A CONTRACT ENGAGEMENT

“But, yes, I do need to travel to Seattle and tie up some things. I plan to spend some time in San Francisco but over the next few months I need to make arrangements so I would be traveling less and spending more time here.” he added.

Her heart sped up. Did he mean he was making those arrangements to spend more time in New York so he could 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 Standard Gate.

“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 to work on Tuesday.” he said.

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,” he replied.

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 flight,” he said.

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.

————————

After a Sunday of fielding curious questions from her brothers about Julian, Nina was relieved to go into work on Monday.

She wasn’t ready to admit to even her family that she and Julian were anything more than business associates. 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 Julian. And she didn’t want anyone thinking she had slept her way to the top, which was exactly what it would look like to other people. It would only muddy the waters even though she and Julian both knew the truth. And it could bring up other things too…. Things she didn’t even want to think about.

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 Rebecca, she knew immediately that something was wrong. The usually cheerful receptionist eyed Nina with something that looked suspiciously like pity, and she refused to hold Nina’s gaze for long.

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

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

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

“Nina dear, there’s something you need to see. Everyone else has already read it. It’s online too. I tried to call you but couldn’t reach you at home and you weren’t replying my text messages” Camille said.

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

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

“Camille, what are you doing reading that crap?” Nina asked

“Look at it, Nina.” Camille replied. She jabbed her finger at the photo spread and the headline. Nina 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 Julian at Loveth and Sam’s wedding. The same pictures she’d received via e-mail from Julian’s mother.

One was of them dancing and her laughing up at him. The other was of Julian 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 Julian and his new fiancée and was it coincidence that Julian had allegedly signed a contract with Standard Gate Communications, the agency where his fiancée worked.

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

“That’s not all,” Camille said grimly.

She walked around Nina’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 Julian kissing her along with the announcement of Julian going with Standard Gate Communications. The subtitle was short and to the point, and made no bones about the way they thought Nina landed the account.

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

“My God, Oh my God, Camille, what do I do?” she whispered.

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

“Does everyone in the office know?” Nina asked painfully. “Have they all seen it? And what do they think?”Exclusive content © by Nô(v)el/Dr/ama.Org.

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

“At me?” Nina asked.

Camille shook her head. “I don’t know, to be honest. I doubt it. He’s not the type to get angry before he hears your side. Besides, you got the account. It shouldn’t matter to him how you did it.” She said

“That’s true, I guess. It only matters to me.” Nina agreed, her voice stiff.

“I’m sorry, Nina. Really sorry.” Camille said