Hot in the City 2: Sin City (27 page)

When she saw Marc’s name in her inbox, her stomach did a somersault. And her heart lifted. Crazy, but it made him seem so much closer, already.

She opened it without delay.

Hey sweetheart, good news. I got the job in Paris. No word on when I’ll be leaving, but soon—I’m giving Adrianna my notice in the morning. Wish me luck. Guess this means no more phone calls for us, but at least there’s always e-mail, right? Take care, and hope you’re not too snowed under at the office. M

She let out a huge sigh. So much for going back to him this very second. His message was at once so comfortable-sounding, so at ease, and yet…was that all they would have now? E-mail?

She typed a reply.

Congratulations on the wonderful news! I hope you find your heart’s desire, the thing you feel passionate about, in Paris.

Here, well, snowed under is putting it lightly. It’s more like an avalanche.

That said, I should get back to work. Keep in touch, and when you get to Paris, eat an éclair for me. D

After hitting Send, she closed her eyes for a moment to blink back a tear. Then she picked her pencil back up, determined to return to work, deciding she simply couldn’t think about this anymore. Rebuilding an entire ad campaign and computer system from scratch suddenly sounded much easier.

* * * * *

A week later, Diana sat at home in her condo in a pair of flannel pajama shorts and a thin tank top. Yesterday Richard had officially sent her home with orders to sleep for two or three days. So she’d slept for over twenty-four hours straight, not counting short breaks to eat something or go to the bathroom, and she was beginning to feel human again. Not human enough to put on real clothes or leave the house, but human enough that she’d gotten up, made herself some eggs and bacon, even though it was officially evening, and was now watching a sitcom on TV.

But she couldn’t relax completely, she realized, because something was weighing on her, something she knew now that she must do, only she hadn’t done it
yet
.

Taking a deep breath, she used the remote to turn down the sound on the TV, then picked up the cordless phone next to her and dialed Bradley’s number.

When he answered, he sounded so glad to hear from her that she almost chickened out—but then she remembered that she was doing what would be best for him in the end, too. So she forced herself to begin. “Bradley, you remember how I wanted some time to think about us and decide if we should continue our relationship?”

“Of course I do. It’s killed me to let you have that time, but I didn’t want to pressure you.”

To
let
her have time? As if it were his to give? She brushed aside her annoyance and forged on. “Well, I’ve made a decision. I
don’t
wish to continue. I’ve decided it’s best if we go our separate ways.”

“Wh-what? Diana, why?”

Poor Bradley was obviously dumbfounded and she felt like a heel, but Diana knew now that she could never be the good girl he needed and that her family wanted. She totally understood Shyla’s little analogy now. When you took the feathers off a chicken, it
was
still a chicken. And she was still a bad girl. “You and I are…different,” she said. “More different than you could possibly know. And even though you won’t believe me, trust me when I tell you that we could never make each other happy in a long-term relationship.”

Even if she was alone forever, she was a bad girl to the core and knew she couldn’t change it—didn’t even want to. Now that Marc had opened her up to so many new, exciting experiences, she understood that deep inside she wanted more than Bradley. She wanted the kind of exciting, sensual life she’d found with Marc in Vegas.

Of course, she no longer had Marc to
share
that sensual life with, but she’d come to accept that it was part of her soul and it wasn’t going to change. It had been a waste of her time, and Bradley’s, to pretend it could.

“I’m just sorry I kept you waiting. I want you to move on and find the
right
woman for yourself and have a nice life, okay?”

It took some convincing for Bradley to accept their breakup, but fifteen minutes after she’d called him, she finally hung up, feeling an immense sense of relief. Her life was hardly in order, but this was definitely a step in the right direction, and one less concern to be plagued with. And now Bradley could get over her and move on with his search for the real Mrs. Right.

Her next call was to Shyla. Her girlfriend had been working just as hard as she had, but Richard had sent her home for mandatory rest yesterday, too, promising that the worst of the crisis was over and they could all resume normal hours from this point forward. Diana hoped Shyla was feeling rested now, as well, because she needed someone to talk to.

