‘I don’t believe you. I think you’re making up the rules as you go along.’ I’m feeling very irate now. This is my life he’s playing with. ‘Do not make me spend a week with that lot. They hate me enough already without forcing me to spend every waking hour with them on a tiny bloody boat in the middle of the bloody ocean.’
‘You can’t come to head office.’He’s as stubborn as me.‘You are needed on that boat.’
I fold my arms before answering him. This is a typical, masculine, walls up response. He needs some no-frills, sensible thinking and down-to-earth logic to bring him round to my way of thinking. ‘Look, it’s not like we’ll be on top of each other at the office. We can respect each other’s space. We already know we get on well.’ After all, one does not spend an all-nighter can-canning on the bar to ‘New York, New York’ with someone they don’t like. ‘And as far as what happened between us?—’
‘It’s not about that.’ He pierces me with an intense look.
‘So you keep saying. What is it about then?’
Jackson hesitates, half-lowering his eyelids to meet my gaze. ‘I’m sorry. The decision has been made,’ he says firmly. ‘I need you on that boat. I can’t explain why, just trust me. You never know, you might enjoy it. And, not to be a pedant, it’s the AegeanSea. Not an ocean.’
As if that makes any difference!
He’s infuriating. I point back over to the team. They are scoffing food, laughing loudly with their mouths full, and Shaun is throwing black pitted olives at the Bodrum North team whenever they are not looking.
‘In what way will I enjoy it? And be specific.’
‘Sorry?’
‘In what way will spending a week with those imbeciles be good for me?’ I put my hands on my hips. ‘You don’t know anything about me.’Other than that I give top-notch hand jobs and squeal like a pig when I’m orgasming.
I see his cheeks colour. ‘Well, for one thing, you’d get a good sense of working with a team. And, erm, a valuable insight into the guest experience to enable you to improve your customer service skills.’
‘Hardly a rigorous or compelling argument. How do you know that I don’t have those qualities and skills already?’ He couldn’t possibly have had time to look at my abysmal CV before he rocked up here today, so I’m willing to take the risk.
‘Have you got those skills?’ he asks tentatively.
Ah.No, I certainly have not, but he does not need to know that. ‘Just because we shared one night of… whatever it was we shared, does not mean that we can’t behave like civilised adults and work together in the same office.’
‘We’d be sharing a desk.’
‘No problem. I’m a neat freak.’
‘Staring at each other all day long.’
‘I’m extremely short-sighted.’
‘A few feet apart.’
A traitorous pang of excitement erupts in my belly at the thought of gazing at his magnificent features all day. Keeping my face deadpan, I tilt my chin. ‘We’d manage. I could wear a bag over my head if the sight of me distracts you so much.’He literally told me I was the most beautiful woman in the whole universe and that he could gaze at me for eternity and it still wouldn’t be long enough. What is wrong with him?
‘I thought we agreed it was just a one-night thing. A fantastic, crazy, wild night. But that’s all it can be. What are you not understanding?’
‘What am I not understanding?’Incredible.‘I’m not understanding how a few hours ago we wanted to run off into the distance together and now… it’s like you can’t wait to get rid of me.’
If only I had the energy to shout at him, but a glance to the other side of the hall tells me I have bigger problems. Erika is giving me distinctly cool vibes as she glares at me and Jackson bickering. I really can’t get on the wrong side of her. She is literally the only one here who likes me with her princess this and princess that.
‘Is this about the troubleshooting? You having to sack people? Because you don’t have to send me to the middle of the sea just to keep it a secret. I won’t tell anyone, I swear.’
This conversation is going around in circles.
He shakes his head. ‘Sorry, Maddie. I need time to settle into this new role and I’m afraid you’d just be a distraction,’ he says, his tone quite determined now. ‘One that I can’t afford. I take my position very seriously.’
As if I don’t?
‘I wouldn’t allow anything to happen between us. I’m usually a very controlled and disciplined person.’
‘That’s not the impression I get.’
