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‘I hardly think waiting a few hours for us to have this meeting would have hurt.’
‘I didn’t think it would be this much of an issue.’
‘Well, bully for you!’ I snap and then want to slap myself. Because I know I’m being juvenile, but hell, I’ve just escaped one controlling relationship to enter another. And not with a lover, a boyfriend, a husband or business partner, but a man employed by my board to fix me. And I’m angry. Hell, I’m angry.
‘When I discussed it with Alan and Pippa it made sound business sense.’
His words make my blood boil further. Having him ignore my outburst is worse than an outright dismissal of it. He might as well have sat there and said,Now, don’t you think you’re overreacting?Or, worse, his line from yesterday afternoon:‘Will you stop behaving like a child?’
I suck in a breath, let it out, slow and measured. ‘You discussed it with them...what? Yesterday afternoon? The early hours of this morning?’
‘After our talk at your place I came back to the office and, like I said, Pippa did try to call you.’
My cheeks colour. It was just a talk, not an attempted seduction on my part...and Pippadidcall me. Only I let it ring out as I enjoyed another glass of white followed by another. All in aid of forgetting: Nathan, work, Valentine, our talk, my seduction...
I can almost hear the inner laughter and it’s crippling me.You tried to seduce him—he was having none of it.
And why would he when he’s nearly twenty years my junior?
You silly deluded fool.
‘How old are you?’ I blurt out over the inner monologue that stings far too much.
‘I’m twenty-nine.’ He waves an easy hand at me. ‘Is that a problem?’
I shrug, my smile intended to be just as easy, just as self-assured. So I wasn’t graduating, but I was definitely at Oxford when he was running about in nappies. ‘I just wonder how much experience someone of your years can truly offer me.’
‘And just like that, we’re back to your experience?’
And instead of the heat of shame returning at the reminder of my ‘failed seduction’, I’m warming with something far more appealing and dangerous to the professional nature of this meeting.
I’m not the only one either. I swear I see it firing in the depths of his sharp blue gaze.
‘My apologies; does the mere mention of my experience in the bedroom put you on edge?’
His eyes spark all the more and the desire to crawl over my desk and put it to the test burns deeper, stronger.
He clears his throat, his knuckles whitening around the arms of his chair and I know I have him backed into a corner and I’ve not even moved...yet.
And I did warn him. Yesterday. I made it clear I wanted him and that I always—always—get what I want. Now that Nathan is gone there’s nothing stopping me in my quest for life, for fun, for anything but the stunted life I had before.
‘Do you disagree with anything else I’ve proposed this morning?’
I know he’s changing the subject. I also know his body isn’t focusing on the tame words coming out of his mouth and the tell-tale tension in his gruff tone has a thrilling little shiver running through me, pushing me to goad him further.
‘Disagree? No, I wouldn’t say I disagree.’
I push myself out of my seat and walk around the desk. His eyes stay fixed on mine, never once shying away, to take in my open shirt collar...my openredshirt collar that matches the red soles to my black patent shoes. I’ve dared to wear red shoes to work, a red coat even, but that’s as far as I’ve pushed the black and white dress code Nathan enforced many years ago. I’m truly pushing boundaries, breaking the company mould and antagonising the board while I’m at it. But then they made the first hostile move when they brought Valentine in...
Though, if I’m honest, his presence is exhilarating, especially when I hold the high ground. Quite literally now as I press my behind into the desk edge beside his chair and look down at him.
‘The subtle tweaks to our corporate message that you’ve discussed with Susan are sound.’
I cross my legs at the ankle, pulling the fabric of my black pencil skirt taut around my thighs, and watch how he fights the urge to look his fill, his white-knuckled fist closest to me gripping the chair arm tighter as I take it all in.
‘An introduction to the politicians involved with Scotland’s plans to end homelessness in all its forms, with a view to achieving something similar in England. All sound.’
I fold my arms, pull my shoulders back, knowing full well it causes the red satin to strain across my chest, enhancing my cleavage and—bull’s-eye. I catch the way his eyes dip, their subtle flare, the twitch to his jaw that tells me he has it clenched.
