by Curry, Edna
“You’re welcome. It was my pleasure, Lili.”
Before she could move, he’d taken her in his arms, bent his head and brushed his lips across hers. She gasped in surprise, and Ken took advantage of her open mouth to deepen the kiss.
Desire had been building all day. Now it exploded into sensations that leaped between them, sending their tongues into the fray as they heatedly explored and communicated. Lili’s arms somehow moved around his neck. His hands pressed her against him, surrounding her with his warmth against the cool night air. His cologne and the lingering scent of coffee teased her nose. His tongue teased hers and his lips moved to her eyelids, down to her chin line, then back to her lips once more. His hand came around to slide inside her coat and hold her tightly to him.
Somewhere a dog barked loudly, reminding her where they were. She pulled back, and he immediately released her.
They murmured good nights, and she slipped inside the house. It was a long time before she slept.
***
As Ken had promised, the week proved to be a busy one. On Monday the computer arrived soon after they opened. The man not only brought it personally in his store van, but set it up in record time, checked out every function, and disappeared as quickly as he’d arrived.
An hour later, Ken appeared, carrying his briefcase, as usual. Lili was a little nervous when she saw him, but he was all business and made no reference to last night’s passionate interlude.
“Glad to see it all arrived,” he said, flipping on the computer and slipping a disk in the drive. “This is the sample report and spreadsheet I promised you. It’s an old report, done by a store no longer with us, but I changed the names anyway, just in case anyone might feel their confidence had been violated. No one except Renee and me will have access to your information.”
“That’s nice,” she said, beginning to dislike Renee sight unseen. She brought her attention back to Ken’s words.
“All the formulas are set up for you. Just put in the correct figures for your store and then total the rows and columns,” he instructed. “If you have a problem, call me or Renee. She’s always available, and knows the program well.”
“All right,” Lili said, hoping she sounded more confident than she felt.
“I’m already late for a meeting.” He tossed her a warm smile as he left, leaving Lili staring after him, feeling frustrated and confused. Perhaps he already regretted mixing business and pleasure. The idea made her so crabby that even Ralph, who joked about everything, stayed out of her way.
She spent most of the day in her office, and her anger helped her accomplish a great deal. By the end of the day she felt her files were in fairly good shape. At last she knew where she was in every account, and felt ready to start her reports.
After work she went to swim laps in the motel pool to work off some of the tension from sitting all day. When she saw Ken come into the pool area and walk to the dressing room, a wave of pleasure slid through her, in response to his presence.
In a few minutes he joined her in the pool. With a smile, he began pacing her, lap for lap. They were alone in the pool.
The caressing look in Ken’s eyes told Lili he hadn’t forgotten their kiss of the previous night, and that he was thinking about a repeat performance. She returned his welcoming smile. The way he kept seeking her glance, then holding it as they swam, made her blood sing through her veins.
Lili’s black mood disappeared like the wisps of steam over the river on a frosty day. Warm energy flowed to her arms and legs. She kept pace with him as though she had only begun her swim.
They stopped at the motel lounge for a drink and talked companionably for hours, before Ken escorted her to her car.
He followed her in his own car as she drove the few blocks to her home, then walked her to her door. There he turned her into his arms and explored her lips. She enjoyed the kiss, but scolded herself for doing so, then was sorry that he left her, when she wanted so much more.
She couldn’t sleep, so she made some hot cocoa and curled up with the computer manual she’d brought home, hoping that dry material would prove tiring. Instead, she kept seeing Ken’s long fingers on the keys and his eyes watching her as she tried to follow his instructions.
What’s the matter with me, anyway? She sighed with frustration. I’m acting like a lovesick teenager over a man I’ve vowed to hate, and whose corporate policies I’ve determined to best. And he’s acting very unprofessionally with me as well.
***
Tuesday proved to be the only quiet day of the week. Lili spent most of the day in the office, completing the financial reports Ken had requested. Adding up the figures, dismay surged through her. Robert had been right when he complained that Adams’ Foods made very little money.
She’d always thought her father’s frugality was more of a habit than a necessity. From the look of things, there had indeed been little profit with which to buy new equipment or make needed improvements. She faxed the numbers to Ken’s office as he had instructed, hoping the disappointing figures might encourage him to reconsider selling those shares in Adams’ Foods back to her. Though if the profits were as bad as they seemed, goodness only knew where she would get the money to pay him for those shares.
She was about to leave for the day when Renee called. “I got your figures and keyed them into the computer for Ken this afternoon,” she said.
“Good. I hope to be doing the reports on the computer myself in a couple of weeks,” Lili assured her.
“All the store managers are having a pot-luck housewarming party for Ken at his house on Saturday night, Lili. Come about seven or so,” Renee said. “Each store is to bring some entrees from your deli department. Whatever you have on hand is fine.”
“Sound’s great,” Lili lied. It was more a directive than an invitation. “I’ll plan on it.”
“Oh, and Ken said to invite all your employees, too, since your store is so close. Then everyone can get acquainted, since we’ll all be working together, you know. Will that work out with your schedule?”
