Chapter 2
‘Excuse me,' I said loudly over the noise in the office to a woman leaning against a desk sipping a coffee. She didn't look upset or furious so maybe she hadn't been made redundant. ‘I'm supposed to be starting today and I have no idea what's going on.'
She grimaced. ‘Bloody hell, talk about the worst day to join us, eh?' She came over and held out her hand and gave mine a firm shake. ‘I'm Gita. I'm editorial director here. You're joining us in publicity?'
I nodded. ‘Annie Leon hired me. I'm Stevie.'
She clucked her tongue. ‘Poor Annie, she's been here years. They're joining up marketing, sales and publicity so I think they want some new blood on board. Until they sort everything out, the new boss is running everything and…' She leaned in close. ‘His nickname in the industry is The Shark so we're all pretty shaken up.'
‘The Shark?' I gulped. That did not sound at all promising.
Gita nodded towards a door at the end of the open-plan office. ‘He's been calling us in one by one. I made the cut, thank God, but I can't believe how many haven't. If you can handle it, I'd go in there straight away so you know where you stand.' Someone called her name. ‘Good luck,' she said and headed off to talk to a group of her colleagues.
I turned towards the ominous office door ahead of me. I was half inclined to make myself a cup of coffee and wait a few hours but I knew that was a bad idea. If I was going to be told to leave, it was better to know straight away and save myself a nervous wait. Like most things in life, ripping off the plaster was usually the best option so I walked across the floor towards The Shark's office, singing the Jaws theme in my head, which actually diffused the tension in my body a little bit.
The door burst open as I approached and I stopped as a woman rushed out, her mascara smudged from tears. God. This really was awful. Did I even want to work here any more? The woman hurried off and left The Shark's office door open so I supposed I had no excuse not to find out my fate.
I exhaled and started walking again up to the door. Even though it was open, I knocked anyway and heard a gruff ‘enter'.
As I rounded the door, I saw a tall figure with his back to me staring out of the window at the rain. The office was bare expect for a desk, chair and an empty bookcase. It looked like it had been stripped for him to take it over. I wondered who had had to vacate it for him, and whether The Shark felt guilty at all about it.
When he still didn't turn around straight away, I cleared my throat.
‘Hi, this is my first day here and I'm wondering whether I should just turn around and go home or not?' I asked in my boldest tone, because I had a sense that someone called The Shark didn't do BS. ‘Oh, and I'm Stephanie Phillips but everyone calls me?—'
‘Stevie,' he supplied for me.
I frowned, wondering how he knew that. Then he turned around.
It was like it was happening in slow motion. But not like a sexy slow-motion music video featuring a shirtless man drizzled in oil, but in a this is so huge, it has to happen in an excruciatingly slow way so you know that everything in your life is about to change, way.
Finally, the turn was complete and my mouth fell open.
‘Oh my God,' I said as I recognised The Shark. And not because of his so-called fearsome reputation in the industry. This recognition was personal. Very personal.
He met my gaze. ‘Hi, Stevie,' he said calmly.
‘Hi, Stevie?' I repeated, not at all calmly. ‘This… can't be happening?' I asked, addressing the universe as much as him.
He sighed. ‘It is. I joined this morning. I am your new boss.'
A dun dun dunnnnnn sound rang out in my head as my eyes flicked to the name on the desk which I hadn't noticed when I came in. Noah Anderson. I looked back at the man in front of me as he waited patiently for me to get my head around this situation. But I doubted that I ever would.
Realising I couldn't yet speak, Noah shifted on his feet and put a hand in his pocket then took it out again. ‘I know this is a shock…'
‘That's an understatement,' I was able to cough out. My pulse was speeding up by the second. I wondered if there was any part of my body that hadn't turned red or sweaty. I doubted it.
He nodded. ‘I know. It all happened so quickly and I didn't even know you'd been hired until I got here this morning. HR here has been dealing with everything directly with HR in New York.' He cleared his throat. ‘You're not on the redundancy list. The plan is to get a sense of what is needed here so in the meantime, you will need to step up and take over publicity. It would be great for your career, of course, but you need to think about it. Because obviously, I will now be your manager. So, I understand if…' His coolly delivered speech faltered ever-so slightly. ‘…you'd rather not.'
My eyebrows shot up. If I'd rather not? I wanted to scream at him, Hell no, I would very much rather not! and turn and run out of this office, leaving a cartoon character-shaped hole in the wall. But this was my dream job. And here he was telling me that I almost had a promotion straight away. I couldn't believe this was happening.
‘I don't know what to say,' I admitted.
‘Think it over tonight. Go home now and come and see me in the morning with your decision.' He turned around to look out at the rain again, signalling that our conversation was over.
I was able to really look at him then, now his eyes were no longer on me. Noah with his tall and slim frame, his short jet-black hair, his dark-rimmed glasses that shielded eyes the colour of chocolate, that dimple in his right cheek when he smiled, the sleeves of his shirt that were always rolled up, the line of stubble around his chin – he looked the same. A tiny bit older and rougher around the edges, and he'd always been clean shaven when I had known him, but annoyingly, the stubble… it looked good. He looked good. He even smelled good. It was a new scent. Deeper. Muskier. Sexier…
Without warning, my body reminded me of the nights I'd been in his arms. How his body had felt next to mine. The way his touch made me…
Quickly, I shook my head to clear it of those kinds of thoughts. Noah might have been the best sex of my life. We might have been that close once but we sure as hell were not now.
And this sexy appearance of his was all a lie. He was good-looking on the outside but not on the inside. I knew the space in the centre of his chest was empty where his heart should have been.
Because he might be The Shark to everyone in this office, but to me he was the man who had broken my heart.
I swallowed and turned to go, shook to my very core that I was seeing my ex-boyfriend again. After all this time. And that he was now my boss. The universe really did have a sick sense of humour.
I walked out and closed the door behind me, and then I kept on walking. Out of the office and through reception, into the lift, like I was in some kind of trance, my legs moving of their own accord. I walked out of the main revolving doors into the rain and I kept on walking. My mind wouldn't focus on anything. I had honestly never been so shaken by something before in my life.
No, that was a lie. It had happened once before.
The day Noah walked away from me.
And now, five years later, he was suddenly back again.
Fuck my life.