Read Online Jinxed by Inez Kelley - Free Book Online Page A

out of here. I rescheduled your meeting with Sanders and pushed back everything I could until Monday. I’ll take care of the Dobson merger file and anything else that pops up. You need to be home in bed.”
    Tracey came back in spraying a huge can of Lysol. She took one look at Steve and her eyes widened. “Flu?”
    “Bad sushi,” Frannie answered. Just the words seemed to provoke more nausea and Steve dry heaved in the sink. “Tracey, call a cab, will you? He can’t drive like this. Steve, is there anyone I can call? You shouldn’t be alone when you’re this sick.”
    Still hunched over the sink, he shook his head, ran water over a pure white cloth and pressed it to his face.
    “No probs,” Tracey said. “I’ll take him home, put his barfing butt to bed and hang out a while. I have plenty of sick time left I need to use up. Lemme just go grab my stuff and we are outta here. But no blowing chunks in my car, bossman.”
    Steve emerged on unsteady legs and sat heavily at his desk. As if his head was too heavy to hold up, he laid it on his day planner and let his arms dangle like a giant rag doll. The loud rumbling of his stomach was drowned out by his groan. Frannie placed a hand on his shoulder and rubbed gently. She looked up to find a pair of sexy black eyes staring from her open office. Jinx, dressed in a dark blue pinstripe suit, looked at the two accountants, his left eyebrow cocked in unspoken questions. Anger lit Frannie’s fuse.
    “What the hell are you doing here?” It was one thing to invade her home, but this was her job, her livelihood. The amusement sparkling in his eyes infuriated her even more.
    “Now, is that any way to speak to your future husband?”
    “No, it isn’t. It is, however, an appropriate way to speak to you . What are you doing here?”
    “Husband?” Steve raised his head and looked at Jinx, who walked into his office. “Frannie, you didn’t tell me you were engaged?”
    “Because I’m not,” she spat through clenched teeth. Crossing her arms, she glared at the intruder.
    Jinx introduced himself to Steve by offering his hand. Steve took it while looking at Frannie with a thousand questions in his eyes. Before he could voice them, Tracey breezed in wearing a puffy hot-pink parka. Spying the strange man in the room, she stopped.
    “Whoa, man candy.” When she realized she had spoken aloud, she colored and then turned her attention to her boss. “Come on, bossman. Let’s get you out of here.”
    It took a few minutes for Steve to close down his computer, give Frannie some instructions and pack up his soft-sided briefcase. When he stood, dizziness made him reach out. Frannie grabbed his arm and steadied him. Steve went into the bathroom once more, ran water on the cloth and wiped his face with trembling hands. Trying to give him some privacy and yet keep an eye on him, Frannie stood near the open bathroom door but focused on Jinx.
    “You can’t be here.”
    With a casual air, Jinx leaned on the edge of Steve’s desk and smiled at her. “I had a few minutes and thought I’d see if you were free for lunch. But I can see you’re tied up. Don’t get your panties in a bunch, dollface, it’s not a big deal.”
    “It is a big deal. This is my job, what pays my bills. I don’t mix business with pleasure. You cannot screw this up for me.”
    “Who’s screwing anything up? You have to eat. I have to eat. It didn’t seem like a major undertaking.”
    “It’s a matter of boundaries. You seem to have a small problem with those.”
    Tracey watched the byplay with rapt attention, her eyes darting back and forth like watching a tennis match. A weak voice piped from the bathroom. “Don’t mind me. I’m just dying in here. Go ahead, continue your petty bickering.”
    Senior partner Ronald McGee walked into the room. At sixty-three, he looked more like eighty but had a mind like a bear trap. His balding head had numerous age spots, which Tracey and Frannie had once compared