“All right. Yes, that should be fine. We close at six on Saturday.”
“Great. See you then,” Renee said sweetly.
Lili passed the invitation on to Anna, who was busily dusting and straightening canned goods on the shelves. Anna gave her a frown instead of a smile at the news.
“You needn’t go if you’d rather not, Anna,” Lili said. “It’s a social occasion, not a job requirement.”
Anna looked away. “Of course, I’ll go. I’m just surprised, that’s all. Usually, only the big-wigs are invited to that sort of thing.”
Lili wasn’t fooled in the least. Anna’s resentment was written all over her face. Lili sighed sadly. “I realize you resent Ken for taking Dad’s place, but it was Dad’s choice to sell the store, you know. You shouldn’t blame Ken.”
Anna lifted her chin and met Lili’s gaze. “You do.”
Lili couldn’t deny it. Anna knew her too well to be fooled, anyway. “I know. But I expected Dad to leave his shares in the store to Mom, so I could just run it for both of us. It was a real shock for me to find out that he’d sold them instead. I’m still having trouble believing it.”
“That’s what Robert should have done.” Anna’s dark eyes flashed and her wide mouth trembled. “Left them to you and your mom, I mean. He knew all of the rest of us would stay to help you. Selling it was—like saying he didn’t really trust us.”
“I’m sure Dad didn’t mean it like that, Anna,” Lili assured her. She studied Anna thoughtfully, then asked in a soft voice, “You cared about him, too, didn’t you, Anna?”
Anna nodded and raised a large hand to brush back her straight brown hair, looking embarrassed. “Like family.”
“He thought the world of you, too, Anna, of all of the staff here.” Lili’s clear voice rang with conviction.
A smile lit Anna’s dark brown eyes, and she nodded as she turned back to her dusting.
Satisfied that An
na was back in a mood to co-operate rather than causing dissension among the other employees, Lili moved on to pass the invitation to the others.
When evening came, Lili went for a swim again, but this time Ken didn’t appear. She tried unsuccessfully to tell herself that she wasn’t disappointed, that she hadn’t expected to spend the evening with him.
***
Ken, meanwhile, curled up in his big recliner and read the report Lili had sent to his office earlier. In his hand he held his third cup of black coffee. He drank from it absently, then set the cup down on the end table beside him. Perplexed, he shook his head, and read the report again.
Something was definitely wrong.
Lili had followed the format he’d given her exactly, with only an added item or two for expenses that were unique to her store. Sales figures were good, yet the profit percentages were certainly on the low side. He could find no reason for that.
Line by line, he read through the expenses again. Then, he took the CD copy that Renee had made of Lili’s report to his computer. Carefully, he ran it through various tests: profit percentages for each department, sales per man-hour in each department, sales per customer, and percentage of total profit for each department.
Some of the figures he came up with were very good; others were extremely poor. Yet the tonnage, or total number of cases of product handled, was high for that size store, indicating that her staff was working very hard and moving a lot of product.
Ken turned off the computer and went to stand at the window, staring out at the moonlight shimmering off the lake below. He could only conclude that something was very wrong at Adams’ Foods, and he had better find the problem fast and fix it, if he wanted to stay in business there.
Could the profit difference possibly be due to the fact that she bought from another warehouse? Could the percentages be that different? Reason told him no, that stores buying from that company would soon be out of business if Lili’s profit percentages were typical.
Just the same, Ken was glad he had set up the warehouse change. He trusted the people at Allied, and if the problem were at the warehouse level, that change would solve the problem. He would wait for the results of the change in future reports before making any accusations.
Because, like it or not, another possibility was that someone was stealing from Adams’ Foods in large quantities. That thought made Ken furious, since that was only possible if someone inside Adams’ Foods was the criminal, or at least the criminal’s partner.
Perhaps he would be wise to make time to get to know all of Adams’ Foods employees better. He was glad Renee had invited them to the housewarming. Maybe later he could also have a cook-out on his pontoon, since fishing season was open.
***
Ken stood back, enjoying the cheerful hub-bub of the housewarming party. Just as he had imagined when he had purchased this house, the huge recreation room was filled with chattering, laughing people. All of his managers and their spouses were there, along with representatives of the various companies and the warehouse from which his stores purchased their groceries.
A long table along one wall was covered with bowls and trays of food and drink that his managers had brought from the deli departments of the various stores. As usual, they had vied to outdo one another, and there was an amazing variety of barbecued chicken, salads, smoked sausages, cheeses, crackers, breads and rolls. Ken had hired a waitress, made coffee and purchased sodas, champagne and bags of ice cubes to complete the party.
Everyone seemed to be mixing well, carrying plastic plates full of food and drinks, and enjoying themselves. The weather had co-operated beautifully. Through the sliding glass doors, Ken could see the sun setting over the opposite shore of the lake, sending its long rosy fingers of color shimmering across the water.
He spied Lili among the people who had gone out on the patio to enjoy the flower-scented spring evening. She stood laughing with Tom, his warehouse rep, and had her arms wrapped around herself as though she were chilled. Ken took off his sweater, and went out to place it around her shoulders.
