Her Best Match: A Romantic Comedy (The Best Girls Book 1) (6 page)

When she didn’t respond, Anne noticed Katie standing with her lips pressed together, looking quite pale. She followed Katie’s gaze to find Steven Gherring standing a few feet away, obviously intent on the conversation.

“I think I’m old enough to make my own decisions about my
personal
life
and
whom
I will date and whether I will date
anyone
.” Gherring turned his back on the pair and returned to his private office, closing the door behind him with a soft click.

Anne looked warily at Katie, who let out a low whistle. “Call the number on this card and have Mr. Cooper arrange for Mr. Gherring’s date to the International Business Gala next Friday. Dress is formal, as you know. We’ve been so busy working on all the details of the reception I almost forgot to arrange for his escort.”

“But do you think I should go apologize?” Anne asked, inclining her head toward Gherring’s office.

Katie shook her head. “No, I think anything we say would make it worse. He’ll forget eventually. Just do your job, and try to stay out of his personal life. And,” Katie warned with a serious look, “don’t ever gossip about Mr. Gherring. You absolutely cannot share any details about anything he says or does, business or personal. It’s very important you stay completely out of his personal life.”

“Of course,” Anne said, wondering how she could find a match for Mr. Gherring while staying out of his personal life. But she would. She’d find a way. Somehow, she had to find a way.

Monday morning, Anne breathed a sigh of relief as she made it to her work desk without incident. No slips or falls on the way to work. This time, she wore her running shoes until she made it to her desk to change into her shiny spike-heeled pumps. She had a few strange looks on the elevator because of her footwear, but she knew she was really protecting those critics from imminent disaster by postponing the change to her awkward dress shoes.

Slipping into her heels and stashing her running shoes in her oversized handbag, Anne glanced at the clock on her computer. Only seven fifteen. She was really proud of herself. She started checking messages and emails, knowing she needed to finalize the plans for the gala on Friday night. Her first big event. She was glad Katie was still helping her. She felt the pressure to make everything perfect.

Not only did she have to prepare for the party, but she also had to make travel and hotel arrangements for all the company’s internationally stationed executives. The first ones were due to arrive in New York on Monday morning. Steven Gherring would be holding meetings with international clients all week, but the huge formal party would happen on Friday night. Katie was only working Thursday and Friday this week, so Anne had to handle all the crises in the early part of the week by herself.

This would be a hectic week for all the employees at Gherring Inc. In evidence of the impending increase in workload, employees poured out of the elevators, hurrying off to get an early start.

Although she’d only been at Gherring Inc. for a week, Anne was already well liked. Calls of “Morning Anne!”, “Hey Anne!”, “Hi Anne,” kept her looking up to respond.

Anne liked pretty much everyone, unless they were purposefully rude. She’d always been taught to give people the benefit of the doubt and not to take offense unless she was certain the offending person meant to be offensive. Consequently, anyone who met Anne felt she was a friend, and a number of folks who didn’t have many friends were especially grateful to be on the receiving end of her smile and encouraging words. There were other elevators that serviced the top floor of Town Center Economic Tower, where Gherring Inc. was located, but most employees took the central elevator in hopes of seeing and being seen by Steven Gherring, unless they were late in arriving.

“Hey Anne,” said a timid male voice from the edge of her desk. Anne looked up to see Tanner West, a thirty-something financial consultant who had moved from Dallas six months ago to join Gherring Inc. “Are you and Sam still having lunch next door today?”

Anne had invited Tanner to join her and Sam at Papa’s Place after she was forced to admit Mr. Gherring was not going to be Sam’s match-made-in-heaven. Tanner was extremely shy and hadn’t agreed to join the lunch pair immediately. Obviously, he’d gained courage over the weekend.

“Actually, Tanner, I’m going to be working through lunch every day this week.”

Tanner looked disappointed, but nodded and turned to go. Anne stopped him.

“Wait. I was going to ask if you could go with Sam, and y’all could bring something for me when you come back?”

“Um, sure… if you think she would want to go with me… without you… I mean, I don’t know if she’ll want to go.”

“I’ll ask her and let you know. I really appreciate it. You’ll be doing me a great favor.”

“Well, I’ll bring you lunch even if she doesn’t want to go with me.”

