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taken the opportunity.
In return, he’d see to it that she got the time of her life.
    Which meant he’d better get started.
    “ Mona,” he called, absently
making notes to himself.
    “ What?” she bawled
back.
    Sam squashed his irritation as best he could.
Simply announcing her name should have brought her to the office
door. “Come to my office, please,” he told her through gritted
teeth.
    “ Am I gonna be in there for
a while? Jerry Springer’s on.”
    Ruing the day the day he ever told her she
could bring her small color television to the office, Sam struggled
to keep his voice calm. “That depends on how long it takes you to
come in here, receive your instructions and complete them.”
    “ Oh, all right,” she huffed
testily. Sam heard the TV go off, then heard Mona’s chair slam
against her desk. He winced. A moment later, she skulked into his
office and glowered at him. “What?”
    How she packed so much venom in that one
word, Sam would never know. He ignored it. Mona’s nasty disposition
had gotten her fired from more jobs than she could list on a
typical resume. She was a perpetually unhappy, foul-mouthed,
quick-tempered pain in the ass…with one redeeming quality.
    She was one hell of a saleswoman, who could
talk almost anyone into anything. Her phone skills were
incomparable. Had any of those previous employers kept Mona long
enough to discover that, Sam wouldn’t have one of the very best
secretaries in the greater Atlanta area. In his business, an
employee with her particular skills was a must. Besides which, the
moody Mona had grown on him. Despite her surly attitude, he sensed
a kinder nature in her. She was nice to her cat. An animal lover
couldn’t be all that bad, could they?
    Sam smiled to butter her up, then outlined
what accommodations he’d need to begin with. “Book us on the first
available flight after four. Tampa’s not Fiji, but it’ll have to do
on short notice. I’ll call you with the other details as soon as I
know where else we’ll be going.”
    Mona gave him a disbelieving
look. “You want me to do this now ?”
    He nodded patiently. “Now would be good.”
    “ But it’s lunch.”
    “ Mona,” Sam warned, patience
vanishing. He didn’t have time for this. “Come on now. Work your
magic and show me why I hired you.”
    Giving him a death-ray glare, his secretary
pivoted and began her slow trek back to the reception area. “Humph.
We both know you didn’t hire me because I possessed any skills.”
She stopped and threw him an evil smile. “You hired me because I
had a great ass.”
    Stunned into silence, Sam chuckled and shook
his head.

Chapter Three
    Lou raked a brush through her hair, then
twisted the tangled curls up and secured it with a clip. Her
honeymoon luggage had certainly come in handy, she thought with a
wry grin. On any other given day, she would have jumped at the
chance to renew her wardrobe. However, today she wouldn’t have had
the time. Just remedying her cash problem and getting this suite,
then planning her adventure, had taken up most of the three hours
Sam Rawlins had given her.
    The thought of the handsome adventure guide
made Lou’s pulse leap. And considering she’d thought about him
almost every other minute since leaving his office, he blood had
been particularly active.
    A knock at the door announced his arrival.
Lou’s plasma did a little somersault. More than a little nervous,
she made the quick trip to the door and pulled it open.
    Sam Rawlins’s big frame filled the threshold.
Impossibly, he looked better than she remembered. Lou took a deep
breath. “Come in,” she told him, ushering him into the suite. Lou
started across the plush maroon carpet, then looked back over her
shoulder. “I hope you don’t mind, but I took the liberty of
ordering for us. Club sandwiches okay with you?”
    “ Sure.” Grinning, he
sauntered behind her. “I’m flexible.”
    Lou’s lips twitched and she felt a blush
creep up her throat to