He studied her for what felt like an eternity, those warm brandy eyes of his bright with an intelligence that she had come to appreciate and admire over the time she had been working with him. When didn’t reply immediately, she tipped her head forward, glancing down at the stack of papers in front of her on the table.
“I’ve managed to stabilize our losses thus far, and some of the investments are already starting to come up. Of course, it will still take approximately six months for Harbor to regain solid financial footing, but I think we’ve finally reached a turning point.”
Shut up now. Stop trying to fill the silence.
Small crinkles appeared at the corners of those dark eyes. “I knew you could do it. I hired you because you’re the best. But while delivering the money a little late is better than not delivering at all, I don’t know if I can take that chance. The Christmas Bonus Fund is a big part of the public image of Harbor Technologies, and it’s a very big part of my plans for the coming year. I’m working on a separate venture…” Andrew trailed off.
What plans? she wanted to ask. But she didn’t dare. It was one thing for her to inquire about finances that had to do with Harbor. She wasn’t going to ask him about a “separate venture” that he obviously hadn’t shared with her for a reason.
He ran a hand through his hair, then dropped his arm with a sigh. “I’ll offer you a deal. I’ll set the wheels in motion on my end, just in case. But meanwhile, you’ve got until the day before we have to disburse the fund to our employees—five days—to turn it around. If we don’t have all the money by then, we’ll announce the delay and I’ll take full responsibility for the remainder.”
“I’ll find out what happened and fix it, I promise.” She tried to continue, to thank him for giving her the chance to make things right, but he held up a hand to stop her.
“But only if you agree to my conditions.”
***
Andrew watched Meredith’s chin jerk up at that. Clearly, she didn’t like the idea of conditions. But he wasn’t going to back down. Tomorrow night, at the gala, he needed to be able to point to the success of the Christmas Bonus Fund as evidence for why other companies should support his new initiative. Besides, if Meredith could pull this off, he may well have found the perfect person to run it, too.
He raised his left hand and began ticking off on his fingers as he named his conditions. Thumb first. “I won’t accept any solution that involves lowering the amount that every employee gets, or excluding anyone from the bonus.” Index finger. “No loans,” he repeated. Middle finger. “If you make up the difference in these six days, I will add ten thousand dollars to your signing bonus.” He paused, studying her face for a reaction to the proposal that he had just laid out. She had been promised a signing bonus of thirty thousand dollars after completing her third month of employment and it was essentially a done deal, in his mind. He had meant it before, when he’d said that she was the best.
She let out a little yelp at that, and he had to suppress a smile. For some reason, he was starting to find her awkwardness endearing. Or maybe he always had. It certainly hadn’t bothered him before.
He pushed past the thought and touched his ring finger. “But if you do not manage to make up the difference, I’ll put that extra ten thousand dollars into the fund, instead.”
“I can’t allow—” she began, but he cut her off.
“My conditions, remember?” He said it with a wink and a smile, making her blush. It shouldn’t have thrilled him to see it, but he couldn’t stop an image from forming, of Meredith lying on his bed, naked, looking as pink and flushed all over her body as she did on just her cheeks right now.
He barely managed to suppress a groan. Focus, man. She was looking away from him again, probably beating herself up over this. She was the kind of person who’d be convinced that it was her personal responsibility to fix, even though the missing money wasn’t her fault.
Andrew didn’t like what that implied about the former CFO, both professionally and personally. Over the years they’d worked together, Bob had become more of a father figure to Andrew than a colleague. That Bob might have done something shady with the money wasn’t something he could think about right now. He’d deal with that later.
“Final condition. You’ll work alongside me, in my office, for the next six days. Any possibility you come up with, any number that can be tweaked even a little bit, I want you to share it right away. It’s not because I don’t think you can handle it. But this is just too big for me to take it less than one hundred percent seriously.”
Her throat worked in a delicate ripple. He’d never noticed before just how fine her skin was, pale and smooth and probably soft to the touch.
Get a grip. He stepped back toward her, offering his right hand. “What do you say? Do we have a deal?”
Those green eyes darkened, the pupils growing large in the irises. An irrepressible thrill shot through him, something primal that made him feel like a predator in the midst of hunting a particularly juicy prey.