coffee, wishing she was still in bed. How long was this going to take?
Glancing around at the others, she picked up on the tension in the room. She knew they all had questions and concerns.
After her conversation with Mr. Taylor last Friday, however, she wasn’t as nervous as she might have been. He had assured her that her promotion was in the bag. By January she would be in her new position as director of the European marketplace, headquartered in Brussels. She could hardly wait.
Mr. Taylor stepped to the head of the long table as the man beside him turned to face the group. Anna stared at him with stunned, sickening surprise. For a moment heat swept through her and she couldn’t tear her gaze away.
He did have broad shoulders; she remembered rubbing her hands over them, feeling the hot skin, the taut muscles. His lips appeared chiseled, but she remembered how they’d molded hers, bringing wild passion to a mere kiss. For three glorious weeks she and Tanner Forsythe had been constantly in each other’s company. Two days after they made love, he had stopped calling, stopped returning her calls and dropped out of her life completely.
She swallowed hard. Oh. My. God. She had slept with the new head of Drysdale Electronics!
She felt as if she would throw up. She glanced over at Teresa who was looking at the head of the table with all attention. Nobody knew. She had kept their affair quiet last summer, not wanting to be teased about a whirlwind romance. Thank goodness for discretion. If she could just get through today, she’d make sure nobody ever knew. She had to get to him, make sure he didn’t mention anything thinking people might have known about their dating.
Please don’t let him say anything, she prayed, wishing she could slink down in her chair, slip beneath the table and hide forever. She had to find a moment to speak to him alone. Assure him no one knew—and no one need ever know.
They’d met when he’d begun coming to the gym where she worked out several times a week. Dressed in running shorts and a T-shirt, he looked fabulous. She’d been instantly drawn to him the first time he’d showed up. Before her session had ended, he’d asked her out for coffee. From then on they’d found time to meet during the week and on the weekends.
She tried to remember all the details of their dates. But her head throbbed and she felt slightly ill again. She so did not need this.
What would this do to a future working relationship? He couldn’t fire her outright, could he? She wished she had had some prior inkling of Tanner Forsythe taking on the helm of Drysdale Electronic. What was she going to do?
Mr. Taylor nodded at the group and began to speak, “As you all know, I’ve talked about retiring for a long time. Mrs. Taylor has finally convinced me to act, not dream. Many of you know the Board met two weeks ago to finalized negotiations with my successor. I spoke with some of you individually last Friday in an attempt to make a smooth transition between my leaving and the assumption of power by our new CEO. I’d like to introduce Tanner Forsythe. He takes over with the full and enthusiastic endorsement of the Board of Directors. He has an impressive background with electronic firms in taking troubled companies and turning them around to make them more profitable than ever. A copy of his impressive résumé is in the packet Ellie will give each of you on the way out. The Board of Directors and I do hope you all will be able to guide Drysdale Electronics to new heights under Tanner’s guidance. I expect each of you to give him your full cooperation and support.”
Mr. Taylor waited for the polite applause to die down, then nodded to the man on his right. “How about each of you introduce yourself, give the department or division you head up and say anything else you think Tanner may need to know for now. He’ll be meeting with each of you individually before the week is out.”
Mr. Taylor checked his watch. “However, let’s keep it brief, I have a lot to review with him myself before I take off for the Bahamas.”
There was some good-natured teasing for a moment. Then Hank Brownson began the introductions with the explanation he ran the accounting department. One by one each person around the table introduced himself or herself and gave a brief description of their area of responsibilities. Teresa’s turn came fast. Anna felt sick. She was next. She heard Teresa explain she was the head of Human Resources, then the silence that followed.
Anna looked at Mr. Taylor rather than into the dark familiar eyes of Tanner Forsythe.
“My name is Anna Larkin. I’m the under-director for European operations.” She could say nothing further. For one awful moment she wondered if Tanner would rescind the promotion promised and refuse to let her move to the Brussels office.
She had been working toward that particular position for more than ten years. For the last five she’d studied French assiduously. Recently all her vacations had been in Europe to familiarize herself with the different countries, and to practice her language skills. She had devoted fifteen years of her life to becoming the best international marketing employee Drysdale Electronics ever had.
For one heart-stopping moment she wondered if it all had been in vain.
So if bad things came in threes, was this the end? Maybe she’d make a miraculous recovery within the next ten minutes. The news from her sister wouldn’t hurt so, and Tanner would send her to Europe with a bonus in her pocket.
And pigs would fly.
As Neil Patterson introduced himself, Anna leaned back in her chair. She had no illusions that life would change in an instant. Her only hope was that she could make it home before collapsing. Looking at the bright side of things, if she were home, he couldn’t fire her, could he?
Once introductions were complete, Tanner gave a short speech. Upbeat and direct, he challenged everyone to rise to the new level of expectations. It motivated without casting any aspersions on Mr. Taylor and his stint at the helm. Anna was impressed.
She’d been impressed before—in the summer. They’d spent endless evenings walking around San Francisco after working out together at the gym, enjoying the city when the crowds were gone, and when the weather was at its best. Talking about everything under the sun, or so she thought, he had never mentioned his exact job. And she had only said she was in marketing. She was not defined by her job.
In fact, she’d only talked about it in great detail right before he stopped contacting her.
The penny dropped. He’d known he was being sought for this position and had stopped dating a future employee.
She wished he’d finished things before they’d gone to bed together. Not only for the awkwardness of finding they had to work together, but for the glorious event itself, which would never be repeated. She had begun to fall a little in love with Tanner, even knowing it could lead nowhere. But she’d never found making love to be so exciting, so enthralling as the night they’d spent together.
She kept her gaze on her notepad, her mind drifting to that night, try as she might to focus on his words to the group. She’d wondered if she’d somehow been lacking—beyond the obvious of course. Now at least she had a more logical reason for his lack of follow up.
Tanner Forsythe moved his gaze around the room studying the features of each of the men and women who now reported to him as they introduced themselves. He knew Anna would be in this group. That had been the sole reason he had stopped seeing her. But when his gaze locked in on her, when he heard her voice, he was surprised by a shock of awareness. They dated for several weeks. Once he learned that she worked for Drysdale Electronics, he had stopped seeing her immediately. Preliminary negotiations
