Read Online The Morning After the Night Before: Love & Lust in the city that never sleeps! by Nikki Logan - Free Book Online

she’d felt, that was worth a lot.
    Everything, really.
    A different kind of reward.
    â€˜Thanks for coming, everyone,’ Tanya started,in her amateur-theatre-on-the-weekends stage voice. ‘Here’s how things will run today…’
    When the spiel wound up, the rep from the world’s biggest human rights organisation was called in first. Izzy did the alphabetical maths and realised she’d either be ninth, as a ‘T’, or fifth as an ‘L’ depending on how Broadmore felt about definite articles. That meant she could relax for about ninety minutes.
    Relax.
    Deep in enemy territory?
    She settled in behind the screen of a large pillar and muttered, ‘I don’t think so.’
    It was nearly four hours before she was smoothing her skirt again and heel-clicking on the expensive floors into the conference room. She guessed she’d be facing Darcy McLennan from Communications and Kevin Busby from Marketing. They’d been a good team when she’d led them and she knew from experience that they were kind people whose only agenda was to make smart choices according to the departments they were there representing. Maybe she’d even meet her replacement from Finance, too, and it would be a panel full of friendly faces.
    That took away some of her nerves as she pushed open the door and entered the room,her head high and a smile on her face. Darcy and Kevin both looked surprised as she entered, so she gave them an extra-warm smile as her eyes tracked from the right of the panel. But when she got to the left, she hit a pair of eyes that didn’t look surprised at all.
    Cobalt, piercing eyes.
    Smug eyes.
    Ugh.
    Izzy stumbled just slightly but caught herself and continued on to stand beside the vacant chair on her side of the table. She greeted Kevin and Darcy with warm handshakes, then steeled herself and turned to reach to her left, her eyes steady.
    â€˜Mr Mitchell, how are you?’
    * * *
    Better the devil you know. Wasn’t that what she’d thought all those agony-filled minutes ago?
    That was before she’d realised she knew one of them in the biblical sense, but she’d soldiered on and delivered the presentation she’d practised on her flatmates until their ears bled.
    Darcy and Kevin both looked mildly surprised.
    Harry just looked bored.
    â€˜Otters.’ He studied the glossy printout infront of him. ‘Aren’t they a kind of rodent? Feeding off the river bottom and skulking around in people’s back-yard pools?’
    â€˜You just described half your social circle. You’re still happy to do business with them.’
    Darcy gasped but Harry’s bark of laughter ricocheted off the fine panelled walls. ‘Why don’t you tell me what you really think, Ms Dean?’
    Ah, sarcasm. She knew how to deal with that.
    â€˜Bottom line, the money The Lutra Trust needs to do great things on the ground would barely pay the stationery bill of anyone out in your foyer. Broadmore Natále would be a major sponsor with us instead of just one of a multitude with them. You’d never have to share logo space.’
    Blah blah blah. She was clearly boring him.
    â€˜I’m going to be honest with you, Ms Dean—’
    â€˜That would be refreshing.’
    He ignored that. ‘You’re not in our top five.’
    The carefully schooled surprise on Kevin’s and Darcy’s faces suggested he hadn’t yet polled them, which meant Lutra Trust weren’t in his personal top five. Then again this wouldn’t be the first time that he’d overruled his staff. It also meant she was screwed.
    But she would be damned before she begged. ‘Disappointing. But I’m just getting warmed up.’
    â€˜Really?’ Only the slightest flick of his eyebrows gave her any clue that he’d not expected that. ‘Not letting the moss grow, huh?’
    â€˜You’d be astonished what I can achieve when I’m