Sex By The Numbers. Marie Donovan

pissing contest here in the office.”

      Dane spun back to her, the blood sinking from his face and returning it to his normal color. “We’ve had words before.”

      “No!” She pressed her hand to her bosom in mock surprise. “And here I thought you had a special gift for making friends and influencing people. Or didn’t they teach you that in business school?”

      He motioned her into his office and closed the door. “Chuckles was rude to his grandpa and his grandpa’s lady friend. I gave him a brushup on the rules of etiquette.”

      Probably Binky’s date was Sugar or one of her friends. “Good grief. How many stitches did he need?”

      “None.”

      “X-rays?”

      “None.”

      “Clean pairs of underwear once he got home?”

      Dane burst out laughing. “None. Really, he took a poke at me and I shoved him into a limo.”

      “Too bad. I’m sure he must have deserved a butt-kicking at various points in his life.”

      “Sorry.” He extended his palms upward. “He’s still Binky’s grandson.”

      “And our only suspect at this point,” she murmured.

      “Yep.” Dane quirked a corner of his mouth. Yikes, the man’s dimples were lethal.

      She brandished her felt-tip pen. “Despite your reservations, my disguise worked. There’s no way Charlie’s going to think I’m anyone but some bimbo secretary you’re boffing.”

      “True. You’re no bimbo secretary.”

      Keeley waited for him to respond to the part about boffing, but he just gave her a slow, lazy smile. “Let’s get to work, shall we? We’ll leave the boffing discussion for another time.”

      “DANE WEISS’S office, may I help you?” Keeley stuck out her tongue at the sultry female voice on the other end requesting a lunch meeting with Dane. It was yet one more female upper-management type panting after him. Over the past week, Dane had enough lunch invitations to eat seven times a day.

      “I’m sorry, Mr. Weiss is tied up with meetings the rest of the week.” She had no idea whether or not he was, but there was no way he was going for three-hour lunches while she was stuck in the office.

      She and Dane had been in Bingham Brothers orientation for several days with no access at all to the accounts. If she had to sit through another PowerPoint presentation on company culture, she’d throw one of her lethal shoes straight through the projection screen.

      When she hadn’t been pinching herself to keep awake, she’d surfed the company’s intranet to familiarize herself with the antiquated accounting systems, policies and procedures.

      “Who was that?” Dane leaned against the doorjamb, his arms crossed over his chest. Today he had on a navy-blue shirt that really brought out his eyes.

      She hadn’t bothered to note the woman’s name and had forgotten it as soon as the receiver clicked. “She’ll call back if it’s important.”

      He laughed. “Suzanne in accounting and Barbara in human resources each told me they wanted to have a lunch meeting with me when my schedule cleared. I didn’t know my schedule was that full.”

      “That’s why I’m here, Mr. Weiss, so you don’t need to worry your important self about your schedule.” She threw back her shoulders in her low-cut black blouse and shook her fake red mane.

      He closed the outer office door. “Some people might think you’re trying to keep me all for yourself.”

      Was she? Despite her big talk to Sugar, Keeley’d had reservations about getting involved sexually with Dane Weiss while she was working for him. Maybe her disobedient subconscious was butting in again. “And some people, like me, want to get started with other important projects. Some people are tired of getting air-conditioning drafts blown up their office-inappropriate clothing.”

      He shook his head and smiled. “I hope your clothing allowance is enough to hold you over.”

      “Like I told you, I got these from the back of my closet.”

      “Right, right.” He winked, obviously not believing her. “Well, if you need more shopping money, let me know.”

      “I’m good, thanks.” She probably had another six or eight outfits she hadn’t worn yet. “Hope you like lime-green and fuchsia.”

      “Together?” He looked confused.

      “Hardly. I’m dressing a bit flashy, not like a circus clown.”

      “The sacrifices we make for our careers. And here’s another one. Now that Glenn, the current controller, feels I’m up to speed, I’ve been cleared to have account access. We’re going to have some late evenings this week, starting tonight.”

      Working late with Dane? A little shiver ran through her. “Here at the office?”

      “Yep. We need to start with your bean-counting magic.”

      “What if I have a hot date tonight?” She didn’t, but wanted to keep him on his toes.

      “I wouldn’t be surprised, considering the way you look.” He leaned down. “I knew you’d be a distraction the second I saw you sitting behind this desk.”