you’re currently filling a temp position with PR. Your mother is living on a government pension and your father on disability.”
Holly sucked in a breath as she shut the menu with deliberate slowness. How neatly he’d summed up the emotional roller coaster of her life, explaining away the past nine years without sensation or feeling. But she knew better. Jake couldn’t know the gut-wrenching hours at hospital, comforting her hysterical mother while waiting for her dad to come out of intensive care following a stroke. Then the months of expensive rehab, no longer covered by their expired health insurance. The day-to-day living expenses of food, electricity, rates. She’d wrestled with the worry and stress every day until it was a permanent throb of duty lodged in a tiny corner of her heart.
She flushed when she was angry, Jake noticed absently, watching the heat coloring her cheeks a soft shade of pink. And unfortunately, he also realised that her precarious financial situation put her right at the top of his list of suspects for the press leak.
She flicked her eyes away, sweeping the restaurant to study the lunch crowd. But the calculated move couldn’t detract from the struggle he could see warring on her features.
He knew she was aware of his scrutiny. And when he saw her fingers go to her earlobe and fiddle with the diamond stud there, he smiled. She wasn’t just angry. She was nervous. Interesting.
“You were working while studying part-time at Shipley University,” he stated.
To her credit, she tempered her annoyance with a small nod. “Business Management and Marketing.”
“You were profiled in the university’s journal as an exceptional talent,” he said, “after handling that ‘sex for grades’ scandal last year.”
“That’s right.”
“So why didn’t you take the university’s job offer instead?”
Holly blinked. “Blackstone’s paid for my education. Why would I take another job? Besides, the university is—” she paused, picking her words with care “—conservative. Dress code, morality clauses—”
“Blackstone’s has a morality clause,” Jake interjected.
“But only for employees working within the same department. And the pay is more, the opportunities to advance much greater. I also like working here.”
His gaze became speculative. “Working full-time and going to university part-time must’ve played hell with your social life.”
“No. I focused on work.”
Jake nodded. “So what made you volunteer to assist me?”
“I didn’t. I got seconded.”
Ahh. Jake placed the menu on his plate. Despite her denials, she was pissed. Enough for a little payback? He did the math in his head. No. The leak had been going on since Christmas, which meant something had happened just before Howard’s plane went down.
The waiter arrived to take their orders then, but after the man left, the silence continued.
Determined not to let the unnerving intensity of Jake’s study affect her, Holly reached for the bread basket—at exactly the same time Jake did.
Her mouth dropped from the shock of their skin-on-skin contact, her eyes widening. To recover from that surprising little zing, she yanked her hand back.
And there it was again. Why couldn’t she shake the feeling that one day, somehow, if he had his way, they’d be more than boss and assistant?
“Can I ask you something?” she said suddenly.
He eased back in his chair and picked up the water goblet. “You can. But I might not answer.”
“How long will you be here?” How long before I can get my job back, when I can resume a normal life…and I can stop my stomach flipping every time you study me like I’m a particularly interesting puzzle that needs to be unravelled?
His smile turned mockingly sensual. “In a hurry to get back to Human Resources?”
“No. I’m waiting on my transfer papers to PR.”
He paused for a second, his gaze holding her defiant one. In the next, a grudging smile teased his lips.
Holly nearly groaned aloud. Oh, man. The warmth of that one simple smile scorched her like she’d been caught in the pathway of a comet. The heated aftermath spread from her fingertips to the bottom of her black Jimmy Choos, heat of a purely female nature. His smile, combined with the warmth in his voice, was deliberately calculated to disarm her. There wasn’t a woman he couldn’t charm if he put his mind to it. She’d already witnessed it with Jessica.
Bad, bad move. You don’t even like the guy.
Jake watched her fiddle with the stud in her ear again. “You’ve got something to say,” he said casually.
She stilled. “Mr Vance…”
“Jake. It’s Jake.”
“Jake.” She paused, which only heightened the way his name sounded on her lips. Lips that were painted a luscious shade of berry, so very close to that little kissy-mole.
“Kimberley’s brief said you’re looking to invest in Blackstone’s.
But I thought AdVance Corp was all about…” She paused, searching for the right word.
“Conquer and divide?” Jake smiled thinly, toying with the stem of his glass. “Don’t believe everything you read. I like to see what I’m getting before I invest, to decide if it’s worthy of my time and money.” At least, that part had started out true. But after last night, when he’d dissected the deeper implications for the tenth time, he’d realised one thing. He was a Blackstone. Just because he hadn’t had the privilege of the name for the last thirty-two years didn’t mean he should let a successful corporate entity crumble to the ground. He wasn’t seventeen any more, running away from the shame of his past. The story wasn’t going away and it was within his power to save this company.
Now he said, “I’m looking to expand my options. Blackstone’s is an important part of Australian corporate history but has been floundering since January. It’s a perfect choice.”
“So you have no intention of breaking us up?”
Us. Not “Blackstone’s” or “the company”. Us. As if she was part of a family. His gut clenched. “Hadn’t even entered my mind.”
The doubt written so clearly on her face got his back up. “Afraid of losing your job, Holly?”
“It’s more than just a job to me.” She focused on straightening the already perfect cutlery. For one second, Jake thought about defending himself with the truth, but just as quickly reined himself in.
“You don’t like me. Why?”
Her head snapped up, showing him a glimpse of something simmering just below the surface. Yet her reply was one in
studied control.
