Page 23 of Family Secrets

“It did,” Elizabeth nodded. “Although I was quite surprised to find my seat was in first class.”

Sully reached out, laying his large hand on her shoulder, squeezing it gently. From the way she melted into his touch, he assumed she felt the same. “We strive to give our employees all the luxuries we can. With your impressive skills, I felt it imperative we roll out the red carpet for your arrival.” Sully sent her a wink, pleased to see he affected her as much as she did him. “I hate to do this on your first day, but we are so behind since our previous employee quit.”

“It’s fine, Mr. Vitale. I was hired to work, not stand around your beautiful office.”

“You may regret saying that. You haven’t seen the number of boxes I need you to sort through and organize. And please, call me Sully. Mr. Vitale is my father.”

Elizabeth followed Sully out of the glass room, trying, and failing miserably, to avoid watching his backside. His suit was tailored, his trousers cut to fit him in the most delicious way. She nearly ran into the back of him when he stopped midway down a hall to unlock a door.

“Are you certain we shouldn’t wait until you’ve gotten more comfortable before showing you the skeletons in our closet?”

“I’m sure.”

Sully cautiously opened the door, reaching inside to turn on the light. Elizabeth flashed him a reassuring smile as she stepped into the room. Delight filled her soul as she took in the banker’s boxes stacked four high. She loved numbers and puzzles and, without knowing it, Sully gave her both.

“This isn’t your primary job of course,” Sully assured, his hands deep in his pockets to keep himself from reaching out and pulling the beautiful woman to him. “Your resumé indicated you are well-versed with the accounting program we use.”

“Yes, although, with the older version. Lisa shared with me the benefits of the recent update and I can’t wait to get my hands on it.”

Sully closed the door, twisting the handle to ensure the lock was engaged. “Well, then let’s get you set up.”

Elizabeth stood behind Sully as he typed at a snail’s pace, putting her information into the system. It took a little over an hour, but in the end, she had her username and code for the front door.

“I have some paperwork for you to sign before I can let you go playing around with our money.”

Elizabeth expected this, she’d gone through an extensive background check when she began working with the Co-op’s payroll. Given the number of high-end cars in the parking lot, she suspected to find a ton more zeros in these accounts. Sully handed her a pen and was in the process of sliding over the first document when it collided with the side of her hand resulting in a paper cut.

“Ouch,” Elizabeth cried, her hand headed straight for her mouth.

“Wait,” Sully reached out, stopping her hand mid-air. “Let me help you.” Keeping his eyes trained on Elizabeth’s perfect lips, he pulled a handkerchief from his jacket pocket, wrapping her bleeding finger and applying gentle pressure. Never in his life had he felt such a pull to a woman, the overwhelming need to kiss her clouding his judgment.

Pulling back, Sully found the bleeding had stopped, pocketing the handkerchief, he diverted his focus to show her where to sign.

“Tony will be by in a little while, make sure you have a list of any favorite foods or drinks and he will have your fridge stocked before you come in tomorrow,” Sully handed her a key to her office door. Nodding his head in the direction of a bank of cabinets along the wall, Elizabeth assumed were used for storage. “I’ll check in on you later, okay?”

Elizabeth wasted zero time as she slid into her chair, relishing the feel of a new keyboard under her fingertips and the advantage of an enormous monitor. She spent most of the morning creating templates and short cuts, taking notes on the accounts from Lisa. She was mesmerized by the amount of money in some of the accounts and failed to hear when lunch arrived until the rapping of knuckles on the glass door jolted her back to reality.

“I’m sorry, I thought you heard me.” A tall dark-haired man spoke from the doorway. “You must be Elizabeth,” extending his hand, the handsome middle-aged man crossed the room. “Name’s Tony, Sully asked me to stop by and get your grocery list. I meant to come by earlier, but Gino needed my help.”

Elizabeth took the offered hand, “Nice to meet you, Tony. As for stocking the fridge, you don’t need to do that, I’m perfectly capable of running down to the corner store if I get thirsty.”

Tony surveyed the young woman he’d overheard Gino talking to Niko about.While he couldn’t understand why Sully was giving her the keys to the bank accounts when Gino didn’t trust her, it wasn’t his place to question either one of them.

“That’s fine, as long as you’re sure?”

“I’m positive. Having a decent paycheck is all I need right now.” The image of the check from her granny’s life insurance flashed in her head, she needed to deposit it, use the money to get an apartment.

“Speaking of money,” Tony reached into his jacket pocket, pulling out a white envelope. “This is for you.”

Elizabeth took the offered envelope. Lifting the flap, she nearly choked at the number of one-hundred-dollar bills inside.

“What the…?”

“Don’t worry, Elizabeth, you will still get a paycheck at the end of the week. This is just a little walking-around money.”

“Walking around money? I can’t…” She trailed off, attempting to give the envelope back to him.

Tony felt out of his element, he’d never had someone refuse money before. Noticing the confusion on her face, Tony assumed she thought this was her pay for the day and felt the need to set the record straight. “Listen, the boys like to take every opportunity to thank you girls for what you do here. Because without you, especially you and Lisa…well, things would be different.”

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