By the time Devon walked in, she had jotted down a couple questions on her notepad. A crisp black shirt hugged his form to perfection, under a dark grey jacket. She let her eyes trail down his pants. Out of all the male execs in the office, Devon was certainly the fiercest dresser.
Her sex tingled, and it was like her body switched to a different mode when he was around. “Devon, we need to talk.”
“Sure.”
He flashed her a noncommittal smile and gestured for her to follow him into his office. God. What if he regretted having slept with her? Already.
She watched him slid off his messenger bag, and threw it on the chair next to her. Plopping down, she bit her lip. The salmon-colored dress she had picked out to wear had been a stupid idea. It was far too light, too colorful, too happy. It screamed “My vagina has been revived,” and she doubted that’s what any man like Devon would want the day after. This kind of eagerness early on broadcasted white picket fence. Or rather, black wrought iron.
“I have been taking a look at the accounts. Did the accountant say why they weren’t able to trace the receiving offshore accounts?”
“Apparently whoever did this is going beyond Swiss banks. They are using special codes, and even though I suggested they get the cyber crime agents on board, Imani wants to solve it privately. If this leaks to the press, it won’t look good for the company.”
Of course. Wilder & Co stocks were doing awesome on the market. There was a chance they would drop when Imani stepped down and announced the new CEO. Why jeopardize the company even further?
She scratched her head. “Do you think…Toby the accountant might be involved?”
“Cooking the books? Why would he bring this to Imani’s attention?”
“I don’t know. But that makes him the perfect thief. He’s above any suspicion, and he can work the numbers to his advantage,” she voiced one of the nagging doubts jumbling in her head.
Devon grabbed the football-shaped paperweight from his desk and toyed with it. “I’ll look into that.”
She smiled. “Good.”
He leaned back in his chair, and a sexy gleam flicked in his eyes. “That’s a nice dress.”
“Thanks. Come to think of it though, it looks like the color of a vagina,” she said, the words escaping her before she had any control over them. Because I’m an idiot. “Crap. Sometimes I have no filter.”
His joyful, powerful chuckle filled the room. “You nervous?”
She shifted on her seat. “A little.”
A predatory smile formed on his lips, and she just knew he wasn’t going to say anything to make her less nervous. For a while, she doubted that was even possible. Her panties were drenched with the essence of her desire, and she clenched her legs together, trying to trap her scent of arousal.
What was going on in his head? The previous night he had acted like a gentleman. Now, his gaze traveled from her face down her neckline and breasts, and it left behind a path of seared flesh. Branded.
“Hey, if the offer still stands,” Elena said while she burned under his stare, “you can come with me to New York.” Now, more than ever, she needed Devon to be her date at her brother’s engagement party.
He shifted the paperweight from one hand to the other, his eyes unreadable. Oh crap. Maybe he’d changed his mind? There was always the possibility he had said that after screwing, in the heat of the moment.
“Unless, of course, you changed your mind,” she rushed to say. “Then, that’s totally okay. I completely understand.” She waved her disappointment off. “It was a bad idea to begin with. Really. It totally was.”
A grin teased his full lips. “I’m going with you.”
Little thrills of excitement surged through her, and she tried hard to keep her feet on the ground. “Great. We’re leaving in a couple days.”
“I’m going to call Imani and see if I can get more info on who is running the show. She has been tight lipped about the team that’s trying to unveil the thieves. But now that you mentioned the accountant, maybe there’s something to it too.”
“Sounds like a good idea.”
He picked an elegant pen from the pen holder and twirled it round his fingers. “And word on the street is Matthew is getting divorced.”
She straightened her shoulders. “How do you know?”
He rocked back in his chair. Even though he looked relaxed, stretching himself, there was a strange intensity in his midnight eyes. Why did she feel like she was the target? “He ordered his assistant to forward his mail to a new address and she talked to the security guy, who was glad to report it all to me this morning. My question is…how do you know? I doubt he has even said anything to Imani about it.”
“He told me.”
