‘Dammit.’ He raked fingers through his hair.
‘It’s OK.’
His eyes darkened. It was far from OK. Yet delegation was out of the question. There were only two associates capable of handling the current negotiations, and neither were in the same state.
‘I should be able to tie this up within an hour or two.’
‘Go,’ she managed quietly. ‘They,’ whoever they were, ‘will be waiting for you.’
He shot her a piercing look, then turned and made his way through the house, collected his briefcase and keys and entered the garage.
Minutes later Cassandra stood to her feet, cleared the table, then dealt with dishes and tidied the kitchen.
Stay, or leave.
If she stayed, she’d be condoning an affair. And while she could live with that if mutual love was at its base, she found it untenable when the emotion was one-sided.
She wasn’t an ‘it’s OK as long as it lasts’ girl. Nor could she view hitching up with a man for whatever she’d gain from the relationship.
No contest, she decided sadly as she made her way upstairs.
It didn’t take long to pack, or to pen a note which she propped against the side-table in the foyer. Then she crossed to the phone and called for a cab.
The cat greeted her with an indignant sound and a swishing tail. The message light on her answering machine blinked, and she organised priorities by feeding the cat, then she tossed clothes into the washing machine, fetched a cool drink, then she ran the machine.
Siobhan…‘Tying the knot in Rome next weekend. Need you there, darling, to hold my hand.’
Cameron…‘Flying home Tuesday. Let’s do dinner Wednesday, OK?’
Alicia…‘Hope you’re enjoying the ride. It won’t last.’
Cassandra didn’t know whether to laugh or cry at the latter. The ride, as Alicia called it, was over.
Keeping busy would help, and when the washing-machine cycle finished she put the clean clothes into the drier.
The contents of the refrigerator looked pathetic, and she caught up her car keys. Milk, bread, fresh fruit and salad headed her mental list, and she took the lift down to the basement car park, then drove to the nearest store.
There was a trendy café close by, and she ordered a latte, picked up a magazine, and leafed through the pages while she sipped her coffee.
It was almost five when she swept the car into the bricked apron adjacent to the apartment building’s main entrance, automatically veering left to take the descending slope into the basement car park.
It was then she saw a familiar car parked in the visitors’ area. As if there was any doubt, Diego’s tall frame leaning indolently against the Aston Martin’s rear panel merely confirmed it.
For a few heart-stopping seconds she forgot to breathe, then she eased her car towards the security gate, retrieved her ID card and inserted it with shaking fingers and drove down to her allotted space, killed the engine, then reached for the door-clasp…only to have the door swing open before she had a chance to release it.
She tilted her head to look at him, and almost wished she hadn’t, for his features appeared carved from stone.
‘What are you doing here?’
‘Did you think I wouldn’t come after you?’
She felt at a distinct disadvantage seated in the car. By comparison he seemed to tower over her, and if they were going to get into a heated argument she needed to even the stakes a little.
With careful movements she slid from behind the wheel, then closed and locked the door before turning to face him. ‘I don’t know what you’re talking about.’
‘Yes, you do.’ His voice resembled pure silk, and she swallowed the sudden lump that rose in her throat.
‘Why didn’t you stay?’
‘There was no reason to,’ she managed. ‘We don’t owe each other a thing.’
‘All obligations fulfilled,’ Diego accorded with dangerous softness.
It almost killed her to say it. ‘Yes.’
‘No emotional involvement. Just good sex?’
She was breaking up, ready to shatter. ‘What do you want from me?’ It was a cry from the heart that held a degree of angry desperation.
‘I want you in my life.’
‘For how long, Diego?’ she demanded. ‘Until either one of us wants it to end?’ As it would. ‘Nothing lasts forever, and lust is a poor bedfellow for love.’
A car swept close by and slid into an adjacent space. She recognised the driver as a fellow tenant, and she met his concerned glance.
‘Everything OK, Cassandra?’
Diego hardly presented a complacent figure. She managed a reassuring smile. ‘Yes.’
The tenant cast Diego a doubtful look, glimpsed a sense of purpose in those dark eyes, and chose to move on.
‘Let’s take this upstairs.’
If he touched her, she’d be lost. One thing would lead to another…
It was better to end it now. ‘No.’
Diego barely resisted the temptation to shake her. ‘Tell me what we share means nothing to you.’
She couldn’t do it. Her eyes clouded, then darkened as she struggled to find something to say that wouldn’t sound inane.
Some of the tension eased in his gut as he reached for her. He cupped her nape with one hand and drew her in against him with the other, then his mouth was on hers, moving like warm silk as he took possession.
When he lifted his head she could only look at him.
‘You’re a piece of work,’ he accorded quietly. ‘No woman has driven me as crazy as you have.’ His lips curved into a warm smile. ‘A year of being held at a distance, when you’ve politely declined every invitation I extended. I’ve had to be content with brief, well-bred conversations whenever we attended the same social functions.’
Cassandra recalled each and every one of those occasions. The edgy onset of nerves the instant his familiar frame came into view; a recognition on some deep emotional level she was afraid to explore, fearing if she entered his space she’d never survive leaving it.
‘Marry me.’
Cassandra opened her mouth, then closed it again. ‘What did you say?’
‘Marry me.’
She could only look at
