No Strings__ - By Janelle Denison Page 0,54

than two hours to kill, and way too much time alone to think. About Chloe, and the way he’d slipped out on her this morning.

At the time, it had been a defensive reaction, a way to protect himself from having to deal with the intense emotions rioting within him. True, those feelings were still present and wreaking havoc with every rational reason he tried to come up with why things would never work between him and Chloe, so why did he think that any amount of distance was going to change that?

He dragged his hands through his hair, his stomach roiling with a ton of regrets, because he could only imagine how Chloe had felt when she’d realized he’d left without so much as a goodbye, or an explanation. Just a brusque note, when she deserved better than an impersonal brush-off.

Jesus, he was such an ass, and Aiden was certain his brother Sam would heartily agree with that sentiment. If he could turn back the clock and do things differently, he would, but trapped between the island and Boston while waiting for his flight, without any cell service to the island, there was nothing he could do about his stupidity.

Knowing he had no choice but to wait and deal with Chloe and the situation until they were both back in Boston, he decided he needed to keep himself distracted, or let his thoughts drive him crazy. Deciding to use his idle time to refine his presentation, he retrieved his computer from his leather attaché. While his laptop booted up, he reached into the front pocket of his briefcase for the flash drive with his PowerPoint presentation, but it wasn’t there. Frowning, he thought back to when he last remembered having it, and his stomach churned with apprehension when he realized he’d never gotten it back from Chloe.

He didn’t believe she’d deliberately kept it from him, and it wasn’t as though he didn’t have a back-up on his laptop’s hard drive, but he couldn’t stop the niggle of unease coursing through him. He knew how much securing this campaign meant to her—just as much as it meant to him, and he wanted to trust her but...

He shook his head of those negative, cynical thoughts before they could completely form. She’d never do that to him. Then again, hadn’t he thought the same of his ex-wife?

No. He wasn’t going to go there. He had to believe she wouldn’t betray him that way. Besides, what was Chloe going to do with his presentation in a day’s time? They were due in the office tomorrow morning, and he’d get the flash drive back then. No harm. No foul.

* * *

HEART PUMPING WITH adrenaline, Chloe rushed back to her hotel room, knowing she had a limited amount of time to change into something more professional than her casual sundress, and gather up what she needed to give Edward Luca the best, most cohesive presentation possible with such short notice. Most of her concept was laid out, but she still hadn’t come up with a catchy tagline that the resort could use in their advertising and branding. She thought she’d have more time to figure out a slogan, but she was just going to have to wing it. It certainly wouldn’t be the first time for that.

Feeling frantic because the clock was ticking, she found a simple black dress that she hadn’t worn yet and hastily slipped it on, and added a pair of red pumps. The pop of color gave her a boost of confidence, yet kept her overall appearance classy and sophisticated. Quickly, she pulled her hair into a sleek ponytail, then focused on the material she needed to take with her for this very impromptu meeting.

As she fired up her laptop to make sure that her PowerPoint slides were as clean as possible, she couldn’t stop the frustration making its way to the surface. God, she wished that Aiden was still here on the island, that he hadn’t left on the morning flight out. Even though they had separate campaigns and ideas to offer, this was something they should be doing together, but he’d left her with no choice but to go it alone.

Then she remembered she still had his flash drive with his matchmaking concept on it and experienced a swell of relief. If Aiden couldn’t be here, at least she’d be able to pitch his presentation, too, and that’s all that mattered—that the two of them got a fair shot at