Chapter Seven

Drew was silent for a long while after she’d gone, staring at his office door, and replaying their conversation in his head.

I love the way her nose crinkles up when she makes that one face, he noted, and was grateful to have the room to himself so he could sigh aloud with no judgement.

While he had honestly intended to behave himself and respect the boundary she’d set, he felt it was more than just good luck that had resulted in her presence being necessary on this trip.

And it was necessary, no doubt about it.

In every single board meeting for the past five years, he’d watched Bill field rather complex questions about the profit and loss statements. Each time, he’d been thrilled that he was only an observer in that scenario, not the one being queried.

Therefore, Trixie Benning’s coming to the meeting wasn’t even a question. It was a legitimate need.

Better yet, he hadn’t even had to try to orchestrate anything. While he was worried about Marjorie, he couldn’t help but be pleased that spending lots of time with Trixie Benning had materialized of its own accord.

He was still smiling as he moved around his desk to work on returning some emails.

***

Holy crap was her first clear thought as she rode the elevator back down to the eighth floor, then escaped into her sanctuary and closed her office door.

Trixie leaned against it for just a moment, eyes closed, focusing on her breathing. Once she felt steadier, she moved toward her desk.

Meghan. I’ll call Meghan. She loves Joshie. I just hope she’s not busy, Trixie thought.

She tapped her fingers rapidly on her desk as she waited for Meghan to pick up the phone.

“Hey girl, what’s up?” her best friend said after three rings.

“Well, I just found out I have to take a business trip,” Trixie said. “I have to leave Thursday afternoon and won’t be back until Saturday sometime. Can you watch Joshua?”

“Gee, let me think,” Meghan replied with sarcasm. “Watch an adorable little doggie, or spend part of the weekend by myself? Hmm. Tough choice.”

“By yourself? Why? What’s going on?”

“Brad is taking Scott fishing this weekend. You know, father-son bonding time.”

“Ah. What about Cammie?”

“Are you kidding? She’s ‘too girly for fishing’ – her words, not mine. She got invited to spend the weekend at Julia’s house and she jumped on it. She’s ten now, so too cool to be seen with Mom,” Meghan chuckled.

“You sure? I don’t want to put you out.”

“Whatever. Besides, Chester will be glad to have his own kind around for a change,” Meghan said, referring to the three-year-old basset hound the Smiths owned. “You know he and Joshie are besties.”

“That they are,” Trixie confirmed. “So. I can bring him by tomorrow night?”

“Sure. As a matter of fact, come over for dinner. I’ll make your favorite.”

“Ooh! Carne asada and cheese enchiladas? I’m there. What time?”

“I should have it all done and ready by seven.”

“Sounds good.”

“Hey, Trix, one more thing.”

“What’s that?”

“What’s with the tone?”

“What tone?”

Meghan snorted.

“Your patented ‘I can’t believe that just happened’ tone.”

“Oh,” Trixie said, wanting to bang her head on her desk. “Um. Yeah. This trip. It’s with my CEO.”

“Drew Alexander? Super-Hot Drew? The millionaire mogul who is so, so much eye candy?”

Trixie flushed scarlet again even though she was alone in her office.

“Yep, that’s the one.”

“Anybody else going on this trip?” Meghan asked.

“Nope. I mean, we’re flying to Denver to go meet with the Board of Directors, so, there will be people when we get there. But we’re the only two traveling from Las Colinas.”

“Oh, my God, you get the eye candy all to yourself?”

“Jesus, Meg,” Trixie muttered.

“What? He’s hot. And I know you think so too. So, what’s wrong with acknowledging that?”

“Nothing. Everything. I don’t know…” Trixie trailed off.

“Actually, I do know. He’s the CEO of the company I work for, so doing anything but keeping it professional would be ridiculously stupid on my part.”

“You have a point,” Meghan agreed. “Not to mention all the rumors.”

“What rumors?”

“I forgot you don’t read the mags,” her friend chuckled. “His love- ‘em-and-leave- ‘em reputation is well established if you believe the tabloids. Supposedly he’s left a trail of broken hearts from Amarillo to Corpus Christi.”

“Ugh,” Trixie exhaled.

“If there’s any truth to that at all, it’s just more reason for me to keep my distance.”

They chatted a bit more, then Trixie announced, “Anyway, I have to go. I have a lot to do before we leave.”

“Yeah,” Meghan said with a wicked giggle. “Like pack up some sexy lingerie, just in case.”

“Meg,” Trixie hissed. “Stop it.”

“Okay, okay, I’m sorry. I’ll stop.”

“Thanks. See you tomorrow at seven.”

But as Trixie hung up and set her cell phone on her desk, her mind was already flinging itself down the rabbit hole Meghan’s teasing had created.

Thankful she’d shut her door, she leaned back in her chair and just let her brain go there for a minute.

Fantasize about it all you want, but get it out of your system now, she told herself. Because there’s no place for any of it once you get on that plane.

Plane. Ugh. That’ll be another excellent time, she thought sarcastically.

She’d never managed to get comfortable with the idea of being contained in a long, pressurized metal tube thousands of feet off the ground and in the control of someone she didn’t know.

A plane ride, then public speaking, and to top it off, being in very close proximity to the hottest man I’ve ever seen that I absolutely cannot get involved with, she summed up. This is going to be the worst trip of my life. I just hope it passes quickly.

She set her jaw and reached for her keyboard to pull the reports she needed to generate. As always, focusing on the numbers calmed her racing brain. She generated the July data and copied it over into the Excel template for that specific period, repeating the exercise with August and September, and then by third quarter to cross-check the figures.

When she was done, she had a clean standalone file for each financial period to be discussed, and a cumulative summation to present for the quarter.

In front of twelve people. Just like a freaking jury, her mind murmured, and she clenched her teeth.

***

I wonder if she’d like to get dinner, since I didn’t get to see her today, Drew pondered as he wrapped up his work on Wednesday afternoon.

And he immediately chastised himself for the thought.

Don’t go there, dude. Be patient. You’re about to spend two days with her in a proper way.

Proper. That damn word again. He grinned.

But the way I am starting to feel about Trixie Benning is anything but. Haven’t been attracted to a woman this way in a long time. Not since Emily.

Emily.

Had it really been twelve years? He was surprised to realize it had been – almost to the day.

“Time flies,” he murmured, then immediately clamped down on the memories that threatened to wreck him.

He turned off his computer, locked his office, and nodded to Andrea as he headed for the elevator.