an enigmatic veil came down over his eyes.
Her breath hitched, and just like that it was all there again. The awareness. The interest.
She drew in a slightly shaky inhalation. ‘Okay. I’ll...ah...I’ll leave the phone. I’d better go take care of this.’
Before she did something she regretted for the second time since knowing him.
Cecilia exited the office and gave herself a good talking-to while she was at it. She wasn’t interested in Linc. Such an interest wasn’t something she could allow to exist. Just because her boyfriend had dumped her when her issues with her sister had hit crisis point, it didn’t mean she should try to pick up the next available—
Oh, get over yourself, Cecilia. And get over Hugh, too.
As if Linc would participate in that possibility, anyway. He was a millionaire, for crying out loud, so successful in life. And he’d already rejected her once before. Was she trying to line herself up for a second shot at that humiliation?
She wasn’t. She just hadn’t expected to feel this attraction to and interest in Linc again. It had surprised her. All she needed to do was adjust to that surprise factor and she would be fine.
In minutes she was back at the office.
‘Item retrieved and left with the front staff ready for collection.’ She spoke as she stepped over the threshold of the office space.
‘Great.’ Linc was in the process of putting down the office phone extension as he responded. ‘I’ve taken a couple of messages. You’ll know what to do with them.’
He didn’t break into a big smile. She didn’t, either. That earlier moment of blinding connection had passed. So why could she still not seem to be able to tear her gaze from him? And why did he gaze so intently at her? And had she not taken any notice whatsoever of her earlier warnings to herself?
Immersed in those thoughts, she was slow to realise that her cell phone had started to ring.
When she did realise it, she barely gave the caller’s identity a thought. It would be some supplier again. However, she wasn’t sure where her phone actually was.
Cecilia patted her pockets. Her gaze searched the desk. Then, without any warning whatsoever, the worst possible thing happened for her privacy, and perhaps the most heart-wrenching yet hope-inspiring thing for her emotions.
The phone’s voicemail picked up automatically, went straight on to the speaker setting she’d left it on and a tinny prerecorded message from the caller’s end began to play out into the room.
‘Are you willing to accept a call from the Fordham Women’s Correctional Centre? Your sister, Stacey Tomson, wishes to speak with you... ‘
The revealing words blared across the room as though trumpeted through a megaphone by the world’s largest elephant.
‘If you do not want to accept this call—’
She’d left the phone on the filing cabinet. She had received only two other calls like this, and questions filled her mind.
Why had Stacey chosen now to phone? Did it mean their rift might be ending or would they argue again?
So many emotions swirled inside Cecilia in that moment. Hurt. Frustration. Disappointment. Love.
Cecilia quickly crossed the room, grabbed up the phone and fumbled to take it off speaker.
One glance at Linc’s face told her it was way too late to try and hide this, but she managed to change the setting and get the phone to her ear. She wasn’t sure if he’d heard her sister’s voice or not, but when she started towards the door, to leave the room, it was to realise Linc had beaten her to it.
The door clicked shut behind his receding back, and Cecilia could acknowledge both the joy and the pain of finally receiving this call when she hadn’t known when or even if she ever would.
She said hello to her troubled, incarcerated twin.
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