Sex By The Numbers

Marie Donovan

Dear Esteemed Clients, Please disregard any minor discrepancies in your holdings. We are working diligently to discover which of our trusted executives has his hand in the till. Sincerely, the Management.Accountant Keeley Davis has been hired to find out who's been bilking money from the well-respected Bingham Bros. investment firm. To do so, Keeley will have to don a disguise and work closely with tastier-than-homemade-cherry-pie controller Dane Weiss!As Keeley tramps herself up as Dane's personal assistant Cherry Smith her calculations start paying off big dividends–like when she serves up a hot plate of Dane ? la mode. But as things start to really sizzle, Keeley wonders whether she can keep her eyes on the bottom line. . . when all she can think of is keeping Dane in her bed?

“I think I have an idea of what you need…”

Dane sincerely hoped not.

“I’ll leave first,” Keeley said, picking up her raincoat. “We don’t want to be seen together.”

“Good idea.” Dane felt foolish about the cloak-and-dagger stuff, but that didn’t keep him from admiring her ass as she strolled away. She paused and looked over her shoulder to catch him staring. He gave a feeble little wave and her lips curved in a small smile.

Then she pushed out the cafе’s door and disappeared.

Dane exhaled loudly. Had Keeley tried to arouse him on purpose? If so, she’d done a good job. He did have big appetites, and not just for fine food, but for fine women.

And now he had the sneaking suspicion that he could eat a whole can of cherry filling off another woman’s body and it wouldn’t have the same impact on him as the earlier sight of Keeley’s pink tongue licking her finger clean thanks to that cherry tartlet….

Dear Reader,

Keeley Davis, the heroine of Sex by the Numbers, popped onto my computer screen as I was writing my previous book, Bare Necessities. One of the exotic dancers says she needs a costume receipt for her accountant, a former exotic dancer herself.

A stripper-turned-accountant intrigued me. I had no name, no physical description, only that she was a small-town girl determined to lift herself out of a difficult background. But I had just the man for her—ambitious, brawny Dane Weiss, a farm-raised, world-traveling business consultant.

Keeley is all those girls we vaguely wonder about after we leave high school—the girls of whom little is expected, except to drop out of school and work unskilled jobs. What if one of those girls surprised everyone by getting her education and a great career? A surprise to everyone except herself, because she always knew she was tough enough, smart enough and brave enough to succeed.

Here’s to all the girls who make it and the people who help them!

Marie Donovan

P.S. I’m delighted to hear from my readers. Visit www.mariedonovan.com to enter fun contests and learn more about my upcoming books.

SEX BY THE NUMBERS

Marie Donovan

TORONTO • NEW YORK • LONDON

AMSTERDAM • PARIS • SYDNEY • HAMBURG

STOCKHOLM • ATHENS • TOKYO • MILAN • MADRID

PRAGUE • WARSAW • BUDAPEST • AUCKLAND

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Marie Donovan, an award-winning author, is a Chicago-area native who got her fill of tragedies and unhappy endings by majoring in opera/vocal performance and Spanish literature. As an antidote to all that gloom, she read romance novels voraciously throughout college and graduate school.

Donovan has worked for a large suburban public library for the past nine years as both a cataloguer and a bilingual Spanish storytime presenter. She graduated magna cum laude with two bachelor’s degrees from a Midwestern liberal arts university and speaks six languages. She enjoys reading, gardening and yoga.

Books by Marie Donovan

HARLEQUIN BLAZE

204—HER BODY OF WORK

302—HER BOOK OF PLEASURE

371—BARE NECESSITIES

To my mother, a self-made woman,

whose bravery continues to this day,

and to all the girls she’s helped.

Contents

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

Epilogue

1

“ARE YOU SURE my bre