one fact was clear: Isaac Mason was her hottest suspect yet.
Isaac shut the door and held up his smartphone. “Sterling, sorry I’m late. I just got your meeting request.”
He stopped midstride, his eyes zeroing in on hers. From a distance, she couldn’t see what color they were, but they mesmerized her just the same. Luckily, she was able to maintain a mildly curious look on her face, although on the inside she felt her professional resolve begin to disintegrate.
“Am I interrupting something?”
Only the normal rhythm of my heartbeat, Autumn thought.
“Not at all.” Sterling waved him over. “I have someone I’d like you to meet. This is Autumn Hilliard, our newest analyst on the Paxton team.”
Autumn swiveled in her chair and stuck out her hand. Before she could stand up, Isaac’s skin warmed her palm and his smile instantly carved its way into her heart. It seemed that he held her hand a beat longer than necessary, but that could have only been her imagination. She was pretty but not gorgeous, and Autumn had a feeling that Isaac was used to the latter in his ladies.
He gave a little bow. “Welcome to the madness.”
Isaac’s voice had just enough depth to rumble in her ears, his tone pleasant and slightly mocking. He seemed distracted by something, and she wasn’t vain enough to think it was her.
Sterling openly scowled. “Isaac, I realize the market is slightly down this morning, but you’re going to be spending a lot of time with Autumn, so let’s keep things positive, okay?”
Autumn’s face tingled. The negative vibe in the room was getting more uncomfortable by the moment.
Isaac slipped his phone into his pants pocket. “You know me, Sterling.” He shrugged calmly. “I was just playing.”
He dropped into a chair next to Autumn and leaned back. She smiled and held his gaze, a tactic she used to build rapport with a client, a potential suspect or a man who was really, really cute.
An unbidden spark pulsed between them, like the feeling one gets when suddenly remembering a long-forgotten dream, and Autumn knew that she’d have to be careful not to succumb to temptation.
Suddenly Isaac shot up in his chair. “What do you mean we’re going to be spending a lot time together?” It was as if he’d just now grasped the full extent of what his boss had said moments earlier.
Felicia’s eyes narrowed at Autumn and Isaac before turning her attention to Sterling. “Yes, Father. Explain.”
“That’s why I called the meeting,” Sterling bellowed, ignoring Felicia’s glare. “For the next few weeks, Isaac, you’re going to be Autumn’s mentor. Getting her acclimated to the way we do things around here.”
Out of the corner of her eye, Autumn saw Felicia’s hands tense.
“M-mentoring!” Felicia sputtered. “What are you talking about, Daddy? My new employee onboarding process doesn’t begin until next month.”
Sterling pressed his index finger on the table and shook his head. “It starts now, Felicia.”
“But the process hasn’t been fully vetted,” she protested.
Sterling shrugged and leaned back in his chair, as if the matter was settled. “What better use case than a real scenario?”
Felicia smoothed her blond-in-a-bottle hair. She was probably very pretty when she smiled, but that wasn’t the case now.
“Legal won’t like it,” she warned.
He gave a disgusted sigh. “Have you forgotten that our in-house attorneys report to me?”
Felicia threw up her hands in exasperation. “I haven’t even completed all the required documentation.”
Sterling looked up from his cell phone and rolled his eyes. “Great, just what we need. More paperwork.”
Autumn cast a glance at Felicia and stifled a laugh. If she had a pencil, paper and an artistic bone in her body, she would sketch two plumes of steam erupting from each of her ears and fire blazing in her eyes. The woman looked that angry.
Sterling’s phone beeped loudly and he stood. “You’ll have to excuse me. I’m due at another meeting in a few minutes.” He handed Isaac a manila folder. “I’ll leave you two alone to get acquainted.”
Autumn smiled at Felicia and she could almost see the wheels turning in her head. Her gaze lingered on Isaac for a moment, as if that would lure him away. She seemed to sense something that neither Autumn nor Isaac could have imagined.
Sterling opened the door and exhaled impatiently. “Felicia, are you coming?”
Autumn tapped the stack of papers with her pen, breaking the tense moment.
“I’ll have these back to you this afternoon.”
Felicia rewarded her with a nod and a thin-lipped smile.
“Right behind you, Father.”
She waited until Sterling was gone, and then rose from her chair slowly, as if she were still reluctant to leave.
Autumn felt Isaac’s gaze upon her cheek. She dug the toes of her shoes into the carpet in a vain attempt to hold on to the twinge of pleasure that zoomed through her body.
“Isaac,” Felicia said sharply. “Be sure to show her my office, won’t you?” Her voice suddenly dropped to almost a whisper, like dark silk hiding a double-edged sword. “You know the way.”
Without saying another word, Felicia quickly walked out of the room, closing the door behind her, leaving an empty vacuum of silence and longing.
The statement was an invitation for Isaac, backed up by veiled warning meant for any woman who might interfere.
Namely, Autumn.
But what Felicia didn’t know was that Autumn wasn’t a threat to whatever hold—real or imagined—she had on Isaac. Sterling hadn’t hired her to bed the man, although at first glance the thought did cross her mind. No, she was here to conduct an investigation into a possible case of corporate securities fraud.
Autumn didn’t know what, if anything, was going on between the two of them, but if it affected the outcome of this case, she would damn sure find out.
Chapter 2
Isaac leaned back in his chair and almost smiled at the irony. He hadn’t been expecting a beautiful woman on the agenda for Monday morning. Then again, he’d never expected to be cooking breakfast every day for two children, either.
Or trying to cook. His kids were not pleased with having to settle for Pop-Tarts. Again.
He sniffed lightly wondering if the stench of burned bacon was still on him and what Autumn would think if it was.
Isaac mentally slapped himself upside the head. If he cared even a little bit about
