Mostly Risky, page 5
part #3 of The Women of Ambrose Estate Series
Or if he did take a number, he’d delete the number moments later.
“Ready, Mills?” Grigg asked.
“One sec,” she said, then clicked on two more columns, scanned the numbers, and looked up. “What did you think about their wholesale price for paper receivables?”
Grigg walked into the office and around her desk so that he could get a look at the open spreadsheet. Placing his hands on the desk, he leaned down.
Amelia tried not to inhale too deeply, but she couldn’t avoid the scent of Grigg’s subtle spicy cologne this close to him.
“I think they’re highballing for some reason,” Grigg said. “When we worked with Stanford Printing, their wholesale paper costs weren’t nearly so high.”
Amelia loved Grigg’s head for numbers. “That’s what I thought too, but I wasn’t sure. Something felt off, though.”
“Yeah.” Grigg reached across her and placed his hand over the mouse. Then he toggled to the formula at the bottom of the subtotal cell. “Aha.”
“What?” Amelia asked.
“They’ve put in an eighteen percent markup in the subtotal.”
“So the numbers in the column aren’t a sum of the subtotal?”
“Correct.”
Amelia leaned back in her chair as Grigg stepped away and folded his arms.
“What are you thinking?” she asked.
“That someone in their company is skimming money off the top,” he said. “Trying to get higher funding from us, when in fact their costs will be well covered by a lower amount.”
“What do you want to do?” Amelia asked. “What if it’s someone in the meeting? Or the president herself?”
Grigg exhaled. “We lay it all out. Make sure we have our security cameras on in case this goes south. But we need to drop them as clients until things are resolved on their end.”
“Right.” Amelia stood. She wasn’t too happy about losing this client since they’d been family owned for decades. But she also hated that there might be internal corruption.
Grigg hadn’t moved back or given her space, so they were standing rather close.
He hadn’t shaved for a couple of days, which made Amelia envious that men could get away with going a little rogue and still look sexy. She swallowed. Had she just thought of Grigg as sexy?
This whole free-from-the-curse thing was really getting to her. “Well, let’s get in there, I guess. The news won’t deliver itself.”
But Grigg still didn’t budge. “Tonight’s your second date with Hayden?”
Usually he was teasing her about the dating stuff, but his gaze was serious.
“Actually . . . he just canceled. His grandma passed away.”
One of his brows lifted. “Oh, that’s too bad.” His next question was to be expected. “What are you doing with the concert tickets?”
Amelia rubbed the side of her neck, feeling antsy for some reason. Had she seen hope in Grigg’s eyes?
“I don’t know yet,” she said. “Maybe I’ll go alone.”
Grigg gave a fake cough. “Oh, look,” he said, pulling his phone from his pocket. “My schedule’s completely free tonight. I mean, I had like three other obligations, but they were all just canceled.” His dark-brown eyes refocused on her. “I’ll buy dinner.”
So it wasn’t that Amelia hadn’t considered asking Grigg, in the five minutes since Hayden’s cancelation, but a concert? And now dinner? That was a lot of one-on-one time together. Without work to distract her. And she was known to get a little crazy at concerts. Then again, they would be surrounded by thousands of people at the concert. Not really alone. Dinner before would also be surrounded by other people. She could suggest the sports grill a block away from the stadium, and that place was plenty busy and loud.
The intercom came on again. “Ms. Ambrose, the executives of Canon Copy have arrived, and I’ve put them in the conference room.”
“Thanks, Polly, I’m on my way.”
“Well?” Grigg said in a quiet voice, although the intercom had clicked off.
She exhaled. “All right.”
He grinned, then did the most unexpected thing. Before she could take another breath, he’d pulled her into a tight hug. She didn’t even have time to react before he’d released her.
“Wow. It’s like I made your day or something.”
“Oh, you did.” He strode to the office door and opened it. “After you, Mills.”
