Her Unexpected Admirer Page 0,18

the accounting work.

She slipped through the entrance to the accounting firm, breathing a sigh of relief when the receptionist wasn’t in yet. She glanced at her watch, noting that it was only five minutes past eight o’clock. Her eyes also caught the fact that her father’s door was still closed.

So far, so good. She almost fell into her chair, catching her head in her hands as she went through the previous evening’s activities. Now that she was back in her office, surrounded by all the tan colors and the staid outfits and attitudes of the other accountants, her actions from the previous night didn’t seem so glorious. If any of them ever found out…! They would be horrified with her! How could she have been so promiscuous as to sleep with Davis? She didn’t know the man!

She blushed, thinking of all the things she did know about him. Like how he liked to be touched on his…

Kate shook her head and pressed the button that would start up her computer. She couldn’t do that! She couldn’t think back to last night. She’d made a mistake and she had to move forward. How many times did she have to tell herself that in order for her mind to accept it?

Davis was probably waking up just about now and he’d be relieved that she wasn’t still in bed with him.

Yes, she had to move forward. Just put yesterday up as the worst day of her life…she hesitated because she’d enjoyed…

No! This was ridiculous! She couldn’t go there.

“Nice of you to show up for work today,” her father said, his head popping into her office. “We’ll discuss your tardiness later. You need to come down to my office now.”

She jerked, her pen flipping across the room. Her father was here? He never came into the office until after nine o’clock! Why was he here so early?

She stood up, her mind trying to figure out what was going on. It had to be bad if her father was in the office this early.

Kate’s knees trembled as she stepped around her desk and her stomach felt like it was tied in knots. She was glad she hadn’t eaten anything for breakfast this morning because she was pretty sure she would just throw it up about now.

Kate walked down the hallway, her feet slower than she’d like but no matter what, she couldn’t get them to move more quickly. It was like she was walking to her execution. Surely her father wouldn’t fire her, would he? She was his daughter!

Yes, he would. Yesterday’s missed report had been a bad error and she’d rushed out of the office instead of staying here to fix it. She’d run away. Kate glanced at her purse and realized she hadn’t even checked her messages last night or this morning, too caught up in Davis to think about work. Well, now she was going to pay the price, she thought. There was no way she could argue against a termination. She hadn’t received that report, but her father wouldn’t listen to her and she’d made a serious error for a client. It was only her father’s obsessive need to check everything she did that caught the issue before it was sent out.

She walked down the hallway towards her father’s office, her head held high and her shoulders back. If he fired her, she’d simply walk out of the building with whatever pride she had left. She could do this, she encouraged. She had money now, thinking of that check. She would survive. If she had to move to a different city to find a job, she would. She could even move somewhere cheaper so she could work on her art and never have to look at another spreadsheet again! Yes, that’s what she’d do!

Or maybe she’d just…

She’d just turned the corner that led to her father’s office when she saw him. A face she’d thought never to see again! Was she seeing things? She blinked her eyes, trying to make sure she wasn’t just picturing him. Was he real?

A smile started to creep onto her face and excitement pulsed through her body. Surely it wasn’t…

Impossible! She’d left him over an hour ago! How could he be here, looking so marvelously virile in a dark suit and red, silk tie that made him look even more powerful? As if he needed any help!

But yes! It was him! Davis was here!

He stood there in her father’s office, watching her with those dark, mysterious