The Project

“Your boss wants you to go have fun,” came the announcement as he leaned back against the wall and folded his arms over his chest with a satisfied sigh.

When she only stood there, blinking at the admittedly handsome man, he shot her a boyish smile. “I should probably introduce myself.”

“That would probably make this less awkward,” Andi said, nodding in agreement as she wrapped her other arm around the files and hugged them against her chest as she waited for him to get to the point so that she could get back to work.

Chuckling, he said, “My name is Travis. I’m the assistant manager here at the Roman Palms and I’ve been tasked with making sure that you have a wonderful time while you’re here.”

“I appreciate that, but I’m actually working on something,” Andi said with a pointed look at the files in her arms.

“Then, I guess I wouldn’t be able to tempt you with an afternoon spent exploring a sunken ship right off the coast?” Travis said with a teasing smile even as she had to admit that actually sounded like fun.

Still…

“I should probably stay here just in case Mr. MacGregor needs something,” Andi said, running all the possibilities through her head and…God, she really wished that she had the Hillshire Hotels files with her.

“I don’t think you have to worry about that,” Travis said with a sheepish smile that had Andi frowning as she tried to figure out what that look meant when she remembered the way that the incredibly beautiful manager looked at Devyn and-

She was pathetic.

There was no other way to describe it. He was her boss and somewhere along the line she’d stupidly allowed herself to forget that. At some point, she’d started to think of him as Devyn, the man that she liked spending time with and thought about more than she should.

He was her boss.

Nothing else, she reminded herself, no matter how much…

It didn’t matter.

* * *

“How many attempts were made?”Devyn asked as he sat there, absently drumming his fingertips against the small cocktail table as he slowly glanced around them, taking in the hotel guests relaxing on the patio and by the pool, the ones making their way to Roman Palms Hotel’s private beach, relaxing on the lounge chairs placed along the shore, and the ones lined up by the cove willing to pay a small fortune for a chance to explore a sunken pirate ship.

“Five times,” Abigail said after a slight hesitation.

“And I’m sure that there was a good reason why you didn’t contact my office,” Devyn said, moving to return his attention to the woman that hadn’t been happy when she’d discovered that he’d planned on doing this audit in person.

“Because we had it handled,” Abigail said firmly even as she gave him a warm smile to soften her words.

“Yes, you did,” Devyn murmured in agreement with a pointed look at the notes that Andi made last night. “Walk me through how the requests were made.”

“There were no requests at first,” Abigail said, pausing to take a sip of her wine as she relaxed in her chair, watching him curiously. “Before the transfer finished coming through, they attempted to authorize a transfer, but the authorization for the transfer came into question and our accounting department flagged it.”

Nodding, Devyn glanced around the large French-Caribbean style patio as he asked, “What was wrong with the transfer authorization?”

“They used the name and authorization code of an employee that retired the year before,” she explained as Devyn found himself watching as Andi made her way down the long walkway that led to the cove with the man that Devyn asked to look out for her by her side.

“Was it him?” Devyn absently asked as he got up and crossed the short distance to the railing and watched Andi as she made her way to the cove and-

God, she was beautiful, Devyn thought, his grip tightening around the railing as he stood there, watching as she reached up and pulled her long, beautiful brown hair up into a messy bun before he ran his eyes over her. He’d seen her dressed in tasteful blouses, skirts, tee-shirts and jeans, and oversized pajamas, but he’d never seen her like this before. She wore a black bikini that she must have grabbed at the hotel gift shop that complimented her sun-kissed skin and showed off the generous curves of her breasts and-

Fuck.

“No, it wasn’t him. Somehow his access was reinstated, but they didn’t realize that we change authorization codes quarterly,” Abigail said as she joined him.

“Who reinstated his access?” Devyn asked, unable to take his eyes off Andi as he had to admit that it didn’t matter what she wore, he just…

Christ, he didn’t know what the hell he was doing.

“I don’t remember the name off the top of my head, but James could probably tell you,” Abigail said as Devyn stood there watching as Andi smiled shyly up at the asshole as he helped her with her wetsuit and-

“And where is this James?” Devyn asked, reminding himself that he was here for a reason, and forced himself to look away only to find Abigail frowning up at him in confusion.

“James Jamerson? I thought he worked for you?”