Page 6 of The Money Man
“Are your clients concerned about these shortfalls?”
A guilty look crossed her face. “Not really, no. In fact, most of them couldn’t care less.” Her voice became passionate. “Look, I know it isn’t a lot of money, but the deficits shouldn’t be there. Numbers don’t lie. At least, they never have before.”
“I was just curious.” The crazy thing was that he understood her obsession with making the numbers add up all too well. “Will you walk me through it?” he asked, wheeling the other chair over and holding it for her.
Rather than sitting down, she looked surprised. “Sure, but that’s just going over the same erroneous path I took. Don’t you want to come at it fresh? I thought that was your preference.” There was a slight edge to her last words.
“I’m hoping the problem will manifest itself as you go through the records,” he said. “Remember, I’ve already looked at the computer files without your input and found nothing. So did a colleague of mine.” Both of them had been baffled and shocked by their inability to pinpoint the issue. He winced inwardly at his unconscious arrogance.
A fleeting look of approval crossed her face before she perched on the chair. “Okay, here we go,” she said, pushing a stack of papers in front of him.
Her movement sent a waft of scent to tickle his nostrils. It was something floral and old-fashioned, like her name, but he couldn’t place it. Asking her wouldn’t be any more professional than admiring her behind, so he inhaled deeply to draw it into his lungs and imprint it on his sensory memory.
“My first reaction was that someone had forgotten to record a withdrawal from petty cash,” she said. “However, the petty cash in the drawer matched the balance on the accounting system so that couldn’t be it.”
Derek pulled his attention away from the graceful movements of her ringless hands with their short, neat nails and focused on the numbers as she talked through her methodology. Her explanation was clear and logical. He could find no fault with anything she had done, which was unfortunate since she had to have made an error somewhere.
After twenty minutes of working beside Alice, he forgot that she was a small-town bookkeeper. Instead he treated her just like he would one of the senior associates at KRG Consulting, listening to her suggestions with respect and offering his own ideas without dumbing them down. He found himself exhilarated by the give-and-take with a mind that could keep up with his own.
That exhilaration did not explain why when she flicked her ponytail over her shoulder so the mass of chocolate-colored waves flowed down her back, he had an almost overwhelming urge to comb his fingers through it. That would be even less appropriate than asking her what kind of perfume she was wearing. Or speculating about the color of her panties.
As she and Derek worked through the numbers for Sparkle, Alice could almost forget how good-looking he was. But the yearning hollowed out her chest when he turned his head to ask her a question and she could see how his dark lashes contrasted with the silver gray of his eyes. A slash of sunlight glinted off the slight scruff of blond whiskers on his chin and cheeks. She imagined that soft roughness pressed against her skin.
She needed to fight down her reaction to his beauty and focus on the work. But even that didn’t help because his mind was as sexy as the rest of him. He didn’t treat her like a second-class citizen as they analyzed the books. His questions were incisively phrased and his ideas were complex. She had the heady feeling that he thought she was his equal, which was clearly ridiculous.
But the worst was when she handed him a pile of papers and their fingers brushed, the tiny friction sending sparks racing over her skin. From then on she was careful not to make contact, even though she longed to feel that delicious response again.
“That’s it for Sparkle,” Derek said, flipping the last page of the report over. “No explanation for the discrepancy.” He rubbed his forehead, bringing her attention back to the glorious thickness of his golden-brown hair.
“Ready for Work It Out?” She madly shifted papers to yank her unruly thoughts away from the shining waves that tempted her to touch.
As Derek opened the first report for the gym, Alice’s phone played its old-fashioned tinkling tune.
“Interesting ringtone,” Derek said as Alice rolled her chair over to the credenza where she’d left her phone. The caller ID was Natalie’s and Alice remembered her friend’s determination to make sure Derek wasn’t going to attack her in her home office. The irony was that she was more likely to attack him.
“Excuse me, I have to answer this,” Alice said. “Thurber Bookkeeping.”
“Oh, good, you’re not bound and gagged,” Natalie said. “How’s it going?”
“I’m making good progress on the issue.” Not really true. “Actually, I’m in a meeting. Maybe I could call you back later?”
“Now that I have proof of life, sure. Although if I don’t hear from you by four o’clock, I’m calling again. He could just be lulling you into a false sense of security before he pounces.”
“That might be the best outcome. I’ll talk with you after I’m done here.”
“Youwantto be pounced on?” Natalie asked in a teasing tone. “Now I’m really intrigued. Off to do a search for a picture of Derek Killion right now.” She disconnected.
That would get Alice into some hot water. All of her friends thought she dated the wrong kind of men, just because she chose safe, stable, and yes, slightly boring ones. But she didn’t trust the charming, handsome ones because growing up with her mother and her stepfather, she’d learned how destructive they could be. Of course, she hadn’t seen a lot of charm from Derek yet. He wouldn’t waste that on her. Nor should he. They were just trying to solve a business riddle together.
“You didn’t have to put off a client on my account,” Derek said, looking up from the papers he was examining with a frown of concern.
“You trekked all the way to New Jersey to help me.” She was disarmed by the fact that he didn’t expect her to focus entirely on his important presence. “That deserves my attention.”
He gave her a look that said he didn’t entirely believe her. “So far, I haven’t been very useful.”
“If nothing else, you’ve reassured me that I’m not losing my ability to handle numbers.”
“No worries about that. These records are flawless.”
