‘A while ago. In the early days.’
‘What happened?’
‘I made a bad judgement call.’
‘Nice to know it happens to you too.’
He gave her a small smile. ‘Only once. That was enough. How about that dinner?’
‘Sounds great.’
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
‘ARE YOU GOING to sit behind that paper all morning?’ Jo prodded the pages of Alex’s paper and made reading the rest of the article on the new piece of technology launched by the latest company he’d invested in impossible.
‘That was my plan.’
‘I’ve hardly seen you all week.’
‘I’ve been working.’
Her eyes held a mischievous light he didn’t entirely trust. ‘Evenings too?’
No. Alex had spent every evening since her parents’ party with Phoebe. Most lunchtimes too. He couldn’t seem to get enough of her. ‘Some.’
‘But you must have found time to eat? Take the air?’
He frowned. What was Jo talking about? He scoured her face but couldn’t find anything other than mild curiosity in her expression. His sister obviously wanted to chat. Presumably that was why she’d suggested breakfast. And as he’d been keen to find out what spending time with his sister without being racked with guilt might be like, he’d agreed. So it was high time he started doing exactly that.
Suddenly realising he felt lighter than he had in years, Alex grinned, folded the paper and set it on the table. ‘Sorry. Bad habit. How are things coming along for the launch?’
‘Brilliantly.’ Jo beamed. ‘I’ve finally finished the collection and there’s not a drop of glue in sight.’
‘Thank heavens for that.’
‘I can’t believe it’s only a week away.’
‘I’m very proud of you, you know.’
‘I know. I’m kind of proud of me too. Although I couldn’t have done it without Phoebe.’
‘Probably not.’
‘Hah,’ said Jo triumphantly. ‘You see. I told you she’d be brilliant. It’s odd, though,’ she added after a little pause, spooning sugar into the cup and idly stirring her coffee.
Alex waited for her to continue but Jo appeared to have gone off into her own little world. The relentless clink of her spoon against the side of the cup started to set his teeth on edge. ‘What’s odd?’
Jo blinked and looked up at him. ‘She’s different.’
Alex already knew that. Why else would he have broken the vow he’d made years ago never to see the same woman more than a couple of times? The fact that he’d not only broken it but hadn’t wasted a moment agonising over it should have scared the living daylights out of him.
Instead, while he wasn’t exactly shouting it from the rooftops, the idea of having Phoebe around a bit longer didn’t have him running for the hills. In fact it made him feel warm and remarkably content. Especially when he thought about the delightful manner in which she’d woken him up this morning before telling him she ought to go home before she forgot where it was.
‘Different in what way?’ he said, taking care not to appear too interested in Jo’s answer.
‘She has a sort of spring in her step.’
‘Does she?’