Free Me And Mr. I.T. (Kupid's Cove Book 2) by Katie Mettner Page A

in our laps. I picked up my messenger bag, ready to make what would be an arduous trip across the beach in this wind, when there was a knock on my office door. I looked up, lost my balance, and tipped over all in the same motion.
    “Ellie!” the man at the door exclaimed. He was next to me instantly and I looked up at him from my vantage point on the floor. The look on his face had me laying my head back on the carpet and covering my eyes with my hand. “Are you okay?”
    “I’m fine. What are you doing here?”
    He cleared his throat before replying, “You don’t look fine from where I’m standing.”
    I dropped my arm and pushed myself into a sitting position. “It was time to do my morning stretches,” I explained, taking his proffered hand and letting him help me into a vertical position again.
    “I’m sorry if I scare you. It’s not my intention.”
    “Pffft, you don’t scare me,” I said, rolling my eyes toward the top of my head, to avoid looking at him.
    “Then why are you trembling?” he asked, still holding my hand.
    I pulled mine from between his and bent down to pick up my messenger bag, keeping hold of the edge of my desk. “Why are you here, Mr. I.T.?”
    “I’m done with my other work, so I thought we could have a working lunch? We need to make a plan before we get to Honolulu. We have to look concise and together at all times.”
    “You’re telling me,” I muttered, “we may have to work around the clock if we want to catch this guy, or gal, and get back home.”
    “I’m not in a rush.” He smiled slyly and I was trying not to look exasperated.
    “I still have one piece of the puzzle left to snap into place before I’m free. I have to deliver these invitations to Katie,” I said, holding up the messenger bag. “Feel free to have lunch and we can meet up at say, one thirty?” I asked, checking the clock. It was nearly noon, but that should give me enough time.
    His left shoulder went up at my words. “We can do a late lunch. I’m not even hungry after that late dinner we had last night.”
    I gave him a half smile, half grimace, “Great…” I was trying to think of another way to avoid breaking bread with him when there was a second knock on my door. Apparently, my office is the place to be today. I stepped around him and Katie stood at my door.
    “Aloha, Ellie,” she said and I motioned her in.
    “Aloha, Katie,” I answered in turn, giving her a hug. “I was just on my way to see you.”
    She eyed Mr. I.T. and then looked back to me. “I was here watching Katie-Bug while Flynn picked Winnie up at the airport. I thought it was easier for me to stop down.”
    “Let me grab the invitations then,” I said, resting my bag on the desk.
    Katie looked at Mr. I.T. and then back to me. “Am I interrupting something?”
    He shook his head. “Not at all, Katie, we were making plans to start the new project Gideon entrusted us with.”
    Katie sat in the leather chair across from my desk. Today she had on a cute orange sundress that brushed the floor. It had cheery yellow sunbursts in a random pattern across the fabric. She looked better than she did last night, but I could tell something still bothered her.
    “Gideon appreciates that you’re both willing to help get this project off the ground. It’s been something he has had on the backburner because he didn’t have the right people to do the job, at least not without constant supervision. Now that he does, he wants to make it happen. Each day the ballrooms sit empty is a lost opportunity as far as he’s concerned. Our Orchid Reef Resort in Honolulu is an even bigger problem than here. I know you two are going to rock this project.”
    She held out her fist for a bump and I obliged, feeling a little like a phony because I didn’t want to rock this project. I didn’t even want to be involved in this project. I raised a brow at Mr. I.T. and the look he gave me confirmed my impression that Katie didn’t know anything