“Come here, you little fucker,” a muffled feminine voice says, and for some reason, my cock twitches in my pants at the sound. Not sure what that’s all about.
“Uh, Mindy?” Helix asks.
“Shit!” the voice screeches as the woman on her hands and knees raises up and knocks her head against the underside of the desk. “Sorry, who’s there? I dropped this stupid pen, and I’ve… almost… aha! I got it.”
“It’s Helix,” my brother replies, striding toward the desk to help her up. She backs out, and a mane of dark red hair comes into view.
“How’s your dad?” she asks, taking Helix’s hand and standing, holding the rogue pen aloft.
My heart rate picks up, and I shake my head. She’s facing away from me so I can’t see her face, but that voice… It seems so familiar and yet distant at the same time. And those curves in the red suit she’s wearing… My hands twitch with a memory I can’t quite place.
“He’s good. Acting like nothing even happened,” Helix reports. “Is your head okay?”
She smooths down her tousled hair. “I’m fine. I was just packing up a few of your father’s things so he didn’t have so much to do. Then I dropped his favorite pen and it rolled under there. Sorry if I mooned you.”
The woman turns then and notices Phoenix, and my blood freezes in my veins when I see her face. I can hear her words, but they’re muffled, like I’m at the bottom of a well trying to hear a conversation.
“Hey, Phoenix. Tell Jordie I?—”
Her words cut off abruptly when her gaze shifts to me, and hazel eyes that have haunted my dreams for seven years widen on my face.
Holy. Fucking. Shit.
It’s her. It’s Minnie.
CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
Hardware Joe has left the building
Remington
We stare at each other,andfuck me sideways, she is as stunning as I remember. Maybe even more so. I seem to be standing in the middle of a vortex, memories and emotions swirling around me.
I try to speak, but words fail me, and I’m beginning to wonder if maybe I’m having a stroke like my dad. Somehow, I’m finally able to utter a single word.
“Minnie?”
She merely blinks at me, and I hear Phoenix chuckle. “No, this isMindyEspinoza. She’s your executive assistant. Try to keep up, bro.”
From my peripheral vision, I see Helix’s head go back and forth between us, and I can practically hear his mind working. “Wait. Did you say Minnie? As in…Minnie?” he asks, emphasizing the name the second time.
I nod slowly, never peeling my eyes from hers.
“Oh. Ohhhh shit,” Phoenix says, realizing what’s going on. “Um, wow. This is… something.”
“We’ll just, uh, give you two a minute,” Helix says awkwardly.
I hear two sets of footsteps retreating and then the door to the office clicking shut. And still I stare at her like if I look away, she’lldisappear again. At this point, I’m not sure if that would be a good thing or a bad one.
I’m ecstatic and confused, and to be honest, quite a bit aroused. That last one pisses me off for reasons I can’t even fathom. Maybe because she’s waltzed back into my life and taken control of my body without lifting a finger. And if there’s one thing I prize, it’s control. I’ve mastered it over the past seven years, and now it’s flown out the window like a bird trying to escape confinement.
Minnie or Mindy or whatever the hell her name is finally breaks the silence when she steps forward with her hand outstretched. “I’m Mindy Espinoza.”
I take her hand, but I don’t shake it. I merely hold it and stare into her pretty face. She’s somehow gotten even more beautiful. Over the years, I’d convinced myself I was overexaggerating her beauty, that her hair wasn’t quite as thick and richly red as I’d thought it was. That her lips were a bit thinner. That her curves were much flatter and didn’t actually fit my hands like they were made for me.
“Remington Hale,” I manage to say. I’m about to pull her into me when she releases my hand and takes a few steps backward until her butt hits the desk. A frown etches its way across my forehead. Why did she step away? Did she not miss me at all?
“I didn’t know who you were when I came to work here,” she explains. “I saw your picture on the wall the first day and recognized you.”
