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“The guys have a session booked here after lunch.”
She glanced at the clock high on the wall. Soon. That was soon. She hadn’t even thought about food, mainly because she was dealing with a very different sort of hunger.
“Wrong time,” she said.
He sighed and pressed a kiss to her forehead. “Later. When this is over.”
His words made her long, which in turn made her feel vulnerable, which led to irritation. It was the irritation that made her push Dimitri back.
“What makes you think you’ll get another chance at me?”
He gave her a cocky grin. “Well, I’m not an expert or anything, but I figured this meant you liked my particular brand of perfectly adequate.”
Men. Idiots. All of them.
She pushed past him and strode to the door. “This boat has sailed, Dementor.”
“Yeah,” he called after her, and she could hear the laughter in his voice. “You keep telling yourself that, Buffy.”
She stomped up the stairs to the sound of him chuckling behind her.
Chapter Eleven
“Benson Security, how may I help you?” Julia made an effort to sound confident and professional although she hated talking to strangers on the phone. Or generally. At least it was a whole lot better than in person.
“This is Commander Tessa Sharp with the Metropolitan police force. I need to speak with Callum. I can’t get him on his mobile.”
“I’m sorry, Callum is out of the office right now.” Julia grabbed a pen.
“In that case, give him this message and tell him to call me back ASAP. Tell him that negotiations have gone better than I thought they would and the timeline for picking up Rudi could move forward.”
“No problem. Anything else?
“That’s it. I’ve got a meeting. Thank you.” The line went dead.
Julia put the note in her tray for Callum and got back to reading quotes for a new roof. She’d only just started to go through them, when the phone rang again. The sooner they employed a receptionist to man the phones the better.
“Your grandmother has gone missing,” were the first words Julia’s mother said to her when she answered the phone.
“Hi Mum, no she hasn’t. I got an email from her this morning.” Julia put aside her work to focus on the conversation. Multitasking wasn’t possible when talking to any member of her family. “Her conference finished and she’s going to visit Machu Picchu with Alice.”
“Oh.” The wind went out of her mother. “I wish the old bat would email me too. It would save a lot of worry. I’m not sure about those two travelling alone. They attract trouble. Aunt Alice especially.”
“You’re one to talk,” Julia pointed out. If something disruptive was going on, odds were her mother would be in the middle of it.
“Next time she emails with a change of plans, can you let me know? It will save me from freaking out. I almost booked tickets to go find her and drag her home.”
Julia smiled at the thought of the media frenzy that would surround the family’s rescue attempt. It would drive her grandmother mad. Although not shy, the woman shared Julia’s introverted nature and the last thing she’d want to be was the centre of attention. No, Gran liked to live under the radar—that way she could get away with a whole lot more than she would otherwise.
“How’s my baby girl?” her mum cooed into the line.
“I’m twenty six, Mum, hardly a baby.”
“You’ll always be my baby. Now stop trying to distract me and tell me how the new office is coming together. And I want to hear about all those hunky men you work with. You didn’t send me photos. I need photos of the hunky men.” There was laughter in her voice.
“Does Dad know you’re collecting photos of hunky men?” Julia knew it was a joke, but she wouldn’t put it past her mother to have an actual collection stashed somewhere.
“He encourages it. Makes me randy.”
