Jonah blinked. Sacha was beside him, peering at the computer screen. “Storyboards for the next La Glo launch.”
“The perfume?”
“Yes. Their summer scent.”
Sacha squinted closer at the screen. “Did you design this?”
“Not entirely. I have a creative team in place these days. But…”
“You have trouble delegating?”
“How can you tell?”
“Because this is the beating heart of what you do here, no? You didn’t found this company to sit in an office and watch the dollars roll in. You could’ve done that anywhere.”
“It’s pounds, but yes, I get what you’re saying.” Jonah turned his back to the screen and leaned against his desk. “I like the artistic side. I was good at it and I’d probably have preferred to work for someone else and do it full time.”
“So why didn’t you?”
“It’s not how we do things.”
“Who?”
“My family. We don’t work for other people.”
Sacha rolled his eyes. “But you’re a slave to expectation. How is that any different?”
“It’s not, but at least I can pick my own hours.”
“I heard a rumour that you are always the last to leave, and yet you were not today.”
“Lunch meeting. And not to be pedantic, but I’m still here.”
“We’restill here.”
Jonah laughed. “And I’m the pedant? Did you figure out what you left here yet?”
Sacha finally tore his gaze from Jonah’s computer. The warm light coming from the La Glo boards made his eyes gleam, like a wolf by firelight. “Not yet. I’m thinking maybe it was something I neglected to do.”
“You don’t strike me as a forgetful person.”
“No? How do I strike you?”
Hot. Sharp. Deadly. Kind.Jonah couldn’t decide until he settled on a new word:Conflicted.
He licked his lips, more aware of Sacha’s closeness than ever. “You strike me as efficient. If you didn’t do something before you left, it was deliberate.”
“Deliberate.” Sacha repeated the word slowly, as if turning it over in his mind to see if it fit. His expression was unreadable, but Jonah was growing used to that, though it made him ache to realise he hadn’t seen Sacha’s face when they were fucking.I wish I’d seen him come.
“Are you all right?” Sacha waved a hand in front of Jonah’s face. “You are flushed.”
“It’s warm in here.”
“It is not. The heating shuts off at six o’clock.”
“How do you know that?”
“Because there is an idiot in my office who tells me it means it is time to go home.”