As I walked toward Delfia’s desk, which sat outside and between the adjoining offices Boss and I shared, I noticed her humming away, organizing the files on her desk. I admired her so much. She was the epitome of someone who took lemons and made the best lemonade you would ever taste. At forty-two, with practically two grown children, her husband left her. He was the world’s biggest idiot, but she picked herself up by the bootstraps and did what she had to do. She’d been working for us for the last couple of years. I didn’t know what we would ever do without her.
When she noticed me approach, she flashed me a smile. “Good morning, you hot little thing.”
Did I mention how much I loved this woman? I posed, movie star style. “Do you love the new dress?”
“Yes, if only I could fit into it,” she sighed.
I waved away her obvious lie. She looked great in her slimming pant suit and new bobbed do that went perfect with her high cheek bones. I could only hope to look so good in my forties. I noticed Boss’s door was closed. That was odd. “Is Boss here?”
“Yes, he’s meeting with a gentleman that wasn’t on the appointment calendar.”
“Huh.” I smoothed out my dress. “Did you catch a name?”
“No, but he asked about you.”
“Really?”
She wagged her brows. “He was quite attractive. Is there someone you’re not telling me about?”
I rolled my eyes. “Yes, Delfia, I’m trying a new tactic. I thought I would have Boss interview all my potential new suitors at seven-thirty in the morning. This way he can weed out all the morons and save me the trouble.” She laughed at my sarcasm, but honestly, it wasn’t a bad idea. I should consider it. “So, no name, huh?”
“No ma’am, but he seemed anxious to see you. He kept asking when you would be in.”
More and more curious.“Well . . . okay.”
I walked into my office and the door between Boss’s offices and mine was closed too. Just for curiosity’s sake, I checked to see if it was locked, and to my surprise, it was. He never locked that door. I was more than intrigued to know who he might be meeting with at such an early hour. Maybe he was interviewing whoever it was to take my current position. That made sense, so I relaxed a little and began to think of anyone I knew who would be a good candidate. While I thought, I started up my laptop and scrolled my phone for any new messages. There weren’t any messages and I couldn’t come up with any ideas of who it might be, so I walked back out to ask Delfia what he looked like; maybe I could guess then.
Before I could say anything, Delfia beat me to the punch. “Are you still taking the belly dancing class at the YMCA?”
“Yes.” I turned to show her my backside. “Can’t you tell by the way my butt looks?” It was then I noticed, too late, that Delfia wasn’t my only audience. While she snickered and stared at my backside, a man came out of Boss’s office. Not just any man. It was the man I didn’t need to think about this morning. I stood there not only mortified, but very confused.
“Ian,” I gasped. I felt flush from the top of my head to the tips of my toes. Probably because my heart was beating double time. I couldn’t believe he was here and that he’d just heard me tell Delfia to check outmy butt. Could someone please shoot me now? Or more like shoot him. I was never supposed to see him again.
His wide eyes roved over me. “Kelli.”
I stood up as straight as I could and tried to regain my composure. But I was finding that difficult under the circumstances. I was sure my jaw had dropped and no matter what I did, I couldn’t seem to close it. It didn’t help matters either that Ian looked, um . . . let’s say freaking amazing. I wasn’t sure what he had been doing for the last twelve-and-a-half years, but it looked like a stylist had gotten a hold of him. He was in a tailored black suit that fit him to the T. The glasses were gone, and he’d grown out his hair slightly. It looked even more deserving of fingers running through it. All he needed was a runway.
“What are you doing here?” I spluttered once some of my senses came back online.
Before he could answer Boss walked out.
“Kelli, my girl, you’re already here. Good, I see you’ve met Ian.” Boss wrung his hands together.
The nervous wringing of Boss’s hands had me on edge. I raised a brow at Ian wondering why Boss thought this was our first meeting. Ian cleared his throat and ran a hand through his hair.
Fine, I’d play along. “No, I haven’t had the pleasure yet.” I walked toward Ian with a sinister grin on my face.
Ian swallowed hard a few times.
I held out my hand. “I’m Kelli Bryant.” I wanted to throw in, “Remember me, the girl who loved you, but since that wasn’t in your plans, you decided to walk away and pretend like I never existed?”
He held out his hand, but he looked wary.
I kept up the act and shook it. I didn’t want to touch him, but what else could I do under the circumstances? As soon as we touched, I felt a surge of warmth. That couldn’t be good. I did my best while shaking his hand to ignore my conditioned response to him. It meant nothing. We were ancient history. We are talking prehistoric before the dinosaur’s kind of history.
“Ian Greyson,” his voice hitched. “It’s a pleasure to meet you.”
I smirked at his mock sincerity. For a moment, I thought he wasgoing to smile, but that was very un-Ian like. He squeezed my hand once before letting it go. I directed my attention toward Boss. I wanted to know what the heck Ian Greyson was doing here.
