Adding Up to You Read online

  Whirling, she faced the man who only a little while before had had her whimpering and begging him to finish her off.

  He was solemn now, his mouth tight, his eyes tired and tense behind his glasses.

  He was holding her report. “You okay?” he asked.

  She started to nod, then slowly shook her head. “I feel…a little mixed up.”

  “Like you were hit by a truck?”

  “Yes.”

  “Yeah, I felt the same way. Until I thought about it.” He looked at her for a long moment. “We started out pretty adversarial, didn’t we?”

  “Pretty much, yes.”

  “But it didn’t stay that way,” he said. “I’d like to think we’ve built a mutual respect, even a friendship.”

  “What just happened wasn’t about respect or friendship.”

  “But it was good.” He smiled, and her heart tipped on its side.

  Thank God she’d finally gotten it right and worn waterproof mascara.

  “It doesn’t have to be so complicated, Kenna.”

  Right. It didn’t.

  He held out her report. “Let’s start here, only because we have to. Are you ready for this?”

  “Why? Do I have something to do in there other than be Mr. Mallory’s daughter?”

  “You don’t like being your father’s daughter?”

  “Sure. Outside the boardroom.”

  His gaze caressed her face. “Your report is good. Go for it in there.”

  She looked around to make sure no one was listening. “Are you sure that’s not the sex talking?” she whispered.

  He looked shocked. “What? I thought you said these were two separate issues.”

  “Just checking. I mean, if you say the report’s good, then…you get more sex later, right?”

  He grinned. “Would that actually work?”

  She had to laugh. “I’m not too ashamed to say yeah, it would work, but tell me it’s not so anyway.”

  “It’s not.” He lost the grin and went serious. “Do it, Kenna. Go in there and do your thing. You’re good at it.”

  “I am.” She looked at the food spread. There were chocolate doughnuts. Good. She needed one. Two. This was definitely going to be a two-doughnut meeting.

  CHAPTER 17

  THE ENTIRE TIME Wes spoke in front of the board, the only person he was aware of was Kenna. Everyone appeared to be listening, nodding, whatever, but he didn’t really care…except about what Kenna thought.

  Would she do it? Stand up and get what she wanted?

  “Excellent, Roth,” Mr. Mallory said when he’d finished and everyone had applauded. “Thank you. The newest addition is coming along better than I had hoped, and we know we owe that to you.”

  “I didn’t work alone.”

  Mr. Mallory looked at Kenna. “Yes, my daughter. I’m thrilled she’s been able to help you.”

  Kenna’s smile didn’t falter, but then again, she was a Mallory. Tough. Resilient. “She more than helped me,” Wes said. “And she has a report as well.”

  Mr. Mallory lifted an eyebrow and looked at his daughter.

  Kenna stood, and with a perfectly calm voice and steady hands, told every board member what she thought of the bonuses that had gone to executives instead of being trickled all the way down the line to the employees who needed it more, what she thought about the lack of available child care for their thousands of employees. She told them what she thought about their nonexistent programs for maternity and paternity leave, and what she believed was a far more fair package. She discussed costs and suggested alternatives.

  Then her father stopped her. “Expensive ideas.”

  “Yes,” she agreed. “But if you look at the financials, worth it. Especially considering that in the long run, some of these things are cheaper and have a bigger payoff than the executive bonuses.”

  Her father nodded. “I’ll think about it. Thank you, Kenna. Next on the agenda?”

  Her expression carefully blank, Kenna sat down.

  Wes waited for her to look at him so he could smile at her, anything to make her look…happy, but she didn’t.

  Mr. Mallory moved the meeting along, not addressing his daughter again, not even when the meeting was over.

  Wes supposed that’s when he realized his loyalty had shifted.

  Maybe, if he was being honest, he’d felt it shift way back on that very first day he’d met her.

  * * *

  KENNA DIDN’T go to Wes’s room that night. She intended to soak in her tub and let herself have a good, long, rare pout.

  But Wes came to her.

  When she opened the door to him, when she moved aside so he could come in, they didn’t talk.

  They didn’t even try.

  What they did do was their damnedest to burn up the sheets. The shower. The floor in the bathroom.

  And in the deep dark of the night, still without saying a word, she fell asleep in his arms.

  And woke up alone. He’d left a note on her pillow, written on the hotel stationery.

  A smiley face.

  It made her laugh. The truth was, she was glad to wake alone, glad for the time, because what had happened here in Los Angeles, both with Wes and in the boardroom, had thrown her a little. She needed to separate it all in her head, needed to think.

  By Monday she thought she had it all sorted out. Some of what she and Wes had experienced had been adrenaline, some genuine affection. But mostly it had been pure lust.

  And now it was most likely out of their system. In light of that knowledge, work was simpler than she’d have thought. Meetings kept both her and Wes from saying anything to each other except business-related talk, and after a brief flash of disappointment, she decided that was a good thing. They didn’t need to complicate anything with a discussion.

  Besides, what would she say? Thanks for the greatest sex ever? I’ll never look at a hotel bathroom counter quite the same way?

  Can we get a hotel room tonight, too?

  After work, she went to her parents’ house. The Monday-night Mallory family dinner proved to be as torturous as any, and less than three minutes into the thing, Kenna wanted out.

  Ray had tried to talk her into dinner with him and his latest significant other. She should have gone, she’d have been so much better off.

  Instead, here she was. Feeling this odd restlessness she didn’t know what to do with. Damn, she hated a pity party, especially her own. She bucked up. No more pathetic thoughts, not a one. She promised herself dessert if she managed to keep a smile on her face. A big dessert.

  Everyone around her had someone. Her mother and father, of course. Her aunt and uncle. Then Serena and Josh arrived, gazing into each other’s eyes until Kenna felt nauseous.

  “Dinner is nearly ready,” her mother said. She stopped to look more closely at her daughter and frowned. “Honey? You look a little peaked.”

  Yep, most definitely peaked.

  “You’re working too hard. I knew it. I told your father so.”

  “Which of course made him laugh.” Kenna watched Serena and Josh come around the corner. Josh’s tie was crooked. Serena had a goofy smile on her face.

  “Laugh?” Her mother frowned. “Why on earth would he do that? Actually, he agreed with me. Told me how much effort you’ve been putting in.”

  “He did?”

  “Your father isn’t a sentimental man, Kenna. You know that. It isn’t often he’ll wax poetic over hard work and dedication, but he notices. Don’t you ever think he doesn’t.” Her mother checked her spotless dress, smoothed back her hair. “Isn’t Serena lovely tonight with her new beau?” She moved into the kitchen, and for lack of anything else to do, Kenna followed her. “I hope he treats her right.”

  Kenna laughed and helped herself to the tray of hors d’oeuvres on the counter. “Don’t you have that backward? I hope she treats him right.”

  “Is Josh a good man, then? Oh, good. Your aunt was so worried. I know he doesn’t come from much,