I reach the elevator and step inside. I put my cell phone back away and press the button for the fifth floor so I can go back to my office. I change my mind as the door pings open and press for the ground floor. I need a cigarette badly.
I hurry through the busy lobby and go around to the side of the building. I lean back against the wall for a moment and take a few deep breaths. It’ll be fine. Joe Benton wants this merger as much as we do, and if he wants it, it’ll happen. Unless we fuck it up. And we won’t, because I am staying firmly away from it from now on. I’ve showed my face and there’s no reason Matt and Chance can’t handle the rest of the negotiations. And Bradley can step in for the numbers element.
I pat my jacket pockets and then my pants pockets looking for my cigarettes.
“Fuck,” I say when I come up empty.
Of course I don’t have any cigarettes on me. I quit like two years ago. I guess Kimberley is having more of an effect on me that I realised. Fuck it. One won’t hurt. Maybe even one packet. I’ve quit once, and I can do it again. Once Kimberley is gone from my life again. Even if the merger is successful, which I know it will be, I can make sure I don’t end up in a position where I have to work with her, or see her again.
I head back towards the building. I decide to ask Sheila, Matt’s secretary, to run out and grab me a packet of cigarettes. I really don’t need the lecture I’ll get if I ask Bernie to go. I’m almost back at the elevators when one pings open and Kimberley, Joe and Gary step out.
Dammit.
I turn around quickly and head back for the main doors. I hear Kimberley telling Joe and Gary she’ll catch up with them.
Double dammit.
Obviously they saw me. I hoped I had turned away quickly enough, but clearly I haven’t. I up my pace, hoping if I just keep my head down and keep going, Kimberley will take the hint and leave me alone. She doesn’t of course. Taking a hint never was Kimberley’s style. She likes thing straight forward. No mind games, no drama. No hints. Just say what you mean. I thought walking away made my meaning clear enough, but evidently not.
“Sebastian,” I hear her calling. “Wait up.”
I can hear her heels clicking as she hurries along behind me. I know I can just keep going. She’ll never catch up to me in heels. But I also know that she knows there’s no way I won’t have heard her calling out to me. If I just keep going, she’ll know I’ve done it on purpose to avoid talking to her. And she’ll think it’s because her presence is getting under my skin.
She’s so far under my skin she’s practically a part of me, but she doesn’t need to know that. I stop walking and take a deep breath and then I slowly turn around to face her.
She’s wearing a tight black pencil skirt and a yellow blouse that’s open at the collar. It’s open enough to suggest that the good stuff is underneath it, but not enough to be unprofessional. Her hips push the skirt out nicely, showing off her shapely waist and her gorgeous curves. Her bright red hair shines like a fucking halo and her eyes hold me under their spell the same way they always have.
The way my cock stands to attention at the mere sight of her isn’t just because of our history. There’s no denying that she is beautiful, but it’s more than that. Kimberley Montgomery is a force to be reckoned with and it shows. Her quiet confidence oozes out of her and she owns any room she walks into.
If she was a stranger who walked past me in a bar, I know for a fact she would capture my attention just as she is now. To be honest, if we didn’t have history, I’d be all over that, in a bar, in the office. Fucking anywhere.
She covers the couple of paces that separate us. I force myself to smile.
“Hey Kimberley,” I say.
She smiles back at me and I think I see relief in her smile. She thought I was going to be a dick about this. She thinks I’m still hung up on her. Screw that. I’ll show her I couldn’t give a flying fuck about her one way or the other.
“It’s good to see you Sebastian. How’s things?” she asks.
Fantastic until you showed up and reminded me why sex with other women, even smoking hot ones, is almost always unsatisfactory.
Chapter Five
Kimberley
As Joe, Gary and I step out of the elevator and into the crowded lobby, I see him. Sebastian Hunter. It’s all I can do not to suck in an audible breath. That guy knows how to rock a suit.
He’s changed a lot since I last saw him. His body has filled out. His shoulders are broad, his chest muscular beneath his shirt, and I just know that he has a six pack to die for. He’s definitely not the gangly teen I remember. His hair is what I can only describe as city trendy. A tad too long to be a corporate look, revealing the rebellious nature of him. Typical Sebastian. He was never one to follow the rules.
His eyes seem to be darker than I remember them. Beautiful eyes that I could lose myself in if I let myself. His smile hasn’t changed a bit though. The way his lips turn up at one corner, the smirk of a man who knows exactly who he is and doesn’t give
