Not only did she have to prepare for the party, but she also had to make travel and hotel arrangements for all the company’s internationally stationed executives. The first ones were due to arrive in New York on Monday morning. Steven Gherring would be holding meetings with international clients all week, but the huge formal party would happen on Friday night. Katie was only working Thursday and Friday this week, so Anne had to handle all the crises in the early part of the week by herself.
This would be a hectic week for all the employees at Gherring Inc. In evidence of the impending increase in workload, employees poured out of the elevators, hurrying off to get an early start.
Although she’d only been at Gherring Inc. for a week, Anne was already well liked. Calls of “Morning Anne!” “Hey Anne!” “Hi Anne,” kept her looking up to respond.
Anne liked pretty much everyone, unless they were purposefully rude. She’d always been taught to give people the benefit of the doubt and not to take offense unless she was certain the offending person meant to be offensive. She tried especially hard to be nice to folks who seemed not to have many friends, describing them as “hidden treasures.”
There were other elevators that serviced the top floor of Town Center Economic Tower, where Gherring Inc. was located, but most employees took the central elevator in hopes of seeing and being seen by Steven Gherring. Unless they happened to be late in arriving.
“Hey Anne,” said a quiet male voice from the edge of her desk. Anne looked up to see Tanner West, a thirty-something financial consultant who had moved from Dallas six months ago to join Gherring Inc. “Are you and Sam still having lunch next door today?”
Anne had invited Tanner to join her and Sam at Papa’s Place after she was forced to admit Mr. Gherring was not going to be Sam’s match-made-in-heaven. Tanner was definitely a treasure, with his quick smile, beautiful eyes, and respectful disposition. Extremely shy, he hadn’t agreed to join the lunch pair immediately. Obviously, he’d gained courage over the weekend.
“Actually, Tanner, I’m going to be working through lunch every day this week.”
Tanner looked disappointed, but nodded and turned to go. Anne stopped him.
“Wait. I was going to ask if you could go with Sam and bring something for me when you come back?”
“Um, sure… if you think she would want to go with me… without you… I mean, I don’t know if she’ll want to go.”
“I’ll ask her and let you know. I really appreciate it. You’ll be doing me a great favor.”
“I’ll bring you lunch even if she doesn’t want to go with me.”
“You’re so sweet, Tanner! I’ll call you later in the morning.” She hoped Sam would agree to go to lunch with him. She’d hate to dash his ego now he’d gotten the courage to meet Sam.
Anne returned to her work, so absorbed she didn’t notice anyone approaching her desk.
“Bon jour, Mademoiselle. Vous êtes très jolie!”
She looked up in surprise at the tall man in the well-tailored suit that emphasized his broad shoulders. Handsome was not an adequate word. He was mouth-watering, smokin’-hot! And he was French. How exotic was that?
“Merci beaucoup!” She couldn’t help being flattered by the attention.
He flashed a warm smile with even white teeth. “Parlez-vous francais?”
“Non! No! I’ve just exhausted my memory of college French. Please don’t test me anymore.”
He leaned closer and declared, “Charmante!” He continued in slightly accented English. “Yes, you are charming. I love your accent.”
“Wait.” Anne laughed. “Isn’t that my line?”
“I am Henri,” he said, pronouncing it ahn-ree, and reaching out to catch her hand. He pressed his lips lightly on her fingers. “You are new, oui? Katie is not here?”
“Katie’s out for three days doing wedding planning, but she’ll be back on Thursday.”
“Wedding! My Katie is with another man?” At Anne’s shocked look, Henri laughed aloud, his green eyes sparkling. “No, I am teasing you. She was never mine. But you… maybe you could be mine. Oui?”
“Monsieur, I have a feeling I’d just be one of many. I bet you have plenty of women to keep you company.”
“Non! No! There have been others before, but they are all gone.” His mouth turned down, but there was a twinkle in his eyes. “I am all alone.”
“I doubt that, seriously. No woman could resist that face, I think.”
“And you? Can you resist me?” He lifted her hand again and turned it over to kiss her wrist gently.
Anne pulled her hand away slowly.