The Rebound Guy (4 page)

FOUR

Jason stared at
the email he'd just read a few seconds longer then closed the window down with a grunt of exasperation. What had he expected? That suddenly the world would take the rich kid playing with his daddy's company seriously, even though he'd spent years turning it around?

The rules in this game were stacked against him. Just because his ancestors had been successful and he'd been born into a wealthy family, he couldn't be seen as just another businessman with a revolutionary idea to sell. He couldn't even be applauded as a man trying to rebuild his life after a career-ending injury. No, the world had decided he, with the help of his blue-blood friends, had brought misfortune on himself and it had no sympathy for him. He'd been branded with that assessment and no one was ever going to let him forget it.

Certainly not Dale McGrath.

His team had sent a polite refusal: Dale, unfortunately, did not have time in his schedule to see Jason while he was in London next week. The wording had made it all seem very benign, but Jason knew the sound of a door slamming shut when he heard it.

Oh, he could still get a good name to endorse the shoes, but it wouldn't be the same. With the fastest man on the planet in his campaign, they could have seen Mercury go stellar. Dale McGrath was the best, and Jason wanted the best. Anything less was just second place.

Kelly knocked on his door at that moment. He recognised her sharp, clean rap instantly and yelled for her to come in. As she approached his desk, she frowned, and then she stopped walking. ‘You heard?' she asked nervously. ‘What did they say?'

Jason picked up his baby basketball, took his time lining it up perfectly then sunk it through the hoop. He was getting very good at office basketball, so at least that was
one
thing he was excelling at.

‘He said no.'

They both watched the ball speed across the carpet and roll to a stop against the wall. He didn't go and retrieve it.

‘Oh, Jason! I'm so sorry. I know how hard you've been working on this.'

He spun round to look at her, ambushed by the first bit of non-confrontational sincerity he'd heard from her in the month she'd been working for him, but his mouth remained a grim line. ‘Don't sweat it,' he said, then picked up his cellphone and fiddled with a few buttons. Which buttons he wasn't exactly sure, because he wasn't really paying attention. He just didn't want to see that look of empathy or pity or whatever it was in her eyes. Better just to pretend it didn't matter. But, unlike other times, when he'd just been able to flick a switch and flush the bad feeling away, this one hung around.

It loomed over him like a dark cloud all day—while he listened to Kelly's update on the ad campaign for their new range of trampolines. While he sat through meeting after meeting. By four o'clock he was ready to punch something and that was not a good state to be in.

He knew those kinds of adrenalin rushes only led to shows of macho stupidity—a release mechanism of his—and the last time he'd let something burrow this deep he'd managed to ruin two people's lives.

The only way Jason knew how to stop feeling like a loser in one arena was to win in another, even if it was just a game of checkers or jacks. He wondered if Kelly knew how to play jacks, if she would mind kneeling down on the carpet and indulging him.

Just the thought of that black skirt tightening over her butt as she leaned forward to catch the little ball, lip caught under her teeth in concentration, made his insides shiver.

Maybe there was something
better
than jacks....

Maybe it was time he and Kelly stopped denying the obvious electricity that arced between them whenever they shared a room. Winning her over could feel a lot like winning, period.

Oh, he knew what he'd promised Julie, but desperate times called for desperate measures. He needed to let off some steam before he did something really dumb.

But he guessed a direct play would only bomb out. She'd scurry away back into that hard shell she hid behind most of the time. As it was, he only got tiny glimpses of the softer, warmer woman underneath.

Just as well his grandfather had taught Jason to play chess from the time he was old enough to hold a piece in his chubby fingers and not shove it in his mouth. He knew how to plan and project. He knew how to move and counter move. And now he was going to use all that skill on his temporary PA, until she cracked and was as unflinchingly honest about the attraction humming between them as she was about everything else.

* * *

At the end of that afternoon Kelly looked up from her desk and saw a trio of female Aspire employees hanging around in the corridor.

