Billionaire's Contract Engagement (Kings of the Boardroom #3)(47)

“There’s no reason we can’t go public with our relationship now, Celia. It’s all over. You have the account.”

She sucked in her breath.

“But, yes, I do need to go back to Seattle and tie up some things. I plan to spend a lot more time in San Francisco over the next few months and I need to make arrangements.”

Her heart sped up. Did he mean he was staying in San Francisco to be near her? She hated guessing, but she hated assuming even more.

She was still uneasy about the timing of them seeing each other. It was too close to when he’d signed on with Maddox.

“I’ll be back Monday afternoon. I want to spend the evening with you. Dinner. Dancing. You can stay over at the hotel and my driver will take you into work on Tuesday.”

She loved it when he got all demanding. She was a sucker for someone who planned in detail, and he’d certainly planned their evening down to her staying over for what would undeniably be amazing sex.

“When do you leave?” she asked quietly.

“First thing in the morning.”

She leaned up on her elbow so she could look him in the face. “Then what are you doing here?”

He rolled her into his arms and under him again. “I can sleep on the short flight home.”

She made a show of checking her nonexistent watch. “You have six hours left. What do you plan to do with them?”

“I’m going to show you just how good I am at time management,” he murmured as he swept down and hungrily devoured her lips.

Seventeen

After a Sunday of fielding curious questions from her brothers about Evan, Celia was relieved to go into work on Monday. She wasn’t ready to admit to even her family that she and Evan were anything more than business associates. They knew what had happened in New York and that it was complete nonsense. She loved them for their undying loyalty and their absolute faith in her. Which was why she was reluctant to confess to a relationship with Evan. It would only muddy the waters even though she and Evan both knew the truth.

She was late, thanks to a traffic snarl that lasted an entire hour and an already late start from her apartment. By the time she made it off the elevator, it was closing in on noon, and her mood was in the toilet.

When she saw Shelby, she knew something was wrong. The usually cheerful receptionist eyed Celia with something that looked suspiciously like pity, and she refused to hold Celia’s gaze for long.

Not even wanting to know what that was all about, Celia bypassed her usual meet and greet with Shelby and headed for the sanctuary of her office. To her surprise, Elle was waiting for her.

“Hello, Elle,” Celia said as she came in and tossed her briefcase onto her desk.

Elle’s face was drawn, and she looked like she was dreading talking to Celia. In her hands was a folded newspaper or magazine. Celia couldn’t tell.

“Celia, there’s something you need to see. Everyone else has already read it. I tried to call you but couldn’t reach you at home or on your cell.”

Celia’s stomach sank. She didn’t like the look on Elle’s face or the way she was coming at her with that paper.

Elle plopped the newspaper on Celia’s desk and it was then that Celia saw it was a gossip rag. Her nose wrinkled in disgust.

“Elle, what are you doing reading that crap?”

“Look at it, Celia.”

Elle jabbed her finger at the photo spread and the headline. Celia looked down and all the blood drained from her face. She had to grip the edge of the desk to keep her knees from giving way.

There were pictures of her and Evan at Mitchell’s wedding. The same pictures she’d received via e-mail from Evan’s mother. One was of them dancing and her laughing up at him. The other was of Evan kissing her. Her hand was splayed over his chest and there was no mistaking the huge rock on her third finger.

The headline blurred in front of her, but she got the gist. It was all about Evan and his new fiancée and was it coincidence that Evan had allegedly signed a contract with Maddox Communications, the agency where his fiancée worked.

She scanned the article, but she was too furious to continue past the insinuation that Celia had spent the last several weeks doing whatever was necessary to land Evan’s business.

“That’s not all,” Elle said grimly.

She walked around Celia’s desk and jostled the mouse so that her screen came up. She typed in a URL

and navigated to an advertising community site that hosted a blog and a message board, mostly used by advertising professionals. There in the latest blog post was the picture of Evan kissing her along with the announcement of Evan going with Maddox Communications. The subtitle was short and to the point, and made no bones about the way they thought Celia landed the account.

Celia sank into her chair, stunned. Absolutely and completely stunned by what she’d read.

“My God, Elle, what do I do?” she whispered.

Elle squeezed her shoulder in sympathy, but her eyes told Celia she was at as big a loss as Celia was as to how to handle it.

“Does everyone in the office know?” Celia asked painfully. “Have they all seen it? And what do they think?”

“Well, Ash hasn’t been back in, so I don’t know if he’s seen it. I know Brock and Jason saw it because I was in Brock’s office with both of them. Jason didn’t have much to say but Brock was pissed.”