An Executive Decision Read Online Free PDF Page B

scrapbooks by now, and the woman has a huge library.’
    Ellis placed the bag back in the drawer along with the newspaper, and shut it carefully. He took a deep breath and said, ‘Dee, about last night …’ A moment of silence stretched between them, and just when it was beginning to get uncomfortable, they both spoke at the same time.
    ‘Nothing like that’s ever happened to me before.’
    The result was a wave of nervous laughter
    ‘Me neither.’ Again they spoke at the same time.
    Dee was about to say something about extenuating circumstances and about the need for comfort when Ellis said, ‘You left without saying goodbye.’ His voice was suddenly tight-edged, his arms stiff, fingers pressed to the top of the desk.
    ‘You needed to rest,’ Dee managed, feeling as though her breath had deserted her at the mention of last night. She hesitated for a second, then added. ‘If I’d stayed …’
    ‘It might have happened again. I get that.’ He turned to face her, the mischievous sparkle back in his eyes. ‘Some things I don’t mind losing sleep for, Dee. And I promise you, if I’d been anything less than dead dog tired, you’d have never gotten away without waking me up.’ He offered her a crooked smile. ‘I don’t get sex that often, I don’t have time for it, but when I do, I make it a point to stay awake for as much as I can get.’
    The butterflies were back, but the breath that had deserted her still wasn’t. Her pulse rate was breaking all speed records. Was Ellison Thorne telling her he was OK with what had happened last night? Was there even a hint at the possibility it might happen again? The smile on his face certainly would not exclude that possibility.
    She was about to say that she personally didn’t need much sleep, and that she would be happy to keep him awake again sometime, when there was a sudden harsh knock on the door and Sandra burst in.
    ‘Damn it, Sandra, I think you’re supposed to wait till I say “come in” before you …’ The words died in Ellis’s throat at the sight of Sandra’s tear-streaked face, and Dee’s heart froze in her chest.
    The secretary moved into the room as though she were sleepwalking. The sunlight from the window glistened against a single tear sliding down her thin cheek.
    ‘What, Sandra?’ Ellis breathed. They too moved like they were in a dream, moved around the desk until Ellis could lay a hand on the distressed woman’s shoulder. ‘Tell us.’
    ‘Beverly’s dead,’ the woman blurted. Her lip quivered and she forced back a sob. ‘She was with the eagles. Rope snapped. It was a freak accident. She fell from the tree and broke her neck. They couldn’t get a message back because of the storm.’
    Afterwards, Dee remembered holding everything in, feeling as though if she let go, she would never stop crying. She remembered Ellis holding her, holding her so tightly. Then she remembered him settling her into the chair behind Beverly’s desk, giving Sandra a brief hug and fleeing. She found out from Sandra that it was Ellis who had arranged for her to sit with Beverly’s closest friends at the funeral, but other than the brief words of sympathy that passed between them after the service, that was the last Dee saw of Ellison Thorne for eight weeks.

Chapter Four
    As difficult as it might be, an executive assistant could be replaced. A good friend, however, could not. No one else was Beverly. She left a gaping hole in Pneuma Inc. Ellis knew he couldn’t count on Wade for help. Wade’s domain was research. Wade was the creative force behind Pneuma Inc., but it had always been Ellis and Beverly who marketed and sold that creativity. Without Beverly neither Ellis nor Wade could have realised their dream, and without her it was hard to see the way forward.
    But Dee wasn’t trying to replace his friend, Ellis reminded himself as he looked down at the previous stack of resumes she’d left with his secretary. Dee was just trying to do her job.