“Well, if you don’t understand,” Sarah shouted, angry again. “How the hell am I supposed to understand?”

Matt’s face lit with enthusiasm. “Now, see, there’s one thing right there. Saying hell isn’t such a big deal, but it reminds me that you grew up with a bunch of men, and when you get angry you can curse better than most of my friends.”

“And that’s a reason to send me purity flowers?”

“Maybe the person who sent the flowers sees there’s another side to you?”

Because Matt was still talking about the flower sender as if he were a third party, Sarah realized that there had to be an explanation for why he couldn’t talk about this directly. She fell to her sofa in exhaustion, and decided that for now, going along would be the easiest thing to do.

“I’m confused. He doesn’t like my cursing so he sent me flowers to let me know he thinks I’m pure?”

“No, he sent you flowers because he’s telling you that he sees something about you that nobody else sees.”

“Why not just tell me with words?”

“Maybe he’s shy.”

Sarah narrowed her eyes at Matt. “Shy?”

“All right, you don’t like shy,” Matt said, clearly exasperated, further confirming that he hated talking about this directly. “How about this? To have your name and business address, this guy has to be somebody you know. Probably somebody you work with.” He caught her gaze. “That means there’s a relationship of some sort already in place that he doesn’t want to lose. So, he’s not going to make a move until he sees how you and everybody at Wintersoft react to these flowers.”

Dumbfounded, Sarah only stared at Matt, realizing she should have thought of this herself. Cautious Matt would never get involved with a woman he feared might reject him. Especially not someone he worked with. There was no way he’d jeopardize their good boss/assistant relationship, particularly since he would also be risking the embarrassment of being snubbed in front of the entire staff of Wintersoft.

“So, what am I supposed to do?”

“You can’t control the reactions of everybody at Wintersoft, but you could at least send this guy the message that you’re interested in him too.”

“I can’t just tell him?”

“You don’t know who he is, remember?” Sarah squeezed her eyes shut, focusing herself on the project as he wanted it because he was calling the shots. “Right. So what do I do?”

“Well, he sent you flowers to let you know he’s interested. You have to send him a signal that you’re interested.”

“Send him a signal?”

“Yeah, you know,” Matt said, motioning with his hand. “Dress up or something.”

Sarah frowned. “Dress up? Are you saying I don’t dress right?”

Matt shook his head. “No. You dress fine for the office. But what you wear to the office isn’t going to tell a guy you’re interested.”

“So I need to dress prettier?”

“More like feminine. You’re an attractive girl, Sarah. But you hide that. In the office, that’s not a big deal because you’re supposed to be focused on work not the way you look. But if you want to show a guy you’re interested, the short route would be to bring out your feminine side.”

“My feminine side,” Sarah repeated, staring into Matt’s beautiful blue eyes. She was flooded with something soft and warm, yet also exciting. He wanted her to bring out her feminine side—which meant he saw she had a feminine side and might even have daydreamed about that part of her the way she’d daydreamed about his kisses.

Suddenly feeling female and desirable, she removed her glasses and smiled demurely at Matt.

And Matt’s heart flip-flopped. He had always seen the pretty face behind the glasses, and, just like her secret admirer, Matt knew there was another side to her, a more feminine side. But unlike her secret admirer, he couldn’t do a darned thing about it.

He rose from her sofa. “So, you understand about the flowers then?”

She nodded. “Yeah. I get it.”

“Good,” Matt said, walking to her door. He tried to tell himself that he wasn’t upset that she was about to get involved with someone, but he was. Unfortunately, he also knew that as her immediate supervisor, he wasn’t allowed to be attracted to her, so he would have to get over it. And he would. With a quarterly statement that had to be done before October fifteenth, he couldn’t let disappointment over a woman divert his attention.

He grabbed the doorknob, but didn’t open the door. Instead, he faced her. “And I’ll see you Tuesday?”

“Yes,” she said, smiling again.

Looking at her beautiful smile and her pretty green eyes, Matt’s heart jerked to double time. He had an almost irresistible urge to kiss her, or at the very least ask her out. After an entire year of being good friends, suddenly he felt entitled to be the guy who got to know the other woman he knew she was hiding in there.

But he couldn’t. She was his assistant. And if that wasn’t enough to keep him in line, he also had a life plan. It didn’t exactly prevent him from dating, but it did preclude him from doing anything that messed up his source of income and his career. He needed his salary and bonuses to fund the investments he had chosen to reach his goal of being a multimillionaire before he was forty. Forty was young enough that he would still have plenty of time to get married and have children. Plus, that gave him nine more years to fund his investments, which—because he was a savvy speculator—were earning interest and dividends and growing on their own. Everything was going according to plan, so now was not the time to turn into a risk taker. Dating his executive assistant was definitely a risk.

Besides, after she sent the message to her secret admirer that she was interested, she would be dating somebody else.

Matt left Sarah’s apartment and she all but danced for joy. She couldn’t believe it! He liked her! He’d sent her flowers, explained why when she misinterpreted them and then told her how to respond.

She paused in her dancing.

Dear God. All Matt had really told her was that he wanted her to be more feminine.

Though Sarah knew she cleaned up well and also knew she could easily never swear again, she had to admit she wasn’t in touch with that other side of herself Matt claimed to see. And that was the part he liked. If she wanted to prove to him that their office romance could work, she not only had to uncover the part of her that he liked, she really had to become that woman.

Realizing this was beyond her, she fell to her sofa trying to think of someone who could help her. Two of her Wintersoft coworkers, Ariana Fitzpatrick and Sunny Robbins, immediately came to mind, but she discounted both because Ariana was pregnant and Sunny was busy with law school. Sarah didn’t want to impose on either of them. Especially not on a Friday night when both were probably up to their ears in well-deserved bubble baths!

Besides, what she needed was the help of someone who truly understood men and woman and romance.

Men, women and romance?

A thought struck her and she reached for her portable phone and the little book of telephone numbers on her end table.

No one knew more about romance than Carmella Lopez.

After a long Labor Day weekend of visiting salons, shopping and long discussions over choices at the makeup counter, Sarah sat on the fat khaki chair in her living room across from Carmella Lopez and Emily Winters, daughter of Lloyd Winters, owner of Wintersoft.

When Sarah had called Carmella Friday night, Carmella had suggested they enlist Emily’s help with Sarah’s makeover because Emily bridged the gap between Carmella’s and Sarah’s generations. And she had been correct. Using bits and pieces of the experience of three females of varying ages, they had turned Sarah into a stunning woman. With a closet full of new clothes, a new hairdo and just the right makeup, she now had as much confidence about her looks as she had about roping cattle.