agree.”
“For once we agree.”
Ashley dropped her purse on her desk, confronted by the black-and-white evidence of Marcus’s apparent weak moment last night. The first of many weak moments.
Nearly a dozen daily tabloids had been laid out for her. The kiss graced every cover, with clever headlines like The Kiss Heard Round the World. If only the papers knew the real story. British Hunk Rejects Dateless Matchmaker. Her stomach soured. She should be remembering the kiss fondly, reminiscing about the surprise and newness of that moment—the instant when she’d dared to think Marcus didn’t think she was ridiculous.
She plopped down in her chair and began to read the papers. They not only recounted the kiss but also very unsubtly mentioned that she and Marcus had left the party early, right after things got hot and heavy on the dance floor. Great. Now the whole world is imagining what we didn’t actually do last night.
It was barely past nine a.m. and exhaustion threatened to overtake her, but she didn’t dare close her eyes. She’d learned her lesson last night after he’d left her in a state of shock, alone with the memory of what they’d done in her bed. Every sexy moment between them was so surreal now, the unlikeliest events imaginable considering their ill-fated first date and the countless complaints about her apartment that had preceded them.
Seeing a picture of the way it all started last night didn’t make it more real, not even when she dragged her finger along the photograph, admiring the way he towered over her, the way she fit so perfectly in his arms. If anything, it made it feel even more like a dream, and one with a very sad ending. Had Marcus, the upper-crust Brit, really kissed the girl from a one-gas-station town in South Carolina? Or had he played along with the ruse of a romance with the Manhattan Matchmaker for the benefit of himself and his company? Only to put an end to it when he realized they’d gone much further than he’d ever intended?
She’d seen so many different sides of Marcus last night, it was hard to keep up. There was no longer any doubt in her mind that a fiery, passionate Marcus was beneath his rigid exterior, but he’d built a damn fortress around himself. Had it been a necessity after his divorce? It was the most logical guess, but she didn’t have much faith in rational thought, or at least not her own. Logic said that a man with an impressive erection who had an eager and naked woman in his arms didn’t hesitate to make love to her. Either she was truly distasteful or something much bigger was keeping him from her. She’d gotten too close to him last night, and as a result, he’d banished her to the other side of the moat, pulled up the drawbridge, and retreated to his own bed.
“Knock, knock.” Grace poked her head into Ashley’s office. “What a night, huh? Or should I say, what a kiss?” Her eyebrows bobbed up and down.
Ashley should’ve known she’d get teased about this. “Please don’t give me a hard time about it. You asked for romance. We gave it to you.” Romance. Ha. More like no-mance.
“I would never give you a hard time about this. Are you kidding me? The network brass love you today more than they’ve ever loved you, which is saying a lot. The ratings for the first episode tonight are going to be massive. Through the roof. They can’t wait to see the numbers on Monday so they can start raking in advertisers’ cash. There’s a whole pile of money to be made, you know.”
Money. That was the sole silver lining. Everything else about this made her queasy. Marcus abhorred the idea of her, at least when it came to romance, and the world thought quite the contrary. She was going to get questions about Marcus for days. Weeks, maybe. She knew the tabloids well enough by now. This morning’s papers would not be the last of the kiss that blew up in her face.
“I’m happy they’re happy. I hope it will help Marcus’s business and he’ll let me finish my renovations in peace.” Her voice trailed off as her eyes were again drawn to a photo of the kiss. Good God, he was sexy. Just looking at the picture made his sexiness resonate in her body, followed by a flood of rejection, sadness and even anger—feelings that did not play well together.
“Hold on a second. Was there not a major love connection last night? Because it sure as hell looked like it.”
“Let’s just say the connection fizzled.” Her voice wobbled, betraying her intention to not let anyone know how much this bothered her.
Grace sat forward. “Are you okay? Do you want to tell me what happened?”
Ashley shook her head. “I really don’t want to rehash it. I’m glad that last night was good for business, but it’s going to take me some serious time to heal from it. Being rejected by Marcus Chambers is not fun.”
“He rejected you?”
“Is that so hard to believe? You know how he feels about me. Last night was just the final nail in the coffin. At this point, all I want is to finish my apartment and avoid him until the day he moves back to England.”
“And when is that?”
She cleared her throat. “I think he has a five-year work visa.”
“Ashley, this is silly. I’m sure that whatever happened last night was a misunderstanding.”
“No way. This is a dead subject. Time to get whatever mileage we can out of last night and move on.”
“Uh, yeah, about that. The higher-ups were emphatic with me this morning. They want more of you and Marcus. They want more of this.” She leaned forward and tapped one of the newspapers.
Ashley knew she’d heard Grace correctly. She just wasn’t happy about it. She and Marcus had to stay away from each other. Better to leave grumpy dogs lie, especially ones who had no qualms about turning down a woman after she’d taken off her designer gown. “You’re just going to have to tell them no. Marcus hates me.”
“There’s no way we’ll get the network to buy that. That kiss was convincing.” Grace pointed at Ashley’s desk. “Look at you two. I’d do anything for a man to kiss me like that, especially if I knew he looked like he does under that suit.”
“What is it with you and his abs?” Ashley couldn’t stand to look at the photos anymore. It hurt too much. She collected the stack of papers, got up from her chair and plopped them down in Grace’s lap. “Marcus Chambers and I are done. Kaput. End of story.”
“I didn’t want to have to tell you this, but the network is not happy you left the party early. If the papers hadn’t come out this morning, you could’ve been in serious hot water.”
“Oh please. I just...” I just wanted to be alone with him. “I had a headache.”
“Liar. I saw the look on your face when you two walked off the dance floor.” Grace sat back in her chair. “What if I told you my job is hanging in the balance?”
“They can’t fire you over this. I won’t let them.”
“I’m talking about a promotion. They’re considering me for head of network publicity. Becky Jensen is leaving at the beginning of June.”
“Head of the department? For the whole network?”
Grace nodded. “The whole shebang.”
