A Mile High Valentine

by Cassidy Coal

  Daphne tilted her head to the side and forced a small smile. "Miss Baxter. Welcome back. A whiskey, straight up, as I recall?"

  Sarah wasn't really in the mood for a drink, but at the sight of that smug little judgmental smile, she said, "Why, yes, Daphne, thank you. That would be wonderful."

  Fortunately, Tyler Corrigan was not going to be on the plane. It was just Sarah and the crew.

  Or so she thought until the willowy blonde from the Sydney launch stepped into the cabin. She wore a soft brown cashmere dress, her makeup and hair flawless.

  "Ah, you must be Sarah," she said in a cultured British accent, her mouth not even twitching in the direction of a smile.

  Sarah tried not to feel embarrassed in her ratty sweats and t-shirt. It was a twenty-plus hour flight; she'd dressed for comfort. Of course, that probably revealed her low-class roots, right? I mean, she was in public. Appearances mattered. At least they clearly did to Blondie, who eyed her up and down with a slight sneer.

  "Yes, Sarah Baxter," Sarah answered, her voice hard and flat. She held out her hand. "And you are?"

  "I'm Fiona Jones. The new head of accounting for the Sydney office." The woman said it as if she was surprised Sarah didn't already know. Her grip when she shook Sarah's hand was limp like a wet noodle. Sarah had to fight the urge to wipe her hand on her sweats after.

  "What are you doing here?" Sarah realized how rude the question sounded only after it was out of her mouth.

  Fiona laughed. "I relocated from London at Tyler's request. My mother was in hospital this week and Tyler was kind enough to loan me his jet so I could visit her. He and I are very close, you know." She smiled a fierce little smile. "He asked me to pick up some additional things from his apartment on the way back. And…you. Saves the company a few pennies, I guess." She tried but failed to hide her look of distaste.

  "Yes, well, Tyler Corrigan is nothing if not a cost-conscious man." Sarah tried not to choke on the words, which were complete and utter bullshit.

  Daphne walked up with her drink. Sarah grabbed it and shot back the whiskey in one swallow, relishing the burn as it went down. "I'll take another, Daphne, when you have a chance. Oh, and sorry about your mother, Fiona, I hope she's doing well," she added, not really caring one bit about the superior shrew's mother.

  "Yes, quite, thank you." Fiona turned away from Sarah, clearly dismissing her.

  Sarah plopped herself down in one of the cushy leather seats as Daphne and Fiona greeted each other like long-lost friends. This was clearly not the first time Fiona had spent on Tyler Corrigan's private jet.

  Figured. Sarah wondered if it was the surfing drawing Tyler back to the Australian office or the picture-perfect Fiona Jones.

  She grabbed a book and pretended to read it as she imagined Fiona and Tyler jetting around the world together, having orgasmic sex in the bedroom between stops. He probably called her Fifi in private.

  What a fool Sarah had been to pretend that she was anything special to him. That what they'd shared in Paris had meant something. She was just another conquest. A convenience because he didn't have a skinny blonde around to screw at the time.

  Already she regretted saying yes to this trip. And Fiona was the new head of accounting? Great. Just what she wanted. Front-row seats to their little love affair.

  * * *

  The flight to Sydney was completely awkward. Once they took off, Sarah and Fiona busied themselves on their computers, neither one talking, both pretending to work. They had to trade off sleeping times, each one taking six hours in the bedroom with Daphne thoroughly cleaning the room in between.

  As they approached Sydney, Fiona put away her laptop and stared at Sarah. "So, I heard that you and Tyler traveled to Paris together over Christmas."

  Sarah was tempted to play it up, to make it sound as romantic and amazing as possible, but she didn't trust this woman one bit. And no matter how jealous she was, she was not going to admit that the trip had been more than just a business trip.

  She wondered how much Daphne had said. She had to know what had happened. Had she told Fiona? No. You didn't last long working a private jet if you couldn't be discreet.

