A Mile High Romance

by Cassidy Coal

  Score one, Fiona.

  Sarah spent the next hour checking her e-mails and handling what she could for Mr. Horowitz before an attractive thirty-something man knocked on her door. He was wearing bright green tennies with slender black slacks and a short-sleeved white collared shirt. She could see a tattoo around his right bicep. Not your typical accountant.

  She liked him already.

  "Sarah?" He flashed her a smile she was sure had melted a few hearts.

  "That's me."

  "I'm Brad. Nice to meet ya." He stepped forward and shook her hand. "Fi said you're going to help us get caught up on the data entry."

  "So it seems."

  "Well, I can't say I envy you the task…" He stepped back out of the room and wheeled in a cart stacked high with boxes.

  "What's that?"

  "The invoices."

  "How the hell many are there?" Sarah stared at the cart, her mouth hanging open.

  "Lots. This is just the first batch. And none of them have an account set up yet. So you're going to have to create a vendor account for each one before you can enter them."

  Sarah stared at him, too shocked to say anything.

  "It's a lot, I know. Fi's very particular about who she'll hire, so…" He shrugged.

  "Someone could've entered a few of them at least," Sarah finally managed to gasp.

  "Yeah, I know. But…well, we were busy trying to learn the systems."

  "And have you yet?"

  Brad blushed. "We're getting there."

  Sarah stood and wheeled the cart into the corner. "Well, if you have any questions, feel free to ask me. I've been working with those systems for two years now and learned from the best. It's why I thought I was here, actually."

  "Oh, really? Well, if you don't mind…I do have a few questions…"

  Sarah spent the next three hours working with Brad and getting him up to speed on the systems. Turns out he knew next to nothing about them, but by the time she was done he had a solid grasp of the basics. He was a quick study and entertaining as hell. She couldn't remember the last time she'd laughed so hard.

  He was from New Zealand and every time he said six it came out sounding like sex, which made her giggle like a schoolgirl.

  And, he, of course, had a beautiful office with an amazing view.

  "Why'd Fi stick you in the supply closet?" he asked as he walked her back to her space.

  She snorted. Figured that's what that room was. She shrugged. "I wish I knew. She said something about not wanting to bother IT by asking them to set up one of the offices for me."

  He frowned at her. "That's a bunch of rubbish. Let me see what I can do. We'll get you sorted in no time."

  "Are you sure? I don't want you to get in trouble."

  He winked at her. "Positive. Oh, and a bunch of us are going out for drinks after work, you interested in coming along?"

  They walked around a corner and almost ran into Fiona and Tyler. Fiona glared at Sarah like she was a bug that needed squashing. Tyler looked back and forth between Sarah and Brad with a slight frown. Sarah ignored them both.

  "I'd love to." She smiled up at Brad. "If I'm going to be here a month, it would be nice to get to know a few of my co-workers."

  "Great. I'll come get you when we're ready to head out." Brad turned back towards his office and Sarah continued down the hall towards her dungeon, whistling to herself.

  To hell with Tyler Corrigan and Fiona Jones. They could have each other. She'd keep her head down, do her work, make a few new friends, and enjoy the fact that she was in Australia.

  Of course, it wasn't that easy.

  Fiona barged into her office at four-thirty and glared at the stack of boxes in the corner. "Aren't you done yet?" she demanded.

  "I've made good progress, but no. There are three months' worth of invoices to input and I have to create new vendor accounts for most of them."

  Fiona crossed her arms and tapped her foot. "Well, I need this done by tomorrow at noon."

  Sarah glanced at the three boxes she still had left.

  "That's not possible."

  "It is if you stay late. Or are you one of those girls who fannies out of the office to get sloshed each night? It's a wonder Tyler hasn't fired you yet."

  Sarah glared at her. She was really starting to hate this woman. "Fine. If you really need them input by noon, I'll do it."

  Fiona smiled at her, a tight-lipped bitchy smile. "Excellent. Enjoy your evening. If you need anything, you can e-mail me, but try not to. I'll be at dinner with Tyler and we don't like to be disturbed."

