Mixing Business With Pleasure (Love Conquers All Book 2) by Cheryl Persons

friends, but that’s it.”
    “Tiffany, this is something I have been trying to instill into you ever since we met last year.  Love is important and I wanted to be the person you would fall in love with.  Sadly I agreed that I could handle our no love relationship.  However, that’s all changed.  I don’t want you to settle, when evidently you have fallen in love with someone else.  I love you too much for that.  Now stop looking at me like I’ve lost my mind.
    “I’m starting to think you have.  You’re babbling away and you’ve lost me from the moment you said my name.”
    Robert sighed heavily.  “You are in love with Matt; it’s plain as that.  You have to tell him, before one of you loses your job and this love is lost forever.”
    “Wait a minute; that’s not what I’m saying.  I don’t love Matt and I could never love anyone like that.”
    “You know, you have never told me why you have distaste for men.  You have never explained what has caused you to have a lack of trust.  I never pressed for this information, because I was hooked.  I didn’t care.  I just knew that you were making me the happiest person in the world, so what did it matter?  Well, maybe I have shortchanged myself.  I have put any thoughts of having a happy, healthy relationship behind me.  I was idiotic to believe that I could live without love.  Which, it causes me to question anything we have here.”
    Tiffany opened her mouth to speak, but quickly closed it.  She glanced away as a tear slowly formed in the corner of her eye.  She knew he was right, not necessarily about Matt, but about him finding love.  It wasn’t fair to expect him to give up his hopes and dreams just to satisfy her.  “You have to leave.”  She spoke the words quietly.  “I appreciate the time we’ve spent together, and I am sorry I have held you back from true happiness.”
    He followed her to the door; when she turned back to him his lips slowly caressed her cheek.  “Remember what I said Tiffany.  You deserve happiness, as much as anyone else does.”
    She nodded her head in agreement as he walked out the door.  “ Goodbye Robert!”  She waved as he got in the car.  She fell up against the door as it closed.  It was the best thing that could have happened; she needed to let him move on.  What they had, it wasn’t real.  She knew that; she needed to take some time away from any guy.  It was the only way she could search for what was true.
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    Tiffany tossed and turned the whole night; she hoped that Bruce would come to his senses, but deep down she knew it wasn’t likely.  As she got dressed for work, she thought of responses to various scenarios that the board members would ask her.  Each thought, brought up another question that she could answer.  She hoped that she was being harder on them that they would.  She drove to the office and arrived minutes earlier than she did on a normal basis.  She noticed Matt’s car was already there and she figured he too didn’t get much sleep.  As soon as she entered the office she spotted him hovering near her office.  “Hey, what’s up?”  She tried to act nonchalant, but her voice squeaked in its nervousness.
    “Hey, I was going to call you; I hoped you would get here soon.”
    “Why?  What’s going on?”
    “I just got a call from Andy Harowitz.”
    Tiffany frowned and nodded.  “Okay.”
    “He is coming in about 9:00 today to have a discussion with me.  He wanted to make sure I would be around.”
    Tiffany grimaced.  “Did he say anything else?”
    “Nope, just that he had some things he needed to get cleared up.  It probably is going to be about…” his voice trailed and Tiffany knew he was right.
    Andy didn’t come into the office much; however, he was the leading CEO of the company.  If he was paying Matt a visit, it surely was because Bruce had gotten to them.  “I can’t believe he called them already.  Does he have the