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The phone rang, and since Barb had already left, she went to answer it. She frowned when she saw David’s line light up. It wasn’t unusual for him to take a call, she just hadn’t realised he was still in the office.
She was cleaning off her desk when he entered her office. She felt his overwhelming presence even before he spoke. He commanded the space and her attention. “David.” Instead of a smile, a storm was gathered in his blue eyes, darkening them by several shades.
“That was Cindy Hoskins RSVP’ing for our open house.”
Her heart stuttered.
“Something you’d like to tell me about?”
She wondered how much he knew. Then she sighed, realising it didn’t matter. He could never trust a woman who hid anything, and she’d already committed a huge gaffe. “We had an issue with a contract not being delivered on time. I chatted with Cindy, asked for an extension, and we offered them the same terms as last year. I got the contract over to her, and the copy with her original signature arrived today.” She picked up a pen and toyed with it. The same pen she’d used to sign the document in his stead.
“At what point were you going to tell me?”
She met his gaze. “I wasn’t.”
“Thank you for your honesty.” Without another word, he left. He didn’t ask for explanations or lose his temper. In fact, his control gave her goosebumps.
Just then, she acknowledged how badly she’d screwed up. She had tried to reach him by phone, but the missed connection was no reason to have kept quiet. To him, siding with her mother and covering the situation up must feel like a betrayal.
She dropped the pen.
At first, she cloaked herself in righteous indignation. He was overreacting. This was why they shouldn’t have got involved. Her business decision should feel like that, nothing more serious. In fact, she had told him she didn’t want a BDSM relationship, just to play in the bedroom.
Then she admitted the truth, in agreeing to go home with him tomorrow night, they were in a relationship. She thought of him, remembered him, fantasised about him.
He’d placed her in a position of trust in his organisation when he could have brought in his own people. He’d kept on her mother and had done his best to help her flourish, and now he was brokering a deal with another company so her mom’s dream could become an even bigger reality.
She’d thought she was brave by putting a stop to the name-calling. In actuality, she should have done that months before.
He wasn’t the one who had ever mixed things up. She was.
Could it be any worse? She took a drink of water for courage before walking to his office. His door was closed, so she knocked. She turned the knob and peeked in when he didn’t answer. He was sitting with his back to the door, staring out of the window. “Can I come in?” she asked.
“No, Maggie. I’d prefer you didn’t.”
“I’d like to talk.”
“I wouldn’t.”
She trembled as she pulled the door closed. In her office, she stalled, hoping he’d relent and come after her, but he didn’t.
All night, she kept her phone next to her, waking up every hour to check the screen.
There was no contact, and, as she got ready the following day, she had no idea how to dress. David had told her to wear a short skirt. He’d also invited her to spend the night. She was sure that wasn’t happening, since he hadn’t said a word to her after he’d refused to invite her into his office.
She opted for her usual wear, pretending her soul didn’t feel fractured.
Pain split her head, made worse by the several blocks’ walk from her car. When she entered the front door, she headed straight for the medicine cabinet in the break room. She downed two aspirin with the black coffee Barb poured.
“Too much fun last night?”
Maggie shook her head, and even that hurt. “Not enough sleep.”
The morning passed in a blur of activity as the caterers arrived and centrepieces and new marketing pieces were delivered. She instructed an intern on how to set up the booth they used for trade shows, and the IT techs tested their projectors.
A copywriter entered her office and handed her the final script they’d be using during the announcements to ensure they thanked everyone who was there. He also handed her David’s bio to use when she introduced him as the new owner.
