by Holly Martin
He stared at her. ‘And once again you’ve given me the unexpected. You sound like you know what you’re talking about. Is that through research or because you play?’
‘I did some research before I messaged you but I know a little about video games. Before I got so broke I couldn’t afford to eat, I used to have a Wii and an Xbox. Pokémon Go was hugely popular last year, as I’m sure you’re aware, and although The Great British Egg Chase wouldn’t be as advanced, we could still attract a wide audience, especially as parents will be looking for something fun to do with their kids over the Easter holiday and this gets the whole family out of the house and exploring different areas. Coupled with the reward of real chocolate eggs it could be very popular and very profitable for us with very little outlay. We can get someone like Cadbury’s or Nestlé to donate eggs; they love this kind of thing as their name would be all over it in terms of sponsorship.’
He nodded. ‘I really like this idea and catchy title too. Are you thinking that someone from SparkStar would design it for us?’
That took the wind out of her sails. ‘I was actually thinking that you would design it. Thought it would be something that you’d enjoy. Presuming that not everything you told me over the weekend was a lie, you said you always wanted to be a game designer. That’s what you trained to do.’
‘That was a long time ago.’
‘So you can’t do it?’
‘I didn’t say that. I could do it but it would take me over a week to do it and that’s if I didn’t work on anything else. You’d be better off outsourcing it to SparkStar, though that would come with a fee. I can’t have my staff working for nothing.’
Bella felt disappointed. She had hoped he would want to do it and he had just palmed it off as if he had no interest in it. But in reality she knew how busy he was, she’d seen his diary. And in all her bright ideas, she hadn’t accounted for it taking so long to make.
‘Well it’s nearly one o’clock, shall we continue this discussion at lunch?’ Isaac said, standing up.
‘I’ve got some work I need to do, maybe it’s best if we leave it,’ Bella said, turning to her computer under the pretext of work.
He watched her for a moment. ‘Our lunch meeting was in red, Miss Roussel, it’s not something I can rearrange.’
She stared at the screen for a moment but Isaac made no movement to leave so she got up and walked with him to the door.
Isaac escorted her to the lift and turned to her as the doors closed behind them.
‘I’ve upset you about the Easter egg app, that wasn’t my intention. I think it’s a brilliant idea.’
‘I’m not upset about that.’
‘So you are upset about something.’
The fact that he regretted the kiss was the thing that was upsetting her the most but she couldn’t tell him that.
I regret that more than anything. That’s what he’d said.
He was still waiting for an answer, his indigo blue eyes filled with concern.
‘I just thought you might enjoy making the app; that it would be fun for you.’
He smiled, sadly. ‘There’s not much time for fun in my working life, not much time for fun at all actually.’
‘Well then you’re doing something wrong. I appreciate that to be the CEO of three companies is a lot of hard work but you should have some time for yourself. You should delegate more. If you don’t have people in your managerial team that you can trust to get on with the job in your absence then you have the wrong people working for you. Life is to be enjoyed and I imagine that you make a lot of money in your line of work, so you should be able to enjoy it now and again.’
‘You make it sound so simple, when in reality it isn’t.’
‘Only if you insist on making it complicated. You say that you need to be present at every event that we have. And while I appreciate the support, you have hired me to be fundraising manager so I can also be the representative for our charity too. You have an assistant manager here; she can do some of that for you as well. You spent time showing me around today when you could have passed that responsibility to Eric or Madge or anyone else, it didn’t need to be you. You could have used that time to do something you enjoy, even if it was only half an hour reading a book you’ve been meaning to read for some time or designing a computer game that’s just for you, just for the pleasure of doing it, even if you never sell it. As fundraising manager, I can help you with a lot of things to do with the charity. You don’t need to take it all on yourself.’
He didn’t say anything, just stared at her as if she was some puzzle he was trying to work out, and she wondered if she had perhaps said too much. He was her boss after all and this was only her first day, she shouldn’t be telling him how to live his life. It wasn’t her place.
The doors pinged open.
‘Sorry, it’s none of my business,’ Bella said. ‘Let’s have lunch and then you can get back to your very busy job.’
She walked out and after a few moments he followed her.
Isaac didn’t know if he was coming or going with this girl. Lunch felt stilted. He knew he had upset her with his actions over the weekend, but after buying her Alfie, she’d seemed to have forgiven him. It had even seemed as if they’d been flirting that morning. But now it felt like she was upset with him again and he knew it wasn’t just that he didn’t have time to develop the Easter egg app.
