Desired By The Boss. Catherine Mann

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       PROLOGUE

      THE SUNSET WAS PERFECT—all orange and purple on a backdrop of darkening blue. Just the right number of clouds stretched their tendrils artistically along the horizon.

      The beach, however, was not so perfect.

      It had been a warm Perth day, so April Molyneux hadn’t been alone in her plans for a beachside picnic dinner. Around her, people congregated about mounds of battered fish and chips on beds of butcher’s paper. Others had picnic baskets, or brown paper takeaway bags, or melting ice cream cones from the pink and white van parked above the sand dunes.

      There were beach towels everywhere, body boards bouncing in the waves, children building sandcastles, women power walking along the beach in yoga pants, gossiping at a mile a minute. Then a football team jogged by, shirtless and in matching deep purple shorts.

      April wanted to scream. This was not what she’d planned.

      This was not a private, romantic, beachside tête-à-tête.

      Evan lay sprawled on their picnic blanket, his back turned away from April as he scrolled through his phone.

      Today was their wedding anniversary. Three years.

      #anniversary #threeyears #love #romance

      Right now April felt like dumping the contents of the gourmet picnic box she’d ordered all over his head—sourdough baguettes, cultured butter, artisan cheeses, muscatels and all.

      ‘Do we have to do this?’ Evan asked, not even looking at her.

      ‘You mean spend time with your wife on your anniversary?’ Her words were sharp, but April’s throat felt tight.

      The sea-breeze whipped her long blonde hair across her eyes, and she tucked it back behind her ears angrily. She sat with her legs curled beneath her, a long pale pink maxi-dress covering her platinum bikini. She stared daggers at Evan’s back. His attention was still concentrated on the screen of his phone.

      ‘You know that isn’t what I meant.’

      She did. But she’d spent weeks leading up to today, posting photos of their wedding to her one point two million followers.

      #anniversary #threeyears #love #romance

      She’d organised for the Molyneux family jet to take them up north, up past Broome. She’d found the perfect—perfect—private beach. She’d had the stupid picnic box couriered up from Margaret River, and she’d had her assistant organise a gorgeous rainbow mohair picnic blanket, complete with a generous donation to the Molyneux Foundation.

      And then Evan had called from work as she’d been packing her overnight bag. He’d asked if they could cancel their trip. He didn’t really feel like going, and could they stay home instead?

      Coming to this beach had been the compromise.

      It wasn’t even about the beach, really. Just the photo.

      All he needed to do was smile for the camera and then they could go home and eat their fancy picnic in front of the TV. Or order pizza. Whatever. It didn’t matter. And Evan could eat silently, then retreat to his study and barely talk to her for the rest of the evening.

      Just as he did most nights.

      Again, April’s throat felt tight.

      Finally Evan moved. He shifted, sitting up so he could face her. He took off his sunglasses, and for some reason April did too.

      For the first time in what suddenly felt like ages he looked directly at her. Really intensely, his hazel eyes steady against her own silvery blue.

      ‘I don’t think we can do this any more,’ he said. Firmly, and in a way that probably should have surprised her.

      April pretended to misunderstand. ‘Come on—it’s just a stupid photo. We need to do this. I have contractual obligations.’

      For product placement: The mohair blanket. The picnic box. Her sunglasses. Her bikini.

      Donations to the Molyneux Foundation were contingent on this photograph.

      Evan shook his head. ‘You know what I’m talking about.’

      They’d started marriage counselling only a year after their wedding. They’d stopped trying for a baby shortly afterwards, both agreeing that it was best to wait until they’d sorted things out.

      But they hadn’t sorted things out.

      They’d both obediently attended counselling, made concerted efforts to listen to each other...but nothing had really changed.

      They still loved each other, though. They’d both been clear on that.

      April knew she still loved Evan. She’d loved him since he’d asked her to his Year Twelve ball.

      To her, that had been all that mattered. Eventually it would go back to how it had used to be between them. Surely?

      ‘I’ll always love you, April,’ Evan said, in a terribly careful tone that she knew he must have practised. ‘But I don’t love you the way I know I should. The way I should love the woman I’m married too. You deserve better, April.’