Conflict of Interest - By Allyson Lindt Page 0,52
“Got it.”
Chapter 15
Scott drummed his fingers against his keyboard, clacking against the keys and spewing random letters across his code. He should clean that up. Not that it mattered. He hadn’t written anything usable since Kenzie had left anyway.
He was still furious about the way she’d stormed out, but worse, he was upset at himself for letting it happen. He’d slipped one too many times with her. He’d tipped his hand and at the same time forced hers. As much as he wished she felt even half for him what he felt for her, she still saw a distinct line between their physical and professional relationships.
He closed his eyes and inhaled deeply. What would it take to get her back? He’d stop everything, the fooling around, the flirting, all of it, if he could at least apologize to her. Maybe get her to stay on and finish her contract.
He grabbed his desk phone, dialing her number from memory. It rang once, twice. He sighed. Please let her answer.
“This is Mackenzie.” Her tone sent ice over the line.
He slid into his business-meeting voice. “Miss Carter. Good afternoon.”
Her exhale was loud against the receiver. “I’ve had better. What can I do for you?”
He flinched at her removed response. Would she even listen if he begged for forgiveness? “I think we parted ways on a bad note.”
“What gave you that impression?”
He hated what he was about to do, but at least knowing she didn’t hate him would be something, even if he couldn’t actually have more. “That was my fault. I haven’t been fair to you.”
Silence.
He let a bitter smile show for his invisible audience. “I’d like to set things right. Have lunch with me tomorrow.”
More silence.
He could wait longer.
“I assume your associates will be there?” she asked.
He glared at the phone. “I hadn’t planned on it.”
Her reply was devoid of emotion. “You’re not that sorry if you’re still peddling this fake dating crap.”
He swallowed the slash her words cut through him. “Of course, my mistake. Yes, all of our consultants are invited.”
He intentionally neglected to mention Rae was the only other one they kept on payroll, and she was so buried in end-of-month reporting, she’d beg off something frivolous like lunch.
More silence.
He kept his mouth shut.
“Sounds great.” Her tone implied it sounded anything but. “Email me a meeting request, I’ll try and make room in my schedule.”
“Wonderful. Enjoy the rest of your day, Miss Carter.”
He hated that the situation required such an intense formality. But he was willing to keep doing it if it meant she’d be around long enough so he could figure out how to not need it. Something in his chest fluttered that she’d said yes, and somehow that made it better.
* * * *
Nervous energy thrummed through Kenzie as she approached the restaurant. The parking lot was packed, but experience told her it wouldn’t matter—they wouldn’t have to wait. And the reason why was on the sidewalk pacing near the front door.
Scott looked up as she approached, a smile twitching into place and then vanishing again in an instant.
She cursed the leap in her stomach, hiding the happy reaction behind a flat expression, and nodded at him.
“We have a problem.” His voice didn’t give anything away.
“We have a lot of them.” She hid her wince. She hadn’t meant to be antagonistic.
He raised an eyebrow. “Nice. I mean my timing was bad. Everyone else cancelled.”
Go figure. She wasn’t surprised or nearly as irritated as she wanted to be. In fact, if she weren’t ignoring it, she might have admitted she’d hoped and expected exactly that. “Everyone else. Rae?” He flinched. “How convenient.”
He shrugged. “I’m sorry to drag you all the way out here for nothing. I should let you get back to your pliable clients. It wouldn’t do for us to be unchaperoned. What would people say?”
Why was she even letting him get away with this? It had nothing to do with how good he looked in the navy button-down and dark jeans, or the snippets of memory taunting her from the weekend, of waking up in his arms. Or because despite the professional risk, she so desperately wanted an intimacy from him that went beyond sex. “We’re here, we might as well stay. I’m sure you can behave yourself in public just this once.”
He gave her a wilting smile. “I might find a way.”
Why did they have to do this? When had they become incapable of having a normal conversation that didn’t end in frustration?
He refused to make