“So this is goodbye.” She was standing on her front porch, gazing up at him.

He cleared his throat, internally hating the fact that this moment of truth had arrived. “Yes. This is goodbye.” Simon turned from her, ready to head back to his car and drive off.

The drive back to Seattle from the conference had been tortuously silent and awkward. There was no point in rehashing their affair now that it was ending.

Her hand touched his arm, stopping him. “You mean forever?”

When he turned back to look at her, he made sure to keep his face expressionless. He was too jaded a man to show her that letting her go was actually the last thing he wanted to do.

“Of course not,” he replied, keeping his tone light. “You’ll be back to work on Monday. Enjoy your weekend.”

“Simon, what we did—”

“That’s forgotten,” he reminded her sharply. “It’s time to put it behind us.”

“I never meant to hurt you.” Heather bit her lip, sadness flashing in her eyes. “Thank you.”

“For what?”

“For not reporting this,” she said. “I don’t think we’d be able to get past this if someone else knew.”

“No need to thank me,” he said. “You were right. I’m a private guy, and keeping it quiet is the best way to handle this.”

“So, this is over then,” she said.

This wasn’t the time to get caught up in sentiment. He pulled his arm away from her and sauntered over to his car. “Heather, it never truly began.”

~~*~~

MONDAY MORNING TRAFFIC was torture. Being stuck behind the wheel of his car, alone to contemplate his thoughts of Heather, wasn’t the way he wanted to start the week. Simon would rather not think about his assistant. He usually spent his weekends working, but he’d been so distracted thinking about her that almost nothing had gotten done.

His cell phone rang, and he glanced over at it. Heather.

Simon put the phone on speaker. “Yes?”

“Simon?” she answered breathlessly, the sound of her voice filling the car. Just hearing the husky tone of her voice was driving him crazy. “It’s me—”

“I know perfectly well who it is,” he said, cutting her off. No point in telling her how unmistakably sexy her voice was. “What is it?”

“We have a bit of a situation down here,” she replied.

He frowned. “What’s the problem?”

“Some of the products have more bugs than the engineers expected,” she explained. “It’s in the beta process right now, of course, but it’s not looking good.”

He cursed under his breath. Damn it. If the roll out of the new products got pushed back, it would be a massive blow to Dover. The good press they had generated recently would go down the drain and the company’s reputation would be shot to hell.

His temples started to throb. Stress always had a way of creeping up on him. “Okay. Right. Thanks for telling me.” If he let on that the news worried him, that would just affect her and make things at work even more tense. Tension had a way of lowering productivity. Right now, everyone at Dover needed to be at their best. Even if he didn’t have a solution for the problem at the moment, he had to project confidence.

“What do I do?” she asked.

“Get the chief engineers down into a conference room and tell them to sit tight until I get there,” he ordered. “And have Linda sit in on this. We need to be able to spin this for the media if it turns out to be disastrous.”

Simon reached over to his phone and hung up before she got the chance to answer. He had given her an order. Heather was a professional and she’d get things done. Keeping her on the phone was only going to get a whole bunch of inappropriate thoughts racing through his head.

Finally, the traffic cleared, and he made it to Dover headquarters with time to spare. When he found Heather, she led him into the conference room where Linda and dozens of chief engineers had gathered. There was a nervous buzz in the room as the engineers spoke in hushed, worried tones. They all turned to him when he stepped into the conference room.

He gave Heather a curt nod and shrugged out of his jacket, ready to get to work. “What’s the situation like?”

All at once, the engineers started talking, drowning each other out.

“One at a time,” he said loudly over the din.

He didn’t have to tell them twice. The minute he spoke, they all quieted down.

One of the engineers raised his hand and Simon nodded at him in acknowledgement. If they had any hope of solving the product issues before the launch, they had to do this in an orderly manner. He didn’t have time for sloppiness.

“Some of the bugs have completely blindsided us,” the engineer said, his voice strained with an edge of panic. “Some of the newer coders—”

“Let’s get to work solving the problem.” Simon draped his jacket over an empty chair and shoved his hands into the pockets of his jeans. “I don’t care who you all want to blame, or whose fault it is. Ultimately the buck stops with me, so it’s my fault.”

No one responded. Their eyes darted around. Good. That meant they were confused. If they thought they could come in here and toss around excuses, they were mistaken.

