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“Is that so?” Alex asked, attempting to conceal her amusement. “At your age I might have believed that too.”

Charlotte’s eyes brightened. “Maybe that’s why the universe placed me in your life. To show you all the things you forgot were possible.”

“I wouldn’t have taken you for the kind of person who believes in the universe .”

Charlotte moistened her lips with the very tip of her tongue. It was a very reckless game Alex was playing, she knew, but couldn’t bring herself to stop.

“I hope to surprise you with more unexpected things,”

she replied after a beat, her voice low and seductive.

Self-preservation forced Alex to her feet. “Write up a proposal. By hand. I don’t like—”

“There’s no need for a paper trail at all,” she interrupted as if reading her mind. “I can set everything up. Gives you plausible deniability if I’m wrong about which ways the rules bend.”

When Charlotte winked, Alex turned toward the door.

Deep in her gut she knew she was either going to regret this or be very delighted. Maybe both.

CHAPTER 7

FROM HER OFFICE, Alex watched the sky burn bright orange over the golf course as she sipped peppermint tea. The days were so long at the end of August, it was nearly nine o’clock before the sun finally set.

“That’s quite a view,” Charlotte said from her doorway.

“What are you doing here so late?” she asked when she turned toward her. On Friday evenings there wasn’t a soul to be found after six. It was Alex’s favorite time to work.

Charlotte’s expression softened into a brief smile before she sauntered into her o ce. “Yet again saving you money,”

she replied, triumphantly waving a stack of papers in her hand.

Alex sat back in her chair. She’d already sent the trust documents for the donations to Harvey for his review, so this had to be something new.

Instead of taking a seat across from her, Charlotte and her short black dress walked up to the side of Alex’s desk. She handed her the stack of papers.

“What’s this?” Alex asked as she stood and glanced down at a bunch of invoices.

Charlotte rested against the edge of her desk, her bare leg just inches from hers. “I negotiated new terms with nearly all of your vendors. I’m waiting for a couple of return calls, but these are where ninety percent of your purchasing dollars go.” She was practically beaming. “They agreed to give us a flat five percent discount on every invoice if we paid within ten days of receipt. I don’t know if you know this, but all these spa products are expensive as hell. We just lopped o a decent amount of overhead.”

When Charlotte chuckled in self-amusement, Alex smiled before catching herself. “Do you believe you have the authority to enter into negotiations like these on my behalf?

A bit bold, don’t you think?”

The light from Alex’s computer screen danced in Charlotte’s blue eyes. It wasn’t the reaction Charlotte had been expecting. How would she course-correct?

“It never occurred to me you wouldn’t want to cut costs,”

she countered dryly as she straightened but didn’t leave Alex’s personal space. She was still close enough for Alex to smell her soft, floral perfume.

“That’s not what I asked,” Alex challenged just to see Charlotte’s reaction.

A muscle in Charlotte’s jaw flexed as she clenched it.

What was she holding back from saying?

Charlotte’s eye contact didn’t waiver, but her breathing became quicker and shallower. “I believe that my job encompasses the management of accounts payable. I saw the opportunity for improvement, and I took it.”

The response was sharp with a defensive edge. Did she not like being questioned or was Alex’s unanticipated