A CONTRACT ENGAGEMENT

Finally, she settled for a brief thank you and that she’d enjoyed spending time with Elizabeth, as well. It was true and didn’t delve into any part of her nonexistent relationship with Julian. 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 that she almost jumped.

“Nina, I have a cleaning service willing to take over Tony Parker’s house.”

“Brave,” Nina muttered to herself.

“What was that?”

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

“Sure.”

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

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

“No,” Nina said shortly.

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

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

At any rate, she’d better call and leave a message on Tony’s phone 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, friendly message when it hit her square in the face that she had neglected to mention the game to Julian .

How could she be so stupid? With everything else that had gone on in the weekend, the game had slipped her mind… Which was the one thing that shouldn’t have slipped her mind. Even when she’d done the pitch and specifically dangled the Tony carrot in front of Julian’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 Tony 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. Evan Banks 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.” he said.

Her stomach rolled into a tight ball. The last thing she wanted was a raucous night at Rosa with the work gang. Usually she’d be all over it. The Standard Gate employees regularly hung out at the upscale martini bar just a block away. It’s where they met to celebrate, commiserate or just take a break from a hellish workday.

The last celebration they’d staged there had been for Mason after he’d landed the Prentice account. Now Evan was lining up the chorus for her.

Her cheeks tightened in pleasure even as her heart sank at the idea of ditching Julian after agreeing to meet him. He’d think her the worst sort of coward even if it was the smart thing to do.

“I’d love to, Evan, but I already have plans for the evening. Important plans,” she added after a pause. “Besides, I’d rather not jinx myself before going into the presentation. It’s not in the bag-yet-but I certainly plan to perform a slam dunk on Friday.”

He nodded. “Yeah, I understand. We’ll go and just call it a pre-planning session. It’s as good an excuse as any to throw back a few. But if you land this, just be prepared for a victory celebration to end all victory celebrations.” he said.

She grinned. “Oh, you know it. I can’t wait. I’ll totally hold you to it.” She replied.

“Okay, take care and see you tomorrow.” He turned to go but stopped and turned back once more. “Oh, and, Nina, if I haven’t already said it, thank you. You did a magnificent job. I doubted your approach at first, especially as you were kinda new here, but you came through in spades.”

Her heart sped up and she curled her fingers until her nails dug into her palms. It was all she could do not to stand up and throw her arms in the air complete with an obnoxious yell.

“Thank you for your trust,” she said as calmly as possible.

With a short salute, he disappeared down the hallway, leaving Nina grinning like a loon. She had done it. She was making progress at her job. This was a new thing, a big deal for her.

Promptly at a quarter to five, Nina headed down the elevator-fifteen minutes before quitting time so she’d miss the majority of her coworkers. She didn’t want to explain why she wasn’t joining them at Rosa. God, she hated this, running around and hiding. But she knew she wanted to be with Julian…? For just tonight.

Her apartment wasn’t far, and usually she’d enjoy driving her Beamer with the top down-it really was a sassy, smooth handling dream machine-but today she was just impatient to be home, and the traffic was driving her mad.Text property © Nôvel(D)ra/ma.Org.

When she reached her apartment, she recognized the car out front and the driver standing on the curb beside it. With a groan, she slowed to a stop on the street and rolled down her window.

“I’ll only be a moment,” she called.

The driver smiled, tipped his hat and said,

“No hurry, Miss Taylor. Take your time.”