  We don't like to be disturbed…Sarah felt her blood boiling.

  She was still staring at the door trying to remind herself that she didn't care about Tyler anymore when Brad came by.

  "Ready?" He leaned casually against the doorframe.

  "I can't. Fiona told me she needs these input by noon tomorrow."

  He frowned. "What? Why?"

  "Hell if I know. But she insisted that I get them done by then. So, rain check on the drinks?"

  "Of course." He hesitated as if he wanted to say something else, but didn't quite dare.

  Sarah took the opportunity to ask her own question. "So, Fiona and Mr. Corrigan…They seem very close? She said she was off to have dinner with him."

  "Really?" He frowned. "Not that I've noticed, but I've only been here about a month and Corrigan's been gone most of that time. Hm. Now I'll have to keep an eye out and see what I see. Well, if you change your mind about that drink, we'll be at the Half Pint on the corner."

  "Thanks. I'll see how much progress I make."

  Sarah finally left the office at nine-thirty. She still wasn't done, but she was close enough to done that she'd easily meet Fiona's noon deadline.

  As she walked through the dark reception area, she saw Tyler Corrigan standing in the kitchen, waiting for a coffee. She tried to sneak past before he saw her, but failed.

  "Sarah!" He ran after her. "What are you doing here so late?"

  "I had to finish something for Fiona. She wanted it done by noon tomorrow. Too bad, too, because a couple of the guys in the accounting department had asked me to go for drinks. How was your dinner?"

  He frowned at her. "My dinner?"

  "With Fiona. She said you guys were having dinner and that you don't like to be disturbed."

  He looked at her, clearly confused.

  "Forget it. None of my business, Tyler. Screw who you want." She started to walk away.

  "Sarah, wait."

  She kept walking, but he caught up to her at the glass doors to the office.

  "Sarah, we should talk."

  She glared at his hand holding the door closed. "Look, Mr. Corrigan. I've worked a fourteen hour day already, I'd really like to get back to my hotel and eat something if you don't mind. Oh, and thanks for the lovely shoebox of an office. A supply closet? Really? Nice touch. Honestly, you'd think a man like you could handle rejection a little better."

  She pushed her way out the door, leaving Tyler Corrigan staring after her, his mouth open.

  First thing the next morning, Sarah was moved to an amazing corner office with unobstructed views of the harbor. There was a large mahogany desk, a small table, two bookcases, and the most comfortable office chair she'd ever sat in.

  The view was like something you'd see on a postcard. She was still staring out the windows in complete awe when Brad dropped by.

  He whistled as he looked around. "Well, now this is what I'm talking about."

  "Thank you," she said.

  "Oh, don't thank me for this. I just asked my buddy Paul if he could get one of the offices set up for you. He said sure, but this…I had nothing to do with this."

  "Maybe Fiona was so grateful that I finished the invoices in time that she decided to reward me."

  He bit his lip.

  "What?"

  "Fi's not even in today. And I don't think anyone else in the department needed that information."

  "Fuckin'
A. Are you serious?"

  He stared at her, eyes wide.

  "Sorry. I have a tendency to talk first and think later. But, seriously, are you telling me that that uptight little…"

  Someone coughed from the hallway and Sarah looked up to see Tyler Corrigan standing there.

  Brad glanced back and forth between them and backed towards the door. "I better be going. Good morning, Mr. Corrigan, sir."

  "Morning, Brad." He stepped into the room and Sarah forgot to breathe for a moment as she stared at him. He was stunning in a dark gray suit with a light blue dress shirt underneath. It somehow added depth to his intensely green eyes.

  They stared at each other for a long moment, neither one moving. Finally, Tyler took a seat in the chair across from her desk.

  "So, better?"

  "Than the broom closet I was in yesterday? Yes. Much." She licked her lips nervously. She didn't know what to say to him. "So, was this your doing?"

  "Yes. And I'm sorry about yesterday. I had no idea you'd been put in that room. It's not even an office. I can't imagine what Fi was thinking."

