Free Her Perfect Valentine Birthday Surprise by Ana E. Ross Page A

been drowning my loneliness in.  I don’t know.
       He took me to one of Boston’s grandest hotel.  Up to this day, I have no idea if my lover was in town on business, or if he lived here and it would have been awkward for him to take me to his place.  He wasn’t wearing a ring, so I assumed he wasn’t married.  All I knew was that I wanted to make love with this man whose name I still didn’t know.  Didn’t want to know.
       Even after six years, I still tingle with desire each time I remember the feel of his warm hands on my body, the uncontrollable tremors that ripped through me time and time again, the husky rumble of his voice in my ears as he told me how delectably sweet and beautiful I was.  We made love until dawn when I finally fell into a deep slumber.  When I awoke, he was gone.
       I’d felt a deep sadness that he’d left without saying goodbye, and that our time together had come to an end so quickly and quietly.  But after all, that’s the way it had begun. Quickly and quietly.
       I never saw him again, but it was impossible to forget our impromptu passionate encounter.
       Not long after, my boyfriend, David, came back into my life.  I wrestled with telling him about my one-night stand, but decided that we weren’t even together when it happened.  So why bother?  Besides, I knew he’d been seeing other women while we were separated.  So we were married and had a daughter.
       As I stepped into the elevator and pushed the button for the twelfth floor, I forced all thoughts of my secret lover out of my mind.  I had work to do.
       “Hi, Liz,” Sandy, the receptionist greeted me as I stepped off the elevator and into a spacious waiting area.  “Late on your first day?  You’d better not make this a habit.  The boss is in already.  You never want him to beat you here.”
       Sandy and I had become friends during my two interviews, so I knew her chastisement was a friendly warning.   “I know,” I responded, not bothering to explain why I was late, even though it was a legitimate reason.  “Joyce in yet?”  I signed the ‘sign-in sheet’ as I enquired about the woman whose job I would be taking over when she left on maternity leave.  Joyce had talked about not returning to work at all, so there was the possibility of my staying on permanently—if I did an excellent job.
       “She’ll be in later,” Sandy said.  “An ultrasound, I think.  She left some work on your desk.”
       “Thanks, Sandy.  See you at lunch.”  I hurried down the corridor to my office, thoughts of the man in suit already out of my mind.
       Joyce and I were elbow deep in figures from a company Tanner Enterprises was thinking of buying out when Sandy buzzed me that the CEO wanted to see me.  She also told me that he’d just looked at the ‘sign-in sheet’ and hadn’t seemed too thrilled that I was fifteen minutes late.
       The CEO was in the Bahamas at a conference when I was interviewed then hired by Human Resources, so I hadn’t met him yet.  I didn’t know what to expect as I walked nervously down the corridor to his office.  Although my daughter’s illness was a legitimate reason for my lateness, I realized it still looked bad for my first day on the job.  I glanced at the name on the door: Sheldon M. Tanner, Jr.   So he was the boss’ son, I thought as I straightened my skirt.  I knocked on the door.  
       “Enter!” a deep voice said from within.
       For some unexplained reason, my heart jumped at the sound of his voice.  I turned the knob and walked in.  He was sitting in a huge leather chair with his back to the door.  He said nothing for a long time, and I thought he must be admiring the Charles River through the glass wall, which was fine, but I had a project to finish before four o'clock when I had to leave to pick up Marisa from daycare by four-thirty.  I cleared my throat.  “Mr. Tanner, I’m Elizabeth Ryder.  You