Caroselli's Baby Chase by Michelle Celmer Page A

looked around.
    “Will it suffice?” he asked.
    It was about half the size of Rob’s office and generically outfitted with a desk, bookcase and metal file cabinet. The walls were white and bare, and the carpet an office-gray Berber. Nothing special but functional. “It’ll do just fine.”
    “Great. While you settle in I’ll be in the conference room.”
    He started to turn and before she knew what she was doing, she heard herself say, “Rob, wait.”
    He turned back to her. “Yes?”
    Okay, now what? She wanted to say something, she just didn’t know what, or if she even should.
    He was standing there, waiting patiently for her to continue, so she blurted out, “I’ll need a few things, like Wi-Fi passwords, and I’ll need access to a printer.”
    “We’ll discuss all of that in the conference room.” He paused, then said, “Anything else?”
    Yes, there was something else, she just didn’t know how to put it into words. Not without making herself look clingy and pathetic. She forced a smile and shook her head. “No, nothing.”
    “Then I’ll see you down there.”
    Feeling disappointed for no good reason, she hung her coat on a hook behind the door and stowed her purse in the bottom drawer of her desk. She would need everything in her briefcase for the meeting, so she held on to it.
    She had never before questioned her ability to do her job, but as she walked down the hall alone to the conference room, nerves jabbed away at her confidence. Maybe it was the complicated nature of her relationship with Rob that was getting in the way. Yes, they had ended their sexual relationship, but there were still feelings there. It would take time for them to go away completely. And maybe it was a little late to consider this, but what if the past few days hadn’t been about sexual attraction as much as his using her to learn her weaknesses? Maybe he would use that information against her to discredit her in front of the people in his department.
    Maybe all the while that she had been gushing over what a nice guy he was, it had been an act to lull her into a false sense of security.
    A possibility she probably should have considered before she surrendered to him body and soul.
    She stopped just outside the conference room door, suddenly convinced she had made a horrible mistake. That by letting her emotions get the best of her, she was about to walk into her worst nightmare. It was imperative that no matter what, she not let anyone see the pain that such a betrayal would cause her.
    Taking a deep breath, she stepped into the conference room, head held high, shoulders squared. Rob and three other people sat around the conference table. Her first surprise was that he wasn’t sitting at the head of the table, where she would have expected him to be. Her second was that she was greeted with smiles and not scowls when Rob said, “Everyone, this is Caroline Taylor. Over the next three months I expect you to give her your full cooperation.”
    Huh?
    Full cooperation? He wasn’t going to give her a hard time? Make her feel unwelcome as he had last week? He was actually going to be nice about this? And why did it suddenly make him about a million times more appealing.
    Now she was thinking that it would be better if he’d been a jerk. But it was still early. He still had time to knock off some rude or scathing comments. Hell, he had three whole months to prove what a creep he really was. Maybe she had just seen him on his best behavior.
    He introduced his team—Alexandra “call me Al” Lujack, Will Cooper and Grant Kelley. They each looked to be in their mid to late twenties and couldn’t have been more than a few years out of college.
    “Have a seat,” Rob said, gesturing to the head of the table, surrendering his authority to her. Crap, he was even nicer than she thought.
    She chose the chair beside Al instead and pulled what she needed from her case. “First, I’d like to say that I’m very happy to be here,