  Sarah laughed. "Oh, really? Maybe your new girlfriend was thinking she didn’t like getting saddled with your holiday fling for a month."

  "My new…? Holiday fling…? Sarah." He glared at her. "We need to talk."

  "No. We do not." She crossed her arms and then uncrossed them when she saw his eyes drift downward.

  "How about dinner tonight?"

  "No."

  "Sarah…"

  She walked to the door. "Mr. Corrigan, sir, I realize that I work for you, but my personal time is my own and please don't ask again to see me outside of work hours. It's inappropriate. I'd hate to have to contact HR about this matter."

  He stared at her for a long moment. It took everything she had to meet his stare, but she managed it. Just barely.

  "Very well, Miss Baxter. It's clear you want nothing to do with me." He paused in the doorway, mere inches from her. "It's really too bad. Because you're the most amazing woman I've ever met and I haven't been able to sleep in weeks thinking about you."

  He walked down the hallway, never looking back.

  Sarah watched him, her heart breaking into little pieces, but she knew this was the right thing to do. They could never work. A woman like Fiona with her perfect looks and high-class breeding was what he needed, not Sarah with her too-loud mouth and too-tight clothes.

  She closed the door and leaned against it, forcing herself not to cry.

  She was about to leave the office and meet Brad and his friends for drinks when she received an urgent e-mail from Mr. Horowitz asking her to review a report one of the trainees had prepared before the next day. He told her he didn't need it until noon, but given the time difference it was either review it now or at four the next morning, so she messaged Brad her regrets and sat back down.

  It was a good thing Horowitz had asked her to look at the report. The numbers from the report flowed into four others that were crucial to creating the year-end numbers and Tracy had completely messed it up.

  It took Sarah until ten to fix it.

  She sighed as she trudged down the hall. Two days in Sydney and all she'd done was work late. She was jetlagged, exhausted, and just wanted to go home.

  She passed by an office with the light still on and glanced inside without really thinking about it. Tyler was sitting at a giant desk, his head resting on his hands. He looked like he was asleep.

  Sarah leaned against the doorframe. "You should really go home and get some rest. Your neck's going to kill you if you fall asleep like that."

  He startled and looked up at her, his eyes bleary. "You're probably right. There's just so much to do." He shook himself and leaned back, stretching.

  She tried not to notice how his shirt pulled against his muscular chest. Tried not to remember what it had felt like to wrap her hand around his bicep as he moved above her. Tried not to remember the clean, crisp smell of his cologne as he held her.

  "Why are you here so late?" he asked.

  "Horowitz needed me to look at something for him. Turned out to be a mess."

  "Have you eaten yet?" he asked.

  Sarah tensed and took a step backward. Corrigan held up his hand. "Wait, hold up. Promise we won't talk about anything meaningful. I'm just…I realized I haven't eaten yet and I'm starving and I thought that if you hadn't eaten yet that maybe we could grab something to eat together. That's all."

  She bit her lip. Her whole body was screaming yes, but she knew the best thing for her was to keep her distance.

  As she hesitated in the doorway, he powered down his computer and grabbed his coat. "Come on. Half an hour, I promise."

  They found some dive around the corner and squeezed into a tiny corner table, their knees touching as they drank dark beer and ate fish and chips wrapped in plain brown paper.

  "Oh my god, this is so good." Sarah licked the salt and fat off her fingers.

  "I know, right? This is my favorite place." Tyler smiled at her and she felt herself falling into his eyes. He was so beautiful.

  She wrenched her gaze away and stared down at the table.

  "Sarah…"

  "No." She glared at him. "You told me we weren't going to talk. I thought you meant it."

  He sighed and studied her for a long moment. "We don't have to talk. I just want to say something, okay?" He held her gaze as he continued, "I don't know what went wrong that day, Sarah. I really don't. But whatever it was, I'm sorry." He reached across the table and took her hand in his. "Please…give me a second chance. Give us a second chance."

