Harlequin KISS November 2014 Box Set: Behind Closed Doors...Fired by Her FlingWho's Calling the Shots?Nine Month Countdown
Page 28
It turned out they liked to do the same kinds of things: taking long walks on a Sunday morning, eating Indian food, checking out photography exhibitions. The more they talked, the more he found himself relaxing into her company again. She was a superb dinner companion, receptive and responsive in turn—the things that had drawn him to her the other night—and he had to remind himself a couple of times that he wasn’t here on a date with her.
Unless they both decided to take things further again later. His body hardened at the thought.
‘So, are you happy with the terms of my offer?’ he asked, when they’d both cleared their plates and waved away the suggestion of dessert. A coil of tension tugged at his insides as he waited for her answer. Surely he’d done enough to clinch her return?
‘Yes,’ she said finally, leaning back in her chair looking at him with her bright, steady gaze, the corner of her mouth twitching up into a smile.
‘Yes?’ he repeated, hoping against hope that she was agreeing to come back to Flash but needing to hear those exact words come out of her mouth before he believed it.
‘I’m accepting your offer of reemployment and promotion to Breakfast Presenter.’
He was so relieved he could have kissed her. In fact he had to grip the edge of the table to stop himself from leaping out of his seat and pulling her out of her chair into his arms.
She must have sensed this impulse because she fixed him with a hard stare. ‘You understand that nothing else can happen between us now though, right? I can’t work for you if everyone at the station thinks we’re sleeping together. I’ll lose all credibility with my co-workers and I’m not prepared to let that happen. It’s really important to me that they respect and trust me so we can function as a team on equal terms. Getting into bed with the boss isn’t something that would go down well. Trust me, I know.’
All the joy had slowly drained out of him as she’d talked, but he managed to nod confidently, clinging on to his professionalism by a thread. ‘Of course, I didn’t come here expecting anything more from you. Just that you’d take your job back.’ He swept a conciliatory hand in her direction, ignoring his self-disgust at voicing such a convincing sounding lie. ‘There wouldn’t be any point in us pursuing anything other than a business relationship anyway. As soon as I’ve found a replacement for Jez I’ll be back off to Edinburgh. Back to my life there.’
He could have sworn he saw another flash of disappointment in her face, before she formed a smile and tipped her head in agreement.
She must still feel the same pull of desire that he did. He didn’t believe she could shake him off so easily after what they’d shared. The need to know he was right prodded at the edges of his control.
The next few weeks were going to be a trying time if he had to keep his hands off her, but it didn’t mean he had to totally ignore the irrefutable connection between them.
There was still some fun to be had here.
SIX
Over the next couple of days they managed to maintain a friendly, but businesslike atmosphere between them, although Lula made sure to leave the room as quickly as was polite so she didn’t have to deal with the weird, tight ache in her chest that appeared whenever he did.
Tristan’s revelations about his aversion to marriage and recent split from a long-term partner had sealed her decision not to get further involved with him.
Clearly he wanted different things in life to her and no way was she going to be his rebound woman—she’d been through the humiliation of that before and wasn’t prepared to do it again. They always seemed to go back to their exes as soon as she settled into the hope things might work between them.
And he was her boss, which made up the triumvirate of a no-go.
She had a duty to protect herself from any relationship that was destined to bring her more pain and loneliness. She’d had enough of that to last her a lifetime.
It didn’t stop her from wanting him though, which was a bit of a problem when she had to see him every day.
She’d quickly got into the routine of her new show, and even though it left her both mentally and physically drained, she’d never been happier with that part of her life.
The whole atmosphere at Flash had changed since Tristan had stepped into the breach. Everyone seemed less guarded and more relaxed than when Jez was in charge—which wasn’t surprising as the man had had a unique gift for getting people’s backs up.
She was desperate that no one at the station should find out what had happened between her and Tristan though and terrified she would give herself away when she was near him.
It had been bad enough when the whispers had gone around about her succumbing to Jez’s ‘charms’. Any time someone had so much as mentioned her and Jez’s name in the same sentence she’d wanted to bury her head in the ground in shame. It had caused a really uncomfortable atmosphere for a while and no one had wanted to take her into their confidence in case word got back to Jez about their grievances.
No way would she be able to hold her head high if everyone knew she’d had sex with Tristan too.
Sleeping with one of her bosses could be seen as careless. Sleeping with two was just plain stupid.
She was taking her customary time out after the show on Friday morning when Tristan came into one of the offices where she liked to hide out. Her heartbeat picked up as she tried not to notice how ridiculously sexy he looked today with his shirt open at the neck and his sleeves rolled up to his elbows, displaying his strong, tanned forearms. His transformation into casual cool messed with her head. It was so much easier to compartmentalise him when he was all buttoned up in his restricting suit somehow.
