Working Romance. Susan Kohler

other ladies seem to like him.”

      “No accounting for taste.” Coolly, she raised an eyebrow. “Well, I’m out of here.” She picked up her purse and threw it onto her shoulder.

      Bob took her arm and gently but firmly led her back to his office. He shut his office door and leaned against it. “Not so fast, come here. I haven’t kissed you all day.”

      Kate felt her heart jump in her chest while she looked up at Bob with wide eyes.

      “In the office? Isn’t that called sexual harassment?” Kate grinned at him. “Didn’t we talk about that last night?”

      “Only if it makes working conditions hard on you,” Bob winked, “and that’s not what I had in mind.”

      “What’s it called if I make it hard on you?” Kate asked, with exaggerated innocence.

      “That’s called arousal.” He caught Kate in his arms and began to kiss her. “And I think you’re guilty of it already,” he managed between kisses.

      “God, I hope so,” Kate whispered back, also between tender kisses, “because you’re guilty of it too.” She managed to pull away. “We shouldn’t do this here; if we do, sooner or later we’ll get caught.”

      “You’re right. I don’t like it, but you’re right.” Bob gave Kate one long, wet passionate kiss and then pulled back leaving Kate feeling strangely rejected.

      “You don’t have to agree so easily,” Kate complained, straightening her hair and lipstick before they left the office.

      “Don’t worry, you’re not going to get rid of me so quickly,” he promised.

      “Bob?” Kate said as they walked across the parking lot, “How could I get hold of some of the older financial reports to try and trace the lost money?”

      “I’ll make copies and bring them to your house,” he offered. “But make sure you don’t work too much on them at home. Of course, I’ll pay you extra for the homework.”

      “Is this just an excuse to come over to my house?” Kate asked, her head tilted to one side.

      “Well, it works, doesn’t it?” Bob smiled. “But who needs an excuse?”

      “Truthfully?” She met his eyes. “You don’t, consider this a standing invitation to come over anytime. The kids are in bed by eight,” Kate offered, grinning wickedly.

      “Why did I ever think you were shy?” Bob was a little overwhelmed.

      “It was probably those blushes, fools ‘em every time,” Kate teased, “but don’t get too carried away. I have three built-in chaperones, remember?”

      “How could I forget?” He grinned.

      “And the kids aren’t your biggest obstacles either,” she said mysteriously.

      “What do you mean?” He was dubious. “Are there any other obstacles between us?”

      “You’ll find out.” She winked and gave him a saucy grin. “Later.”

      She got into her van and drove off, leaving him standing there puzzled.

Chapter Four

      Later that evening Kate waited for her doorbell to ring. She was hopeful that Bob would arrive at any moment, so she used the nervous energy to get some things done. The minute she got home from work, she’d thrown on her old grubby clothes, then played with the kids and dogs for a while before fixing dinner. Then, she put the kids to bed and the dogs out, and quickly picked up the living room, dusting and rearranging the small colorful throw pillows on her plain brown sofa. She cleaned the kitchen and put a bottle of California Chablis in the refrigerator. Then she cleaned the downstairs bathroom.

      Finally she’d taken a quick shower and changed again. She dressed carefully, although with a somewhat casual deception, in her best emerald green blouse and crisp white shorts. She let her long, auburn hair out of the severe bun she’d worn it in at work and brushed it until it fell in soft waves down her back.

      She stood back and surveyed the living room objectively. It looked cozy and inviting. She had made up for her plain, worn furniture by filling the room with personal touches. The walls were painted a very light earth tone, and most of the furniture was in shades of brown, ranging from tan to chocolate. It could have been too dark, but she had thrown in lots of colorful accents, brightly colored throw pillows and a hand knitted afghan draped on the back of the sofa. The walls had several pictures of her kids and a group of antique mirrors. She also had several hanging plants and knickknacks on every end table. .

      By 9:30 she was ready. It was the most excited she’d been since her husband died. Finally, there was a knock at the door. Her heart seemed to be racing as she went to open it. It wasn’t Bob. She felt the excitement drain out of her as she opened the door and found the rude, obnoxious jerk who lived next door standing on her porch.

      “Hi Tim.” She managed to get out the greeting without showing too much disappointment. “What do you want?”

      “From you doll? Everything I can get!” He smirked, eyeballing her tight shorts. “But for now, can I use your car to give mine a jump-start? I need to go to the store and I’ve got a dead battery.”

      “Sure, Tim, no problem. Let me get my keys.” She reached for her purse and rummaged for her car keys.

      She was relieved, for once, it didn’t sound like he was going to try to stay and make a pest out of himself. She handed him her car keys.

      “You wouldn’t happen to have any beer, would ya, doll?” he asked, as his eyes made their way up to her chest, looking her at breasts with a leer. “If you did I could stay here with you instead of going out. You look good enough to-”

      Just then Bob walked up behind them. He took one look at Kate’s face with the frozen smile and knew that the other man wasn’t welcome.

      “Hi Kate. Am I interrupting anything?” Bob asked casually as he reached out to pull her into a warm hug. He had replaced his office attire with jeans and a soft, clean white T-shirt.