Up Close and Personal Read Online Free PDF Page A

with my butler?
    “Thank you. Is the rest of the afternoon my own?” she asks. “The Redskins are in the playoffs. I’d like to watch the game.”
    So she’s a sports nut, or at least a football aficionado, something I used to be before my vision was compromised. “Yes. Feel free to use the game room in the basement. The refrigerator down there contains food and drinks. In case you get hungry.”
    “You don’t watch sports?” She gasps as if she’s just realized what she just asked. “I’m sorry.”
    “Nothing to be sorry for, Ms. Bennett. Yes, I watch. But I have some things to attend to this afternoon.” I’m not lying about that. In the past I would have made time to watch the game. Unfortunately, listening to a football game is not the same as seeing it, so I forgo it altogether.
    “May I help?”
    “No. Ms. Bennett. I can manage. Enjoy the game.”
    Except for the bedrooms and the bathrooms, every other room in the house is fitted with security cameras. So while I work in my office, I occasionally check in on her while she watches the game. I may not be able to see her, but I hear her every word. To my delight, she talks back to the TV, excoriating a player for a dropped pass, yelling at a ref for a bad call. Her unbridled enthusiasm for the team enraptures me. So does her obsession with food. She fires off the popcorn maker, pulls stuff from the refrigerator, pours a drink. Her remark to her ham and cheese sandwich gets me hard as stone. Fascinated, I listen as she cheers on her team, a losing effort as it turns out, her dejection seemingly eased somewhat by the food and drinks. When the game ends, she turns off the large-screen TV and strolls out of the room, humming a current pop song.
    And I realize I spent more time listening to her than working on my stockholders’ report.
    After less than a day’s acquaintance, Ms. Bennett is rapidly becoming an unwelcome obsession with me. I have too much going on in my business to fixate on a dewy-eyed female. God knows I don’t need her for sex, not when Minouette’s services are only a phone call away. And I’m not in the market for a serious relationship. Not after what happened with my former fiancee who’d walked out on me. After she realized the extent of my injuries, she’d said she couldn’t bear to see me as less than a man. That remark shouldn’t have hurt as much as it did. After all I’d never fooled myself into believing she was in love. She’d been attracted to my billions, not me. But even my money hadn’t been enough to keep her chained to a blind man. I don’t doubt I could find another bride. Plenty of women out there after all. But I’d never know if she’d married me for my money.
    Maybe I should pay off Ms. Bennett and send her on her way. Two months’ severance would be more than enough for a couple of days’ work. Maybe a new car as well. Moseley tells me her junker is on life support. Problem is with the dinner party I’m throwing next week and the trip to Hong Kong, I really need a personal assistant. She’s smart and eager to please. And I’m not going to find a better candidate than her. So I’ll just have to handle my obsession no matter what it takes.

Chapter 5
    ______________
    Caitlyn
    MONDAY MORNING after breakfast, Mr. MacKay calls me into his office to talk about a dinner party he’s holding a week from Saturday. Why he waited until five minutes before he’s scheduled to leave for work is beyond me. He hands me a yellow legal pad to take notes while rifling off his orders. He’s left the guest list on my desk along with his private stationery. I’m to handwrite every invitation and arrange for each to be delivered by the private messenger company he’s also noted on the list. Oh, and when I get a chance, I’m to arrange to have my things moved.
    Once he departs for D.C., I go in search of my office which I find right next to his. Duh. The room’s gorgeous. Although smaller, it shimmers and sparkles