‘Hey,’ he said, giving her a nod, ‘I wondered where you got to after you finished your shows.’
She scrambled to sit up on the sofa and straightened her T-shirt, which had ridden up, exposing her midriff. ‘I like to have a bit of quiet time after I come off-air—to reflect, you know? Before I start planning for the next show.’
He’d dropped his gaze down her body when she’d pulled on her clothing and when he looked her in the eye again his pupils were large and dark.
Awareness tickled down her spine.
Giving her a slow knowing smile he walked over to the sofa and sat down next to her, so close she could smell the heady masculine scent of him. Exotic spice with the dark undertone of alpha male.
Leaning an elbow against the back of the sofa, he propped his head in his hand and studied her, his eyes roaming her face. ‘I wasn’t criticising you, just making an observation.’
Her heart was thumping so hard in her chest she suspected her body must be visibly pulsing with it. Was he deliberately sitting this close to get a reaction out of her? She had a strong suspicion he was. Clearly he wasn’t taking their pact as seriously as she was.
She was going to have to pay him back for that.
Crossing her arms, she gave him an I know your game smile. ‘Was there something you needed from me?’
Straightening his posture, he arranged his face into a more businesslike expression. ‘Yes. I’ve put out a couple of adverts for a new Station Manager and I’m starting to get some replies. I’d appreciate it if you’d sit in on the interviews with me. I could do with someone with experience of the industry—and this station in particular—to pick up any loose ends I miss.’
Lula’s insides did a strange swoopy thing. On the one hand she was ridiculously pleased he thought so highly of her opinion, but on the other, she couldn’t shake the gloomy awareness that someone else taking the job meant she’d never see him again.
‘Sure, I’d be happy to sit in with you.’
The atmosphere felt weirdly heavy and strained, as though all the things they weren’t saying to each other were dulling the air between them.
Or maybe she was just exhausted from a we
ek of presenting such an intensive show.
There was a long pause in which he stared intently into her eyes, before nodding. ‘Thanks, Lula.’
That was the first time he’d called her Lula instead of Tallulah since she’d taken her job back and it made her feel inexplicably wretched.
‘My pleasure.’
She watched him get up and walk away, dejection swirling darkly through her brain.
Why did she only ever become entangled with men that she had no future with? There had been Dan at University, who had been set on sleeping with every living female on the planet, and Scott during her late twenties, who had decided to take a job in China but leave her behind. And all the other disastrous relationships in between. No one had fit properly.
And now Tristan: businesslike, marriage averse and totally focussed on getting back to his life in Scotland.
She could never be with someone who wasn’t prepared to make the ultimate commitment to her. Even if he was as hot as hell. She needed stability in her life, the promise of a loving, concrete future. Not one where her partner could walk away easily if the whim took him.
It was understandable that he didn’t hold the sanctity of marriage in high regard if his father had made a mockery of it for him, but it was important to her to find someone on her wavelength. Someone who understood where she was coming from.
She didn’t want to spend her life arguing and not feeling good enough.
Stretching back out on the sofa, she folded her forearms over her eyes, blocking out the rest of the world.
Ah well. Life went on and so would she. Just not in the same direction as Tristan.
Unfortunately.
* * *
‘So, my lovely listeners, if you could wish for a special skill, what would you choose? Be as creative as you like, but let’s keep it clean, okay?’
Tristan smiled as he listened to Lula’s show the following Monday. Since he’d taken over the running of Flash he liked to make sure he was there at the radio station in time to catch her show as it went out. He enjoyed listening to her dulcet tones as she teased and titillated her audience, keeping up the rapid momentum needed to capture busy people’s attention. He could see exactly why she was so popular with the listeners—she had a real skill at finding the interesting angle to a subject.
According to reports from the Broadcast Assistants there had been a huge increase in texts and tweets to the show since she’d taken over and listener numbers were already well up for the Breakfast Show.
He’d been surprised by just how much he was enjoying looking after the station too. The business he ran from Scotland was pretty dry in nature, although their turnover was substantially more than the radio station was making. Entertaining people certainly wasn’t as much of a money-spinner as installing industrial kitchens and providing catering equipment to restaurants.
Still, at the end of the day, it had to be the money that mattered—it was his linchpin, the thing that kept him focussed and motivated. That kept his world turning—that made everything make sense.
As soon as Lula’s show was over he caught up with her as she exited the studio.
‘We have our first interviewee coming in at two o’clock. Are you okay to sit in?’
She pressed her lips into an accommodating smile, although he guessed she must be pretty exhausted after her show and desperate to get home. She was a trooper all right. He really admired that about her.
‘Sure, no problem,’ she said, pulling the headphones that he’d bought her from around her neck and cradling them in her hands.
He nodded at them. ‘How are your headphones working out?’
