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“Mr. Sterling is the best.”
Hope shook her head.
Tony crossed the reception area and reached for the one cup remaining in the tray. Then he sneezed violently.
“Are you allergic?” Hope asked in what might have been her least intelligent question ever.
“Must be the romance. He’s allergic to romance,” Skyler replied.
“I’ve never had a reaction before,” he protested, eyes watering.
“I’ll move mine into my office,” Hope said. “Sorry.”
“No problem.” He sneezed again, and he had to move his cup as far away from his body as possible to prevent his coffee from spilling over.
“I’ll put mine in the conference room,” Skyler offered. Then she ruined it. “If I have to.”
“I’ll soldier on,” Tony said, his watery eyes showing his fortitude. After another sneeze, he grabbed one of the doughnuts that he’d said he didn’t eat, then sought refuge in his office.
Hope and Skyler exchanged shrugs. “Poor thing.” Hope cast her glance toward his now closed door.
“I had no idea,” Skyler responded.
Hope scooped up her bouquet and carried it to the credenza in her office.
Skyler walked into the office. “You forgot this.” She held up Hope’s mug. Instead of leaving, she plonked herself down in a chair.
“Do you mind?”
“I know who they’re from. It was the same delivery company.” With a cheeky grin, Skyler put down Hope’s cup, then settled back to sip her own.
“Fine.” Hope snatched up the envelope and slid her finger under the flap. What can dinner hurt? “As you suspected, Rafe,” she informed Skyler. “Just like yours, a thank-you for our efforts.” The explanation was half right, but the lie was bitter.
“Tell me what happened after I left last night.”
“Nothing.”
Skyler raised one of her pencil-enhanced eyebrows. For a second, Hope considered continuing the fib. Then again, if she did go to the Parthenon, she would need Skyler’s help in covering her Saturday-night fundraiser. Giving just enough information, she drew a breath and admitted, “He invited me to go away with him this weekend.”
“No shit?” Her assistant leaned forward and slipped her drink onto the desk. “Are you going? Spending time with McHottie? Heir to one of the world’s biggest fortunes? Oh my God.” She fanned herself. “Wait. Wait, wait, wait. Wait a sainted second.” She drummed her fingers on the arm of her chair.
Hope could almost see Skyler start to join the puzzle pieces together. “You’re the woman he was talking about last night.” She phrased it as a statement, rather than a question. “That’s why none of the others were suitable. Damn, Hope. Are you going? You’ve got to go.”
She was making Hope dizzy.
“I’m thinking about it.”
“What the hell is there to think about?”
She laughed. Put that way, what was there to think about? “I have a ticket to an event on Saturday night. A charity dinner and silent auction fundraiser at the Ivy for a pet adoption group.”
“No worries. I’ll go. I had a date and the rat-fink punk canceled on me. It’ll do me good to get out rather than staying home and feeling sorry for myself.”
Hope saw through Skyler’s brave smile. Her heart was generous, and she’d spent years taking care of others, investing herself in relationships, sometimes at great emotional cost. Hope frowned.
“I promise I would say something if it was a problem.”
“I’d need to leave late Friday morning.”
“Shouldn’t be anything that I can’t handle.”
When Hope remained silent, Skyler pursed her lips. “What’s really going on?”
“I’m not his type.”
“Well, he must think you are if he invited you along after you spent the night at his place.”
Don’t remind me. “It’s…complicated.” She didn’t have the courage to admit he’d also proposed.
“Is there a reason you don’t want to?” Skyler’s stared. “Oh.” She tugged on her braid. “The whole BDSM thing?”
