“Twenty-thousand from October…” Cassidy whispered to herself, bent over the kitchen island, scribbling on an orange Post-it. She ripped it off from the pad and stuck it with the plethora of others adorning Jon’s suite. “That makes…” Oh mother of Iron Man, she was well into the six figures now. Over the course of seven and a half years, the foreign code was used to balance out missing checks. The code was used under Hallie’s name for a little over two years, and then went to Bethany’s for about six months. After that, Shellie’s sign-in was all over the balances until Cassidy was hired.
Befuddling. That was the right word for the stupid code. It had Cassidy’s mind in a warp, and her gaze skated over and over all the sticky notes around her laptop, cascading across the countertop and spilling into the side of the sink. Like Jon had used this place to cook; he barely had time to sleep this week.
How in the world had no one noticed the missing funds? It’d been so obvious since Jon was brought into the practice; his numbers alone took up for half of what was gone last month.
Someone was stealing from the company that was for darn sure. Cassidy rolled her finger across a few Post-its all lined up together with timestamps of the code. The most recent was used just yesterday, under her sign-in. The billing girls were the only ones with access to this particular part of the system, Bethany and Hallie were too airheaded to pull off a scheme like this… or was that all part of an act?
She scrunched her brow, a tiny hammer chipping away at her skull. Maybe she still had access to the old system they’d used. It wasn’t until they’d switched over that the missing funds became a glaring, beaming light.
It was a long shot, but she pulled up her old sign-in and the old-as-heck system.
Access denied.
“Well, boo,” she pouted and blew a raspberry at the screen. As she was wiping the accidental spray on the bottom corner, her saving grace blinked back at her.
Print data backup
Yes, absolutely! Hallelujah. The prompt asked for specific dates, and thanks to her Post-it décor, she was able to put in just the ones she needed. Without the printer, though, she had to settle for the preview, adjusting her glasses as she leaned in and studied every inch of the codes for that billing cycle.
“There you are,” she said, hope flaring in her chest. She dragged her finger along the dotted line connecting the code to its description.
Bi-annual PAP.
Bi-annual pap smear? That wasn’t a thing; an annual pap wasn’t even a thing anymore. Cassidy alt-tabbed to Google, confirming that no pap smear was ever covered bi-annually unless it came back with concerning issues. There wasn’t a code for it in the new system, and yet, it’d been used time and time again.
She toggled over and checked out the code creator—something they’d all been trained on, but only Shellie had authorization to use. With a little bit of digging, Cassidy found herself staring at a page full of created codes, all from two IP addresses, and she would bet her life on which two they were.
“Oh my gosh,” she said, backing away from the screen. “Oh my gosh… I… I think I have it!”
The sun burst through her chest, and her hips started swaying of their own accord. She took a screen shot and saved, sending it off to Shellie with a billion exclamation points in the subject line. Dancing around Jon’s ridiculous suite, she tapped away a message, letting him know she was done keeping him out of his room.
Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dumb were thieves, and she was about to put a hitch in their holiday plans. Served them right for what they’d done. No wonder they never cared to work very hard and took so many breaks during the day; they were collecting their money from the doctors’ pockets.
A raise had to be in her near future. With two billing girls down and money flow back on track, she hoped her brain had finally earned the paycheck it deserved. A “whoop!” escaped her, unable to stay behind closed lips any longer. A drink was in order. And a victory dance. And Ant Man.
As she spun around Jon’s ridiculously large suite, the door beeped open, and she threw her arms out wide.
“Guess who just saved the company?” she practically squealed, jolting Jon in the doorway. He looked way too good for someone who’d been in conference classes all day, his hair combed and styled, a button-down hanging casually out of his slacks, the sleeves rolled in the auto-drool position at the elbow crease.
Her excitement boiled over, and whatever control she’d had throughout the week was lost, and she tossed her arms over his shoulders, bouncing on the balls of her feet.
“I found the culprits,” she said over his shoulder. “Those suckers aren’t going to see another day at the clinic after this, you bet your sweet butt.”
His laughter waved and warmed against her body. She squeezed him just a bit harder, memorizing the feel of him against her, wondering if she’d felt it before.
As her excitement alleviated, embarrassment crept into her cheeks, and she eased away from Jon.
Dr. Bateman.
Her boss.
He nodded toward the Post-it mess. “Like what you’ve done with the place.”
Damn, those green eyes. “It was a very productive evening.”
“Did you get some Ant-Man in?”
“Unfortunately, no.” She started plucking all her sticky notes off the counter, her heart thumping louder with every step Jon took to follow her. “But truth be told, my eyes could probably use a break from screens for a while.”
He smirked, and Cassidy tilted her head. What thought was going through that mind of his?
He took a spot opposite her, carefully pulling the Post-it’s off the edge of the sink. “At least you have your glasses tonight. Not those contacts that like to mess with your eyes even more.”
She stopped. Not just her hands, or her legs, or her mouth… but her heart, her brain, her stomach. “What?” she barely whispered.
He didn’t look up from the Post-its. “You’re pretty blind without them, right?”
Her lungs were having the worst time functioning. “Right.”
Was he not going to elaborate on that? Was that just a well-known little fact about her, or was he hinting at something else? A Post-it crinkled in her hands as she twisted it into a snake-like origami.
“Have you had any time for Disney this week?” she asked, throwing the subject right into the tiny pit of knowledge she had about her Westley. The origami snake was now getting damp between her fingers.
He let out a soft snort. “Between patient check-ins and boring-as-hell classes, haven’t gotten to any movies. Disney or otherwise.”
Okay, he wasn’t taken aback by the question. That boded well.
Cassidy inched around the island, trying to casually drag her hands over the countertop, like she was only picking Post-its and not probing.
“Maybe you’ll have time tonight,” she said, her faux innocent tone unconvincing to anyone. Jon’s gaze finally moved up, meeting hers for the briefest moment before he handed her the stack of stickies he’d gathered.
“I don’t know… someone raved about the new Avengers movie nearly the whole party when I was with her. Maybe I should give it a shot so she gets off my case.”
Ho-lee Mo-lee.
Cassidy dropped the stickies and snatched his wrist, her palms shaking something fierce as she raised his hand to her neck. Her breath was locked away in her lungs, her heart in the Indy 500, her gaze on his as he stepped in and ran a thumb across her pulse.
Her eyelids fluttered closed, his fingertips caressing and soothing her skin, the memory of him doing this very thing two weeks ago as fresh now as it had been then.
Her senses intensified with heat as she felt him move in closer, sensed his mouth just inches from hers. She leaned up, her lips accepting his powerful kiss, her body melding with his. Her fingers curled into the fabric at his sides, pulling him in, melting into the gentle touch of his hands on her face.
She still couldn’t breathe, but she chose to use him for air, giving back as much as he gave her, tears creeping up to the backs of her eyes out of pure joy.
It was him. She’d crossed him out of her mind so many times, but there wasn’t a single doubt now.
She’d found him.
And she was going to kiss him as hard as she could… before she had to let him go.