She’d want him to be happy.
Like he had been on Sunday night.
He was in love with Cara.
Groaning loudly into his hands, he shook his head, unable to believe what a total idiot he’d been.
Memories of Cara flashed through his mind: her generous smile and kind gestures. Her standing up to him when it mattered to her most. Telling him she loved him.
His heart swelled with emotion, sending his blood coursing through his body and making it sing in his ears.
So this was living. How he’d missed it.
A loud ring on the doorbell made him jump.
Cara.
It had to be Cara, arriving promptly at nine o’clock for work like she always did.
Please, let it be her.
Tension tightened his muscles as he paced towards the door and flung it open, ready to say what he needed to say to her now. To be honest with her. To let her know how much he loved her and wanted her in his life.
‘Max Firebrace?’
Instead of Cara standing on his doorstep, there was a tall, red-haired woman in a suit giving him a broad smile.
‘Yes. Who are you?’ he said impatiently, not wanting to deal with anything but his need to speak to Cara right then.
She held out a hand. ‘I’m Donna, your new PA.’
The air seemed to freeze around him. ‘What?’
The smile she gave him was one of tolerant fortitude. ‘Cara said you might be surprised to see me because you’ve been in Ireland all week.’
‘Cara sent you here?’
‘Yes, she interviewed me yesterday and said I should start today.’
He stared at her, stunned. ‘Where is Cara?’
Donna looked confused. ‘Er... I don’t know. I wasn’t expecting her to be here. She said something about starting a new job for a firm in the City next week. We spent all of yesterday afternoon getting me up to speed with the things I need to do to fulfil the role and went through the systems you use here, so I assumed she’d already served her notice.’
So that was it then. He was too late to save the situation. She was gone.
‘You’d better come in,’ he muttered, frustration tugging hard at his insides.
‘So will we be working here the whole time? It’s a beautiful house,’ Donna said brightly, looking around the hall.
‘No. I’m going to rent an office soon,’ he said distractedly, his voice rough with panic.
How was he going to find her? He didn’t have any contact details for her friends or her personal mobile number; she’d always used the company one to call or text him. He could try Poppy, but she’d probably be out filming in the middle of the desert right now and wouldn’t want to be disturbed with phone calls.
A thought suddenly occurred to him. ‘Donna? Did Cara interview you here?’
‘No. I went to her flat.’ She frowned. ‘Although, come to think of it, I don’t think it was her place; she didn’t know which cupboard the sugar for my drink was kept in.’
He paced towards her, startling her with a rather manic smile.
‘Okay, Donna. Your first job as my PA is to give me the address where you met Cara.’
* * *
At first Cara thought that the loud banging was part of her dream, but she started awake as the noise thundered through the flat again, seeming to shake the walls. Whoever was knocking really wanted to get her attention.
Pulling her big towelling dressing gown on over her sleep shorts and vest top, she stumbled to the door, still half-asleep. Perhaps the postman had a delivery for one of the other flats and they weren’t in to receive it.
But it wasn’t the postman.
It was Max.
Her vision tilted as she stumbled against the door in surprise and she hung on to the handle for dear life in an attempt to stop herself from falling towards him.
‘Max! How did you find me?’ she croaked, her voice completely useless in the face of his shocking presence.
She’d told herself that giving them both some space to breathe was the best thing she could do. After leaving his house on Monday she’d tried to push him out of her mind in an attempt to get through the dark, lonely days without him, but always, in the back of her mind, was the hope that he’d think about what she’d said and maybe, at some point in the future, want to look her up again.
But she hadn’t expected it to happen so soon.
‘My new PA, Donna, gave me the address,’ he said, raising an eyebrow in chastisement, though the sparkle in his eyes told her he wasn’t seriously angry with her for going ahead and hiring someone to take her place without his approval.
Telling herself not to get too excited in case he was only popping round to drop off something she’d accidentally left at the house, she motioned for him to come inside and led him through to the kitchen diner, turning to lean against the counter for support.