by Celya Bowers
“Thank you for letting me take a long lunch today, sir,” Kayleigh said, not attempting to keep the sarcasm out of her voice. He was too stupid to realize she was insulting him anyway. She reached for the pile of accounting invoices that Ahmed had planted his not-so-fine butt on.
He didn’t take the hint, of course. “I’m sure you have lots of work to do to make up for your absence.” He finally stood and handed her the papers. “Mandatory work day Saturday. Casual dress,” he announced to the entire department just before he slithered back to his office.
Harley rolled her office chair closer to Kayleigh. “He only says that so he can ogle women in tighter clothes. I know we’re not behind in our accounting cycle. If anything we need more work to accommodate all those trashy women he keeps hiring.”
Kayleigh nodded, processing her invoices. “See, that promotion to assistant idiot was well worth it. You know all the inside scoop.” Harley had been promoted to assistant supervisor over six months ago, but Ahmed, in his non-wisdom, elected not to let her move into the assistant’s office.
“Yeah, that’s about the only thing. Something is going on and I’m going to find out what it is.” She took a deep breath. “You do this to me every time. You got me off the topic of your hunky man again. When are you seeing him again?”
“Harley, it’s not a date. He’s going to invest my money for me, that’s all. Let’s say it together. He’s a financial planner, that’s all. There’s no love connection, hookup or whatever.”
“A girl can dream.”
* * *
Friday evening, Finn waited anxiously for Kayleigh.
Why was he going to all this trouble? After all, she was just a client. Here he was, moving heaven and earth so that they’d have some privacy. Why? He glanced at the file as it mocked him. What the hell was he doing? Hadn’t he just narrowly escaped the clutches of one woman? He was supposedly taking a vacation from women. He had to remember that.
With that vow in his head and a little ice in his heart, he continued to prepare for her visit. He glanced at the large clock on the wall, noting the time. Five after five. It was go time. He felt his heartbeat accelerate at the sound of the lobby door opening. Sarah had taken the afternoon off at his insistence, so it was up to him to greet Kayleigh. He reached the waiting area just as she’d taken her seat and crossed her legs. She was dressed in a light blue suit, with a short skirt and matching blue stilettos.
She stood as he came into her view. “Hello, Mr. Callahan.” She extended her hand.
He took her hand, because his brain ceased to work. She was even more beautiful than she was the other day. Her light brown skin glowed. He was determined to stay focused on his task, no matter what. Finally his brain kicked in, and his business side took over. “It’s nice to see you again, Ms. Hardy. Please call me Finn.”
“Kayleigh.”
“Okay, Kayleigh, we’ll talk in the conference room.” He started down the hall with her on his heels. “The conference room will give us plenty of room to discuss all your options.”
“Wow, I have options,” she said. “I’m so used to Uncle Teddy and his ‘my way or the highway,’ I forgot I could have options.”
He laughed at the thought of his friend being referred to as “Uncle Teddy” by anyone. “Well, here you have options. After all, it’s your money.”
“Good answer,” she said softly.
Finn shook his head, entering the conference room. It was going to be a long night.
After they were seated and Finn had wowed her for two hours with his presentation of the variety of ways to invest her money, Kayleigh finally held her hand up. “Enough. I don’t think I could look at one more analysis of a company’s projected fiscal growth. I appreciate you being extremely thorough, but it’s starting to make my eyes cross.”
“You don’t hold much back, do you?”
She smiled. “Not usually.”
Finn wasn’t used to a client not being grateful for his financial expertise. She actually told him he was boring! “All right, let’s move on to distributions.”
Kayleigh eyes rolled toward the ceiling. “Come on.”
Normally, this attitude would have gotten the bad side of his Irish temper, but there was something about her that only made him smile. “All right, I get it. You’re on overload.”
“Yes, I am. On both counts. Uncle Teddy said you had the Midas touch. So I’m all yours.”
“Excuse me?”
