I’ve heard plenty of rumours about Brett. Everything from him being the black sheep of the family who did time in juvie as a teenager to him being a recluse who refuses to leave his home. The truth is probably neither of those things. Obviously, the latter isn’t true, or he wouldn’t be here now. And if the former was true, Jessie would already have spilled all of the details of it to me.
None of this really helps to explain why Jessie is so excited about this though. Or why she thinks I will care about the news. “Seriously Opal, try to at least pretend to be excited.” She laughs.
“Ok,” I say. “I’m excited. There… I pretended. Now why is this something you’re so excited about?”
“Now, I am offended.” Jessie tries to give me a pout, but is unable to stop herself from smiling. “I’m just shocked you even have to ask. But then in your defense, you haven’t seen Brett before, have you?”
I shake my head.
Jessie fans herself with her hand, as she gets up from the chair and starts to walk away. She turns back to grin at me. “I’m going to go and pretend I need to take the elevator somewhere, so I can be there when he gets out. Once you see him, you’ll understand my excitement. Brace yourself Opal. You are about to see the most beautiful man who ever existed.”
Laughing softly and shaking my head, I can’t help but wonder what this guy is going to look like to have her that excited about his arrival. I mean is he made of gold or something?
I guess I’m about to find out. Jessie has only been gone from my desk for a couple of minutes when I hear the ping of the elevator arriving and I know it’ll be mere seconds before the door opens. It doesn’t necessarily mean it’s this Brett guy, but a couple of seconds later, I hear Jessie laughing in a flirty way. I smile to myself as I picture her tossing her hair back and laughing hysterically at something that is, at best, mildly amusing probably.
Pretending to be fixated on my computer screen, although I have completely lost track of the figures, I wait just a few seconds. I then realize I’ll have to start over again. Great. Thanks for that Jessie. I can’t put all of the blame on Jessie though. I should have had more sense than to let myself get pulled into the conversation, but Jessie is a good friend and I have to admit I enjoy her cheerful personality. It keeps office life interesting.
I glance up without moving my head when I hear quick, quiet footsteps approaching. I don’t see much. I don’t let my eyes linger in case he catches me looking at him. All I see is a flash of a grey suit and that the man is tall. I mean everyone is tall compared to me, but he must be over six feet tall. He has a definite presence, a confidence that I can almost feel as he moves towards me, and despite myself, my breath catches a little in my throat.
Keeping my eyes glued on my screen again, until Brett is almost at my desk, I know it would be rude not to acknowledge him at this point. His cologne fills my nostrils, a woodsy, spicy scent that should be overpowering but somehow isn’t. As I turn my eyes up to look at him, I try to forget Jessie’s words and her excitement.
I smile up at him, flashing him my polished, customer service smile. It freezes on my face when I finally allow myself to look at Brett properly. Jessie wasn’t exaggerating about Brett’s looks. In fact, calling him the most beautiful man I would ever see actually feels like she’s sold him short a little bit.
The man is that fucking hot.
He looks like he’s around thirty-five, certainly no older than that. With thick dark hair in a trendy style that manages to look tousled and casual like he hasn’t made any effort with it at all, and yet perfectly styled and in place at the same time. Staring at his full, thick hair, I imagine myself pushing my fingers into it as his lips move to meet mine. It would be silky soft, the kind of hair you want to touch constantly and can never get enough of.
I force myself to look away from his hair, feeling my cheeks turning pink as I shake off the image of my hands in his hair, his lips on mine. It turns out that looking away from his hair is a mistake. It had been distracting, but it has nothing compared to his eyes. They’re the color of caramel, a warm brown that makes me melt inside. His eyes are so mesmerising that I can’t look away from them, and the longer I look at them, the more detail I see. They’re flecked with tiny specks of lighter brown, a color that is almost gold the flecks catch the light and sparkle as though they really are tiny pieces of gold leaf floating there in his eyes.
The gold flecks make me think of my earlier thought when I wondered if the man was made of gold or something. It turns out I wasn’t wrong, except that next to him, gold would look like cheap copper. Something to be tossed aside in favor of the much better thing beside it.
Brett clears his throat.
Now, I feel the slight flush on my face