She might have felt a bit unsteady on her feet after that unexpected hug, but she picked up her laptop, straightened her shoulders, and headed out the door. She also might have noticed the way Grigg still smelled nice as she passed by him.
They’d hugged before, right? No big deal. Friends hugged. Co-workers hugged.
Despite her reasoning, her thoughts were distracted during the meeting with Canon Copy, and Grigg ended up doing most of the talking. And even when he broke the bad news of someone in the company doctoring numbers and proceeded to walk the executives through the evidence he’d found, Amelia was still thinking about Grigg’s spontaneous hug and their upcoming evening together. Just the two of them. And thousands of concertgoers. Still.
Grigg was a natural presenter, and he spoke in a way that everyone understood. If he sensed someone wasn’t quite understanding, he wouldn’t call them out on it but would explain in a different way. At one point, he adjusted his tie, and Amelia’s gaze went to his tanned throat. That got her thinking about what he’d done on the weekends, or evenings, to get that tan of his. He was a fit man. Not made of muscle like Bryce, but Amelia found that she appreciated general fitness versus someone whose every spare moment was taken up with exercise and nutrition.
They’d never talked about sports or exercising or what Grigg might do to stay in shape. What he could do since his knee injury. After hearing his tale of woe soon after they began working together, she hadn’t talked to him about football. It sort of felt like an off-the-table topic.
And . . . here she was, checking out Grigg. Practically ogling him. What was wrong with her?
The meeting went over schedule by an hour, not surprisingly with the twist of events, and by the time the last Canon Copy employee had left, Amelia needed a break. From the office, from the spreadsheets, from her thoughts of Grigg.
“How do you think it went?” Grigg said when it was just the two of them left in the conference room.
“Better than I thought,” Amelia said. “Do you think it was one of the executives?”
“I do,” Grigg said in a solemn tone. “Probably the CFO. He’s the closest to the numbers, and if he’s worth his salt he would have caught something earlier.”
“Which means he’s the guilty party.”
“Correct.” Grigg’s mouth lifted into a smile. “You were kind of distracted. Thinking about the concert?”
“Uh, yeah,” she said, giving a fleeting smile in return. “I need to run a quick errand. Can you tell Polly that I’ll be back in an hour?”
Grigg frowned because this was an unusual request and they both knew it.
But Amelia didn’t want to get into any explanations right now. So she made her escape and found herself walking to the bookshop on the corner. There, she could lose herself in the aisles and not have to interact with anyone. There, she could analyze why she was being so drawn to Grigg.
Grigg decided he was going to roll with whatever Amelia wanted to do tonight. In the funding meeting with Canon Copy, she’d been so quiet that he’d wondered if she was sick. And when she came back from whatever her errand had been, she stayed in her office with the door closed. It was after five when Grigg finally knocked on her office door and asked what time and where she wanted to go for dinner.
He cracked open the door to find Amelia not working on her computer, which was unusual. In fact, she was staring into space, at nothing. “Hey,” he said. “Is . . . everything okay?”
She snapped her gaze to his. Her blue eyes widened, and she literally blushed.
Well, this was new. What had she been thinking about? Something that made her embarrassed to be caught daydreaming? Hayden? Grigg slipped his hands into his pockets. “I was wondering if I could pick you up for the concert?”
The blush hadn’t left her cheeks. “No, I thought we could meet at the sports grill.” She rose from her desk and began packing up her laptop. “I need to get home and change first, and I don’t want you to have to worry about driving in the opposite direction to take me back home after the concert.”
Grigg knew it wouldn’t do any good to argue with her. When Amelia made up her mind, it was made up. And by the flush on her cheeks and the determined line of her mouth, he knew her mind had been made up. Well, like he had already decided, tonight he was going to go with the flow.
Grigg made it home in record time; apparently the traffic light gods were on his side. His dog, Boomer, was only too happy to see him a little early. The black lab was getting on in years, but he was still never shy about showing his love and appreciation.
