I grabbed my purse from my desk and stopped dead in my tracks as I reached the door to my office.
“Well, good morning,” Frankie Hart greeted, flanked by a very attractive man who immediately had red flags raising in my mind. I knew his face from somewhere…
“Georgia, I’d like to introduce you to Wes Lancaster, the Mavericks’ owner. He’s very excited about—”
“Wes Lancaster?” I cut in, my jaw practically falling into my purse.
And just like that, the red flags turned to puzzle pieces as everything fell into place. I knew his face because I’d seen his picture, in Kline’s apartment.
He was the Wes in the Kline, Thatch, and Wes trio. Which, seriously? Did they all have to be good looking?
“That’s me.” He nodded, a handsome smile consuming his stupid, perfect mouth. “Frankie’s had nothing but good things to say about you. I’m excited to have you on board with our franchise.”
I just stared at him. Speechless. Everything I thought I had earned in the interview went up in flames. I had a feeling I was only here because of Kline. How could I have been so stupid? No one got a call back after an interview that fucking quick, no matter how fast a company wanted to fill the position.
“Tell me, Wes, did you consult with Kline before the interview or after?” I snapped.
Obviously, I had lost it. I was standing there calling the owner of the Mavericks out.
My boss. I was calling my boss out on my first day on the job.
“Well…” He cleared his throat, visibly uncomfortable. “He told me I’d be an idiot if we didn’t hire you.”
I glared. At. My. New. Boss.
“It wasn’t just because of him that we offered you the job. Frankie showed me slides from your previous marketing campaigns. He told me your ideas. And I loved them.”
For some unknown reason, he seemed more concerned with calming me down than offended by my unprofessional behavior. Because, let’s face it, I was being far from professional. So far, I had snapped at him, glared at him, and taken it upon myself to be on a first-name basis with him.
And I knew the reason why he wasn’t acting insulted.
Kline motherfucking Brooks.
Wes caught sight of the contract balled up in my hand. “Obviously, we’ve come at a bad time, and I just remembered I had a nine thirty phone conference.” He made a show of looking at his watch. “And it’s already nine thirty-two. I better get moving.”
Frankie’s head tilted in confusion. “But…I thought that wasn’t until noon?”
“Nope. It got changed.” Wes shook his head. “It was a pleasure meeting you, Georgia,” he said, ushering a confused Frankie out of the doorway. He pointedly glanced down at the contract before meeting my eyes again. “I’ve been friends with him for years because he’s one of the good ones. Don’t be too hard on him,” he added before heading in the other direction.
First, Kline Brooks got me to fall in love with him, before breaking my heart.
Then he called in a favor to his best friend so I’d get a new job, before couriering over a contract to sign his entire business over to me.
Was this real life? Was he fucking joking with this right now?
The shock of meeting Wes was quickly replaced by anger.
I strode out of my office and didn’t even bother telling my secretary I would be gone. Hell, with the floor show I had just provided my new boss, I’d have been shocked if they’d let me come back.
But I didn’t even care to rehash that horribly awkward meet and greet in my head. I was solely focused on getting to Kline’s office and letting him know how I felt about his offer.
Once my feet hit the sidewalk, I hailed a taxi and felt a surge of adrenaline rush through my veins because I was ten minutes away from shoving that ridiculous offer straight up his ass.
“In all the pining and whining you did over this chick, you failed to ever mention she was scary,” Wes said into my ear.
I rolled my eyes. He’d had to listen to me talk about her for a fucking week. That was it.
“Scary?” I asked.
“Fucking scary. I wouldn’t want to be you right now.”
Hope bloomed and blossomed in my chest. “She’s on her way?”
“Yep, as we speak. And she. Is. Pissed.”
I smiled. God, I loved when she was fired up.
“How long ago did she leave?”
“Oh, about twenty minutes or so,” he relayed in my ear as bedlam broke out in the office outside my door. I could see Dean running toward the office through the window, a look of pure glee on his face, and Thatch gave me the nod from the other side just as Georgia burst through the door.
She looked like Heaven and Hell and the sole reason for the constant ache in my chest for the last several days.
Hate and love and uncertainty all lined the edges of her face as she warred with herself at the sight of me.
I wanted desperately to pull her into my arms and feel the warmth of her seep into the cold of me, but I knew I had work to do before it was even a remote possibility.
I steeled my features and rounded my desk, leaning into the edge of it with the calm of a man who wasn’t mere seconds away from coming out of his skin.