Chapter Twelve

Lexie told herself not to overthink anything as she picked up her rucksack and headed downstairs to check out. She'd kissed plenty of men before—and she was a master at keeping things casual. She had literally never had a serious relationship in her life—if anyone could play this cool, she could. It had been a random moment of confusion, misreading adrenaline from their argument as chemistry, that was all. He'd said they would talk about it today, so they'd talk, no doubt put it behind them, and she would do her best to be polite and professional moving forward. Especially because she didn't think that the two of them just ignoring each other from now on was going to work. The trip had gotten her thinking—no doubt Ange's intention. She couldn't just run from this. She wasn't actually sure where that left her—and despite her restless night, when she'd been unable to stop her thoughts churning around, all she'd arrived at was that the current plan with Theo was not going to work.

She had an earlier flight than everyone else, so she was heading to the airport on her own—and as a result, it was only Mike and Theo waiting in reception to see her off. Her stomach lurched at the sight of Theo, despite what she'd told herself. She could only see the back of him, but that didn't stop her mind immediately remembering what it had felt like to have his mouth on hers, how his fingers had dug into her waist, the feel of the length of his body against hers. Not useful, Lexie. She realized she was scowling and tried to smooth out her expression—scowling didn't really lend itself to polite and professional.

Mike and Theo seemed to be having another hushed conversation as she crossed the sleek wooden floors, her pumps squeaking a little in a way that made her feel unnecessarily self-conscious. Whatever the two of them were talking about, it must have been very serious, given Mike's expression. She couldn't see Theo's, but he had that stillness of intense focus. The stillness she'd felt last night, when his attention had been solely on her. Stop it, Lexie!

Mike only noticed her when she was right there, putting down her rucksack and fishing out her key card to hand in to reception, and he jumped in an almost comical way before pasting on a smile. They'd been talking about her, then. Or something they didn't want her overhearing. Come to think about it, talking about her made a lot of sense—she'd have been talking about her too, if the situation were reversed. It didn't matter, she told herself. They could think what they liked. She tried really hard to believe that as Theo spun to look at her. Unlike Mike, who she'd not seen out of a suit all weekend, he was wearing jeans and a long-sleeved dark blue T-shirt.

He gave her a little nod. "Lexie."

"Theo." It was so ridiculously formal that for a second, she wanted to burst out laughing—an entirely inappropriate reaction.

"So you're ready to be off, are you, Lexie?" Mike asked. "Enjoyed your holiday, I hope?"

"Yes, I—"

But Mike's phone rang, and he made a show of fishing it out of his suit jacket pocket, holding up one finger as he checked the screen. "Have to take this, so sorry." He stepped a few feet away before answering, wandering down into the bar area.

Lexie felt a sudden rush of nerves as she glanced up at Theo. Then she told herself to get a grip. She was an adult; she could handle being alone with him.

Theo cleared his throat. "So about last night," he began, and she nodded, mentally preparing her answer. It shouldn't have happened; she didn't know what they'd been thinking; it couldn't ever happen again. "If the truce still stands, I'd like to propose we hold fire on any discussions about the future of the company until later in the year."

She stared at him, trying to catch up. Truce. He'd suggested that before he'd kissed her. Or before she'd kissed him—she still couldn't quite work that one out.

The company—he was talking about R this was just speeding it up a little. She'd broken eye contact with Theo as her thoughts went haywire, and she took a breath to calm herself.

"That's fine," Theo said again, while Mike tugged at his collar.

"It is?" She'd expected more of a protest. More You don't care about the company so why should you be involved?

"Yes. I'm away on annual leave for a few weeks then anyway, so you'll have time to settle in. And if you're still there when I get back, we can figure it out then."

Ah. So that was it. He thought she'd have bolted by the time he was back from holiday—thought he wouldn't have to deal with her. "I'll still be there," she insisted, stubbornness setting in.

"OK." He gave her half a smile. "See you then."

"Well," Mike said, stopping Lexie from reacting to the bland OK. "What a pronouncement! Looks like we'll be seeing more of you, in this case." He reached out to shake her hand—a clear dismissal. Which was for the best, actually, because she had a plane to catch, and she wanted to be alone to think through what the hell she'd just done.

She didn't know whether to shake Theo's hand. After last night, touching seemed like a bad idea. So instead she nodded politely.

"Yeah. You'll see me then."

It was in the taxi on the way to the airport that she saw she had an email from Ange, sent this morning. She opened it up. It was a ticket back to the UK from Austria. No explanation, only three words in the subject line.

Just in case.