“Hey buddy,” Grigg said, bending to scratch Boomer’s head. The dog wagged his entire body, not just his tail. “You hungry, boy?” It was a stupid question, and both dog and owner knew it. Boomer was always hungry.
“Let’s get you fed then, come on,” Grigg said, leading the way into the kitchen. He pulled the fridge door open, which meant that Boomer gave an excited bark. “Yep, that’s right. You’re getting a treat tonight, because I have a date with a beautiful woman.”
Grigg watched Boomer eat the couple of hot dogs he’d put into the food bowl. He knew that tonight was not really a date. At least not according to Amelia—and it shouldn’t be according to him either. But it was kind of fun to think that if they did end up dating for real someday, then tonight could be considered their first date, in a retrospective sort of way.
While Boomer happily ate his dog food, Grigg headed into the bedroom, where he changed into jeans and a black T-shirt, which was probably standard wear for concerts everywhere. His knee was already bothering him more than usual this week, so he was sure to slip on a light knee brace underneath his pants. Usually he wore it when he went running or worked out. Although his running days were going to be coming to an end soon. So biking was his exercise of choice, which might eventually change to swimming laps at the rec pool. Or at least that was what his doctors had warned him about.
But his true passion outside of work was fixing up a small cabin in the Morrison area. He’d bought the property soon after starting with the firm, and most of his weekends he spent at the cabin making repairs. Someday it would be livable, but unless he hired a construction crew, that day was far off.
As luck would have it, he was early to the sports grill. The traffic lights were still cooperating, even with the extra congestion from concertgoers. It was probably a good thing he was sitting at the bar drinking some ice water when Amelia walked in. He’d assumed she would wear something casual, like jeans and a T-shirt, similar to his outfit. But instead of casual wear or her usual business suit, she was wearing a pale-pink summer dress. The sleeves were strappy and the bodice fitted, and the skirt danced about her knees as she walked toward him. She wasn’t exactly wearing high heels, but her sandals were high enough that he wondered if she planned on sitting through the whole concert. Because at every concert he had been to lately, no one had sat down.
He supposed he was still checking her out when she noticed him, which meant that he was caught ogling her. I might as well own up to it. She wore a barely there smile as she continued walking toward him. He stood and greeted her with the truth. “You look beautiful, Mills.”
She merely smiled. “Don’t think I dressed up for you, cuz.” She grasped the edges of her skirt and looked down. “This was already planned for tonight.”
Grigg placed a hand over his heart. “Oh, I didn’t think you had dressed up for little old me. I mean, you always look beautiful. But I must say, I do like you in that dress.” This time she did blush.
“Come on,” he said, “our table’s ready.” He took her hand, because the restaurant was crowded and she didn’t know where they were going. So he might as well lead her. He didn’t look at her as he led her through the maze of tables, but he sensed her surprise at his action. Her hand was cool in his, and although he didn’t link their fingers, there was plenty of warmth between their palms.
Grigg pulled out the chair at their table for two, then signaled the waitress. She was over in a flash and took their drink orders, then left them to peruse the menu.
“Wow, Grigg,” Amelia told him. “That was special treatment.”
He shrugged. “I’ve been here a time or two.”
Amelia’s brows raised, so he decided to clarify. “Not on dates—well, not all the time.” He smiled, because in truth he was having fun with this. “I’m not much of a cook, so I eat out a lot.”
“You don’t like to cook, or you refuse to cook?”
“Both, I guess.” Grigg didn’t need to look at his menu, because he already knew what he was ordering. No surprise there. “What about you? Do you like to cook?”
“I gave up on that a long time ago,” she said with a laugh. “Me and hot pans and burning ovens don’t really get along too well.”
“Sounds like there’s a story in that,” he said.
“I just don’t get how the beautiful recipes on Pinterest never turn out like the picture.”
“You know, they probably get those recipe pictures from Google Images or something,” he said. “Also there are food stylists and photographers.”
