Chapter 19
Wasit possible to die from too many orgasms? Cassie wasn’t sure, but she was thinking if it was, then it was a good way to go. She’d lost count of how many orgasms she’d had over the last two days.
Unfortunately, the weekend couldn’t last forever and on Monday morning, she found herself standing in front of his bathroom mirror doing her hair and makeup. Jesse had made them both breakfast and had left her alone to dress, saying he needed to check his messages.
It felt strange to wear clothes again, which she found a little odd. How could she have gotten used to running around naked so fast?
With a final look in the mirror, Cassie returned everything to her toiletry bag and headed across the hall to the spare room where she’d left her things. She was zipping up her overnight bag when Jesse popped his head into the room. He scanned her from head to toe, assessing. “I prefer you naked.”
Cassie chuckled. “Yes, well, I can’t go to work naked.”
“Hmm.” Jesse strolled across the room and pulled her against him. He palmed her ass, giving it a squeeze, then lowered his mouth to hers.
She opened her mouth, letting his tongue slip inside. He tasted of mint toothpaste and coffee. Within moments, she felt her sex heating, readying itself for him.
He gave her a peck on the lips and released her. “You have no idea how much I want to chain you to my bed right now and refuse to let you leave.”
Her pussy clenched at his words and not in a bad way. She really had become a sex addict. “I think your dad might have a problem with that.”
His only response was to raise one eyebrow.
Instead of commenting or trying to argue why chaining her to his bed would be a bad idea, she grabbed her overnight bag.
Before she could sling it over her shoulder, Jesse took it from her. With the bag in one hand, he reached for her with the other, threading his fingers through hers. “Come on. Let’s get going before I change my mind.”
Cassie pressed her lips together and let him lead her out.
Jesse kissed her before they got out of his vehicle and escorted her up to her floor. He didn’t follow her to her desk, although she had a feeling he wanted to. Instead, he stayed in the elevator while she exited on the executive floor, then he took the elevator back down to the accounting level.
It was almost lunchtime when the cell rang. She debated letting it go to voicemail, but then she saw the name on the screen. “Dad?”
“Did I catch you at a bad time?”
“No. Of course not. Is something wrong?” Her dad never called her at work. Okay, almost never. The last time he’d called was to tell her James had been taken to the hospital after throwing his back out at a competition.
“I’m hoping you can tell me.”
She was confused. “Huh?”
“I received a very long email from your brother suggesting I run a background check on a man you’re apparently dating. Then I got a frantic call from your mom demanding I find out everything I can about the man you’re seeing.”
Cassie covered her face with her free hand. “I’m going to kill them.”
Her dad laughed. “Don’t be too hard on them. They’re doing it because they love you.”
She blew out a loud breath. “I know. But they need to mind their own business.”
“Good luck with that.”
As much as she hated to admit it, she knew he was right.
“I’m calling to ask if you’d like me to run a background check on your new man.” He paused. “I’m surprised Bradley didn’t do it himself, but he was going on about how it would look better coming from me.”
Cassie snorted, then looked around to make sure no one had heard her. Mr. Masters was in a meeting with some of the other executives at the other end of the building, but that didn’t mean there weren’t other people within earshot.
Confident no one overheard, she answered her dad. “I’d appreciate it if you didn’t.”
There was silence on the other end of the line.
“Dad?”
“I’m here.”
She blew out a breath. “You’ve already run a background check on him, haven’t you?”
“I may have done a little digging.”
Cassie huffed. “Dad.”
He ignored her protest. “Is it serious?”
She knew she could downplay her relationship with Jesse, but she didn’t want to. “Yes.”
Again, she was met with a long moment of silence.
If her dad had done any digging, then he already knew who Jesse’s father was. Daniel Ross had resources. More resources than her brother.
“Does he treat you right?” her dad asked.
“He does.” The man they were discussing strolled toward her with a bag in his hand. Her heart rate kicked up a notch at the sight of him.
“I expect to meet him soon.”
She nodded even though she knew her dad couldn’t see her. “Okay.”
Her dad didn’t seem overly thrilled with her short response, but she was having trouble focusing on the conversation with Jesse standing right in front of her. His blue eyes roamed over her, sending beads of awareness darting to all her girly bits. Not exactly something she wanted to be feeling while talking to her father.
“Dad, I need to let you go. I have a lunch…appointment.”
Jesse sent her a questioning look.
“All right. I’ll let you go. But you need to call your mother.” He paused. “And, Cassie, be careful. Office romances can implode on you.”
Any doubt she had about her dad knowing who Jesse was went out the window. But before she could say anything back, her dad disconnected. She lowered the phone from her ear and tucked it in her purse.
“Everything okay?”
Cassie sighed. “Yeah.”
He gave her a once-over, then tilted his head toward the bag he was holding. “I ordered us lunch. I don’t have much time today, but with Dad in a meeting until three, I asked him if we could use his office.”
“I thought I was doing the ordering during working hours.”
“Are you saying you don’t want what I brought you?”
She made sure no one was listening to their conversation before answering. “No, but I would have appreciated it if you’d consulted me before ordering for both of us.”
