by Rita Sawyer
That sounded like a good plan to him. “Call me Cameron. I don’t foresee that being a problem.”
“My time is too precious to waste, so if we have an appointment scheduled, I’ll expect you to make yourself available when I am. Are you sure this won’t cause any problems?” Her disbelief was perfectly conveyed in just one look.
It was going to take some doing, but he’d prove to her just how serious he was about getting this situation sorted out as soon as possible. “If you’ll help me, I’m willing to be at your beck and call.”
“I don’t think it’ll go that far.” She smiled, and he was struck by how the simple gesture created such a drastic change in her.
“However this works out, I want to thank you for your time, Ms. Brazen.” Cameron held out his hand.
She slid her hand into his and, for a split second, he thought about what it would be like to lean in and kiss her cheek. “You may as well call me Joey.”
“Joey?” She could have taken his surprise as an insult, but she laughed.
“Josephine. My mother was into romantic names, but my daddy liked the fact that our nicknames gave him the illusion it was okay to let us be tomboys.” She walked him to the door, leaving him to try and wrap his mind around her claiming to have been a tomboy at some point. “I’ll be in touch soon.”
“Thanks again.” He walked through the door she held open, fighting the urge to cross his fingers until she called.
* * * *
Georgie groaned when she spotted the guy coming out of Joey’s office. “Damn.”
He hadn’t been in there long. Joey had probably taken one look at his messy appearance and tossed him out. If she had seen the way he stripped out of the other shirt he’d had on before going in, she may have given him a chance. The guy moved in a way that had her thinking about sex, and she didn’t even know his name. He wasn’t Joey’s type—and being her identical twin, Georgie was sure of that—but Georgie figured it was about time Joey tried something a little different. Even if it was just to say “hey, been there, done that.” Joey needed to broaden her horizons a little when it came to members of the opposite sex.
Her sisters would agree with her there. Probably not with what she was about to do next, though, so she just wouldn’t tell them. She waited for him to drive away before she left the store and crossed the street. Easing the back door open, she slipped through into the kitchenette and crept over to Joey’s door. The element of surprise was on her side, and she hoped it would give her a hand.
Georgie swung the door open and said, “Who’s the guy?”
Joey’s head snapped up, and the forkful of spaghetti she had been holding fell onto her lap. “Damn it.”
“Sorry.” Georgie ran over and grabbed stack of napkins and handed them to her, “I guess that was too much, huh?”
“Ya think?” Joey put the fork in the bowl and cleaned as much of the sauce off her skirt as she could. “Good thing I sit behind a desk all day.”
“Don’t think just because I feel like a jerk you’re going to get away without answering my question.” Georgie sat in the chair in front of the desk and crossed her arms across her chest.
She figured with anyone else Joey may have tried to bluff her way out of the situation. Georgie had more patience than her other sisters, so she had no problem digging her heels in until Joey told her who the hunk was. Joey leaned back in chair and sighed, because she right now she didn’t have time to drag it out and teach Georgie a lesson.
“The guy was Cameron Elwood.” Joey’s tone was flat, giving her no insight, just like her answer.
“And?” She needed to know a little more to help her decide if he was the right guy for Joey to experiment with.
“And what?” Joey shrugged, “It was just a consultation.”
“I thought you said you weren’t taking on anyone else until the remodel was over.” Georgie watched her carefully looking for any little clues to whether or not she wanted on taking him on.
All she got was another useless shrug. “I wasn’t planning on it, but Alec asked me to consider helping him out.”
“Oh, I see.” Georgie smiled and nodded, knowing it would make Joey think she was assuming something more was going on. “He’s a friend of the Mitchells.”
“What do you see? Nothing!” Joey laughed giving a little shake of her head. “He may be a new client. That’s all.”
“A hot, sexy guy like that could never be just a client.” It was true, too. Most guys like that were trouble in some form.
“He can with me because I don’t have time for anything else. And believe me, he’ll know that right from the start.”
“If,” Georgie waited a beat before adding, “you decide to work with him.”
“Right, and that’s a really big if.” A quick series of knocks sounded on the door. “Just a second.”
Joey jumped to her feet and stuffed the dish of spaghetti in Georgie’s hands. She shoved her toward the little kitchenette, and Georgie let her. For now, the subject was closed, but not for good.
“I’ll see you at home where we will finish this conversation.” Georgie smiled as Joey closed the door in her face.
Even if one of the Mitchells asked her to help the guy, Joey wouldn’t take him on unless there was a good reason. That meant there was a story to the bodacious Mr. Cameron Elwood. Georgie had enough connections of her own that she could probably find out all she needed to know just by making a few phone calls. She wanted to be stealthier on this mission. The fewer people who knew she was checking into him the better, so she was going to do what people all over the world did when they wanted to find out about people. She was going to look him up online. With all the search engines at her finger tips it shouldn’t be hard to find at least one Cameron Elwood. Hopefully, it would be just the right one.
Chapter Two
“Alex is going to owe me huge for this.” Joey said to herself.
