication.

  As if all that wasn’t enough, Jo was also the office’s biggest gossip.

  “Good morning,” Jolene said, coming around the corner.

  Speak of the devil.

  Jo’s gaze remained glued to her cell phone. Her long blond hair flowed like a cape behind her and her abundant breasts jiggled under a top that looked one size too small but perfect on her.

  Karma exchanged glances with Lisa as Jolene passed and disappeared down the hall toward the Sales Department. Jo hadn’t even looked at them. Thank goodness, or Karma might have laughed.

  “Okay, girl. I’ll talk to you later.” Lisa cradled her coffee and headed back toward the stairs. “Remember, you owe me all the sordid details.”

  “Yeah, yeah.” Karma waved her off and dug into her e-mail.

  * * *

  At eight fifty-five, just as Karma sat back down at her desk from making another cup of tea, her phone rang. It was Nancy from the front desk.

  “Yes?”

  “Don’s nine o’clock is here.”

  Karma rolled her eyes at the obvious flirtatious drawl in Nancy’s voice. Apparently Mr. Streamline-The-Jobs-Right-Out-The-Door-To-Get-Solar-Back-In-The-Black was also Mr. Catch-Nancy’s-Eye. But then, what warm-blooded man with an ounce of sex appeal didn’t catch Nancy’s eye? She was a cougar who hungered for young man blood.

  “I’ll be right down.” She hung up and poked her head into Don’s office. “Your appointment is here. Are you ready for him?”

  Don looked up from his tablet. “Yes. Absolutely. Thank you.” He quickly began tidying his desk.

  Even Don seemed a little nervous, but that was understandable. This guy was coming in to plow through Don’s domain and pick the meat of his department from its bones.

  She reached the top of the stairs and tugged at the hem of her blazer as she peered over the railing. Just her luck, their visitor was under the stairwell so she couldn’t steal a peek at what had so obviously caught Nancy’s eye.

  As she descended, she glanced at Nancy, who sat at the reception desk, smiling coyly, her gaze locked like a viper’s on the area under the stairs. Did Nancy know no shame? She wasn’t even trying to hide her lust.

  Susan from Accounting walked past, her cheeks flushed, a girlish grin toying her mouth. Her eyes flicked sideways as she passed by the hidden alcove.

  What was with everyone? What was she about to see when she turned the corner? The way Nancy and Susan practically drooled over the consultant, she was starting to get a little nervous.

  She reached the bottom step, turned, took a few steps, and nearly tripped over her half-inch heels.

  Oh. My. God.

  It was her prince.

  Chapter 6

  Forget the fairy tale.

  -Author Unknown

  Mark wore a tailored, navy pin-striped suit that fit his athletic build even better than the tuxedo he had worn on Saturday. His dark brown hair was slightly mussed but not messy, and he was just as sexy today as two nights ago, flipping casually through the latest issue of Sports Illustrated.

  Karma gathered herself. “M-Mr. Strong?”

  “Yes.” He spun toward her as he closed the magazine and dropped it on the lobby table. Then his eyes narrowed and his brow furrowed. It was the expression of someone who knew her but couldn’t quite place her face. “Have we met?”

  Was she so different in her real clothes that he didn’t recognize her? With her real hair and her real shoes? She had recognized him immediately, but he didn’t know who she was, even after how intimate they had become with one another. She glanced at the floor and smoothed her palms over her blazer as much to dry them as to find something to do with her hands.

  When she met his gaze again, she saw realization dawn in his expression. The hard line of his brow softened and rose briefly before crinkling in awareness.

  He cleared his throat, straightened his tie, and smiled. “Small world.”

  “Yes, it would seem so.” She held out her hand. “I’m Don’s assistant, Karma Mason.”

  The ruse of being a model was officially over, not that he’d believed her in the first place. She was a whole lot of nobody special. She wasn’t a model or a rich, Chicago socialite, or even Cinderella. She was Karma, executive assistant by day, wannabe journalist by night, and about as conservative as Mother Teresa, even if her innermost thoughts seemed to have taken a more liberal track in the last few days.

  Mama T would not approve.

  Mark’s brow ticked with awareness, and he took her hand as he tilted his head slightly to one side. “Pleased to finally meet you, Karma.”

  The choice of his words, as well as his inflection, made it clear he referred to the fact that he had never actually gotten to know her, just as she had never really gotten to know him. So much for charades, because there was no way to hide the truth, anymore.

