‘Basically, yes.’ He’d watched her impassively. ‘We had an understanding, didn’t we? We’ve been enjoying a bit of fun together, but we both agreed it wouldn’t cloud work issues.’
‘And it hasn’t.’ She’d tipped her chin up and met his gaze defiantly. ‘I don’t want the job you are offering because it’s time for me to move on. Our agreement has reached the end of the road. I want a fresh challenge.’ She’d managed to sound as collected and calm as he was. But inside she’d been hurting.
Inside she was still hurting—because there’d been a part of her that wanted him to show her some ounce of feeling, some spark of tenderness.
But he hadn’t. He’d just told her that he’d leave the job offer open for a while and to get in contact if she changed her mind. Then he’d wished her well for the future and walked away.
He hadn’t been around when she’d cleared her desk for the last time; he’d been in the States on business.
If he’d cared he wouldn’t have been able to stay away. He wouldn’t have been able to put business first.
She glared down at the papers on her desk. Why was she wasting time thinking about Alexi, when she was under pressure to produce a vital report for her new boss? Her relationship with Alexi was over and she needed to be realistic about it. Of course he hadn’t cared about her; she had always known that. They’d shared ‘a bit of fun’, as he’d so coolly liked to refer to it. Not love—just sex.
Katie pulled the papers closer and forced herself to study them. She was a twenty-four-year-old woman with a degree in economics, not a love-struck fool. She’d made a mistake, she’d thought she could handle a relationship without letting her emotions intervene, but it hadn’t worked for her. Now she needed to get over it. She took a deep breath and pushed all the past thoughts out of her mind, and felt a surge of a relief as she looked at the files in front of her. Yesterday had gone.
She circled some figures that suddenly struck her as unusual and traced their pattern. Then she started to make notes.
At nine forty-five she had put together a rough preliminary report. It wasn’t perfect, but it was the best she would be able to achieve given the time restraints. And she had a few interesting points she would be able to raise at the meeting.
With a few minutes to spare, she left her desk and went down the hallway to get a drink from a water machine she’d noticed earlier.
There was a mirror next to the dispenser, and she glanced briefly in it to check her appearance. She had applied more make-up than usual to disguise the fact that she hadn’t been sleeping well. Her blue eyes looked good with the extra smudge of taupe highlighter, and the brighter lipstick complemented her skin tones and contrasted well with the darkness of her hair, but it wasn’t really her. She tended to favour a more natural look.
They are not employing you for your style, she told herself sharply as she turned back towards her office; they are interested in your brain.
Hopefully now she had started her new job she would get a better night’s sleep. She swung through her office door and came to an abrupt halt. For a moment she thought she was in the wrong place because there was someone sitting behind her desk. She couldn’t see who it was, because he’d swivelled the chair around towards the window. All she could see was his long legs stretching out to one side and his hand holding her phone. He had a bit of a nerve to make himself at home like that, she thought with a frown. And he’d been reading her notes, she realised suddenly, as she saw he was holding them in the other hand.
‘Excuse me?’ She cleared her throat. ‘Can I help you?’
‘I’ll have to get back to you, Ryan. I have a new employee to deal with before our meeting convenes.’ The brisk, businesslike voice was velvety warm with just a hint of a Mediterranean accent, and Katie recognised it at once.
With the recognition came a plummeting feeling of shock as the office chair swivelled around and she found herself face to face with the man who had turned her world upside down and inside out—Alexander Demetri. Her mouth went dry; her stomach seemed to tie itself into knots.
For a moment she wondered if she was imagining things. She held her breath and wondered if she had thought about him so much over the last few weeks that she had actually conjured him up in some kind of wild illusion.
Then he put the phone down, leaned back in the leather chair and looked at her.
‘Hello, Katie.’
There was no mistaking that cool, sardonic tone, or the glint in the darkness of his eyes. This wasn’t some kind of dream—it was a complete nightmare!
CHAPTER TWO
‘WHAT on earth are you doing here?’ Her voice was numb with disbelief and it made his lips curve in a wryly amused smile.
‘Well, at the moment it looks like I’m employing you to do a job that you originally told me you didn’t want. Strange old world, isn’t it?’
He sounded so cool and calm, and by contrast Katie was anything but calm. There were a million emotions buzzing around inside her and she couldn’t get a handle on any of them.
‘I don’t understand,’ she murmured. ‘The job you offered me was with Demetri Shipping, wasn’t it?’
‘Demetri Shipping now owns Tellesta and Madison Brown,’ he informed her. ‘I bought them both out and took control about six weeks ago.’ As he spoke Alexi allowed his eyes to rake over her. She looked good, he thought distractedly. Everything about her appearance was businesslike, from the white, crisp blouse to the black pencil-skirt. Yet there was an overt sexiness about her—the wide belt that emphasised her small waist, the hint of red gloss on her lips. She always had been too damn sexy for his peace of mind.
Aware of his scrutiny, Katie could feel herself tensing up even more. She wondered what he was thinking…was there even a small part of him that was glad to see her? Even as she asked the question she was berating herself for being a damn fool. Alexi didn’t reason like that. She was just a notch on his bedpost, for heaven’s sake!
‘So, you had just finalised the deal to buy this place when…?’ She almost said ‘when we were together’, but stopped before making that mistake. ‘When I was working for you?’ she finished instead. They had never been together, she reminded herself, not in the true sense of the word. Not as a couple.
He nodded.
‘I didn’t realize. I mean, when I applied for the job here, I didn’t know it was with you.’
‘I’ve gathered that.’
He was so damn cavalier! she thought angrily. Just once she’d like to see that arrogant, businesslike persona slip.
But the thing that made her really angry was that there was a part of her that was glad to see him. She hated that! It was the weak side of her nature, she told herself sternly, because she was over Alexander Demetri, well and truly over him.
OK—she still found him attractive—but then she would have to be dead not to find those dynamic, forceful good looks a turn on. Every woman with a pulse was attracted to him.
She tried not to look at him too closely, tried not to notice little things like the fact that his thick, dark hair had grown slightly and now just brushed the top of the midnight-blue jacket collar, the fact that there was a slight shadow on the strong jawline, or the sensual, almost cruel curve of his lips. Because when she noticed things like that she remembered how it had felt when he’d kissed her, when he’d crushed her against him, his skin abrasive against the softness of hers, his lips hungry and powerfully compelling.
‘Did you know it was going to be me today?’ she asked him suddenly. ‘Did you know I had this job?’
‘Of course!’ He seemed to find the question amusing. ‘Your name was put on my desk nearly