At Her Beck and Call. Dawn Atkins
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Название: At Her Beck and Call

Автор: Dawn Atkins

Издательство: HarperCollins

Жанр: Современные любовные романы

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СКАЧАТЬ “I’ve also included a class project.” Three pages of a report crackled by. “References from two professors and my employer.” Flip. Flip. “And finally, my transcripts. A four-point-oh, as you can see.”

      “Very impressive—”

      “Thank you.”

      “—for a student,” he finished, closing the binder.

      Autumn Beshkin fixed him with her fierce green eyes. “I’m fast, I’m resourceful and I’ll do what needs to be done.”

      “I’m sure you would, but I have neither the time nor the knowledge to train you. It’s budget time, we’re in the middle of an economic development plan, and I’m in charge of the founders celebration—it’s our 150th anniversary—a very big deal around here.”

      “Which means you need someone now. And I’m here. Now.”

      But he had a call in to a woman who’d recently retired from the Cities and Towns Commission who would do fine. “Look, Ms. Beshkin—”

      “Autumn.”

      “Autumn.” Her hair was the color of her name—the striking rust-red of leaves in September. Stop. “This job can’t be what you want, either. You need a mentor, formal feedback, written evaluations, someone who can spend time with you.”

      “You’re turning me down?” She sounded more outraged than hurt. Like he’d better explain himself and it better be good.

      Before he could work up something impressive, Evelyn yelped from the outer office. “Heavenly damn, Quincy!”

      Mike rushed out, Autumn at his heels, and found his secretary using her knitting to mop at the laptop she used as her CPU.

      “That damn cat knocked over my iced tea!”

      Autumn grabbed the laptop and tilted it so the tea trickled from its keyboard. The external keyboard Evelyn used looked untouched. Her monitor, too was all right.

      “Is the data backed up?” Mike asked. Evelyn had her own mysterious system of office procedures.

      “More or less.” Evelyn balled up her knitting.

      “Do you have a forced air duster we can dry it with?” Autumn asked. Seeing Evelyn’s blank stare, she said, “How about a blow dryer?”

      “In the bathroom!” Evelyn ran in that direction.

      “Please hold this.” Autumn thrust the laptop at him, still tilted, then ran back into his office. She came out with her purse, fished out her keys and detached a small device, which she held up. “This key drive has a gig of memory.” She stuck it into a port at the back of the laptop. “Hopefully I can copy the recent files before the motherboard freezes.”

      Mike set the laptop on a dry spot on Evelyn’s desk and Autumn quickly clicked into the hard drive, organizing the files by date. He was impressed by her calm efficiency.

      “This way she’ll have access until you can service the laptop,” she said, still working. “If it’s fried, a tech can likely retrieve the files, but who knows when you can get that handled. You have to go to Tucson for service, I imagine.”

      “True. Good idea. And quick thinking.”

      “This happened to me at the bar once,” she said. “Laptops are convenient, but that also makes them vulnerable.”

      “I tried to talk Evelyn into a tower, but she likes to stay fast on her feet, she says.”

      “And I bet keeping Evelyn happy makes everything go smoother around here.”

      “Exactly.” Already, she’d caught the rhythm of the place. They locked gazes and he felt a zip of recognition and pleasure not entirely related to how attractive she was.

      He watched Autumn copy the most recent files onto her drive, almost not thinking about her underwear.

      She touched her finger to a drop of liquid on the computer, then tasted it. “No sugar. That’s good. Stickiness is fatal.”

      “Yeah,” he said, thinking about her tongue. “Fatal.”

      Evelyn arrived with the dryer and handed it to him. “I need to rinse off my knitting.” She bustled away. Evelyn was great with people, but she never let her work interfere with her day. She came through when the chips were down, though. Worked at home on the laptop and read his mind when it counted.

      Autumn bent to plug the dryer cord into the power bar and her skirt pulled brutally tight. He looked away, but not before he saw them: black stockings. With seams. And through the slit in her skirt he recognized garters.

      Lord God in heaven. Seamed black stockings, garters and a leather cut-out bra. Under that suit, Autumn Beshkin was dressed to kill. Or at least seriously maim. Minimum, make it tough for a man to walk.

      She jerked up, surprising him while he was still gawking at her like a kid with his first Playboy.

      “You okay?” she asked.

      “Uh, yeah.” He cleared his throat.

      “You sure?” A knowing smile teased her lips. Had she noticed the drool?

      “I’m, uh, sure.”

      “If you say so.” She waved the dryer at the damp computer, watching him. “You’ll want to have the unit serviced, of course. Dried and cleaned thoroughly.” She spoke slowly, thoughtfully, playing with something in her mind, he could tell.

      He thought about her thoroughly servicing something on him…with her tongue. Get a grip.

      “Absolutely,” he said. “Thanks for, uh, jumping in.”

      “Whatever you need me to do, Mayor,” she said, low and slow, “I will do.”

      Now Mike Fields was not a guy who made snap decisions or reversed course on a dime. But Autumn Beshkin, standing there in her leather underwear, with her magic key drive and suggestive smile changed all that. “Okay,” he said with a sigh, “when can you start?”

      2

      IT WAS EARLY EVENING when Autumn entered the Copper Corners High auditorium to check on Jasmine, who was at the first rehearsal of the pageant. The job Jasmine had designing costumes would pay for her daughter Sabrina’s nearby summer camp since the burlesque revue Autumn and Jasmine were in together was on hiatus for the summer.

      Jasmine was fired up about the two friends spending quality time together, but her real purpose for being here was to spend time with her new guy—Mark Fields, brother to Heidi and Mayor Mike.

      From close to the stage, Jasmine spotted Autumn and hurried down the aisle carrying a bolt of fabric. “So? Did you get the job?” Jasmine asked, when she was close.

      When Autumn nodded, Jasmine whooped, threw down the fabric and hugged Autumn so fast and hard that Autumn accidentally bit her own tongue. “That’s so fabulous!” Jasmine said, then leaned back. “Hey, aren’t you happy СКАЧАТЬ