‘Hey, Kelly. You coming across the road to Joey's for a bit?'

The one who'd spoken was the junior member of staff she'd met on that fateful day in the Human Resources office. Of course, she now knew the girl's name was Chantelle. She was about to make an excuse and head off home, but she didn't get any further than opening her mouth.

Chloe was looking after the boys again this evening and she'd actively encouraged Kelly to go out for an after-work drink. Especially when she'd discovered Jason had asked Kelly out at the end of her first week. Of course, this was nothing to do with Jason, but what Chloe didn't know wouldn't hurt her.

She smiled back at the three women. ‘Actually, I'd really like that. Just give me two seconds.'

Before collecting her handbag from under the desk, she rapped on the office door and stuck her head in. ‘I'm going now, Jason.'

He was deep in some paperwork on his desk. He hardly looked up, just grunted an offhand farewell. Kelly inhaled and closed the door again. He hadn't tried asking her out again since that first Friday, and that was good. That was what she wanted. It was just...

Well, no woman liked to think her allure had evaporated. She sighed. Well, that was what you got for having a big mouth. She tended to blow the cobwebs out of most subjects she touched, so she shouldn't really be surprised if Jason had found it a turn-off. Tim certainly had towards the end of their marriage.

Okay, she thought, as she collected her belongings and headed for the lifts with the group of gossiping girls. Jason might not appreciate her bull-in-a-china-shop approach to male/female relationships, but she knew it was working just fine in their professional pairing. He'd told her it was refreshing to have someone who didn't just parrot the word ‘yes' at him. He didn't always follow her suggestions, but he listened, and that was what counted. She felt part of a team working for him, not just a skivvy to be ordered around and sent to make coffee.

Careful, Kelly. Any minute now you'll be admitting you like the guy, and that's far too dangerous.

Professional. Yes, that was what she'd told him she wanted out of their relationship, and he'd stuck to it. He'd respected her wishes. And maybe she could like him just a little bit for that. A
very
little bit.

Joey's was busy with familiar faces from Aspire when Kelly followed Chantelle and her two friends through the door. A very chivalrous lad from Accounting cleared off a stool and offered it to her. She smiled and said thank you and hopped on top of it. Chantelle ordered cocktails—her treat, she said—and Kelly gratefully accepted hers when it arrived. After the last couple of weeks, she really needed it.

And, as the minutes ticked on and she joined in a conversation about what was going on in a popular soap opera, she began to feel the tension ebb from her shoulders. Just for a while she was the Kelly she vaguely remembered being, once upon a time. Not somebody's mother. Not somebody's harried ex-wife. Not a single parent carrying the weight of the world on her shoulders. Just Kelly. It was quite liberating.

In the middle of a discussion about the latest line up of hopefuls for the current TV talent show, she saw Chantelle look in the direction of the door and smile a secret little smile. Kelly was as nosey as she was blunt, so she turned to see who had just walked in.

Crap.

She whipped her head back round again and concentrated on her half-drunk cosmopolitan.

Jason. She should have guessed he'd turn up sooner or later. Chloe
would
be pleased.

But the bar was crowded, she reasoned, and there were plenty of Aspire employees ready to kiss up to the boss. There was no reason she would even have to talk to him. She would just carry on chatting to the girls and try not to be aware of where he was. Difficult, though, when her skin prickled every time he came within ten feet of her.

There it went again. She picked up her glass and took a great gulp while trying to radiate silent messages:
I'm not here.... Go and find someone else to talk to.... There are much more interesting people on the other side of the room....

‘I wouldn't have picked you for a cocktail kind of girl,' a deep voice said from over her left shoulder. Kelly downed the remainder, just to make a point. She tried to pretend she hadn't heard him, but the guy sitting next to her offered Jason his stool and Jason slid into her peripheral vision. Poop. Kelly's skin prickled so hard she had to stop herself scratching. At work, she had the added help of a big, sturdy desk between them. Here in the bar, with the lighting low, the hum of conversation around them and the scent of his aftershave filling her nostrils, it was hard to ignore the crazy attraction she had for him.

