Ten minutes later she replaced it.
She was shaking.
The deal was closed, and it was only now she could admit that there had been moments, though she had never said it out loud, when she had doubted the wisdom of her Australian trip. But the groundwork had paid off, and the exclusive department store chain with outlets all over the southern hemisphere was going to take her line.
This was the moment she had been working towards, pushing herself towards, the moment she had dreamed about.
A tiny furrow appeared between her brows. So where was the high…the euphoria…the glow of achievement? Instead it was almost an anticlimax, but that, she told herself, was only to be expected. To be really appreciated this was the sort of good news that deserved to be shared, and a line in Charlie Latimer’s wedding speech came back to her: Success means nothing unless you have someone to share it with—I have the best person in the world: my wife.
Eve had not tasted the wine in her glass or joined in with the spontaneous ripple of applause and her eyes had remained dry but, his insincerity aside, didn’t he have a point?
Who would be happy for her? Her mother was on her honeymoon and her best friend was busy being a pregnant princess.
She pushed away the sudden sharp stab of something she refused to recognise as self-pity, and thought, Buy a cat, Eve.
Or take a new lover.
There was still some mileage in the one she had, she thought wryly…or did she still have him? The situation was so far out of her comfort zone that she was still feeling her way…all over his warm satiny textured skin.
She looked down and saw her fingers stroking the desk. The dreamy expression clouding her eyes vanished and the furrow between her brows twitched back into life as a comment Draco had made came back to her.
She had no idea what time it had been when she’d woken, not in her own bed, but in a strange bed held down by the weight of a man’s thigh thrown across her hips, his head between her breasts. The initial adrenaline-fed panic surge had made her struggle for a split second but then she’d realised where she was and relaxed against his warm chest.
He’d unconsciously voiced her inner doubts out loud. What are you doing? Stop analysing—just enjoy. There’s no tomorrow, just here and now, you and me. I don’t want you to reach me emotionally. I just want you to touch me…please.
The tortured plea had made her feel empowered, hot and out of control.
She laughed softly as she got to her feet. She wasn’t even a little jealous of her friend; the last thing she wanted was a baby. She was far too busy with her career right now, but perhaps in a few years’ time…? Her body clock had barely started ticking and she’d only just discovered sex.
She straightened the row of pencils on her desk one last time and, humming softly under her breath, headed for the interconnecting door to her PA’s office. Shelley had really put in the extra hours on this one; actually, not just her PA, but everyone had, and though friends and family would say well done it was only the small team who really understood what this success meant to her.
Perhaps, she mused, she could take them for lunch at that new Italian everyone was raving about. Her stomach growled at the thought of food—toast and cereal had not been on the breakfast menu this morning and she had refused to sample what was!
‘How do you feel about Italian, Shelley?’ Eve asked as she opened the door to the outer office. She was used to the terrible clutter on the younger girl’s desk but this was the first time she had found a man there.