‘Then what are you afraid of?’ he asked as he rounded her back.
Her head swivelled around to meet his once more. ‘I’m not afraid!’
‘Then why are you running away?’
‘You don’t understand—’
‘You didn’t enjoy spending the night with me?’
‘That’s not the point.’
‘So you did enjoy it.’
‘What is this? Did I bruise your ego when I didn’t beg for a repeat performance?’
His dark eyes turned from rich chocolate to boiling mud pools in a second, and she kicked herself for letting herself be distracted from her task.
‘Maverick…’ she pleaded.
A phone interrupted them, sharp and insistent. ‘That’ll be Rogerson,’ he said, sweeping up his mobile phone from his desk. ‘I’m expecting this call. We’ll continue this discussion later.’
‘There’s nothing to discuss.’
‘Later!’
He turned his back to her, and still she remained where she was, until it was clear that he expected her to fade into the woodwork and take her issues with her. Finally she wheeled around and fumed back to her desk.
Damn the man! She should have phoned after all. It would have been easier. At least then she wouldn’t have been subjected to that lazy gaze that looked like dark chocolate and felt rapier sharp. And she wouldn’t have been distracted by his threatening proximity.
Why was she arguing with him about whether or not she’d enjoyed their love making, for heaven’s sake? She was supposed to have been admitting that for the last week she’d been doing this job under false pretences, not goading him with challenges to his virility.
As soon as he came out she would put him straight. No more distractions. No more beating around the bush. Just the facts.
She bet her wanting to leave wouldn’t be an issue after that. He’d probably throw her out himself.
‘Grab your things,’ Maverick snapped out, taking her by surprise as he suddenly emerged from his office. ‘We’ve got a meeting at Rogerson’s in fifteen minutes.’
‘Maverick, we haven’t finished—’
‘We have now. He’s waiting for us. He’s put his project team together and wants us all to get together.’
‘No. Hang on and listen. This is important. Because I’m not—’
‘On the team?’ He cut her off. ‘You are now. Rogerson’s insisting he wants you on it, especially after that job you did with the project-development chart. And, given I’ll probably be unavailable on some days, it makes sense you be there. So I’ve agreed.’
She clawed her hands in frustration. ‘But I haven’t agreed! You haven’t listened to one thing I’ve said today.’
‘You’re upset,’ he said. ‘You’ll get over it. Come on.’
‘Don’t you dare patronise me.’
He stopped then and wheeled around in a semicircle. ‘Rogerson’s asked for you to be on the team. You personally. Now if you’ve got a problem with that, if you want to let this project down, maybe you should discuss it with him.’
‘My problem isn’t with Phil Rogerson,’ she hissed.
‘Fine,’ he said. ‘We can discuss any little problems we have later. But, for right now, let’s go.’
She was trapped. Her head pounding, her heart thumping, she let herself be shepherded back into Maverick’s car, clicking herself into the seat belt on autopilot, while all the time chewing on her bottom lip. The meeting had been a blur. Apart from when Phil Rogerson had insisted she be part of the Royalty Cove team. That part of the meeting had been vividly playing over and over again in her mind’s eye with crystal-clear clarity.
“I want you on board for the entire project,” he’d told her, his creased face smiling into hers, his work-callused hands surrounding hers. “You’re someone I feel I can trust, and I know you’re going to be a valuable member of the team. I know you won’t let us down.”
And she’d nodded dumbly, and all the while had felt sick to the stomach, because she wasn’t deserving of anyone’s trust, least of all Phil Rogerson’s. She was a liar, caught in the web of her own deceit, a web that was spreading, wider and stickier by the minute. She was a spider, no more than a dumb spider stuck in its own trap.
How could she possibly make things better with a simple confession now? She couldn’t. Not without making things a whole lot worse—for everyone.
What the hell was she going to do?
‘You’re very quiet.’
She blinked and looked around as Maverick’s words floated down through the leaden weight of her thoughts, surprised to find they’d come to a halt in a parking bay fringed with Norfolk Island pines adjacent to the beach. She hadn’t even registered that he’d left the highway, let alone parked the car.