AllFreeNovel
Share Us
CHAPTER ONE
‘NOTWHATI was expecting...’
Mateo’s dark, lazy voice from behind feathered along Maude’s spine and she turned around slowly to look at him.
Ever since this arrangement had been made the evening before, Maude had had time to ponder and had come to the conclusion that it was just a terrible idea.
What had possessed her?
Mateo Moreno was her boss. Her billionaire boss. She had spent the past two years climbing the career ladder, doing her utmost, as one of five structural engineers at his prestigious London firm, to impress him with her initiative and drive.
She was thirty-two years old with an exemplary record when it came to productivity and already in charge of a small team. She had always made sure to keep her professional life separate from her private one so why on earth had she been crazy enough to succumb to this reckless adventure? If it could even be called ‘adventure’, as opposed to ‘hare-brained scheme that defied all logic and would end in tears’.
She knew why. Of course she did.
He had caught her in a weak moment. There they’d been the evening before, long after everyone else had left the towering glass building that housed his lavish offices, discussing the latest project and inspecting the scale replica village on the concrete table in his office, when her phone had pinged and she’d read the text that had sent her into a tailspin.
Angus, the plus-one she had roped into her brother’s pre-wedding party the following evening, had bailed on her at the last minute. Maude was mystified as to why her brother had to have a pre-wedding party when the actual wedding was only a matter of weeks away, but it had been unavoidable and, that being the case, she had asked Angus to help her out. Matter sorted...until she’d got that text.
His boyfriend had fallen off a ladder. He had decided on a whim to paint the ceiling in their bedroom and had fallen, splintering two bones in his ankle. Why on earth Ron had wanted to paint the ceiling in the first place was a mystery, because he loathed anything to do with DIY. Naturally, there was no way Angus could possibly go to the party while Ron was laid up in hospital, being patched up.
And, in response to a couple of sympathetic questions from Mateo, Maude had done what she had vowed never to do—she had opened up to her boss. He had noted the dismayed expression on her face and had perched on the edge of his desk, tilted his head to one side, pinned those devastating dark eyes on her and had asked what the problem was. And she had opened up.
It was a first. Conversations between them had always revolved around work. Mateo owned multiple companies around the globe. He might be based in London, but he travelled extensively, so their contact was limited to when he was around.
Once a month, he would have a group meeting, and every so often he would summon her to find out the ins and outs of particular projects she had been put in charge of. He seemed to know every detail of every project in her remit, regardless of whether he was physically in the office checking on her work or not. She knew that he was pleased with her progress, because her pay had increased five times in two years, and she now had her own fabulous office with sprawling views across to the Tower of London and the hectic streets below.
Maude had always respected the boundary lines. She hadenjoyedthose boundary lines. Her sights were fixed on her career, and fraternising with the boss had been a big no-no.
But Angus’s text...
The prospect of facing eighty-five people...the general chaos...the expensive caterers vying with the expensive florists to see whose creations would be the most admired...not to mention her mother, her gran and various aunts clucking at her unmarried status and asking when she was going to meet somenice young man...
A migraine threatened just thinking about it.
Angus as the plus-one by her side would have made the whole extravagant do a little more bearable.
No Angus and the weekend of fun-filled festivities had suddenly loomed like an impending storm.
Thank goodness she had held back from a full scale, hand-wringing confession about her own insecurities, about the way she would be confronted with her life choices and put on the spot by her mother—who always managed to make her feel horrendously self-conscious and a bit of a loser, successful career or no successful career... But she had still confided enough for her to be here now, in a tangle of her own making.
Of course, as Mateo had thoughtfully told her, for him a plus-one situation would come with certain advantages, so the tangle was notentirelydown to her, but still...
They were here. A party was in full swing. And it was a bad idea.
She plastered a bright, breezy smile on her face and stepped towards him.
Her heart sped up. The broad patio, spacious enough to house several sitting areas, was beautifully lit with fairy lights and lanterns and, in the semi darkness, Mateo was all shadows and angles. Most of the time, Maude could side-line his extraordinary looks. But here, close enough to breathe him in, and without a comforting desk and computer in the background reminding her of those all-important boundaries, her eyes widened and her mouth went dry. He was just so drop-dead gorgeous.
It was a hot, still summer evening and he was wearing a pair of hand-made cream linen trousers, a white shirt cuffed to the elbows and tan brogues. The whole ensemble shrieked the sort of vast wealth that most people could only dream about, including her own comfortably off, middle-class parents. The man was built to turn heads.
He was six-foot-three of dark, brooding, uncompromising Italian beauty, with pitch-dark hair that curled a little too long at the collar and dark eyes that always managed to be expressive without revealing anything at all.
She was suddenly conscious that she was no longer in her usual work uniform. She was wearing adress, something floaty and blue which her mother had bought for her and had then guilt-tripped her into wearing, much to Maude’s grudging amusement.
She would have to make sure that this interaction was kept as crisp and formal as possible, given the circumstances. They might not be in an office but it would be a mistake to think he had stopped being her boss. Why compound one mistake by foolishly adding to the tally?
‘What were you expecting?’ She turned and felt him move to stand next to her as they both surveyed the lavish spectacle in front of them.
