She wished. ‘You’re friendly with Trish in Human Resources, Ads. Have you heard that I’m going to be fired?’
‘No, as far as I know, you’re still on retainer as Thorpe’s part-time driver.’
Okay, good. Phew.
‘He’s a good-looking guy,’ Addi mused.
That was like saying an asteroid strike was a slap. ‘Have you met him?’ Lex asked, irritated by the hint of anxiety she heard in her voice. Addi was a brown-eyed blonde, completely ravishing, and men routinely fell over themselves to get her to notice them.
‘He called a firm-wide staff meeting yesterday afternoon, introduced himself—told everyone that he’s here to inspect the operation, to look at the assets and tour the companies under the Thorpe umbrella, to consider his options.’
‘Did he mention selling?’
‘No, but it’s common knowledge that he’s in negotiations in the US and in the East to sell those assets. He’ll probably do the same here,’ Addi stated, sounding calm. ‘I think you should look for another part-time job, Lex.’
She had been, but there weren’t many that paid as well and were as flexible as her Thorpe Industries gig.
‘Why can’t he just leave us alone?’ Lex muttered. If he’d stayed in London, she wouldn’t have to look for work again and she wouldn’t be sitting here feeling jumpy, weird and out of sorts.
‘There’s weird tension in your voice every time you talk about him,’ Addi commented.
You should see us together, Lex silently replied. Electricity hummed and the air shimmered.
‘Did something happen while you were driving him?’
Her, ‘No,’ wasn’t a lie. All that had happened in the car was that their eyes had occasionally collided in the mirror. She couldn’t remember one thing about the drive from the airport to the CBD. It had been as if she’d been on autopilot. It was a miracle she hadn’t crashed the car.
She never kept secrets from Addi but she couldn’t tell her she and Cole had nearly kissed in his hotel room. She didn’t understand it so she couldn’t explain it.
She took an overlarge sip of her wine. Yes, he’d ignited a spark—or a raging fire—within her but it didn’t mean anything. It couldn’t. It was just one of those strange, inexplicably random things that happened that were never to be repeated. Their eyes had connected across a busy airport, she’d liked what she’d seen, and so had he. Lex skipped over the embarrassing memory of tossing coffee on him and her tears, pausing the movie playing in her head on the scene where he’d swapped his wet jersey for a dry one, giving her a super-quick peek of his simply marvellous, muscled, powerful torso.
And, yes, they’d indulged in some serious eye contact in the car—she’d never seen eyes his colour before, a light golden-brown—but after parking the SUV she’d pulled herself together and told herself to do her job. She’d done as he’d asked and had taken his laptop bag up to his penthouse suite, desperately thinking of how she could persuade him to let her drive him.
Then their fingers had touched—theirfingersfor goodness’ sake!—and all hell had nearly broken loose.
Or heaven. Or something.
Addi scooted away from her, her eyebrows raised. ‘Is there something you’re not telling me, Lex Satchell?’
I nearly kissed our boss and, given half the chance, would do it, and more, again. But need like that scares me, because every bad decision Joelle made was born out of passion and rooted in her obsession over a man. But I liked it. I like him.
Lex shook her head and looked away. She was making a big deal about nothing. She wasn’t even going to see Cole again. He’d hired a car, but he didn’t like being driven around by a chauffeur, so driving him had been a one-time thing. It was a one-and-done situation. She should stop thinking about him and move on.
‘What aren’t you telling me, Lex?’
Lex remembered the fear on Addi’s face earlier and tossed her sister’s question back in her face. When Addi wrinkled her nose and looked away, Lex knew she’d hit a target she hadn’t known existed. Anxiety washed over her, pushing ice into her veins. ‘Addi, what aren’t you telling me?’
Addi stood up and stretched, placing her fists on her slim hips and arching her back. ‘I’m going in. It’s freezing out here and I’m getting cold.’
Lex was about to push when her phone beeped with a loud notification. She frowned and opened the message from the unknown number.
I have a dinner engagement. Pick me up from the office inan hour fifteen. CT.
Her stomach rolled over and her knees melted, just a little, at the thought of seeing him again.
Oh, Lord, she was in so much trouble here.
CHAPTER FOUR