Tempting the New Boss(70)

“You can help here, you know? If you want to,” Camilla said.

“I wouldn’t dream of it. I’m sure you have a neat little system going on there, marking all the boxes so when you get them out of Mom and Dad’s basement someday you’ll know what they are. I don’t do packing anyway. There are people for that.”

“Yes, people like me.”

“Besides, I object strenuously to this whole plan of yours. I think it’s crazy.”

Camilla placed her Blackstone’s Law Dictionary in a box and, thinking better of it, tossed it into the trash. “Like you’ve never done anything crazy, sister dear.”

Carly laughed, automatically bringing one finger up to the side of her mouth, perfectly outlined in red lipstick, smoothing any incipient lines that might have the nerve to try to appear. Unlike the extra weight Brandy sported, Carly kept rigid control over her sleek body, weighing the same as she had when she was twenty. She kept the same control over her exceedingly pretty face, only God and her dermatologist knew how. Camilla swore Carly looked younger than she did, though there were seven years between them, and Carly was on the wrong end of that, which no one would ever guess looking at the two of them together.

“Well you have me there,” her sister admitted with a titter. “I have had a few escapades in my time.” She sobered. “But this doesn’t sound like an escapade so much as a recipe for poverty.”

“It’s what I want to do.”

Carly consented to folding a suit jacket and placing it gingerly in a box other than the one with the matching skirt. Maybe she shouldn’t help. “If it’s what you want, then you should do it. Follow your dream and all that. It’s just,” she gave up on the packing and went to get another Diet Coke, “your dream is so boring!”

Unscrewing the icy bottle, Carly added, “Now my dream, if I were you, would be to marry the billionaire.”

“Carly!”

“Seriously. Why not? I’ve had six thousand conversations with you in the last few weeks, ever since you got back from Michigan, where you’ve cried on my shoulder—”

“I never cried.”

“You know what I mean. Figuratively cried on my shoulder about how much you cared for this guy, but you weren’t sure he did for you.”

“I think he probably doesn’t know what he feels, and when I go back to his office, he’ll have trouble remembering my name.”

“Which is why I wasn’t in favor of this time apart to ‘think it over’ thing in the first place. You had him where you wanted him.”

Her sister shook her head with a smile. “You know I’m kidding. You did the right thing, and now you’ve figured out the rest of your life—news flash, you’re going to be poor—you’ll see how it turns out with the dreamy boss, right?”

“Right,” she said, her stomach flipping with nervousness and excitement at the thought of all the plans she had ahead of her, not the least of which included seeing Mason again. She had missed him. If she had worried that her infatuation with him was temporary, the ache she felt these past weeks at not seeing him or talking to him had cured her of that. Illogical or not, the three days she had spent with him meant more to her than the previous five years or so. Ten probably. And if the same wasn’t true for him, then her heart might just break, but if anything it would mean she was right about their enforced separation. “And he’s my ex-boss.”

“I only came over because I wanted to wish you luck.” Her sister surveyed the half-filled boxes and bubble wrapped kitchen appliances. “I didn’t know you’d be working. Shopping anyone?”



Camilla had timed her visit so it would be later in the day, well after five, in order to have less chance of running into anyone she knew at Talbot, Inc. on her way up to Mason’s office. Probably the few who would even recognize her couldn’t put a name to her face any more, since her tenure had been so brief. Mason included.

She stood outside the doors to the CEO’s office suite for a good five minutes, before she got up the nerve to push through that door.

When she did, Marcia looked up from her computer. “Hello, Miss Anderson.”

The coolness in the woman’s voice stung Camilla, but she shouldn’t have been surprised. She had not made Marcia’s billionaire boss change for the better after all. She imagined she might have even made him worse. He was probably propositioning female employees left and right now.

“I was surprised when the guard in the lobby called,” the assistant continued. “What can I do for you? Come to finally clean out your office?”