LITMIR.BIZ

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over her face.

      He was stupidly attractive. Even more so in a suit. Even with a coffee stain on his shirt that looked fresh. That attraction was all the more reason why she couldn’t stay another moment. She’d never be able to look him in the eye again after she’d... God...offered to pay him to be her date.

      “I’ll refund your money for the consultation contract.” She snatched the pen from his hand and stood. He stood with her and the view of the rest of him was finer than it had appeared on Friday night. His muscular chest pressed the confines of his shirt, a dark blue tie in place and knotted just so. His slacks were navy as well, and a brown leather belt bisected his waist. His shoes matched—expensive and shiny.

      “First you want to hire me, now you want to give me a refund. You offer to pay me an awful lot.”

      She blanched.

      “And the hell you will.” He folded his arms over his impressive chest. His unsmiling mouth pursed. “I hired you to do a job. You’re not running out on me just because you—”

      “Don’t say it.” Her eyes sank closed and she palmed one burning-hot cheek. Was it possible to die of humiliation? “I know what I did and I apologize.” She reopened her eyes and turned them up to his. “Please tell me you didn’t tell anyone about it?”

      “I told my friend Reid. He works here. You’ll meet him later.”

      “You told someone?” Her voice was edging along hysterical and she forced herself to calm down. “You could’ve kept that to yourself.”

      “Is that a joke? A gorgeous woman approaches me in a bar and I decide to stay one drink longer to get to know her and then she offers to pay me two grand for my companionship? It’s a hell of a story, Andy.”

      He thought she was...gorgeous? And he’d wanted to get to know her?

      It was far and wide two of the most flattering compliments she’d heard in a while.

      “I didn’t know you were the Andy Payne when I told him. I thought you’d tracked me down at work, and that you were going to... I don’t know, try and reconvince me.”

      That was fair.

      Why would he assume she was here for any other reason? She’d been on a mission to achieve her goal on Friday and had—incorrectly—assumed that when she ran from that bar, mentally vowing never to return, she wouldn’t see Gage again.

      She hadn’t asked him his name, either.

      “I wasn’t myself that night. I was angry about my date not working out and then I noticed you—” She snapped her mouth closed before she accidentally said too much, and then rerouted the conversation. “This is no fault of yours. I’ll go directly to my office from here and refund your money immediately.” She added the laptop and reports to her bag and pulled it over her shoulder.

      “No deal.” He stepped in front of the door and blocked her path.

      “Step aside, Mr. Fleming.”

      “Not going to happen, Ms. Payne.” His nostrils flared as he pulled in a breath. “I hired you. You agreed to do a job. I know you’re the best—I did my research. You’ve been cited as an asset by hundreds of companies, and I’m not letting you go because you made a mistake and now you’re uncomfortable. We have a contract. I was told your fee was nonrefundable.”

      That was true. Normally. “I’ll make an exception.”

      A warm, gentle palm landed on her upper arm. His voice was equally gentle when he said, “I don’t want an exception. I want you to stay and double or triple our numbers like you promised. This is important.”

      His words were sincere. And a good reminder that she prided herself on her work ethic. She never let clients down. She worked tirelessly for them because their businesses mattered. Employees had families to care for, and when she made their companies more money, the companies in turn lined the pockets of those hardworking men and women. What she did wasn’t about fattening up greedy CEOs. She did this work for the people. All of them.

      And right now Gage looked like someone who needed her help.

      “Did you find a date for the wedding yet?” he asked.

      She blinked, stunned by the change of topic.

      “I’ll go,” he said. “You stay here for the time you promised and I’ll go with you to Ohio to your sister’s wedding.”

      “But—”

      “I suspect you’ll insist, so I’ll let you take care of the room and flight, but you can keep the two grand.” He dipped his chin in a show of sincerity. “Okay?”

      As much as she hated to admit it, his offer was really, really tempting. She had to face reality, and the reality was that she was no closer to finding a date for Gwen’s wedding than she was to sprouting wings and flying there on her own steam.

      A bigger part of her was tempted simply because of Gage. He was attractive, and had found her attractive, and she wouldn’t mind spending more time getting to know him. Of all the dates she’d set up in an attempt to find a companion for Gwen’s wedding, Gage, from his warm brown eyes to his shiny leather shoes, was the only one who’d made her heart flutter. Dr. Christopher certainly hadn’t wanted to get to know her better. He hadn’t even had the decency to turn the money down.

      Even so, she found herself answering, “I couldn’t ask you to do that.”

      “Too bad. You already did, on Friday night. Now I’m accepting.” He lifted her bag off her shoulder, his fingers leaving behind an imprint of heat she couldn’t ignore. He set the bag on the conference room table, pulling her laptop out and extracting the reports, one of which had an ugly crease on the otherwise pristine cover.

      What a metaphor for Andy herself right now. She’d come in here neat and poised and now felt more than a little bent.

      He opened the laptop screen and took the wrinkled report and sat in his seat. She again considered refusing his offer. Her pride told her to bolt and never look back.

      There was only one problem. She needed him.

      Almost as much as he needed her.

       Five

      Gage had to hand it to her. Andy knew what she was doing.

      A week later, he sat at a conference table with Flynn and Reid and his right-hand guy on his sales team, Bruce, reviewing the numbers. The numbers were good.

      Really freaking good.

      “Bonuses will look great this quarter,” Bruce commented, his smile wide. A thirty-nine-year-old father of seventeen-year-old twins, he could use the extra money. Both of Bruce’s daughters would be graduating and going to college soon.

      “Share the good news,” Gage told him. “That’s all I have. Flynn? Reid? Anything?”

      “Not on my end,” Flynn said. “Just, good job.”

      Reid echoed the sentiment, shook Bruce’s hand, and then Bruce left the executive floor with some really good news for the sales team.

      “She’s as good as she claims,” Flynn commented to Gage. “Andy.”

      “She is.”

      “And bloody fast,” Reid commented. “I’ve never seen anyone swoop in and offer suggestions that work immediately.”

      “She’s amazing,” Gage admitted. She was also all business. She strode in here Monday through Friday to train, observe and then meet with Gage on her findings. He’d done some observing of his own—of her—and he couldn’t escape the idea that she’d walled part of herself off.

      Last week, when he’d

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