  Sarah forced a laugh. "You make it sound so fun and interesting, which it most definitely was not. One of the executives in the Paris office misappropriated funds. I went to unravel the whole mess. Mr. Corrigan had to go as well because there were documents he had to review that weren't allowed to leave the country. Fares were through the roof because of the holidays, so I hitched a ride with Mr. Corrigan, but then we both went about our business."

  "Is that so?"

  "It is."

  Fiona smiled a smug little smile. "You know, last Christmas Tyler and I went skiing in the Alps together. We had a wonderful time. He said it was the best Christmas ever."

  Sarah bit her tongue. She wasn't going to rise to the bait no matter how much she hated hearing this woman call him Tyler all the time or how wrong she was about how special their Christmas together had been. "Well, good for you. Personally, I hate skiing. It's nothing more than an excuse for rich people to show off for each other."

  Fiona ran her eyes up and down Sarah's body. Sarah had changed into a summer suit. It was a brilliant blue color and the top she had on underneath had a cowl neck that was probably a bit too low. Sarah twitched her skirt down a little further under Fiona's scrutiny.

  Fiona smiled a thin-lipped smile. "Yes, it's obvious you wouldn't belong in our world. Breeding shows, you know." She took a sip of her coffee. "I just thought I'd ask because it wasn't clear to me why Tyler would let some low-class junior accountant fly on his private jet."

  Sarah shrugged. "Well, it wasn't exactly clear to me why he'd let some entitled bitch use it either, but I figured that was his business."

  Fiona stared at her, mouth gaping open in surprise.

  Sarah stood and walked into the bedroom, smiling to herself.

  She shouldn't have said that, but, man, did that woman rub her the wrong way. So perfect, so superior.

  Of course, now she was just sure Fiona would tell Corrigan about it. Not to mention, she'd just made an enemy of the head of the department where she was going to be working for the next month.

  Stupid, stupid, stupid, Sarah.

  Oh well. It felt good to shut that snotty woman up, even if only for a second or two.

  * * *

  Sarah paused in the doorway of the plane, relishing the feel of the hot sun on her skin. That was one good thing about this trip—she was able to miss an entire month of winter.

  She watched Fiona walk up to a black limousine parked nearby. The driver opened the door and Tyler Corrigan stepped out, smiling. Fiona didn't waste a minute running into his arms and kissing him on the cheek.

  What the hell was he doing here?

  And did he really have to be so blatant about him and Fiona so soon? Had he brought Sarah down here just to punish her?

  Maybe this was how he reacted when women told him no. Like a bratty little kid rubbing it in her face.

  Haha, you didn't get me. See what you're missing?

  Well, she wasn't going to let him see that it hurt her.

  She turned away, pretending she'd forgotten something in the plane to give herself a moment to recover. When she turned back, Tyler was right behind her.

  "Sarah, how was the trip?" The smile on his face faltered as she glared at him.

  "Just great. Fiona's lovely. You two are well-suited for one another." Sarah pushed past him.

  "Sarah…" He followed her as she tried to carry her laptop bag and navigate the stairs down to the tarmac in four-inch-high heels. (A stupid last minute choice because Fiona made her feel so frumpy and inadequate. Shoulda stuck with the tennies…)

  He grabbed her elbow to steady her. She wanted to pull away, but she needed the support to avoid falling on her face.

  "Is the car just for her or do I get to ride along, too?" she asked as she finally reached the tarmac and pulled away from him.

&
nbsp; "Of course it's for you."

  "Great. Oughta be cozy." She glanced at him, resisting the urge to lose herself in those gorgeous green eyes of his.

  "Sarah…"

  Fiona came up to them, taking Tyler's arm in hers. "Tyler, do you mind if I pick your brain about a few ideas I was working on during the flight over here? You're such a busy man, it's almost impossible to pin you down."

  Sarah wanted to puke at Fiona's sickly-sweet smile and batting eyelashes. She rolled her eyes and quickened her pace to get ahead of them.

  "Uh, yeah, I guess we can do that…" Tyler said.

  As soon as she was seated in the back of the limousine, Sarah closed her eyes and pretended to sleep. She was not going to watch this crap.

