And hadn’t these last few days been magic? she thought on a sigh. One magic moment after another with the man of her dreams. Literally.
The man she’d fallen in love with.
Yes. She’d fallen in love with Jared, and perhaps it was the most magic thing of all that she could allow herself that luxury.
But magic wasn’t real; it was an illusion and it didn’t last. And Sophie knew, with a heart that was already breaking apart, that very soon the magic would end.
‘I’ve got another job for you, if you’d like it,’ Jared told Sophie late the next afternoon. They’d arrived back at the office after lunch and were going over some work that had accumulated in their absence. Pam would be back on board on Monday and Jared knew Sophie could do with the extra money.
She looked up from the folder she was studying. ‘What kind of work?’
‘I promised Melissa an eighteenth birthday party. I’ve been too busy to make a time with her to organise it. If you could meet with her, make and oversee the arrangements, I’ll continue paying you what you’re making now until the night of the party. You probably have more idea what she wants than I do anyway.’
Her expression brightened, but then a little frown creased her brow. ‘When were you planning it for? I’m leaving in a couple of weeks, remember.’
He remembered. And the knowledge was like a grass seed in his sock. A minor but constant niggle. If he’d been a less focused man he might have said to hell with the paperwork and spent what was left of the afternoon in Sophie’s bed. He really was in danger of turning into an indulgent and irresponsible idiot.
He reached for a business card, jotted Melissa’s contact details on the back. ‘It’ll fit in well, then. It’s two weekends from now.’
‘Two weeks on my current pay? To organise a party? That’s…generous…thank you.’
‘You’re helping me out, so thank you.’ He slid the card across the desk. ‘I’ll leave it to you to contact Melissa. I’ve already set up a credit card. It’ll be available Monday, spend whatever you need.’
‘Okay… It sounds like fun.’ She shifted forward on her chair. ‘I’ll just sort these and make sure everything’s ready for your efficient PA’s return before I leave.’
‘She’ll appreciate it.’ All business, he noted as Sophie stood, shuffled the folders on his desk into a neat little pile. He and Sophie worked well as a team. Understood each other. Respected each other. They could be professional when required.
And he could have her naked on his desk in five seconds flat.
His imagination slammed into overdrive and its very lack of that professionalism was its own appeal. His body tightened. Blood thickened and throbbed in his groin. It was five-thirty on a Friday afternoon. Those employees who hadn’t yet left for their weekend were drinking up a storm in the staff lounge—he could hear the laughter and clink of glass, the muted hum of a middle-of-the-road CD.
No one was going to come looking for workaholic Jared.
He stood too, stepped around to the side of his desk. Lock the door, close the blinds. For once, do what no one expects of Jared Sanderson. ‘Sophie…’ He could barely recognise his own husky voice. But he heard the possessive tone and the promise…
And he saw barely veiled humour flit across her expression as she backed up and crossed the room in record time. ‘In your dreams, Mr Sanderson.’ She poked her head around the door a few seconds later with a seductive sparkle in her eyes. ‘My place, thirty minutes. Don’t keep me waiting.’
He grinned, warnings to self about the dangers of indulgence and irresponsibility where Sophie was concerned already forgotten. ‘I’ll be there with wine.’
Still grinning, he returned to his chair. His lover and his PA rolled into one generous, intelligent, talented package. He’d never have thought of his PA in that way. Then again, he’d never had a PA quite like Sophie. And it worked. With Sophie it worked.
They’d come into the office this afternoon as professionals, as equals. They’d been able to put aside the fact that they’d spent the past couple of nights bonking each other senseless. Difficult. Very difficult.
Shaking his head, he forced his attention back to work. What the hell, he decided, slapping his folder shut. He deserved an early finish.
The weekend flew by as quickly as their stay in Noosa had. Except that for the first time in as long as he could remember, Jared allowed no interruptions from the office to impinge on their time together. No emails, no text messages, no phone calls.
They walked touristy shopping malls and drank coffee, wandered the beach and watched surfers ride waves, took a leisurely drive and a picnic basket into the Hinterland where the air was cool and green.