The purchase order on Shanice's desk still didn't reconcile with the invoices charged against it. The number of shipments from Japan for that particular customer was well above the amount shown in the accounting documents, yet she was sure payments had already come in to cover the agreements. It was like the money had sunk into a black hole.
The intercom buzzed.
Shanice answered in perfect Japanese, "This is Shanice."
"Mr. Massimo Buzzeo from S.A. division is here to see you, ma'am."
"Thank you, Tsubaki-san. Send him in."
Shanice ruthlessly squashed down the instant pounding of her heart. Looking at the man did funny things to her stomach so she kept her gaze plastered to the pages in front of her. Grrrr. It was so frustrating not to be able to spot the anomaly in the figures dancing across the page. Oh wait. The numbers weren't dancing, her eyes were crossing from staring at the damn things for so long.
She knew the second he entered. Not because she expected him, but because his presence filled the large space, seemed to reach for her. He moved closer and his subtle scent floated across the short distance between them, wafting toward her like welcoming fingers of a lover's hand.
"What's wrong?" Massimo's voice floated to her from a few feet away.
"Hmm?" she asked distractedly.
"Your forehead is all scrunched up."
"Scrunched up?" Not the type of thing a lady liked to hear, damn it.
"Yes, scrunched, like you're thinking extraordinarily hard about something." "It's nothing. Just work stuff."
"Looks like a contract," he said matter-of-factly.
"Uh huh..."
There was that niggling in the back of her mind again. And the longer she sat there, the more she knew what she needed to do. God, Shanice had hoped it wouldn't come to this, but it looked like she was going to have to get personally involved with this account. And that meant dealing directly with The Bitch— Pan Becher.
Shit.
Massimo's smooth, heat-inducing voice cut through her thoughts.
"Shanice, contracts are my specialty, remember? Want me to take a look at it?"
She regarded him for a moment, then decided she'd rather be somewhere relaxing with him instead of talking about work stuff. Now that was a first in a long time.
"Skip it. Let's get out of here." "You sure?"
"Absolutely."
On the way out, Shanice stopped and gave her personal assistant a warm smile. "Tsubaki-san, I'm going to lunch. While I'm out please schedule a meeting between me and Pansy Becher." A meeting Shanice didn't look forward to. Pan was the project manager for the Sony small electronics contract. Dealing with the woman always felt as if she were setting herself up to be shot in the ass...or bitten by a snake. A venomous, slimy one.
Pan rose and closed the door to her office with a quiet snap. The picturesque view of the distant soaring mountains set against a backdrop of a jewel blue sky did nothing to improve her mood as she paced. With a deep breath, she turned away from the window and plopped down in her chair with a huff. Out of habit, the top of her pen was set in motion by her thumb with a click-click-click cadence.
Sigh. Nothing to be done for it. She had to call Viktor. Pan tapped her wireless earpiece, spoke into the voice dial. Self preservation kicked in and she prayed fervently that the man wouldn't answer.
"This is Viktor."
Damn. So much for prayer. Quickly she pushed the news past her lips and braced herself for his reaction, which never seemed to be what she expected. "I just received a meeting request from Shanice Brown' personal secretary. I'm sure it'll be about the small electronics contracts."
"What are you going to tell her?"
"The same thing the pawn did when she asked him about it in passing, that it's simply a lag in accounting paperwork. By the time they figure it all out, we'll be long gone."
Silence.
Pan's lungs burned. Still, she was reluctant to release the breath frozen in her lungs. Viktor was so damn unpredictable. What was he going to say? Or do? Ruthless son of a bitch.