Fortunately, Shyla sounded even more awake than Diana and agreed to come right over.

When Diana opened the door to her friend twenty minutes later, Shyla looked dressed to kill, even just wearing a simple pair of fitted black pants and a clingy, sleeveless top that showed off her curves.

Shyla put her hands on her hips at the sight of Diana. “You’re still wearin’ your pajamas, girl? Not that you don’t look hot, sugar, ‘cause that skimpy little top is doin’ fine things to your breasts, but I thought maybe we’d go out, get a drink, drown your sorrows, find you a new man.”

Diana glanced down to see that her nipples were jutting through her thin cotton top. She hadn’t given it a thought when she’d called Shyla. “I was thinking more of a girl’s night in,” Diana explained. “Popcorn, confessions, that sort of thing.”

Shyla planted herself on Diana’s sofa, patting the spot next to her. “All right, girlfriend. Come tell Shyla all about it.”

Diana sat down next to her friend and gave Shyla the short version of what had happened in Vegas. “I couldn’t say no to anything he wanted. Although I’ll admit I didn’t try very hard. I thought I was going to come back home and talk myself into marrying Bradley and that Vegas would be my last chance to have fun, and good sex, so I went for it, a hundred percent. And somewhere along the way, while I was trying to have this wild, no-holds-barred fun, I ended up falling for Marc. I’ve just never been with a guy who was so totally acceptant of the real me, who seemed to want something…real, something that mattered, even after I was a wild woman with his friends, maybe even
because
of that. But now he’s going to Paris for a job, and I’m stuck here in Baltimore anyway, and…I just feel so lost. Lonely. Empty.”

“Come here,” Shyla said, holding out her arms, “and let Shyla make it all better.”

Diana leaned into her friend, accepting the hug. Although when it went on longer than she expected, one of Shyla’s hands lightly caressing her back, the other her hair, she realized Shyla wanted more than just a hug.

Diana had always thought Shyla attractive, and now that she’d come to know the joys of being with another woman, she thought she should feel tempted. Shyla was beautiful and sexy with her pale bronze skin, her almond-shaped eyes, her tall, thin model’s body…and maybe getting lost in a little physical pleasure was just what Diana needed.

She let her own hands begin to slowly roam Shyla’s back and she pressed her thinly covered breasts against her girlfriend’s.

“That’s right, sugar,” Shyla murmured in her ear. “Just let it all go.”

Part of her
was
tempted…but a much bigger part of her just wasn’t into it. Despite herself, the only person she wanted to be with sexually was Marc.

Finally, she pulled away, out of Shyla’s embrace. “I’m sorry, I can’t.”

A slow smile of understanding grew on Shyla’s coral lips.

“It’s not you,” Diana said, “it’s me. It’s…Marc.”

Shyla patted her knee. “That’s okay, sugar. I thought maybe I could interest you in
another
kind of comfort, but I can dish the girl talk with you just as easy,” she concluded with a wink that put Diana at ease.

Diana smiled. “Thanks for understanding.” Then she glanced toward the kitchen, deciding she was hungry again. “Want some popcorn?”

“What I really want, looks like I ain’t gonna get,” Shyla replied with a mischievous grin. “But popcorn sounds like a decent substitute.”

* * * * *

Still not quite recovered from her around-the-clock work, Diana slept in late on Monday, arriving at the office around ten. To her relief, the whole mood of the place seemed calmer than when she’d last left it, reassuring her that the crisis truly was over and nothing bad had happened since her last departure.

As soon as she sat down behind her desk, coffee cup in hand, Shyla appeared in the doorway, decked out in a fuchsia skirt and coordinating blouse that—as usual—only she could pull off with ease.

“Morning, girlfriend.”

Diana cast a tired smile. “Morning.”

