Her Best Match: A Romantic Comedy (The Best Girls Book 1) (17 page)

On the ride home, Anne chatted about the climbing experience and asked questions about climbing technique and the climbing wall construction, attempting to keep the conversation from turning serious as it had on the way there.

“You were a lot more confident on your second climb. The big rookie mistake is relying too much on your arm strength. Your leg muscles are much stronger.”

“But you sometimes were climbing with just your arms. You know, when you were under those ledges.”

“To be honest, most women don’t have the arm strength to do that. Plus, I have years of experience and strength from climbing and weights and swimming.”

“Yeah, that’s it. I forgot you have
years
and
years
of experience…”

“I said ‘years’, not ‘years and years’.”

“Maybe by the time I’m your age, with all those years of experience—”

Suddenly Gherring was tickling her side, and she dissolved into helpless laughter. He didn’t relent until she shouted. “I give up! I take it back! You’re not old!”

Her cheeks were aching from laughter and burning from her body’s response to his touch. Even his tickling started a little fire inside her. She was glad the back of the limo was dark so he couldn’t see her flushed face.

“Will you try it again?” he asked. “The climbing?”

She breathed heavily as she caught her breath. “I think so—it was fun. You know what? I should bring the girls to the gym this weekend. I think they’d like it. At least Charlie would.”

“They’re coming to New York?”

“Oh yeah, didn’t I tell you? They’re coming on Friday and going back Monday. I’m so excited. In fact, I think we’re going to go eat with your Gram one night.”

“Gram is staying here through the weekend?”

Too late she realized Gram had been keeping this a secret from her grandson. “Uhmm, yeah. She said something about having things to do. I’m not sure. I could be wrong.”

“Is that so?” Gherring mused. “I think we may need to have a talk.”

“Please don’t get me in trouble with your Gram.”

“It’s not like I wouldn’t have found out she was staying. I just think she may be up to something.”

“Well leave me out of it.”

“Sure. If it’s possible, I’ll leave you out of it.” His face grew more earnest. “You know—”

“Oh, we’re here. I’m so tired I think I may fall asleep with my clothes on.”

“Perhaps you need some help,” he suggested, his dimples deepening.

Anne scrambled out of the limo as if she might catch on fire. “Thanks. I mean thanks for the ride. Not… Never mind. See you tomorrow.”

She trotted into the building and ran to press the elevator button. To her distress, he sauntered to the elevator just as the door opened and stepped inside with her. She fumbled inside her bag for her keys, effectively eliminating the need for conversation.

“So you don’t need any help?” he asked, grinning.

Her cheeks flamed. “No. Stop teasing me, Mr. Gherring.”

“I’m sorry. You’re so easy to tease. But really Anne, I—”

The elevator doors opened on the tenth floor, and Anne made her escape.

“Good night, Mr. Gherring.”

As the doors closed, she looked back to see him beating his forehead with the palm of his hand. She knew he must be frustrated over how sensitive she was. She just had to learn not to take things so seriously. But it was so hard not to be sensitive around Steven Gherring when his very presence made her nerves tingle. Perhaps she could get some acting lessons from Ellen.

After a hectic work morning, Anne headed next door for lunch at Papa’s Place. George and May had made her promise to catch them up on things, so she headed down alone. Spencer met her at the door. “Hey Anne! Have you found a match for me yet?”

“No luck so far. None of them are willing to compete with all the girls that are constantly hanging around you, vying for attention,” she teased. She started to head back to her table, but stopped dead in her tracks. “How old are you, Spencer?”

“I’m twenty five. Why?”

“And you’re in grad school right?”

“Yep, getting my MBA.”

“Do you like climbing?”

“Sure. Climbing, bouldering, hiking, mountain biking, skiing—just about anything outdoors.”

She pulled her cell phone out of her purse and found a picture of Emily and Charlotte. “Wanna go climbing with me and my girls this weekend at a climbing gym? And do you think you could find another friend to come along? I don’t really know any young guys for us to hang out with.”

Spencer stared at the picture in his hand, and his mouth dropped open. He looked up with a grin. “I think I could find about twenty friends who’d be willing to go climbing this weekend if I showed them this picture.”

Anne laughed. “Great. I’ll call you and set up a time.”

“Oh, and by the way, search no further for a match for me. I’ll take either one. Are they smart, too?” He paused a moment and looked at the picture again. “Never mind. Who cares?”

George came out to get her. “Hey, come eat in the kitchen. We want to talk to you.”

Anne followed him into the kitchen where he set her up to eat on a small table in the corner. Things were bustling with the lunch rush, but George and May took turns stopping by to quiz her about the developments over the past week.

May plopped down in a chair opposite Anne. “What about this Henri guy? He’s from France right? He seemed really interested in you.”

“Yes, we went out a few times and he’s flying me to Paris to see him in two weeks.”

