Chapter 20
MARY
I had no idea who Leo was when I met him.
It was ShayKi’s summer party. This was a grand affair held in a large hotel just outside the city, and in addition to our employees, we invited key contacts from our suppliers, retailers and various other people who we had working relationships with, ranging from fashion bloggers to charity workers.
That year, almost three hundred people wined, dined and celebrated another year of stomping success at our award ceremony.
I was in full-on work mode. This type of event came naturally to Shay and Kieran, but I had to make a concerted effort to work my way around our guests.
As per the ShayKi way, this meant taking the time to greet those who probably considered themselves the least deserving in the room, leaving the bigwigs to chat amongst themselves.
I’d been outside in the hotel garden, talking to a group of women who had come through our apprenticeship scheme, when I spotted a man standing in a similar cluster a few feet away.
Ordinarily, I wouldn’t have thought anything of it.
We had a lot of stylish, confident men at our parties.
Even when he lifted his glass towards me and gave a playful nod, I merely adjusted my position so he was no longer in my eyeline and continued listening to how one woman had recently regained partial custody of her young children, helped by ShayKi’s decent income and flexible hours.
At an appropriate pause in the conversation, I wished them all the best and went to find another drink. Before I’d taken three steps, a full champagne flute was pressed into my hand.
‘You looked like you needed a top-up,’ the man said in a faint London accent, giving an impish smirk.
‘Not at all creepy, to have a stranger watching me from the shrubbery shadows,’ I retorted, making to move past him.
‘What can I say? I’m a people watcher.’
Supposing that this was better than the many guests who were solely interested in themselves being watched, when I reached a bench and sat down, I decided not to object when he took a seat next to me, leaving a reassuring distance between us.
‘I’ve heard you do things differently here, but it still intrigued me, seeing the big boss hobnobbing with the common workers, rather than schmoozing with the chair of the British Fashion Council, who happens to be standing by the fountain over there, with an editor from Glamour magazine.’
‘I leave all that to my co-directors.’ I took a sip of champagne. It was a gorgeous evening, the air light, the breeze carrying the scent of cut grass and meat sizzling on the barbecues.
‘It doesn’t make you sound any less creepy, by the way, knowing who I am.’
‘Even if I know who Shay and Kieran are? And that the guy standing over there is your head of branding? Now, the woman next to him I’m less sure of. I’d guess by the outfit, those stiff shoulders, that she’s something to do with finance. Accountant?’
‘She cleans our office.’
‘Ah. Okay. Close, then.’
That made me smile. ‘You still haven’t told me why you know all this. I know you don’t work for us.’ I would definitely have remembered those slanting electric-blue eyes, the smile that crinkled up his whole face. ‘Are you from a rival brand, sent here to spy?’
He laughed. ‘I’ve been swotting up because I’m hoping to join the ShayKi family. I’ve an interview next week, which is why I got the invite.’
‘Ah, okay.’
‘Although, now I’ve met you, I’m wondering if that’s such a good idea.’
‘Excuse me?’
‘Well, things could get awkward if I’m ridiculously attracted to the big boss.’
I jerked my head around to look at him, too surprised to play it cool.
‘Although,’ he mused, ‘I imagine it’s a common enough problem.’
He leant forwards, elbows braced on his knees, looking sideways at me from under a floppy blond fringe. ‘So I don’t suppose it would be an issue, unless the feelings happened to be reciprocated.’
‘Are you asking if I’m ridiculously attracted to you?’ I said, regaining a little of my composure.
To my chagrin, the truthful answer at that point would have been quite possibly, yes .
I didn’t fall for charmers. Especially not ones wearing loafers with no socks and a dangly earring.
When I had dated, it had been with steady, solid men.
Shay and Kieran referred to them as Future Football Dads.
The kind of men who preferred an Indian and an action movie to swanning about a fancy party nibbling on miniature artisan hotdogs.
He squinted into the sun, which was hovering above the Peak District hills.
‘Actually… no,’ he said, drawing it out, as if thinking out loud. ‘Seeing as I haven’t had the interview yet, I can’t see a problem with us hanging around now. I might not even get the job.’
