Page 10 of The Money Man
A shiver of shocked delight ran through her at his question abouther, not the software. On the other hand, the answer to his question wasn’t a happy one. She’d planned to be a CPA, saving money to go to college to study accounting. Then her stepfather had begged her to loan him her funds to invest in a “can’t miss” scheme. It had been during one of their financially difficult periods and he’d been desperate. Since her biological father had exited the scene before she was born, her stepfather was the only male parent she’d known. So how could she say no? Her college fund had disappeared into the smoke and mirrors of a Ponzi scheme.
“I went to bookkeeping school.” She shrugged with a slight smile to hide her discomfort. “How about you?”
He gave her a hard look but let it pass. “I got into it by accident. I was a theater major, but I minored in accounting so I wouldn’t starve while I auditioned. I discovered that I liked numbers better than acting.”
“That’s an unusual path.” She could imagine his face on the big screen, the camera loving his bone structure and the sharp intelligence in his eyes. She’d certainly go see any movie he was in. “What kind of acting? Do you sing and dance too?”
“I can carry a tune and tell my right foot from my left, but I guarantee that no one would hire me for Broadway.” His expression turned reminiscent. “Although I enjoyed belting out ‘Seventy-Six Trombones’ while leading the band inThe Music Man. That was in high school.”
She pictured a younger version of him as Harold Hill in a braid-bedecked drum major’s uniform. It was easier than she expected because Derek had that smooth confidence and arrogant tilt of the chin.
The nostalgia faded from his face. “Of course, my father never forgave me for not putting the Killion name up in lights on a marquee.”
“Seriously? Your father wanted you to be an actor? Most parents push you to do something with a steady income.”
Derek shrugged. “He was a pretty decent singer who never quite made it. I was supposed to make up for that.” A muscle tightened in his jaw. “When I took my fancy MBA and started my own company instead of joining an established firm, Dad let me know that he considered that just as risky as being an actor. And he was almost right. KRG had some tough times at the beginning.”
Sympathy made Alice’s heart twist. She knew something about disappointing a parent. “I hear you. My mother is a former model. She wasn’t thrilled with my career choice either. Not that I was headed for modeling anyway.” She didn’t want him to think she had any illusions about her looks.
“You’re too smart to be just a pretty face,” he said, leaving her to debate whether that meant he thought she was pretty. At least he thought she was smart. “So why did you choose numbers as a career?” he asked. “To combat poetic madness like Ada Lovelace?”
He’d hit closer to home than he knew. “Maybe a little.” He’d shared so she owed him something more. “My mother isn’t the most reliable parent, and my stepfather’s finances were ... unsettled, so I gravitated toward more dependable things, like numbers. They’re orderly and rational—except for the irrational ones.” She exchanged a math-nerd smile with him.
“And the BalanceTrakR ones,” he tossed back at her.
She grimaced. “Yeah, well, that’s human error.”
“Where did you study bookkeeping?”
“The local community college.” Since she couldn’t rely on her parents, she’d had to keep her costs down. Now she was saving her money to get an online degree in accounting, although she couldn’t justify it on practical grounds. She just wanted to be able to put “CPA” after her name. “Nothing fancy but it was a good foundation.”
“You’ve demonstrated that very clearly, although I suspect you’ve gone beyond their curriculum at this point.”
She was beginning to believe his compliments were sincere. That made them dangerous because his words soaked deep into her thirsty soul. “Experience is an excellent instructor.”
Their waitress appeared beside the table, her pen poised over her order pad. “Can I get you anything else?”
“Just the check, please,” Derek said.
Disappointment jabbed at Alice. She’d thought Derek was enjoying their conversation, yet he wasn’t going to linger over a cup of coffee. She should have known that he would need to be skilled socially as well as professionally to succeed at high levels in business.
The woman scribbled on her pad, tore off the slip, and slid it across the table to him, saying, “Thanks, hon. Pay up front.”
Alice reached for the bill. “The least I can do is pay for your lunch since you’re doing me a favor.”
He laid his large hand on top of the paper. “I have an expense account.”
His hand was just inches away from hers. She wanted to put her hand over it, to feel the texture and warmth of his skin. She whisked her hand off the table and into her lap to grip the crumpled napkin again.
Thank goodness he was handing off her problem to his partner. Otherwise she’d be worried about her state of mind.
After seeing Alice to her door, Derek settled into the back seat of the car. He’d shaken hands with her in an entirely businesslike way but her touch seemed to linger on his palm. He glanced down at his hand where it lay on the leather seat beside him before lifting it to see if any hint of her fragrance had transferred itself to his skin. But only a faint aroma of grease from the french fries remained.
What the hell was the scent she wore? A flower of some sort, he thought. Something sweet, woodsy, and elusive, which seemed at odds with her no-nonsense personality. Something that made him speculate about the color of her panties and what her glossy hair would feel like twined around his fingers.
He snapped his fingers.Violets.That’s what her perfume was.
Maybe it was a good thing he was handing her off to Leland. He needed to focus all his attention on Argon International. Alice would be a distraction.
