Free Pandora's Box (previously Worth the Wait, a Zebra print best seller) by Kat Attalla Page A

brief contact brought on. He would be patient. For reasons he didn’t yet understand, he was drawn to this woman as though she were his destiny. He needed to help her. It was more than a bad case of guilt. It was something he had to do, for Charlie and for himself. 
     
     
    CHAPTER SIX
     
    Charlie awakened with a wicked headache. The clanging of pots in the kitchen intensified the pounding in her head. She peeked out from under the blanket and saw Damian at the stove, starting breakfast Her stomach growled in protest. Food, at this hour of the morning? Was he serious?
    She glanced at the clock and let out a startled oath. Eleven o’clock? How had she slept so late? She had errands to run, studying to catch up on. The last thing she needed was a houseguest with a guilt complex, deciding it was time to play guardian. Especially after she had made a complete fool of herself last night.
    “Go home, Damian,” she muttered as she rolled out of bed. He ignored her and continued working. She shuffled her feet across the carpet and came up behind him. To be sure she had his undivided attention, she pulled the pan out of his hand and slammed it on the stove.
    “You’re not much of a morning person, are you?” he said with an annoying cheerfulness.
    “Shut up!” She ran her hand through her tangled mass of curls and massaged her temples. Her body ached. In her present condition, she couldn’t deal with him. She went to take a shower and left him to play at the stove.
    When she returned, she emptied her pockets on the counter and went through her tips of the night before. As she put the money in neat stacks, Damian slid the cookie jar toward her.
    “The bank is open for business,” he joked.
    She shot him a nasty glare and pulled the jar closer. “Don’t you have a girlfriend you could aggravate today?”
    “No.” He held up two eggs in front of her face. “Sunny-side up or over easy?”
    “Eggs Benedict, as in Arnold. Which reminds me, I’m going to mace Erik when I see him again.” She placed her money in a small white envelope with a bank deposit slip. What little extra she had, she dropped into the cookie jar.
    “Sunny-side up is what you’re getting. It’s the only thing I know how to make. And don’t get mad at Erik. I would have found out sooner or later.”
    “Dogs get mad. People get angry,” she quipped, tossing his words back at him. “And I would have preferred later. Like when I’d gotten a job in another city.”
    He cracked the eggs into the sizzling pan and pushed the bread down into the toaster. “Doing what?”
    Charlie looked up at him. “What?”
    “What kind of job are you looking for?”
    “Accounting.”
    Damian laughed. “Are you going to use your cookie jar as a reference?”
    She wrinkled her nose at him. “Did you ever think of leaving the insurance business and going into stand-up comedy?”
    “You have less of a sense of humor than I do. Do you know anything about payroll?”
    “Yes. Why?”
    “I need someone to cover for our payroll clerk while she’s on maternity leave for three months. Are you interested? It would get you some experience and you could start right after graduation.”
    Charlie shook off the offer as guilt rather than a serious interest in her abilities. “That’s nepotism.”
    “We’re not related. It’s only temporary anyway. No one would question the boss.”
    She shot a look toward the frying pan. “You’re overcooking those eggs.”
    “And you’re changing the subject.” Damian took the spatula and deftly slid the eggs onto the plate. He removed the toast and set the food down in front of her. “Are you interested or aren’t you?”
    “I don’t know. How much does it pay?”
    “Right to the point,” he said admirably. “I like a woman with confidence. It would pay more than a junior accounting position.”
    Charlie squared her shoulders indignantly. “I planned to start as a senior accountant.”
    He grinned. “Ambitious,