Chapter 4

Spencer was sitting across from me. Both of us had copies of Isadora's application in our hands. It was like reading her social media page. It felt a little voyeuristic to be looking at what she had been doing with her life since I walked away.

"She's way overqualified," Spencer said. "But I assume you already knew that."

I nodded, a sense of pride swelling within me at the thought of Isadora's accomplishments. When I first left her, I had tried to keep up with what was happening in her life. Unfortunately, that wasn't easy. She had gone off the grid and then I got busy. She went on with her life and I went on with mine.

I couldn't lie to myself. I wanted to reconnect with her, to make things right after all these years. Ever since I left, I had regretted it, had longed to reach out to her, to tell her how much she meant to me. Only time and distance had stopped me.

Now, there was nothing to stop us from talking to each other again. We had once been friends. We could be friends again.

I watched the clock with bated breath, my heart pounding in my chest as the moment of truth drew closer.

"I guess I better get to the conference room," Spencer said. "Unless you've changed your mind and you want to handle it yourself?"

"No."

"Are you sure?" he asked. "You know you want to talk to her. It's written all over your face."

"Shut up, no it's not."

Spencer laughed and shook his head. "Whatever you say. It's show time."

He left for the conference room, leaving me alone with my thoughts and the weight of expectation pressing down on me. I straightened my tie and pulled at the sleeves of my expensive suit jacket. If I did happen to see her, I wanted to look good.

Why? It wasn't like she was going to come running back to me. I tried to stay busy, focusing on the screen, but my eyes kept drifting out my open door. It was open on purpose. I was hoping to catch a glimpse of her.

And then, she walked in.

Isadora Haskins was even more stunning than I had dared to imagine. My tongue practically stuck to the roof of my mouth. She hadn't aged a day.

Her porcelain skin looked smooth as ever. Her blonde hair was longer than it had been back in high school. It hung perfectly straight down her back. She looked tall and imposing, but I attributed that to the insane heels she was wearing, walking like she was a model on a runway. She always had that confident air about her, and it could draw the eye of every man for miles.

I realized my mouth was hanging open and I was in serious danger of drooling on my favorite suit. She made her way into the conference room. Longing stirred within me at the sight of her. Memories flashed through my mind. And some of those memories involved a lot of skin, heavy breathing, and some of the best sex of my life.

Before I could act on the urge to grab her and pull her into my office for a very sweet reunion, my phone buzzed. I snatched it up. "What?"

It was Seb, one of my partners. "What, yourself. Get in here. We've got a client freaking out over the campaign that's set to launch in a week. We need to do some handholding. You're better at it than I am."

I sighed and got to my feet. It was probably good I had a crisis to distract me. The last thing I needed was to get caught up in my complicated feelings for a woman I no longer knew.

I burst into Seb's office, expecting all hands on deck, but he was alone at his desk, looking at ease. He was sitting in one of the plush chairs, sleeves rolled up. I shut the door behind me and flopped onto the leather couch across from him.

"What's wrong with you?" he asked.

"I thought there was a problem with a client," I said.

He nodded. "There is, but that's on pause for a second. I'll ask again. What's wrong with you?"

I took a deep breath, trying to push aside the turmoil Isadora's appearance had caused within me. "Nothing," I lied.

Seb sighed at me like he was tired. "I can tell something is going on with you. You look like you swallowed a lemon."

"Fine, there's someone in the conference room," I said.

His brows furrowed in confusion. "Someone who shouldn't be there? I don't understand."

"You remember Isadora, right? My old flame from college?"

"Ah, the little rich girl that you couldn't have?" he joked.

"Not funny. And not accurate, either."

"Is she in the conference room?" he asked.

"Yes."

He nodded and sat up eagerly. "Okay, now we're making progress. What is she doing here?"

"Interviewing to be my assistant."

He let out a surprised breath. "She wants to work for you? As your assistant?"

"Apparently."

"Then why is Spencer interviewing her?" he asked.

"Because."

He let out a loud laugh. "Oh, I see. You're such a coward."

"No, I'm just being careful. Anyway, if you're done critiquing every little fucking thing about me, what's the client emergency? What's the fire?"

"It's the sugar company," Seb said, propping his elbows on his knees. His fingers danced over his tablet screen on the table between us, and he pulled up a series of emails. I quickly scanned them and got myself caught up on the situation with the sugar people, who were not as sweet as one might imagine.

"Threatening to pull the entire campaign because they don't think it'll resonate with the millennial market?" I read out loud, my eyes widening. This was a big deal. The sugar company was one of our biggest clients and losing them would be a massive blow to the firm.

Seb nodded grimly. "And you know how fickle they are. One minute they're all for it. Next they're ready to bail. We can't afford them jumping ship right now."

I rubbed my temples, trying to think. "If they don't like the angle we're taking, we need to pitch something new. Something fresh."

"Easier said than done." Seb sighed, running a hand through his messy hair. "We've thrown our best ideas at them already."

