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He shrugged as though it wasn’t important. ‘I was out-sourced. Head-hunted. Appropriated by Ms Wilson. I think you’re right, by the way. She does seem in need of a good—’
‘Mr Darrington…’ she rushed in ‘…you must have met Raquel previously, then, for her to get such a good impression of you to go and steal you from another firm—which one, by the way? One of our rivals?’
He smiled at her. ‘I met her…at a…party.’
She was getting nowhere. The man wasn’t giving much away at all! Tahlia leant close. ‘Are you the enemy?’
‘No.’ His mobile rang. ‘Sorry, but I have to get it.’ He pulled the small handset from his belt. ‘Yes… Hello, Simon, everything okay…? Oh…right.’ He glanced at Tahlia, then swung to one side of his chair, gazing at his shoes. ‘It’s not exactly a good time… Fine. I’ll try… Go ahead with that… No, not yet on that… I’ll get back to you regarding that… Okay… Yes… Look, I’ll talk to you later.’
He grinned sheepishly at her, putting the mobile phone down. ‘Where were we?’
Tahlia took another mouthful of her lunch, forcing the chicken down her tight throat. Whatever that had been about…she didn’t like it. ‘What was that? Were you picking horses?’
She mentally prayed. Let him be a gambler, let him be an alcoholic gambler, let him be an alcoholic reckless gambler. That would prove to Raquel what a terrible mistake she’d made.
He shook his head. ‘No.’
Tahlia stared at him. ‘So it would be—?’
He smiled at her, shrugging. ‘Companies.’
‘So Simon is your broker?’ she asked slowly, trying to match it to what she’d heard. It could have been, but something didn’t quite fit.
‘For someone professing not to be a busybody you ask a lot of questions.’
‘Self-preservation.’
‘Oh?’
She took a sip of her water. ‘I like to know what I’m getting into, in the office, with the new boss,’ she stumbled, the words sounding too…suggestive.
‘Oh?’ he murmured deeply.
She put her drink down, taking a breath. ‘And you haven’t told me one thing that supports the fact that you’re any way qualified for the job,’ she said in a rush. ‘Or that your personality would complement the working environment or that there’s anything about you that doesn’t scream silver-spoonfed life, apart from your dog.’ And that smile, and those eyes and that deep warm voice.
‘Lucky you weren’t the one hiring, then.’
She glared at the man opposite, but he was focused on his meal, carefully avoiding her gaze.
Tahlia finished her salad, forcing the food down on to a stomach busy doing somersaults at his every sapphire glance. This wasn’t the plan.
She wiped her hands on a serviette and arranged the cutlery carefully on her plate. She was getting nowhere. ‘Look, I represent the busybodies of the office and I demand some incredibly personal information that I can share with them that will ensure that you’re not only human but approachable, sensible and on-the-whole nice.’
She crossed her fingers under the table. If that wasn’t an invitation for him to arrogantly sing his praises and convince her once and for all that he was exactly who she hoped he was, then she didn’t know what was.
He stared at her.
His gaze dropped to her mouth.
Visions of his firm, sensual lips smothering hers rocked through her, setting alight every nerve that hadn’t already realised he was sitting barely a metre from her.
Hmm, a kiss. That would be personal all right, but not something she could share with the office… She shook herself. Or wanted. She didn’t want his mouth on hers, at all, ever.
She dropped her gaze to his mouth, which was firm and enticing.
Kissing the boss would prove that he was a playboy, after short skirts and a good time and not focused on the company’s best interests…
Was a kiss what he was thinking of or was she being stupid?
He jerked to his feet. ‘You don’t think I’m human? Approachable? Nice?’ he asked, dropping some money on to the table to cover the meal.
She sucked in a long slow breath, rising from her seat. ‘Nothing you’ve said or done suggests any of the latter,’ she said in a rush.
‘I’ve answered every question…’ he offered, turning and walking to the door.
She nodded. He had, as easily and openly as though he were just any other guy, but she knew he wasn’t… There was something that didn’t add up with Case Terrorising Darrington.
