Billionaire's Contract Engagement (Kings of the Boardroom #3)(36)

Her mouth curved into a naughty smile to match the naughtiness of her and Evan’s plan. It was wicked, forbidden, and she was so turned on that she was ready to fidget right out of her shoes.

With a sigh, she sank into her chair behind her desk, kicked off her shoes and logged on to catch up on e-mail. She hadn’t planned to go out for lunch at all and had, in fact, brought food from home, planning to eat at her desk. After missing Friday, she’d spent the morning getting a report from Jason on her client meetings he covered and then she’d gone through messages.

She groaned as her in-box stacked up with e-mail after e-mail. She started at the bottom and worked

up, deleting several after cursory glances. Those requiring a lengthy response she flagged to respond to later and the ones she could just do a one-line response to she typed furiously and sent on their way.

She was nearly to the end when her gaze flickered over the name Lucy Reese. She did a double take.

Evan’s mom? Why would she e-mail and how had she gotten Celia’s address?

Her stomach fluttered a bit, and guilt crept over her all over again. Lucy was nice and Celia hated lying to her. She hated lying as a rule for any reason but especially not for such a frivolous endeavor.

She braced herself and clicked on the message. It began as cheerfully as Lucy herself was in person.

She said again how thrilled she was that Celia and Evan had found each other.

Talk about another shot to the gut.

She expressed her desire to see Celia again and hoped Evan would bring her to Seattle for a visit.

Could this get any worse?

Her message ended with a short note that she’d attached some pictures from the wedding that she thought Celia would enjoy.

Celia opened the attached JPEGS and couldn’t help but smile. The pictures were of her and Evan at the wedding reception. They looked happy and…in love.

There was one of them dancing, another of Evan looking down with a tender expression and the last was when Evan had kissed her. Celia’s hand rested on his chest and the glitter of the ring contrasted with the black of Evan’s tuxedo. Their mouths were fused together, and it was obvious to anyone looking at the picture that they were in danger of combusting right there in the middle of a crowded reception.

For several minutes, she debated whether or not to reply to Lucy’s e-mail. It seemed rude not to, but it was also a terrible thing to prolong the charade.

Finally, she settled for a brief thank you and that she’d enjoyed meeting Lucy, as well. It was true and didn’t delve into any part of her nonexistent relationship with Evan.

Stealing over to the man’s hotel room after work hours certainly couldn’t be considered a relationship.

Her intercom beeped, startling her from her thoughts.

“Celia, I have a cleaning service willing to take over Noah Hart’s house.”

“Brave,” Celia muttered.

“What was that?”

“Nothing. Do you have details on when they’ll start? Can you e-mail me that and the agency name and contact info so I can forward it?”

“Sure.”

There was a distinct pause and then Shelby’s hesitant voice filtered through the intercom.

“Sooo, are you going to give me the dirt on Noah Hart? Like how you know him and why you’re arranging his maid service?”

“No,” Celia said shortly.

She punched the button to end the conversation and hoped Shelby would get the hint. True, Shelby liked to gossip but she wasn’t overtly intrusive. She backed off when people wanted her to.

She checked her e-mail and then forwarded the information to Noah. After closing her e-mail program, she stared at her phone and sighed. Noah was a disaster when it came to e-mails. The man just didn’t care about advanced methods of communication. If it couldn’t be said on the phone or person, he wasn’t much interested. It drove his agent nuts. Simon Blackstone much preferred the impersonal methods of e-mail and text messages to actual conversations, but if he wanted to talk to Noah, he had to pick up the phone. Celia was convinced Noah did it just to torque his agent’s jaw.

At any rate, she’d better call and leave a message on Noah’s cell or God knows what the cleaning lady would come across when she went to his house.

She’d hit the end button after leaving him a nagging, sisterly message when it hit her square in the face that she had neglected to mention the game to Evan.

How could she be so stupid? With everything else that had gone on in the weekend, the game had slipped her mind. Even when she’d done the pitch and specifically dangled the Noah carrot in front of Evan’s nose, she’d flaked on the season opener.

He was probably already booked solid, if he was even going to be in town. The game was the night before her scheduled pitch session and he’d probably just fly in on the morning of their meeting.

“Stupid, stupid, stupid,” she muttered.

Would it be crass to mention it tonight? During their little sex getaway? If she wanted to get him in front of Noah in a casual setting, then she was going to have to move fast and hope he hadn’t locked up his week already with other obligations.

She looked up when a knock sounded at her door. Brock stood against the door frame, a smile easing the newly developed lines at his eyes and mouth.

“Hey, we wanted to get together at Rosa after work today. You’re the star and we want to toast with copious amounts of alcohol. It will be a good pep rally for the presentation on Friday.”