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work when Tina arrived, and no one had seen or heard from him. She gave the coffee cake to Alexis and walked to her office. After putting away her things, Tina reached for her cell phone and dialed Erik’s number. It went straight to voice mail. Hum , she thought. He probably turned it off because he’s in a meeting and can’t be disturbed.
    Tina walked back to the administration office by Alexis to get a cup of coffee.
    Alexis had already cut the coffee cake into manageable slices and was busy filling the coffee area with disposable cups and condiments. “Have you found him yet?” Alexis asked as she poured a cup of coffee for both of them.
    Tina thought Alexis looked cute in the butter yellow and brown skirt set she wore. Alexis had great tastes in clothing and knew how to accessorize. “Not yet,” Tina replied. “The calls go directly to voice mail.”
    Alexis added cream and sugar to the coffee, stirred, and handed one of the cups to Tina.
    “Thank you.”
    “Did you ever find out who that woman was we saw him having dinner with yesterday?”
    Tina shook her head. “She was probably a client.”
    Alexis frowned at her. “That means you didn’t ask him.”
    “No, why should I? I trust Erik.”
    Alexis turned up her nose. “Girl, you’re too good. He never would have made it out of that restaurant alive if he was my man.”
    Tina nearly choked on the hot coffee. Sometimes, Alexis could be quite humorous.
    “So he wasn’t home when you woke up?” Alexis had no problems asking personal questions.
    “No.”
    “Has that ever happened before?”
    “No, so it had to be something important that got him out the house so early,” Tina replied.
    “And has his ass late for work,” Alexis added.
    Tina peered at her over the coffee cup.
    “What? Just because he’s sleeping with the boss doesn’t mean he can break the rules. I’d dock his ass if I were you.”
    That thought had crossed Tina’s mind. Alexis was right. She couldn’t show favoritism. “I’ll give him to the top of the hour to show up. If he doesn’t, I’ll dock his ass, like you said.” She reached for a piece of the coffee cake and sampled it. Delicious . She’d driven across town to find it, since it was Erik’s favorite, and now he wasn’t even present to enjoy it. Where could he be? Maybe she should check his calendar. He probably told her about the meeting and she just forgot about it.
    The office door opened and she and Alexis stopped talking and looked in its direction. Kevin entered carrying a briefcase and dressed in a dark blue business suit, tie and white shirt. Funny, it was the first time she’d seen him in anything so businesslike, and she liked it. He looked very professional with his dark hair combed back from his forehead and wearing his glasses instead of contacts.
    He entered, walked over to them, and bowed. “Good morning, ladies.”
    Tina bowed back and Alexis just kind of stood there, openly checking him out with a smug expression on her face.
    “Welcome to The Design Factory,” Tina said once they ended the greeting. She wanted to make him feel comfortable on his first day. “Would you like some coffee?”
    “No, thank you,” he said. “I’m more of a tea person.”
    “You have a complete tea set in your office,” Alexis replied. “Tina insisted.”
    “Thank you,” he said again.
    “We have coffee cake,” Tina said, still trying to get adjusted to his new look.
    “I know,” Kevin said, reaching down and retrieving something near her lip. “A crumb.”
    “Thank you,” Tina said, blushing as his finger lingered on her cheek. Kevin was such a nice fellow. “Let me show you to your office.”
    “It is right next to hers,” Alexis replied with a smile. “So she can keep an eye on you.”
    Kevin removed his finger slowly from Tina’s cheek and chuckled at Alexis’ joke. “I’ll try to remember that.”
    “Don’t pay Alexis any mind,” Tina said, leading him away from the nosey secretary.