AllFreeNovel
Share Us
She’d always been happy on her own. Now, though, she was dreaming of Steven, wanting to wake up with him—and she didn’t even know what that meant. She was scared to think that she was coming to need him. She didn’t want to need a man like Steven Devonshire.
She put down the card and picked up her phone. If she were going to take a chance on dating Steven, on letting him be important to her, she had to make sure that Maurice wasn’t going to fire her over this.
She dialed his direct line and he answered on the third ring.
“It’s Ainsley.”
“Good morning, Ainsley. Did you get our Devonshire story details locked up?”
“I’m still working on that, sir. But I did need to talk to you about something.”
“Yes?”
“Steven Devonshire asked me out and I’d like to go out with him. I don’t want it to affect our story. However, I thought since we are going to run the article in the U.S. and UK editions, it might not be a problem. The focus of the articles is on the mothers and Malcolm.”
“Let me think about this, Ainsley. I don’t want to stand in the way of your personal life. As far as I know, you rarely do anything but work.”
“That’s true, sir. This job is my life.”
“I can understand that. But having a life is important, too. I think we’ll add a note that you are dating Steven if it turns out that you are and since the focus is on fashion I think we’ll be okay.”
“Thanks, Maurice.”
“You’re welcome. Now get me all the people I need for this article so it can rock.”
“I will.”
She hung up and realized that she had no more excuses to keep Steven at bay. She wasn’t going to lose her job over him and that was reassuring, but it also took away her safe out if things got too deep, too fast. One part of her was happy about that; the other was a bit worried.
She thought she was still in control of her life. But her heart argued that it would be making the decisions when it came to Steven.
Seven
“How was your date?” Freddie asked as he joined her in the cab at the end of their third day in New York. “What date?”
“With Steven Devonshire. We haven’t had a moment to chat and I want all the details. Was it everything you thought it would be? Did birds sing? The heavens open up?”
She punched him playfully in the arm. “You make me sound like…someone who is obsessed. It was just drinks. He’s a very sophisticated and charming man.”
“What makes him sophisticated?”
“His choices.”
“Tell me everything.”
She wanted to laugh at the way he said it, but she knew that she’d never share what she felt about Steven with Freddie. It was one thing to let him know about what she’d read on the Internet, but how Steven kissed was personal and she wasn’t about to share it.
“It was just a nice evening.”
“A nice evening? What are you hiding? Do you like him?”
She shook her head. “It’s complicated.”
She wanted the taxi ride to be over. But of course it was rush hour and they’d be stuck here for at least thirty minutes. Damn.
“Tell me.”
“I can’t. I haven’t figured it out yet myself,” she said.
He reached over and patted her knee. “I’m here if you want to talk.”
“Thanks,” she said. “Isn’t it funny how foreign this city feels?”
He laughed. “Yes. I think we’ve been in London too long.”
“It’s only been three years. Do you ever think of coming back?” she asked him.
“Never. I like London. And my best friend lives there.”
She smiled at him and blew him an air kiss. “We’d still be BFFs if you moved.”
“You say that, but life would change. Besides, I have my Maxim now and he likes our quiet neighborhood.”
Maxim was Freddie’s English Bulldog. And she knew he’d never move if he thought that dog would be traumatized by it. He was so attached to him that he’d set up a webcam so he could chat with the dog once a day while he was on this trip.
She made small talk until traffic started moving. Her BlackBerry pinged and she glanced down at her e-mail—she didn’t know how she’d live without her BlackBerry—and saw that Tiffany Malone had accepted the invitation to do an interview.
“Yes! Just what I was hoping for. Tiffany Malone said yes to the interview.”
“She’s one of my faves. Her music was so earthy. It’s a shame she stopped performing.”
Ainsley nodded and typed an e-mail back to her assistant to finalize the details for the interview. She would use the leverage of Tiffany’s agreement to secure an interview with the other women. No one had ever printed their stories and it was past time that those women had a voice.
