Page 72 of The Refusal

“Sounds wonderful. God bless you, Kate.”

Her hearty laugh echoes down the line before she rings off.

I shift from the table to stare out of the window. Carly was so utterly professional with me and the company, as well as being a tech industry wizard, but I’m not sure she’ll be the kind of person who is happy handling such a personal story. Although I’m still sick to my stomach, I scroll through the phone until I find her name and press call.

“Carly Miller speaking.” Her crisp voice echoes down the line.

“Carly, Jo Williams.”

“Jo! How lovely to hear from you. How are things going? I hear you’re working with Janus Industries now as well as Caltech. Sounds like things are going well.”

And only a few months ago we couldn’t meet payroll. I cross my fingers. “Yes, they are, thanks. It’s the contract with Janus Industries I’m calling you about.”

“Oh Gawd,” she says in a voice reverberating with years of press shenanigans. “Are the media trying to do a number on them as well? Security is so hot at the moment. Fantastic news for you, I guess. They have an unhealthy interest in Janus’s personal life, that’s for sure.”

My heart deflates a bit with the idea that Janus’s private life is worthy of comment.

“Yes,exactly, and I’m not sure whether you’ll be able to help. Something appeared in the press today … Can I send you a link?” I move over to my laptop to find the page I need.

“No problem,” she says, and we pause while we wait for it to come through.

“Okay, I’ve got it … Let me read.” And she breathes quietly on the other end as I chew the pad of my thumb, staring out of the glass walls to where James and Des have now arrived and are bent over a screen together, sun casting a glow over the wooden desks and the white-blond tones of Des’s hair. He glances up and waves, and I give him the best smile I can muster.

“Hmm,” she says, “they do love their gossipThe Gazette.Areyou dating him?”

Damn. I’d forgotten how direct she is. How do I answerthisquestion?

“Well, no.” I clear my throat. “We’re both techies, obviously”—I’m waffling here—“and we ended up mentoring each other. We went to Hong Kong together to sort out a problem with his office. We’re good friends,” I say more firmly; I need her on my side. “I’ve been terrified of the media misreading things, the harm it could do to my business, so I’ve”—my throat tightens and the next words come out sticky—“I’ve stayed away from any kind of relationship with him.”

“Why would it damage your company?” Carly asks, a curl of curiosity in her tone.

“Oh, all the comments about me getting contracts because I’m sleeping with him, I wouldn’t look like a legitimate business proposition at all; there’d forever be a question mark about my expertise, whether I can do my job. The gossip in this industry is terrible.”

“I know,” she says, crisp voice softening like bread in water, “and I understand your panic. The press treat woman roughly sometimes, but maybe we can come up with a positive spin on this.”

The warmth in her voice pours honey over the sharp spike sitting under my ribs.

“I’ll find a hard copy of the paper and see where they’ve put the story, and check if it’s been picked up by anyone else.” Her pen scratches on a pad, keys tap, tap, in the background. “Let’s meet first thing tomorrow morning and figure out how best to handle this. My colleague Selena often works with me when business strays into personal. She’s terrific at handling what I would call the more scurrilous parts of the press. Does 9 a.m. suit you?”

“Sounds great,” I say. Having a professional looking at this makes the heaviness that’s been weighing on me all morning start to lift.

“Janus Industries employs a public relations agency, and I’m just not sure if the same one handles the publicity for Janus himself. Given he’s in the papers quite a bit, I’m certain he’ll have a personal PR.” She is clearly mulling over her questions out loud. “It could be useful if they were there? To make sure we’re presenting a consistent story. We could meet at his offices; it might be more convenient. Would you like me to see if—”

“No worries. I’ll talk to Janus and ask him to set it up,” I say.

After I finish talking to Carly, I flip my phone over in my hand a few times. Everything is vibrating through my body, and I pull in a deep breath: I don’t want to say something to Janus I’ll regret. Without warning, my phone lights up in my hand, and the picture I took of him looking out of the windows in the office in Hong Kong flashes across my screen: He’s staring at something in the distance, a frown on his face, jaw covered in stubble, dark lashes thick around his eyes. He’s so unspeakably handsome, something stutters in my chest.

“Hey,” I say, attaching the phone to my ear.

“I was thinking we could get some dinner tonight, chill out at my place?”

He mustn’t have seen the article this morning because it’d be the first thing he’d mention, surely? Or maybe he doesn’t worry about things like this anymore because his media people handle it. I clear my throat.

“I’m actually seeing Kate and Liss.” My voice is tense. “But I was wondering if we could meet tomorrow morning, with your PR lady if she’s free?”

“Meet?” His voice sounds confused. “Yeah, sure, what about?”

He definitely can’t have seen it. He knows how I feel about being exposed like this.

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