Business or Pleasure? Read Free Page B

shake. “All right, then. I guess this is goodbye.”
    Alec’s eyes were slightly glazed as he looked down at her outstretched hand. It was only after a long, long moment that he finally took it in his. His palm and fingers were rough and surprisingly work-worn, and the mere touch of them sent a ripple of warmth through her that shocked her so completely, she yanked her hand away as if it had been burned.
    His eyes lit briefly with blue fire as he looked down at her, then they seemed to just…flicker out. Without another word, he turned away from her again.
    She ran a hand down the front of her skirt absently and stole one last look at his familiar profile before forcing herself to walk out the door.
    Now I know I’ve made the right decision, Daisy thought as she quickly threw as many things as she could into her tote and beelined for the elevator, rounding the cubicles that stood between her and escape as if she were running the final few yards of a marathon. He was bound to break her heart someday. Today was as good a day as any.
    Once in the lobby, she hit the button to call the elevator before casting a quick glance at Nikki, receptionist and in-house gossip queen, who was holding the phone aloft and watching Daisy like she was going to be tested on the event later.
    Daisy almost groaned out loud. During the last year, she’d often fantasized about ending her working relationship with Alec, but in her fantasies that ending had looked far more like an afternoon wedding by the sea than a cold, angry confrontation in his office.
    When she entered the elevator, she pasted on a game smile for the receptionist.
    â€œAre you coming back today?” Nikki asked, her dark eyes taking in Daisy’s flushed skin and overflowing tote.
    â€œNo, definitely not,” Daisy said, feeling a momentary flash of guilt at her evasion. While she and Nikki weren’t particularly close, Daisy had made many friends at Mackenzie. She could only hope they wouldn’t be worried about her when they found out she’d left without saying goodbye.
    Thankfully, the elevator doors closed before Nikki could ask any more questions. And then Daisy Kincaid was left not only without a job, but without something she needed far more: the ever-present optimism that had made her think everything she wished for would come to her eventually if only she didn’t give up.

Two
    B y the following afternoon, the coffee was charred, the copy machine was broken, the blueprints were late, and no one in the entire office had a clue about how to contact the maintenance guy to come turn off the emergency exit alarm that was clanging both inside and outside Alec’s head.
    He was just taking a deep breath and trying to decide which crisis to deal with first when the alarm suddenly quieted. Good. At least one thing had been handled, even without the help of the woman he was only just now realizing had been the friggin’ beating heart of his company.
    He stifled a curse, the same one he’d been muttering ever since Daisy had handed him her resignation and run out of the office with all that stuff she kept on her desk spilling out of her bag. He remembered now how he’d stood in his doorway and watched her go while the scent of her had still hungin the air around him. Cookies and warm milk. How could anyone smell like cookies and warm milk? he’d thought then, even as something unfamiliar inside him had urged him to run after her.
    He hadn’t, of course. After all, it wasn’t the first time he’d watched the door close behind someone he cared about.
    Still, he couldn’t quite believe she was gone. Over the years he and Daisy had worked countless late nights together, had hundreds of early-morning conference calls, organized dozens of groundbreaking celebrations, even shared birthday lunches at her favorite Chinese restaurant downstairs. The very idea that she could quit like that—without any