Chapter One
Annabelle Scott nervously ran her hands over her grey knee-length skirt as the elevator took its time taking her up to the top floor.
She’d only gotten the message that her boss wanted to see her minutes ago. Unfortunately her co-worker Justin Black had thought it would be funny to see her rush so she didn’t keep the top man waiting.
She wasn’t nervous about meeting with her boss about work, knowing that she did her job well. Since she’d joined the company over a year ago, the accounting department had run smoothly. Nothing like the mess she’d had to clean up when she’d arrived.
No, she was unsettled over the thought of being in close contact with her boss. Ever since the day she’d interviewed with him, she had been hiding a secret desire for him.
It was not proper in the business world and more unlikely to ever happen. She wasn’t a size two. While her friends had told her she was pretty, she knew she was nothing compared to the drop-dead gorgeous woman Matthew ‘Mac’ McCoy seemed to like on his arm.
Then there was the problem with his right-hand man. While Mac was tall, dark, and handsome, his vice president, Trevor King, was muscular, blond, and blue eyed. The two of them together were potent. And every woman’s wet dream. Every time she ran into one man, he was with the other. Her hormones couldn’t take much more.
The elevator chimed, letting her know that she had reached her destination, and Annabelle flicked her hair from her eyes and took a deep breathe.
Stepping onto the thick tan carpet she felt her heel dig in and tried not to trip. What would her boss think if he saw her sprawled out over the floor? Her lips lifted in a smile at the thought.
“Ms. Scott,” her boss’s secretary greeted as Annabelle walked towards her desk.
“Hi Mary,” she returned. She liked the older woman and had from the moment she met her.
“He’s waiting for you,” Mary told her with a smile.
Glancing at her watch, Annabelle frowned. She wasn’t late yet.
“You’re not late,” the other woman confirmed. “He’s just in a mood today.”
“Okay thanks,” Annabelle responded distractedly. She really didn’t want to see her boss in a bad mood.
Annabelle stopped at the entrance of his office and looked in on him. He sat bent over his computer keyboard, pounding away. Mary was right if the way his fingers flew over the keyboard was any indication he was most definitely not happy. She knocked on the doorframe, not wanting to walk in without permission.
Matt’s head snapped up, and she watched as his golden eyes narrowed. She had never seen that colour before, but it fit him perfectly. Just like everything about him was perfect.
“Ms. Scott, finally.” His deep voice carried to her.
“I’m sorry, sir, but the message did say eleven,” Annabelle reminded him as she stepped inside.
“Yes, I know.” He practically growled at her.
Annabelle bit her lip as she waited for him to talk.
“Sit down,” he ordered, and she scrambled to comply, taking a seat in one of the chairs in front of his desk. It was only then she realised they were not alone. Trevor King, the vice president himself, sat on the couch across the room working on a laptop set up on the coffee table.
His eyes followed her as she shifted to get comfortable. Her skirt rose up her thighs, and embarrassed, she yanked it back, avoiding his penetrating stare by looking at the man who had called her in.
“I asked you in here because I need a favour.” Matt looked over at Trevor. “We need a favour” He leant back in his chair.
Her eyes dropped as she watched the button down shirt stretch over his pecs. She had to bite the side of her cheek to keep from moaning. She wondered what he would look like without that shirt on. Bare chest and sweaty.
Feeling a blush rush up her neck to her face Annabelle literally shook the thought from her head. What had he said? “A favour, sir?”
His lips quirked, and she had a moment of fear that he knew where her thoughts had been. He moved forward in his chair one more time. “Yes. I am thinking of taking over another company, and I need someone to go through their records and sort it out for me.”
“No problem. If you just send the files to my office, I will start on it immediately.” It was Friday, but what she couldn’t finish today, she could take home with her. It wasn’t like she had big plans for the weekend anyway.
Trevor moved to stand beside Matt, and Annabelle avoided looking at him the best she could.
“Well, here’s the thing. I want to keep this quiet. Very quiet. No one but you and Mary know so far.”
She nodded. That wasn’t so strange in the corporate world. If he decided to buy it, word would get around soon enough; if he didn’t, then no harm done. “No problem. I will be discreet.”