She laughed. “I’m all yours. Uncle Teddy said to go with whatever you suggested. He trusts you.”
“Do you?” Finn reached for a stack of papers that he’d needed her to sign. When she hesitated to answer, he asked again. “Well?”
“You haven’t earned my trust yet.”
“I haven’t had to prove myself professionally in a long time,” he said, smiling.
“Welcome to my world. I prove myself every day. So tell me what makes you so trustworthy?”
Finn knew when he was licked. Kayleigh was a very no-nonsense woman, and apparently she took no prisoners. “Well, Kayleigh, I can give you a list of my credentials.”
She nodded. “Sounds good. Where did you attend college?”
He wanted to see the look of surprise on her beautiful face. “University of Dublin.”
“In Ohio or Ireland?”
“The latter.”
“Cool. I’ve always wanted to go there,” was all she said.
“You’re not surprised or shocked I went to college in another country?”
“No. I think it’s great. Gives you that international flavor, being educated abroad.”
He couldn’t refute her logic. Most of his clients liked the fact that he was educated in Ireland. “Actually, I went to high school here in the states, and then lived about ten years in Ireland with my grandparents. My dad emigrated here right after school. I’m first-generation American.”
“That’s nice. You were saying?”
Finn laughed. “You’re right. I wandered off topic, didn’t I? I went to University of Virginia Law School. My first job was at an investment firm drawing up the legal documents, and I started dabbling in the investment side. I took the certified financial planner exam and passed it on the first try,” he said proudly. “My boss told me about Phillips and Marriot here in Fort Worth. I eventually opened Callahan Consulting about five years ago.”
“Very impressive. No wonder Uncle Teddy is singing your praises.” She smiled. “I, however, am not my godfather.”
He didn’t need a ton of bricks to fall on his head. Yes, she might listen to him, but that didn’t mean she had to trust him. “Well, time will tell you that I’m very trustworthy. I hold a free workshop open to the public the second Saturday of every month. There’s one tomorrow, and you can interview some of my clients if you like.”
She seemed to perk up at that thought. “It’s a great idea, but I have to work.”
“I didn’t say what time,” he chided. “It’s from about nine to noon. I provide breakfast.”
“I still have to work.” She glanced at the stack of papers in his hand. “Are all those for me? It’s huge!”
Finn cleared his throat. “I’ll start slow. It’ll be a painless process, I promise. Let’s start with the basics. Did you bring the documents with you?”
She pushed the large envelope toward him. “Yes. Uncle Teddy has to transfer the house from my parents’ name into mine, but I have everything else.”
A client that actually did what he asked! “That’s fine, we can work around that for now. Did you have someone for your power of attorney?”
She nodded, sliding a piece of typewritten paper at him. “Yes, Armand Garcia,” she said with a smile.
He didn’t like that smile. “What’s your relationship with Mr. Garcia?”
“Friend.”
Finn knew he had to explain his line of questioning, if only to himself. “The reason I ask is because in today’s world, common-law relationships are viewed
as a marriage and your assets would have to be split. Texas is a community state.” There, that sounded logical, he hoped.
“Well, I don’t have to worry about that. Manny, I mean, Armand, has more money than I could ever imagine, so he doesn’t need mine. And since we’re not a couple, nor or we cohabitating, none of this applies. He’s a friend, just as I said before.”
“Got it.”
Now that the room had an uncomfortable tension, Finn picked this time to escape to the copy room, claiming he needed to make copies of all her documents. He needed to regroup or something he didn’t need to happen was definitely going to happen. He wanted to kiss her. Never had he come across this mix of woman. Someone not afraid to speak her mind, who didn’t care how much money he had, or that he was one of the top financial planners in the state. She held nothing back. Finn definitely was going to have to stay on his toes if he planned on being in control when he was around this woman. But how could he ever hope to be in control when she looked at him with those big brown eyes?