She gave him her first genuine smile in days. ‘They’re great. I love them. Fantastic sound quality. You certainly know the way to a girl’s heart.’ She seemed to freeze as if realising she’d said something entirely inappropriate.
He stepped towards her, not sure exactly what he meant to do, but unable to stop himself. ‘Glad to hear I haven’t lost my touch,’ he said with a smile, continuing the move by leaning against the wall next to her.
His stomach plummeted when she took a quick step back.
These little rejections were starting to get to him. They reminded him of the small moves away that Marcy had started to do towards the end of their relationship.
He wished it didn’t have to be this way with her, but since they’d made that pact over dinner about keeping things professional she’d been friendly, but stand-offish with him.
He could understand her reasoning for it, but that didn’t mean he had to like it.
‘Well, I’d better get on,’ she said, raising both eyebrows and smacking her lips together. ‘Don’t want the boss to catch me slacking off, who knows what sort of punishment he might dish out,’ she murmured in that seductive voice of hers. Flashing him a cheeky grin, she swivelled on the spot and walked off, leaving him staring after her retreating figure with a bemused smile on his face and a pressing concern in his trousers.
Okay, maybe professional and stand-offish was easier to handle.
* * *
The interview was a disaster. Tristan knew as soon as the guy walked in that he wouldn’t fit the ethos of the station. He was too straight, too stuffy, too jobsworthy.
When Lula asked him some pointed questions about his vision for the station it was clear he thought she wasn’t important enough to engage with and addressed all his answers to Tristan instead.
No way was he going to hand over the running of the station to such a chauvinist idiot.
‘What did you think?’ Lula asked after the guy left, clearly hoping he hated him as much as it sounded like she did.
‘Totally wrong. No way.’
She blew out a breath and relaxed back into her chair. ‘Thank God for that. I don’t think I could have worked with someone who treated me as if I was invisible.’
The flash of hurt in her eyes made him want to go over and pull her against him, to wrap her up in his arms and give her the reassurance she visibly craved.
This impulse must have shown on his face because colour rushed up her neck and her gaze shot away from his and down to where her hands now gripped her thighs, as if she was fighting urges of her own.
Forcing himself to maintain a façade of cool, he flipped her a smile. ‘Ah, don’t let him get to you. The guy was clearly an idiot of the highest order. I suspect he’s the type who feels emasculated by smart, attractive women.’
Something sparked in her eyes and she opened her mouth as if to speak, but shut it again and gave him a grateful smile instead. ‘I’d better go,’ she said, inclining her head towards the door. ‘I’ve still got a tonne of research to do on a music producer I’m interviewing tomorrow.’
‘Okay.’ He watched her get up from the chair, wondering what was going through her head at that precise moment. If it was anything like the notions he’d been conjuring up since her ‘punishment’ remark there was no wonder she was finding it hard to hold it together.
‘Lula,’ he called out, as she reached the door, not wanting her to go yet, but aware he didn’t have a good reason to ask her to stay.
She turned and faced him again, her brows drawn up in question. ‘Yes?’
There was a beat of silence while he thought of something suitable to say. ‘Thanks again for helping me out with the interviews. I really appreciate it.’
Her shoulders appeared to relax and she smiled, as if she’d keyed herself up for something that now wasn’t going to happen. ‘It’s my pleasure,’ she said, before opening the door and striding purposefully away.
Despite the brief diversion into flirty banter, the next week went pretty much the same way as the previous one—with her still avoiding him as much as possible or keeping things polite and professional when she had to be in his company.
It gave him a perverse satisfaction to see her squirm. She was obviously feeling the same heat he was and he became more and more determined to get her to show it.
He needed to prove to himself that he wasn’t the sort of guy that women—that she—could walk away from easily.
They interviewed two more candidates together who’d applied for the Station Manager’s job, but Tristan hated both of them.
He was beginning to feel a little possessive about the station now that he was getting to know the staff better. The place had an exhilarating, ever-changing buzz about it and he was surprised to find himself less and less inclined to get back to his business in Scotland.
His second in command seemed to have everything under control there—bar a couple of things that needed Tristan’s specific attention—which was both heartening and humbling. He’d always thought things there would fall apart without him, but apparently he wasn’t as essential to its smooth running as he’d imagined.
When his father had handed over the running of their business to him after he finished University, he’d felt the great weight of responsibility to their family legacy on his shoulders. He hadn’t realised just how much it had consumed him until he’d stepped away from it.
Despite the minor knock to his pride when he realised he wasn’t as essential there as he’d imagined, he felt lighter and freer than he had in a long time.
Working at Flash had been good for him.
On Friday afternoon he was finishing off the schedules for the following week when the broadcast assistant, Claire, knocked on his office door.
‘Hey, Tristan, we’re all going out for drinks this evening to celebrate my birthday, fancy coming along?’