Lizzy laughs. “I knew I liked you.” Then she turns to Leo. “You need to go, you’re already late.”
We say bye to her, and I walk with Leo to his meeting. “Before I forget, be on the lookout for an invitation for our BUMasquerade Gala. It’s in a week and a half. I know it’s last-minute, but besides wanting you there on a personal level, as a new senior employee, we need you there.”
BU, a,k.a. Building Unity is a charity Leo and Nate started to help underdeveloped and less privileged areas in both America and Spain.
“I guess I was on the B list.” I scowl playfully.
“Ha. Ha. No one has been invited yet, despite the quick turnaround. It was planned for a few months out, but with Juliette’s due date soon, she had a total meltdown when she found out, and we needed to move it up.”
I’ve met Juliette before, and I didn’t get the impression she was such a diva, but jeez, she can’t miss one party?
He must be able to read my thoughts, because he elaborates. “She and Harrison met at our masquerade gala last spring, or some romantic bullshit like that.” He rolls his eyes. “So when she found out she could potentially miss it this year, she was hysterical, and I couldn’t have her stressed. Nate somehow made it happen; he pushed up the whole event for her.”
Oh, well, I take back my last thought.
Thatisromantic.
And of course, Nate took care of it.
Doesn’t surprise me in the least.
“That’s sweet of y’all. I hope it’s a good turnout, with it being so last-minute.”
“Oh, please, we know how to throw a good party. People will be begging to come, last-minute or not.”
“So cocky.” I laugh and wave him off when we get to his conference room, then turn the corner to head back to my desk, and freeze when I see Nate standing there. As if the universe cracked open and conjured him from the very thoughts I’ve been trying so hard to suppress.
He turns, and we lock eyes. His lips twitch, fighting a smile, while I’m fighting myself to keep freaking cool.
I’ve hated him for ten years, and suddenly my mind has forgotten all about it after one conversation. All I want to do is run into his arms and hold him tight.
You’re still engaged, Maddie.
He’s in dark slacks and a white button-down rolled to his elbows, showcasing his muscular forearms. His navy blazer is slung over one shoulder like some kind of effortless sin, and his hair’s a little messier than usual.
His jaw is sharper. But his eyes…those unreadable, impossibly familiar eyes are locked on mine.
And suddenly, I can’t remember a single coherent thought.
“Mads.”
“Hi,” I manage, my breath catching in my throat.
He studies me as I round my desk, slow and deliberate, like he’s cataloging every inch of me. What’s changed, what hasn’t, and I hate to admit I feel it. The pull. That magnetic hum that exists in the space between us.
It’s alive and thick in the air.
Without a word, I reach for the lip balm in the corner of my desk. A nervous habit I haven’t kicked in years.
My fingers tremble slightly as I uncap it and glide it across my bottom lip, then the top.
Nate’s eyes drop, jaw flexed, locked on my lips as I coat them, and those dang butterflies flutter in the depths of my stomach.
When I’m done, he picks it up and turns it in his hand, reading the label like it’s the most fascinating thing he’s seen all day.
His smile finally breaks, and he lifts one brow. “Cherry?”
I shrug nonchalantly and lie right through my teeth. “It’s the only one they had.”
