Page 58 of Due Diligence

“Do you think the due diligence is going okay?” he finally asked.

Confusion slammed into me. “You called me at three in the morning to talk about due diligence?” I replied. “Hell, I thought something bad was happening.”

“You always do.”

“You’re right,” I confirmed. “And you never do, so it’s throwing me off that you’re calling about this.”

“Just wanted to check in.”

I sighed and fell back on my bedspread. “Look, I’ve got it. I always do.”

“You mean that?”

“Of course.”

Alex was quiet again, which could be unsettling from a guy like him, who almost never shut up. Normally, I would have pressed it, but my eyelids just kept dipping lower and lower.

“You’re the best,” he said. “Marcus fucking Fitz.”

“Yep.” I yawned again. “Marcus fucking Fitz. That’s me.”

I must have fallen asleep without saying goodbye, because when I woke up a couple of hours later, my legs were dangling off the bed and my phone was sitting by my ear.

***

I dragged myself into the office a few hours later, clutching my Yeti coffee mug in one hand and my phone in the other. My contact lenses were dry in my eyes and my chest heaved as yet another yawn escaped me. Cassie, of course, was already waiting in the fishbowl. She was wearing another perfectly tailored, perfectly coordinated, corporate-approved outfit today. But her ivory, chiffon blouse was just transparent enough to offer me a hint of the outline of her bra underneath. Want surged through me, potent and sharp. Suddenly, I felt wide awake.

“Morning,” I said as I entered the conference room.

Cassie glanced up and did a double take. “You look horrible,” she informed me as her eyes looked me up and down.

“Well, I’m tired.” I put down my coffee and fell into my chair so hard that it rolled a few inches to the side. “What’s your excuse?”

She didn’t respond. Instead, she raised her middle finger for a moment—just long enough for me to catch the gesture.

“Rude.”

“Are you going to tell on me again?” she challenged lightly before she smiled at me.

Fuck, she was so pretty.

This time, I didn’t respond. I took a long drink of coffee before I let out a contented sigh. Then I pulled out my laptop to start the long, daily process of working through my emails.

“Did you get a chance to look at those ledgers I flagged?” Cassie asked after a moment.

“Yep. Still don’t know what to make of them, but I looked.”

“Good,” she said. “Well, regardless, we have to let the auditors start going through the finances. It sounds like I can give them the go-ahead.”

“Sure,” I agreed. “I’ll spend some time on them again later this week. For now, I have to deal with some PR stuff.”

I noticed Cassie perked up when I said “PR.” She lifted her chin and peered at me over the top of her laptop.

“It means public relations,” I clarified needlessly, just to piss her off.

She snapped down the top of her screen, removing any obstructions from her view of me. “What for?”

“Why are you so interested in this?”

---