Her Best Laid Plans

She returned her phone to her bag and turned around.

‘It was a “no”?’ Jared asked.

She nodded.

‘Their loss,’ he commiserated, giving her all of ten seconds to sit back down at the table before getting up and walking around to her side of the unit and saying in a low voice, ‘You could always revisit my proposition.’

Her body instantly responded to the chocolate pitch of his voice. ‘Pr-proposition?’ she questioned lamely.

‘Mmmn.’ He smiled down at her, plucked the mugs from the table and dunked them both in the kitchen sink along with the pastry dishes. He turned on the taps and Amanda wished mightily for a cold shower.

‘Accept my job offer and come to London with me.’

‘London?’ Amanda gaped. ‘London?’ Glad his back was to her, she tried to get a hold of her runaway thoughts, realising that for an instant she had committed the cardinal sin of associating Jared with an altogether different kind of proposition. Bad idea, she scolded herself. Very. Bad. Idea.

‘I need to go back to London and I need a Personal Assistant to accompany me.’

‘Oh. Okay. Let me just pack a bag,’ she said crossing her eyes comically behind him, ‘wait, what shall we tell Janey—that she’s taken one too many coffee breaks and you’re through with her?’ She slid off the stool to come and stand next to him.

‘I need Janey here keeping an eye on things. And she and Mikey could do with the time together.’

Amanda picked up a mug and a dishtowel. ‘So what’s in London?’ she asked.

For a moment, when Jared simply stared at his hands submerged in the soapy water, she thought he wasn’t going to respond.

When he did, his words were dragged from deep within. ‘A sick father and a failing family business.’

Amanda put the mug down and stretched her hand out in an automatic offer of comfort. ‘This is what your sister came to tell you?’ She felt the corded sinew of his forearm harden beneath her fingers.

‘It’s-’

‘Complicated?’ she helped, sure his hands had formed fists beneath the water’s surface.

He turned to look at her. He was absolutely still and yet she could sense something coursing through him—that edge of danger; a flash of fire in otherwise cool, clear green eyes.

‘Complicated is an understatement.’ He did that quiet thinking thing and from his expression she knew he was weighing up the consequences of revealing something to her. ‘I’m sure my sister would be only too happy to provide me with one of her assistants but I’d rather take someone I know with me; someone without ulterior motive.’

Unbidden she saw herself tasting his lips, and flustered, felt the ridiculous need for him to clarify what he was asking of her. ‘And I’d be in London as your Personal Assistant?’

‘Amanda, you could do the job standing on your head.’

She stared up at him, gripping the kitchen roll top as casually as she could manage because suddenly his utter belief in her had her wanting to take the risk and go with him. He was that sure of her? It had her wanting to repay his compliment by offering whatever support he needed.

She swallowed. ‘How exactly would you go about telling your sister that in one day I’ve gone from “sleeping” with you to working for you?’

‘It’s none of her business.’

Right. That shut down that then. She was going to have to actually come out and say it wasn’t she? ‘Speaking of,’ she moved a hand between them, ‘you know, the—’ she couldn’t say it.

‘—Kiss?’ His eyes moved to her lips and she had to fight an insane urge to moisten them with the tip of the tongue. ‘Forget about it.’ He withdrew his hands from the water and reached for the dishtowel she was still holding. ‘Are you going to let fear rule your life, then?’

‘What do you mean?’ she spluttered, pinned under his searching gaze.

‘I know you’re capable of more than you have let your life become. You say you’re ready to change your life. Prove it.’

That was exactly what she was trying to do. She just needed one person to take a chance on her, to believe she could do a job without having recent experience to back it up. It slowly dawned on her that there was someone standing right in front of her completely willing to take that risk. And, actually, how awesome would it be to prove to him she was worth taking a chance on? Purely in a work capacity, of course.

‘Mikey’s going to think your moving out is a lot less a knee-jerk reaction to change if you do it sensibly and with thought,’ Jared added. ‘Like dipping your toe in the water with a temporary assignment that will give you money towards a place of your own, a reference you can take to your next position. What’s to think about anyway?’ he cajoled, ‘Use that go-with-the-flow mentality of yours. Snap up the opportunity and let it open some doors for you. I’ll even help you come up with a proper plan for after.’

Oh he was good; this man practically had a degree in planning. So good that as her mind began processing the permutations, she realised she was genuinely considering his offer. Suddenly all she could see were benefits. Like the fact that Mikey could enjoy some time with Janey without his little sister being in the way. Like the fact Jared wouldn’t have to face family he was so obviously estranged from alone. Like the fact she’d get good work experience and a reference and savings to kick-start her search for a job when she came home.

And yet, well, there was still the elephant in the room.

Honestly why she had to keep harping on about it she didn’t know, but she licked her lips and tried again. ‘About the kiss—’

Jared regarded her unflinchingly. ‘What about it? So the Code Red thing got a little out of hand. We’ll learn from it. The kiss was fun but misguided. It wasn’t us. We’re friends. That’s all.’

That’s all?

Of course that was all. Why would Jared want or need it to be anything else? Why did she, come to think of it?

If he could discount it so easily, and be so sure that it wouldn’t be an issue, why couldn’t she?

***

Jared looked up from his papers, realising he’d read through half a document and couldn’t recall the first thing about it. He was way too aware of his new Personal Assistant. She was sitting on the cream leather seat opposite him, chuntering delightfully to herself as she fiddled with the phone he’d casually thrown at her as they’d boarded the private jet bound for London.

‘Having trouble operating it?’ he asked with a smile on his face.

‘No, merely concerned about the trail of sobbing women we seem to have left behind. Every single call on this thing has been from women eager to know if you’re available. I think I’m going to have to set up some sort of helpline while you’re out of the country.’

His smile widened and an edge of wickedness crept in. ‘I may have given you my private phone by mistake.’

‘You have more than one?’ Her mouth formed a perfect ‘O’ of surprise that he really oughtn’t to find so appealing. ‘What am I talking about? Of course you have more than one.’ She glanced about the jet’s interior, looking a little pale. ‘Please tell me you don’t have more than one of these babies?’

‘As it happens this one belongs to the family. But relax. It’s just stuff—’

‘Sure,’ she agreed with an exaggerated nod, ‘Stuff.’

‘There’s absolutely no reason to be intimidated. It’s a mode of transport. That’s all.’

‘Uh-huh. One beautiful pimped-up mode of transport.’

She ran her fingertip over the leather before reaching out to trace the walnut veneer of the drinks table. Why had he never noticed she had a tendency to drag her fingertip over different surfaces? It was as if nothing was real until she touched it. He found it disconcertingly sexy; seductive.

Idly, he wondered what he’d have to do to get her to drag a fingertip over him in such an exploratory way, then with a start realised he had absolutely, categorically, no business wondering any such thing. Her fingers moved into her sleek caramel-brown ponytail, stroking over the length of it. Suddenly parched, he reached for his scotch.

‘I guess I feel a little under-prepared,’ she said. ‘I mean, it wasn’t as if I didn’t know you were a successful businessman or that you worked hard and reaped the rewards. I’m just a little embarrassed I never realised how successful you were.’