Sia rummaged through her desk drawer desperately. She couldn’t find her stash of painkillers and she still had half the day to get through. She’d gotten into office so late after the drama of the morning that she was running way behind her schedule for the day. Wincing at another stab of pain in her temple, she abandoned her medicine hunt and was about to go in search of the office’s first aid kit when the office door opened.
‘Hi. I was wondering….’ Trailing off when she took in the lines of pain on Sia’s face, Minty shoved her hand into her laptop bag to fish out the tablets she kept for an emergency.
‘You’re a lifesaver.’ Grabbing the proffered strip, Sia quickly swallowed two.
‘What brought it on?’
‘Ryan.’
‘Really? What did he do now?’
‘His parents came home to visit this morning. After Adarsh and you left.’ In a desperate attempt to still the throbbing in her head, she buried it in her hands and held on tight.
‘What?’ Jaw dropping, Minty stared before coming to stand behind Sia. Slowly starting to massage her tense shoulder and neck muscles, she said ‘No wonder you have a migraine. What did they want?’
‘I’m going to let him tell you that.’ Sia sighed as Minty worked her magic. ‘It’s not my story to tell.’
‘I can’t even begin to imagine what they came up with. Better?’
‘Much. Thanks.’ Rolling her shoulders, she waited a beat before saying, ‘Did you know I’m his whore?’
Startled, Minty stopped massaging. Silence and then a muffled burst of laughter had Sia turning to glare at her. Much as she tried, she couldn’t stop her own lips from twitching.
‘Aren’t you the lucky one?’ Still chuckling, Minty sat back against the desk.
‘Oh yes. That’s me. Little Miss Fortune.’ With a sardonic smile, Sia pushed back from her desk. Her head did feel much better after the massage. ‘Let’s go. We have a meeting to get to.’
Walking into the conference room, they found the team from Hope already seated. Ignoring Ryan’s probing glance, Sia took the seat furthest from him. Once everyone was settled in, Tara stood to present the team’s idea. The presentation was over fairly quickly and the floor was opened up for questions.
Sia spoke up ‘It sounds good but there are two issues that I foresee. As we all know the heroine or the hero, for that matter, are the two cornerstones of a story especially in romantic fiction. Authors usually have an idea and an outline in their head of what their main characters are going to be like. I don’t think they’d be happy with letting you either name them or tell them what they should look like or what their personalities should be like. The second thing is when you say ask them to submit their love stories, do you mean their real love stories or stories that they write. If it’s the latter, then we’re sliding into a writing competition area and then they’ll probably be more interested in their written stories being published than on featuring in someone else’s story.’
‘Good points.’ Tara said. She looked over at Ryan but when he didn’t respond, she continued ‘Would it help if a minor character was named and modelled after them? Do you all think that would be an attractive enough prize?’
‘They’re going to be in a book. They should be happy as long as they’re a positive character.’ Adarsh said. When there were affirmative murmurs around the table, he moved on ‘To address your second point, we were hoping they would send in their real love stories. We’re not looking to conduct a writing competition to find a new author here. We’re looking to engage your target audience and give them a chance to interact with the author and the people who bring them their fantasies through books. Also, this is one way to show that true love exists in the world and that it isn’t just something people read about in books. Once we have people’s love stories with us, we were thinking of working on a campaign that showcased them.’
He stood up and started to draw on the whiteboard to better illustrate his point. ‘Imagine a hoarding with a picture of a couple in their seventies sitting next to each other on one side and a line on the right with a quote from their story. Something along the lines of ‘We sat next to each other on our first day in school and never wanted to sit next to anyone else since.’ Well, you get the general idea. We can use this to sell the idea of romance again and then have our new titles displayed below.’
Scanning the room for reactions to the ideas being pitched, Ryan took in Sia’s involuntary wince when someone dropped their phone with a loud clatter. Judging from her expression, she had a monster headache and here he’d thought his parents only had that effect on him. Well, now she knew. She hadn’t said anything about the freak show she’d witnessed that morning but then she’d been too trapped in her own nightmare to react.
Fidgeting under Ryan’s steady regard, Sia tried to pay attention to the questions being asked and answered. Breathing a sigh of relief as the meeting wound up and people started filing out, she started putting her papers together as Ryan and Adarsh walked over to where Minty and she were sitting.
‘How are you holding up, Min?’ Ryan asked, hugging her tight.
‘Better than I thought. Are you guys going to be working late too?’
‘Yes, we are. Is something wrong? Something I’m missing here?’ Adarsh asked looking from one to the other.
‘I called off my engagement.’ Minty said flatly. Sia silently squeezed her hand in support.
‘Oh hell! I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to probe.’ Adarsh flushed, looking at her sympathetically.
‘That’s okay.’ Minty flashed him a wan smile. ‘People need to find out sooner or later. Personally, I prefer sooner. I have to get back to my desk now. I have a lot of work to catch up on. Talk to you guys later.’
‘I’ll come with you. Ryan, I’ll email you the action items from today’s meeting and tomorrow’s agenda by end of day today.’ After a quick wave in Sia’s direction, Ardash walked out with Minty leaving the two of them alone.
Hastily shoving her notes and laptop into her laptop bag with her back to him, she reached down and swung it over her shoulder just as Ryan leant forward to tap her on it. A loud thunk, the impact jarring her arm and a muffled curse had her spinning around.
Horrified, she dropped her bag and gaped at the sight of Ryan bent over. ‘Why were you standing so close to me?’
‘A normal person would say sorry first for almost castrating me.’ Ryan managed through gritted teeth. Turning a shade of green she’d never seen before, he gasped. ‘Great. Just what I needed to finish this day off.’
‘Did I hit you in your?’ Unable to complete the sentence, she stepped closer. ‘I’m so sorry. Are you going to be okay? Can I bring you some ice or something? Should I massage something?’
‘Sia.’ Ryan’s pained voice cut through her babbling. ‘Shut up.’
‘But you look like you might faint.’ Peering more closely at him, Sia steadied his face with one hand to get a better look.
‘Sia.’ Trying to swallow an unmanly whimper, Ryan put his hands on her waist to steady himself so she didn’t topple the two of them.
The strain in Ryan’s voice had her panicking again. ‘You can’t even talk properly. I’ll go get the first aid box.’
‘Considering the fact that my balls are lodged near my throat at the moment, it’s a miracle I can talk at all.’ Sitting down in the closest chair, he let his head fall forward against the table struggling not to retch.
‘What can I get you? How can I help?’
‘Could you give me ten minutes alone? I need to curl up in a ball and weep.’
Smothering a smile, Sia reached across to stroke a hand through his hair. Closing his eyes, he let the rhythmic strokes of her hand lull him as he waited for the pain to subside.
When the waves of pain slowly receded into a dull ache, he murmured ‘About that massage?’
‘Oh shut up.’ Laughter trembling in her voice, she said ‘If you’re feeling that much better, I’m going to leave.’
‘How do I know it’s all still in working order? You could help me test it out?’ The hope in the glance he shot her had her laughing out loud.
Still chuckling, she stood and held out a hand. Grasping it, Ryan rose slowly. Keeping her hand in his, he waited to make sure he was steady on his feet before pulling her closer.
‘Ryan.’ Smiling sweetly, Sia let her hand rest loosely on his belt. ‘Don’t make me hurt you again.’
She saw the answering smile light up his eyes and felt her own lips curve in genuine amusement.
Shaking his head, he let go of her only to drape an arm over her shoulders. ‘Let’s just go home for today.’
In accord with that plan, Sia hefted her laptop bag a lot more carefully this time and walked out with him.