Her Best Match (The Best Girls 1)

His hand moved slowly along her sweater-clad arm. Then she heard a click as he released her seat belt.

“Sometimes that latch can be stubborn.”

She opened her eyes to see him smiling, dimples dancing as he watched her recover from his touch.

He was teasing me! He knew what he did to her. He’d watched her squirm in her seat, let her anticipate something he had no intention of giving. She wanted to crawl under the car and hide forever. Instead she salvaged her shredded pride with anger.

“Thank you again, sir, for the ride. You have a beautiful vehicle.”

She ret

reated into the house, determined to avoid him for the rest of the evening. But Gherring made her task easy when he came inside and announced he was leaving early. No one suspected her humiliation. No one, but Gherring.

The girls gave tearful goodbyes before they left early the next morning. On her subway ride, Anne mentally prepared herself to face her boss again. Would he attempt to tease her again? Or perhaps he would apologize. The latter might be even more embarrassing. She was a nervous wreck by the time she arrived at her desk.

On her computer was a yellow sticky note from Gherring requesting she come to his office. With tension permeating her body, Anne knocked on the door.

“Open,” ordered his deep voice. She found him in conference with Jared about the Switzerland presentation.

“Ms. Best, we need to work together today on Jared’s part of the presentation. I understand he’s given you the bulk of his material for the PowerPoint. If we could get a copy of what you have so far, I was hoping you would finish his portion and then see how much of Jeff’s part you can prepare on your own.”

Gherring spoke as if nothing at all had happened between them. He didn’t act awkward in any way. Of course it had all seemed like a big joke to him, so why wouldn’t he be fine? Two could play at that game. She could be a cool cat if that’s how he was going to be.

“Yes, sir. I’ll get that for you right away. Are y’all working in here or in the conference room?”

“I think we’ll work in my office and leave the conference room for you, since Jeff’s materials are all organized in there. Are you okay working on your own?”

“Absolutely, sir. I prefer it that way.” She noted with some satisfaction the slight wince on Gherring’s face.

She sent a copy of Jared’s PowerPoint to Gherring’s computer and perused the additional material he’d given her. She estimated she could finish his portion easily in an hour, and then she would tackle Jeff’s part.

Maybe she could give her tattered pride a little boost if she could organize Jeff’s presentation without asking for Gherring’s help. He was so swamped with his other duties he didn’t have time to work with her anyway.

Since Jeff’s proposal involved a choice between acquisition and contractual cooperation, she’d have to understand the material to show which option would be optimal. Jeff’s summary claimed that because of tax consequences, the most favorable option for Gherring Inc. would be a contractual cooperation with a company formed by the merger of two existing Swiss companies.

The PowerPoint presentation needed to prove this would also be the most favorable option for the two companies. Otherwise, Gherring Inc. would simply buy out the two companies and merge the acquisitions. It was very complex, but she planned to study until she understood it, backwards and forwards.

And concentrating on this will keep me from thinking about Gherring.

“Does that make sense?” Sam had just given Anne a summary of a concept that had her head spinning.

“I think that helps me understand enough to make sense of this article. “

“I can’t believe you’re doing this all on your own,” said Sam. “Why isn’t Mr. Gherring helping you?”

“He’s really busy working with Jared today. This will be Jared’s first big presentation, and I’m sure he’s nervous. I would be—I hate public speaking.”

“You seem to grasp the basic concepts pretty well. It’s all very complex. I’m sure even Jeff didn’t understand all the international laws that are involved. Mr. Gherring is the only one who really does. I’ve already taught you everything I know. But I’ll pass on your questions to Randy. His specialty is mergers and acquisitions.”

“Thanks. Maybe after I talk to Henri, I’ll run up there and pick his brain.”

“So things are still going strong with Henri?” Sam asked. “I still can’t believe you snagged him. Women around here have been falling all over him for years. You show up, and he’s following you around like a puppy dog. Do you have some secret aphrodisiac?”

“She certainly seems to,” Steven Gherring’s deep voice carried from the doorway of the conference room.

“Hi, Mr. Gherring. I was just leaving.” Sam made a small gesture to Anne indicating she would call her later.

“Are you making progress?” he asked.