Page 38 of Blind Date with the Boss

‘Sally,’ he whispered and his dark gaze devoured her, roving from her hair to her eyes, to her mouth, her white throat.

His hand lifted to touch her hair and Sally held her breath. Her blood hummed with anticipation. Every cell in her waited...

But then she saw sadness – unmistakably – in his eyes. With a gruff, thick-throated sound, he dropped his hand and stepped back abruptly.

Mortified, Sally scrambled into the car and pulled the door shut before Logan could attend to it. Fighting silly tears of disappointment, she scolded herself for being so foolish. Of course she understood that Logan couldn’t kiss her. How could he when they’d both spent the entire evening making a song and dance about the fact that he was her boss and this was not a date?

?When they reached her house, he walked her to the door, but she didn’t ask him in.

‘Thanks for your coat,’ she said as she handed it to him. ‘And thanks for a lovely evening.’

‘My pleasure, Sally. Thanks for your company.’ About to return to his car, he said, ‘I should have checked my diary. I’ll let you know on Monday about the next lesson. Is that all right?’

If she was sensible she would have told him that she couldn’t manage any more dancing lessons. She was quite sure she couldn’t endure more time alone with him. But he’d just bought her a lavish meal. And honestly, even though she knew it was pointless to love him, how could she bear to give him up?

‘Sure,’ she said softly. ‘You still need some more polish. Let me know on Monday.’

When he reached her front gate, she called, ‘Have a good weekend.’

‘Thanks, Sally. You, too.’

As she went inside, she thought,I’m not sure that’s possible.

Memories of that moment when Logan hadalmostkissed her reverberated in Sally’s awareness all weekend. As a distraction, she invited Anna and the children over for Sunday lunch and afterwards they all went to a park by the harbour, played on the swings, fed the ducks and generally had a good time. Sally fought off memories of that time she’d seen her boss playing in the park with his nephews.

On Monday morning, Logan arrived at Blackcorp with his phone welded to his ear. He gave Sally a hurried nod as he sped past her, then disappeared.

So… it was business as usual.What else did I expect?

She was a fool to be disappointed.

Maeve bounced in with a smile that spread from ear to ear. She and her geologist had spent a weekend away in the BlueMountains and it had beenso-o-oromantic. Sally tried not to feel jealous, with little success.

Maeve was in the middle of describing a marble spa bath set in a bay window overlooking the Megalong Valley when Maria Paige swept through the security door.

Sally couldn’t explain why, but something about the boss’s PA bothered her. She always felt on edge whenever Maria was around.

Pushing past Maeve, as if she were invisible, Maria set a USB on the desk in front of Sally. ‘Can you be a darling, Sally, and download this onto a file on your computer?’

A darling?Sally choked back an exclamation. What was this about? She knew her job description didn’t include working under the direction of Logan’s personal assistant. Just the same, she wanted to please this woman. Maria was the only person in the company who sent off negative vibes and Sally certainly didn’t want to make an enemy of her.

‘Don’t look so worried, Sally. I just need a back up. For security.’

‘Of course. I’ll get onto it straight away.’

With a thin smile, Maria spun around and, ignoring Maeve again, marched back through the security door.

?Maeve watched in silence until she’d gone, then gave an expressive roll of her eyes. ‘It might be wise to remember that you’re a very small finch.’

‘What are you talking about?’

‘That one’s a predator, and a dangerous one at that.’

?‘Oh, come on, Maeve. That’s a bit mean. Maria’s a bit sharp, but I suspect she’s under a lot of pressure, working for someone like Logan – I – I mean Mr. Black.’

Maeve shook her head slowly. ‘I’ve been watching that woman for two years and I’m still waiting for her to pounce. You be careful with her, my girl.’

She tapped her nose knowingly and walked on, but her warning echoed like a menacing alarm bell as Sally inserted the USB and started saving Maria’s files.

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