Chapter5
“Your appointment is here, Ms. Tremaine.”
Portia frowned at the intercom on her desk. Physically and emotionally exhausted after waking up in Aleks’s bed, she’d intended to spend the morning pulling herself back together. “I asked you to reschedule anything that wasn’t urgent.”
There was a pause, then her assistant replied with a faint snap to her voice, “This looked urgent.”
Portia pinched the bridge of her nose. She’d wanted to replace Melanie for months. The woman had been a temporary hire shortly after Portia took command of her father’s company. She’d selected the best option that HR had sent up, too overwhelmed to do her own search. Time was proving that might have been a mistake.
“Is it marked urgent?” Portia kept her tone calm and even, though it was a stretch. She’d been very good so far about not releasing the Ice Queen on Melanie.
“No, but it looked important. It’s someone from the Solveig Consortium.”
This time the long pause was on Portia’s end. “Thank you, Melanie. Please offer a beverage and escort them into my office in five minutes.”
The fucking Solveig Consortium. The last people Portia wanted to deal with, especially not today.
She’d known this moment—this meeting—was coming. But the more time that had passed, the more she’d hoped she was wrong.
Why did this have to happen today? She was off her game, severely undercaffeinated, and not ready to face a representative from Dizzie’s family.
Portia took a long drink of her mocha, then stood. While she waited for the caffeine to kick in, she stepped into her private bathroom and checked her appearance in the mirror. The circles under her eyes had been there since Tommy’s death and she’d learned the coverage extent of nearly every concealer product on the market.
She smoothed her hair with first her right hand and then her left, making sure each and every hair was tucked into her bun. A final touch-up to her lipstick and a deep breath and she was as ready as she would ever be.
“Send my appointment in,” she directed her assistant when she returned to her desk.
Although her desk—the whole office, really—was designed to emphasize the Tremaine power, she couldn’t bear to sit and wait. Instead, she crossed to the floor-to-ceiling windows that were the showpiece of the office.
A blanket of mist covered downtown Seattle, hiding the skyscrapers and blocking her view of the water. Hand against the window, her finger traced an imaginary skyline on the glass. She didn’t need to see the city to know it was there.
Her office door opened and Portia dropped her hand. “Your appointment is here,” her assistant announced. “Please have a seat, sir.”
“Thank you, Melanie,” Portia said. The door closed again, leaving her alone with the Solveig emissary.
Portia didn’t turn around. Not just yet.
It wasn’t just a power play. She cast a longing look at the window, wishing she could play hooky and go home. Tommy had always encouraged that kind of behavior. Every damn day now, she regretted how many times she’d said no.
“Thank you for seeing me, Ms. Tremaine.”
The hairs on her neck stood straight up.
That voice. She knew that voice.
No. It couldn’t be. Surely lots of men had that accent.
For all she wanted to drop her head against the cool glass and rage against the universe, Portia pulled herself together and faced her visitor.
It was him. Aleks.
She’d known. Her body’s traitorous reaction to his voice had confirmed it.
Last night, Aleks had told her he was in town on business. She’d intentionally avoided asking about his employer, not wanting to disturb the fragile sense of peace she felt in his presence.
At Razor Jack’s, he’d been irresistible in jeans and a long-sleeve pullover. Mouthwatering this morning in a robe and thigh-hugging boxers. She’d have bet money that nothing could top either of those looks.
She’d have lost.
