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“Of course I’m right. You’re going to get that job.”
Shelly hardly slept that night. She couldn’t wait for morning and the phone call she felt certain was coming. She was up at six, dressed and ready to take on the world by a quarter of seven.
Too keyed up to eat, she sat at the two-person table in her small kitchen, staring at the phone in front of her, drinking cup after cup of strong, black coffee.
Nine o’clock went by. Ten. Ten-thirty…
At ten after eleven, the damn thing finally rang. Shelly jumped in surprise and then gaped at it, hardly daring to believe, almost afraid to answer for fear it would be some telemarketer or a friend from her old job calling to ask how she’d been doing.
She let it ring twice, just to prove that she could, and then she snatched it up in the middle of the third ring. “Hello?”
“Shelly Winston, please.” It was one of the women from TAKA-Hanson HR.
Shelly spoke with great poise as she accepted the job. With amazing composure, considering the fact that she could now do miraculous things: pay her mortgage, order new glasses for Max, head over to Dominick’s and buy herself a fat filet mignon, and not care in the least that it was seventeen dollars a pound. “I’ll be at the office tomorrow at nine. Goodbye.” She hung up the phone.
And then she ran around the house yelling, “Yes, yes, yes, yes!”
Once she’d finished shouting out her joy, she called her mother and basked in Norma’s pleasure and praise. Before she hung up, her mom said, “When you call your uncle to thank him, thank him for me, too.”
“I will, Mom.”
Drake. She certainly did owe him a big, fat thank-you. She called. And got his voice mail.
“Uncle Drake. It’s Shelly. I just want to thank you. I got that job at TAKA-Hanson. I can’t tell you how much this means to me. Thank you.…” She let out a self-conscious laugh. “But I guess I said that already. Oh. And my mom says thank you, too.…”
What else? She couldn’t think of anything. She said goodbye and hung up.
After that, she got out all her unpaid bills and wrote the checks, addressed and stamped the envelopes and put them in the mail. Because she could. Then she went to the store and bought groceries, including a small, beautiful, way-too-expensive filet mignon. She also applied for a passport. And since she would probably be needing it soon, she paid extra to get it fast.
The afternoon went by in a warm glow of anticipation for the job she just knew she was going to love.
Shelly did love her new job.
And she really liked her new boss. Truthfully, she liked Tom a little too much, and she knew it. There was just something about him—beyond his good looks and strong handshake, his sense of humor and that tempting aura of power and command he wore so confidently. There were…shadows behind his eyes. Though he never came across as brooding or sad, she still had a feeling he’d been through tough times—and come out a better man for them.
She constantly reminded herself that a feeling was not reality. He’d probably been born into privilege. And if he’d suffered, it had been over whether to go to Harvard or Yale.
Yes, she liked him. And she was attracted to him. But so what? Nothing was going to come of it. She was there to work, not to get involved with the boss.
On her fifth day on the job, Verna announced she was leaving a week earlier than she’d planned.
“After all,” the older woman said. “No point in having the two of us in each other’s hair when it’s perfectly clear to me you can handle everything just fine on your own. I’m going to talk to Tom about this right now. I’m thinking I’ll finish out the week on call. I’ll be out of your way, but you can give me a buzz if necessary. Monday, you’re on your own. And Hank and I will hit the road. What do you say to that?”
“I say I really hate to see you go…”
Verna laughed. “But you can’t wait for the chance to have this desk to yourself. Well, it’s all yours. Starting tomorrow, I’m outta here.”
The phone was ringing when Shelly got home that night. She raced in the door and grabbed it on the fourth ring, just before her machine picked up.
It was her uncle Drake. “I hear you’re exceeding expectations at that new job of yours.”
“How do you know so much?”
“I thought I explained that. There are always ways…” Which explained exactly nothing.
“Uncle Drake, I’m starting to think you have spies at TAKA-Hanson.” She said the words jokingly, even though she had a feeling he did have spies at the company. He would have to, wouldn’t he, to have known about her job before anyone else did, to have found out that she was doing well when she’d been there a week and was still, technically at least, a trainee?
He went on as if she hadn’t spoken. “Assistant to the CFO, hospitality division. I like the sound of that.”
