Love the Boss (Managing the Bosses 4)

"Well, there is. Let's figure out who it is, and maybe we can better understand some of these odd reconciling items on the bank accounts." Mark sat back down and pulled out three packages, handing all of them to Jamie as she stood beside him.

"JPK134. Who the heck has that user ID?" She tilted her head and flipped through a few more pages. There weren't but a handful of charges, but even still... there shouldn't have been any.

"No clue. Let's talk to Barton down in IT." Paul moved up beside her and scanned his finger down the paper, stopping at a few thirty-dollar charges. "Why would we have a grocery store on our expenditures? Did you guys throw a big Christmas party and cater it yourself? If so, why wasn't I invited?"

Jamie gave him a sideways glance. "Yeah, Alex would let us do that. Please."

Paul laughed. “Who knows? I got an iPad Air for Christmas from him and a Mac Notebook. I sure as hell ain’t complaining.”

Jamie smiled, too distracted with the stacks of paper in front of her to laugh at Paul’s appreciation for Alex’s Christmas spirit.

"Wow." Mark leaned back in his chair. "It honestly looks like we've caught someone in the middle of a criminal act. I'll be interested to see who it is."

"Me too." Jamie rubbed her fingers over her lips. "Alright, well, you guys keep doing what you're doing. I need to talk to Alex. I don't want to dig into something that he already knows about. It would be a waste of our time."

"Agreed," the guys responded in tandem.

Jamie walked back to her desk and took a quick bite of her oatmeal before making her way to see Gina. The woman still wasn't there, but a middle-aged business man was.

"Morning, sir." Jamie moved around the desk.

"About time. I've been standing here for fifteen minutes." His brow pulled tight.

"I'm sorry about that. I'm not sure where Mr. Reid's secretary is, but I'm happy to help you." Jamie kept her attention on the man, and forced the pleasant smile she was used to giving onto her face.

"Oh. You're not his secretary?"

"No, sir. What can I do to help you?" She opened the appointment book on Gina's desk and picked up a pen. Whereas Alex made the poor Gina put his appointments on an electronic calendar, she was far too old-school to not have a physical book to write everything down in.

"I have an appointment with him right now." The man’s tone was a little better, but not much.

Jamie glanced down and scanned the page. "Mr. Canning?"

"That's me."

"Have a seat and I'll let him know that you're here." Jamie gave the man the last smile she had in her for him and finished scanning the book. Annette's name was listed just after lunch, which was more than a surprise.

That woman was one of Alex's many exes, and had tried to pin a false pregnancy the year before on him. They hadn't found out why she’d done it, but Jamie reasoned that it was a last-ditch effort to get him back. It hadn't worked in the end, but the distance it had put between her and Alex was more than enough to be upset about.

She ignored the sickening feeling that rolled around in her stomach and walked to Alex's office, knocking softly and poking her head in to find him and Gina in a heated discussion.

"Hey, guys. Sorry to interrupt, but Mr. Canning is out here for his nine-thirty meeting with you, Alex."

"Thanks. Send him in." Alex glanced over at Gina. "We'll talk more later. I'm not done with this."

She shrugged. "Fine, but my words aren't going to change."

"Not good enough for me, Gina." He moved back to his desk just before his eyes met Jamie's. "Morning, Jam—Ms. Connors."

"Morning, Mr. Reid." She moved back as Gina walked out, the other woman not saying anything. From the looks of things, she was quite pissed. "Everything okay?"

"Nope.

Send Mr. Canning in. We'll talk about the rest of this stuff later." Alex turned and started to type on his keyboard, effectively shutting down the conversation.

It wasn't a good time to bring up the bank reconciliations, from what she could tell. She was his right hand. She would just dig into it, and if nothing came of it, then good. There was no reason to bother him with it anyway. "Okay." She turned and half expected Gina to be back at her desk, doing her job, but she wasn't. The tension between her and Alex wasn't good. She motioned to the gentleman sitting by the window in the waiting room. "Right this way, Mr. Canning."

"Perfect. Thank you." He got up, and Jamie ushered him in.