charged than championship night at the Rose Bowl. Her traitorous body leaned in. Victor reached up and cupped her face with the palm of his hand, his thumb running across her bottom lip.
And she didn’t care that he didn’t remember her six years ago. Or that he was the competition. Or that anything with him could get her fired. Her promotion was probably dead in the water anyway. And the man kneeling in front of her was the best kiss she’d ever had. But first, there was one thing she needed to clear up. “Victor, I’m not that noble. I didn’t not say anything for you. I did it for me.”
Victor wound a lock of her hair around his finger like they had all the time in the world, his fingertip grazing her cheek with every rotation. “You said last night that you think I deserve a second chance. Is that true?”
She held his gaze. “It’s even more true that it was last night.”
Victor drew in a breath. “What if what I want is a second chance with you?”
“I—” Lacey’s mind stalled. Giving in to the pull of attraction for a kiss was one thing. A kiss in the middle of the English countryside with no witnesses at that. But his question felt a whole lot bigger than just a kiss.
Then two phones buzzed in unison, causing them both to flinch. And buzzed again. Lacey’s hand reached automatically into her pocket, breaking the moment. Her screen lit up with the subject of the incoming email New Org Roles: Tranche Two. Trust Meredith to send it on a Sunday.
“You got it?” She didn’t know how she felt about the interruption, so she chose to focus on pushing it from her mind and clicking on the email. Maybe it held the answer to his question.
“Yup.” Victor moved to sit next to her on the step, his gaze on the screen.
The message had two attachments. She didn’t bother to look at the email itself. It would just be weasel words Meredith’s HR lawyers had forced her to include.
Lacey opened the first document, the same one she’d first seen at breakfast with Rachel but with more boxes filled in. She scrolled until she found names she recognized, her stomach settling as she saw some of the best people she worked with clustered in a new group called Publicity and PR. But not her. She scrolled and zoomed to double-check. Her name wasn’t in any box.
That had to be good, surely. Based on Meredith’s approach so far, if it was bad news, there would also have been an email telling her to collect her belongings from the office.
She studied the new org chart again. Assuming it was good news, then there were two options. The new Head of Publicity and PR for the US. Or, if she was shooting for the stars, their boss, the new VP of Publicity and PR who sat across the US and UK.
Beside her, Victor had stilled, his thumb frozen on his screen.
“Are you there?”
He tilted his phone towards her and the words Victor Carlisle – Senior Associate leapt out at her from one of the squares like it was in font three sizes larger than anyone else. The role sat within a new group titled Government Relations. Disparate emotions clashed within her chest.
They weren’t even in the same branch. They were no longer competing against each other. But he’d hoped for more. So much more.
“I’m sorry.” Her buzz couldn’t help but be dampened by his disappointment.
He managed to summon up part of a smile. “Hey, it’s a promotion. I can hardly complain.” He turned his phone over in his hands. “Let’s be honest, Lace. If all the other people going for the upper-level roles are like you, I never really had a chance. And that’s fair. I haven’t done the time or got the experience.”
It was true. Not that she was going to say so. But even if he’d got his job straight out of rehab, he’d been there a little over three years. At most.
He turned his gaze to her. “What about you?”
She shrugged. “Nowhere yet.” She’d study the diagram in-depth on the train and work out who she was up against.
“In other words, a definite promotion.” He nudged her knee with his.
She tried to temper her hopes. “Maybe. Or maybe not. I got evicted from the BWCA early, and I lost a chance at a huge book publicity contract recently. If Meredith has found out about that