“Kylie!” A shrill female voice tore through the air, shattering our private world into pieces.
Kylie’s body jerked and she whipped her head up to look at me, her eyes widened and lips swollen as she whispered, “Oh no.”
“Kylie! Where are you?” Another female voice, slightly deeper than the first, called out. It sounded so close as if they were just behind the corner.
And then a switch suddenly came on.
In a flash, Kylie disengaged herself from me, her feet landing on the ground as she raised her hand to pat her hair. Breath still uneven from what just happened, I could only lean against the wall, my eyes trailing her every movement.
“Where are you going?” I asked, my hand reaching out, thirsty for more.
“Didn’t you hear that?” She whispered furiously, patting her face as if to wake herself up from a dream – a sinfully heavenly dream. “How do I look? Oh never mind!” She exclaimed as some approaching footsteps became audible.
Then, without even a backward glance or a goodbye, she bounded towards the corner and the voices, fixing a wide smile on her face as she said, “I’m coming!”
Chapter Three
Kylie
"When I said you should go out and steal a man’s heart, I didn’t mean maul him in the hallway!”
Jessie’s voice rang through my head as I entered the elevator, and I sighed, my finger reaching for the button which said 21. Shutting my eyes as the doors slid shut, I bit my lip, still feeling the hot flame of embarrassment that had almost burnt my cheeks yesterday.
Of course, I should have known that the sisters weren’t stupid.
They’d allowed me to return home on Saturday and even left me to my own devices without any comments. They’d been quiet, too quiet as they said goodbye. And I should have known that something was up.
After a night spent tossing and turning, tormented by that kiss, I was woken up by the doorbell. Cursing whosoever thought it funny to call at such an early hour, I groggily went to open the door. And then my eyes nearly fell off as I saw the two sisters on the other side, with wide, ultra-weird smiles plastered across their faces.
“What?” I asked, wrinkling my eyebrows in suspicion.
“We saw you, Kylie.” Susan said just as Jessie exclaimed, “Girl!”
Apparently, Jessie wanted to grill me for the details immediately after we'd returned from the wedding, but Susan, ever the reasonable one, had suggested that they give me some time to rest. And at the first sign of morning, they’d found their way to my house, their eyes brimming with intrigue.
“Nothing happened,” had been a weak defense that they immediately saw through. At last, I resigned myself to the ugly fate of telling them everything about the kiss. They already saw it all anyway.
Still, to imagine that they’d seen me doing that… with none other than the handsome stranger I’d met at the wedding. Gosh. What would they think of me now?
Sighing, I raised my head, noting that I was already on the 21st floor.
I wished I had the luxury of such thoughts but I didn’t. As the sales representative of a company called REP, I’d gotten a once-in-a-lifetime meeting with the C.E.O. of Tysone Corp, one of the biggest players in the corporate industry. It had been difficult getting this interview. Heck, I’d spent a lot of days and nights preparing this proposal. If all went well, I could get a promotion out of this. In other words, I wasn’t ready to let wayward thoughts about a stranger who I’d probably never see again stop me from giving it my absolute best.
With those cheering thoughts, I stepped out of the elevator, my briefcase in hand.
After meeting a smiling receptionist, I was led to a wide, spacious office. As soon as she left, I let my eyes rove around the grey and black décor of the room. A rich brown mahogany desk dominated the space near the cityscape view, allowing a sweeping look across the city. On the desk were neatly arranged stacks of books. After a closer look, I noticed that they were even color-coded.
The boss was currently not in the office and the secretary assured me that he would be here soon. But whoever he was, he must be a very rigid fellow.
Besides, didn’t he have a watch? Couldn’t he see that it was already time for the meeting?
With a heavy sigh, I cast a glance at my briefcase. I'd sweated day and night to prepare the proposal, carrying out effective market research to make sure that my arguments here would be flawless. Everything had worked perfectly… until now.
Now, I had the growing, nagging, bone-chilling fear that I might get stood up.
A couple of minutes passed with no movement in the room other than mine. At this point, I was getting really anxious, absent-mindedly tapping my feet against the floor. With every passing second, my eyes snapped towards the door, a question nearly burning a hole through my mind.
Where on God’s earth is this guy?
Standing, I decided to walk around the room. I really should take a short break and a deep breath. There was no point in being anxious here. The C.E.O had no reason to decide not to see me so why was I being so jittery with—
The door to the office opened.
Finally!
The swishing sound of the door swinging was like pure, unadulterated music to my ears.
A heavy breath of relief leaving my mouth, I turned around.
But then I stopped short, almost tripping, as I saw the person standing at the door. He was looking at me with an identical level of shock.
“What…” I said, my throat suddenly coarse, “…what are you… doing here?”
He didn’t reply. He just stood there, still as a board and as stoic as stone.
And then my eyes slowly left his face and roved down his shiny, sharp cut suit, the gold watch on his wrist, down to the black Italian handmade shoes. With a jolt, my
