If she didn’t, her soon-to-be-bizarre behavior wouldn’t make much sense. And if there was one person she didn’t want to alienate it was Jessie.
Besides, Jessie was the only one who knew what had happened...before. And what she had been trying to prove to herself that night in Vegas.
Becky got up to close the door before turning to face her friend. Blowing her hair off her forehead, she said, “It was him.”
“Him? Who? I’m not following,” Jessie said.
“Mark. Mark was the man I met in Las Vegas. And things went a little bit further than I had planned.”
“What do you mean?”
“I spent the night with him...” Becky groaned.
“Are you kidding me?” Jessie asked, falling back into her chair.
Becky shook her head.
Jessie tilted her head back and howled with laughter.
“Oh, my God. Only you... This is...it’s unbelievable.”
Becky glared at her. “I really don’t think this is funny.”
“Of course you don’t. But, girl, you gotta believe me when I tell you it is.”
Easy for her to say. She wasn’t the one living in a nightmare.
Finally Jessie sobered.
“All right, so Mr. One-Night Stand has become Mr. Works Down the Hall. What are you going to do about it?”
“Nothing,” Becky said flatly.
“Why? Was it...bad?”
Pictures from their night together flashed through Becky’s brain. His lips kissing her mouth. His tongue on her breast. His hands...everywhere.
“It was amazing.”
“Did you hit the big O?”
Becky blushed. “Oh, yeah. More than once.”
Jessie looked thoughtful. “Then why not see if this could go somewhere? You know—like, casual relationshippy. Fate seems to be telling you it should.”
Becky stood up, restless. “You know better than anyone why not. After everything that happened with Pence I’ll never have a relationship with someone I work with again.”
Jessie came up behind her and hugged her shoulders.
“I understand. But, Becky, that was a long time ago. You were a different person. And he was your boss, not a coworker. Besides, you can’t let him ruin your whole life. If you do, he wins.”
Sneaking a look at the clock on the wall, she groaned.
“We’ll have to talk about this more later, Jessie. I gotta go to the Hall of Doom.”
“All right, girl. Knock ’em dead.”
* * *
Mark wasn’t sure how much more of this small talk he could take.
He’d been sitting in David’s office for what felt like hours, talking about everything except the reason he was here. He now knew where the bald man’s favorite golf course was—South Carolina—what he preferred to drink—bourbon, straight up—and even how he had gotten his name—his mom had named him after Michelangelo’s David.
But he still didn’t know what his first assignment was going to be or why it had to be secret. When David had called him to see if he might be interested he’d said only that he needed help winning a giant piece of new business—one that had the potential to change the future of the agency.
That was interesting enough, but it was what David had said next that had sold him on the job.
“Mark, I’ve been searching everywhere for someone who can help me bring this home. When your name came up I knew you were the man for the job. I need you on this.”
“How did you get my name?” Mark had asked, afraid that it was another one of his stepfather’s pieces of charity.
“Mark, you’ve taken home gold from almost every major advertising competition there is. Your name is everywhere.”
Which meant this was a job he’d gotten on his own merits—not through his damned stepfather’s connections. Even better, David had all but promised him a permanent spot in the creative leadership team once they landed the account.
It was the opportunity he’d spent the past ten years working toward. He couldn’t wait to get started.
He just wished he knew what Becky had to do with it.
When he’d looked her up, he’d been amazed at how talented she seemed to be. In the five short years she’d been working as a copywriter she’d earned herself numerous awards. The whole reason she’d been in Vegas was because she was being honored with another award—this one for a social-media campaign she’d masterminded that had gone viral.
In short, she was as amazing in the boardroom as she was in the bedroom.
And what he wouldn’t give to experience that again!
He remembered how hot she’d looked, standing in his room clad only in her red lace bra and panties. And how much better she’d looked out of them...
Unfortunately the look on her face when she’d found him standing in her office had been completely and utterly horrified—and, if he wasn’t mistaken, more than a little bit furious. He didn’t think she was having the same kinds of thoughts he was having right now.
Just then there was a soft knock on the door.
“Come in,” David said.
The door opened and Becky quietly entered the room.
He wasn’t sure how it was possible, but she looked even sexier in her blazer and jeans than she had wearing a cocktail dress.
She flashed a quick look at him, and flushed when he caught her eye. Man, how he’d love to see how far down that flush went.
“Thank you for coming, Becky, my girl,” David boomed. Although he couldn’t have been much more than forty, the man mimicked the vocal mannerisms of a Mad Men–style ad man. “Sit, sit, sit. We have a lot to talk about.”
She glided across the thick red carpet and sat primly in the oversize club chair next to Mark.
“I trust you had a good time in Vegas, my dear?” David asked.
Becky seemed to force out a smile. “It was amazing, David. Thank you so much for letting me go.”
“Of course—you deserved it. Besides, I knew you were one woman I could trust not to get too carried away in Vegas. I would have never sent that partner of yours. She’s trouble with a capital T.”
Becky’s
