Page 9 of Love.V2
I chuckled along with the rest of the room, even as my face heated again. “Absolutely!”
Eric winked. “Our parent company knows we’re solid, but now it’s time to take it to the next level. We’re talking bigger clients, more national brands we can take on because we have the Worther network at our backs. Ah, here we go. Fresh from Nashville, just the man to help us get there.”
Eric grinned as the glass conference room door swung open.
My stomach pitched. Whatever calm I’d collected seized up, spasmed, and disintegrated into dust on the conference room floor.
Dylan stepped into the room.
My body jerked like I’d touched a live wire. Six months without him hadn’t been long enough. Just one look and I was going through withdrawals.
What was he doing here?
He was dressed for the Chicago summer, his favorite green Oxford shirt hugging his lean, muscled frame. The top two buttons were undone, sleeves rolled to his elbows. Dark wash jeans and a pair of polished leather loafers finished the look. And he looked…incredible.
Tall and tan. His dark hair was long enough for his curls to riot, pushed back from his face like he’d run his hands through it this morning and it had just stayed there, frozen in tousled perfection by the grace of God. He had shaved recently, the sharp cut of his jaw smooth and flawless.
Oh, God. Oh God, oh God. In for… something…out for…
My breathing failed me. I couldn’t remember what oxygen was. Eric grasped Dylan’s hand and said something I didn’t catch. My gravitational pull was inverting. Dylan looked around the room with warm brown eyes, smiling.
And then those eyes met mine.
He paused, something flickering across his face at the same time my lungs squeezed, halting the breath in my throat. Oh, God.He was here. He was here and…
And in an instant, it was gone. He continued his casual survey of the table, as if I’d imagined the split-second of choking recognition between us. Maybe I had imagined it? I stayed locked in place, pulse pounding, staring.
“Worther has gotten us a chance at some bigger projects, and Dylan here came all the way from the big office in Tennessee to help us out.” Eric’s words finally filtered into my brain. I blinked, staring down at the table. My hands. Anything other thanhim.
“He will be here for the next several weeks, working with us on a few proposals and helping us find ways to scale our work and stay efficient. He’s a big dog up at Worther. We’re lucky they’ll let us have him.”
My mouth went dry. Did he say weeks?
“I know what you’re thinking,” Dylan said, a confident, controlled smile stealing across his mouth. His eyes flickered to mine and for another instant, that hot, suffocating pressure built in my chest. He glanced away. “But I’m not the corporate watchdog here to cramp your style. Worther sees great value in what you do. You’re known for thinking outside of the box and pushing the envelope when no one else will take the chance. I’m just here to see if I can help take you to the next level, and maybe even figure out some of your secret sauce so we can take it back to our other agencies.”
“Hey, that secret sauce recipe is mine!”
Laughter broke out at Eric’s joke. More talking, more laughter. It all melted into a buzz of background noise. I focused on the ragged cuticles I’d picked bloody over the last week.
I’d barely been prepared to see Dylan on screen for a few hours. Now, he was going to be here in person? For days—no, weeks? My insides were liquefying. Or petrifying. Both? Simultaneously?
A flurry of activity made me realize Eric had dismissed the meeting. I lurched forward on shaky legs. If I could just make it to my office, I could lock the door and hide until…October.
“Tess?”
My head snapped up at Eric’s voice. I’d already gathered my laptop and notebook, mentally sprinting down the hallway.
“Can you spare a few minutes to chat in my office?”
Maybe I was imagining it, but I felt the weight of eyes on me. I stared hard at my CEO, vowing I wouldn’t look a few feet to his right. At the only man I’d ever known who could make me feel it when he looked at me. “Of course?”
Eric didn’t seem fazed by my hesitant response. “Great. I’m going to go grab a coffee and I’ll meet you there.”
I nodded, blindly following my co-workers as we all spilled out of the conference room. The cool air of the hallway felt icy against my overheated skin, blowing over the spot I could swear I still felt a steady gaze following me.
“Um, did you see that Worther guy? When he came in here, I thought I was going to faint. Like, am I crazy, or does he look like if Henry Cavill and Adam Levine had a baby?” Meery, Eric’s administrative assistant and the first person in the office to befriend me, appeared at my elbow and pretended to fan herself. Her bright, floral dress fluttered around her knees as she walked, her hair flowing in thick, black curls down her back.
“Henry Cavill and Adam Brody,” I answered without thinking. I was shaking so badly, I’d lost my filter and good sense somewhere on the orange- and gray-striped industrial carpet behind me.
