Chapter Three

God, he’s even more gorgeous than I remember… I honestly didn’t even think that was possible, was her first thought, and she felt herself beginning to blush despite her efforts to move her brain back over onto a professional track.

He raised an eyebrow, a slow smile coming to his lips, and said, “Miss Benning, isn’t it?”

He doesn’t recognize you. Be cool! Say something professional, you idiot!

“Yes, sir. Trixie Benning. I’m sorry to disturb you on such short notice, Mr. Alexander, but I’ve found something you really ought to know about.”

“Please, call me Drew,” he told her, and gestured toward his desk. “Have a seat.”

Trixie sank into one of the visitor’s chairs in front of his desk and was surprised when he did the same rather than settling behind his desk. Her nervousness threatened to undo her, and she focused very hard for a moment on her paperwork to steady her nerves.

“Are you all right?” he asked.

“I’m…um… I’m fine, sir. Just not sure how to tell you this.”

She took a deep breath.

“So, I’ll just say it. Our operating account is short this afternoon by five and a half million dollars.”

Now both his eyebrows were raised.

“You mean, a missed entry?”

Trixie squared her shoulders.

“No sir. A theft. A deliberate wire transfer to an account I am not familiar with and can find no record of in our system was initiated within the past thirty-six hours. I noticed it when I was doing my daily bank to ledger reconciliations.”

She began to relax as she lined out her evidence.

“I ran the reporting seven times, sir, rechecked that no computer or software glitches were causing it, and I spoke to my contact at the bank, who confirmed the wire transfer did indeed occur. She sent me an email showing the bank’s system details.”

“Do you have any idea who could have done this?”

She shifted, uncomfortable with what she was about to tell him.

“Well? Do you?”

She took a deep breath, then looked him directly in the eyes.

“I do. I drilled down into the user maintenance logs, and I discovered one set of transactions that total the dollar amount that’s missing. Individually, they look innocuous, and I doubt anyone would have caught them unless they were drilling down line by line through the General Ledger module entries. But the total precisely matches what left our bank account. The user ID on every one of those transactions was WJones.”

Drew started to protest, but Trixie said, “Here’s all the documentation of both my research and what I’ve just told you,” and handed him the file folder.

He took it from her and quickly glanced through the papers. When he looked up at her again, his green eyes gleamed with fury.

“Show me in the system, please,” he instructed as he stood and moved around the desk to his computer.

With a few quick strokes, he logged in, then said, “Come show me.”

She came around to join him behind the desk, slipped her reading glasses on, leaned over, and navigated through the software as she had before, pausing at his direction to screenshot as she went.

When she was done, she stepped back, took off her glasses, and fell silent. Trixie could feel the anger rolling off Drew in waves, but she had no idea if it was due to the theft, directed at her, or both.

Finally, he spoke.

“Miss Benning, I appreciate your diligence in bringing this to my attention. Trust me, this will be dealt with.”

His tone, while polite, was ice cold, and she took that as her cue to leave. She nodded, stepped around the desk, and forced herself to walk calmly rather than run to the door.

***

Drew watched her leave, his interest in her petite, shapely form temporarily overriding his rage. He could still smell the faint linger of jasmine that he’d noticed when she’d come around and leaned in close to navigate through the accounting system. He could still see those full lips and rich brown doe eyes that had captivated him as she’d explained what she’d found.

Not to mention no sign of a wedding band… just like three years ago when I met her in the grocery store… she’s not someone you forget…

I wonder if she remembered me…

He shook his head to clear it.

“Not where your focus should be at all right now, dude,” he muttered, and reached for the phone to make the first of several phone calls that needed to happen.

The first was via intercom to Andrea, asking her to reschedule everything that had been booked the rest of the day.

Three rings later, he was on the line with the managing partner of the law firm he kept on retainer. Forty-five minutes after that, he spoke in depth with his CPA firm.

Before he left the office, he sent an email to his traveling CFO, requesting a conference call at nine a.m. Tuesday morning.

***

Trixie got through the rest of her workday with no other surprises and headed home. But before she did, she sent an email to Drew, outlining tighter fraud prevention controls and specific recommendations she felt would prevent any reoccurrences going forward.

She logged off her computer, locked up her office, and walked to the elevator. When the doors opened, she found herself face-to-face with Drew, who looked pleased to see her.

She stepped into the car, unsure what to say. So, she kept it simple.

“Hello again, sir.”

“I distinctly remember asking you to call me Drew,” he answered, a grin tugging at the corner of his mouth.

“I remember that,” she admitted. “And I’ve not called you Mr. Alexander since – sir.”

He chuckled, and the way his eyes held hers made her knees weak. Fortunately, they reached the bottom floor quickly, and the doors opened, providing her an escape route.

“Good night, sir.”

“Good night, Miss Benning.”

She smiled, nodded once, and headed to the parking garage, knowing she was going to think about him all the way home. The moment she got out of the parking garage, she pressed the button on her steering wheel that activated hands-free calling, and said, “Call Meghan.”

“Hey girl, what’s up?”

“Meg,” Trixie stuttered, “You’re not gonna believe what just happened. I met the CEO today.”

“Okay. And?”

“Drew Alexander. Meghan…. It’s the same guy. My CEO is Super-Hot Drew from the grocery store.”

“Get out! Really?”

“God as my witness.”

“Did he remember you?”

“I don’t think so.”

“Small world, huh?”

“Tiny. What do I do, Meghan?”

A long stretch of silence.

“Honestly, girl, I really have no clue. New territory for me. But keep me posted, Trix. I’m dying to know how this turns out.”

Me too, Trixie admitted to herself. Lord help me, me too.

***

Once again, Drew watched her go, and savored the light fragrance of jasmine she’d left behind in the elevator.

I wonder what her hair looks like when she takes it down out of that clip, he pondered. I would love to find out.

“Just stop,” he murmured to himself.

Getting romantically involved with an employee was a supremely bad idea. He’d known men that did, and it had never ended well; some of the crash-and-burn scenarios had made national news. Besides, he had other more important things to worry about.

Yeah, best to leave it alone, no matter how attracted I am to her. It wouldn’t be proper.

Drew Alexander grinned. He’d made most of his fortune by being a maverick who wasn’t always proper and who went after what he wanted.

And he wanted Trixie Benning.

She just didn’t know it yet.