“You’re so sweet, Tanner! I’ll call you later in the morning.” She hoped Sam would agree to go to lunch with him. She’d hate to dash his ego now he’d gotten the courage to meet Sam.

Anne returned to her work, so absorbed she didn’t notice when a tall brown-haired man with a neatly trimmed goatee walked up to her desk. He stood quietly for several moments, observing her with unabashed interest.

“
Bon jour, Mademoiselle
.
Tu est tres jolie
!”

She looked up in surprise at the handsome man in the well-tailored suit that emphasized his broad shoulders. Well, handsome was not an adequate word. He was mouth-watering, smokin’-hot, drop-jaw sexy!

“
Merci beaucoup
!” She couldn’t help being flattered by the attention.

He flashed a warm smile with even white teeth. “Tu parle francais?”

“
Non
! No! I’ve just exhausted my memory of college French. Please don’t test me anymore.”

He leaned closer and declared, “
Charmonte
!” He continued in slightly accented English, “Yes, you are charming. I love your accent.”

“Wait.” Anne laughed. “Isn’t that my line?”

“I am
Henri
,” he said, pronouncing it
ahn-ree
, and reaching out to catch her hand. He pressed his lips lightly on her fingers. “You are new,
oui
? Katie is not here?”

“Oh, Katie is out for three days doing wedding planning, but she’ll be back on Thursday.”

“Wedding! My Katie is with another man?” At Anne’s shocked look, Henri laughed aloud, his green eyes sparkling. “No, I am teasing you. She was never mine. But you… maybe you could be mine.”

“Monsieur, I have a feeling I’d just be one of many if I were yours. I think you have plenty of women to keep you company.”

“
Non
! No! There have been others before, but they are all gone.” He blinked puppy-dog eyes. “I am all alone.”

“I doubt that seriously. No woman could resist that face, I think.”

“And you? Can you resist me?” He lifted her hand again and turned it over to kiss her wrist gently.

Anne pulled her hand away slowly.

“No, I can resist you. At least I hope I can. You seem pretty dangerous to me.”

“I am not dangerous. I am a pussy cat.”

“I’ve always been a dog-person,” Anne replied. “You can trust your dog. But a cat can be purring in your lap one minute and digging his claws into your leg the next.”

“Do not worry,” he countered. “This cat has no claws. Very safe.”

Anne laughed. “I don’t think I believe you!”

“I can show you how safe I am. You will like this cat. Will you give me a chance?”

“I don’t know.”

“Earlier I was thinking that this week would be boring. A boring week of business, a long boring time. But now I am thinking that a week is too short. I am thinking a week is not enough time to spend with such a beautiful woman.”

“Beautiful woman… Now I know I’m getting a line.”

Henri’s eyes widened. “You do not know? You do not know you are beautiful? Your eyes are so dark that I could get lost in them. I’ve never seen such eyes.”

“Henri, you’re a smooth-talker. But I’ve been warned about French men. I know y’all just lead women on and then break our hearts.”

Henri put his hand over his heart. “Never! For you I would give up my wandering ways. For you—”

“
Henri!”
a stern voice spoke from across the room. Steven Gherring was glaring from his office doorway. “I see you’ve met
my
personal executive assistant. Now if you’re ready to get to work…”

Henri turned toward Gherring’s office, then leaned back and whispered urgently. “I do not know your name.”

“It’s Anne,” she whispered back, despite her boss’ glower.

“Perhaps we could have lunch together,” Henri said over his shoulder as he walked away.

Gherring’s voice was scolding. “We’ll be meeting through lunch today, Henri. If you worked as hard on your business negotiations as you do on your flirtations, you’d probably have a much better report for me.” They disappeared behind the heavy wooden doors.

Anne realized her face was warm. She’d enjoyed the playful exchange with the handsome French stranger. He wasn’t really her type. But then again, did she even have a type anymore? Anyway, it was a harmless exchange. Like he said, he was only in the country for a week. Nothing serious would ever come of it. But hadn’t she come to New York for a bit of adventure?

The morning flew by as Anne wrestled with all the travel plans. Three more men and two women had arrived to join with Gherring in the conference room adjacent to his office. When Anne entered the conference room to set up the PowerPoint, she noticed Henri trying to catch her eye. But Gherring blocked her view as he asked her to review the location of various presentations on the laptop. She repeated the instructions, thinking they’d just discussed those details on Friday.

