“You got it all worked out.” Cal gazed at her glowing features as she laughed, the rosy flush in her cheeks. “I never had a doubt.”
* * *
I never had a doubt.
Lyssa let the compliment sink in.
Cal believed in her. And that hug… The feel of his arms around her was so good. But she couldn’t fixate on that now—or ever.
Her email pinged a moment later. “Hopefully, that’s from Roger.”
“If it is,” Cal said, “it will be the fastest IRS correction in history, and I’m going to give you a raise.”
Indeed, when she clicked her email, the corrected letter had arrived. Her grin was huge. “I’ll send it to Gideon immediately so he can stop worrying.”
She forwarded the message and received an immediate happy-face emoji and a thumbs-up from Gideon.
“That settles it,” Cal said, his approving smile going straight to her heart. “I’m raising your salary by five thousand a year.”
“Five thousand?” She could hardly believe it. She wouldn’t have to live on peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and an apple for lunch anymore. But since all she’d done was fix something that never should have been broken in the first place, she said, “You don’t have to do that, Cal. Especially when I know we need every penny we can get for the foundation.”
“I sure as hell do need to do it, Lyssa. I’m a man of my word. And,” he teased, “do you think I want to lose a star employee who has an in with the IRS? This calls for a celebration. Something special to commemorate our first major victory.”
She should have been exhausted after having been up for almost twenty-four hours. Instead, she felt energized. “Fabulous. What shall we do?”
“If you trust me, I might have a surprise up my sleeve that I think you’ll like.”
“Of course I trust you.” Even if a part of her wished he was a little less trustworthy when it came to his unspoken vow to her brothers never to look at her as an attractive woman. “How long do I have to get ready?” By now, she was desperate for a shower and a change of clothes.
“How about an hour? That should give me time to make arrangements.”
“How dressed up should I get?” She’d packed mostly business attire, plus jeans, a shirt, and one dress just in case.
“On the dressier side, if you’ve got something that will work.”
“I do.”
After unpacking and shaking the wrinkles out of her dress, she took a luxurious shower. She was back in the sitting room before the hour was up.
“You look nice,” he said.
She might have blushed, even though it was nothing more than an ordinary compliment her brothers or parents might have given her. “Thank you.” She ran her gaze over him. He looked dashing in a blue pinstripe suit. He always dressed well, his suits tailored and fitting to perfection. “So do you.”
A cab was waiting outside, and Cal handed the driver a piece of paper with their destination. As they started a madcap race through town, she gazed at the crowded London streets flashing by, the double-decker buses, the tower of Westminster Cathedral. “I love London. It’s always so full of life.”
“Have you been here before?” Cal asked.
“Daniel took me during summer break once in high school when he had a conference to attend. I loved the way history comes to life in every nook and cranny. I’ve always longed to come back.”
He looked confused by the idea that she’d never returned. “I’m sure your brothers could have sent you back anytime you wanted. If not on one of their private planes, then first class on a commercial airline.”
Lyssa shook her head. “No, I hate the idea of sponging off them. I know they’re billionaires, and sending me on another trip to London wouldn’t have been so much as a drop in their bank bucket, but I decided a long time ago that I wanted to pay my own way as soon as I was able.”
She felt spotlighted by Cal’s gaze as he said, “I get it. I’ve always wanted to make my own way too.”
The cabbie lurched to the left and stomped on the brakes right before he slammed into the curb. That was when she saw where they were.
“Are we going up on the London Eye?” When Cal nodded, she practically hugged him again, on purpose this time, rather than stumbling into his arms. “When I was here before, I did a tour of the Tower of London and a boat trip down the Thames to Greenwich, but I didn’t have time to fit in a ride on the London Eye.”
Cal’s smile grew. “Then it will be my pleasure to take you on London’s finest Ferris wheel.”
Everything about London excited her, but going up in the London Eye would be amazing.
Especially because she’d be with Cal.
Chapter Three
Cal paid the cabbie as Lyssa climbed out to stand on the pavement and gaze up.
The London Eye dominated the skyline. She’d heard the pods could hold up to twenty people and had an amazing three-hundred-and-sixty-degree view of London. At the top, London would be a carpet of lights below them.
Lyssa clapped her hands in delight. “This is such a wonderful treat. Thank you.”
She felt Cal close beside her, smelled his deliciously male scent she shouldn’t have let herself notice. And yet she closed her eyes a moment to savor it.
“Thank you for solving a huge problem and making it look so easy.”
“That’s my job,” she said with a smile. She felt giddy, a combination of happiness and probably sleep deprivation as well.
A tall attendant with bushy white eyebrows appeared. “Mr. Danniger?”
“Yes.” Cal shook the man’s hand. “Are you ready for us?”
“Your capsule will be here in a few moments,” he answered in a cultured British accent.
“We have a whole capsule to ourselves?” She turned to Cal, her heart rate tripping over itself at his kindness.
“We deserve a solo capsule.” Cal smiled. “Especially after what you accomplished today.”
She felt herself blush. Aw shucks, it was nothing, she wanted to say. But Cal made her feel important and needed, and she didn’t want to diminish those feelings.
The attendant gestured for them to follow him. “Your private capsule has arrived.”
Their reflections showed in the capsule’s one-way-view windows as they bypassed the waiting queue. Whispers, along with the clicks of cameras, followed them as though they were celebrities.
The dress she wore was one of her favorites, the green fabric accentuating her dark hair, the cleavage just short of plunging, circumspect yet with a hint of skin.
The attendant opened the door with a flourish.
Stepping inside, Lyssa gasped. She twirled around the interior, taking in every detail as the door slid shut on their own private nightclub. “How did you arrange all this in an hour and a half?”
Cal smiled, a sparkle in his eye. “It’s amazing what can be accomplished when you set your mind to a task. But you already know that, don’t you?”
In one corner, a string quartet played a pretty ballad from the forties. In another corner, a lavish array of appetizers was spread out on a long table. A parquet dance floor lay in the center beneath fairy lights crisscrossing the ceiling. Two leather chairs faced out to maximize the view, a champagne bucket on a café table between them.