Part 11 (1/2)
He wasn't deaf to her unspoken message. As his brother had said, she'd been handpicked by people who cared.
”When would you like to have dinner, Stella?” he asked, cutting to the chase.
”I've got exams the next two weeks. Did Dom tell you I'm getting my teaching degree at night school?”
”He mentioned it. How's it going?”
”I'm surviving. How does a week from Friday sound?”
Two weeks away. He felt oddly...relieved. What was that about?
”Suits me. Shall I pick you up or would you prefer to have an escape route?” he asked.
”Oooh, tough choice. Why don't we live dangerously?”
He jotted down her address and they agreed on a time.
”Looking forward to it, Stella,” he said before he ended the call.
”Me, too,” she said, her voice full of soft promise.
He poured himself another finger of whiskey and sank down into his well-worn armchair.
He had a date with a nice, baby-craving, family-oriented Greek girl. Exactly what he wanted, right?
So why was he still pondering what to send Claudia tomorrow?
CLAUDIA LIFTED HER HEAD slowly on Friday morning as Gabby slid a box onto her desk.
”Another parcel for you,” her a.s.sistant said.
”So I see.”
”Would you like me to throw this one away?” Gabby asked.
”That's fine. I can take care of it,” Claudia said calmly.
She didn't feel calm. The frog yesterday had almost broken her. She'd taken one look into its bulging amphibian eyes and felt an overwhelming need to find a tender, vulnerable part of Leandro's anatomy and plant her fist in it. Why wouldn't the man take no for an answer?
But the last thing she was going to do was betray her feelings to her gossipy a.s.sistant. Lord only knew what Gabby thought was going on between Claudia and Leandro. No doubt there were scuttleb.u.t.t-laden rumors doing the rounds of the office already, thanks to this stupid campaign of his. Another thing she could thank Mr. Arrogant for. It wasn't enough that flashbacks to their night together had ruined every night's sleep she'd had so far this week. No, he also had to turn her into a laughing stock in her own place of work.
Having lingered for as long as she could without actually having an excuse, Gabby sighed heavily and retreated to her desk. A few seconds later, Sadie and Grace appeared in Claudia's office doorway.
”h.e.l.lo, h.e.l.lo. What have we here?” Grace asked, sauntering forward to examine the bright aqua box on Claudia's desk.
Claudia realized they'd been on the lookout for Leandro's latest delivery. It was becoming a regular workplace occurrence, like the arrival of the mail or the morning coffee round.
”What do you think it is this time? I was thinking a yellow ribbon,” Sadie suggested.
”Nah-that's for remembrance, not cowardice,” Grace said, studying the box.
”Do you mind?” Claudia asked snappily. ”Some of us are trying to work here.”
”Can we open it?” Grace asked, ignoring Claudia's outburst.
”Yeah, can we, huh, huh?” Sadie asked, doing her best imitation of a kid on Christmas day.
”For Pete's sake,” Claudia said, exasperated. She thrust the box toward them. ”Take it away, do whatever you like with it. I'm not interested,” she said.
”Sure you aren't. We'll just open it here,” Grace said archly.
Sadie tugged on the big purple bow wrapping the box, and Grace removed the lid.
They both frowned down into the box for a long beat.
”What is it?” Sadie asked, frowning.
”I don't know. I mean, I get what it is, but what's it meant to symbolize?” Grace looked puzzled.
”Longevity? Because of the nine lives thing, do you think?” Sadie asked.
Claudia told herself to keep her eyes on her notepad, to keep writing, to ignore them. But she'd never been good at self-denial. Not knowing what was in the box was killing her.
Throwing her pen down, she pulled the box toward herself. Sitting in the bottom amongst a nest of purple tissue paper was the most timid, beseeching, terrified looking toy cat she'd ever seen in her life.
”What do you think it's supposed to be?” Sadie prompted.
”It's a scaredy cat,” Claudia said through gritted teeth.
”Of course it is! He's a real smarty-pants, isn't he?” Grace said admiringly. ”I would never have thought of that.”
”This is ridiculous,” Claudia said. ”It's getting out of hand.”
”Then tell him to stop. Have you called him yet?” Sadie asked.
”No. That's exactly what he wants,” Claudia said, hands on hips. ”I'm not giving him what he wants-he'll think he's won.”
Grace gave her a look. ”That's one way of looking at it. Or...you could just let the man know he's barking up the wrong tree.”
”Look, I don't want to speak to him, okay?” Claudia snapped. She could still remember the smoky ba.s.s of his voice curling around her from their last phone conversation. ”You have no idea how persuasive he is, how s.e.xy his voice is. I can't stop thinking about him, and I don't like it and-” She broke off as Sadie and Grace stared at her. Realization dawned, and Claudia sat back in her office chair, profoundly shocked.
”My G.o.d. He's right,” she said, forcing herself to face a painful truth. ”I am a scaredy cat! I'm afraid to call him. I'm afraid of how much power he has over me.”