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Stuart cleaned his mouth as I gently removed my lipstick and reapplied a fresh coat, checking the result in my compact mirror. I no longer looked like I’d mauled the CEO before meeting his executive team to discuss an audit of their financial records.
I snapped the compact closed to find Stuart looking at me again.
“Wait, you’ve still got -” I pointed at my cheek to help him find the grease smear on his.
“More lipstick?” he spluttered.
I laughed, pushing loose hair away from my face. “No, you’ve got grease on your cheek. Here, I can…” I held up a wipe and hesitated. “If you want me to, I can do it.”
Stuart inhaled a sharp breath and nodded once.
I stepped into his space. His body stiffened. I gently rubbed off the grease which, luckily, came away easily.
“There. All done.”
We stood bathed in sunlight not making a move. I couldn’t help thinking how much I liked being this close to him, letting that Christmas pudding scent of his fill my senses.
I cleared my throat and turned away, throwing the used wipes in a bin.
We walked without another word, my suitcase rattling on its wheels as he pulled it along on the stone footpath. I was conscious the whole time of his breathing, how he pushed his fringe out of his eyes, how he held himself. God, I could still feel that kiss, all the way to my toes and my core.
And I’d been so close to having a one-night stand with him. An ache throbbed between my legs at the thought.
Now, I’m working with him. He’s my client, and I finally have my promotion I’d worked so hard for in my grasp.
Boring Amanda had saved me from a huge error in judgement. I shook myself, smoothed down my coat and held my head high.
Get yourself together, Amanda.
No man—no matter how attractive or how well he kissed—was worth risking my hard-earned career.
Chapter Three
Stuart
I entered the boardroom ahead of my brothers, dusting lint off my charcoal suit for the third time. I’d changed out of my safety workpants and polo, opting for a corporate look for our initial meeting with Amanda.
As I adjusted my grey and yellow tie, my younger brother, James, flopped down into his boardroom chair, the ancient leather creaking under him, and flicked me a sly look.
“Tell me, Robbie,” James said. “Why does the auditor from London look so familiar?”
“Oh, James, ye may recall that Stuart tried to pick her up at George’s whisky bar.” Robert sat beside him and aimed a shit-eating grin my way. “And she shot him down. Am I right, Stu?”
I glanced at my watch; a gift from my father when I turned twenty-one and a perpetual reminder the old man was always around, even if he didn’t work here anymore. Eleven fifty. We still had ten minutes before Amanda was due. I indulged my idiot siblings with nothing but silence.
“Oh aye?” James jumped up and poured himself a coffee from the pot in the corner of the board room. “Tell me more, big brother.”
I tuned out Robert blethering on about meeting Amanda at George’s and recalled how she dabbed at that stray drop of whisky on her thigh. She’d worn the same red lipstick today as that night.
And that kiss this morning… My libido had exploded like a nuclear bomb. I shifted in my seat, my dick leaping to life at the memory. I’d been half-hard all morning, making the walk from the train station an uncomfortable one.
Christ, I couldn’t think about her like that now she was working for us.
James sat back down with his brew. “Need I remind ye, Stu, not to use your dick when deciding on our financial future?”
I opened my mouth to retort but Robert cut me off. “Ye had no right to tell this accounting firm they won the tender to be our independent auditor. Ye didn’t even consult us!”
“And I thought the other firm looked better,” James added. “On paper anyway.”
