All Work and No Play(10)

By rights, he should be sleepy, too, but the vague nagging at the back of his mind kept him awake.

We both had a good time. End of story.

He wholeheartedly agreed with the first sentiment, but the second? Not so much. Not if the dull ache in his chest had anything to do with it. But it was no use wishing this wasn’t the end. No use wishing this was only the start of the story. The story of him and Anna. No, he’d agreed to her terms, so he had to honour them. His only hope lay in Anna wanting to change those terms.

***

It had been a long time since Anna had last snuck out of a man’s apartment at five-thirty in the morning, shoes in her hand to lessen the noise. She felt terrible about her furtive exit. Only a woman with regrets would do this, and she did not regret a single moment of the night she’d spent with Giles. In truth, it was the opposite of regret that made her slide out from under his arm at the crack of dawn and quietly pick up her discarded clothing.

When she looked down at Giles fast asleep, his big, strong body sprawled beneath the sheets, her breath caught, and it was all she could do not to crawl back into bed and seek his warmth. But somehow she stopped herself; she couldn’t allow herself to get involved with Giles. Not after all her hard work and sacrifice. She had set the rules—one night only, no exceptions—and she bloody well had to stick to them.

Which was why she couldn’t wake Giles up and say goodbye because she wasn’t sure she could resist the temptation of his warm, sleepy body.

Feeling like a thief, she crept out of his apartment, easing the door closed until it shut with a faint click. Early morning sunshine slanted through the trees as she exited his building. The air was balmy with the promise of soaring temperatures later. She had things to do, deadlines to meet, goals to achieve. She couldn’t afford to get hung up on one night, no matter how spectacular it had been. Squaring her shoulders, she set off down the street, never once looking back.





Chapter Five


Resting her elbows on the desk, Anna rubbed her gritty eyelids as she stifled a yawn. It had been a long week, but finally all the coding and unit testing was done, her project was ready for user acceptance testing, and she had made the Friday afternoon deadline. Relief ballooned over her, leaving her feeling a little shaky as it hit her how stressful the last few days had been.

She hadn’t suffered alone; Giles had been right there with her, working long hours into the night with the kind of ferocious concentration she’d never encountered before. It had lifted her regard of him even higher.

Footsteps sounded as someone neared her desk. Even with her eyes closed she knew it was Giles. Over the past week she’d become so attuned to him that she could sense his presence just by the cadence of his footfalls.

“Here you go.” His warm voice wrapped around her, causing a shiver of awareness to slide down her back.

The fragrant aroma of coffee teased her as she opened her eyes and leaned back in her chair. Two chocolate and hazelnut biscotti rested on a serviette next to a fresh coffee. Over the past week she and Giles had taken turns buying coffee, but she had decided that the biscotti would have to wait until after they’d made the deadline.

“Two?” She swivelled in her chair to glance across the pod where Giles had already retreated to his desk on the opposite side.

“A reward for all your endeavours.” The corners of his eyes crinkled up as he sipped his own coffee.

“Then you deserve one of them at least,” she said. “You’ve worked just as hard.” She placed one of the biscotti on a tissue for herself, picked up the serviette with the remaining one, and walked it over to his desk.

Giles’s eyes widened as she approached him, and she was hyper-aware of his scrutiny. Her heart thudded disconcertingly as she placed the biscuit on his desk.

“Thanks.” His voice was cautious.

Their eyes met, and for a moment she was lost as his vivid blueness sucked her in, triggering images of their night together to play out on the canvas of her mind. When she blinked back to awareness, she saw that Giles was tensed as if he might leap out of his chair at any second. Oh God, did he fear she was about to make a pass at him right here in the office? The realisation made her ribs constrict.

A group of people walked past their pod, chattering noisily. Anna swung round and hurried back to her desk. It took several minutes before her breathing recovered.

She’d tried her hardest to suppress her memories, but every now and then she was ambushed, and her body was overwhelmed as she relived the night she’d had with Giles. But Giles didn’t appear to suffer the same weakness. Since that night, his behaviour had been impeccable. He’d treated her with respect and humour, never once displaying any familiarity or alluding to their night together. He was the soul of discretion, just as she’d hoped for...yet perversely she couldn’t help feeling a pang of disappointment.