* * *
While Finn was busy, Kayleigh used the down time to get herself together. Damn that Harley and her romantic ideas. Yes, she knew Finn was good-looking, but tonight it seemed something else was going on between them. She’d noticed his faint Irish accent on their initial visit, but now it seemed more pronounced. It was her Achilles’ heel. A sexy man with an European accent. Why, oh, why did her financial planner have to have an Irish accent?
She took a deep breath. He’s just a man, she reminded herself, and you have a goal. The two are not interchangeable. With that very sobering realization, things slowly slid into perspective. Yes, he was handsome, tall, athletic, with salt and pepper curly hair, big blue eyes, and an Irish accent, but she could handle it. Right?
Sure. Easy as saying no to cheesecake. It was possible, but it sure did hurt while you were doing it.
“Sorry it took so long, Kayleigh.” Finn sat down and handed her back her information. “Now, let’s talk funds.”
Kayleigh didn’t want to hear one more word about funds, but she couldn’t let this man have this much control of her financial future. Or at least she couldn’t let him think he had that much control.
As he spoke, she asked questions about the companies he was choosing for her to invest in. Manny had suggested that she invest in some of the high tech companies, but Finn shook his head at her.
“High-tech stocks are volatile. Now I’m not against them as stocks, they have a fast return when you’re lucky. If you want aggressive, I can do that, no problem.”
“Is that good?”
He smiled at her. “Depends on how aggressive you are.” He picked up the television remote and clicked on the TV, or what she thought was a TV. “Here’s the last hour of the New York market before it closed a few hours ago. Let’s watch the stock price of Hiel Electronics, they make plasma televisions, and see how much the stock price changes.”
Kayleigh knew there was probably a lesson in this little exercise, so she watched. To her horror, the stock price went from $75 a share, to double that, to half that, to triple it, and finally it was at $28 a share when the market closed. “I feel like I’ve been on a roller coaster ride.”
Finn grinned. “Welcome to my world,” he threw back at her. “Some people do well with those tech stocks, but I don’t recommend them for the novice investor. What I do suggest for you is a moderately aggressive stock portfolio.”
She listened carefully as he continued his list of recommendations for her money. She found herself agreeing with him. “How soon can I expect a return on my investment?”
“It takes time to get a substantial return, but you can expect some kind of return on your quarterly statement. You can also monitor your account online whenever you like.”
She liked the idea of being able to check on her account anytime she wanted. Manny didn’t have that option with his investment planner, and that was Finn’s selling point. “Okay, Finn, I’m ready to sign on the dotted line.”
“Great, let’s get started.”
An hour later, Kayleigh was still waiting for the whole getting started thing. Although she loved his accent, and the manner in which he spoke, Kayleigh was ready to get the show on the road. Mostly because she was starving, and it was almost nine o’clock at night. Finn sounded like he could talk about stocks, mutual funds, revenue something or other, until dawn.
“Ready to sign?”
She nodded. “Just tell me where.”
He did just that. After she’d signed and given him her cashier’s check, they were finally finished. Now she could finally eat.
“I’ll be right back with your copies.” Finn left the room, heading down the hall again.
Kayleigh groaned, glancing around the room for any signs of food. None. Damn, not even a cracker in sight. Her stomach started voicing its opinion.
“Sounds like someone’s hungry,” said Finn, walking back into the room with a large brown folder in his hand. “These are your copies. Keep them in a safe place. Now that we’re done, how ’bout some dinner across the street? A celebration of you becoming my client.”
Kayleigh looked at him. She was hungry. He was good looking. She could eat one meal with the man. Besides, Harley would kill her if she didn’t. “Dinner sounds fine.”
CHAPTER 3
Saturday morning Kayleigh met Harley as they entered the elevator in their office building. Harley was holding onto a Styrofoam coffee cup with one hand, her purse in the other hand, and her head tilted to one side talking into her cell phone. “See you soon, honey.” After she kissed the phone, she folded it and placed it in her purse. “I called you last night, but you’d turned your cell phone off.”