“Noted.” The smirk on his face didn’t give her much hope this wouldn’t be repeated.
Grabbing her purse, she stood. “Do you think it’s a good idea for us to have lunch in your dad’s office?”
“Are you afraid I’ll ravish you on my father’s desk?”
Heat flooded her cheeks. “No.”
She eased around him and went directly to the small table in the corner Blake used when he needed to go over paperwork with someone. He rarely used it for eating. If he had lunch in his office, he typically ate at his desk.
Taking a seat, she waited for him to join her. She noticed he left the door open, which made her feel a little better.
Cassie hadn’t been lying when she told him she wasn’t worried he’d ravish her on his dad’s desk, but that didn’t mean there weren’t busybodies in the office who wouldn’t imagine that’s what he was doing. She didn’t need to add fuel to the fire. The sly glances she got from people were bad enough as it was.
Jesse removed two bags of chips, two bottles of water, and two sandwiches from the bag. “Turkey or ham?”
“Turkey, please.”
He nodded, handed her the sandwich marked turkey, then took a seat opposite her.
Cassie took a bite and chewed. The sandwich was good. She didn’t recognize the bag, so she had no idea where the food had come from. Where she tended to go to the same tried and true places over and over again, Jesse liked to try new places.
As she ate her lunch, she replayed the conversation with her dad. She wasn’t looking forward to talking to her mom, especially since Bradley had obviously spilled the beans that she was seeing someone. But she could handle her mom. She was more concerned with what her dad had found out about Jesse. It wasn’t so much she was worried he’d found out something he shouldn’t, but was it wrong of her to be curious about the man she was falling in love with?
If her dad had found out something bad, he would have gotten on a plane and been waiting for her at her apartment. Or Jesse’s. Either way, he would have found her.
Her dad was just as relentless as her brother, but he was more calculated. Maybe it was because he was older, but her dad protected his family. It wouldn’t matter who Jesse’s dad was.
“Are you going to sit over there in silence the entire time, or are you going to tell me what’s bothering you?”
Cassie froze with a chip halfway to her mouth. It took her a moment to realize what he’d asked. “No. Sorry. I was just…thinking.”
“I noticed.” He picked up his water and took a drink. “Did something your dad say upset you?”
“Not really.” She paused. “He told me I need to call my mom.”
“And you don’t want to call your mom?”
“No.” Again, she hesitated. “I mean, I’m not looking forward to the conversation, but my mom is who she is.”
“Then what has that crease in your forehead growing by the second?”
She touched the crease in question, rubbing it as though that would make it somehow go away. “Nothing, really. Bradley told Dad about you, and he did some digging. I have no idea how deep he went, but he obviously didn’t find anything too bad.”
“Why do you say that?” He didn’t seem bothered by the topic of conversation, but given some of their previous talks along the same lines, she wasn’t surprised by his reaction.
“Because if he had, he wouldn’t have delivered the message over the phone.”
* * *
This was getting out of hand. Jesse had done everything he could to reassure her of his intentions. He wasn’t going to be frightened away by her mom, her brothers, or her father. But it seemed it was going to take more than words to get her over this hump. “I want you to call your mom and set up a time for us to come to dinner this week. She can invite your brothers as well if she wants. I’d suggest inviting your father as well, but I think that might need to be a separate event.”
Cassie’s eyes were as wide as saucers. She’d stopped eating and was looking at him as if he’d lost his mind.
He finished off his sandwich and waited until she’d found her voice again. “Why?”
Not the response he’d been hoping for, but one he could work with. “We’re getting you over this aversion you have of me meeting your family. You’ve created this nightmare scenario in your head and the only way to dispel it is to tackle it head-on. Call your mom.”
“Now?”
“Now.”
She stared at him for a long moment, then retrieved her phone from her purse. Reluctantly, she punched in her mom’s number.
Before Cassie could say a word, he heard a woman’s voice coming through the phone. He couldn’t make out what she was saying, but she sounded agitated.
“Mom, that’s why I’m calling. Yes. Yes. Um…Wednesday?”
Cassie met his gaze and he nodded. He’d planned to work late on Wednesday, but plans could be changed.
“Sounds good.”
There was more talking from the other end of the line.
“Okay. We’ll see you then. Love you, too.” Cassie lowered the phone from her ear and placed it in her lap. “Dinner’s at six on Wednesday. We’ll have to leave from here to get there on time. They live outside the city.”
“That isn’t a problem.” He gathered his trash and stuffed it in the bag. “Now you can relax and finish your sandwich.”
“You’re not nervous at all about meeting my family, are you?”
“No.” That wasn’t completely true. He was nervous about meeting her dad. Her mom, he could handle.
Cassie sighed and resumed eating.
They spent the rest of their lunch break talking about Outlander. They’d finished the first two seasons over the weekend, and he had to admit, he was hooked. He’d thought it would be all about the romance, and while the relationship between the two main characters was front and center, there was so much more to the story.
At the end of their time, Jesse stole a quick kiss before they left his dad’s office, then headed back to his own. Cassie was going home tonight, which meant he had free time to fill. Time he was going to spend digging through years’ worth of accounts.