Because, if she had to be honest with herself, a part of her wished their one night could be repeated. Not only that, she wished their night together could have been the start of something more, something richer and deeper and more wonderful than she could imagine.

One night with Giles had not nearly been enough.

But she couldn’t have any more of Giles. Not when he was here at FrogLeap. Not when, according to her manager, there was every chance he’d be offered a permanent role. Not when her chances of promotion depended on maintaining a squeaky clean office reputation.

Besides, judging by Giles’s demeanour, he didn’t want more from her. He might have enjoyed their night, but that was where his interest in her ended. Maybe she’d just been a challenge to his male virility, and once he’d conquered her, he was satisfied. He’d scratched that itch, and now he was comfortable.

More fool her.

She stared blindly at her monitor, desperately wishing she could go home and bury her head beneath her pillows.

***

At six o’clock Giles powered off his laptop and slipped it into his satchel. Since Anna’s project was now officially in user acceptance testing, he was no longer needed, and come Monday he’d be working on something else.

“Let me know if there are any problems,” he said to Anna.

“I’m sure there won’t be,” she replied, her voice just a little tight. Her lips stretched into a bright smile. “Besides, you’ll be too busy with Charles’ problems.”

Giles sighed inwardly. All week he’d been on hyper-alert, waiting for a sign or slightest hint from Anna that she might be thinking about their night together. When he’d woken up alone in his bed, the stinging disappointment had surprised him, and the feeling hadn’t subsided as the days wore on. It had confirmed to him that he was hoping for something more from Anna, but it appeared that hope was one-sided. For Anna, the one night was all she wanted. She’d satisfied her burning curiosity, and she wasn’t willing to jeopardise her career by getting into a messy affair with him.

Fair enough. He couldn’t get annoyed with her for sticking to their agreement. It was him who wanted to renege.

“Thank you, Giles,” Anna said, her arms folded. “For all your expertise.”

The formality of her tone pricked him. “Hey, and what about the biscotti I got you?” He grinned, trying to lighten the mood, to forge a connection with her.

She gave him a faint smile. “And those, too.” She tipped her head towards her desk, indicating a desire to return to her computer. “Uh, you’ll have to excuse me. Lionel’s hounding me for some budget reports.”

“Sure.” He wasn’t looking forward to next week, where he’d be working on a different floor. He wouldn’t be able to surreptitiously feast his eyes on Anna when she came into work each day. Wouldn’t be able to sit near her or inhale her perfume or talk to her, even if it was only to discuss bugs. His heart sank a little lower, but he couldn’t pester her for attention, and she clearly wanted him to leave so she could return to her reports.

“Call me if you need anything,” he said.

She nodded wordlessly. It was time to leave. He forced himself to hitch his satchel over his shoulder and walk away.

Deep down, he knew she wouldn’t call him. Because she didn’t need him for anything anymore.

***



Two weeks later, Anna was called to Lionel’s office. She took the seat opposite her manager’s desk and pleated her fingers together. The project had passed user acceptance testing with flying colours, so she knew she hadn’t been summoned here for a dressing down.

Lionel smiled at her as he pushed the keyboard away from him. “So, I thought it was time for a catch up now that you’ve got some spare time.”

Anna pressed her lips together. “Spare time? I’ve barely caught up with all the reports everyone seems to want so urgently.” The one drawback about being project manager was the deluge of paperwork that needed to be completed each week. “And by the way,” she felt compelled to add, “the client code will be shipped next week, right on schedule.”

“Good to know,” Lionel said. “Although you should have told me sooner about the problems Oscar left. That could have seriously affected things.” He gave her a small frown.

Anna had finally told her boss about the bugs Oscar had covered up, and he hadn’t been too pleased. Clearly Oscar wouldn’t be getting any references from FrogLeap. She shrugged at Lionel’s concerns. “I appraised the situation and made a judgement call. I would have alerted you if it seemed completely disastrous, but I thought we could still make the deadline.”