  Didn't save her having to listen to Fiona praise Corrigan for his brilliance every ten seconds as she talked about her ideas with him. They weren't even good ones either. If he was going to hire his girlfriend, the least he could do is make sure she was competent.

  Corrigan gave one-word answers for the most part, sounding nothing like the man who'd listened with avid interest to Sarah's ideas on the flight to Paris.

  At least that was something.

  * * *

  They put Sarah up at the Marriott in downtown with a view of the Sydney Opera House out her window. It was amazing.

  Not that she got to see that view much the first few days she was there. Or any view at all.

  Monday morning Sarah walked into the offices of Corrigan Australia Ltd. and stared around in awe. They were on the top floor of a glass office building with a view over Sydney Harbor. Sarah could see for miles. It was stunning. So much water and a clear blue sky, a large bridge arching over the boats and ships that cruised along the channel of water.

  "Quit gawking, we have work to do," Fiona said when she came to fetch Sarah from the reception area. Without another word, she led Sarah through a secured door and down a hallway past big spacious offices with equally amazing views. Most of the offices looked empty and Sarah wondered whether she'd be assigned to one of them.

  That would be nice. She could just close the door, ignore Corrigan, ignore Fiona, and enjoy the view if nothing else.

  But no. It seemed there were consequences to calling the head of the department an entitled bitch.

  Fiona led her to a small windowless room with a flimsy folding table and chair in the corner.

  "This is where you'll be working for the next month."

  "What about one of those offices that we passed?"

  Fiona shook her head. "They aren't set up yet and IT has better things to do. This will be just fine for you."

  The fluorescent light above Sarah's head flickered. She'd dealt with enough mean girls in her life to know it was best to just ignore the insult, so she set down her laptop bag and smiled at Fiona. "Great. Thanks. I'll get my laptop set up and then we can sit down and discuss the systems."

  Fiona stared at her, a slight sneer on her face. "I don't need you to explain the systems to me."

  "Then why am I here?"

  Fiona snorted. "I don't know. Ask Tyler. But since you are here, I'm going to use you. We're still down an office assistant and need someone to input all the invoices into the system. I'll have Brad bring them by. I'm sure you can figure out how to do that? You do know how to type, don't you?"

  Sarah swallowed about ten responses that would get her fired and forced a smile onto her face. "Happy to help in whatever way's needed. Let me know what else I can do. We're all family here at Corrigan after all."

  Fiona glared at her one last time before leaving.

  "Bitch," Sarah muttered as she turned around to assess her new "office." It was awful. Gray walls, gray carpet, no windows, no phone, the flickering fluorescent light, a crappy chair…

  Score one, Fiona.

  Sarah spent the next hour checking her e-mails and handling what she could for Mr. Horowitz before an attractive thirty-something man knocked on her door. He was wearing bright green tennies with slender black slacks and a short-sleeved white collared shirt. She could see a tattoo around his right bicep. Not your typical accountant.

  She liked him already.

  "Sarah?" He flashed her a smile she was sure had melted a few hearts.

  "That's me."

  "I'm Brad. Nice to meet ya." He stepped forward and shook her hand. "Fi said you're going to help us get caught up on the data entry."

  "So it seems."

  "Well, I can't say I envy you the task…" He stepped back out of the room and wheeled in a cart stacked high with boxes.

  "What's that?"

  "The invoices."

  "How the hell many are there?" Sarah stared at the cart, her mouth hanging open.

  "Lots. This is just the first batch. And none of them have an account set up yet. So you're going to have to create a vendor account for each one before you can enter them."

  Sarah stared at him, too shocked to say anything.

  "It's a lot, I know. Fi's very particular about who she'll hire, so…" He shrugged.

  "Someone could've entered a few of them at least," Sarah finally managed to gasp.

  "Yeah, I know. But…well, we were busy trying to learn the systems."

  "And have you yet?"

  Brad blushed. "We're getting there."

  Sarah stood and wheeled the cart into the corner. "Well, if you have any questions, feel free to ask me. I've been working with those systems for two years now and learned from the best. It's why I thought I was here, actually."

