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“Tomorrow?” she repeats in a tone of surprise, and for a moment I think I’ve lost her. That I’ve been too keen, and she didn’t want to meet up that soon after all. “Yes, okay! I guess we should meet in the morning?”
I almost want to put the phone down and utter a prayer of thanks. But I don’t, because I don’t want to let this conversation slip away.
“That would be perfect,” I tell her. “I’ll meet you right where I dropped you off earlier. Shall we say eight in the morning?”
“Great,” Candace says. “That will be right after the hotel breakfast finishes. I’ll try to actually make it this time.”
I laugh. “Well, don’t fill up too much. I know some great restaurants and cafes that we can choose between for lunch.”
“Wow,” Candace says, with a laugh. “I’ll look forward to it, then.”
“See you in the morning,” I say, and I hope it’s the last time I’ll ever have to say it over the phone.
Because if I have my way, from now on, she will see me – because she’ll be sleeping right next to me.
“Bye, Sean,” she says, and I feel the electricity of the simple magic of her saying my name as the call ends.
I only take a moment to process it, to realize what I’ve agreed to. Then I have to spring into action, to call my secretary. Because I need him to do something for me, and it can’t wait. I feel bad calling him this late, because I know he’s keeping Australian time in order to be available for me – but it can’t be avoided.
“Hello? Sean?” he says, sounding a little sleepy like he already got settled in for the night.
“Sorry to call so late,” I say.
“No, it’s fine,” he says, polite as ever.
“You might not be saying that in a moment,” I say, with a laugh. A laugh that wants to bubble up inside of me and run for hours, because this is really happening. “I need you to cancel my whole week for me.”
That has his attention. “What?” he asks, no longer sounding sleepy at all.
“I mean it,” I say. “Make something up for me. Tell them I came down with food poisoning. Anything that will make them understand I can’t come to any more meetings for the rest of the week. And if you can, try to get me the whole schedule for everyone I was supposed to be seeing this week – I’m going to need to avoid being seen in the same places as them, otherwise, they’ll know it was a lie.”
“Wait a second,” he says, and I can almost hear him frantically scribbling down notes. “You’re not actually sick?”
“No, I’m not.”
“Then, what’s going on?”
“I just had the biggest opportunity of my life, and I can’t let it slip away from me,” I tell him. “I don’t expect you to understand. I’ll… I’ll tell you everything when I get back. I hope then I’ll have a happy story to tell. But for now, I just need to get out of all of my obligations here – and I mean all of them. And I need you to send someone else to take my place as quickly as possible, so this deal doesn’t fall through.”
My secretary isn’t a fool, and he’s not unreliable. That’s why I trust him so much. He knows when the time is for getting things done, and when it’s time to ask questions. He’s not going to waste time on finding out all the details now, like some gossiping housewife. He’s going to get the job done.
“I’ll call Jenkins and see if he can get on a flight within the next few hours,” he says, and I can hear the sound of his fingers clattering over a keyboard. He must have got up and walked to his home computer. “Whatever’s going on, don’t worry about work. I’ve got it covered.”
“Thank you,” I say, and I hang up with the utmost confidence that everything really is going to be taken care of.
Which means there’s only one thing for me to focus on now.
Candace.
And making her mine.
Chapter Twelve
Candace
I pick out the flirtiest dress that I brought with me to meet Sean. It isn’t hard. I didn’t exactly pack very many. But I’m hoping that this cute pink number, cut a little lower in the front than yesterday and dotted with tiny strawberries as a motif, will make him look at me in a new way.
But it’s when I’m standing out front of my hotel waiting for him that I look down at myself and start to panic. What if he thinks that I’m dressed like a kid, because of the color and the pattern?
But it’s too late for that because when I look up and glance around to see if I have time to get changed, I see him already walking down the street towards me. He’s dressed in a more relaxed way today, without any business meetings to go to, in black slacks and a white shirt, unbuttoned at the top collar, the sleeves rolled up to the elbows. He looks so hot, I feel myself on fire for him already, and the day hasn’t even begun.
