Her heart thudded as they silently squared off. Impossibly, he was more dangerous now in that sharp white shirt and the black trousers. She could sense the heat and strength of the muscles she knew full well were primed beneath that expensive fabric. But she refused to flinch, or shrink back...right now she refused to even breathe.
He still just stared at her. But where his stance was furious, his eyes were nothing but warm—a honeyed amber iris and melting, deep pupils that widened the more she watched—daring her nearer, willing her to dive in and drown.
‘Let me have a go at fixing this,’ she eventually croaked.
‘And make it worse?’
‘Why not trust me to do the job I was hired to do?’
‘You’ve already shown you’re incapable of doing that. You chose to walk out.’
‘So a person can’t make a single mistake? You can’t give someone a second chance? This wasn’t a capital offence, Alvaro. This wasn’t even illegal.’
It had been the tiniest mistake and he was totally overreacting.
‘It was a data breach.’
‘Actually, it wasn’t,’ she said firmly. ‘It clearly states in the terms and conditions of the app that Byrne IT has the right to use that data in any publicity.’
His gaze narrowed on her.
Yes, she’d spent the time waiting for the train reading up all she could. And she was good at reading long, boring documents and legalese.
‘While it wasn’t ideal and while it certainly might not have been best policy,’ she continued, ‘it wasn’t illegal. And you can change the policy to better reflect what your consumers are now saying they want.’
‘You’re not going to admit to doing anything wrong?’
‘Actually, the contrary.’ She straightened on her chair—pointless as it was because he was still so much taller than her. ‘I take full responsibility. It was my mistake and I’ll apologise for it.’
Juno had posted the wrong graphic on one of their social media channels. Version one instead of version two. Version one included user names whereas version two had been made anonymous. It had been such a simple mistake but some of those users had noticed and didn’t like their usernames being displayed. The lack of initial response had led to that small flame of discontent flaring to a dumpster blaze and an online debate about privacy rights.
‘Fine. You’ve apologised. Now you can leave.’
‘Not leaving.’ She spun back to the screen.
‘What are you doing?’
She didn’t glance away from the computer. ‘I said I’d apologise.’
‘You just did.’
‘Not only to you.’
He paused. ‘You’re emailing the team before you leave?’
‘I already have. Because I’m sorry for going AWOL at the weekend, but I’m back. And now I’m replying to the complainants.’
‘What?’
‘Everyone makes mistakes,’ she said heatedly. ‘And most people deserve a second chance, right?’ she said. ‘Most normal people are willing to give that.’ She sent him a look.
He folded his arms across his very muscular chest. ‘You think a little apology is going to make this all go away?’
‘An acknowledgement can mean a lot.’ She nodded.
‘As can getting something for free,’ he added cynically.
‘Then I’ll give them a month free on their subscription. You can take it directly from my salary.’ She swallowed. She could cover that cost for Juno once she was back in Monrova. And it would be worth it just to prove herself in front of the furious one here.
‘You’re willing to the pay the price all by yourself?’ he asked.
She glanced back and looked directly into those heart-stopping eyes. ‘I’m willing to do whatever it takes.’
‘I didn’t think royals were known for admission of any kind of guilt,’ he commented acidly.
Oh, so he had a thing against all royals? Not just Juno in particular? ‘Did you think we’re all spoilt and entitled?’
‘I think...’ He paused, his words coming soft but dangerous nonetheless. ‘I think you need to prove yourself, Princess.’
She looked at him a moment longer and then lifted her chin. ‘Fine,’ she breathed, bluffing as best she could. ‘No problem.’
CHAPTER TWO
NO PROBLEM?
The annoying thing was, that appeared to be the case. Three hours into it, Alvaro studied the princess from the relative privacy of his office. She looked pale and thinner—at least he thought she did. Truthfully, he’d not spent much time considering her as he’d been away working on a deal. But Juno was right, this wasn’t a ‘data breach’ and they hadn’t actually contravened their own privacy policy, and perhaps her suggestion they amend their terms was worth considering.
So now he watched her messages appear online with interest. She was responding to every comment already made, signing each one ‘PJ’.
I’m sorry for the error. It was entirely my mistake. This was your story to share.
To his amazement, the diffusion of emotion was happening before his eyes. Comments kept appearing—more, then more replies to her responses. Now people were telling her not to worry about it? People were feeling sorry that she’d made a mistake? How had she got them onside so quickly?
Everyone makes mistakes, but mine impacted directly on you. I can only apologise and thank you for accepting my apology.
She’d written to one formerly cross customer and now they were asking her which was her favourite workout and chatting like old friends?
He looked up to observe her again. She was almost smiling as she typed—a whisper of a sweet smile. He’d had his doubts about hiring her, cynically thinking that his marketing manager just wanted to sprinkle some quasi-celebrity glitter about the place. And that Juno was cynical too, only doing this for profit. Prior to this she’d been an ‘influencer’ or something—he’d assumed that meant she merely peddled whatever product people would give her just to make a buck.
But maybe he’d been wrong about that, because she was genuinely engaged and actually enjoying this interaction. She worked quickly, using two computers to check on different social media channels, answering comments as quickly as she could. But the comments were snowballing now. One made him flinch. It was personally abusive. Vile.
Instinctively he stood, but before he could move she’d posted a polite, finite response. And now others had boosted her response and, in only moments, the abusive comment was buried in an avalanche of support for the princess.