by Ava McKnight
She produced a CD and put it in the player on the nightstand. The lighting was already dim because Cassidy hadn’t bothered to turn on more than the floor lamp in the far corner. A relaxing setting.
“If you’d like to use one of the bath sheets in the restroom or the robe…” The woman prompted her.
“Right. I’ll just be a minute.”
“Don’t forget to take off your jewelry.”
She ducked into the bathroom and stripped down. Then she put on the robe and returned to the sitting area of her suite where the table sat. She removed the robe and slipped under the folded sheet.
Fifty minutes later, Cassidy was relaxed and her muscles no longer held the tightening that came with travel and stress. After the masseuse left her, she sipped more champagne and enjoyed the crème brûlée as she lounged on the sofa that faced the wall of windows. The city was all lit up and Cassidy considered that maybe a little jet-setting every now and then wasn’t such a bad thing.
As she noshed on the antipasto, she called Chase.
“How was the massage?” he asked without preamble.
“Divine. I’d contemplated a bubble bath to ease some tension, but this is infinitely better. Really, Chase, I’m floored. Everything is wonderful. I feel so spoiled.”
“Good.”
Warmth ribboned through her. Cassidy liked his bad-boy side, no doubt about it. But this sensitive, caring side…? It melted her heart.
“You really are fantastic,” she told him, emotion swelling in her throat. Longing rose within her as well. “I wish you were here. That would make the evening perfect.”
“If I were there, babe, you wouldn’t get any sleep. And rumor has it, you’ve got a meeting in the morning with Pryce Shipley.”
“Good news spreads fast. I was going to tell you tonight. It happened rather unexpectedly.”
“Congratulations. I hope you spark his interest, Cass. It’d be great to have E-L back. Big coup, in fact.”
“Believe me, I know how critical this meeting is.”
“Nail it, okay?”
She smiled.
“Seriously, Cass. I want you to. So finish your champagne and go to bed. Get a good night’s sleep and slay tomorrow’s meeting.”
The backs of her eyes prickled. “You really are amazing, Chase. To want me to succeed like this.”
“You’re rooting for me too, babe. Otherwise, you wouldn’t have given me all of that great advice to improve my customer-service skills. It’s paying off.”
She was quiet a moment as more emotion crested over her. They made such an awesome team, in and out of the office. They knew each other so well. More than she’d imagined possible until they really started to take their attraction seriously.
In all honestly, Cass had to face the fact that what they shared was so much more than scorching chemistry. She had deep, deep feelings for Chase. Feelings she’d never felt for anyone else.
Yet they still had obstacles to overcome.
“If this were a different situation, Chase… If I wasn’t up for this promotion too and it didn’t mean as much to me as it does, I’d want McClellan to make you VP.”
“I know. We’re rowing the same boat, babe. Now… Get some sleep.”
“Right.” She was about to disconnect, but said, “Wait.”
“Yeah?”
A mysterious sentiment clawed at her throat. She had something to say, but it didn’t form on her tongue.
Since Cassidy was so used to getting all worked up over Chase, so used to being sexually charged and secretly desperate to rip his shirt open and touch and taste his skin, that was the particular sensation she expected to experience now.
But beyond the fact that he made her hot and restless, he stirred something inside her. He was patient with her, though knew exactly how to gently push her beyond her limitations. He was considerate of her goals and aspirations, the things that meant the most to her. He paid attention to everything about her, remembering the simplest things like how much she enjoyed champagne and how much she loved decadent desserts.
Chase saw her the way no one else ever had. And she saw him.
It was funny how love crept up on a person, without them fully realizing it until the day they stopped fighting it and the emotion enveloped them.
She had the desire to tell Chase exactly how she felt about him. How much she admired and appreciated him. How lucky she was that he wanted her.
That was a conversation to have in person, though.
So she tamped down the burning sensation in her throat and instead said, “Thank you for tonight. I really needed it.”
“I’m glad it worked out. Call me tomorrow after your meeting. And just…know that I’m cheering you on.”