As he approached her, it suddenly dawned on Ken that he’d forgotten to warn Tom that Lili didn’t know of the impending warehouse change.
Quickly Ken moved to separate Tom and Lili. He went to her and slipped the warm sweater around her shoulders. She flashed him a grateful smile as they exchanged greetings.
“Lili, I don’t believe I’ve introduced you to all of my managers yet. You’ll excuse us, won’t you, Tom?”
Tom looked a bit surprised, and opened his mouth to protest, but Ken was already leading Lili across the patio towards the house.
“I think we all should have worn name tags,” Lili said, laughing. “My mind is whirling, trying to remember all of these names, and what their connection is with Northern Lights.”
“I have the same problem, I’m afraid I can’t remember half of your employees names yet.” Grinning, he added, “And you know that nothing is worse than for a boss to forget his employee’s name.”
Lili tossed him a sideways glance. He was always surprising her with some comment that showed he cared about what other people thought. She didn’t want to think of him as a nice guy, as someone with feelings. It was hard to stay angry with him when he was trying so hard to be nice to her employees.
As she and Ken circulated, she smiled and answered questions. She was only too aware of the scent of his aftershave and the firm touch of his warm fingers on her bare arm. She liked the way he stayed at her side.
Ken had an ulterior motive for staying with Lili, and concentrating on getting to know each member of her staff. His suspicions after reading her financial report refused to go away, and he knew he had to find out the reasons for the discrepancies as soon as possible. But he hated anything underhanded, and using a party to get information on her employees was definitely that.
Of course, he assured himself, she was new, and that gave him an excuse to stay beside her to introduce her to people. The way her nearness was making his pulse race was beside the point, and he must ignore it. Emotions and business didn’t mix.
Renee was deep in a discussion with Arthur as they approached him, her long brunette hair almost hiding her thin face as she leaned towards him. They made an odd couple, Lili thought. Arthur was short and bald on top. The ring of hair he had left was a dark brown streaked with gray. Renee, in contrast, was tall and very thin. Renee looked up and smiled at them as Ken made the introductions.
“Nice to meet you, Lili,” Renee said politely. She gave her a quick assessing, and then dismissing, look. Renee’s eyes swung back to Arthur, who moved closer to her as though he feared Ken meant to take her away from him.
“Arthur was just telling me about his new red Jaguar,” Renee gushed. “I can’t wait to see it.”
Arthur sent her a rapturous glance. “How about tomorrow afternoon? I don’t work on Sundays.”
Renee batted her eyes prettily. “But I have to go back to Minneapolis tonight.”
“That’s only an hour away—forty minutes if the cops aren’t out. I’ll drive my Jag down and take you for a spin.”
Ken laughed and led Lili on to the next group, saying, “I don’t think they’ll miss us. Renee is nuts about sports cars, in any color.”
“Arthur’s looks are deceiving. He may be short, middle aged and chubby, but he’s always very good with the ladies. That’s a major part of his success as a meat man. He charms all the women into being faithful customers.”
“A valuable asset,” Ken agreed. “I gather that your acknowledgment of his skill means that you are immune?”
Lili laughed. “Yes, I’m immune. I’ve been watching him charm the women and listening to Dad fuss about his smutty jokes since I was little. Besides, he still sees me as a child.”
“Even though you’re his boss, now?”
“Oh, that’s nothing new. He’s always treated all of the Adams family respectfully as the ‘boss.’”
Ken frowned. “How
can he afford a Jag on his meat-cutter’s salary?”
She shrugged. “I heard he inherited a lot from his mother out in California a few years ago. Her new husband had money.”
She spotted Ralph across the crowded room and waved him over to them. “Ralph, here, is another story,” she said as the young produce manager threaded his way towards them, his dark wavy haired head bobbing through the crowd. “He drives the oldest, rustiest brown Chevy in town, yet the girls fight over him.”
“Well, at least you know they’re interested in him and not his car,” Ken commented, stopping the waitress who was passing drinks and taking one for each of them.
“Yes, I suppose that’s true.”
“Of course, I suppose it helps to be tall, dark, and young, too,” Ken added eyeing the handsome younger man.
The waitress waited for Ralph to join them and smiled warmly as he helped himself to a cola.
“See what I mean?” Lili murmured to Ken.
Ken good-naturedly teased Ralph about the girl’s attention, which pleased Ralph immensely.
“Great new computer you got for Lili,” Ralph said, and was off asking Ken lots of the technical details.
Lili listened in amazement. Since Ralph was a high-school dropout, she had assumed he knew little about such things.
“I have a computer at home and a couple of buddies with computers,” he explained with a grin. “We play games on them all the time.”
Anna joined them a moment later, a smile on her face.
Lili held her breath, wondering if Anna would allow her hostile attitude toward Ken to show tonight. But Lili needn’t have worried, Anna was in a mellow mood, and gave Ken a bright smile.
“A lovely party, Mr. Mills,” Anna told Ken, and Ralph seconded the thought.
“Give Renee, Harry and Rudy the credit,” Ken said. “They did most of it.”
“Well, they did a great job!” Anna said.