Although they had talked over lunch, it had been solely focussed on work. The friendliness had gone. It was still easy between them but it was quite obvious she was trying to be professional at all times. They talked more about the Easter egg hunt and how they would make it work, bouncing ideas off each other about the different in-app purchases they could use. They talked about Elsie’s suggestion to bring the funfair back to the island and her plans for it and how next year Bella wanted to do some giant Easter egg statues dotted around the UK, painted and funded by different companies, which would bring awareness to the charity too.
She didn’t talk about him doing something fun again or taking the time to enjoy himself. He hadn’t dared tell her that the reason he had insisted on being the one to show her around that morning was because he had wanted to spend time with her, that he enjoyed her company. And although he didn’t really have a lot of time for fun, he had made sure there was time to indulge in that.
Bella finished her lunch and stood up to go. ‘I better be getting back, there’s work to be done.’
‘I’ll walk you back,’ Isaac said, standing up too.
She didn’t object and they walked back into the lift together.
As soon as the lift doors closed and the lift started moving, she leaned over and pressed the emergency stop button, bringing the lift to a juddering halt.
She turned to him, her eyes flashing. ‘Do you really regret the kiss?’
Oh. That was why she was upset with him. Crap, that had been really insensitive and she had taken it completely the wrong way. But what could he say? That in reality he wanted to power her back against the wall of the lift and kiss her until neither of them could remember their own names? He was her boss. He couldn’t be that person who dated one of his employees. That opened himself up to a load of problems. What if it ended between them, then that would make it very difficult at work.
He swallowed. ‘Don’t you?’
She stared at him. ‘No. Not at all. I mean I regret that I didn’t really know the person that I was kissing. I regret letting it get as far as it did as I’m normally much more restrained and cautious when it comes to relationships and men. I normally take my time before I feel ready to progress to that level. And there’s a huge part of me that regrets that we never finished that kiss properly because now there’s all this sexual tension between us that is frustrating as hell. But I can’t regret that kiss. Even if nothing ever happens between us again, that kiss was not like anything I’ve ever felt before. I’m not that experienced with men, there haven’t been that many in my life, and maybe the k
iss was just run of the mill for you, just another meaningless kiss in a whole line of meaningless women, but for me it was incredible. It showed me what a real kiss should feel like, what it means to be with someone you share a real connection with and I could never regret that. Did you not feel that too?’
Good lord. He had never met anyone so completely and utterly honest. She was someone who wore her heart on her sleeve and was proud to do so. She didn’t hide her feelings and there was something so achingly endearing about that. But what could he say? He didn’t want to do anything to encourage her.
He looked away from her when he spoke so she wouldn’t see the lie in his eyes. ‘It was just a kiss, Bella.’
He saw her watching him out the corner of his eye.
Eventually she stepped forward and released the emergency stop button.
‘Right.’
The lift came to her floor and when the doors pinged open he let her go without saying a word.
Bella walked back in her office and closed the door behind her. She sank into her chair and let her head fall into her hands.
She was such an idiot. Why did she not have a filter on her mouth so she could run through what she was going to say before she said it?
Tears of humiliation and rejection smarted her eyes.
She had kissed him because she had never felt that kind of connection with anyone before and because she had sworn she was going to take a chance with her heart and not hide from the chance of love. He had kissed her simply because she had thrown herself at him and proved she was more than willing. He was trying now to get things back on professional ground and she had just told him how incredible the kiss was, making her sound like an inexperienced lovesick schoolgirl with a popstar crush.
But the kiss had been incredible. She’d had five semi-serious boyfriends before and several other dates that had ended in wonderful kisses but this had been something completely different and Isaac just hadn’t felt what she had experienced. She had assumed he was holding back because he didn’t want to get involved with someone at work, and she understood that, but the fact that he never felt that connection, that she meant nothing to him, really did mean that the whole weekend had been a lie.
The door burst open and when she looked up Isaac was standing there. She quickly wiped the tears from her cheeks.
‘I don’t want to see you right now.’
He slammed the door behind him. ‘Tough.’
She stood up, defiantly. ‘I don’t think I’ve ever hated someone before, but for you I could make an exception.’
He stormed round to her side of the desk. ‘I felt it too. The connection we shared, the kiss, it was something special. Every minute, of every damn day since I walked out of your house on Sunday night, I’ve been thinking of that kiss. And the only reason I stopped it was because it wasn’t fair to you for me to continue kissing you, to make love to you when you didn’t know who I was, but it took more strength than I knew I had to walk away from you that night. I didn’t come back on Sunday night because I wanted to test you some more or find out more about you, I came back because Saturday had been one of the best nights of my life and I didn’t want to let you go.’
She stared at him, no words in her head at all.
‘I rather selfishly considered not hiring you for this job so then we could carry on exactly how we were and there would never be this professional conflict of interest, but this company needed you. I needed you. I wanted to do your induction this morning because I wanted to spend more time with you, which was completely stupid on my part as it was absolute torture. I sat there talking about the bloody sodding diary and the list I wanted you to compile when all I really wanted to do was this.’