“Oh, Paris… Romance… That sounds fun.” She leaned in close. “And he’s enough to make an old girl like me wish I was younger. Don’t tell George I said that.”

Anne laughed. “It’s our secret.”

“And now you’ve hooked up with Mrs. Gherring? She’s a lot of fun, but she’s always got something up her sleeve.”

“Actually, you’re right. We’ve joined forces to find a wife for Mr. Gherring.”

George came over to the table. “A wife for Mr. Gherring?”

“Shhhh—keep your voice down. It’s a secret.” Anne glanced about to be sure no one else was listening.

“Every man needs a good wife, even if they don’t realize it.” May got up to help one of the cooks.

“If no one’s managed to snag that guy in all this time, I don’t see how you and Mrs. Gherring are going to pull it off,” George said, screwing his lips sideways.

“Well, we think we know just what he needs. It’s just convincing him he needs someone.”

“Well he dates a lot of women, doesn’t he? The tabloids are always full of rumors about his women. He’s a real playboy. How will you get him to settle down?”

“Oh, he’s not really a playboy. He just tries to keep everyone at arms length. I haven’t quite figured out how to get him to let his guard down. I might be able to talk to him about it someday, if I can get him to trust me.”

May returned. “You’re around him all the time. He might actually listen to you. But I thought he was mad at you about the ‘Henri thing.’ You said he’d been trying to keep you from dating him.”

“Well he doesn’t like Henri, and so he doesn’t want me—or anyone else, for that matter—to date him. But since Henri’s back in Paris, I think Mr. Gherring will just forget about him.”

George heard a crash in the next room and went to investigate.

“Oh, and my girls are coming into town this weekend. Spencer’s going to find a friend to come along, and we’re all going climbing.”

“Climbing?” asked May

“Yes, it’s a gym Katie’s fiancé owns, where you climb up walls. It’s all very safe. Ropes to keep you from falling.”

“Well, maybe one of your girls will fall for my Spencer.”

“Maybe. If they’re willing to fight off the other girls. He’s pretty popular, I think.”

“Anne, your lunch is getting cold. I’ll let you finish eating.” May went to intervene between two waiters fighting about whose order got priority.

After lunch, Anne cornered Katie to get advice on entertaining her girls when they came to town. She told her about their plans to go climbing. Katie suggested the Museum of Modern Arts, and explained how they could get discount tickets to a play. Anne planned to take a tour on a double-decker bus to get an overview and history of the city. She also wanted to see the Empire State Building and the 9/11 Memorial.

“You know, you don’t have to see everything on this first trip. Surely they’ll come more than once,” said Katie.

“But I’m only here on a trial basis. What if this is the only chance we have?”

“Well, he’d better not fire you, because I’m leaving for good when I get married, even if he doesn’t have a secretary.” Katie glanced at his office door to make sure he was still safe inside. “That is, if he doesn’t fire me first when he catches me talking trash about him.”

“I think he’s gonna fire me for not getting this presentation ready for the Switzerland trip. It’s so frustrating knowing I have so much work to do on it, but I can’t do any more ‘til they get me the information I need. Why do they wait ‘til the last minute?”

“They always do that, and Mr. Gherring is the worst one.”

“Yes, I’m hoping I’ve scared Jared and Jeff into turning in their stuff earlier. But I don’t think my ‘scary mad mom voice’ will work on Mr. Gherring.”

The office door opened and Gherring looked at the two conspirators with suspicion. Both sent him innocent smiles. “Did you need something, Mr. Gherring?” asked Katie.

“Yes, I need Ms. Best for a moment.”

Anne followed him into his private office, wondering whether he’d caught on to her matchmaking efforts already. “Yes sir?”

“You don’t need to call me
sir
.” He tossed his pen on his desk with more force than necessary. “I have some things ready for the Switzerland group.”

“Oh great—I’ve been stressing about getting that presentation ready.”

“Okay, grab your laptop and we’ll get started.”

“You mean, together? I thought you’d just give me the information, and I’d kind of work on my own.”

“Well, the information is in here.” He pointed to his head. “So unless I give you my head on a platter, we’ll just have to work together.”

“Uhmm, okay but it’ll take a long time.”

“Do you have something else to do?”

Anne thought about her daily talk with Henri. She would just have to miss this one. “No, I just figured you had more important things to do.”

“Not today.”

“Okay…”

“Okay.” He smiled at her and lifted his eyebrows while crossing his arms.

Anne swiftly gathered her laptop from her desk. She sent a text to Henri telling him she was tied up that afternoon and then returned to Gherring’s office.

Gherring fired off information at a rapid rate, with Anne working furiously to take notes. After an hour of non-stop input, Anne stopped the pacing man. “Wait. I need a break. My brain is fried.”

“Let me see what it looks like.” Gherring came around to stand behind her.