  His gaze swept with swift efficiency down her body and back to her face. The once-over took all of a second, but she felt stripped on the spot, as if he were kissing her again, right there, in Solar’s lobby, casting away her logic and reason with little more than a glance.

  She gestured toward the stairs. “I’ll take you up to Don’s office.” Forcing her
feet to move was like slogging through mud. Or maybe nearly set concrete.

  “Karma,” he said thoughtfully as they started up the stairs. “So, you’re Don’s assistant?”

  “Yes.” She took hold of the railing, willing her legs to stay under her.

  “You know, I recently met a woman named Karma. She was…intriguing.”

  Oh boy. Breathe, just breathe.

  Heat flooded her face. “What a coincidence.” Her wobbly legs threatened to give out. Mark was so not what she’d expected today. She had thought she would never see him again, yet here he was, in her world instead of his.

  This was no longer a fantasy. It was a nightmare.

  When Mark had arrived at Solar this morning, the last thing he had expected was to come face-to-face with the woman who had captivated his thoughts the better part of yesterday. He had felt awful about how he had treated her Saturday night and had racked his brain to figure out a way to learn her identity and how he could reach her to at least send a note of apology. He never imagined he would actually see her again. And now, here she was, leading him up the stairs to meet with Don Jacoby…apparently her boss. Talk about your strokes of luck.

  He trailed behind her, studying her mannish suit, the unremarkable, low-heeled patent leather shoes, and the tight chignon holding all that beautiful hair in a bundle that denied its glory. Her story and everything about her was beginning to make sense. Her innocence, her mystique, the way she had seemed so unsure in that dress. And yet, the dress and the strappy gold stilettos had seemed to fit her personality better than this masculine garb and clunky footwear.

  “So, not a model,” he said at the top of the stairs as he fell in beside her.

  Her cheeks flushed. “No, not a model.” She lowered her gaze to the floor then started down the hall.

  The self-conscious gesture tugged at his curiosity. Seeing her here, in her regular surroundings, wearing what he could only guess were her regular clothes, with her hair pulled into what was probably her regular hairstyle, he couldn’t integrate the woman in front of him with the woman he had met this past weekend. They were two totally different people sharing one body. Which persona was real? Which one was a front?

  “Nothing wrong with that,” he said. “Models are too high maintenance, anyway.” He had dated a model once. Never again.

  She looked up at him. “High maintenance?”

  “Absolutely.” He lightly elbowed her arm. “Being an executive assistant is much better.”

  Biting her bottom lip as she smiled, she turned her attention to the front again.

  Life had given him another opportunity to set things right. To apologize and behave like a gentleman instead of a heathen ass.

  “Karma, I wanted to—”

  “Mark, good to see you again.” Don walked around the corner, hand outstretched.

  Mark had met Don only once, during his off-site meeting with Solar’s executive team a few weeks ago.

  His apology momentarily interrupted, he shook Don’s hand. “Likewise.”

  Don led him away from Karma, toward his office. “Can I get you a cup of coffee? Water?”

  “Coffee’s fine.” He glanced over his shoulder, wishing he’d had just a few more seconds with Karma.

  Don turned toward her. “Karma, could you please grab Mark a cup of coffee? Thank you.”

  Under the circumstances, with his apology still sitting on his tongue, Mark hated that Karma now rushed away to fetch him a cup of coffee like some waitress. It smacked of salt on a wound. Mark would have preferred helping himself, but he followed Don into his office, set down his briefcase, and unbuttoned his jacket as he took a seat.

  A moment later, Karma appeared beside him, holding a steaming mug of coffee. She handed him cream and sugar separately. “I didn’t know how you take it.”

  “Black, one sugar,” he said, mesmerized by her pale green eyes the same way he had been Saturday night. “But this is perfect. Thank you.”

  With a polite nod, she turned and exited the office, closing the door behind her.

  As he and Don forged past the usual pleasantries and started in on the business at hand, he vowed to follow up on that apology as soon as he got the chance. Life had given him a second opportunity to make things right, and he refused to waste it.

  Chapter 7

  One of the essential principles for living an aspired life is to remember that our desires don’t arrive on our schedule. They arrive when they’re supposed to.

  -Wayne Dyer

  Karma collapsed into her chair, picked up her phone, and dialed Lisa’s extension.

  “Hey,” Lisa said over the line. “What’s up?”

  “It’s him,” she whispered.

  “Who’s him?”

  “The consultant.” Karma glanced around to make sure no one was listening. “It’s him, the guy I met Saturday night.”

