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“Have you been to security?”
I shake once more and a look of exasperation crosses his face. “You need to go and see them, Amy. What if he turns up again?”
“He's my father,” I blurt out. Then I immediately regret it. After the events of this weekend I'd been determined to make a new start—another one. My cool and professional persona lasted for all of ten minutes.
“I'm sorry,” Callum replies, his brow creasing into a frown. “Have I just stepped onto the set of a soap opera?”
His levity bursts the tension. A shocked laugh escapes my lips and I clamp my hand over my mouth.
“Or is it Star Wars?” he asks. “Luke, I am your father.”
“Stop it,” I reprimand him, grinning. “This isn't a laughing situation.” It is though—at least for now. “I'm not even kidding.”
“You need to fill me in, the suspense is killing me.”
Callum plays with my pen pot as I tell him about the weekend’s events, sorting my biros into a colour-coded bundle. Every now and then he interrupts to ask a question, listening carefully when I respond, craning forward as if to catch every word. It isn't melodramatic or clichéd or anything like an episode of Eastenders, it's just the story of my life. The story I didn't know until now.
“So he wants to see you,” he murmurs, rolling a red pen on my desk. “Do you want to see him?”
“I don't know,” I admit. “I still can't get my head around everything. I know Mum doesn't want me to see him, and my brother just wants to kick his head in.” I shrug. “I don't want to upset them.”
“But this isn't about them is it? It's about you and what you want.”
I look at him, rolling my lip between my teeth. “You're not an only child by any chance are you?”
“What's that got to do with it?” He tries to hide the grin that's pulling at his mouth.
“You are, aren't you?” I laugh. “Well, I'm not. I'm the youngest of three. Nothing's ever just about me.”
He blinks slowly, eyes heavy lidded. “Something should be.”
The moment twists, the humour dissolving in the frisson that grows between us. I feel it crackling and buzzing against my skin, and all I can think about is that kiss.
Soft, sure. A brief moment of everything.
“Something?” I ask, a little breathlessly.
He catches my gaze, holding it without trying. In that instant I know for sure that whatever I'm feeling for him isn't one-sided. It weaves between us, soft as silk, unbreakable as iron. It makes me feel delighted and downright scared. I can cope with a crush, enjoy it even. Treat him like the eye-candy he is, a piece of deliciousness to look forward to when I enter the office. But mutual attraction? That's dangerous. It's a lingering force that threatens everything; my job, my degree, my hopes for the future.
Here be dragons, but rather than run away from the flames, I'm letting them consume me.
* * *
“Amy, please take a seat.” Diana Joseph’s office is exactly how I imagined it. Impersonal, neat, everything locked away. She takes a sip of sparkling water, lip gloss barely even smudging the glass. “How are you getting on?”
For a sliver of a second I'm tempted to unleash the truth on her, purely to see her reaction. A returned-from-the-dead father and a brief entanglement with my boss, they must be the things that fuel her black HR heart. But I keep my counsel, shrugging, muttering something non-committal, and she nods rapidly, ignoring every word.
“Good, good. I've been speaking with your tutor this morning, giving her an update. She insisted you need to be put on a project as soon as possible.”
I stifle a smile. Good old Professor DiMarco. She might be gruff but she's always on her students’ sides. “Okay,” I say.
“Luckily I'd
already identified a project. It wasn't easy to persuade the manager you're suitable for the job, and it will be a long slog to see the first phase through to completion.” She looks self-satisfied, and I wonder if I'm supposed to congratulate her for doing her job. Finally.
I don't give her the satisfaction. Instead I sit there, patiently, waiting for her to continue. It takes a few moments, but finally she gets frustrated enough to speak.
“Technology Integration have just been awarded the Grant project. They need somebody to project manage the requirements capture phase, and I suggested you.”
