Leaning against the side of the desk, I force my gaze from the screen and down to a designer, who’s apparently got all the inside scoop.
“Spill it, Rocky,” I say.
And he does.
“There’re pictures with him and some woman kissing in a corridor.”
He scrolls down the web page, and I see it in all its glory. Sterling’s muscular form wrapped around some tall redhead, their mouths fused together.
Asshole!
Something inside my chest aches, and I feel light-headed. I blink, but the image remains.
“Fuck.” I push off the desk and stalk away, utterly disgusted.
Not only could this jeopardize our working relationship, and the money on the line, but more than that, I trusted him, believed in him, thought we’d made a special connection. Maybe as friends; maybe as more.
Anna follows me back to our office. “Are you okay?” she asks, closing the door behind us.
Nausea rolls through me as I drop into my office chair. “A woman came forward saying she spent the night with him recently. How do you think I’m doing?”
Anna sighs softly, lowering herself into the chair across from me. “Maybe it’s for the best. I mean, this whole project was crazy. Very nineteenth century, the idea of an arranged marriage. And then with things getting complicated between the two of you? This was a recipe for disaster from the onset. You see that, don’t you?”
I never imagined Sterling and I would have a connection like that. Of course, I think he’s attractive; even a blind nun could see that. I figured that maybe there would be some mild innuendo thrown around, some flirting, but I never accounted for the deeper attraction that sizzles below the surface.
All the more reason to set him up for a date this weekend. It’s time to move on, and sticking with the original plan has never sounded better. Get Sterling successfully married off, and then collect my bonus.
“I’m just pissed that he lied to me,” I grumble.
“Amen, sister,” Anna says, nodding.
Trying to immerse myself in work, I begin reviewing the campaign that Anna spent much of this week working on. She’s really been a godsend. She’s helped with my workload since she started last week, and every day promptly at two, she runs down to the coffee shop downstairs and returns with two iced lattes. I think that’s easily my favorite part.
“I think we deserve a special treat today,” Anna announces, rising from her desk at ten to two.
“Agreed.” Today has been stupid. “What are you thinking?”
She lifts her purse from the back of her chair and winks at me. “It’s a surprise. Be back in ten.”
I chuckle to myself and watch her go.
I’m typing away, lost in my work, when just a few minutes later, I hear footsteps outside my office door. For a second, I think it’s Anna, that maybe she forgot her wallet. But that’s not right, because I saw her grab her purse. When I look up, my breath catches.
It’s Sterling.
Dressed in a pair of dark jeans and a crisp white button-down shirt with a gray tweed overcoat, he’s so deliciously British, my chest aches. His hair is pushed up in the front, and he’s sporting a five o’clock shadow. He looks devastatingly handsome, and that simple fact pisses me off.
I can’t let my body react to his. Focus, Camryn.
I continue typing out the summary I was working on, trying not to let his masculine, spicy cologne totally fucking derail me.
“Did you need something?”
He slides into the guest chair in front of my desk. “Are you okay?” His tone is unusually hollow.
Distracted, I abandon my e-mail for good and fold my hands in front of me. “Just fucking dandy. Why do you ask?”
He swallows, his Adam’s apple bobbing in his throat, and he leans forward, gripping the edge of my desk. “Because my name is being splashed all over the tabloids saying I’ve been carrying on with another woman, and then I get a text from you saying you’ve set me up on a date.”
I tilt my head to the side, relieving some of the pressure building at the base of my neck. I can feel a massive headache coming on. So he did receive my text, but rather than responding to it like a normal human, he decided to confront me in person.
“I’m just trying to do my job, Sterling. And now I have a media circus to clean up on top of it, thanks to your . . . indiscretions.”
“For fuck’s sake, Camryn, that’s what I came here to tell you. That story is fabricated.”
I let out a sharp, humorless laugh. “They have pictures of you with her!” My voice comes out sounding wild, hurt.
Sterling rises to his feet and closes the door to my office, apparently not wanting anyone to overhear our conversation. Even if I am pissed at him, I appreciate the gesture. I don’t need my office neighbors to hear me go off the rails, to know how emotionally invested I’ve become in my job.
Taking a deep breath, I try to rein in my reaction to him showing up here.
Sterling comes around the side of my desk, leaning down to face me so we’re eye to eye. My mouth goes dry the second his deep blue eyes latch onto mine.
“Will you please just listen to me,” he pleads. “I haven’t lied to you yet, and if you understood the first thing about me, it’s that I never will.”
“I’m all ears. I’d love to hear you explain when you had the time to go out with that woman between taking me out on Saturday night, and then spending Wednesday evening with you too. Quite a voracious appetite you have. I underestimated you.”