‘I’ve just had a very pleasant lunch with you…’ He opened the coffee shop door and held it open for her, watching her with steady blue eyes.
‘Ye-es,’ she managed, striding through the door, smoothing down her skirt, counting her heartbeats with the clack of her heels on the ground.
She couldn’t deny that he was being friendly and nice but that didn’t mean he was anything but a good actor.
Tahlia lengthened her stride, pushed open the door to their building, holding it for Case this time. The air was tense between them. ‘And—?’ she had to ask.
He strode alongside her as they crossed the foyer. A lift was waiting, its doors open.
Case strode in, punched their floor number and turned to her. ‘Now what can I do to show you I’m only human?’
Tahlia’s glance went straight for his mouth.
Case fought every impulse in his body to reduce the distance between them, take her into his arms and crush his mouth to hers.
It was insane.
He’d thought he’d got his instincts under control. After the disaster that his marriage had turned into, he would have thought he’d have learned.
He took a deep breath. He wasn’t going to rush into this, no matter what this was.
If he hadn’t been so young and naïve four years ago he wouldn’t have ended up with a two-year sentence for stupidity with Celia.
He’d been in such a rush to get married and complete his well-rounded success in all areas of his life he hadn’t stopped to think.
The fact that she’d been married once already to another blinded-by-love well-off businessman should have given him fair warning of what he was in for.
He pulled his attention from those lips that were taunting him and those sea-green eyes that seemed to be daring him to take the plunge. ‘Tahlia, Miss Moran… I…don’t have a personal assistant or secretary.’
She blinked. ‘She went when the Executive went, sir,’ she said smoothly, her sweet voice hardly registering the look of surprise that showed in her eyes.
‘Really?’ He cleared his throat, pushing down the heat in his body. Talking shop would dull the senses. ‘Why was that?’
‘Yes. I believe Raquel can explain your predecessor’s departure more appropriately than I can,’ she said slowly, staring at the lift doors, her sweet perfume circling around him and taunting him.
It would be so easy to lean over and hit that stop button, sweep her into his arms and taste those lips and feel the passion that lay there, simmering just beneath the surface.
‘I want to hear what you have to say,’ he asked tightly. Any sort of office history may serve as a distraction to the desire coursing through him.
‘He and his secretary had a hot and heavy affair.’
Case stared at the ceiling. Cripes. Just what he needed to hear. ‘And that was frowned upon by company policy?’ he asked slowly. And maybe he’d find out Tahlia’s policy.
She smoothed down the fabric of her short skirt over gently rounded hips. ‘Well, yes. The powers that be don’t want office harmony going to hell because of spats between exes and all those favouritism issues that become a factor in intimate relationships, not to mention issues of harassment.’
‘That makes sense,’ he said softly, forcing his feet to stay where they were and not take him any closer to the woman who was calling him like a siren to the rocks. ‘But what do you think?’
She moistened her lips and jerked her gaze back to the lift door, holding her hands tightly in front of her. ‘Me?’ she asked tightly. ‘In the end, the staff are all adults…mostly,’ she rushed on. ‘And it’s impossible to police—more a guideline, really. You know, don’t mix business and pleasure.’
‘Right.’
She sucked in a breath. ‘And in that particular instance the pair involved were doing more of the pleasure than business, and not just in his office—’
‘O-kay,’ Case said, adjusting his belt and taking a step back from Tahlia. ‘I get the picture.’ Vividly. And his mind filled with all the places they would have gone and visions of him visiting such quiet nooks with the incredible woman next to him.
‘Basically it’s to dissuade secretaries of the young and idealistic variety from thinking that a fling with the boss is going to help the career,’ she blurted, twining her fingers together.
Case couldn’t help but smile at her rush of words. Was she nervous?
‘Well,’ he offered, his voice low. ‘You can inform the office and any young and idealistic staff that I’m single. But I can assure you that I will not give my assistant any illusions about climbing the ladder through sexual favours.’
The lift doors opened.
