Beyond Business. Elizabeth Harbison

like confidence. “No worries.”

      “Well, good,” Meredith said with a smile. “I’m glad to know I’ll be safely employed in the immediate future.”

      “You can count on it,” David said, looking her in the eye.

      And she already knew it. She was safely employed. The question was, how many people at Hanson Media Group could say the same thing?

      Not too many.

      * * *

      She was asking a lot of questions, Evan noticed. Questions that could be normal, in the line of business, but which seemed just a little bit … outside the bounds of her job.

      It wasn’t as if he could take a lot of time to follow her around, though, to see what she was up to. Evan still had his own job to do, and after a decade of killing time all day until his bartending shift at night, he wasn’t too keen on the idea of figuring out why anyone should want to the know the Arbitron ratings for the last three years when it was his primary concern to make sure the next three years were more successful.

      And somehow he had to do that with Meredith Waters by his side, driving him to distraction with almost every breath she took.

      He’d never forgotten her, of course. He didn’t even try to fool himself about that one. But what was really striking him was how interested in her he was getting again. It wasn’t just the shadow she cast in his past—she had grown into a fascinating and exciting woman. A strange blend of professional savvy and goofy good humor.

      There were more facets to her than he could count. And he wanted to learn about them all.

      Was it just because of what they’d shared once? Was all of the heat he felt between them simply a matter of a once-sizzling love affair? Or was it possible that what he’d seen in her once was something that he needed still, something that complemented his soul in a way that was to be profound all his life?

      He turned the thought over in his mind and tried to imagine how they could possibly be together now, even theoretically. He wasn’t going to be here long. Chicago held nothing for him. God alone knew where he’d go next, but it was a fairly safe bet that Meredith wouldn’t want to join him. She had her life here. Her career was here. And one thing about Meredith that didn’t seem to have changed was her inclination to be a homebody.

      So there was probably nothing more to say about it than that. The past was the past, and Evan was going to have to get a grip on himself and stop fantasizing about the girl who got away. He’d let her go and there was no getting her back now.

      Both he and Meredith needed to look toward the future. Of Hanson Media Group, that is.

      Nothing more.

      Why couldn’t she get her mind off him?

      Meredith sat in her office, trying to do the advertising analysis that David had asked her to do. But all she could concentrate on was Evan.

      And he wasn’t even around.

      Well, he was around, somewhere in the office, but she’d barely seen him, except for running into him occasionally when she was alone in the copy room and again when she was returning from an early lunch. Both times Evan had been cordial, polite, but basically he’d acted as if they were strangers.

      Was he mad at her?

      The last time they’d really spoken he’d admitted that he’d known his father’s intention had been to sabotage her father’s business. Or at least he’d suspected it, and that was enough for Meredith. He’d had an inkling of what was to come, but he’d barely alluded to it in conversation, much less actually come out and warned her.

      She should be mad at him.

      But she wasn’t. That was ancient history now, and whatever his culpability for not revealing what he suspected, he had been part of George Hanson’s campaign to steal her father’s newspaper and, in fact, after warning her in his far-too-subtle way, he’d left the country. So even the greatest cynic couldn’t say he was actually part of the conspiracy.

      So, no, she wasn’t mad. Not at Evan. Not for that. Not anymore.

      Instead she found herself watching for him every time she heard footsteps in the hall. When someone entered the room, she looked up quickly, hoping it was him. And when it wasn’t, as it inevitably wasn’t, she was disappointed.

      What was going on here?

      Finally, at almost five o’clock in the afternoon, when she was about to seek him out and ask if and why he was avoiding her, Evan knocked on her door and poked his head in. “Got a minute?”

      She should have been cool and professional but she was so glad to see him that she couldn’t help the excited smile she felt on her face. “Sure.”

      He came in. “I was hoping you might go out with me and grab a bite to eat. There’s something—” he hesitated “—there’s something I want to talk to you about.”

      She frowned. “Sounds serious.”

      “It’s not that big a deal. I just thought it would be nice to get out of the office. I’m not used to being trapped under fluorescent lighting all the time.”

      “I guess it doesn’t compare to the Mediterranean sun.” There was a tiny sharp edge to her voice, and she hoped he wouldn’t notice it.

      However, the quick glance he gave her said he had. “You should try it sometime.”

      “Maybe I will.”

      He raised an eyebrow. “Really?”

      “Why do you sound so surprised?”

      “I’m not, I just. You never expressed much interest in travel before.”

      She shrugged. “I’ve never in my life had the time to travel. First it was school, then it was work, now it’s like some pathological habit. I think it’s time I broke it.”

      He smiled, the smile that had always made her heart flip. “Starting tonight, then. We’ll go to a little Greek restaurant I know on the outskirts of town.”

      She was ready to go farther than that. At this moment, she could have gotten on a plane and taken off for Greece itself, with nothing more than a bathing suit and some sunscreen.

      Of course, the image was so unlike her it was almost funny, but suddenly she found herself—unexpectedly and uncharacteristically—hungry for something new, and Chicago just wasn’t offering it to her.

      Maybe tonight it would at least give her a little taste.

      “Should I change my clothes?” she asked, feeling unexpectedly girlish at his offer.

      Evan looked her over, and her skin prickled in response, as if he’d touched her. “No, you’re fine.”

      Fine. It wasn’t high praise, but it would do. Especially given the way he’d looked at her.

      “Okay, then.” She shut her computer down and picked up her purse. “I’m ready if you are.”

      They took the elevator down to the parking garage and went to Evan’s car. He went to open the door for her and she mused, “It’s been a long time since someone opened a door for me.”

      “Chivalry’s dead, huh?”

      “That or it’s been asleep.” She got into the car and leaned back against the buttery soft leather seats. “Sound asleep.”

      “So.” Evan started the car. “Do you date a lot?”

      She was taken by surprise at his question. “Do I date a lot?”

      He nodded, his eyes on the road in front of him. “Or is that an inappropriate question.”

      “I don’t know if it is or not.” She thought for a minute. “Do you