Her younger sister Bobbie stuck her head into the room and said, “Did you say something to me?”
“No. I was just talking to myself.” Joey looked up surprised to see her sister up so early.
“That’s a bad, very bad habit to get into.” Bobbie chuckled as she walked away.
She was right, Joey thought as she closed the file, wishing she’d never opened it in the first place. That had been her second time reading about Cameron and his problems. Alec hadn’t exaggerated when he told her Cameron was truly in dire straits. Even though she didn’t know him, she felt bad. After carefully reading each document last night, she could have called him, but she wanted to think things over for awhile.
Now, after rereading everything a second time, she felt very confident she could help him. Strangely, knowing she could possibly be the one that came to his rescue didn’t make her feel any better. Something about the man irked her, and it went a lot further than his sloppy appearance and tardiness. The more she tried to figure out what it was, the more she searched her mind for any other option she could give him besides taking him on as a client.
She had plenty of legitimate excuses for not wanting to take him on, even temporarily. If she had the ability to give him undivided attention, she could have him in what she liked to call maintenance mode in a few weeks, a month tops. With things they way they were now it might take her three months to get him to that point. His new purchase of a cabin down by the lake was going to make this even more complicated, and not just for monetary reasons, either. She could think of a few people in town who weren’t going to be happy having another stranger move into town. It was what they needed, though. A fresh influx of people would bring new ideas. Hopefully, those ideas would help their little town prosper.
According to Cameron’s file, he had over a year’s worth of records that he needed to go through and organize. He’d been able to get a six month printout from his bank for his personal savings and checking accounts. His business accounts were going to be harder. Even with the statements he’d provided, she needed
to match the credits and debits to his receipts. If they managed to get that far, then she would need to double check all his expenses and determine whether or not he could write them off. This project needed someone who could do it justice. Someone who could spend hour upon hour with Cameron digging through and discussing every purchase he made in the past two years.
Another issue she had with his request was the privacy. He didn’t want anyone knowing who he was or that she was helping him. In a way she understood he wanted to make his place in the community before they found he was a globally acclaimed nature photographer, and a very wealthy one from the looks of things. He needed to know up front that she wouldn’t lie to her sisters about who he was and why he needed her help. When it came to everyone else, she could keep them in the dark until Cameron was ready. But unless he was planning on hiding under a rock, every single woman in town, and probably a few married ones too, would be trying to dig up the dirt on him once they laid eyes on him. Everything he owned was in his name alone, so she assumed he was single, but guys that looked like him never stayed that way for long.
The last thing I need is his girlfriend getting all jealous because we’re spending so much time together. She crossed her arms on her desk and dropped her head on top of them. It seemed like she was about to make a huge mistake and do something she shouldn’t. Joey picked up the phone and dialed, hoping he wouldn’t answer or that he’d refuse her help.
It rang once then she heard his voice. “Hello.”
“Hi, can I speak with Cameron?” She knew it was him but didn’t want him to know she found the deepness of his voice very distinct.
“Shit! Hold on a second,” She heard a loud clunk then some colorful language “Sorry about that. I’m Cameron.”
“This is Josephine Brazen.” She couldn’t help but wonder if she woke him.
If so, he better get used to it because early mornings were the only time she was free. And it would be easier for her to get out to his place first thing in the morning without anyone noticing. She’d have to make sure.
“Joey, please tell me you’re calling to say you’ll help me.” His desperate plea reassured her she was doing the right thing.
“Yes, I have decided to help you, but there’s a few details we need to work out.” Her experience had taught her men disliked having a woman in charge, but it was the only way she worked.
Cameron Elwood could either accept her terms, or go find someone else to help him. It wasn’t her ego talking when she figured he’d have a hell of a time trying to find someone more qualified than she was. Even if Cameron did agree at some point, he’d try to take the reins. That was why Joey liked to be clear right from the start. She heard him yawn into the phone and wondered if it would be best if she called him later.
Before she could suggest it, he said, “Should I come into your office to discuss them?”
“No, that won’t be necessary. If you don’t mind, I’d like to stop by your place and see just what I’m getting myself into. We can discuss it then.” She’d never invited herself to a guy’s house before, and it felt kind of awkward.
“What time?” He didn’t sound like it bothered him at all.
“Well, since you want to keep things quiet for a while, and my schedule is so busy, early morning seems like the best time for us to get together.” An even those might get rough if she got stuck covering the night shift at the lodge.
“How early are we talking?” That was one of the questions she’d figured he would ask, but it wasn’t the last.
“I usually go into the office by nine-thirty, so I think we should start about seven-thirty. That’ll give us a solid hour to work.”
“It’s eight now, so why didn’t you just come over. Never mind, I’ll start the coffee. See you soon.” He didn’t give her a chance to explain she hadn’t planned to start until tomorrow.
Joey could have screamed, but it wouldn’t have done her any good. She had a really bad feeling that Cameron was going to test every ounce of her tolerance. Maybe she could talk him into letting her pull Bobbie in to help. She picked up her bag and headed for the door. There was no way, no matter how hard she wished, that she could take the call back. So the only way she could move was forward, which meant driving over to his place. Once she laid down the rules, hopefully they could get to work starting first thing tomorrow morning.
