Read Oh-So-Sensible Secretary for Free Online

I’ve found a weakness I can ruthlessly exploit,’ he said. ‘Besides, you told me yourself you needed a sugar fix in order to concentrate. You’ll just get grumpy otherwise.’
    Unfortunately that was all too true.
    ‘Take it as an order, if that helps,’ he said as I hesitated. ‘Keeping me company on the doughnut front is compulsory. If I’d been able to appoint my own PA I’d have put it in the job description.’
    What could I do? ‘Well, if you insist…’ I said, giving in.
    I sat on one sofa, Phin sat on the other, and we bit into our doughnuts at the same time.
    I can’t tell you how good mine tasted. I laughed as I licked sugar from my fingers. ‘Mmm…yum-yum,’ I said, and then stopped as I saw Phin’s arrested expression. ‘What?’
    ‘Nothing. I was just realising I hadn’t heard you laugh yet,’ he said. ‘You should do it more often.
    My eyes slid away from his. ‘It’s easy to laugh when you’re being force-fed doughnuts,’ I said after a tiny pause. I was very aware of him watching me, and I licked sugar from my lipswith the tip of my tongue, suddenly uncomfortable as the silence stretched.
    I cleared my throat. ‘What exactly did you want to plan?’ I said.
    ‘Plan?’ echoed Phin, sounding oddly distracted.
    ‘You said we needed to do some planning,’ I reminded him.
    ‘Oh, yes…’ He seemed to recover himself. ‘Well, I had a chat about my role here with Lex last night, and we discussed things in a civilised manner.’
    ‘Really?’
    ‘No, not really. We had a knock-down-drag-out fight, and shouted at each other for a good hour. It didn’t quite come to fisticuffs, but it was touch and go at one point. Just like being boys again,’ he said reflectively.
    I couldn’t imagine anyone daring to shout at Lex, but then Phin was a self-confessed adrenalin junkie and obviously thrived on danger.
    ‘What happened?’ I asked a little nervously. I hoped Phin hadn’t enraged his brother so much that we would be both be out of a job.
    ‘I’d like to claim utter victory, but I’d be lying,’ Phin admitted. ‘Lex wasn’t budging when it came to renegotiating our suppliers, but he did agree eventually that I could start to build up links with communities overseas. In return I had to promise to co-operate fully on the PR front. Apparently he’s lined up a feature in Glitz already.’
    Phin shrugged as he finished his doughnut and brushed the sugar from his hands. ‘So, not everything I wanted, I’ll admit, but it’s a start.’
    ‘Well…good,’ I said, feeling a little uncertain. ‘What happens next?’
    ‘We’d better keep Lex quiet about the PR,’ he decided.‘Make arrangements for that interview, and talk to Jonathan Pugh about what they want.’
    Talk to Jonathan! Talk to Jonathan . My stomach clenched with excitement. I had a reason to go and talk to Jonathan! My handwriting was ridiculously shaky as I made a note, although there was no chance of me forgetting that particular task.
    Phin was talking about a trip to Cameroon he was planning but I hardly listened. I was too busy imagining my meeting with Jonathan.
    This would be my first chance to talk to him properly since that awful evening when he had told me it ‘wasn’t working’ for him. I had seen him around the office, of course, but never alone, and I was sure that he was avoiding me. I’d been holding onto the hope that if we could just spend some time together again he would change his mind.
    I would play it cool, of course, I decided. Surely he knew that I was the last person to make a fuss? I would be calm and reasonable and undemanding. What more could he want? I’ve missed you, Summer , I imagined him saying as the scales dropped from his eyes and he realised that I was just what he needed after all. You’ve no idea how much .
    But if he had missed me, why hadn’t he told me? I puzzled over that one. OK, maybe he had just been waiting for the right moment. Or he’d thought I was busy.
    It