He gave the room a stern look. “Come on, people. We don’t have time to waste.” His tone made them all jump. “Tell me the problem and then we’ll work on a solution. Blaming the newbies isn’t going to solve this.”

For the rest of the morning, they spent time putting their heads together to come up with a viable solution. By the time a few hours ticked by, they had come up with something. Simon wasn’t sure if it would fix their problem, but as the engineers left the conference room he was at least satisfied that there might be a way out of the mess they were in.

Now, all he had to do was make some calls to board members and investors to keep them from panicking.

“Simon.” Heather closed her laptop.

He leaned back in the leather chair he had been sitting in all morning and looked at Heather. She had diligently typed up notes of the meeting, so if he forgot something he knew she’d be right there to remind him. The same way she recognized Santo Mattis at the conference. He hadn’t recognized the man, but Heather had.

And she had only been on the job for a few weeks. Already she was making his life easier. At least, his professional life anyway. His personal life was a train wreck that he had to fix. And fast.

He crossed his arms, making sure he looked as stern and professional as possible now that they were alone together. “Yes?”

“I can start calling some of the investors for you,” she said. “But maybe it’s best we leave it until after lunch. If you get a break and have something to eat, you’ll be fresh enough to talk to them.”

The concern in her tone made his body tense. She was being caring and considerate. Thinking about his well-being. And he wasn’t sure if it was because of what had taken place in their personal lives or if it was just the concern of a professional and seasoned assistant. They couldn’t afford for him to have to wonder what her motives were.

“No. Start making the calls now,” he said flatly. “Better yet, you go to lunch and I’ll do it myself.”

“But—”

“You heard me.” His narrowed his eyes. “I’m in charge here, Heather, not you. We can’t afford to negotiate right now. If I make a reasonable request, I need you to follow through with it. Now, go to lunch.”

“Okay.” She grabbed her laptop and brushed a stray strand of her dark hair out of her eyes.

Heather looked utterly beautiful in her glasses and her usual conservative dress. Her skirts always fell just below the knee, but memories of kissing her inner thigh made his blood run hot.

“If you’re sure,” she continued. She gazed at him, as if she was expecting him to relent and let her concern for him dictate his professional choices.

“I won’t repeat myself,” he warned.

Surprised sadness flickered in her eyes for a moment, but it disappeared so fast he wasn’t sure if he was imagining things.

What he wouldn’t give to be able to walk across the room and kiss her until her sadness vanished. Until she was melting in his arms and begging him to take her again.

Hell, he would even settle for a civil, friendly conversation. But they weren’t friends. Not anymore. And showing even a slight amount of concern for her beyond work was liable to destroy them both. He had to keep his reaction to her in check. No matter how mouthwatering her long legs looked in those heels this morning.

If she wanted to defy him, she didn’t. Her only response to his words was to lift her chin, avert her gaze, and march silently out of the conference room.

The only thing she left behind was the scent of her seductive perfume and the cold tension that had settled over them all morning.

~~*~~

SIMON WAS ICING HER out.

She could sense it. He had been distant all week, and now that the work week was winding down she only felt it more intensely.

“I’ve got the new reports you requested,” she said as she reluctantly stepped into his office.

He grunted an acknowledgement, barely looking up from signing his name on a stack of documents.

“Where do you want them?” Her arms were dull with pain as she held on tightly to the binders she had lugged up here.

“On my desk.” His face was still buried in the pile of papers.

Simon might not be the most social man, but usually he spoke more than a handful of works to her. At least, he had before they had come back from the conference. Ever since he had left her on her front porch the night they got back to Seattle, he had been cold and distant.

Heather knew it was best to keep things professional, but it still stung. With a sigh she set the binders down on the desk. His usually-ordered office was becoming a mess. Mostly because when she had offered to tidy the place up, he had refused the offer.

“Anything else?” she asked. “I have about an hour to spare, so just let me know if you need me to do something.”

“No, thank you.” He reached for a bottle of painkillers and opened it.

She watched him down a couple of pills. Probably for another one of his headaches. Usually she’d take care of something like that. Remind him to take some pills when he stubbornly tried to tough out the pain. Or she’d go to the medical station and get a stock of painkillers for him. Now he was taking the pills without her prompting. The way he had the day of her interview. On the day he had fired his previous assistant.

Damn, it felt like she wasn’t even here.

Even before she had first kissed him, they had been able to talk while they worked together. The silence that was enveloping his office just set her on edge.

