L. A. Cinderella

Chapter Five

By the time they were settled into the conference room, only two chairs weren’t covered in papers. However, the chairs were right next to each other. If Natalie moved that stack…

Before she could move anything, Chase spoke up.

“Sit down and we’ll discuss what you’ve found while we eat.” His tone was all business. Maybe she’d read too much into their earlier conversations.

She could be businesslike, too. Relieved, she breathed deep and slid into the chair. When he sat down his denim-clad leg brushed against her cotton skirt. She sucked in a breath, but covered it by opening one of the takeout bags. She crossed her legs away from his.

“I wasn’t sure what to get, so I got a couple of different things. We can share,” he said.

She picked up the containers and opened them. The rich sauce filled the air with the aroma of ginger and garlic. Settling on beef with broccoli, she found one of the rice boxes.

“What have you found so far?” Chase said. His leg brushed against hers again. Her body tensed. She wondered if he did it on purpose. His warmth radiated to her side. The woodsy smell of his cologne wafted over her.

“The…uh.” She cleared her throat. “Um, well, I was going through the expense reports and I noticed the handwriting was similar on a few of them and…” Should she tell him that she suspected Mr. Morrison wrote them? She closed her mouth. She didn’t want to accuse an innocent man. She only knew that the numbers told her that someone might be taking money.

“And?” he prodded. His gaze bore into hers, but it suddenly softened.

What had they been talking about? Was there a woman alive who could resist him? He didn’t even have to put forth any effort to be irresistible. That kiss-her eyes dropped to his lips. That kiss at the end of If Only. She could feel her lips separate. The red-hot wave flowed over her face. She dipped her head as her food suddenly was way too interesting. After all, there was white, brown and green.

Way better to look at that than the slight scruff along Chase’s chin. She was definitely going to make a fool out of herself.

When she dropped her gaze to her food, Chase leaned back in his chair. Trying to draw out this timid woman was like digging for diamonds. It took forever, but he just knew something special was hiding in there.

He’d already begun to suspect his chief financial officer wasn’t on the up-and-up. Every time Chase approached him, Martin shook and started prattling on about this and that.

Chase also suspected the reason Martin had hired Natalie was because of her timidity and lack of experience. What Martin hadn’t figured on was the intelligence lingering in the depths of her gorgeous brown eyes.

Setting down the box of noodles, Chase studied the woman next to him. She drew him with her quiet strength and a warmth he’d never experienced before. She wasn’t what Hollywood considered beautiful-few people were-but the delicate tilt of her chin, the gentle upsweep at the tip of her nose, her wide, innocent brown eyes and her lips, all drew his eyes and he found himself captivated by her.

He loved watching her lips curve into a smile, tighten when she was upset or part slightly on a breath. Real, that’s what she was. He shifted in his chair. She jerked her head up again. Every nerve in his body longed for more contact than his knee against hers.

Women like her should stay as far away as possible from men like him. Even as he lost himself in her eyes, he could see her pushing him away. She might trust him in the beginning, but when some reporter speculated he was cheating, or when he was gone for months on a shoot, he’d lose her. Distance rarely made the heart grow fonder.

Her gaze fluttered down again, breaking the connection. He couldn’t resist trying to have her. Just for a little while, not forever. Just enough to get her out of his system.

“Show me the expense reports you found.” He cleared his throat.

Her shoulders relaxed beneath her cream blouse. He made her nervous, but he figured everyone did. She reminded him of a small bird ready to take flight at the least provocation, except when she was talking work.

She put aside the barely touched food and pulled forward some papers. She handed him the first two reports.

Her gaze never left his face while he looked over the reports. It was intense, but not sexual in nature. It was the stare of someone waiting for a connection to be made.

The handwriting was similar on both reports, just enough difference to prevent someone from questioning them if they went through on the same day. He noticed the signature authorizing cash payments. Martin Morrison.

“Let’s separate all the ones authorized for cash payment first.” When she started to pull more papers her way, he stopped her. “After we eat.”

She nodded and went back to playing with the box of food. Her tongue swept over her lower lip. How soft would her lips be? He took a deep breath; it was going to be a long night.

After they ate, Natalie stood and cleared the table. Her slight body moved efficiently. She didn’t overemphasize any moves, like some actresses. Her blouse was loose on her frame, but her skirt tightened at the waist, and the cut was tight to the legs. As she bent over the table, he couldn’t help appreciating her backside.

It was going to be a very long night.

She straightened, and he noticed her ever-present blush. Would she ever not blush around him? Did he really want her to stop?

