Page 53 of The Friend

Mark paused. “This is highly unusual, but I’m trusting my gut instinct and taking a chance you won’t let me down.” He stood and headed for the door, his expression grim. “Make sure you don’t.”

“I won’t,” he said, but Mark had already left his office.

This couldn’t get much better. Judd had a chance at a new job in a city he loved with a woman who’d come to mean more to him than he could’ve possibly imagined. And he wasn’t tied into anything so if it didn’t work out he could do as he’d always done.

Leave.

However, that wasn’t on the agenda, not if he had any say in it. Especially if Abby relented as he hoped.

Chapter Twenty-Six

Abby stepped out of Mark’s office, her head spinning.

When he’d said there could be a ‘huge deal’ if the Sapphire Island shoot went well, he hadn’t been kidding.

For a freelance fashion stylist to be offered every big jobFinessehad for the next two years was a dream come true.

Not to mention she wouldn’t be tied into any long term contracts so she could freelance too.

She could hardly believe it and normally, she would’ve jumped at the chance. But accepting the opportunity of a lifetime came with strings attached, huge strings, tied up in one giant bow around Judd Calloway’s neck.

Mark had left her in little doubt that having Judd atFinessewas a coup and she’d be working closely with him if she accepted.

How could she refuse? Her job meant everything to her.

So what if she’d been dumb enough to fall for Judd? She’d already told him they could be friends. Given a little time she was sure they could slip back into their old camaraderie.

Taking a deep breath, she knocked on the last door on the left where Judd had his new office. She had to get this over and done with, make sure he understood exactly where they stood.

She barely had time to tug her favourite white suit jacket down before the door opened.

“Hey, I’ve been expecting you. Welcome to my new digs.”

Judd stepped aside and waved his arm in a flourish while she fixed a smile on her face, wishing her traitorous body would calm down. The moment she caught sight of him wearing a charcoal pin-striped designer suit, her heart flip-flopped, her pulse thundered, and a quick-fire heat she thought she’d conquered and left behind on the island flowed through her like molten magma.

“Nice,” she said, stepping into the office with its postcard view of Sydney Harbour, funky stainless steel desk, and matching ergonomic chairs.

Very minimalist, very sleek and unlike anything she’d ever pictured the Judd she knew would go for.

“So you’ve had a chat with Mark?”

“Uh-huh.” Perching on the end of his desk, she tried to act like being offered her dream job—with her dream guy working alongside her, ironically—happened every day.

“What do you think? I assume you’re going to take it?” He tried to look nonchalant and failed miserably.

“It’s a great opportunity. I’d be a fool to pass it up.”

His face lit up and he let out an excited whoop. “That’s great.”

He crossed the room to perch next to her, his thigh brushing hers and sending tiny electric shocks up her stocking-clad leg. He captured her hand before she could move. “We’re going to be working closely together.”

She should’ve snatched her hand out of his the moment his voice dipped to a husky murmur. Instead, she sat there like a dummy, frozen, immobile, while he raised her hand to his lips and branded her palm with a hot, lingering kiss. The type of bone-melting kiss that sent electricity sizzling through her body,the feel of his warm lips a poignant reminder of what they’d shared on the island, of what they could never have again.

“Not that closely,” she said, wrenching her hand out of his and crossing to the window to put some much needed distance between them.

He didn’t move, his casual stance screaming confidence, and she wondered what it would take to get through to him.

“After what happened on the island, I’m not buying this ‘let’s be friends’ spiel anymore,” he said, his tone blasé. “It doesn’t make sense considering how great we are together. The Abby I know is always up for a challenge so what are you going to do about it?”

---