Page 34 of Stuck with the Hot Boss
Nicky set aside her Jilly and gave Evie a searching look. ‘So – it’s serious already, is it?’
Evie didn’t like where this was heading. ‘You mean, am I in fake love yet again?’
‘Mate, look,’ Nicky said. ‘This comes from a place of sincere affection, but you do tend to fall hard and fast. What youdon’tdo is take the time to really get to know someone.’
‘And then they reveal their true colours and break my heart?’
Evie had floated in on cloud nine, but now she felt like she’d been downgraded to the standard model cloud, which was grey, chilly and damp.
‘I’m just saying – if you think he’s a keeper, then no need to rush things,’ said Nicky. ‘Enjoy the process of discovery.’
Her friend was trying to be kind, Evie knew. But she still felt chastened. Nicky was exactly right about how she’d fallen for Shaun-Tony-Jason, and though Evie could insist until she was blue in the face that it was different with Leo, the evidence was pretty damning. They’d known each other for seven days – six-and-a-half if you wanted to be pedantic. Evie mightfeellike she knew Leo, but how could you know someone through and through in less than a week? No matter how open he’d been, no matter how many secrets they’d shared, six-point-five days wasn’t enough time to see someone in the round, to witness how they behaved in more challenging situations. Like when they were backed into a corner and felt threatened. Or when they had to step up and be brave.
Evie couldn’t say for sure how Leo would act in either case, and that should be a warning. But did she have what it took to heed it?
‘I have faith in you, mate, Ido,’ said Nicky. ‘And IlikeLeo. He’s definitely a cut above your feckless exes.’
‘But I should loosen my goose?’
‘All the way,’ Nicky said. ‘Take it down like Rupert Campbell-Black’s boxer shorts.’
‘Is that what’s happening in your book?’
‘Our hero has indeed dropped his dacks aka boxer shorts,’ Nicky confirmed. ‘Now he’s kicking them up in the air and catching them on the end of his stiffy.’
‘They don’t write quality literature like that these days,’ said Evie.
Suddenly, she felt exhausted. All right, so she’d had minimal sleep since Friday night and maximal physical exertion. Oh, and tomorrow, she might lose her job. But Evie knew the real reason behind her weariness was her concern that, despite her best intentions, she was repeating old patterns yet again. It was depressing.
‘I’m going to hit the hay,’ Evie told Nicky. ‘Night-night.’
‘Night, mate.’ Nicky’s eyes stayed on her book. Rupert and his stiffy were also probably hitting the hay. Those early Jillies featured a lot of shagging in stables.
As Evie got ready for bed, she hoped she wouldn’t be kept awake by fantasies of Leo. Or worries about her job. Soon as her head touched the pillow, though, she was asleep, and dreamed of nothing until the alarm roused her at 7am.
Evie got to the office at 8.15am to find even Nigel and Ange had beaten her in. Leo, however, was not at his desk, but Evie spotted his messenger bag, so he must be around somewhere.
‘Your boss is in with the big bosses,’ Nigel told her. ‘Got summoned five minutes ago.’
‘Do you know why?’ Evie had already come up with many possible reasons, none of them pleasant.
‘Last in, first out, I’d bet,’ Nigel said, morosely.
‘You promised,’ Ange chided him. ‘No Northern pessimism until midday.’
‘It’s not pessimism, it’s facts,’ said Nigel. ‘New brooms sweep clean. Plumbing Ultra will hire their own people and pay them as little as possible. Us with our cushy salaries are a drag on the bottom line, far as they’re concerned. We’ll have to gotout de suite. Au revoir,suckers.’
‘And how wasyourweekend, Evie?’ said Ange, brightly.
Nowthatwas a question. ‘Nice,’ seemed the safest answer. ‘Apart from the ever-present worry of being unemployed, of course.’
‘See!’ said Nigel to Ange. ‘It’s not only me who’s convinced we’re for the chop.’
His head turned towards the door. ‘Ey up. Incoming at twelve o’clock.’
Leo was back, and the thrill of his presence practically levitated Evie from her seat. Over the weekend, he had asked if they could keep it professional at the office, and Evie had agreed. But there he was, looking like a young god, and it was all Evie could do not to launch herself at him and have him take her right there on the desk.
But the coolness of his manner immediately dampened her impulse to stage an impromptu porn show for the Double K staff. As he took his seat, Leo’s only acknowledgment of Evie was a brief nod, which he also gave to Nigel and Ange. He started tapping away at his keyboard. Until he became aware that everyone was staring at him.