At least he was just being friendly, she tried to kid herself. At least her allure had worn off.

But when she turned to greet him, the flicker of heat in his eyes contradicted her. Kelly felt her legs wobble on the stool.

‘Oh, I'm a cocktail girl all right,' she said, lying through her teeth. ‘Have them for breakfast, lunch and dinner.'

Jason nodded seriously. ‘So
that's
what you keep in that insulated coffee cup on your desk. I had wondered.'

Damn him. Now she wanted to smile.

‘Peach daiquiri today,' she said. ‘Most refreshing.'

Jason laughed, and Kelly felt her lips tugging up at the corners.

‘Okay, you're right,' she said wearily. ‘I like them, but cocktails aren't usually my thing. I prefer my drinks one at a time, not all mixed together.'

‘Like...?'

She shrugged. ‘I like a good red wine...' She tipped her head to one side and thought for a minute. ‘But I think my absolute favourite is a cold beer straight from the bottle on a warm summer's evening.'

Jason looked at her empty glass then nodded at the barman. ‘Let me get you one.'

Kelly shook her head vehemently. ‘No. I pay for my own drinks.'

‘Didn't Chantelle buy you that one?' And he nodded in the direction of the girls she'd come with, all with matching drinks.

‘That's not the same and you know it.'

‘So not accepting drinks from men is also part of your no-dating-at-work policy?'

She nodded. It seemed like a good time to include that clause.

‘The same way you don't want to go out after work with me, but you don't mind going out in a group?'

‘Ye-es,' she said slowly, feeling that somehow this was a trick question. She saw him nod a greeting at someone, and the look he gave was also a little conspiratorial. She whipped her head round to see who he was looking at and found Chantelle smiling back at him, toasting him with her cocktail glass. Kelly turned to study her boss again.

Had he...had he set this up? Had he asked Chantelle to bring her down here? Surely not. She looked at her still-empty glass. Who knew that a bit of vodka and cranberry could make you so paranoid?

‘So groups are okay?' Jason said from beside her.

‘Huh?' Kelly frowned and looked up at him. This evening was getting increasingly surreal.

Jason waved at the barman and leaned over to shout something in his ear. The man straightened and yelled out, ‘Next round's on the boss!'

The crowd roared its appreciation and there was a stampede to the bar. Kelly glared at Jason as best she could past the people who had squeezed between their two stools to wave at the bar staff.

Technically, she'd won. He hadn't bought her a drink—at least, not just her—but the satisfied smirk on his face made her feel as if she'd just been trumped.

She wasn't sure if she liked that, but he'd had a rough day. McGrath's refusal had been a disappointment, and maybe teasing her now that they were out of the office was his way of blowing off steam. She decided to give him the benefit of the doubt.

She ordered a second cosmo. Beer seemed too...chummy. Cocktails were suitably aloof. As she sipped it she tried hard to remain equally aloof and detached from her boss.

It didn't work very well. She kept forgetting and getting absorbed in a funny story he was telling the people gathered around them, and then she'd start laughing and smiling. That in itself wasn't
so
bad, but then she'd catch Jason's eye and discover it held a twinkle just for her.

What was worse, she liked it. Liked feeling as if they were a unit of two amidst the larger group of Aspire employees. Co-conspirators, even.

But soon she began to wonder
why
he was on such top form that evening. Wasn't he disappointed too? She searched for signs of it, but when someone asked him directly about the McGrath deal, he just batted the subject away, as he would a pesky fly, telling the person who'd asked that it was no big deal.

That was when Kelly started to get angry with him.

She'd worked really, really hard on that project, had become invested in it emotionally, because she'd
believed
in the shoes. She'd
believed
in Jason Knight and his passion for them.

Once again she'd been suckered in by a good-looking man with a line. Because now he was laughing it all off as if it didn't matter.