“This place is straight out of American Graffiti,” he said, his expression bemused.
“You asked for quick,” Alice said with a challenge in her tone as she climbed out of the limo.
He held the diner’s door for her, and she stepped into the familiar cacophony of voices, canned music, and clattering china and silverware. The interior sported the classic diner decor of black-and-white floor tiles, red vinyl upholstered booths and counter stools, and gaudy murals of local sites of interest. A glass case displayed towering wedges of lemon meringue pie and cheesecake smothered in bright red cherry topping. The aromas of garlic and cooking grease floated past her nostrils, making her salivate.
When they sat down in a booth, the host handed them multipage plastic menus the size of blueprints. Derek flipped through his.
“You look overwhelmed,” Alice said, not without a certain satisfaction.
He lowered the vinyl tome. “Not at all. I’m just enjoying the nearly infinite range of offerings. It’s been a while since I’ve eaten at a diner.”
“How long a while?” It was hard to picture him frequenting diners.
“A few years ago when I had a project in Philadelphia. How’s Nick’s Specialty Burger?”
“Huge and messy.”
“Sounds like my kind of lunch.” He closed the menu.
When the waitress appeared, Alice ordered her usual frittata with ham and peppers while Derek ordered the burger with the works.
After the waitress raced away, Derek folded his arms and leaned back, his shoulders spanning half the vinyl banquette. “When I arrived this morning, you seemed somewhat . . . wary. I’m interested in finding out why.”
“Wary?” She swallowed and stared down at the place mat printed with coupons. “Just a little overawed by having a founding partner from KRG in my humble office.”
“Overawed?” His tone was skeptical. “Challenging would be a better description.”
Alice glanced up to find his attention focused on her with the intensity of a laser. She hadn’t expected this because she didn’t think he’d care how she felt about him.
She cast around for a way to deflect his question, but what difference did it make anyway? He was going to shuffle her and her issue along to the company’s resident computer genius so she’d never have to deal with Derek again.
She lifted her chin. “If you want the truth, it was your phone call that made me ‘challenging.’” Her stomach twisted into a ball of nervousness. Who was she to criticize a man with his position and success? “You made it clear that you thought I was simply incompetent and you didn’t need any input from me.”
His frown seemed directed more at himself than at her. “I don’t remember saying anything to indicate that.”
“Of course not. You’re too professional to come right out and state it. But it seemed obvious when you asked me no questions and got off the phone in less than two minutes.” She considered adding that she suspected her gender had contributed to his assumptions, but she couldn’t honestly say that she’d seen any indication of sexism from him. She’d give him a half a gold star for that.
His frown had deepened with every sentence and she waited for him to explode. Instead he twirled a spoon between his fingers while he stared out the window, affording her an excellent view of the slight bump in his nose, along with his perfectly angled cheekbones. Her fingers itched to touch him in both places.
“But you knew who Ada Lovelace was, so that’s a point in your favor,” she finally said, trying to make up for her frankness.
He turned back to her. “My apologies. I didn’t intend to give that impression.”
Alice goggled in disbelief. Had he really apologized? Her mother never felt the need. Gabrielle believed that a mere smile on her beautiful face would take the place of a sincere “I’m sorry.” In fact, she couldn’t remember Gabrielle ever acknowledging that she had been at fault.
“The truth is that I was hoping that you were incompetent,” he said with the smile that brought out his dimple. “I have to be in Asia in about ten days to work with a new client and I have a huge amount of preparation to get through before I leave. If you didn’t know what you were doing, I could find the problem quickly and go back to my project. Instead, you’ve hooked me on the mystery of the tiny discrepancies.”
“I thought you were going to turn it over to Leland Rockwell.” Alice raised the objection to cover how he had knocked her off-balance with his admission.
“Only because he knows far more about software than I do. I expect to be kept in the loop.”
“I see.” Alice took a sip of her iced tea while she considered the fact that he wasn’t foisting her on his partner so he could bail. She was also giving herself time to recover from that darned smile of his. It wasn’t the full-on, master-of-the-universe flash of dazzling white teeth that got to her. It was the self-deprecating dimple that sent a wave of longing rippling through her body.
“Not to mention that I failed to find the problem.” His lips curved into a rueful slant. God, she wanted to know what they would feel like against hers but she never would. Men like Derek Killion didn’t kiss small-town bookkeepers who wore glasses and looked intelligent. “I’m hoping Leland can restore the honor of KRG Consulting.”
She could feel her bones melting under his charm. Soon she would become a puddle on the red vinyl cushion. She braced her spine. “Honestly, you’ve done me a favor.”
He raised his eyebrows in surprise. “How so?”
“I thought I was losing my ability to add and subtract. You’ve restored my faith in my work.”
“Never doubt yourself,” he said, his expression turning serious. “You are quite brilliant at what you do.”
His words flowed into her and sealed up the cracks in her professional confidence. “Thanks. You’re not too shabby at financial analysis yourself.”
Alice silently blessed the waitress who arrived with their food. The distraction allowed her to absorb Derek’s compliment without doing something stupid like bursting into tears or grinning from ear to ear, two equally possible reactions. That’s how great her relief was.
Of course, what she did was multiple levels of complexity below what he did, but she would accept the validation with gratitude.
As their server slid the plates onto the table, Derek eyed the mountain of his hamburger with dismay. “Can I get a forklift to eat this with?”
Alice laughed, albeit with a slight quaver, and took a bite of her frittata, watching as the urbane Mr. Killion wrestled with Nick’s oversize creation. He finally decided to cut it into quarters and managed to take a bite without splattering anything on his immaculate white shirt.
“Now that’s a burger,” he said after swallowing.
“I warned you.”
“You have to see a hamburger like this to believe it.” He maneuvered a second bite into his mouth.
She liked watching him manipulate the food with his big, square hands. She’d expected elegant, tapering fingers. Instead, his seemed made to chop wood or lay bricks. She could also imagine them controlling the reins of a high-spirited team of horses. And that was as far as she would allow her imagination to go about what his hands could control.