“Oh, I haven’t even begun to put it in the PowerPoint format yet. That takes forever. I need to get it organized first.”

“Then show me what you’ve done from before.”

Anne pulled up the saved presentation on her laptop and started going through the slides. Gherring leaned in close, reaching over her shoulder to indicate a bullet point. “There should be more information on this point.”

Anne felt that familiar warming that happened whenever Gherring touched her. She shifted a little to the side. “There’s a lot more information down below, in the notes section. But we don’t want too much writing on the slide. Just summary information.”

“Oh, I see,” he leaned down further and pressed a few keys. “And this is how we access the notes?” She could swear he purposely leaned against her. She felt her heart rate accelerate and her breathing was shallow.

“Don’t you already know how to use PowerPoint? You must’ve done this a hundred times before.” She leaned as far to the side as she could go, but she couldn’t escape his presence.

He shrugged, but didn’t answer. He was so close, she could sense his intense stare, but she kept her eyes closed, praying for self-control. She couldn’t let him know how he affected her. It had been easier to ignore the attraction when she thought he was snobby and obnoxious. But now she knew him better, she found herself wishing for something she knew would never be possible.

Desperate for a reprieve, she stiffened and exclaimed, “Oh no!”

“What’s wrong?”

“I… uhmm… I need to go to the ladies’ room.” She slid away from him and disappeared from his office.

In the restroom, she took a moment to calm herself. She had to go back and work with Gherring, but she needed to be in control, in more ways than one. She walked back into his office, and picked up her laptop.

“Okay, let’s get back to work. We’ve got a lot to do,” she said in her best
mom
voice. Gherring obeyed, spouting out so many details, she wondered how he could possibly remember that much. When he started to come closer to her, she stopped him.

“No, no—I need my space to work. Don’t crowd me now, I’m on a roll.” Gherring kept his distance, though he seemed a bit agitated. Anne was thrilled at the progress, although she knew how much work lay ahead in creating the actual presentation.

She was engrossed in her editing, when Gherring voice pierced her consciousness. “Ms. Best… Anne… it’s after five. I think we should call it a day.”

Anne stretched, realizing how tired and stiff she felt. “Ughh—I’m not used to staying still for this long. But we got a lot done, and tomorrow I’ll be able to put all this into the presentation.” She closed her laptop and stood up to leave.

“Anne, you know I’ve been thinking—”

“Yes, Mr. Gherring?”

He frowned at her. “You know, you could call me Steven.”

She felt the heat rising to her face again and quickly turned her face away from him. “Oh no, I couldn’t. It wouldn’t be proper. Katie still calls you Mr. Gherring and she’s been here for five years.” Anne knew she needed to keep her perspective with her boss. Calling him by his first name would only make it harder to control her growing attraction. This was all Henri’s fault. That man and his kisses had awakened something in her. Now Henri was across the ocean, and she couldn’t get that
something
to go back to sleep.

“Yes… well… she’s younger than I am.”

“And I’m younger than you as well.”

“Not
that
much younger.”

“Still, it wouldn’t be proper.”

Gherring followed her out to her desk. “Would you like a lift home? It wouldn’t be any problem.”

“No thanks, Mr. Gherring,” She escaped into the elevator. She saw him watching her as the doors closed, and she let out a breath she must have been holding. Her shoulders were sore and tight. She couldn’t handle many more days like this one.

Anne tumbled into her apartment and collapsed on the couch. Her cell rang with the familiar sound of Charlie’s theme song. “Hey sweetie.”

“Hey Mom. Are you getting excited?”

“Of course I am—I can’t wait to see you. Oh, y’all need to pack some workout clothes, too.”

“Why? Don’t tell me you’re gonna make us run on treadmills—”

“No, I’ve arranged a climbing date for y’all.”

“Climbing
date
? What are you talking about?”

“So, last night, I went climbing in this gym Katie’s fiancé owns. And I’ve arranged for us to go while you’re here.
With
a couple of good-looking guys.”

“I’m not worried about the climbing, ‘cause I’ve done plenty in Colorado. But tell me about these
guys.
”

“The one I think you will hit it off with is named Spencer. He’s super cute, twenty-five, very outdoorsy and adventurous. I actually haven’t met the other one—Spencer’s bringing a friend.”

“Hopefully we can talk Emily into climbing. Have you told her yet?”

“Not yet, but I thought you could talk her into it. You know you have better luck with her than I do. You just look at her with those puppy dog eyes, and she always gives in.”

“Yeah, I usually manage to get my way.”

“And bring some casual clothes and at least one nice outfit. Hopefully we’ll go see a play, if we can get some discount tickets. And we’ve been invited to eat dinner with Mr. Gherring’s grandma. She’s a hoot—you’ll love her. And I’ve got to show you this wood carving shop, and you need to see Ellen’s bookstore. It’s so cool.”