  She wanted nothing more than to say yes, but she just couldn't do it. She pulled her hand out of his grasp. "There was no us, Tyler. You don't even know who I am. To you I'm just the poor girl you can mold into the perfect woman and I'll always be grateful because you rescued me. Well, I don't need rescuing. And I don't care if my clothes aren't right or if I say the wrong things. I like myself and I don't want to change. Face it, we're just too different to ever work. So, just…leave it, would you?"

  She threw her napkin on the table and left before the tears could start.

  She didn't speak to Tyler for the rest of the week. She saw him a few times from a distance, but when she did she immediately turned and walked the other direction. And she made sure to leave the office by six each night so they couldn't have any more late-night encounters.

  Brad asked her to come out with him and his friends, but she passed each time. She spent each night burrowed under the covers in her hotel room, trying to sleep.

  Of course, she couldn't, so she spent most of that time thinking about Tyler. The most perfect man she'd ever met had asked her for another chance and she'd told him to go away. Not a surprise really. It's what she always did. Pushed away the great guys because she knew what would happen. What always happened.

  Once the fun and novelty wore off they woke up and realized that she wasn't good enough for them. Their parents wouldn't approve, their friends wouldn't get it. They'd lose everything. And for what? Her? That's when they left.

  It was easier for her to leave first. Less painful.

  On Friday, Fiona pranced into Sarah's office, a large bouquet of a dozen roses in her hands. For a moment, Sarah wondered if they were for her. Maybe Tyler was making one last try for her heart. It was the day before Valentine's after all.

  "Look what Tyler sent me." Fiona flashed the flowers at her.

  "They're beautiful." Sarah tried to hide how much it hurt to hear that. "What's the card say?" she asked, walking around her desk.

  Fiona snatched it away before Sarah could look at it. "None of your business. That's personal."

  Sarah shrugged and brushed past her. "Well, they're beautiful. Enjoy them."

  She forced herself to walk to the bathroom as slowly as possible. She would not run, she would not give that hateful woman the satisfaction.

  Once there, she hid in the corner stall and cried her eyes out.

&nbs
p; Sarah woke up Saturday morning and realized she had no interest in exploring Sydney. Not today. It was Valentine's Day and everywhere she went there'd be couples looking all cute and lovey-dovey.

  It was the perfect day to catch up on some work for Mr. Horowitz. She'd go in, work for six or seven hours, come back to her room, order room service, and watch some action movie on pay-per-view. If she tried hard enough she could avoid anything and everything to do with the holiday.

  At least Tyler and Fiona wouldn't be in. He was probably taking her to some fancy restaurant somewhere amazing. Like Singapore.

  It was almost three in the afternoon when Sarah looked up to see Tyler standing in the doorway.

  "What are you doing here?" she asked.

  "I could ask you the same thing. It's Saturday, Sarah. You should be off exploring Sydney."

  She shrugged. "Didn't feel like it today. Too many couples out and about. Speaking of…don't you need to get going so you and Fiona can spend a romantic candlelit night together?"

  He laughed. "What is this about me and Fiona? Where do you get this from, Sarah?"

  She stared at him. "Do you think I'm stupid? You sent her a dozen roses and let her use your private jet and kissed her when she arrived and…"

  "And you think that means we're a couple?" He shook his head and stepped into the room, sitting down across from her. "Look at me, Sarah." He stared at her with his brilliant green eyes, enunciating every word. "Fiona means nothing to me, nothing has ever happened between us, and nothing will."

  Sarah shook her head. "She said you spent last Christmas together skiing in the Alps."

  He laughed. "She and I? Just the two of us?"

  "That's what she made it sound like." Sarah crossed her arms, she didn't like feeling mocked.

  Tyler leaned back in his chair. "Well, she misled you, Sarah. There were twenty of us on that trip. Yeah, she spent a lot of time hanging around me, but we certainly weren't there as a couple and nothing happened between us. And the roses? I sent roses to every single department in every single office. If she chose to pretend that they were especially for her, well…" He smiled his little half-smile that made her heart skip a beat. "That's her problem.