Hotter Than Ever
Page 74

The last two weeks had been the happiest of her life, filled with endless laughter and lively conversation and wild, passionate sex that left her breathless.
Aidan’s intensity thrilled her; Dylan’s lust for life inspired her.
Aidan’s serious, closed-off nature brought out a nurturing, sensitive side she hadn’t known she’d possessed, while Dylan’s openness and unceasing optimism gave her a sense of soothing comfort she’d never felt before.
How could she ever say goodbye to either one of them?
The sound of a car door slamming jerked her from her thoughts. She glanced over and noticed that a silver Lexus had just parked in the space beside hers. When the driver stepped out, Claire blinked in shock.
She hastily grabbed her laptop case and leather portfolio from the passenger seat and slid out of the car just as her boss approached.
“Barb,” she said uneasily. “What are you doing here?”
Barbara Valentine looked as elegant as always in her tailored black pantsuit and dove-gray Louboutin pumps. Her black hair was twisted in a neat bun, and the string of pearls around her slender neck sparkled in the morning sunshine.
“I thought I’d sit in on your meeting with Sanders,” Barb answered smoothly.
Although unexpected, Barb’s being here was not unusual—Claire’s boss often sat in when her consultants presented their findings to a client. Nevertheless, Claire felt apprehensive about Barb showing up out of the blue.
“Are you prepared for the presentation?” the older woman asked, oblivious to Claire’s growing agitation.
She managed a smile. “Of course.”
“Good. Let’s go inside.”
They walked into the building and informed the lobby receptionist about their meeting with Bryant Sanders. Five minutes later, the two women were being ushered into the conference room where Claire had spent quite a lot of time over the past few weeks.
She was still unsettled by Barb’s presence, but she forced herself to concentrate on her job instead of her nerves, setting up her laptop and loading the PowerPoint presentation she’d slaved over last night.
“Claire, good to see you again.” Savvy Tech’s CEO strode into the room and greeted her with a warm smile. Sanders was a lanky man with a head of salt-and-pepper hair and a pair of wire-rimmed glasses resting on a thin nose, and he’d been incredibly accommodating throughout Claire’s assessment of his company.
They shook hands, and then Sanders turned to Barb. “I’m glad you could join us, Barbara. And I must say, I’ve been very impressed with Claire’s diligent observations and insightful analysis.”
“Claire is very good at what she does,” Barb agreed with a smile.
The compliment eased some of her nerves, and a few minutes later, the presentation was underway and Claire didn’t have time to feel nervous. In a brisk voice, she presented her findings to Sanders, going into detail about every aspect of his company and every flaw she’d discovered during her evaluation. Several times, the CEO interrupted with questions that she answered readily and knowledgably, and when she outlined the solutions she’d come up with in order to make the company run more efficiently and increase its profits, Sanders looked more than pleased.
The meeting lasted a little more than an hour, and after it wrapped up, Sanders took the thick report Claire had prepared and thanked her profusely for all her hard work.
And through it all, Barb gazed at Claire in approval, squashing any notion that something was amiss.
At least until the two women were alone again—because the second they were back in the parking lot, Barb’s dark eyes took on that odd light again. The look was impossible to decipher, and the longer Barb stayed quiet, the more uncomfortable Claire became.
“Is everything all right?” she asked her boss.
Barb donned a thoughtful look. “Let’s grab a coffee, darling.” And then she took off walking.
Confused, Claire fell into step with the other woman. Five minutes later, they were seated at a corner table in the Starbucks across the street from Savvy Tech.
“You did a fabulous job in there,” Barb told her.
She tried to ignore the queasy churning of her stomach. “Thank you.”
“I mean it, darling—that was a thorough, well-prepared assessment.”
She murmured another thank you and brought her cup to her lips. The coffee was way too hot to drink yet, burning her tongue the second she took a sip. Wincing, Claire set down the cup and ran her tongue over the roof of her mouth in an attempt to ease the pain.
Barb continued to watch her with that pensive gleam in her dark eyes. “All right, let’s not waste any time. Something has been brought to my attention, and since you know I’m a woman who doesn’t like to beat around the bush, I’d like for the two of us to clear this up right here and now.”
A sick feeling crawled up her throat. “Okay. What is it?”
“I’ve been informed that you’ve spent the last two months involved in a polyamorous relationship.”
Claire flinched as if she’d been struck. “W-what?”
Barb rephrased her previous sentence. “A relationship with two men.”
But Claire didn’t need a f**king clarification. She knew exactly what her boss meant—and she knew exactly who her informant was.
That bastard.
The goddamn bastard.
Pure blind rage whipped through her like a loose cable in a storm, and it took every ounce of willpower to keep it from showing on her face.