And with that he kissed her, hard.
Chapter Twelve
Oh god, the taste of him as his lips burned into hers; his scent was all over her, his hard body against hers. His lips were so soft and she moaned when his tongue slid into her mouth. She ran her hands round the back of his neck, fingering his soft curls at the nape of his neck. He let out a soft moan of need and slid his hands down to her bum, lifting her. Instinctively she wrapped her legs round his hips and a second later he had her pinned against the wall with his glorious weight.
Desire and passion and need erupted in her, a longing so fierce that it was almost painful. If he started to make love to her against the wall of her office there was not a single bone in her body that would have stopped him. She clung to him tight and as the kiss continued she could feel how much he wanted this too.
The kiss suddenly slowed, becoming tender and softer than the fierce passion that had consumed them both. He pulled away slightly, placing a gentle kiss on her forehead, then he leaned his head against hers as he steadied his breathing.
‘Crap. That wasn’t supposed to happen,’ Isaac whispered, kissing her on the forehead again before he lowered her legs to the floor. ‘I lose all sense of control when I’m around you.’
‘I’m really glad it did happen,’ Bella said, leaning her head against his chest. She was gratified to hear his heart pounding against his chest as hard as hers was.
He pulled back slightly, holding her around the waist to make sure she could stand on her own.
‘I’m your boss Bella, this can’t happen between us.’
She reached up to stroke his face. ‘I understand.’
‘You do?’
‘I’m disappointed but I do get it. I was once involved in a work romance myself and it all went wrong. And you’re the boss; it’s so much more difficult for you.’
He stared at her in confusion. ‘I just pinned you to the wall of your office and kissed you on your first day of work. Then told you that it can’t happen again. I feel you’re letting me off very lightly.’
She smiled. ‘I’m not going to slap a sexual harassment suit on you, if that’s what you’re worried about. Look, this thing between us is obviously just passion and lust. It’s not love.’
He frowned slightly. ‘No, I don’t suppose it is.’
‘Of course it isn’t, we barely know each other. Besides, if it was, you wouldn’t be willing to walk away from it so easily. If it was love you wouldn’t let something as small as us being work colleagues get in the way. You’d grab onto it with both hands and never let it go. But it’s not. It’s chemistry, nothing more. There’s no point letting it get all weird between us at work just for the sake of a quick roll in the sack. So let’s just leave it as it is. We can be friends and we’ll both agree that it doesn’t go any further than this amazing kiss.’
He nodded, though as he took a step back, she couldn’t help notice how disappointed he looked.
He took another step away. ‘Just so you know, if we did, there’d be nothing quick about it.’
She laughed. ‘Don’t worry, in my fantasies, I won’t sell you short.’
He groaned and walked to the door. ‘Get on with your work, Miss Roussel. I’m not paying you to stand around enjoying yourself all day.’
‘I promise, I won’t enjoy myself for the rest of the day.’
He smiled and walked out, closing the door behind him.
Bella stayed leaning against the wall for a few seconds, her heart still banging against her chest. That kiss had been incredible and she couldn’t help wonder if he kissed like that, what it would be like to make love to him. But at least now she understood how he felt. It was the right thing really because if they did end up having a whirlwind passionate affair, when it inevitably ended it would leave them with a whole load of awkwardness to deal with. This was for the best. She would just ignore the niggling doubt in her head that said she shouldn’t walk away from this kind of connection so easily.
She sat down at her desk and stared at her screen. A few minutes later, there was a soft knock on the door and Elsie poked her head inside.
‘Are you OK? Mr Scott seemed really angry when he walked in here?’
Bella smiled. ‘I’m fine. But let’s just say I won’t be step
ping out of line with him in future. Not if I want to keep my job.’
There was more truth to that than she could say.
Elsie nodded, sympathetically. ‘He can come across a bit bullish sometimes but he’s a very fair man.’
Bella nodded.
‘I’ll make us some tea, it’ll make you feel better,’ Elsie said, ducking back out of the office.
Bella turned her attention back to the computer though she knew she wasn’t really seeing it. It was going to take a bit more than a cup of tea to make her feel better because after that wonderful kiss all she was left feeling was incredibly frustrated.
Isaac left his house and let Rocket run on ahead up the little path that led to the fields and meadow behind his house. Dark damson rain clouds were rolling in over the hills but the sun was still shining over his little cottage as he looked back at it. The place had been a complete state when he had bought it a few months before but slowly it was becoming more homely. The outside walls had been repaired and repainted and the only thing that needed doing to the outside was having a new thatched roof fitted. The garden had all been landscaped and there was a proper driveway round the front too.