“Me, too.” She reminded herself that she ought to be grateful to him. She was grateful to him. “And seriously. I love this job. It’s exactly what I was hoping to find. And thanks to you, I did find it. I can’t tell you how much I appreciate your mentioning that it might become available.”
“Glad to help. Now, I want you to get good and settled in. Prove yourself trustworthy. That’s important. Next time I’m in Chicago, we’ll have dinner again. We’ll talk. I might have a favor or two to ask by then.”
Alarm jangled through her. Was her long-lost uncle setting her up somehow? For what?
Cautiously, she asked, “What kind of favor are we talking about here?”
“No need to get ahead of ourselves.”
“But I really would like to know. You keep hinting that there’s something I can do for you, but you never—”
“Well, I was thinking along the lines of a little… information gathering. As Holloway’s assistant, you’ll have access to certain sensitive material I can’t get any other way.”
“Access to what, exactly?”
“Later. Right now, you only need to do your new job and do it well.”
“Uncle Drake, are you telling me you want to spy for you?”
She heard him sigh. “We’re getting ahead of ourselves, don’t you think?”
“No, I don’t. I need to know specifically what you’re going to expect me to—”
Again he interrupted her. “Don’t worry, Shelly. I just wanted to congratulate you and tell you to keep up the good work. I’ll call you. Soon.”
Before she could say another word, she heard the click on the other end. He’d hung up. She set the phone down carefully and tried to decide what she ought to do next.
Call him back and demand specifics? She knew already what she’d get for that. He’d tell her again not to worry.
Should she call her mom, ask for advice? No. It wasn’t her mom’s problem and she didn’t want to worry her.
But the situation made her nervous. Her uncle, who’d spent most of his life behaving as if her branch of the family didn’t exist, showed up out of nowhere, wined and dined her and then told her where to go and what to do to get the kind of job she’d been seeking for months with zero success.
It was too perfect. Add his warning that she shouldn’t mention him at TAKA-Hanson? Definitely suspicious. And now he’d told her right out that in time he would want her to spy for him.
But so what? She’d done nothing wrong. She would do nothing wrong.
And until her uncle actually asked her to do something unethical, she would mind her own business and not borrow trouble.
Chapter Two
The next day, Shelly claimed Verna’s desk for her own. She got to work at seven-thirty and set up the computer the way she liked it. She went through the desk drawers and rearranged them to her personal satisfaction.
Tom arrived at eight-fifteen. “First day flying solo, huh?” He wore a designer suit and a tie that matched his eyes and she thought he looked amazing.
“I’ve got Verna’s cell on auto-dial if I need her. Which I won’t.”
“Confidence. I like that.” He looked at her with admiration. She resisted the urge to smooth her hair. “Give me fifteen minutes and we’ll go over the calendar.”
“Will do.”
He disappeared into his office and she stared at the place he’d been, grinning like a fool.
Note to self: mind on the job, not on the boss.…
The day progressed without a single crisis—not on Shelly’s end, anyway. She put the final touches on the arrangements for Verna’s retirement party, which she’d managed to move up to tomorrow night after Verna had confided that her husband wanted to head for some RV park in Ohio on Sunday.
Tom spent most of his day putting out fires.
He had to call an emergency meeting about the San Francisco flagship site. The hotel was supposed to be opening in September and the interiors, according to the site manager there, were a disaster. The designer was not only over budget, but also behind schedule. Way behind schedule.
There was also some problem at the Kyoto site. The facility there was still under construction, and things had been moving right along until the past few weeks. And there were accounting issues, as well. Tom took another long meeting with his managers to discuss the situation.
Friday he told Shelly he would be going to San Francisco on Monday and then to Japan on Thursday. “You’ll probably have to move a few meetings around for me. Go over my appointments and make the calls. Push everything to the following week, if you can. We should have the day here in Chicago on Wednesday, so you can pack it with whatever can’t be put off till the week of the thirtieth. Let me know if there are issues.”
“Yes. Of course.”
He said, “And I’d like you with me for both trips.”
With him…
Somehow, Shelly managed not to jump up and down in her chair. This was the life. Jetting to the west coast. Zipping off to Japan…
She’d get packed over the weekend. It was going to be fabulous. She needed a decent suitcase. One of those new ones with four wheels. She’d pick one up Saturday morning. They couldn’t be that expensive, could they?
