Christy McKellen - After Hours...

He leant back against the cushions, breaking the contact of her touch, and stared up at the ceiling. ‘I often wonder whether I would have noticed some signs if I’d paid more attention to her. If I hadn’t been so caught up with work—’

She couldn’t think of a single thing to say to make him feel better—though maybe there wasn’t anything she could say. Sometimes you didn’t need answers or solutions; you just needed someone to listen and agree with you about how cruel life could be.

He turned to look at her, his mouth drawn into a tight line.

‘Look, Cara, I can see that you wanting to help comes from a good place. You’re a kind and decent person—much more decent than I am.’ He gave her a pained smile, which she returned. ‘I’ve been on my own here for so long I’ve clearly become very selfish with my personal space.’ He rubbed a hand across his brow. ‘And this was Jemima’s house—she was the one who chose how to decorate it and made it a home for us.’ He turned to make full eye contact with her again, his expression apologetic. ‘It’s taking a bit of adjusting to, having someone else around. Despite evidence to the contrary, I really appreciate the thoughtful gestures you’ve made.’

His reference to her gestures only made the heavy feeling in her stomach worse.

‘I’m really sorry, Max. I can totally understand why you’d find it hard to see me meddling with Jemima’s things. I think I was so excited by the idea of living in such a beautiful house that I got a bit carried away. I forgot I was just a visitor here and that it’s your home. That was selfish of me.’

He shook his head. ‘I don’t want you to feel like that. While you’re here it’s your home, too.’

She frowned and turned away to stare down at the floor, distracted for a moment by how scratty and out of place her old slippers looked against the rich cream-coloured wool carpet.

That was exactly the problem. It wasn’t her home and it never would be. She didn’t really fit here.

For some reason that made her feel more depressed than she had since the day she’d left her last job.

‘Have you had any luck with finding a flat to rent?’ he asked, breaking the silence that had fallen like a suffocating layer of dust between them.

‘Not yet, but I have an appointment to view somewhere tomorrow and there are new places coming up all the time. I’ll find something soon, I’m sure of it,’ she said, plastering what must have been the worst fake smile she’d ever mustered onto her face.

He nodded slowly, but didn’t say anything.

Twitching with discomfort now, she stood up. ‘I should go.’

He frowned at her in confusion. ‘What do you mean? Where are you going?’

‘Back to Sarah’s. I think that would be best.’

Standing up, too, he put out a hand as if to touch her, but stopped himself and shoved it into the back pocket of his jeans instead.

‘Look, don’t leave. I promise to be less of an ogre. I let my anger get the better of me, which was unfair.’

‘I don’t know, Max—’ She couldn’t stay here now. Could she?

Obviously seeing the hesitation on her face, he leant forward and waited until she made eye contact. ‘I like having you around.’ There was a teasing lightness in his expression that made her feel as if he was finally showing her the real Max. The one who had been hiding inside layers of brusque aloofness and icy calm for the past few weeks.

Warmth pooled, deep in her body. ‘Really? I feel like I’ve made nothing but a nuisance of myself since I got here.’

He gave another snort and the first proper smile she’d seen in a while. It made his whole face light up and the sight of it sent a rush of warm pleasure across her skin. ‘It’s certainly been eventful having you here.’

She couldn’t help but return his grin, despite the feeling that she was somehow losing control of herself.

‘Stay. Please.’

Her heart turned over at the expression on his face. It was something she’d never seen before. Against all the odds, he looked hopeful.

Despite a warning voice in the back of her head, she knew there was no way she could walk out of the door now that he’d laid himself bare. She could see that the extreme mood swings were coming from a place of deep pain and the very last thing he needed was to be left alone with just his tormenting memories for company in this big empty house.

It appeared as though they needed each other.

The levelling of the emotional stakes galvanised her.

‘Okay,’ she said, giving him a reassuring smile. ‘I’ll stay. On one condition.’

‘And that is?’

‘That you talk to me when you feel the gloom descending—like a person, not just an employee. And let me help if I can.’ She crossed her arms and raised a challenging eyebrow.

He huffed out a laugh. ‘And how do you propose to help?’

‘I don’t know. Perhaps I can jolly you out of your moods, if you give me the chance.’

‘Jolly. That’s a fitting word for you.’

‘Yeah, well, someone has to raise the positivity levels in this house of doom.’ She stilled, wondering whether she’d gone a step too far, but when she dared to peek at him he was smiling, albeit in a rather bemused way.

A sense of relief washed over her. The last thing she wanted to do was read the situation wrong now they’d had a breakthrough. In fact, she really ought to push for a treaty to make things crystal clear between them.

‘Look, at the risk of micromanaging the situation, can we agree that from this point on you’ll be totally straight with me, and in return I promise to be totally straight with you?’

He gave her a puzzled look. ‘Why? Is there something you need to tell me?’

She considered admitting she’d lied about why she’d left her last job and dismissed it immediately. There was no point going over that right now; it had no relevance to this and it would make her sound totally pathetic compared to what he’d been through.

‘No, no! Nothing! It was just a turn of phrase.’

He snorted gently, rolling his eyes upward, his mouth lifting at the corner. ‘Okay then, Miss Fix-it, total honesty it is. You’ve got yourself a deal.’

CHAPTER FIVE

JUST AS MAX thought he’d had enough drama to last him a lifetime, things took another alarming turn, only this time it was the business that threatened to walk away from him.

Opening his email first thing on Monday morning, he found a missive from his longest standing and most profitable client, letting him know that they were considering taking their business elsewhere.

Cara walked in with their coffee just as he’d finished reading it and the concern on her face made it clear how rattled he must look.

‘Max? What’s wrong?’

‘Our biggest client is threatening to terminate our contract with them.’

Her eyes grew larger. ‘Why?’

‘I’m guessing one of our competitors has been sniffing around, making eyes at them and I’ve been putting off going to the meetings they’ve been trying to arrange for a while now. I haven’t had the time to give them the same level of attention as before, so their head’s been turned.’

‘Is it salvageable?’

‘Yes. If I go up there today and show them exactly why they should stay with me.’

‘Okay.’ She moved swiftly over to her desk and opened up her internet browser, her nails rattling against her keyboard as she typed in an enquiry. ‘There’s a train to Manchester in forty minutes. You go and pack some stuff; I’ll call a cab and book you a seat. You can speak to me from the train about anything that needs handling today.’

He sighed and rubbed a hand through his hair, feeling the tension mounting in his scalp. ‘It’s going to take more than an afternoon to get this sorted. I’ll probably need to be up there for most of the week.’