“I was having dinner with Finn Callahan last night,” she said casually, pushing the button for the floor and wishing she had a cup of coffee.
“What?” Harley’s usually soft, gentle voice vibrated against the wall as the car jerked to life and started its ascent. “I can’t believe it. You finally get a date and I’m the last to know. I thought we were friends. You’re supposed to share all essential man information with your married friend.”
Kayleigh shook her head. “Will you stop? First of all, it was a client dinner thing, so there is no man information to give. The minute I get as much as a kiss, I’ll call you immediately.” The doors opened and they stepped out onto their floor.
Harley took a sip of her coffee as they walked to their respective cubicles. “Okay, that’s something. How long did it take to sign some papers? When Ben and I met our financial planner, we were out of there in less than two hours.”
Kayleigh mentally calculated how long she was in Finn’s office. “He’s very thorough. He explained all the different plans and my options. I asked him about the tech stocks Manny told me about, but he said no.”
Harley turned on her computer. “Why not? Manny said he made a lot of money.”
Kayleigh looked at the files stacked on her desk. The idiot had struck again. Her boss had placed all the unpaid invoices on her desk to be paid. “Manny also lost a lot of money. He barely broke even. Finn made me watch the last hour of the stock market. We watched the tech price go up and down so many times I felt as if I was on a roller-coaster. It was very eye opening.”
Harley shrugged. “Wow. It seems that Finn guy knows his investments.”
“Yes, I’m glad Uncle Teddy made me go. He said Finn was good, and he was right.”
“Don’t think I forgot about you having dinner with hunky man. What time did you get home?”
Kayleigh yawned. “About two.” Just maybe Harley wouldn’t ask.
“What on earth were you doing out until two? How long does it take to say thanks for giving me your money? Our financial planner never took us out to dinner, or even lunch, for that matter,” Harley said.
“We didn’t get to Esteban’s until nine-ish. He’s very interesting. You know he lived in Ireland for a while.”
Harley laughed. “If I didn’t k
now better, I’d say someone has a crush on her financial planner.”
“Be serious.”
“All right. How about going shopping later?”
This was the bad side of having two best friends. There was never enough time in her already overcrowded schedule to spend time with both Harley and Manny. “Sorry, I’m going to the Irish festival with Manny. After that I’m going to sleep the rest of the day.”
“You’re still tired from all that studying? Kayleigh, I really hope you’re keeping the doctor’s appointment this time. I know you’ve been under a great deal of stress lately, but you’re always exhausted. I bet the doctor could give you something to perk you up. When are you going to the doctor?”
“Tuesday afternoon.”
“Good, I’m going with you.”
Kayleigh knew this conversation was coming and there was little she could do to stop it, but she gave it her best shot. “Harley, you don’t have to go with me. I’m an adult, you know. I can go to the doctor all by myself.”
“Yes, I know you’re an adult. You’ve also been neglecting your body these last few months. Your body is tired, and pretty soon it’s going to start fighting back. You need someone to be there with you, and that someone is me.”
Kayleigh looked at her best friend. Harley was right. Now that her dad was gone, next to Uncle Teddy, Harley and Manny were the closest thing she had to family. It would be nice to have someone to be there for her. “Thanks, Harley.”
* * *
Later that afternoon when Kayleigh would have rather been snuggled in her bed for a nice long nap, she was meeting her best friend Manny at the entrance gate of the North Texas Irish Festival. Ironically, today was also St. Patrick’s Day, so the place was packed.
Manny waved at her. He was surrounded by a group of women, young and old. They only wanted one thing. His autograph. Manny was a semi-retired model and it showed. He was dressed in walking shorts and a polo shirt and his dark hair hung loosely about his shoulders. He finally extricated himself from his entourage and made his way to Kayleigh. “You look tired.” He kissed her on the cheek.
