"Lily?"
"Oh, Mr. Argeneau, that woman claims she's?
"Yes, yes," Vincent interrupted, then tried for a more pleasant tone as he said, "Yes, Lily. Jackie is my new personal assistant and I did ask her to contact you. Just send over whatever she's asked for and anything else she calls you about in future. Okay? Thanks."
Vincent handed the phone back to Jackie without waiting for agreement, then listened impatiently as she repeated orders she'd obviously already given several times. Once finished, Jackie hung up. "Thank you."
When Vincent's mouth tightened, Tiny considered his exhausted face and then announced, "I think I'll go check on lunch."
Jackie watched the giant go and then said, "Really, thank you. Your Lily was being a pain."
Vincent had intended on blasting her for the noise the men were making, but curiosity got the better of him and, instead, he asked, "How did you find her number?"
"It wasn't hard; you put her under P for production assistant in your Rolodex," Jackie pointed out with amusement.
"Finding her wasn't the problem, getting a hold of her was. When I called her office, the switchboard gave me her home phone number. I must have called twenty times before she finally answered."
"She didn't have to answer at all," Vincent muttered. "Lily doesn't normally start work until I do."
"Which reminds me, what are you doing up so early?" she asked with a frown. "I expected you to sleep at least until dinner."
Her question reminded him that he was annoyed and Vincent scowled. "What are all these men doing in my house?"
Jackie appeared surprised at the question. "You know very well what these men are doing here. They're the security team. They're finishing the installation of the alarm system and cameras on the windows and doors upstairs."
Yes, he did know that, but... "Couldn't they have come later in the day? They woke me up."
Jackie sat back with a sigh. "The sooner everything's in place and fully operational the better."
Vincent scowled, but he was unable to fault her reasoning. Unfortunately.
"I did ask them to try to keep the noise down," she added apologetically. "I'll talk to them again so that you can get some more sleep."
"No, no. I'm awake now." Vincent shifted impatiently on his feet, his gaze looking over Jackie, noting she wore another business suit, this one gray with a red blouse under it. Very sharp, very nice on her, he thought, his gaze slipping to the wide expanse of neck left bare by the open top two buttons. He found himself staring at the creamy white flesh with fascination. To him, it was tantamount to waving a pizza under the nose of a starving man. Without even thinking about it, Vincent found himself taking a step closer, pausing only when his thighs bumped against the edge of the desk.
"For heaven's sake, stop looking at me like lunch!" Jackie said irritably as she stood up. "And, do you always have to wander around here shirtless?"
Vincent blinked and glanced down at himself, only now becoming aware that he was wearing only a pair of soft cotton pajama pants. Apparently, she found his state of undress distressing, he noted, and glanced up to catch Jackie staring at his chest. Her eyes slid down over his pecs to his flat stomach in a caress he almost felt. Vincent found himself with the sudden urge to stretch and flex some of those muscles she was eyeing with such interest, but before he could, Jackie blinked as if waking from sleep and jerked her eyes up to his face.
She blushed bright pink at being caught gawking, then he saw her mouth tighten and spoke quickly to prevent her grouching at him again. "So what's all this then?"
Jackie hesitated, then glanced down at the stacks of paper on his desk. Sighing, she pushed one hand through her golden hair and visibly relaxed. "This is your mail, Mr. Argeneau."
"Hmm. Mail." Vincent ignored the return of the formal address and nodded as he glanced over the piles. He never opened his mail. He just stacked it up on the table in his hallway until the table couldn't hold it anymore, then dumped it all in a box.
"You had three months worth of mail in your hall," she informed him dryly.
"Yes, well?
"I opened and sorted it all, stacking it in order by date with the oldest on top," Jackie went on, ignoring his efforts to explain himself. "This first pile is just bill receipts. I gather you have direct debit for all your bills?"
"Yes,"