at Emily.
Embarrassed, Emily shook her head, “You didn’t have to do this.”
“Someone had to,” Jane said, with just a touch of anger to her voice.
Emily wasn’t in the mood to argue, not so soon. To be fair there just hadn’t been time before she left for her and Dan to celebrate her promotion properly. Or so she told herself.
Instead she opened her present, and laughed.
She was the gadget queen, and they knew that.
They’d gotten her a travel alarm that would wake her with light as well as sound – something she’d talked about getting for a while. She hated trying to learn how to set every hotel alarm and then being startled awake by some of them.
“Perfect!” she said. Veronica had been paying attention…but then, she was a good office friend. “Thanks.”
Hugs went all around. Emily knew they’d each chipped in to buy the clock, it wasn’t cheap.
She tucked the box under one arm and continued toward Sales and her office. People called greetings, and she called back. All she wanted at the moment, though, was enough time to pull herself together before she saw Dan.
Lately their relationship had been strained, but she didn’t know why. She’d hoped to surprise him, to have one more chance to straighten things out between them.
Then she entered the sanctum sanctorum of the Sales department, and there he was sitting in his office with his door open. He was focused on the papers in front of him. At first her heart lifted at the sight of him, as it always had always done. He was a good-looking man with his thick dark brown hair and even features. Maybe he wasn’t as drop-dead gorgeous as Robert Halloran, but he was handsome enough. Beneath his business attire he was just as attractive, lean, firmly muscled, his body showing the hours he put in at the gym. As always, he was also almost impeccably dressed in a designer suit, although his tie had been loosened. His suit jacket hung over the back of his chair to keep it from getting wrinkled. She knew that hidden beneath the desk he wore expensive shoes, although few saw them.
Emily’s heart sank at the thought of his first sight of her with her rain-spattered hose and windblown hair. With luck he wouldn’t see until her until she’d had a chance to clean up and run a brush through her hair. She hadn’t called to let him know she was coming home early, that would have killed the surprise.
He still made her heart twist, but now not just because she’d once thought he loved her. She wondered if he still did.
Dan looked up, then, his amber eyes clearly startled. His expression was oddly guilty. She would have asked him about it, but she wanted to straighten herself up first, so she wouldn’t feel disheveled. So she’d be on equal footing.
“Em,” he said. “You’re back early.”
There was one steadfast rule between them, no signs of affection in the office – although they’d broken that one behind the closed doors of either his or her office fairly frequently in the early days.
The memory pained her. It had been a long while since they’d done that.
“I had a chance to come home early,” she said.
In the face of his expression she couldn’t bring herself to tell him she’d done it just to surprise him. Pleasantly, she’d hoped at the time. He’d clearly been surprised, but not the way she’d wished. They needed to talk, and soon. Even the thought of that conversation, though, made her heart drop.
“Just let me get settled,” she said, escaping into her office.
Her office wasn’t the oasis of quiet she’d hoped it would be though. She no sooner reached her desk than Cathy hurried in through the connecting doors from Cathy’s office next door, even as Dan trailed Emily.
A woman followed Cathy, one Emily didn’t know.
The woman clearly knew Dan, sidling up beside him to slide her hand into his and go up on her tiptoes to give him a kiss. It was clear that there was something more than just family or friends going on
Embarrassed, Emily shook her head, “You didn’t have to do this.”
“Someone had to,” Jane said, with just a touch of anger to her voice.
Emily wasn’t in the mood to argue, not so soon. To be fair there just hadn’t been time before she left for her and Dan to celebrate her promotion properly. Or so she told herself.
Instead she opened her present, and laughed.
She was the gadget queen, and they knew that.
They’d gotten her a travel alarm that would wake her with light as well as sound – something she’d talked about getting for a while. She hated trying to learn how to set every hotel alarm and then being startled awake by some of them.
“Perfect!” she said. Veronica had been paying attention…but then, she was a good office friend. “Thanks.”
Hugs went all around. Emily knew they’d each chipped in to buy the clock, it wasn’t cheap.
She tucked the box under one arm and continued toward Sales and her office. People called greetings, and she called back. All she wanted at the moment, though, was enough time to pull herself together before she saw Dan.
Lately their relationship had been strained, but she didn’t know why. She’d hoped to surprise him, to have one more chance to straighten things out between them.
Then she entered the sanctum sanctorum of the Sales department, and there he was sitting in his office with his door open. He was focused on the papers in front of him. At first her heart lifted at the sight of him, as it always had always done. He was a good-looking man with his thick dark brown hair and even features. Maybe he wasn’t as drop-dead gorgeous as Robert Halloran, but he was handsome enough. Beneath his business attire he was just as attractive, lean, firmly muscled, his body showing the hours he put in at the gym. As always, he was also almost impeccably dressed in a designer suit, although his tie had been loosened. His suit jacket hung over the back of his chair to keep it from getting wrinkled. She knew that hidden beneath the desk he wore expensive shoes, although few saw them.
Emily’s heart sank at the thought of his first sight of her with her rain-spattered hose and windblown hair. With luck he wouldn’t see until her until she’d had a chance to clean up and run a brush through her hair. She hadn’t called to let him know she was coming home early, that would have killed the surprise.
He still made her heart twist, but now not just because she’d once thought he loved her. She wondered if he still did.
Dan looked up, then, his amber eyes clearly startled. His expression was oddly guilty. She would have asked him about it, but she wanted to straighten herself up first, so she wouldn’t feel disheveled. So she’d be on equal footing.
“Em,” he said. “You’re back early.”
There was one steadfast rule between them, no signs of affection in the office – although they’d broken that one behind the closed doors of either his or her office fairly frequently in the early days.
The memory pained her. It had been a long while since they’d done that.
“I had a chance to come home early,” she said.
In the face of his expression she couldn’t bring herself to tell him she’d done it just to surprise him. Pleasantly, she’d hoped at the time. He’d clearly been surprised, but not the way she’d wished. They needed to talk, and soon. Even the thought of that conversation, though, made her heart drop.
“Just let me get settled,” she said, escaping into her office.
Her office wasn’t the oasis of quiet she’d hoped it would be though. She no sooner reached her desk than Cathy hurried in through the connecting doors from Cathy’s office next door, even as Dan trailed Emily.
A woman followed Cathy, one Emily didn’t know.
The woman clearly knew Dan, sidling up beside him to slide her hand into his and go up on her tiptoes to give him a kiss. It was clear that there was something more than just family or friends going on
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