‘Luckily for you, princess, I want to like you. I have high hopes for you. But don’t tell the others. They’re a lost cause. That ship sailed long ago,’ she murmurs behind her hand before reaching down to pick up a pile of papers. ‘And even more fortunately for you is the fact that these complaints were submitted before your official start date and therefore’ – she rips them up in front of me and throws them in the bin – ‘they can’t be processed.’ She winks at me in a theatrical fashion.
‘And the death threat?’ I ask hopefully.
‘You know you’ve made it when people want to kill you.’ She shakes her head, laughing. ‘Except for Garry. There isn’t a day goes by without me wanting to kill him.’
He very subtly flicks his eyes to me before training them on Erika, a disgruntled look on his face. While Garry Gee gives her daggers, I politely look away.
‘He’d gladly stab me in the back, that one,’ she says quietly. ‘Wants the top job. You’ll have to be firm with him, or he’ll take advantage. Especially as he seems to have taken such a dislike to you. Watch your back.’
Why would he have taken a dislike to me? I’ve literally not spoken to him yet. Luckily for me, I have much bigger fish to fry than a megalomaniac supervisor with a God complex and a limp ponytail. ‘Will the police be involved?’
Erika gives me a confused look.
‘The death threat?’
She looks to the wastepaper basket. ‘No. It’s been dealt with.’
I stare at it too. ‘Bydealt withdo you mean you’ve just ripped it up and thrown it?—’
‘Here he is! About time,’ Erika booms, heading away from me. ‘We missed you at the welcome party last night. Come and meet the team.’
I swivel around, immediately startled at the sight of the man striding towards her. It causes my coffee cup to slip through my fingers. As it crashes to the floor, splashing scalding liquid up my legs, everyone looks over to me, tutting. Erika rolls her eyes at me, loops her skinny arm through that of the tall, extremely good-looking if slightly bleary-eyed man at her side and introduces him.
‘Everyone. This is Jackson,’ she yells. ‘He’s flown in from LoveIt Holidays’ parent company in Sydney. He’ll be taking over management of head office here in Turkey.’
9
From the corner of my eye, Jackson runs a hand through his hair and fixes everyone a smile until he gets to me. He stares at me, his face unreadable.
I wait the agonisingly slow seconds that it takes for him to recognise me.It has literally only been fifty minutes since he declared he’d never forget me.
For a split second, his face lights up, until his gaze travels the length of my uniform and a range of expressions crosses his face. Delight. Surprise. Confusion. Realisation. Finally, his nostrils flare as though trying to ascertain whether I am a figment of his imagination. Seconds tick by as he stands frozen to the spot.
Tick. Tick. Tick.
I see him visibly swallow. He is not making any moves to indicate that I will be swept into his adoring embrace any time soon. A sinking feeling consumes me. This is not going to be the romantic reunion I had hoped for.
How embarrassing. I cannot believe that the universe would do this to me.
Oblivious, Erika waves her arm around the group. ‘I’ll introduce you individually later. First, Jackson and I need a catch-up while you lot self-medicate with caffeine. If you can keep it in the cups, I’d appreciate it.’ She flicks her gaze to the pieces of smashed cup lying in a pool of coffee at my feet and gives me a bewildered look before she wanders over to sit down at a table in the far corner.
Jackson nods at Erika, a serious expression on his face as he scratches his chin. ‘I’ll be right over, Erika. Give me a second.’
My heart thumps wildly as I try to process this startling turn of events. Jackson is the new boss of head office. I am his employee. And he is clearly not happy about it.
It’s as though he’s purposefully walking in slow motion while I struggle with a wide-ranging array of emotions. Once he gets close and his gaze meets mine, I feel my body temperature rocket. There is literally no difference between me and the Earth’s core right now.
I’m usually such a well-ordered, disciplined person. I like things to go to plan. Yet, since I stepped foot on the tarmac in Turkey, nothing has gone as it should have. Not one sodding thing. ‘Hi.’ I wring my hands together, uncertain as to how this is all going to play out.
He stops a few feet away, motionless, his face like granite before he finally steps towards me. ‘Maddie?’
‘Uh-huh.’
‘What are you doing here?’ he says, sounding tense.
‘I could ask you the same.’ My voice is barely a whisper.
‘You told me you were here on holiday,’ he declares through tight lips.