“Don’t get your pretty ass too comfortable in that chair. Richard wants to see you right away.”

Diana sighed. Was there no rest for the weary? The last time Richard had summoned her like this, he’d sent her dashing off to Las Vegas—and a week of sinful pleasures that had turned her world upside down. What could he want
now
? “If he thinks he’s going to send me jetting off to some other Adrianna’s office or boutique with no notice, he’s in for a surprise.”

Shyla wiggled her hips and gave her fingers a dramatic snap. “You tell him, girl.”

Taking her coffee with her so it wouldn’t get cold, Diana trudged down the hall to Richard’s office. The door was open, so she didn’t bother knocking, just walked in, set her cup down on his desk, and took a seat across from him. “What now?”

A Cheshire cat’s smile spread across Richard’s face. He looked like a man who had a secret.

“What is it?” she demanded. “Spill.”

“Diana,” he said very calmly, resting his hands atop his blotter and lacing his fingers together, “you’ve been offered a new position.”

Diana blinked. “What?”

“You’ve been offered a job as head of marketing at corporate. Adrianna just called.”

Diana still couldn’t quite absorb what he was telling her. Maybe she
still
hadn’t had enough sleep. She shook her head lightly. “What are you talking about?”

Richard continued smiling at her. “Marc put in his notice recently, and now that he and Kelly are both gone, Adrianna thinks it’s a good time to reconfigure. She wants you to reorganize the department, to centralize our national and international marketing efforts, to run the whole show in terms of marketing Adrianna, Inc. to the world.” His smile faded just slightly. “So, we’ll miss you if you choose to go, but it’s a big step up in the organization, and just to put in my two cents, you’d be crazy not to take it.”

Diana’s first thought was how ironic it was that this would happen
now
, now that she was free from Bradley but Marc was leaving the country.

Yet it still sounded like a great opportunity, a huge leap in her career, and…well, whenever she finally got over Marc and started wanting to party again, where better to do it than Vegas? Not to mention that she already knew much of the department and thought she’d be happy working with them. It took less than a minute for her to make up her mind. “Tell Adrianna I accept and will be happy to start as soon as I can make relocation arrangements.”

“The expenses of which will be covered by the company, of course,” he added.

“Of course,” she said, and for some reason it reminded her of Adrianna’s promise to compensate her for her dedication. This job must have been what she meant.

Her head was spinning by the time she left Richard’s office. She was excited about this change. It would be a whole new chapter in her life, a whole new beginning, something she desperately needed right now.

Returning to her desk, she realized she was too keyed up to dive into work just yet. But on a lark, she decided to e-mail Marc.

Guess what? Adrianna has offered me a job…as Head of Marketing! I’ll be relocating to Vegas as soon as possible. What timing, huh? You’ll probably be in Paris before I arrive, but if you’re still there, I’d love to see you at least one last time before you go. No travel plans yet—this is brand new news!—but I’ll call you as soon as I arrive. D

A few minutes later, she got a reply.

Wow, congratulations! Head of Marketing! I can’t think of a more worthy person for the job—you deserve it. My travel plans still aren’t completely set, either, and I may not know exactly when I’m leaving until almost the last minute, but yes—try calling me as soon as you get here. I miss you and would love to see you again. M

Of course, seeing Marc one last time, all the while knowing they’d soon be parted, would be nothing short of torture. Yet
that
was a temptation she
couldn’t
resist. Torture, yes, but of the sweetest kind.

* * * * *

The next two weeks were nonstop work for Diana. In addition to packing up her home, putting her condo on the market, and saying goodbye to friends and family, she’d also been trying to wrap up her old job and help Shyla—who’d been promoted to take her place—transition into it.

The night before she left, she’d had dinner with her parents and her younger sister, Carrie. Of course, they’d been upset to hear she’d broken things off with Bradley, but the job transfer had helped smooth things out with them. Although they’d miss having her nearby, they were proud of her career achievements and they seemed proud of this promotion, too.