  "Oh, really? Well, if you don't mind…I do have a few questions…"

  * * *

  Sarah spent the next three hours working with Brad and getting him up to speed on the systems. Turns out he knew next to nothing about them, but by the time she was done he had a solid grasp of the basics. He was a quick study and entertaining as hell. She couldn't remember the last time she'd laughed so hard.

  He was from New Zealand and every time he said six it came out sounding like sex, which made her giggle like a schoolgirl.

  And, he, of course, had a beautiful office with an amazing view.

  "Why'd Fi stick you in the supply closet?" he asked as he walked her back to her space.

  She snorted. Figured that's what that room was. She shrugged. "I wish I knew. She said something about not wanting to bother IT by asking them to set up one of the offices for me."

  He frowned at her. "That's a bunch of rubbish. Let me see what I can do. We'll get you sorted in no time."

  "Are you sure? I don't want you to get in trouble."

  He winked at her. "Positive. Oh, and a bunch of us are going out for drinks after work, you interested in coming along?"

  They walked around a corner and almost ran into Fiona and Tyler. Fiona glared at Sarah like she was a bug that needed squashing. Tyler looked back and forth between Sarah and Brad with a slight frown. Sarah ignored them both.

  "I'd love to." She smiled up at Brad. "If I'm going to be here a month, it would be nice to get to know a few of my co-workers."

  "Great. I'll come get you when we're ready to head out." Brad turned back towards his office and Sarah continued down the hall towards her dungeon, whistling to herself.

  To hell with Tyler Corrigan and Fiona Jones. They could have each other. She'd keep her head down, do her work, make a few new friends, and enjoy the fact that she was in Australia.

  * * *

  Of course, it wasn't that easy.

  Fiona barged into her office at four-thirty and glared at the stack of boxes in the corner. "Aren't you done yet?" she demanded.

  "I've made good progress, but no. There are three months' worth of invoices to input and I have to create new vendor accounts for most of them."

  Fiona crossed her arms and tapped her foot. "Well, I need this done by tomorrow at noon."

  Sarah glanced at the three boxes she still had left.

  "That's not possible."

  "It is if you stay late. Or are you one of those girls who fannies out of
the office to get sloshed each night? It's a wonder Tyler hasn't fired you yet."

  Sarah glared at her. She was really starting to hate this woman. "Fine. If you really need them input by noon, I'll do it."

  Fiona smiled at her, a tight-lipped bitchy smile. "Excellent. Enjoy your evening. If you need anything, you can e-mail me, but try not to. I'll be at dinner with Tyler and we don't like to be disturbed."

  We don't like to be disturbed…Sarah felt her blood boiling.

  She was still staring at the door trying to remind herself that she didn't care about Tyler anymore when Brad came by.

  "Ready?" He leaned casually against the doorframe.

  "I can't. Fiona told me she needs these input by noon tomorrow."

  He frowned. "What? Why?"

  "Hell if I know. But she insisted that I get them done by then. So, rain check on the drinks?"

  "Of course." He hesitated as if he wanted to say something else, but didn't quite dare.

  Sarah took the opportunity to ask her own question. "So, Fiona and Mr. Corrigan…They seem very close? She said she was off to have dinner with him."

  "Really?" He frowned. "Not that I've noticed, but I've only been here about a month and Corrigan's been gone most of that time. Hm. Now I'll have to keep an eye out and see what I see. Well, if you change your mind about that drink, we'll be at the Half Pint on the corner."

  "Thanks. I'll see how much progress I make."

  * * *

  Sarah finally left the office at nine-thirty. She still wasn't done, but she was close enough to done that she'd easily meet Fiona's noon deadline.

  As she walked through the dark reception area, she saw Tyler Corrigan standing in the kitchen, waiting for a coffee. She tried to sneak past before he saw her, but failed.

  "Sarah!" He ran after her. "What are you doing here so late?"

  "I had to finish something for Fiona. She wanted it done by noon tomorrow. Too bad, too, because a couple of the guys in the accounting department had asked me to go for drinks. How was your dinner?"

  He frowned at her. "My dinner?"

  "With Fiona. She said you guys were having dinner and that you don't like to be disturbed."