Tahlia stepped forward. ‘You don’t have to assure me anything, despite your lack of assistant,’ she shot over her shoulder.
He wanted to assure her of so many things, but the scars still ached from Celia. ‘Well, that’s the thing,’ he said slowly, following her. ‘Until I get one, I’ll need some help.’
She swung to face him. ‘Of course. You’ve met quite a few of the staff. Have you anyone in mind…maybe from the copy room or mail room on a temporary basis?’ She touched a flushed cheek; her nails, long and rounded, were painted the same peach as her lips. ‘Until we get someone else in, you know, advertising and interviews take time.’
Case shrugged, slipping his hands deep into his trouser pockets. ‘I’m thinking of someone who’s very aware of who’s who and what’s what and how the place is run.’
She looked towards her office, pointing in that direction, avoiding his gaze. ‘Great. Look, I’d love to chat on and on but I do have work to do, as you well know. And I’m sure you do too. Having such a senior position and all. If that’s all? Let me know what you decide…how you want to do it…who.’
Case rocked back on his heels, taking in her tall, shapely body, her neat black skirt and jacket, her white sleeveless shirt. Her all-business appearance covering the all-enticing challenge that gleamed in her eyes like burning embers waiting for his breath.
He knew exactly who he wanted. ‘Actually, I’m thinking of you.’
Chapter Seven
‘What does not destroy me, makes me stronger.’Yeah, right, Nietzsche. And who does not drive you crazy, can’t steal your job and make you act stupid?
TAHLIA sat at her desk, staring at her computer screen. Case Taunting Darrington couldn’t mean her, want her, as his assistant—that was just wrong, humiliating and wrong, and stirring and sexy and wrong.
As if she was going to accept a job helping out the competition, the man who had stolen her job, her promotion, her rise, her nice safe rung that she was going to conduct the next challenge of her life from.
Hell, the man had taken so much from her he didn’t deserve anything but the same confusion and pain he was putting her through.
This was her life he was messing up, her feelings he was messing with and her anchor he’d cut loose with no concern for the weather.
She gripped the desk tightly. Just because her life was fraying at the edges didn’t mean she didn’t have her act together and couldn’t handle anything that came her way…no matter who her father was or what he’d done.
Tahlia lifted her chin and clicked on her inbox.
TO: TahliaM@WWWDesigns.com
CC: KeelyR@WWWDesigns.com
FROM: EmmaR@WWWDesigns.com
RE: SOS
Still okay for tonight? Can’t wait to hear about your
mysterious SOS.
I’ll bring a couple of my favourite romantic movies to soothe your soul. And chokkies.
Have you seen Chrystal? She’s acting weird and standing in quiet corners with the pot plants. It’s truly freaky. Do you know what’s going on? Em
Tahlia sighed. Chrystal was the last thing on her mind. She wasn’t just the office date-a-holic, she was the resident drama-queen.
As one of the receptionists-cum-fix-it gals Chrystal was all over the place. It could be anything or anyone that had disturbed Chrystal, from a new male in the building to a new female too-good-looking for her comfort to a resident female wearing the same outfit, jewellery or shoes.
Tahlia’s only surprise was that they all hadn’t heard the latest development in Chrystal’s life firsthand, at least twice.
Actually, she wouldn’t mind listening to one of Chrystal’s adventures rather than dwelling on Case Darrington.
TO: TahliaM@WWWDesigns.com
CC: EmmaR@WWWDesigns.com
FROM: KeelyR@WWWDesigns.com
RE: SOS
You can count on me being there too. The SOS sounds very mysterious. And I’m coming with wine—to enjoy vicariously through my mat—es and doughnuts!
Re Chrystal: Do you think it could be Liam, that shy programmer downstairs, who’s caught her eye finally? Sure, he’s nothing like Chrystal. He’s as shy as a monk and as nerdy as hell. But he’s cute and he must be the only fresh meat left.
She’s had to have done every single straight guy in the place, and then some. Except Liam and Darrington, but he’s way out of her league. Tahlia, is he married? I heard you two had lunch—is he the reason for the SOS?