“Yeah, you’re right.” She picked up her menu. “What are you ordering? Do you have a regular dish here?”
“I have two regular dishes here,” he said with a wink. “It’s either the salmon or the braised chicken.”
“The salmon sounds good.”
“I would highly recommend it, Mills.” Griggs liked her in pink summer dresses. He liked it very much. He wondered if he’d ever seen her wear that color before. But to bring attention again to her looks or to mention how beautiful she was might be going a bit overboard. “So what’s the next step with Hayden? After his grandma’s funeral, of course.”
She shrugged. “He said he’d call me when he gets back in town, no real plans yet.”
“No future concerts on the horizon?”
“Nope, this was the plan I had,” she said.
“One point for me I guess,” Grigg sad.
Amelia smirked. “It’s not a contest, Grigg. You’re not even on the list.”
Should he go for it? “What are the requirements to get on the list? I mean, I’m asking for a friend, of course, a special friend who might be interested in being on that list.” He wasn’t sure how she would react, and perhaps he shouldn’t have even said anything. Because this could get awkward fast.
Thankfully she laughed, her blue eyes gleaming. “Well, you can tell your friend that the list is closed. If number five doesn’t work out, then I’m going back to my usual routine.”
“Ouch.” Grigg shook his head. “You’re one tough woman, Mills. You won’t even give my friend a chance?”
Amelia gazed at him for a minute, and Grigg gazed right back. She could read into this any way she wanted. But maybe it was time for him to stick a toe in the water. Just to see how warm the temperature was.
“What are you doing, Grigg?”
“About ready to order dinner,” he said.
She tilted her head. “Just don’t get any ideas, big guy. You know we’re total opposites.”
Had she really said that? Had she really opened the gates to talk of a relationship between them? Well, he supposed he had unlocked them. Just then, the waitress returned. Grigg ordered the salmon, and Amelia did too. He felt pretty triumphant that she ordered the same meal, because he was going to totally use it against her.
“We’re not so opposite after all,” he said. “We both ordered salmon.”
Amelia took a slow drink of the water that the waitress had brought as well. “Are we really going to talk about this right now?”
“It’s up to you,” he said. “We can talk after the concert. Maybe we could go get dessert somewhere? Or we can meet for coffee in the morning? I know a great café.”
“Does a woman named Maggie work there?”
Grigg laughed. “Touché.”
Their conversation steered to other topics, which consisted mostly of work. Grigg noticed that the more they talked about work and not about personal stuff, the more relaxed Amelia became. Soon it was time to leave for the concert, and as they walked toward the stadium, Amelia kept up a running chatter about one of their long-term clients and some of the changes that they wanted to make within the company. Grigg agreed with all of her suggestions, and he held back from changing the topic, even though he still wanted to talk about how his friend could get on her list.
Although they had reserved seats, the people surrounding them had no concept of personal space. And a time or two they were jostled until they ended up being forced to stand pretty close together, which of course Grigg didn’t mind in the least. He could tell Amelia was making a valiant effort to keep at least a couple inches of space between their bodies. But when her favorite song came on, it was apparently everyone else’s favorite as well, and all personal space requirements were thrown out the window.
Everyone was dancing, including Amelia. Grigg tried to give her some dancing room, but he also had a laugh. He had never seen Amelia so caught up in a moment that she forgot her natural reserves. When she caught him grinning at her, she smiled and grabbed his hand. A very surprising move on her part, and very welcome on his part.
When the next song came on, it was significantly slower. Grigg was only too pleased when she kept hold of his hand. In fact, a couple more teenagers crowded into their aisle, apparently best friends with whoever else had reserved seats in their section, which only pushed Grigg and Amelia closer together.
So it was only natural to stand behind Amelia and to rest his hands lightly on her waist, if only to keep the both of them from being jostled by the other singing, screaming, and jumping new friends of theirs.
