Best of Bosses 2008(114)

‘Well, I think we can safely say that your stint working for me is now over. Shy of a week or so, but we’ve accomplished what we set out to do, wouldn’t you agree? You must be looking forward to getting back to your old routine. Are you?’

‘Yes, of course I am.’ In truth, she had barely missed her old job and was certainly not looking forward to returning to the grindstone having sampled the excitement of working for Nick, where every day brought new challenges. However, she wasn’t a fool. She might have abandoned common sense, she might have dared to hope that her flight of fancy would bring her the result she wanted, but she could read nuances as well as the next person. Better. Over the years her ingrained sensitivity had fine-tuned her antennae and her antennae were now telling her that he was backing away from giving her a direct answer for a reason and there could only be one reason. Whatever he felt for her, it wasn’t love. It wasn’t even enough to give her any kind of commitment. The man who had always walked away from relationships of any depth was walking away now and Rose felt as though her lifeblood were draining out of her system.

What had she been thinking? That the way his eyes darkened when he saw her naked counted as love? Or that the easy way they talked and laughed and touched really meant something?

Inside she was hurting so much that she suddenly couldn’t bear the feel of his arm around her. Outside, though, she controlled her voice and schooled her expression even though he couldn’t see her face and made sure to sound as calm as she could as she started to chat about what had been happening in her old job, updates from her friends whom she had barely seen over the past few months.

‘Naturally, this doesn’t have to mean the end of…what we have,’ Nick murmured, and Rose could feel him turn towards her. What, she wanted to ask, exactly do we have? For him, yet another pointless relationship based on satisfying sex and for her…more heartbreak, more involvement, more misery in the end.

‘Oh, I think it should, really…’

‘You don’t mean that.’ Nick turned completely towards her and tilted her head so that he could kiss the side of her neck and Rose shrugged him off and sat up.

‘I do.’ She looked over her shoulder at him. Moonlight becomes him…wasn’t there a song that went like that? He was just wearing an old tee shirt and a pair of faded jeans, but she knew every inch of his perfect body now, knew the lazy strength and muscular body encased in the casual clothing. She wondered how she could ever have thought that he might actually fall in love with her, the way she had fallen in love with him.

Would he return to England and be embarrassed to be seen with her? He had told her often enough that he loved her curves, found them incredibly sexy, that stick-thin, in comparison, was a turn-off. But that was here, where everything had been in a state of unreal suspension. She would bet her newly refurbished house that the minute they stepped back onto English soil stick-thin would suddenly be desirable because stick-thin represented the sort of model type he needed hanging on his arm.

He would always run true to form and she had been a fool to have thought otherwise. He was, and always had been, out of her league.

Rose stood up and dusted herself down. He, of course, was still lying on the towel, hands behind his head, probably, she thought, convinced that he could talk her round. Maybe for a few more romps in the hay back in England, where he would keep her hidden away and out of sight.

‘This has been great.’ She gesticulated vaguely around her. ‘The scenery, the atmosphere, the romance of being out of England and in the hot sun. Now it’s finishing…’

‘You asked what was going to become of us.’ Nick sat up. ‘That implies that you consider us an item.’

‘I meant in connection with work,’ she lied. ‘I thought it would be awkward being stuck in each other’s company, pretending that nothing had happened between us.’

‘Stuck in each other’s company?’

‘I’m sorry. I didn’t mean it that way. What I meant was…’ Now he was standing up, which instantly made her feel a lot less assured. ‘Look, this has been brilliant. I never thought…well, my first impressions of you weren’t all that flattering but I’ve enjoyed every minute of being here with you. We had fun, didn’t we?’

Nick couldn’t quite believe his ears. Shouldn’t he be the one giving the Dear John lecture? Shouldn’t he be the one doing the letting down slowly and gently?

Anyway, whoever said that it had to end just yet? Sure, he didn’t want a strings-attached relationship. Never had, probably never would. Which didn’t mean that they couldn’t continue enjoying each other until time did its thing and they both decided to move on.