“And can I get anything else for you? Would you like for me to bring everyone a bottle of water?” she asked Gherring.

“No, they can get their own waters.”

“What about lunch? Do you want me to order in for the entire group?”

“Yes, yes… That’ll be fine.” He attempted to shoo her from the room.

“I’ll just ask everyone what they want to order,” she started to skirt around Gherring, heading toward the smiling Henri.

Gherring stepped in front of her, effectively blocking her way. “That won’t be necessary, Ms. Best. Just order some of the specials from Papa’s.”

Henri was waving at her behind Gherring, and Anne leaned sideways in an effort to see him, momentarily forgetting how precariously she was balanced in her high heels. She started to topple over, but Gherring caught her arms and held her upright. Blushing furiously, she rushed from the room, her heart pounding in her chest. Why was she so clumsy? Henri probably wouldn’t be interested in such a klutz, anyway.

Anne returned to her desk to order lunch from Papa’s. May answered the phone and took the lunch orders, arranging delivery at twelve thirty. “So you aren’t coming down for lunch today?” May asked with a bit of a pout in her voice.

“No, I’ll be working through lunch every day this week, May. Tell Papa I’ll stop by on my way home if the door’s open.” she knew Papa’s was only open for breakfast and lunch, except on Fridays and Saturdays.

“But you need to eat,” May protested with motherly concern.

“Don’t worry. I won’t miss my daily Papa’s special lunch. Today, my friends are bringing lunch up to me after they eat. You remember my friend, Sam?” She lowered her voice. “Well today, she’s eating lunch with a sweet young man from the office, named Tanner. Be sure y’all seat them at a romantic table.”

“But I thought you told me you were trying to set Sam up with your boss?”

“Well, I don’t think that’s going to work out. I have high hopes for this new match, but I need to keep working on my boss.” Anne stopped, remembering what Katie had said about gossiping. “But that has to be our secret. You can’t tell anyone I’m trying to find a match for Mr. Gherring.”

“No worries, honey. My lips are sealed. They couldn’t drag that information outta me even if they tortured me. I won’t tell a soul… unless someone offers to give me a good neck massage. Then my lips will go all loosey-goosey.” May started laughing.

“Now I’m serious. Katie says I’m never supposed to get involved in Mr. Gherring’s private life. I could lose my job.”

“Really dear, I won’t tell anybody.”

Lunch arrived at precisely twelve thirty. Anne attempted to help serve the food in the conference room,
to speed things up
, but Gherring took the food bags from the delivery boy and shut the door before she could even peek inside. The smell of the food was mouth-watering, and Anne waited impatiently for her lunch to arrive, drinking water to quiet her growling stomach. Sam appeared at one fifteen with her lunch, chicken smothered in some kind of wonderful mushroom cream sauce.

Anne attacked her food with a vengeance, while interrogating Sam about her lunch date. “Did you like him? Did y’all have anything to talk about? He’s so shy—but you’ve got to admit he’s really cute.”

Sam chuckled. “Yes, yes and yes. He is so shy I thought we weren’t going to be able to carry on a conversation. That is, he
was
so shy, until he found out I like the Beatles. Turns out he’s a nut for the Beatles just like me, and he has a great collection of vinyls. He pulled out my chair for me, waited for me to go through every door first, and insisted on buying lunch. So, yes, he’s really sweet and we’re going Wednesday night to hear a Beatles cover band.”

“I knew it!”

“Don’t look so smug. We’re not engaged. We’re just listening to music together. And anyway, last week you were trying to set me up with—”

“Shhhh!” warned Anne, glancing toward the conference room. “I admit I messed up on that one, but don’t tell anyone. I don’t want to get in trouble.”

“Okay, I won’t tell anyone you tried to set us up. They wouldn’t believe it anyway.”

“But if things work out with Tanner, I want full credit.”

Anne waited until five forty-five for the meeting to end, hoping to have a chance to see Henri. The door opened and Gherring peered out. When he spotted Anne at her desk, he looked decidedly irritated. “You’re still here?”

“Yes, I thought you might need me for something before you go home.”

“Well, I don’t. Wait, I do need something.” He closed the conference room door and stepped toward his office. “I need for you to check something on my calendar.” She followed him into his office, and he motioned for her to sit behind his desk. “Would you mind pulling up my calendar for the week? I’ll be right back.”