  Lisa took a moment to make the connection. “WHAT?” She quickly lowered her voice. “Are you serious?”

  “Yes. What do I do?”

  Lisa paused then giggled. “Go home and put on that incredible dress.”

  “I’m being serious.” How could Lisa joke at a time like this? “I am so screwed.”

  “Whoa, hold on, just wait a minute. You are not screwed.”

  “But—”

  “Karma, listen to me.” Lisa’s voice grew softer. “No one else knows. Just you, him, Daniel, and me, and I’m not going to tell anyone.”

  “But what if someone finds out?” She sounded as panicked as she felt.

  “Now, just relax. Take a deep breath, Karma.”

  She forced herself to inhale heavily then blew out a loud breath.

  Lisa continued. “You two didn’t do anything wrong, and so what if you did?”

  “But—”

  Lisa cut her off. “Uh-uh. No. You’ve done nothing wrong, and you’re not going to get in trouble.”

  Karma lowered her voice even further. “This is a nightmare.”

  Lisa laughed.

  “You think this is funny?”

  “Actually, yes. You’re freaking out over nothing.”

  “This isn’t nothing. This is a man I kissed, who took me to his hotel room.” A man she would have slept with if she hadn’t been such a chickenshit.

  “More power to you, sister.”

  “Lisa!”

  “Oh my God, girl. Go for it. He’s here. Don’t you think this is a sign?”

  “A sign? Yes, it’s a sign I never should have gone Saturday night.”

  Lisa sighed. “You’re hopeless. No, what I mean is don’t you think it’s a sign that the two of you were meant to hook up? I mean, you met Saturday night in Chicago, and now he’s here. Don’t you think that’s more than just a coincidence?”

  Lisa and her signs. Like Daniel, she was forever thinking life was one constant circle of signs and metaphysical influence.

  “What about the nonfraternization policy? Shouldn’t you be telling me to stay away, not hook up with him?”

  “Are you kidding me? Hell no. And you know how lax the company is about that stupid policy. If you want him and he still wants you, I say go for it. I won’t tell anyone.”

  True. The company all but referred to their nonfrat policy as more a guideline than a hard and fast rule. Still, Karma couldn’t imagine “going for it.” That wasn’t how she behaved, at least not in the real world. Sure, just this morning she had wanted a second chance, but that was before her prince had turned into Solar’s new consultant. This fantasy had just taken a very real turn.

  “I can’t do that.” She sounded more like she was trying to convince herself than Lisa.

  “Oh, Karma, live a little. Have some fun for a change. Just keep it on the down-low.”

  Karma shot a glance to Don’s closed door. “Aren’t you supposed to advise against this sort of thing?”

  “Not when it’s you we’re talking about.”

  “What’s that supposed to mean?”

  “Just tha
t I have your best interests in mind before Solar’s. And I think you need to go for it with this guy. There’s a reason he’s here. It’s a sign, I’m telling you.”

  “I don’t know, Leese.” She didn’t want to put any credence on the it’s-a-sign theory.

  “What’s not to know?” An exaggerated sigh came through the line. “Just…okay, all I’m saying is to keep yourself open to the idea. It could be fun, and I saw that smitten look on your face when we were talking about him this morning.” Lisa made a breathy noise. “And Lord knows you could use a little bow-chicka-wow-wow.”

  “Oh my God, really?”

  “Oh, you know what I mean.”

  Yes, Karma knew all too well what Lisa meant. If a woman could become a born-again virgin, she was one.

  “You’re not helping, Leese.”

  “I am so. You’re just not listening.”

  “I gotta go.” This conversation was going nowhere.

  She hung up and stared at the closed door again. Behind it, not even twenty feet away, was the most captivating man she had ever met. A man she had lied to, kissed, and almost done unspeakable things with in his hotel room. But also a man she had fled from like a silly adolescent girl when things had gotten too hot. Just like she had done to Tony back in high school.

  She dropped her head into her hands.

  God, shoot me now.

  * * *

  At four thirty, Karma wrapped up the day’s work and prepared to go home. Mark’s arrival, which felt more like a head-on collision, had left her mentally exhausted, and all she wanted was to escape to a pair of sweats, an oversized T-shirt, and an evening on her couch.

  Just as she was filing the final operational report from last week, Mark stepped out of the conference room, which had become his makeshift office. “Karma, do you have a minute?”

  She glanced toward Don’s closed door. He had left fifteen minutes ago to take his wife to the airport, so only she and Mark remained. “Uh, sure.” She closed her e-mail and followed him into the conference room.