Page 12 of One Last Time?
Dad had me followed when I was nineteen. He’d thought I was dating Dean Corbleu, the eldest son of Bradford Corbleu, who Dad claimed stole his business idea.
Well, I had a pretty damn good suspicion that Dad had me followed two nights ago too.
He must have had Dylan follow me to start this ridiculous assessment of me. That was the only thing I could come up with because it would have to be the mother of all coincidences if I was wrong.
There was a light knock on my door.
That would be him now. This meeting of ours between him and me would take place in two minutes. I had a good mind to leave him out there for the next two minutes, but I couldn’t be that evil.
There was darkness at work here to wear me down, but I wouldn’t be that evil, especially when the man had seen me home and made sure I got there in one piece.
At least I resembled something more like myself today. Not my business self either. More me in my navy-blue skater dress and my hair down in long cascading waves. It was a smart, casual look I went for in attempt to be comfortable. I’d only thrown on a blazer to give it a more professional appearance.
“Come in,” I called out.
The door opened, and in he came.
In he came carrying a foolscap folder filled with documents. He wasn’t dressed in a suit today but still looked off-the-charts sexy in his white button-down shirt and tie and a pair of beige pants that drew attention to his long athletic-looking legs.
Tension filled my whole body when he looked at me with the same cold stare he had yesterday. It was the eyes. I’d bet he used that asset of his in more ways than one because they were almost like a warning to not look at him too long, or at all.
I was looking though, determined not to let him faze me.
I wasn’t going to allow Dad to faze me either. This company was mine. It was going to be mine, and I wasn’t going to allow anyone to take it from me. I’d fashioned my whole life around it, right from when Dad set it up fifteen years ago and gave me the rundown of what public relations was. I knew that was what I wanted to go into, what I wanted to do, and here I was doing it.
“Good morning,” Dylan said. The beginning of a smile tipped the corners of his mouth but faded.
“Morning,” I answered. I gazed at him and tried to figure him out. I wanted to ask about the other night but held off. It was best to see what he said first.
“Well, do you have any questions before we start? There’s a lot to go through. If you need to grab a drink, you should probably grab one now.”
Drink…
I didn’t even want to hear that word. He was probably talking about water or something hot to drink, but the word ‘drink’ made me recall the other night in full-blown detail.
It distracted me for all of two seconds from thinking of how he effortlessly jumped into business talk, acting like we’d just met yesterday and not before. He looked like he wasn’t even going to mention it.
I wasn’t the kind of person to do that because it was just plain old weird. Besides, all that I’d done wasn’t the sort of stuff you brushed under the rug like it never happened.
“Did my father ask you to follow me? Was that part of the job too? Your assessment?” I asked, completely ignoring his prior comment.
That hint of a smile earlier had been nice; the actual smile on his face now melted my insides, warming my cheeks in a way I didn’t want. I wasn’t supposed to like this guy.
He hadn’t done anything bad to me, and if anything, I owed him a serious forever of thanks. What I didn’t like was that there was something distrustful and disrespectful in being followed.
“He did not.” Dylan shook his head. “It just happened.”
I wasn’t sure I believed him. It was too coincidental. “You just happened to be at The Glow on the night before a big meeting with me?” I narrowed my gaze at him.
“Yeah, crazy, right?” The corners of his lips turned up, bringing out the dimples.
“You knew who I was though? You never asked my name, but I remember you saying my name.”
My nerves scattered as his gaze deepened and the smile receded from his face.
“I did. I did know who you were, and I can assure you I really was just being a nice guy.”
It was funny. I didn’t get the impression of him beingniceright now.
