‘We had a little chat.’
‘Did I sit in on it?’
‘It was just me and him. I wanted to give him the chance to confess. His behaviour in that meeting was very...what’s the word? When someone can’t sit still or talk properly?’
‘Nervous? Jittery?’
‘Both of those. His body language made his guilt obvious.’
‘For heaven’s sake, Stefano,’ she exploded, sliding the chair back to slam against the wall. ‘Anyone hauled in for a private chat with you is going to act nervous and jittery. You can be terrifying and Peter is a nervous soul as it is.’
‘Someone is selling secrets from that department. Too many things are being leaked and he’s the only person it can be.’
‘Maybe the system’s been hacked!’
‘Maybe we have a traitor in our team.’
‘Who in their right mind would turn traitor on you?’ Now she was on her feet with her hands on her hips. ‘You’re a terrifying ogre but on the whole you’re a good person to work for. You pay extremely well and you’re generous with perks—you’ve one of the highest staff retention rates in the industry! I know Peter. You hired him as a graduate only a couple of months after you hired me. He’s as timid as a mouse but one of the brightest brains you’ve got, and he’s loyal. Are you really going to sack him without concrete proof?’
‘I can’t risk keeping him on!’ He conveniently forgot to mention that neither Peter nor any of his other staff or even his business had crossed his mind since she’d collapsed at his feet.
‘Have you even looked into the possibility that one of your rivals has infiltrated the system?’
‘Our system is foolproof as you very well know!’ he shouted back.
‘Rubbish! If even the Pentagon can be broken into then your system can be too. Do you want to ruin a life with no proof? Do you want to be sued for unfair dismissal?’
‘No one has grounds to sue me.’
‘Of course they do, you moron, if you treat them like this.’
‘Now you’re calling me a moron?’
‘If the boot fits then wear it!’
This was what he’d missed in his month without her; someone to call him out and make him see things from a different angle. Everyone else was too damn scared to speak up.
Everything had gone wrong since she’d left him. He couldn’t think straight, too consumed with his anger and humiliation at her hands to think clearly.
Anna would never have let him meet an employee without a witness to report the unbiased facts and protect both parties.
That he had the highest staff retention rates in the industry was down to her. Sure, all the wages and perks were his to be proud of but with Anna gone there was no one there to fight the staff’s corner, no counterbalance, no one to make him listen to reason.
This was just as it had always been between them, Anna thought through the blood pounding in her brain.
Stefano was facing her with the same angry stance she knew she must have, both of them glaring and snarling at each other until one of them backed down and apologised.
Except this time she was wearing only a pair of skimpy shorts and a tiny T-shirt, and he...
He was wearing a loosely tied dark grey robe with noth
ing underneath.
And then, without her knowing how she got there, she was in his arms, his mouth devouring hers, he was kissing her, she was kissing him, in the way she’d yearned to for so, so long.
Sensation such as she’d never known existed skipped over her skin and down into her pores. His tongue swept into her mouth, their lips dancing to a tune she hadn’t known she’d already learnt, and she swayed into him, closing her mind to everything but the feelings firing through her.
This was everything she’d been dreaming of and more. His taste, his scent, the feel of his lips, the roughness of his stubbly jaw, the strength of his arms and the hardness of his chest crushed against her... It was heat in its purest, most carnal form.