A tear filled her eye and slid down her cheek. “You’re the best, Chase. Really.”
“Sweet dreams, babe.”
“You too.”
She hung up and placed the phone on the end table. Then she stood and went for her third glass of champagne. Now that she was so relaxed, she felt as though she could really studied up on E-L and refine her pitch. She worked until midnight, finishing off the Cristal and falling asleep on the sofa.
* * * * *
The buzzing in her head couldn’t possibly be from a hangover. Cassidy rarely got them. Especially off champagne or wine. She had a pretty high tolerance level, after all.
But it was a distinct and insistent sound that wouldn’t go away. Cracking an eye open, she took a moment to orient herself. A different hotel room every night gave her pause when she tried to think of where she was this morning.
What day was it?
Friday.
Ah, Pittsburgh.
Pittsburgh!
Her eyes flew open and she sat bolt upright. And no, her head didn’t hurt from the sudden movement. That buzzing sound wasn’t internal. Her gaze flashed to the end table where her phone slowly vibrated across the polished wood, inching its way toward the edge. She snapped it up and hit the connect button.
“Meg—” she said.
“Jesus Christ, you had me worried!” her assistant all but screamed in her ear.
“Calm down. Why are you calling so early?”
“Early? What do you mean early? It’s eight o’clock here. Which makes it ten o’clock where you are—that’s if you’re in Pittsburgh.”
“Of course I’m in Pitts—Oh my God!” Panic shot through her. “It’s ten o’clock?” she shrieked.
“Yes, and you missed your meeting with Pryce Shipley. His assistant phoned to confirm the appointment had been set for today when you didn’t arrive. She left a very nasty message on my voicemail. He doesn’t like being stood up.”
“Oh no,” Cassidy said. She jumped to her feet and stalked over to the nightstand. Staring at the clock, the numbers didn’t lie. “Oh. No.” Her jaw fell slack for a few moments as shock and alarm and angst all roiled through her. “No, no, no!”
“Cassidy, what the hell happened?”
“I can’t believe this!” She fought back the tears threatening her eyes. “I was so exhausted and so relaxed last night that I slept for ten fucking hours? I never sleep that much!”
“You didn’t set your alarm?”
“It never even crossed my mind.” Christ, she hadn’t even thought of phoning the front desk for a wakeup call. One minute, she’d been patting herself on the back for learning the ins and outs of Epperson-Langley and the next…she’d woke to the sound of her phone buzzing.
“This can’t be happening,” she said, panicked anew. “Please, please, please tell me I’m dreaming. This is one of those stupid first-day-of-school dreams where you forget your pants or where homeroom is. Right?”
“Cass…” The empathy in Meg’s voice tugged at her. “I’m so sorry.”
“This is unbelievable.” She sank onto the edge of the mattress.
“It gets worse.”
“How?” she demanded.
“I called Shipley’s assistant. He’s on his way to Milan, with ot
her back-to-back travel and no availability for another month. And…not interested in rescheduling a meeting with you. Or anyone else at MII.”
Her stomach completely bottomed out. “What have I done?” she muttered. McClellan would hear about this and he’d be furious. More than that, once he learned she’d overslept and missed the meeting, he’d fire her. No two ways about it. “This is bad. So very, very bad.”
“What do you want me to do?” Meg asked, ever supportive.
“What can you do? What can anyone do? I spent an entire evening indulging in fruit and crème brûlée and champagne and a massage and—”
“My God, how could you not have been so relaxed you slept like a baby?”
“Chase arranged it all. He thought it’d…help.”
Help who?
“No,” she whispered as her dread morphed into something more powerful. Something painful. Something disturbingly close to betrayal.
“What is it?” Meg asked, concern in her tone.
Cassidy shook her head. “How could I even think such a thing?” Her voice remained low. She shot to her feet and paced. “He wouldn’t intentionally…sabotage me.”