She reached the end of the drive, but instead of turning left toward town she turned right and drove up to the lodge. Even the smartest men thought with two parts of their body before their brain. First, they tended to think with the part of their body that protruded on a whim. Then, more often than not, their stomachs came next. Joey needed Cameron focused. Since she couldn’t, and hopefully wouldn’t, have to deal with the first, she was going to deal with the second. She pulled into the parking lot and parked in the back by the kitchen door.
The odds of her getting what she wanted and making out without her sister Sam asking a lot of questions were pretty slim. She opened the door and walked into the kitchen and slapped her hands over her eyes, letting her tote bag drop to the floor.
“Damn it, Samantha. You need to put a sign up or something.” She heard her brother in-law’s deep rumbling laugh.
“You can look now,” Sam said, but Joey opened her fingers and peeked out before lowering them.
Thankfully Sam no longer had her husband pinned to the wall, but Joey didn’t miss the fact that Trent was holding her placed strategically in front of him. After the way they were going at it, she didn’t have to guess why. Still if he was going to let Sam play, he was going to pay.
“What if I had been Bobbie? She very impressionable, you know.” Trent’s cheeks turned red, but Sam giggled.
“Please. The way that girl teases Jake, we should all be taking lessons.” Joey wished Sam hadn’t put that thought in her head.
“I’ll pass. I hate to interrupt things, but I have a last-minute morning meeting, and I was hoping you could help me out.”
“Sure. Go grab one of the baskets and we’ll get you set up.” Sam never turned one of them down.
“So who’s this meeting with?” Trent’s tone sounded a little strange, but Joey chose to ignore it.
“A possible new client. We’re meeting to discuss his needs and my expectations.”
“Joey, can you really take on another client with all you do?” She knew Sam wasn’t chiding her. She just wanted to make sure she wasn’t taking on too much.
Joey didn’t want her or any of her other sisters to worry, so she shrugged her shoulders like it was no big deal. “Alec Mitchell called and asked me to consider it. I guess this guy is a really good friend of his.”
Sam laid a blue and white checkered cloth in the basket before she started loading it with muffins. Joey stood there, waiting for her to ask more questions, but surprisingly she didn’t. Joey chalked it up to the fact that Sam probably wanted to get her out of there so they could get back to what they’d been doing.
Sam lifted the basket and held it out to her. “Are you going to make it for lunch today?”
“Shit! Umm…yeah. I can move a few things around.” Joey had forgotten she was supposed to stop by the literacy group’s lunch to give them a brief update on the library’s fundraiser contributions.
Luckily, Oliver Mitchell was going to be taking over for her at the end of the month. Oliver was more of an investor than accountant, but he could handle it. Heck, she had wondered why Alec had even called her when he had him on hand. When she asked Alec why Oliver couldn’t help Cameron, he’d explained that Oliver had recommended her for the job.
“See you later,” Sam said, and Trent added, “Have fun.”
Joey glanced back over her shoulder, and Trent winked at her. She walked away, forced to wonder what he’d meant by it. Asking was out of the question, and she wasn’t even sure she wanted to know. Besides, she didn’t have time to dwell on it. She had more important issues at hand.
* * * *
C
ameron wondered what the hell was taking her so long. Her place was only about ten minutes away. He’d checked into her enough to learn that much. All right, so he’d done a lot of digging and knew pretty much everything there was to know about her. He hadn’t meant to, but once he started asking questions, he just couldn’t stop.
When Alec and his brothers asked why he wanted to know so much, he told them the truth. He figured if she was going to know almost everything about him, it was only fair he know a little about her. Of course, her dating history, which he’d learned was slim and he found himself enjoying that fact, had nothing to do with her accounting skills. He dodged a bullet when Kyle, Alec’s older brother, offered up an excuse for him. Kyle had said he should know if there was a jealous husband or boyfriend who was going to be ready to pounce on him.
Cameron wasn’t worried about that. He could hold his own. Not that he’d have to because he and Josephine Brazen weren’t going to be doing anything but paperwork. He looked around the cabin and groaned. He shouldn’t have cleaned the place up. It hadn’t been that much of a mess, but still, she would probably think he was trying to impress her. Unable to stand there by the door and wait, he grabbed his camera and headed around the side of the house to where he’d accidently found the mother cat and her kittens behind his wood pile.
They were the ones at fault for him missing his meeting with her in the first place. He’d gone out to cover the pile in case it rained while he was gone and spotted them. Not wanting them to come to any harm, he decided to bring them inside where they’d be nice and warm. The mother cat had been watchful but let him reach down and stroke her head.
He figured she must be lost or maybe just left behind by the previous owners. Touching her babies had been a huge mistake. She hissed so loud he jumped and almost knocked the stack of wood over on them. Not wanting it to happen again, he’d moved the stack around so it still protected them, but not close enough to endanger them at the same time.
