The Deal (London Suits 0.50)

“Has Olivia Payne arrived yet?”

Delia paused in her typing and nodded, looking up at me. “Avery’s taken her into the meeting room for a coffee—those two seem to have really hit it off.”

I smiled. “Yes, Avery did tell me that I had to hire Olivia, almost as soon as she’d met her at the interview. Thankfully it turned out that she was the right person for the role, otherwise Avery would have never let me hear the end of it.”

“I see.” Delia’s eyes twinkled at me. “Something tells me that those two are going to cause havoc together.”

“I hope not.” Chuckling, I headed over to the meeting room. My girlfriend was in an animated discussion with our newest member of staff, and I took a moment, standing in the doorway, to just watch her. I didn’t manage to observe unnoticed, however, as Olivia saw me and stopped talking mid-sentence. Avery’s gaze followed hers, and her whole face lit up as she beamed up at me.

“Morning, ladies.” I smiled as Avery stood and reached up to briefly kiss my cheek, before she turned back to Olivia.

“I’ll catch up with you later, Liv. Want to have lunch together?”

“That would be great, thanks.” Olivia gave her a shy smile and turned to me as Avery slipped out of the door, squeezing my hand as she brushed past me.

“Right. Well, I should start by saying welcome to the team, Olivia. Did you bring your completed forms?”

She nodded. “I gave them to the receptionist.”

“Great. Let’s give you a quick tour of the office and I’ll introduce you to everyone, then I’ll put you straight onto one of our projects. If you find it too much to handle, let me know, but I have a feeling you’ll be fine.”

Three o’clock. Right on time, Avery placed the mug of coffee on my desk, leaning down to kiss my cheek.

“Thank you.” I leaned back in my chair. “I think I made a mistake.”

“You. Ethan Barrett, make a mistake? Surely not.” She pulled a dramatic shocked face, placing her hand over her heart.

“Ha ha. I mean, with our newest member of staff.”

“You’d better not be saying you shouldn’t have hired her.”

“No, I don’t mean that,” I hastened to reassure her. “I mean, putting her to work with Luke. They don’t seem to be working together very well.”

That was an understatement, and I couldn’t understand it. For the first time in my working life, I’d had to go and break up an argument between two of my staff members. Luke had never acted like this around someone before, let alone a work colleague, and I was baffled by his extreme reaction. Olivia seemed amenable, and, according to her previous workplace, they were very sorry to lose her.

Avery stared at me. “Isn’t it obvious? They’ve both got strong personalities, and neither of them are afraid to speak their own minds. Of course they’re going to clash. And if we were to make a bet, right here, right now, I could say with complete certainty that they’re attracted to each other, but they’re fighting it.”

“Attracted to each other?” I laughed. “I can’t see that.”

“Oh, I can. Trust me. Anyway, I’m sure it’ll all work out in the end. Now, are you working late again tonight?”

“I am, but I promise you that Friday night I’m all yours. And the weekend. I believe I mentioned something about cooking for you?” I smiled.

“Mmm. You did. What’s the plan?” She perched on the edge of my desk, her sexy, toned legs next to my chair. I trailed a hand slowly, leisurely up her leg, her skin smooth and silky beneath my palm. Her breath hitched. “What happened to keeping it professional in the office?”

My hand slid higher, under her skirt, and she whimpered, gripping the edge of my desk. “Don’t start something you’re not prepared to finish.”

I glanced at my watch, groaning, and gently pulled my hand away, smoothing down her skirt. “You’re a temptation, Avery Jenkins. I’ve got a meeting in about five minutes. Somehow, when I’m with you, I seem to lose track of time.”

“You’ll be making that up to me at the next available opportunity,” she warned.

“It’ll be my pleasure.” Throwing her a wink, I stood, dropping a kiss on her head. “To answer your original question, Luke asked me to go for a quick drink after work on Friday with him and Alex. Do you want to come with us? Otherwise, you can come over to my place whatever time suits you. I’ll aim to do dinner for around seven, seven thirty.”

“No, I won’t crash your drinks with the boys. I might see if Liv wants to go for a drink, in that case, in a different pub. We can meet after?”

“It’s a deal. Right, I’d better get to this meeting. I’ll catch up with you later, though, okay?”