“Simon, I’m here to help you. If you don’t want my help, then why am I still working here?” Where had that come from? It was probably better to keep her head down and collect a paycheck. Instead, here she was, reminding him of how useless he was making her feel.

“You’re here because you’re a good worker,” he said. “Come to think of it, I do need these documents filed away. A lot of them need to be filed in my office, and rest of the files need to go to different departments.”

“Then why didn’t you say so?” she asked.

He gave her a hard stare. “It’s best if we’re not alone together.”

The implication of his words made her face heat. That was why he kept pushing her away. Keeping her at arm’s length. He didn’t trust that they could work together in the same room.

And, considering the fact that all week she had actually missed him, she didn’t blame Simon for having zero confidence in her. They were supposed to be moving past their screw-ups, but that hadn’t stopped her from aching for him. All week she had longed for him to speak to her with the warmth that he used to. Look at her with that familiar heat in his gaze.

She would have settled for feigned politeness rather than this chill between them.

“I’ll start right away,” she said, ignoring the lump forming in her throat.

Another grunt of acknowledgement from him. She waited for a moment, to see if he might say something more, but there was nothing but cold silence.

Biting back a sigh, Heather gathered the documents in her arms and headed over to the file cabinet on the opposite side of his office. Before she started filing, she slipped off her pink sweater and rolled up the sleeves of her blouse. She’d probably be on her feet for the rest of the morning, so she might as well get comfortable.

By the time lunchtime rolled around, she was grateful to be able to take a break. She ate a chicken sandwich with some friendly colleagues. Simon might be cold and distant, but her new coworkers were easy to get along with. Even with her heart in turmoil she made sure she kept a fake smile on her face during lunch. If her colleagues knew what she had with Simon, they might be less friendly, so she did her best to look as normal and cheery as possible.

When she made it back to her office after lunch, she was exhausted from having to fake being happy in front of her coworkers. Keeping up this charade of looking normal was more tiring than actual work. As she sagged into the chair at her desk, she couldn’t wait to head home for the day.

A knock on her open door caught her attention.

“Good afternoon. Is Mr. Diesel here?” A striking redhead with long legs and supermodel-good-looks stepped into her office.

“May I ask your name please?” Heather pushed her glasses up her nose, suddenly feeling utterly drab in her ordinary blouse, gray skirt, and low heels.

“I’m Kylie.” The redhead flashed the most dazzling smile, her green eyes lighting up. “If you tell him my name, he’ll want to see me,” she said in a sultry tone. “He’s expecting me.”

Heather frowned. “He never told me he was expecting a visitor.”

“I’m more than just a visitor.” Kylie smiled again, and then winked knowingly.

Jealousy settled over Heather. It was irrational to be jealous of a woman she barely knew, but the familiar way Kylie talked about Simon was making Heather curious. Curious and jumping to all kinds of conclusions.

Had Simon moved on already?

Heather thought back to all the things he had said on that final night in the hotel. He had all but admitted that he regretted their breakup. He’d even flat out said he was jealous of her ex-husband.

But if he was that jealous, he might have found a quick way to get over it by moving on. Heather didn’t blame him. After all, she had been hesitant to pursue anything more with him. Keeping up an affair with her boss was out of the question.

“I’ll let him know you’re here,” Heather finally said.

She quickly dialed Simon’s number, informing him about his visitor.

“I’ll be right out to see her,” he said.

That was definitely unusual. Simon wasn’t the type to come out of his office to meet anyone. Which must have meant that Kylie was important to him.

Moments later Simon appeared in her office and swept Kylie into his arms.

“There you are,” he said.

Without a second glance they both stepped out of her office, Kylie’s arms entwined with his.

Jealousy was making Heather think all sorts of awful thoughts. They had barely even noticed she was there.

Dejected and miserable, Heather reached for her cell phone, the urge to text her mother overwhelming. She couldn’t tell her mother the truth, but at least there was someone to reach out to.

Already her eyes were burning with tears. It was so foolish to be jealous of a woman she barely knew. It wasn’t Kylie’s fault that Simon was single, handsome, sexy, and intense. And it wasn’t Kylie’s fault that her ex-husband had made her feel undesirable and insecure.

She mentally kicked herself. All she had done with Simon was have sex. It hadn’t been serious. But that fact couldn’t stop the ache in her heart.