“Cass!” By her tone, it was obvious Meg was equally shocked. “Chase would never do anything to mess with your career!”
“I know, I know. It’s just that… He’d heard about my meeting with Shipley. He knew it was first thing this morning. E-L is his big fish that got away. Why last night, of all nights, did he send champagne and a masseuse to my room?”
“Oh shit.”
Cassidy reeled. “What am I saying? Chase knows how much this promotion means to me.”
“Yeah, but… I mean… What if?” Meg sounded rocked to the core of her being that her thoughts followed the direction Cassidy’s had. “He wants it just as much, after all.”
“It’s purely coincidental, Meg. He had no way of knowing I’d be so out of it that I’d forget to set an alarm. Besides, no one ever said I had to drink the whole damn bottle. That’s on me for being so stressed out that a bubbly buzz hit all the right notes.”
“But worse timing ever on his part,” she bristled. “He couldn’t have waited until you got home on Saturday?”
“Meg. Don’t forget how much you like Chase.”
“And don’t you forget how much you’ve invested in getting this promotion. You’ve worked your ass off since you started with the company. I know that more than anyone!”
“No one’s to blame for this but me, Meg,” she insisted. Then she sighed. “I need a shower and… I don’t know. I need to change my return flight. Spend the weekend in Hartford instead of going back to Scottsdale. Can you rebook me? Bring me into town Sunday night instead of Saturday?”
“Of course. Whatever you want, Cass. Spend time with your family and you’ll feel better on Monday.”
“When I’ll have to face McClellan,” she added with panic in her voice. Her shoulders bunched as tension seized her. “Look, I’m really sorry. This doesn’t bode well for you if—”
“He’d be crazy to fire you,” Meg simply said.
“Still—”
“Don’t worry about me, Cass. Just try to relax and move on. You still have a meeting this afternoon in Philadelphia.”
“Right.” Though it was with a boutique hotel that wouldn’t impress McClellan on the level landing E-L would have.
Damn it.
How had this gotten so fucked-up?
Chapter Nine
“Thanks for picking me up,” Cassidy said to her brother as she gave him a hug curbside at the airport.
“Anytime, toots.” He squeezed her tight, then hefted her suitcase and tossed it into the cargo space of his Range Rover. They climbed in and he pulled away, saying, “I thought you were going back to Arizona this weekend.”
“Yeah me too. Except that it’s kind of the last place I want to be right now.” Her gaze slid to the side window and she stared out for a few moments.
“What’s up?” he asked. “You look like someone kicked your dog.”
With a humorless laugh, she said, “Someone did. Me.”
Gav glanced over at her. “Wanna explain that?”
Cassidy groaned. “I screwed up big time. Like about-to-lose-my-job big time.”
“What?” he demanded, incredulous. “That’s impossible.”
“I wish. But, Gav, I seriously slit my own wrists. I missed an appointment with Pryce Shipley.”
His head whipped in her direction. “You had a meeting with Shipley?”
She cringed. “I heard they dropped your company.”
“Dad.” He all but hissed. His attention returned to the road. “Is that who you heard it from?”
“Yes. But don’t be mad. They’d already given official notice.”
“And our old man is none too happy with me that I lost the account. Still, I didn’t think he’d send them running into the arms of the competition.”
“He didn’t. He just gave me the heads-up and I took it from there.”
“How’d you get a meeting so damn fast?”
Another cringe. “Apparently, my reputation for keeping my clients happy preceded me.” She felt the prickle of humiliation as she followed that up by saying, “And now I’ve gone and blown that reputation right out of the water. God, I’m such an idiot.” She closed her eyes and banged the back of her head against the headrest.
“Come on, Cass. You had a flight delay. That’s understandable. Happens all the time.”
With a grunt, she said, “Can’t blame it on the airlines. I was in Pittsburgh Thursday night.”
He shot her a look. “Then what the fuck happened?”
Damn, this was the most painful thing to admit. “I overslept. Forgot to set an alarm or schedule a wakeup call. I probably would have missed my flight to Philly too if my assistant hadn’t called me.”
