Page 94 of Words We Didn't Say

“Now, come here,” she said. “I want you to show me how incredible you are.”

Eden’s eyes darted aroundthe coffee shop.

“Stop that,” she whispered.

“Sorry.” I peppered a trail of kisses up her neck. “What did you say? I couldn’t hear you over all of the kissing noises.”

She fought the giggle, but a bubble of laughter escaped before she flattened her lips in a frown. She lifted her chin. Oh, yes. The little liar just hated all the attention. I laughed into the crook of her neck.

“People will see you,” she said, sounding slightly thrilled about it.

“No one’s looking.”

I peeked over the top of her hair. Hazel eyes stared back, frozen wide open.

I was wrong.

Michaela was watching.

People plodded into theboardroom.

I dumped my files at the head of the table and sank into the leather seat next to Chris. Absently, I drummed my fingers and glanced around the room. These meetings were a waste of time and another one of Human Resources’ attempts to build a ‘culture of positivity’ when none of us had the time to think, let alone care. Hopefully, Chris would make this one quick. I had a thousand messages to catch up on.

Michaela slunk into the room and sat four seats down. She forced her lips to curve whenever someone said hello or asked about her weekend, but no one could call her pinched look a smile. She had no time for them. All her attention was on me. Daggers shot down the boardroom table.

Chris’s eyebrow rose as he shifted a glance between us, but he said nothing. He shuffled his papers and started working through his agenda with his usual ruthless efficiency.

“Zach, I’ve heard word we’ve been recommended to the buyer of the shopping centre complex out in Campbelltown,” he said. “I’ll book drinks and feel them out, but I’d like you to lead the team if we can get the deal across the line. Can you be ready?”

I nodded even though my stomach plummeted to the floor. “Sure.”

The sale was massive—months of work. The current projects we had on the books were already stretching everyone to breaking point. My promotion couldn’t come quickly enough. Right after I gave Sue a raise, I’d hire more people. We’d all been drowning for too long.

Michaela snorted with annoyance. “It’s great Zach has the opportunity to get back to his childhood.” She leant over the boardroom table to make sure I saw her smirk. “Does your mummy shop out there?”

I turned away and let the snide comment slide into silence. I hadn’t grown up that far west. Why would it matter even if I had? Or did Michaela want it to matter because of the scene at the coffee shop? She was floundering. Nothing between us—including the few times we’d been in bed together—had been close to matching the pleasure I felt doing something as simple as holding Eden’s hand. Michaela had seen the difference with her own eyes now. She couldn’t deny it.

She also didn’t appreciate being ignored. “Maybe you could take the sl—I mean yourgirlfriend—along to survey the site?” She batted her eyelashes. “Show her your home soil?”

Chris bristled beside me. I didn’t have to look at him to know he was about to blow a gasket because his meeting was being derailed with insults about my girlfriend—especially after what had happened at the gala.

“I don’t think this is an appropriate time for you to raise my relationship,” I said to Michaela in a measured tone.

“Ashamed of her, are you?”

“Absolutely not—”

“Youshouldbe,” Michaela sneered. “This firm is revered for excellence. Integrity. Our names shouldn’t be dragged through the mud because of the inane celebrity antics attached to your girlfriend. She’s exactly what’s wrong with this world.”

The fingers I’d been drumming on my files stopped. My eyes narrowed. I’d warned Michaela. She couldn’t keep speaking to me like this, and she absolutely couldn’t say trash about my Denny Dee.

“Truly? She’s what’s wrong?” I tilted my head with the question. “How does she compare to a person who knowingly sleeps with someone in a committed relationship every second Tuesday? Surely my girlfriend has moreintegritythan a person like that.”

Michaela’s mouth dropped open.

She’d told me in confidence, but I didn’t care. I’d never been okay with the idea of her and Chris, and I was even less comfortable with their reality. I’d heard the rhythmic thumps through the wall of my office late at night. I’d seen Chris and Michaela leave together—more than once and more often than every second Tuesday—and hadn’t uttered a word.

Personal lives stay personal.

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