hearing.”
"Damn." He turned away just as Allison
clasped the corner of the desk to steady her knees.
"Got some furniture here." A forty-something
man in baggy jeans and sweat-soaked blue shirt appeared in the doorway, Coastal
Furniture stitched over Junior on his chest pocket. "Right place?"
"This is it." Allison pointed to her
office.
#
“You sure do have a lot of files.” Brett groaned,
his head barely visible over the boxes he carted into the office.
“I told you to go to the beach.”
“Next time I might listen.“
“Set them there.” She pointed to the floor by the
new cabinets lined up against the paneled wall. “We’ll have to wait until they
bring in the rest of the furniture before we get anymore.”
He sank to the floor, resting his back against her
mahogany desk. Pulling up the tail of his t-shirt, he swiped his forehead, his
jaw and the back of his neck.
He dropped the shirt back over his flat stomach,
Allison silently cursing him and thanking him for the brief view of his body.
“Sit and tell me what you do around here.” He
patted the space next to him. “And it better be important since I’ll be aching
for days from all this manual labor.”
“I’ll buy you an ace bandage,” she said,
collapsing next to him, but a safer foot or two away from the spot he’d
indicated, not trusting her hands that wanted to sneak under his shirt and see
if his skin sizzled to the touch. There must be heat radiating from that body.
“You are so kind, boss.” He patted his heart. “So
what’s the big job?”
“I work for the Chief Financial Officer.”
“Sounds exciting.” He drew his legs up and rested
his arms over his knees. “Did you major in finance?”
She nodded. “I always wanted to work in a large
financial institution and they had a management training program here that I
joined out of school.”
Luckily they’d had one open slot by the time she
was able to work after Kelly was born. If she’d been able to apply like every other
college senior, during the interviews the last few months of school, there
would’ve been a lot of choices, especially with her grades.
But, her choices were limited by then.
“So you plan to stay here?”
“I plan to be CFO one day.” She sat up straighter,
stretching her tight back muscles. She really did need to exercise.
“If that’s what you want, I’m sure you have a plan
to get there.”
Was he being sarcastic? She snapped her head up,
ready to be defensive, but his eyes were serious, intent on her face.
“So what’s the next step in achieving this goal?”
She shifted her body around to face him, still
unsure where he was coming from. Used to skepticism and dubious comments about
her goals, she seldom talked about them anymore. “Are you making fun of me?”
“Not at all. I’ve seen how organized you are about
everything. I’m sure you have your career plotted out too.” He reached over and
smoothed the ends of her ponytail laying on her shoulder. “Tell me.”
“Well...” She looked down at her lap and then back
at his face. He did seem interested. “I need my MBA first, so I’m working on it
now.“
His hand dropped, brushing her thigh as it fell.
“When in the world do you have time to go to school?”
“I’m in a distance education program and most of
the work’s done over the Internet.”
He raised his eyebrows, nodding in approval.
“In fact all my classwork is done and my thesis
should be complete before Christmas.”
“Very inventive, Allison.” He shook his head. “I
should’ve known you’d find a way to work it into your already tight schedule.”
“You are making fun of me.”
He laughed. “No I’m not. I’m impressed with how
you manage to find a way to go after everything you want. Stay in control,
organized...”
“It’s the only way to get things done. To meet
your goals,” she said, repeating her mantra for when life got out of control.
And she was repeating it a lot
"Damn." He turned away just as Allison
clasped the corner of the desk to steady her knees.
"Got some furniture here." A forty-something
man in baggy jeans and sweat-soaked blue shirt appeared in the doorway, Coastal
Furniture stitched over Junior on his chest pocket. "Right place?"
"This is it." Allison pointed to her
office.
#
“You sure do have a lot of files.” Brett groaned,
his head barely visible over the boxes he carted into the office.
“I told you to go to the beach.”
“Next time I might listen.“
“Set them there.” She pointed to the floor by the
new cabinets lined up against the paneled wall. “We’ll have to wait until they
bring in the rest of the furniture before we get anymore.”
He sank to the floor, resting his back against her
mahogany desk. Pulling up the tail of his t-shirt, he swiped his forehead, his
jaw and the back of his neck.
He dropped the shirt back over his flat stomach,
Allison silently cursing him and thanking him for the brief view of his body.
“Sit and tell me what you do around here.” He
patted the space next to him. “And it better be important since I’ll be aching
for days from all this manual labor.”
“I’ll buy you an ace bandage,” she said,
collapsing next to him, but a safer foot or two away from the spot he’d
indicated, not trusting her hands that wanted to sneak under his shirt and see
if his skin sizzled to the touch. There must be heat radiating from that body.
“You are so kind, boss.” He patted his heart. “So
what’s the big job?”
“I work for the Chief Financial Officer.”
“Sounds exciting.” He drew his legs up and rested
his arms over his knees. “Did you major in finance?”
She nodded. “I always wanted to work in a large
financial institution and they had a management training program here that I
joined out of school.”
Luckily they’d had one open slot by the time she
was able to work after Kelly was born. If she’d been able to apply like every other
college senior, during the interviews the last few months of school, there
would’ve been a lot of choices, especially with her grades.
But, her choices were limited by then.
“So you plan to stay here?”
“I plan to be CFO one day.” She sat up straighter,
stretching her tight back muscles. She really did need to exercise.
“If that’s what you want, I’m sure you have a plan
to get there.”
Was he being sarcastic? She snapped her head up,
ready to be defensive, but his eyes were serious, intent on her face.
“So what’s the next step in achieving this goal?”
She shifted her body around to face him, still
unsure where he was coming from. Used to skepticism and dubious comments about
her goals, she seldom talked about them anymore. “Are you making fun of me?”
“Not at all. I’ve seen how organized you are about
everything. I’m sure you have your career plotted out too.” He reached over and
smoothed the ends of her ponytail laying on her shoulder. “Tell me.”
“Well...” She looked down at her lap and then back
at his face. He did seem interested. “I need my MBA first, so I’m working on it
now.“
His hand dropped, brushing her thigh as it fell.
“When in the world do you have time to go to school?”
“I’m in a distance education program and most of
the work’s done over the Internet.”
He raised his eyebrows, nodding in approval.
“In fact all my classwork is done and my thesis
should be complete before Christmas.”
“Very inventive, Allison.” He shook his head. “I
should’ve known you’d find a way to work it into your already tight schedule.”
“You are making fun of me.”
He laughed. “No I’m not. I’m impressed with how
you manage to find a way to go after everything you want. Stay in control,
organized...”
“It’s the only way to get things done. To meet
your goals,” she said, repeating her mantra for when life got out of control.
And she was repeating it a lot
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