She had known that she had to end her engagement the night she had come back from the museum and while being intimate with Gordon had found herself imagining Luka instead.
It had been the best orgasm of her life!
Luka was everything that her aunt had warned her about.
Despite somehow knowing it could only end badly, and that she should leave now, instead she had taken the job.
And now she was here.
About to resign.
‘There is something you wish to discuss?’ Luka said, and she nodded.
It was all very formal and deliberately so, for Luka was not about to make this easy on her.
Quite simply he had never known a better PA and he did not want that to change.
He wanted Cecelia to stay and Luka always got what he wanted.
‘So?’ he invited. ‘What is it that you have to say?’
It wasn’t the first time she had handed in her notice and Cecelia was about to deliver her well-rehearsed lines yet she just sat there in strained silence. For when he held her gaze, as he did now, there felt like a limit on the oxygen in the vast room and superfluous words were rather hard to find.
‘I’m leaving.’
‘Pardon?’ Luka checked, and cocked his head a little, as if he hadn’t heard. He would make her say it again, and more explicitly this time.
‘I shan’t be renewing my contract.’ After such an appalling start the words now came tumbling out. ‘I’ve given it considerable thought and though it’s been an amazing year I’ve decided that it’s time to move on.’
‘But for all your considerable thought, you haven’t discussed it with me.’
‘I don’t need your permission to resign, Luka.’
Oh, this wasn’t going well, Cecelia thought as she heard the snap in her voice.
Yet she was almost at breaking point and that was verified when Bridgette buzzed.
‘There’s a woman called Katiya down in Reception, asking to see you, Luka...’
He rolled his eyes. ‘I’m busy.’
‘She’s very insistent. Apparently you’ll know why.’
‘Tell Security that whoever lets her up will be fired.’
He looked over at Cecelia. ‘Why can’t women take no for an answer?’
‘Why can’t my boss?’
‘Touché,’ he conceded and then decided to play the sympathy card, ‘Cecelia, one of the reasons I changed my mind about taking the day off was that I have just found out my mother is very unwell.’
‘I’m sorry to hear that.’ Cecelia said. ‘If there’s any...’ She stopped and then she closed her mouth rather than continue.
‘You were saying?’ Luka checked, and when she didn’t respond he spoke for her. ‘Because actually there is something you can do for me. Cece, I am going to be away a lot in the coming months. My mother has cancer and will be undergoing extensive treatments...’
She felt her own rapid blink.
Luka never spoke of his family.
Ever!
‘I am going to have to spend a lot of time in Xanero. You’re an amazing PA and I hope you know how much I appreciate you.’ He saw the swallow in her throat and went in for the kill. ‘At this difficult time, I don’t want to deal with someone new.’
‘Luka, I am sorry to hear that your mother is unwell but it doesn’t sway my decision.’
She really was as cold as ice, and yet, and yet...as he looked across the desk he could see tension in her features and that those gorgeous green eyes could not meet his.
‘Can I ask you to stay on for another six months? Naturally you’ll be reimbursed...’
‘Not everything is about money, Luka.’
He saw her green eyes flash and knew full well she thought him nothing more than a rich playboy.
She knew nothing about his start in life and Luka certainly wasn’t about to enlighten her.
No one knew the truth.
Even his own parents seemed to believe the lie that had long been perpetuated—that the resort on Xanero Island and the original famous Kargas restaurant housed within it had given Luka his start in life.
Well, it hadn’t.
Sex had.
Affluent holidaymakers looking for a thrill had first helped Luka to pave his way from near poverty to the golden lifestyle he had now.
The more sanitised PR version was that the first Kargas restaurant had given Luka his start.
Lies, all lies.
Not that he had any reason to tell Cecelia that.
Luka did not have to explain himself to his PA.
‘What if I offered more annual leave?’
‘I’ve already accepted another role.’
And so, when being nice and accommodating didn’t work, Luka grew surly. ‘With whom?’
‘I don’t need to answer that.’
‘Actually, Cece—’
‘Don’t call me that!’ she reared. ‘Luka, on the one hand you tell me how much you appreciate the work I do and yet you can’t even be bothered to get my name right.’
Finally he had his reaction.
‘So you’re leaving because I don’t call you by your correct name?’
‘No.’
‘Then why?’
‘I don’t have to answer that.’
‘Actually Ce-cel-i-a—’ he drawled every syllable of her name ‘—if you look at your contract you cannot work for any of my rivals for a period of a year and you cannot—’
‘Don’t.’ She halted him. ‘Luka, I am allowed to leave.’
She was.
‘Of course you are.’ He just didn’t like that fact.
‘I’ve got four weeks left on my contract and naturally I’ll start looking for my replacement straight away. Unless you have anyone particular in mind?’
‘I’ll leave all of that to you.’
‘Sure.’
He flicked his hand in dismissal and Cecelia read the cue and headed out, though she did not return to her desk.
Once alone in the quiet of the bathrooms she leant against one of the cool marble walls.
She’d done it.
Possibly it was the worst career move she would ever make, but soon sanity would be restored to her mind.
No longer would she stand on a busy Tube in rush hour, wishing that somehow she was the woman lying beneath that depraved, beautiful face as he leaned in for a kiss...
No more would she have to breathe through her mouth when he was close just to avoid a hit of the heady scent of him.
Finally, the clenching low in her stomach at his lazy smile would dissipate.
Order would be restored to the chaos he had made of her heart.
Not yet, though.
It really was an awful day.