Free The Driven Snowe by Cathy Yardley Page A

a wonderful blur. I had an agenda. I can still barely believe it really happened.”
    He waited while she paused, then finally whispered, “So what are you saying, Angela?”
    â€œConvince me,” she blurted out, her hair tumbling over one shoulder. “I mean…I’ll see you one more time. If it seems like I can…handle that, then I’ll agree to six months.”
    He kissed her, relishing the way she clung to him. Tonight wasn’t going to be that night—at least, not from her point of view. Still, it was a window. He could work around it, maybe…
    â€œIf that’s what it takes,” he said.
    She smiled…a smile so sweet, that the suggestion that they make tonight her trial run froze in his throat. “So when would you like to do this?” he asked instead.
    She frowned. “I…I have a lot of classes. I’m sort of booked.”
    He paused. That didn’t sound promising. “Until when?”
    â€œNext Friday.”
    He groaned to himself. Seven days until he could hold her again?
    â€œAll right.” He kissed her, lingering until her breathing sped up. “I’ll see you on Friday night.”
    As he got up to walk her to her car, he swore to himself that he was going to make it the beginning of something incredible…a night she wouldn’t forget.

4
    T HE FOLLOWING FRIDAY , Josh could still picture Angela, almost feel her in his arms when he closed his eyes. But he had neither seen nor felt her since their episode in the deserted part of Club X. In the meantime, he’d had plenty to focus on with Solar Bars, but the night ahead was making him as antsy as a grade school kid on Christmas Eve.
    â€œYou know, you’re the only one who really works at working lunches, Josh.”
    â€œIf I don’t, who will?” Josh said, grinning at his friend. They were sitting in Joe’s Burgers, papers strewn around the Formica tabletop, binders propped open on the napkin container. Their sleeves were rolled up. Joe was standing behind the counter, shaking his head, his grizzly face amused. Josh and Adam had been having working lunches at Joe’s Burgers since they moved the company to Manzanita five years ago. “Besides, I’ve got a big date tonight.”
    Adam looked stunned. “You’re going out on a date? Tonight?”
    â€œSo what?” Josh looked up from the report he wasrifling through. “It’s Friday, isn’t it? Lots of people go out on dates on Friday.”
    â€œNot a Friday before the auditor gets here, you don’t.”
    Josh sighed. The auditor. Not that Solar Bars had done anything wrong, but the way they’d posted earnings, and the growing size of the company—they were due, he’d figured. They’d been lucky to get away without an audit for this long.
    Ordinarily, he’d be sweating it out with the accounting team, checking over every figure they came up with. “I trust Bill,” Josh said slowly, referring to his corporate controller. “He and the accounting staff can handle it.” He felt his shoulders tense, and forced them to relax.
    Adam stared at him.
    Josh finally put the report down in disgust. “All right, what? ”
    Adam shook his head. “Nothing. It’s just that—well, this isn’t a critique, you understand. It’s just that you like to get involved in every little aspect of everything. ” He broke into a grin. “Remember that time, when you would have fallen headfirst into the granola mixer if I hadn’t stopped you?”
    â€œAre you kidding? You never let me forget it.”
    â€œBut you still do stuff like that—work with the line crew every now and then, check in on accounting, pester my R and D people, hunker down in the trenches with the marketing team. You like to be hands-on, all the time. It’s what’s made Solar Bars the company it is,” Adam said