‘Could you foresee there being a problem with me interviewing a man who told me only a week earlier that he finds me attractive?’ I asked in my no-nonsense boss-voice.
‘Ah. I can see that could be an issue.’ He swivelled around to face me on the bench as we each took another long sip of our drinks.
‘How about I retract that inappropriate statement immediately? After all, I never said that I was completely, utterly captivated by your dazzling smile, only that it could be a problem if feelings like that were to develop, in the future. I guess all I was saying is I can’t rule it out. ’
‘I’m very relieved to hear that you never said that, seeing as I have no interest in wasting time with smooth talkers.’
‘Good. I think I’ve just proven I’m not one of those.’
‘However, your extensive research will have revealed how highly ShayKi values integrity. Can you honestly say that this conversation hasn’t constituted flirting?
’ I dared to glance over at him. Ugh. He was still annoyingly gorgeous.
‘Because if you agree that it has crossed that line, then I won’t be able to interview you.
If you don’t consider this to be flirtatious, then you’re not going to be the right fit for a company employing 75 per cent female staff. ’
‘Are you directly involved with hiring new designers?’
‘No, but Shay runs any potential names past me before offering them the job.’
‘Okay. So I don’t tell you my name.’
‘Now we’re back to you being creepy.’
‘Creepy… or mysterious?’
‘Mysterious, or dangerous, in a creepy way?’
He laughed. It was a beautiful, full-bellied laugh. The least creepy laugh I’d ever heard.
‘Dangerous, or sexy?’
‘Sexy, or downright foolish?’ I held up one hand. ‘That’s not actually a question. I’ve got a lot of people to say hello to this evening. I’m not hanging about with a man who won’t tell me his name.’
‘I’m Leo,’ he said, gently clasping the brandished hand and shaking it. ‘Very pleased to meet you.’
We spent the next hour sitting on the bench, talking.
As the sky melted into a kaleidoscope of pinks, oranges and gold, we asked questions and shared stories – steering clear of anything to do with work – swiping more drinks from a waiter as he wandered past, ignoring the other guests milling around the grounds.
When it was time for the awards, I took my place on the stage in the function room, although more than once I succumbed to the temptation to allow my gaze to drift to the man standing at the back.
The third time, he lifted his glass, as he had done in the garden, and from that night on, it became our signal: ‘I see you, I’m thinking about you. I’m ridiculously attracted to you, and utterly captivated by your smile.’
I spent another half an hour networking, then, as the crowd began to thin, I once again slipped out to the garden bench. It was fully dark now, and it was only instinct that told me Leo would follow.
When he appeared out of the shadows, once again taking a seat a respectable few inches away, it was me who slid close enough for our shoulders to touch, for it to seem natural when his hand slipped around mine.
After a minute, he took off his jacket and carefully draped it across my shoulders, and I breathed in the scent of bergamot, my senses on fire.
When our voices were growing hoarse, our skin numb from the night chill, as the hotel staff cleared away the last of the night’s debris, I finally replied to the messages pinging through from Shay and Kieran, asking me where the hell I was, had I been kidnapped and did I want to get a nightcap with them in the bar before they headed up?
I sent the only reply that would have made them leave me alone:
Mary
I’m talking to a guy. Do Not Disturb!
When I slipped my phone back into my bag, Leo took a deep breath.
‘You don’t strike me as a woman who kisses random men at parties.’
I ducked my head, allowing my hair to fall over my face.
‘Not since snogging Jason Candy in year twelve.’ I grimaced. ‘Didn’t turn out well.’
‘Especially ones who are interviewing with your company in six days.’
I glanced up at this man who had listened to every word I’d said as if eager to know more, not merely trying to win me over.
The truth was, I’d not kissed any man, random or otherwise, in years. I’d had three too many glasses of champagne, and, for the first time in far too long, I was enjoying feeling reckless.
‘Ah, stuff it. It’s a party.’
I put my glass down, flung my arms around his neck, and as my heart pounded, electricity whizzing through my nervous system, I pressed my lips against his.