She nodded, following him as he took the stairs. He held his body so straight she could sense his anger coming off him in waves. Yet she wasn’t afraid of him. He stood back to let her open her door and waited until she was inside before closing it behind him.

“What on earth are you playing at? Why did you agree to coffee and lunch if all you intended on doing was backstabbing me?”

If she’d known him better, she would have thought he was hurt as well as angry. “Conor, I’m sorry. I didn’t know.”

“Didn’t know what? When you were being recorded? Come on, Emily.”

“Yes, it was but I swear I didn’t agree to calling you out at the end. In fact, I told my staff it was a bad idea.”

“And you expect me to believe that?”

“Yes.”

“Why? Give me one good reason.”

“Because it’s the truth. I swear to you, Conor. I didn’t authorize the video’s release, and I certainly didn’t record the video to end that way. Jason edited it, he must have changed it.”

“Have you spoken to him?”

“No, I can’t get him on his cell. It seems to be switched off, but it is Sunday. I was going to speak to him first thing in the morning. I tried to contact you but your number didn’t come up on my cell and I called Sunny Studios, but they were closed.”

“So you just left it? The internet is going nuts. My reputation, something I value, is in the toilet but you can’t reach your staff on their cells so all is wonderful in the life of Emily Williams?”

His sarcasm rocked her.

“Actually, I was working on an apology. I took some ideas from our conversation yesterday and was in the middle of scripting something to post.”

“Sure, you were.”

She shook her head, aware that he didn’t really have any reason to believe her. “I’ll show you.”

She went to the bedroom and returned with her laptop and her notes. “I was playing that last game Sunny Studios released and working out what good things I should highlight.”

“I see you didn’t get very far.”

“The thing is…and don’t get even more annoyed, but I can’t find anything I enjoy. Well, apart from the multiplayer aspect and some of the graphics are quite cool. But the rest—well, it’s boring.”

“You mean too violent.”

“No, I mean boring. The first few levels are good. But the basic concept of the game is boring. In fact, I would hazard a guess that the recent internet fury caused by those who hate the foundation may have buoyed up the popularity of the game.”

“Are you serious? You slag me off on the internet and now you justify yourself by telling me that any publicity is good publicity? I’ve heard enough. You’ll be hearing from my solicitor or attorney or…whatever you want to call him in the morning.”

“Conor, wait. Why don’t you try playing it? You never have, right? You can see for yourself if what I said was true.”

He stood, a hesitant look mixing with the one of disgust on his face.

“I swear, I will apologize. I can’t imagine how you feel, but I feel awful. I didn’t plan this. Any of it, I promise.”

The look he gave her hit straight into her heart. She had hurt him. The real him, not the business persona but the man underneath. She hated hurting anyone. It reminded her too much of how she felt back in high school.

“I am sorry,” she whispered, praying he would believe her.

“So how do I start playing?”

She sat beside him and showed him how the basic controls worked. Then she sat back and let him take over. He wasn’t too bad for a beginner. He worked through a couple of levels, then shut the laptop.

She looked up from the speech she had gone back to working on. She had decided not to discuss the latest offering, but to pick a well-known game instead. One she could do justice to.

“Do you want to watch while I film the apology?”

“Do you want me to? Or will it make you nervous?” He didn’t seem as angry as before. The fact he even asked was a good thing.

“I’ll be nervous either way, but I think I would like you to stay.”

* * *

He remained silent as she set things up and then watched her as she spoke. She looked directly at him when she wasn’t consulting her notes. She seemed sincere, but he wasn’t sure quite what to believe. This whole weekend had been as far from his comfort zone as possible. He felt like he’d been transported back in time to school and was caught up in some horrible nightmare. The cool kids hated him, calling him a geek. He had pretended he didn’t care, that he was just as good as everyone else in his posh school. In fact, on their measuring scales, he was better than some as his father earned more money. Until the news broke about his father. Then it had gotten much worse.

“Conor?”

He started as he realized she was finished. The laptop was closed.

“Sorry, what?”

“Was that okay? Did it help any?”

“Sure. It was fine.” What was he saying? He had no idea what she had said.

“Would you like a drink? I have some wine in the fridge.”

“A beer would be better. Do you have any?”

She nodded. Soon she was back with a glass of wine in one hand and a beer in the other.

“What do you think the reaction will be?” he asked.

“To my speech?” She shrugged. “Maybe we should check.”

She sat beside him as she opened the laptop. The traffic was up with the comments flooding in. He read a couple of them as she scrolled through.

“Emily, shut it off. I didn’t realize there were so many scumbags out there.”

“Oh, these are mild compared to some I get. I don’t pay them any attention.”

“Really?”

He thought she looked a bit rattled but maybe she was telling the truth.

“Cheers,” she said as she took a drink.

“I’m sorry, Emily. About before. I really went off on one.”

“You don’t have to apologize. I was horrified to see the video, and I was the one starring in it. I’ll have to have a serious talk with Jason tomorrow. He can’t do this sort of thing.”

“Are you going to sack him?” Interesting. His question made her blush. Why? Was Jason a lover or something? Conor racked his brains. He couldn’t remember being introduced to Jason at the fundraising event. Had that only been on Friday night? His whole world seemed to have been turned topsy turvy and it was all due to this woman.

“I can’t do that.”

“Why not?” he probed. He really shouldn’t. He would hate it if someone came in and told him how to treat his staff. Although, if someone had gone out on a limb like this in his business, he would have been given his cards. No question about that.

“Because he’s Jason. We’ve known each other since high school. He’s very protective of me and sometimes he goes too far. But I will speak to him, I promise. Nothing like this will happen again.”

“Take my cell number just in case.”

He finished his beer. It was time to go. Before he did something stupid, like kiss her.

“Thanks for doing the update. I guess we’ll see what the fallout is tomorrow with the stock prices.”

She blanched and he kicked himself. Why did he have to mention that? He could afford to take a hit and although he wasn’t about to admit it now, he was going to have words with his own staff as to how his new business worked. He didn’t want to be associated with anyone or anything producing the type of rubbish she had outlined they developed.

“Goodnight, Emily,” he said. There was so much more he could have said but they both needed some time to get to know each other.