Free Power Play by Tara Lynn

afterwards. My mother was more bold than any of them. I'd brought a girlfriend home one spring break from boarding school, and she'd gotten the girl expelled to keep us apart.
    But the only things keeping us apart now were Kerry and my respect for her.
    Phil cleared his throat at the other side of me. He wanted to set the pace maybe. No dice.
    “You all right, there?” I said. “Maybe you should get some water.”
    The guy's bald head turned red as an old thermometer. I wasn't done admiring Kerry yet, but maybe it was better if didn’t lose control. I didn't want to put this little balsa wood table of theirs to test. We'd get a chance to cross that off our list in a much nicer spot in Abu Dhabi.
    “Morning, everyone,” I said. “How are we doing today?”
    “Good,” they all chirped. Kerry didn't even look up.
    “Excellent. Now, I apologize for the short notice, but it's the same notice I was given by my advisory board. As you may have gleaned, I'm looking to act quick on a new acquisition for my firm, and I need a second opinion.”
    “We're here to serve, Mr. Stone,” Phil said. “You've got our best guys and girls assembled before you.”
    “The seven samurai, huh?” I looked at each of them, none older than thirty-five: four men, three women, including Kerry. “If they're all like Miss Martin here, they should be quite satisfactory.”
    Kerry nodded, but her eyes still shied from mine. She might not want her colleagues to see sparks fly, but this was too conspicuous in the opposite direction.
    I slipped my foot out of my loafers and ran a toe up and down her panty hose. Her skin was like silk.
    She jerked upright. I gave her a Texas sized smile, but her lips barely widened for a blink.
    “I look forward to working for you Mr. Stone,” she said stiffly.
    All business, fine then. Let her see what I had planned for us.
    “Now the job is simple,” I said. “I want a full rundown of Habibi Solar, a company based out of Abu Dhabi. It just finished building a massive solar installation in the desert for the state government. This might be the start of a solar boom in the Middle East, so we’re looking to buy while the getting is good. You're there to tell us whether the getting is as good as it seems.”
    I clicked through a bunch of slides I had brought. They all took notes silently, Kerry included. I'd gotten so used to Trey's brash confidence, I'd forgotten what normal accountants were like.
    “Y'all will be headed out to the UAE for anywhere from three to four weeks. That's the financial center of the Arab world. Should be exciting for a bunch of number crunchers.”
    I got a few chuckles. Kerry's eyes dropped to mine a second, prowled my body, but then shot back to the screen behind me.
    She should have warmed up by now. Maybe she'd been there already. I know she hadn't for work though. Her boss had been kind enough to give me a list of her assignments when I requested her on the team. They were all within the US.
    Now, I was offering to send her on my company dime – for business, yes, but with me there, too. A little enthusiasm would have been nice.
    Maybe she needed inspiration. I ran my foot along her shin again. She yanked it away, but kept looking up. Not even the smile you'd get from a tickle.
    I ground my teeth and went on to the numbers portion of the presentation. Maybe I should focus on business for now, too. Problem was, it was just some bullshit for Jesse. I'd had three verifications already, between, me, internal accounting and Trey.
    I had better things to do than to sit in on a consulting meeting. This was all for Kerry. Hell, if I thought about it, I owed Jesse a favor.
    I finished droning on, but the bean counters kept scribbling excitedly. Kerry's notes were far fewer, but I looked over and saw some sharp observations.
    “Well,” Phil said from the other end. “We appreciate the level of detail, Mr. Stone. It's always good to see a leader at your level take such bold