I looked back toward the door, imagining Isadora deep in conversation with Spencer in the conference room. As much as I wanted to get involved, the sugar account needed my attention.

"This is what we do," I told Seb. "We'll figure out new ideas. We just have to dig in and get to work."

We spent what felt like an eternity discussing pitch ideas for the project. We wrote down every sugar pun we could think of, working on a new slogan. I forgot about Isadora and focused. Seb and I were in charge of the marketing side of the business. Our other partners took care of the legal stuff, graphic design, and accounting.

After we had come up with a few decent options, I sat back and let out a long breath. "I think we're good."

Seb nodded. "I'll send these over to Jaxson and have him put together some mockups to get to the client by the end of the day."

"Great." I walked out of his office and almost collided with Isadora walking down the hallway with Spencer by her side.

"Sorry," I muttered, my voice barely above a whisper. I caught her eye, a rush of emotions flooding through me at the sight of her. "I didn't mean to?—"

Before I could finish my sentence, Spencer stepped in with a knowing smile and he glanced between us. "No worries," he said, his tone casual but with a hint of amusement. "I was just showing Isadora around the office. Isadora, I think you know Graham."

"Hello," she said offering a smile that didn't meet her eyes.

"Hello. It's nice to see you."

Her chin went up a bit, showing me that same proud young woman I remembered from way back.

"Thank you for the tour," she said to Spencer.

"We'll see you tomorrow," Spencer said to my surprise.

I kind of assumed I would have the final say in who my assistant was.

She smiled once again. "I'm looking forward to it."

She looked at me and then walked away. I was left speechless. It was the first time I had seen her in fifteen years and I had frozen. I had thought of seeing her again for years, but it wasn't even close to what I had pictured. If nothing else, I thought there would be more. More conversation. More reconnecting. More of everything.

"Well, that was a smooth move," Spencer said with a laugh. "Almost knocked her over, didn't you?"

I chuckled, trying to suppress the surge of embarrassment. "Yeah, well, at least I made an impression," I replied, my tone light but tinged with self-deprecation.

"Oh yeah, she seemed really impressed," he joked. "Are you sure that's the woman you fell in love with?"

"I didn't say I fell in love with her."

He scoffed. "You said she was the one."

"I said she might have been the one," I corrected.

"I guess you're going to have some time to figure it out," he said with a laugh. "You're welcome."

"Did you seriously hire her?"

"Yep." He nodded with a great deal of satisfaction. "She's going to be great at this position. She's overqualified—and probably too good for you."

Unable to resist getting one last look at her, I glanced back over my shoulder and caught her watching me from the elevator. Our eyes locked in a silent exchange that spoke volumes.

Time seemed to stand still, and one thing became clear—she was still pissed at me.

But there was something more. Something I was very interested in exploring. The elevator doors closed, cutting off our connection and leaving me raw and vulnerable.

Spencer shoved me, snapping me back to reality. "Should I remind you she's going to be working for you? No harassing the staff. We had a whole seminar on it."

"Shut up."

"Maybe I'll hire her to work for me," he mused aloud.

"She didn't apply for a job working for you," I said. "She wants to work for me."

"Not if you don't treat her right," he warned.

"Did she say why she's looking for a job?" I asked.

"Yes."

I waited for him to elaborate. "And?"

"If you wanted to know, you should have done the interview," he said, clearly having a great time torturing me.

"Fine, just tell me, did she know I'm who she's going to be working for?"

"She did," he said, nodding.

The fact that she chose to apply to work for me seemed to suggest that she was ready to move past whatever had happened all those years ago.

"Did she ask about me?"

He rolled his eyes. "This is not middle school. She didn't pass me a note to give to you. If I would have known that's what you expected from me, I would have asked if she wanted to hold hands with you under the bleachers."

"Ha ha, very funny," I retorted, trying to hide the fact that Spencer's words struck a chord within me. As much as I wanted to brush off the lingering memories of our shared past, there was an undeniable curiosity brewing inside me. Was this her way of seeking closure, or something more?

"So, are you excited?" Spencer asked.

"What the hell does that mean? Talk about being in the seventh grade."

"I'm just wondering if you're going to be able to work with her." He shrugged.

"She'll be working for me," I corrected. "And of course. Why wouldn't I?"

"Because you're all tongue tied," he said. "And she's not even in the office anymore."

"I'm fine. I need to get to work. Thanks for doing the interview."

"No problem."

I walked to my office and sank into my chair. What had I just gotten myself into? I couldn't say for sure, but Isadora had captured my attention again and there was no turning back.

As I sifted through the paperwork on my desk, my mind kept drifting back to the sight of her. Her name alone sent a shiver down my spine. I couldn't shake the image of her blue-eyed gaze in the elevator, the unspoken words hanging heavy between us. It was as if fate had orchestrated this reunion, thrusting us back into each other's orbits to handle unfinished business.

She was more beautiful than I remembered. She was hot back then, but now she was absolutely stunning. Sexy. Gorgeous. And that confidence she had always turned me on.

Why the fuck had I chosen to make her an employee?