“I’ll be right back,” she said, as she walked out the door with the bags.

Chase took in the amount of paper. They had hours of work ahead of them. Natalie slipped back in and returned to her seat.

“If you want, you can go through that one while I go through this one,” she said. Her eyes didn’t meet his, and he could tell that she was struggling. She wasn’t used to giving orders.

“Sounds good.” Pulling the stack closer, he looked for the same signature on the front page. As the smell of brown sauce and egg rolls dissipated, the scent of strawberries and other sweet smells started to permeate his nose.

He glanced over at Natalie’s bent head when he was about halfway through. Precariously balanced, her glasses had slid down to the tip of her nose. His fingers itched to push them back and brush the gentle curve of her cheek. Her finger pushed the lenses back into place.

He brought the paper in front of him back into focus. As the pile of cash payments grew, Chase’s temper rose along with it.

Martin Morrison had come highly recommended. Chase couldn’t imagine the slight man committing fraud against the company, but as the evidence kept mounting up, he couldn’t deny it. The handwriting on all of them resembled Martin’s. But without seeing them together, Chase would have never seen the similarities. Martin was in charge of accounting and therefore the checks.

He doubted Robert would have noticed the handwriting, but how had Robert missed so many expenses paid out to extras? He paused on the expense report for Dana Bradley. It was a cash payment of almost a thousand dollars, but all the expenses were below the fifty-dollar receipt limit they’d established to keep the files smaller.

Robert’s signature was on it, just like the others. Too much like the others. Chase grabbed the last one and put the sheets together. They were exactly the same signature, no variations.

Not only was Martin stealing from the company, but he was forging Robert’s signature, too. This explained why Night Blooming had lost so much money, and it made Chase skeptical of the other productions that hadn’t been losses, but hadn’t been as profitable as he’d expected.

Apparently, Martin had gotten greedy.

“Can I see one of your expense reports?” Maybe hers would have Robert’s real signature and not forgeries.

Natalie pushed her glasses back up her nose as she handed him the one she was looking at. He compared Robert’s signatures, and again they were exactly the same.

“Mr. Morrison gave me a list of extras when he gave me the files.”

“Do you have that in here?”

She retrieved a larger document than he’d expected. When Robert and Chase had originally discussed the crowd scenes, they’d decided to use computer rendering for the people. But when other costs increased they decided it would be more economical and more realistic to use extras.

Extras who weren’t supposed to turn in expense reports. “Are all these extra expense reports?”

Her gaze analyzed each pile for a moment. “All except those three.”

“Okay, let’s focus on the extras only. Keep a running total.”

“Okay.” She actually seemed excited by the idea of adding what had to be hundreds of numbers. Her eyes brightened, and she flipped on the adding machine.

Only a slight bit of pink tinged her usually red cheeks. That quiet feeling spread through his chest looking at her. The intelligence sparkling in her eyes drew him. If his life were a little simpler, he’d think nothing of coaxing this woman into his arms.

He shook his head and went back to work. The light tapping of keys followed by the ticking of the numbers printing lulled him as he kept adding to her pile.

“I think that’s it.” He leaned back. The piles had shifted from one side of the room to the other. Her rhythmic typing continued. Her finger trailed down the page. She typed in the number, then lifted the sheet and added it to the other pile.

“That’s the last one.” She pressed the equal sign and then pulled the tape out of the machine.

“What’s the damage?” He leaned forward.

She studied the number and then handed him the paper.

“Five hundred thousand dollars? This can’t be right.”

She looked back at the piles. “I can add it up again to double-check.” She pulled the stack she’d just added back over.

Without this amount, Night Blooming would have been around the initial projections. They would need to have everything together if they were going to accuse Martin.

His gaze went back to Natalie. Watching her work was better than hanging out at clubs by a long run, but when she started to trail her finger down the page, he covered her hand with his. Startled eyes met his. A faint tinge of blue had appeared under her eyes. Most of her brown hair floated around her face, framing it.

“You can rerun the numbers tomorrow,” he said, gently. When her gaze flitted to his hand on hers, he reluctantly pulled it away. Standing, he reached his hand down to her.

She glanced up at him before sliding her hand into his. His body came alive, but he resisted every temptation to pull her into his arms. The gentle curve of her mouth was almost too much. As soon as she stood in front of him, he released her hand.

“Let’s get these back to your desk.” Grabbing a pile, he headed out the door, away from her sweet scent. He thought he caught the sound of a sigh as he left the room.