Stephanie knocked on his door at five o’clock. “Come in.”
“Hey, I wanted to see if you needed anything before I go.”
“No. I think I’m good. Thanks.” Stephanie had been his eyes and ears on the office floor while he’d been spending hours combing through accounting sheets and contracts.
She nodded but stepped into the office and closed the door. “Are you making any sense of things?”
“Some. It’s just a lot.”
“Do you want any help?” she asked.
As much as he’d love her help, he needed to do this himself. It wasn’t that he didn’t trust her. It was more he didn’t have a clear enough picture of what he was looking for. “I appreciate the offer, but I’m okay for now.”
Without another word, Stephanie turned on her heel and headed out, leaving his office door open.
The office was quiet except for the humming of the air conditioning blowing through the vents. Everyone else had gone home. He was the only one crazy enough to still be there on a Monday night.
Numbers were starting to blur on the page when something caught his eye. He looked over the sheet again and reached for his calculator.
Seven minutes later, he’d rerun the numbers five times and had come out with the same result. The customer had pre-purchased inventory for the year, then when they didn’t use it, had been credited for the remaining balance.
But that’s where everything fell apart. Instead of crediting them back for the dollar amount the pre-paid inventory had cost them that was supposed to happen, someone had credited them for the actual inventory.
He searched his desk for the rest of the customers’ files and flipped through the next three years. The same credit had been applied.
While this explained the discrepancy, at least part of it, these files only showed the credits being applied to the customer’s accounts. The money, and therefore the inventory, should still be with the company. Right?
Jesse picked up the next contract in the customer’s file, but instead of being for the next year, it was for the year after—last year. He went through the entire folder, but the contract for two years ago was missing.
Curious, he reviewed the contract from last year and it looked normal. No credit had rolled over. Not inventory. Not money. The contract started with a credit balance of zero.
It was already eight o’clock and he had no idea where to start looking for this missing contract. He’d have to wait till tomorrow and see if Stephanie had any ideas.
He was logging off his computer when he heard what sounded like a door closing. They had security in the building, but the guard had made his rounds an hour ago and Jesse didn’t expect him to be around again so soon. As far as he knew, they were the only two in the building.
Crossing the room, he poked his head outside the door, taking in the room full of empty cubicles. Everything was quiet. There was no sign of anyone else in the area and the only door in the vicinity led to the stairwell and it was closed.
Jesse returned to his desk, finished closing everything down, and donned his suit jacket. He stored the folder in the bottom drawer of his desk and locked it. Maybe he was being paranoid, but he’d spent too much time looking for the elusive file to take the chance.
For extra measure, he locked his office door behind him before walking to the door that led to the staircase. He glanced inside the rectangular window but didn’t see any movement or anything out of place.
Before leaving, he took a detour to the lobby. The security guard looked up from behind the reception desk as he exited the elevator.
“Wanted to let you know I’m heading out,” Jesse said. “Do you know if anyone else is in the building besides you and me?”
“Not that I know of, sir. The cleaning crew usually doesn’t get here until after nine, but sometimes they’re early. They come through the service entrance, so I don’t always see them right away.”
“Do they typically use the stairwell?”
The guard frowned, realizing Jesse’s inquiry wasn’t random. “They dust and mop the staircase some nights.”
Jesse nodded. That must be what he’d heard. “Okay. Well, have a good night.”
“You, too, sir.”
Jesse waited for the doors of the elevator to close again, then pushed the button for the parking garage.
The parking garage was empty except for his vehicle. He hit the button on his key fob to unlock the doors, and the lights flashed against the concrete.
As he slid into the driver seat, he got a whiff of Cassie’s perfume. He’d driven her to work this morning, then had a car service take her home. The desire to drive to her apartment and spend the night with her wrapped in his arms was almost too much to resist, but instead of doing what he wanted, he maneuvered out of the garage and turned his vehicle toward his condo.
The entire drive home, he was thinking over the contracts, trying to figure out why the credit had been rolled over in inventory and not in monetary credit. It meant the company was holding inventory for the client for years. From a business standpoint, it made no sense.
Every one of the contracts had been signed off on by the previous manager. His signature had been there in black ink. Did he have ties to the client? Or was he using the account to scam the company?
Jesse didn’t know and that bothered him.
Needing to get his head off work, he dialed the one person he knew could distract him.
“Are you still at work?” Cassie’s voice purred across the line as he parked his car in his assigned parking spot at his condo building.
“No. I’m just getting home.”
“It’s after eight.”
He chuckled. “I’m aware.” He exited his vehicle, locked it, then headed upstairs. “How was your evening? More exciting than mine, I’d venture.”
“I’m not sure how exciting it was. Brie and I cleaned the apartment, then cooked spaghetti and meatballs for dinner.”
The image of her cleaning his condo in nothing but a French maid’s apron flashed through his mind.
He must have made a noise because she giggled. “You’re picturing me naked, aren’t you?”
Jesse unlocked the door to his condo and let himself inside. “Yes. Tell me you’re alone.”
“I’m in my room.”
“Are you by yourself?” he asked.
“Yes.”
“Good. Take off your clothes.”