He kissed her forehead. “Coffee should be ready. I have a few minutes to join you, but then I really have to go home to shower and change. Showing up to work in yesterday’s clothes is bad enough when you aren’t related to at least half your coworkers.”
Elissa clenched her teeth and sucked in a breath. “Yeah, I can’t even imagine.”
Ryan laughed. “Come on, gorgeous. Let’s get you caffeinated and on with your day.”
She followed him to the kitchen and the coffeepot beeped.
“How do you take it?” She grabbed two mugs from the cabinet as he sat at the kitchen table.
“Black.”
She poured the coffee, added a generous amount of creamer to her mug, and sat across from him. Ryan took his mug and sipped. Elissa savored her one cup of coffee for the day, sipping as she waited for the caffeine rush to kick in. The silence stretched for a minute until Ryan’s hand covered hers.
“You okay? What was going on?”
“I have a slight tendency to overthink things. I assumed you left and I was trying to figure out where I went wrong.”
“Ah, yes, the overthinker. A perfect counterbalance to the underthinker, which would be me, by the way, who should have let you know I had to leave early.”
She gently tapped his shin with her toes. “We were a bit…distracted…last night.”
“Oh, distracted doesn’t even begin to cover it, I hope.”
“True.” And she giggled. God, last night had been mind-blowing.
Ryan took out his phone. “I wish I could distract you again, but if I don’t leave right the fuck now, I’m going to be super late.”
“And when your dad’s your boss, it super sucks.”
He smiled as he rose. “You got it, gorgeous.”
Ryan bent down and tenderly kissed her, a soft, sleepy kiss that left her wanting more. Much, much more.
“You don’t play fair,” she said when he finally broke off.
“Never. Call you tonight?”
“You better.”
He winked, then grabbed his helmet and bag. “Have a lovely day, Elissa.”
The door closed softly behind him. She couldn’t keep the silly grin off her face or the image of him naked out of her mind.
She put the mug in the sink, put some bread in the toaster, and poured a glass of cranberry juice. The sound of a motorcycle starting in the quiet morning only widened her grin. The toast popped and she sat at the table, only to notice the small pile of papers at the far end. Crap, Ryan’s business plan. She’d return it next time.
Next time. She liked the sound of that.
Besides, she could run through some of this market research, refine her numbers. He had the bones of something interesting. With a little fine tuning and some marketing help, this could be a solid career.
Later. First, work. She rushed through her morning routine and was out the door quickly enough not to be late. Best to get the next few hours over with. Elissa steeled herself for an unpleasant conversation. She needed to tell Karina she couldn’t work on the DeMarco account any longer. Her mentor may have given her tacit permission to flirt with the cute office manager, and a couple of dates might be excusable. Sleeping with a client was not. Karina wouldn’t be happy, but she could work with another junior CPA on this account. Elissa could escape this with only a little embarrassment.
She set her bag and jacket down and went to find Karina. Oddly, the older woman wasn’t in her office. Maybe she’d had an outside appointment she’d forgotten to tell Elissa about. Or was simply running late. Elissa settled into her normal morning routine, checking email and voicemail.
A soft cough drew her attention. Mr. Samuels stood at the entrance to her cubicle, sadness making his features even more droopy than usual.
“Elissa,” he said in his quiet way.
“Yes, Mr. Samuels?”