“What?” he squawked again. Then said, “You’re totally shitting me, aren’t you?”
“Nope. It’s the absolute truth. I was wiped out and I had champagne and a massage and could have slept through the weekend, I’m sure.”
Her brother whistled under his breath. “Christ, Cass. This is bad.”
“Tell me about it. Worse, I have to explain to my CEO that the reason I have no status update on E-L’s interest in returning to MII is because I blew off the meeting. He’s going to fire me on the spot.”
Gav shook his head. “So lie. Give him the flight-delay bullshit. He’ll buy it.”
“I can’t lie,” she said. “And you wouldn’t either.”
He snorted. “If it meant keeping my job, chances are good I’d come up with an airtight alibi, toots.”
She doubted her brother would take the easy way out. Then again…when a job was on the line…
“Shit. This is insane. I’ve put so much effort into this career only to go and do something monstrously stupid.”
“Being kind of hard on yourself, don’t you think?”
“Gavin,” she said in all seriousness. “This isn’t like missing a homework assignment and trying to convince your teacher the dog ate it. There aren’t do-overs when so much is on the line. Who the hell would promote a slacker to VP—or keep them in a director’s position?”
“You’re hardly a slacker, Cassidy,” he lobbed back.
“I was irresponsible. I missed a huge opportunity. The man’s company is going to lose out on a huge chunk of business because I was careless.”
“Yeah, well, Logan lost that huge chunk of business too. Did McClellan let him go? No.”
“Small difference,” she said. Then let out a hollow laugh. “Well, not so small.”
Gav stole a glance at her, his eyes narrowing.
“Chase has a penis,” she clarified.
“Okay, sure. He’s a dude and that grants him leeway in our business.” His gaze returned to the windshield, but only for a second. His head snapped in her direction again and he demanded, “What do you mean not so small?”
Cassidy rol
led her eyes. “Drop it.”
“Yeah right.” He gripped the steering wheel a bit tighter. “You and Logan?”
“Me and Chase.”
“No fucking way.” He shook his head.
She stared at him, a bit fascinated by the way his knuckles turned white. “Try not to rip that steering wheel out of the dash. I don’t think your insurance will cover such extreme operator error.”
“Damn it, Cass. Really? Logan?”
“Why not Chase?” she asked.
“I’ve met him several times, remember? He’s not exactly the chess club type you’ve always gone for. I’m not particularly thrilled to know he’s violating my little sister.”
She laughed. “Gav, I’m a grown woman. It’s perfectly acceptable for me to be violated by the man of my choice.”
“He struts,” her brother said with disdain.
“Yes, he does.” Her stomach fluttered at the thought of Chase in all his naked glory sauntering through the house she’d rented in Flagstaff just two weeks ago. Her heart constricted, though, when she considered how that weekend felt as though it’d been months ago. Distance in every conceivable capacity seemed to have moved in on them, making her feel a million miles away from Chase not just physically, but emotionally. Because she was so torn up about Thursday night.
But she told her brother, “He’s very confident and I find that sexy. Especially since he backs it up by working as hard as I do.”
Gav shook his head. “Wait’ll Dad finds out. Fuck. You’re gonna get an earful.”
“And what, he’s going to ground me? Oh my God,” she said with exasperation. “Yes, I have sex! I’ve even had the seriously dirty kind with Chase. Deal with it.”
He scowled. “Next time I see him, I’m bashing his face in.”
“Oh sure. Is that before or after you both remove your designer suit jackets, ties, cufflinks and Rolex watches?”
“Mine’s Bulgari.” Gav raked a hand through his neatly trimmed dark-brown hair. “And just because I wear designer suits doesn’t mean I can’t still throw a punch.”
She snickered. “You’ve got the build for a barroom brawler, no doubt, but you wouldn’t want to mess up those manicured nails.”
“They are not manicured, Goddamn it. I just get them professionally trimmed. Nothing wrong with that.”