Now, I need to go over the stats for the Savannah store with you. I should have asked you to bring that file in here with you.”
“I’ll go and get it.”
Opal stood and quickly walked out of the office.
As soon as Opal left, D’marcus leaned back in his office chair. Her scent was still in the room. More than once, he had noticed the fragrance and had yet to put a name to it, but he definitely liked it on her.
No, he mustn’t think about how much he liked that particular perfume on her or how good she looked today in her business suit. Professional but still sexy. She never wore anything to call attention to herself but her clothes did it, anyway.
He thought about all that he knew about her from her employment records. Both of her parents were deceased and she was the second oldest of four daughters. She lived in an apartment in a fairly decent area of town and she had turned twenty-seven her last birthday. He gathered she was close to her siblings and enjoyed staying in touch with her family. The family affair she had attended on Saturday attested to that. He also knew there were great cooks in her family, considering the food she had brought to him. What he’d told her was true. He had totally enjoyed every mouthful.
He glanced up when she returned to his office. “All right, I’m ready, Mr. Armstrong.”
Her words stirred something deep within him, something directly below the gut. That part of his body definitely needed help and he intended to get it this weekend.
“Okay,” he said, straightening up in his chair. “Let’s get started.”
“So you have to spend more time with The Hunk?” Pearl smiled at Opal as she sat down at the kitchen table. Ruby and Pearl had dropped by after work as they usually did most Monday afternoons. Amber would join them every once in a while but lately she’d been taking classes at the university on Monday nights. Opal had been excited to tell them the good news about the apartment. Then she told them about the additional money she’d make working extra hours the next two weeks.
Opal rolled her eyes. “I’ll be working overtime but Mr. Armstrong wasn’t specific as to whether he would be staying late or not.”
“Why would you fall for such a tyrant?” Ruby asked, grinning.
Opal shook her head. “First of all, I haven’t fallen for anyone and, to be quite honest, D’marcus Armstrong isn’t a tyrant. He just happens to be a very demanding boss. There is a difference.”
Ruby lifted an arched brow. “And do you have a crush on him?”
“Of course not. Where did the two of you get such an idea from?”
Before either of her sisters could answer her question, her cell phone rang. Standing, she pulled it from her purse and checked the caller ID. It was Colleen. “Yes, Colleen?”
“Did you get the apartment?” her cousin asked excitedly.
Opal smiled. “Yes, I put down the deposit today,” she said, deciding not to mention to anyone how much of a deposit it was. But she did tell Colleen about the overtime since they usually went to prayer meeting together at church on Wednesday nights.
“Maybe you can get Mr. Armstrong to go to prayer meeting with you,” Colleen joked.
“Sure, but don’t hold your breath,” Opal replied, wondering if D’marcus even went to church.
A few minutes later, after ending the call with Colleen, she glanced across the table to find her two sisters staring at her with smug looks on their faces. “What?”
“You do have a crush on him,” Pearl said.
“I do not,” she persisted.
“Yes, you do. You get this funny little smile on your face each time you mention his name. Just like you did just now, while talking to Colleen.”
“You’re imagining things,” Opal said, taking a sip of her tea.
Ruby smiled at her over the rim of her cup. “Okay, keep your secrets, but you can’t fool us. I agree with Pearl. You have a crush on your boss.”
One thing Opal had discovered about her sisters while growing up with them was that, if they truly believed something, trying to convince them they were wrong was nearly impossible, a waste of good time. So she decided not even to try anymore. In time, they would discover their assumption was incorrect.
Later that night, when Opal slipped between the sheets in her bed, she tried drowning out the sound of the loud music playing next door by thinking how nice her new apartment would be. She thought of the time she would spend decorating and how, since the new place was more spacious, she would no longer feel cramped.
She glanced at the clock on her nightstand. It was ten o’clock. She wondered if D’marcus was still at the office or if he’d already gone. He had been on an important international conference call when she had left. She breathed in deeply as she recalled how she’d stuck her head in his office to let him know she was leaving, and found him sitting on the corner of his desk talking on the speaker phone.
Once again, she had been struck by just what a good-looking man he was. Even while conducting business, he spoke in a deep, husky voice that actually had made her pulse race. And the way his trousers stretched tight across his firm, muscular thighs had made her heart pound in her chest.
She had silently mouthed the words, “I’m leaving now,” and he had held her gaze and nodded, letting her know he’d understood what she had said. For just a heartbeat, she’d thought their gazes had held for a moment longer than necessary, but now she was sure she had imagined it.
She turned on her side thinking how wrong her sisters were about her feelings for D’marcus. She would be honest and say she was attracted to him, but that was as far as it went. And, as she had told Ruby and Pearl, she wasn’t sure he would be staying late with her over the next two weeks, but if he did, she was determined that things would be kept on a strictly professional basis. She couldn’t imagine him having it any other way.
Chapter 4
D’marcus released a deep breath before taking a sip of coffee as he stood at his office window and watched his ever-efficient administrative assistant walk across the parking lot.
There was a businesslike tilt to her head, and her walk was brisk and measured. He glanced at the clock. She was early. Usually he arrived after she did so he never knew exactly what time she arrived at work each day. He wondered if coming in at least an hour early was the norm for her or if she had done it today because of all the work she would be tackling this week. If coming in early was a habit, she definitely hadn’t been recording it on her time card.
He frowned. He was a person who believed in paying his employees for the work they did and the hours they worked. He would definitely have a discussion with her about it.
He glanced back out the window and watched as another one of his employees, Ted Marshall, from the accounting department, conveniently began walking beside her. D’marcus stiffened inwardly when he noticed Opal smiling at something the man had said. Were the two dating? For some reason the thought irritated him. He knew that Marshall was divorced and, from what
