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“You don’t need to be embarrassed.”
“I’m not.” Though she glanced out at that alley. “I’m growing a business from scratch. That means not spending too much on rent and watching my cash-burn rate. What are you doing here?”
“You hung up on me.”
“You must’ve made that call from right outside the office.”
He grinned. “Preparation is everything.”
From the other room they heard Sophie. “Rick and I are leaving now. We’re leaving. You’re all alone. We’ll be gone ages. Haydn, is it okay if I get a selfie with you later?”
Teela rolled her eyes. “No worries,” Haydn called in his best Aussie and got a shriek of laughter back before they heard the main door open and close. “Rick is a good guy. I’ll have to remember that at his annual review.”
“Did the phone call you were waiting on come?” Teela said, with a swift conversational turn.
“Not yet.” He really needed it to.
He couldn’t fund the anti-piracy program alone over the long haul. It had to be financially sustainable and satellite time wasn’t cheap. If he failed, millions of dollars of aid would continue to benefit the wrong people and he couldn’t let the warlords win.
The wildcard invitation to headline the leadership forum was a gift. Sydney was where a few key potential donors he’d wanted to tap lived. It was also a city he could afford to practice his statesmanship skills on, where people might be a little more forgiving of an actor not sticking to his knitting and still learning to flex is activist wings.
Teela likely knew more about how to make the numbers work than he did. He put the bag down and started taking wrapped parcels from it. He had gourmet sandwiches, juices, and coffee that was still warm. Preparation and a hotel kitchen at his command.
“Sit, eat and let me explain.”
She stayed standing. “About what?”
“That awful card.”
She considered denying it had affected her. He saw it in the way she focused on the sandwiches, and when she sat, it was with an air of being trapped.
“It was needlessly cavalier. You deserved better from me.”
“I don’t have any expectations. We had our night and it was wonderful but it’s not like it can mean anything. I don’t want it to mean anything. It would be bad for business.”
Which was entirely the right attitude for her to have. There was a cue there, an exit stage right, and he stepped all over it.
“It meant something to me. That’s what I should’ve said on the card. If there is anything I can do to help you with your car repairs, or your business, I’d be more than happy to.”
“You don’t need to. . .”
He did need to. “I should’ve said it was a privilege to meet you. An honor to spend the night with you. I enjoyed your company. I loved our little games, and I adored being intimate with you.”
She made a sound of surprise. It was a prompt, and he ignored it.
“I should’ve asked you to stay another night, heck, stay the weekend. I’m supposed to be in Byron Bay surfing with the Hemsworth brothers, but I’d rather be here with you. If that was something you wanted?”
Teela quirked her head. She’d moved past defensive and cool into a new mood. “Why didn’t you ask me?”
That mood was interrogation. “I could tell you it was the best thing for you, a clean cut. That it was what you said you needed it to be. That keeping a one-night stand to one night is the rational, adult thing to do, especially as I’m me and that makes it complicated.”
“All those things are true and entirely reasonable. Except that you’re in my office.” A fact that had earned him the silent treatment from Rick on the way over here.
“They are true, but not for you. You know the score. I can’t afford to trust easily in circumstances like this and I trust you. All that stopped me asking you to spend more time with me was—”
“Ego.”
Cheeky. “I can see where so-so-Sophie gets it from. What stopped me was cowardice.”
