late-night dinners when they worked until midnight to get something online or to wait for stats at the end of a new product day.
He could have kissed her thirty-seven times. She’d counted.
But while she’d gazed up at him with stars in her eyes, he’d looked down at her with the eyes of a friend. No. Scratch that. He’d looked down at an assistant. She hadn’t even broken the barrier to become his friend.
And last night—
She fought the urge to squeeze her eyes shut as pain and emptiness assaulted her.
Last night, she’d realized he would never see her as anything other than an employee, and she had to start job hunting. As long as she was this close to him day after day, she would continue believing that someday he’d notice her. But if he hadn’t noticed her—not even as a friend—after an entire year of late nights and weekends, he wouldn’t ever notice her. It was time to get on with her life.
And if she really wanted to get on with her life, she had to find a job with a company where she could climb the corporate ladder and eventually earn enough money that she could start looking for her birth mom. They’d been separated when she was ten. Raised in a series of foster homes, she’d been without a family, a place, since then. Finding her birth mom would give her the sense of belonging she’d always yearned for. That meant she had to get away from the distraction of Mitcham Ochoa.
Riccardo cleared his throat. “These numbers look fine, Mitch.” He tossed his copy of the income statement to Mitch’s desk. “So maybe we can finish talking about that thing we were discussing before Lila came in.”
Mitch’s head jerked up. His gaze flew to his cousin, then over to Lila and back to Riccardo again, as if reminding Riccardo they had an employee in the room. “Now?”
“I just want you to see the opportunity you have before you. We were talking about not being able to find a certain person to fulfill a specific job, and suddenly I’m thinking perhaps that person is right under our noses.”
Okay. She wasn’t stupid. They were talking about her. If she was reading this situation correctly, they had a job they needed to fill and she fit the bill. For Mitch to be cautious, the new job had to be a promotion.
Her heart leaped with joy. A promotion would mean more money—maybe enough to hire a private investigator to begin searching for her mom—
Then she remembered that for her sanity and her future, she had to leave Mitch Ochoa’s employ and her heart sank. Wasn’t it just like fate to finally give her a chance at a promotion when she’d decided—firmly decided—it was time to move on? As hard as she’d worked to climb the ladder in this growing company, she also knew herself. Other people might think she simply had a crush on Mitch. But she couldn’t work for someone for a year without getting to know him. In her heart, she genuinely loved him. And promotion or not, she had to leave this job or she’d end up living her life for a man who barely noticed her. Then even if she found her mom, she’d be a broke, single spinster. Not a mom. Not a wife. Not a woman who gave her mom grandkids. She’d be none of the things she longed to be.
She rose from her seat. “I’m not a hundred percent sure what you’re talking about, but I think I should tell you that I—”
Riccardo held up a finger to stop her. “No decisions until you hear us out.”
Mitch said, “Riccardo,” his voice a warning growl.
Riccardo walked behind Lila’s chair, put his hands on her shoulders and sat her down again. In two quick moves, he had her chopstick-like pins out of her chestnut-brown hair, and it fell to her shoulders in a curly waterfall. Then he reached forward and removed her glasses.
If Mitch had done either of those, she probably would have swooned at his touch. Because it was all-business Riccardo, she spun around and gaped at him. “What are you doing?”
He turned her head to face front. “Are you seeing what I’m seeing?”
Mitch blinked. “Oh, my God. Yes.”
“Sí. She is perfect.”
Mitch rose and rounded his desk to lean against it, in front of her. “Pale and delicate to Julia’s dark features.”
“Short and petite where Julia’s a little taller.”
“Smart,” Mitch added.
Riccardo laughed. “I won’t insult Julia by making the obvious comparison.”
Lila looked from Mitch to Riccardo and back to Mitch again. “What comparison? And could I have my glasses back so I can see?”
Riccardo said, “You can’t see without your glasses?”
She took her thick glasses from his hand. “Why else would anyone wear them?”
“Do you have contacts?” Mitch asked quietly, seriously.
Their gazes met and she swallowed hard. For the first time in a year, he wasn’t looking at her as an assistant but as a woman. She wasn’t sure how she knew the difference, except something in his eyes had shifted, changed, and a million fireflies glowed in her stomach.
“Yes. I have contacts. But I only wear them for special occasions.”
Riccardo said, “We have a very special occasion for you.”
“You’re sending me somewhere?”
“I’m taking you somewhere.”
Oh, wow. The only thing she’d heard in that sentence was I’m taking you. Her heart about popped out of her chest, and she knew she was in more trouble than she’d even believed the night before. She had to get away from this man or she’d be knitting sweaters for him when he was eighty as he dated twenty-year-old starlets.
“Mitch’s brother is getting married,” Riccardo said. “In Spain.”
She frowned. “I know. I reserved the family jet for you guys.”
“Yeah, well, Mitch needs more help than reserving the jet.”
Mitch pushed away from the desk. “You know what? I think Lila and I should talk about this privately.”
Riccardo’s eyebrows rose in question.
Mitch said, “Think it through, Riccardo. The less you know, the better the ruse will work.”
Riccardo laughed. “Okay. I get it.” He scooped up his copy of the income statement. “I’ll be in my office, but just remember I’m your detail guy. You won’t want to leave me out of the loop completely.”
He left the room, but in the last second, reached in, grabbed the knob on the door to the office and closed it.
The oddest feeling snaked through Lila. She’d been alone with Mitch a million times, behind closed doors lots of those times. But suddenly it felt like everything had changed.
“I really do need a favor. A big favor,” Mitch said, walking around his desk and dropping into his black leather chair.
“How big?” Seriously? Had her voice just shivered? The man was not the Big Bad Wolf and she certainly wasn’t Little Red Riding Hood. She’d been a foster child until she was eighteen. She’d fended for herself forever. Even in some ugly situations. How could a man she’d known a year, a man she loved and respected, send that kind of fear skittering through her?
“Riccardo already mentioned that my brother is getting married.”
“Yes.”
He leaned back in his chair. “What you don’t know is that Alonzo’s fiancée had been my girlfriend.” He glanced up, caught her gaze. “I cut a business trip short, sneaked into our apartment to surprise her with an engagement ring and caught them together in our bedroom.”
Her eyes widened. “Yikes.”
He waved