Free Entangled Love by Jessica Gray Page B

wanted to make sure it was for pleasure, and not just another business meeting.
     
    “Yes, on a real date. You. Me. No phones. No taking notes. No business. Just you and I getting to know one another. What do you say?” Victor watched her lick her lips again and felt his body start to respond. Stepping away from her, he started walking backwards while he waited for her response. The more distance he could put between himself and her right now, the safer things would be.
     
    Mandy watched him walk away, and shyly nodded, “I’d like that, a lot.”
     
    “Then that’s what we’ll do.” He gave her a grin, accompanied by a wink, and then was gone around the corner.
     
    Mandy took a moment to let her racing heart settle and then headed for the elevator. The deli was her first order of business, then arranging dinner, and then maybe she could find a few minutes to daydream and enjoy what had just happened.
     
    *****
     
    “Guys, I don’t know about you all, but I’m done for the night. I’ve already sent the rest of the team home, and Mandy is doing some light cleanup from what’s left of dinner. The restaurant people picked up their service item over an hour ago.”
     
    Evelyn glanced at the clock on the wall, shocked to see it was almost midnight. Looking at Victor, she could see how tired he was, “Vic, go. I’m almost finished here myself and I just want to check each part of the package over one last time to make sure we didn’t miss anything and then I’m heading home as well.”
     
    Michael came back into the conference room, catching the end of the conversation. “Man, go, and take that little receptionist home as well. She’s dead on her feet and not moving real fast,” he said chuckling.  In truth, she had been almost asleep, leaning her head on her hands folded over her desk and hadn’t heard him re-enter the office. He had startled her and she had barely managed to contain her scream.
     
    Victor turned to Evelyn and could see that she still had some energy left. He hated leaving her to work alone in the building after hours. “Evelyn, why don’t you come too? I’ll take you home and we can both come back in first thing in the morning and check things over.”
     
    Evelyn shook her head; she needed to finish this now. Tomorrow would be too late if something was missing. “Vic, I’m fine. It will only take me another thirty minutes or so to check everything over and then I’ll leave. Let security know I’m still up here on your way out, will ya?” Turning to Michael, she said, “Don’t worry about the package being ready. I’ll leave it on your desk and you can look it over in the morning.”
     
    Michael got the distinct feeling that he was being dismissed and didn’t like it one bit. This was his project too and he would never sleep tonight if he wasn’t sure it was ready for the investors. “I’ll just stay if you don’t mind. I won’t sleep until I know the package is ready to go.” Turning to Victor, he nodded at the door once again, “Get out of here. I’ll make sure she leaves in the next half hour.”
     
    Victor looked at both Evelyn and Michael, trying to decide if it was safe to leave them alone in the office. Michael’s treatment of Evelyn had continued to be cold and impersonal, and he had yet to provide Evelyn an opportunity to apologize. Maybe they were both so tired; they would let their guards down enough and get things out in the open. He could hope.
     
    “Fine. I’ll see you both in the morning. Evelyn, thirty minutes and no longer. Got it?”
     
    Evelyn gave Victor a mock salute, “Yes, Sir.” She promptly went back to looking through the various pages in the project portfolio and didn’t even look up when Victor popped his head back in and said “Goodnight.”
     
    Thirty minutes later, Evelyn laid the portfolio down and stretched her arms above her head. Suddenly, she was more tired than ever. The package was perfectly put together and Mandy