Page 109 of In Love After Office Hours

It was also the same reason, Wickham thought,he trusted Ms. Pippilotta Jones at first sight. He had a good feeling about her, and an even better feeling when he thought of the woman and his boss together.

It was close to nine by the time Pippi made it home, and the slight trembling of her fingers made Pippi realize belatedly that it had been hours since her last meal. In her panic over the CEO's condition, she had actually forgotten to have her dinner.

This revelation, shared with the rest of the family over the kitchen table, had everyone gasping with exaggerated surprise.

"But you always go to pieces when you do something out of schedule," Vik, born one year after Pippi, protested with feigned confusion. "To do something so unheard of...is it possible you might have fallen for your—-"

Pippi's eyebrows shot up in warning. "Bite your tongue, missy!"

The rather old-fashioned expression had everyone laughing. It was one of the family's long-standing jokes, with Pippi and her younger sisters having grown up listening to her great-aunts speak like extras rehearsing for a Downton Abbey episode. The conversation then took different turns after this, with the matter of the eldest Jones daughter once rescuing a billionaire in distress all but forgotten.

Or at least it was so in the Jones' home.

Two

BREAKFAST READING NORMALLYconsisted of stock reports and feasibility studies, but today was different. Today, his enforced convalescence had come to an end - and he could finally make a decision about the mysterious Pippilotta Jones.

His gaze returned to the dossier before him, opened to his assistant's cover sheet for the girl's background report.

Age:23

Address:Bougainvillea Street, Isla de Flores

Family:Father, unlisted; mother, single without any prior marriages and self-employed by managing family-owned bed and breakfast; siblings, 3 (all female, younger, single); three other maternal great-aunts residing in the same domicile

Education:Undergraduate (Business Administration), took a leave of absence in her second year at the University of Miami

Work History:A teller at Banco de IDF (19 y/o), hired by Simonides Inc. as administrative assistant (20 y/o) and later promoted to executive secretary in the marketing department (21 y/o)

Acheron flipped to the next page, which contained a full-length photo of the girl, taken for one of the company's newsletters.Pippi Longstocking in person,he mused. Perhaps her parents had foreseen their daughter's resemblance to the fictional character, hence her charming name?

She had an elfin face with the lightest smattering of freckles, clear blue eyes, and dimples. Her most arresting feature was her hair - gold under the sunlight, and red in the night. She was neither beautiful nor unattractive.Sensible-lookingwas the best way to describe her, and he couldn't remember such a type ever capturing his interest.

Until now, of course.

Acheron caught sight of Wickham studying him with disapproving eyes from his usual position in the room, and his lips curved. Apparently, he wasn't the only one intrigued by Timothy Collins' top-notch secretary.

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