“I am so ready for it to be over,” he said, his eyes tired as he took a sip of his black coffee. He looked like he could use about ten more cups.
“Almost,” I said reassuringly.
“Yeah, hopefully I finish before the wedding.”
I raised a brow. “Wedding?”
“Yeah. Mom and my dad,” he said nonchalantly, as if this wasn’t surprising news to me.
I looked at him like he was speaking a different language. There was no way my mother was marrying Greg. Hell, they weren’t even engaged. Unless my mother had decided not to tell me. I hated the thought that she would leave me out of something like this.
“What the hell are you talking about?” I asked, setting my espresso cup down on the saucer with a loud clink.
“Shit,” he said with a shake of his head. “You didn’t know…”
I pinched the bridge of my nose as I tried to process what he was trying to tell me.
“They got engaged. Like a few days ago. I thought you she would have called you…”
“Yeah, well, she didn’t,” I muttered.
“I’m sorry, bro. I know things between you and my dad aren’t exactly peachy, but he’s my dad. And I’m happy for them. I hope you can be too.”
I slowly nodded, not saying anything. I didn’t want to make any more of a big deal out of it, knowing that Nathan was Greg’s son. He loved his dad. He was in an uncomfortable situation.
“It’s fine. It’s great,” I said, before looking out the window and thinking it was anythingbutfine.
An hour and a half later, I strode into work. My feelings about my mother’s surprise engagement had been stewing since I left Nathan at the coffee shop to come to work. Now that he wasn’t around and I didn’t have to play pretend about our “big, happy family,” I was on a warpath. I kept my head down, ignoring the greetings from employees and settled into the privacy of my office to stew.
Why hadn’t my mother fucking told me? And why did she have to marry Greg of all people? He was so…average.I rolled my eyes at the sight of his annoying face. I was muttering profanitiesto myself when there was a quick knock at the door and Gabriella entered.
“I didn’t say come in,” I snapped.
She looked taken aback by my less than warm welcome. I wondered if she had expected more from me since we had sex, but she was sorely mistaken. Especially today. Her quiet surprise quickly turned to defensiveness as she lifted her chin and narrowed her gaze at me. I shifted slightly in my seat under the intensity of her green eyes, the same ones I had made roll back in her head just three days ago.
“We have shit to get done,” she said, settling in the chair in front of me, looking utterly delectable in a black dress that strained across her full breasts. She tucked a strand of hair behind her ear and looked down at her iPad, opening up the calendar.
She started reading off the day’s agenda, but I only half heard her. I didn’t care about the meetings or the afternoon conference.
“You’re surprisingly slow this morning,” I sneered as I impatiently interrupted her.
“Really? Because I’m still waiting for you to catch up,” she bit back.
I let out a laugh under my breath as I glared back at her. She was such an easy target. She gave as good as she got. She was sharpas a knife and quick as hell. It was exactly what I needed today when I had a lot to take out on someone.
She stood up from her chair and strode for the door. My eyes immediately draw to the swish of her hips. I wondered if the impressions of my fingers were still there.
She whipped her head around. “You coming?”
“Where?” I asked, raising a brow.
She sighed impatiently. “The morning meeting that I just fucking told you about.”
I fought the smile that was threatening to spread across my lips. She was feisty this morning. She walked out the door without another word, and I was forced to follow after her to whatever this meeting was.
Gabriella led me wordlessly to the conference room where all the junior associates sat, cautious and expectant. She took a seat to the right of the head of the table, leaving the large leather chair open for me. I settled into it, aware of how the air shifted between us. I tried to ignore the tension there, and the smell of her ridiculously intoxicating perfume.
She filled the silence by greeting everybody and practically running the meeting herself. I ignored the fact that she did it so well, listening to everyone and addressing their questions about their quarterly goals. I interjected a few times, especially when I found associate’s questions to be boring or self-explanatory.It was satisfying watching them grimace as I cut in. They were looking to be coddled, and that was not what I was there for. I could feel Gabriella’s eyes on me, a rage simmering in them. I ignored her, boring into the associates further before waving them away dismissively, long before the meeting was supposed to wrap up.
