turned at the familiar knock on the door. “Come in.”
Kent, who worked for her company as a troubleshooter, rolled in. A veteran of the Iraq war, Kent had been left paralyzed in both legs by the shrapnel from a missile blast. He didn’t let being wheelchair-bound stop him, and she found his tenacity and determination to succeed in spite of his injury truly admirable. Accepting his disability as a bump you could get in your life and not a death sentence, he was good at what he did. She considered him a key player in her organization. He worked hard, sometimes too hard, and Shana often had to conspire with Kent’s wife, Marsha, to slow him down at times.
“Figured you’d still be here,” he said, his ocean-blue eyes flickering in a smiling glance.
She frowned, or at least she tried to. “I know why I’m here, but why are you here? I gave you and Todd a month off, with pay. You deserved it, so why are you here working at this hour?”
He chuckled and pushed a lock of blond hair out of his eyes. “You took on another client. So that means we all took on another client. We’re a team, Shana. Besides, I figured I could at least give you the rundown on Granger Aeronautics’ top executives. I loaded the new info into Greta so you can listen to it on the drive home. A hard copy will be ready for download anytime you want.”
She nodded. That was one of the reasons she appreciated her team so much. “Anything interesting?”
“I’ll let you decide.”
She tilted her brow. That meant there was something interesting. “All right.”
Half an hour later, after listening to Kent’s report on the four men who were the top executives under Richard Granger—Titus Freeman, Cal Arrington, Shelton Fields and John Fulmer—Shana realized that Kent was right; there was definitely something interesting. Already, questions were taking root in her head, and whenever that happened, she was pushed to dig deeper. And she would.
Chapter Ten
Jace walked in at seven-thirty the next morning to find Shana sitting at the desk in the office she’d been given, already buried knee-deep in paperwork. He paused in the doorway a second and watched her read various documents. Even the pair of cute glasses perched on her nose did nothing to detract from her attractiveness.
And he couldn’t help noticing a few other things, like how smooth and creamy-looking her skin appeared to be and that instead of being tinted with lipstick, her lips appeared shiny with gloss. The strands of her hair were a lustrous black, and the few loose tendrils would have softened her features had it not been for the way her lips were pursed together. But even with that, she looked good enough to eat—at least as good as the hot bagels in the bag he was carrying.
He felt his gut contract and immediately thought it was way too early to be thinking such things, but then he reconsidered. A beautiful woman could be appreciated at any time and any place. He decided now was the time to let his presence be known. “Good morning.”
She glanced up and smiled. “Good morning, Jace.”
“We said eight o’clock, but I had a feeling you’d be early. I hadn’t counted on this early,” he said, walking in and setting down the bag on her desk. “Fresh, hot bagels from Jennie’s.”
A smile tipping the corners of her lips widened. “Ahh, one of my favorite places. Thanks.”
He had ordered a coffee machine be provided for her, and from the look of things, she’d already had a cup. “I hope this office meets with your approval.”
“It does,” she said, glancing around. “Almost too much. I had to fight to buckle down and get started instead of staring out the window.” Still smiling, she stood up and sighed in satisfaction. “This is such a beautiful view.”
“I think so, too,” he agreed, scanning his gaze over her and knowing they were talking about two different things. She was wearing another conservative business suit. This one navy. And, like the brown one, it was meant to make a conservative statement, definitely professional. It did, but he was capable of seeing beyond all that. He could imagine her in a halter top with her firm breasts barely contained and a pair of khaki shorts that showed off her gorgeous legs. He wasn’t sure why that image was stamped in his mind, but it was.
“What time is the meeting this morning?” she asked, cutting