He asked, “Can you manage it?”
“It?” She blinked.
“Two trips in one week?”
“Uh. Yeah. I can. I’m with you. No biggie.” Max would still be in Mount Vernon next week. Childcare wouldn’t be a problem. Not this time.
“Got a passport?”
“Yes, I do. I took care of that on the day I got the job.”
“Good. What else? Everything under control for Verna’s party tonight?”
“Everything’s a go. I just got off the phone with the caterer. And I checked around the office to make certain they all knew we’d changed the date. From the responses I got, we should have a great turnout.”
They held Verna’s retirement party in a friendly little bar on a side street, a few blocks west of the office. Most of the women from HR were there, along with the lower-level executives from the finance department and several of the secretaries and assistants Verna had worked with in her twenty-two years at Hanson Media, then TAKA-Hanson.
Verna’s husband, Hank, came, too. And Tom, of course.
The beer flowed freely and the food was cafeteria-style, set out in chafing dishes on a long table. Customers grabbed a plate and helped themselves.
Verna got a Rolex to mark the occasion and Tom gave a little speech in her honor. And he offered a toast. “To Verna. We’ll miss you. Think about us now and then while you and Hank are out there seeing America.…” He raised his beer glass to his former assistant as Hank put his arm around her and kissed the top of her graying head. Everybody clapped and cheered.
From the stool she’d claimed down the bar, Shelly raised her glass high and joined in the toast, happy for Verna, even happier for herself.
Someone tapped her shoulder. She swiveled her chair around. “Hey, Lil.” Lillian Todd worked for one of the finance managers. She had sleek red hair and a killer body. She seemed to spend most of her time in the break room and making the rounds, chatting up all the secretaries, flirting with every guy in sight. Verna had confided in Shelly that it was lucky for Lil she was as smart as she was sexy. She spent so much time gossiping and making eyes at the men, she needed to be fast to get her work done, too.
“Doing all right on your own?” Lil had to shout to be heard over the rowdy crowd.
Shelly nodded, and shouted back, “So far, so good.” Lillian opened her mouth to say something else—but then she blinked and aimed her sexiest smile at a point past Shelly’s shoulder.
“Terrific party.” The male voice, deep and warm and threaded with humor, spoke in Shelly’s ear.
Tom. She turned to him—and tried not to get lost in those baby blues of his, tried not to sigh over the way his eyes crinkled at the corners, over the five-o’clock shadow on his manly jaw. His suit jacket, as usual, was nowhere in evidence. His tie was gone, too. He’d rolled his shirtsleeves the way he liked to do.
The strangest feeling washed through her. A mix of excitement—and tenderness.
Tenderness? For a man she’d known less than two weeks? That hardly seemed possible. Yet somehow, it was so.
The party seemed to get louder by the minute. She had to lean close or shout. She leaned. “Having fun?”
“You bet.”
Someone in the corner let out a whoop and everyone started laughing and clapping again. It simply wasn’t the kind of party where you could have an actual conversation.
So she nodded and sipped her beer and stared into those eyes of his. They actually twinkled. Funny. Until Tom, she’d thought that twinkling eyes were more a figure of speech than anything that occurred in nature.
He leaned toward her again. She met him halfway. He smelled of some subtle aftershave and soap. And man. All man.
“Hungry?” He set his empty glass on the bar.
She set hers beside it. He gestured toward the table with the food on it and she slid off her stool and started walking, aware with every step that he followed. They filled a couple of plates and went back to the bar.
Since it was such a chore to try to talk, they ate to the rowdy laughter of their coworkers and the occasional shouted good wishes directed at Verna and Hank.
Shelly had hired a DJ and the place had a postage stamp of a dance floor at one end. Hank gave the DJ a big tip and a list of favorite tunes. Then he pulled Verna onto the floor. They swayed to the music. A few other couples joined them. Not too many. There wasn’t that much room.
Shelly watched, feeling sentimental. Hank and Verna reminded her a little of her parents: married forever, still going strong.
Tom leaned close again. “Dance?”
She slanted him a look—wanting the dance, wondering if they were carrying this a little too far. For the umpteenth time, she reminded herself that the last thing she needed was an office romance.
