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A flash of pale gold hair near the entrance caught Kirk’s attention in the dimness of the bar. A woman came through the door, a tall, well-built man close behind her. She turned and said something, and the muscle looked like he was going to object, but then she spoke again—gesturing vaguely across the room—and he nodded and disappeared outside. Interesting, Kirk thought. Clearly the guy was an employee of some kind, perhaps a bodyguard, and he’d obviously been dismissed.
Kirk took a sip of his beer and watched the woman move through the area, searching for someone. There was an unconscious sensuality to the way she moved. Dressed down in a pair of slim-fitting trousers topped by a long-sleeved, loose tunic, she seemed to be trying to hide her tempting mix of curves and slenderness, but he saw enough to pique his interest. Most women hated it when they had well-rounded hips and a decent butt, and judging by the way she’d dressed to conceal, she was one of those women who wasn’t a fan of her shape and form. But he was. In fact, he really liked her shape and form.
Who was she meeting here? A partner, he wondered, feeling a small prick of envy as his eyes skimmed her from head to foot. The weariness that had driven him here tonight in search of better company than employee files and financial forecasts slid away in increments as his eyes appreciatively roamed her body.
He knew the instant she saw the person she was looking for. Her features lit up, and she raised a hand in greeting, moving more quickly now toward her target. Kirk scanned ahead of her, feeling himself relax when he saw the couple who reached out to greet her affectionately. Not a partner, then, he thought with a smile and took a sip of the malty craft beer he’d ordered earlier.
He noticed one of her friends pass her a martini and pondered on the fact that they’d already ordered her drink for her. Obviously she was a reliable type, both punctual and predictable. Too bad those were not the traits of someone who might be interested in a short, intense fling, which was all he was in the market for. He had his life plan very firmly set out in front of him, and while his company’s merger with Harrison Information Technology here in Bellevue, Washington, would definitely fast-track things, a committed relationship was still not in the cards for a long time. When he was ready, he’d tackle that step the way he did everything else, with a lot of research and dedication to getting it right the first time. Kirk Tanner did not make mistakes—and he definitely wasn’t looking for love.
Kirk turned his attention away from the woman, but something about her kept tickling at the back of his mind. Something familiar that he couldn’t quite place. He looked across the room and studied her more closely, noting again the swath of pale gold hair that fell over her shoulders and just past her shoulder blades. Even from here he could see the kinks in her hair that told him she’d recently had it tied up in a tight ponytail. His fingers clenched around his glass, suddenly itching to push through the length of it, to see if it felt as silky soft as it looked.
As if she sensed his regard, the woman turned and glanced past him before returning her attention to her friends. This gave him the most direct view so far of her face—and yes, there was definitely something familiar about her. He’d certainly have remembered if he’d met her before but perhaps he’d seen her photograph somewhere.
Kirk searched his eidetic memory. Ah, yes, now he had it—Sally Harrison, the only child of Orson Harrison, the chairman of Harrison Information Technology. The very firm his own company was officially merging with at 3:00 p.m. tomorrow. The idea of a merger with Sally Harrison held distinct appeal, even though he knew she should be strictly off-limits.
Her personnel file had intrigued him, although the head shot attached to it had hardly done her justice. He scoured his memory for more details. Since high school she’d interned in every department of the head office of HIT. In fact, she probably knew more about how each sector of the company ran than her father did, and that was saying something. She’d graduated from MIT with a PhD in social and engineering systems. And yet, despite her experience and education and the fact she was the chairman’s daughter, she’d apparently never aspired to anything higher than a mediocre middle-management position.
Granted, her department was a high performer and several of her staff had been promoted, but why hadn’t she moved ahead, too? Was she being very deliberately kept in place by her father or other senior staff? Was there something not noted in her file that made her unqualified or ill-suited for a more prominent position in the company?
And—the more compelling question—did she perhaps have sour grapes about her lack of advancement?
Her knowledge about the firm made her a prime candidate for the investigation her father had asked him to undertake as part of his staff evaluation during the merger.
Under the guise of seeing where staff cutbacks needed to be made, he was also tasked with investigating who could most likely be responsible for what could be unwitting or deliberate leaks to HIT’s largest business rival. Orson suspected that the rival company, DuBecTec, was accumulating data to undermine his company with a view toward making a hostile takeover bid in the next few months. He had instructed Kirk to look at everyone on the payroll very thoroughly. Everyone including the very appealing Ms. Sally Harrison.
Kirk took another sip of his beer and watched her across the room. She’d barely sipped her drink yet but swirled the toothpick in her martini around and around. Just then, as he was watching, she removed the toothpick from her drink and, using her teeth and her tongue, drew the cocktail onion off the tip and crunched down. His entire body clenched on a surge of desire so intense he almost groaned out loud.
Sally Harrison was a very interesting subject indeed, he decided as he willed his body back under control. And before he left the bar tonight, he would definitely find a way to get to know her better.
* * *
Company merger. For the best.
Even though she was going through the motions, saying all the right things as her friends excitedly told her about their recent honeymoon, Sally couldn’t stop thinking about her father’s shocking announcement over dinner tonight. If she hadn’t heard it straight from the horse’s mouth, she would have struggled to believe it. She still struggled to believe it. And the fact that her father hadn’t shared a moment of what had to have been an extensive forerunner to the merger with her raked across her emotions.
It was a harsh reminder that if she was the kind of person who actually stood with her father, versus sheltering behind him, she’d have been a part of the discussions. Not only that, if she’d been the kind of person she ought to be, confident and charismatic instead of shy and intense, this entire merger might not even have been necessary.
Her whole body trembled with a sense of failure. Oh, sure, logically she knew that her dad wouldn’t have entered into this planned merger if it wasn’t the best thing for Harrison IT and its thousand or so staff worldwide. And it wasn’t as though he needed her input. As chairman of HIT, he held the reins very firmly in both hands, as he always had. But, until now, HIT had been the family firm, and darn it, she was his family. Or at least she was the last time she’d looked.
Of course, now the company would be rebranded—Harrison Tanner Tech. Clearly things were about to change on more than one level.
She could have predicted her father’s response when she’d questioned the secrecy surrounding the merger.
“Nothing you need to worry about,” he’d
