can manage.” He strode ahead.
The note. He had to reach her car before she did.
He’d written a note designed to appeal to the spark and vitality of the woman he met in the basement but that note was far too suggestive for a colleague. If she saw that note she’d lose all respect for him, think him more conceited than she already did.
“Are you scouting ahead for seedy characters?” Rachel laughed out loud at her own comment.
“Not at all.” Jake reached across the bonnet of her car for the message he’d left. “I’m protecting you from something much worse than that.”
“What’s that?”
He held up the folded piece of paper before shoving it into his jacket pocket. “Building Management.”
“A fine?” She sounded worried.
“Probably just a warning. I’ll take care of it for you. It is my parking spot, after all.”
A warm smile washed across her face, a smile so unsuspecting and pure it drove a bolt of guilt through him.
As he shook her hand, he couldn’t get her words out of his head. There’s no excuse for that. Not ever.
And he was certain she would not be very understanding when he told her.
* * *
“Jake!” Marcus called out as his employer passed his office.
Jake peered into the office. “I thought you said you had an appointment now.”
“Yeah, I do.”
That was strange because he didn’t appear to be in the middle of a meeting.
“Do you want to ask me something?” Jake asked.
“Sure do. I thought we were going to ditch the Skin Plus campaign but you told them we’d take it on. I don’t get it. What’s up?”
Jake couldn’t resist the opportunity for a quick quip. “Marcus, these pro bono jobs are a good opportunity to do some good in the world. Where’s your community spirit?”
“I don’t have any of that.”
“I didn’t think so!” Jake softened his comment with a gentle laugh. “This campaign is going to be bigger than you think. I want you to be creative with this one. I’ve already got a few ideas about it myself. There’s a lot there for you to work with. This is going to be an award winning campaign. That’s why we’re taking it on.”
He believed this project could be lifted above the other requests he’d received for pro bono work because it had something the others didn’t. Rachel’s conviction in it and her vitality. He was confident they could use this to propel the campaign into something greater than it initially appeared. In fact it could potentially be an award winning campaign. He had certainly not taken it on based on personal inclination.
“I don’t mind working with those two good looking women. I’m looking forward to seeing more of that Samantha.”
A confirmed bachelor, Marcus was always looking for a bit of fun, chasing some girl. He was harmless enough, a bit of a lad, but the frequency with which he changed from woman to woman was astounding.
Jake left and sat down in his own office. He didn’t know what he’d been thinking when he pressed the door release and watched Rachel’s hands slip off the handle.
He couldn’t quite work the woman out. One minute she was the consummate professional discussing the marketing strategy for the campaign, and the next she was unable to do something as simple as open a door even though she put her whole shapely body into the task. From her slender calves to her arching torso and the little tendons in her hands, she had pulled with all her might with no idea how enticing she looked.
Now that he’d secured their working partnership, he’d build on that relationship and redeem himself in her eyes over the next few weeks. He’d give her the chance to get to know him a little better, to be more comfortable in his company, to see he wasn’t the arrogant advertising executive she thought.
Then he would ask her out.
He would tell her everything.
Chapter three
One month later…
Bianca. That woman was going too far this time and Jake wasn’t going to let her get away with it. She might be the mother of his child but that didn’t give her the right to be reckless with the boy’s welfare.
“Stop right there, Bianca,” Jake said into the telephone. “You’re not taking our son to Italy and that’s that. Not in the middle of the school year, not now.”
“You can’t deny him his heritage,” she said. “He is half Italian, remember.”
Although Bianca had spent all her life in Australia, her parents had retired to Italy, forging a