Page 11 of I Choose You

I walked closer to pass him, and I refused to think about the way his eyes narrowed. Was he hiding a smile? A smirk? Yeah, a smirk would be more like him.

“Thank you, Ms. Ponder.”

I pulled my lip between my teeth, not missing that his smug, confident tone was back. As I led him toward my boss’s office, I refused to dwell on the fact he was likely staring at my ass the whole way.

Dammit. Why the fuck did I ever send out those stupid emails? I wished I’d never sent a single acquisition message to anyone. If it meant risking a run-in with Kaden Wagner.

No, not a run-in. We weren’t bumping into each other on the sidewalk somewhere. He’s here to do business with us. I inhaled slowly and steadily again. At least Todd will have to handle him. Not me.

The silence between us was worse than the awkward fumble of a greeting we’d done when he’d entered. But I wasn’t doing this again. I wasn’t going to waste my time worrying what he thought. “Here you go.” I blurted it, eager to escape. Gesturing at Todd’s door, I was too hasty and almost smacked the glass.

Kaden smiled. Not a creepy, leering one, but almost polite. “I hope I get to see you again, Brooke.”

What?!

I licked my lips, struggling to think of something to say. Nothing came, and I forced my cheeks up, pasting on a quick smile as Todd approached the door. Then I backed away. I didn’t run, but I sure as hell wanted to.

Kaden.

That Kaden.

Kaden ‘the asshole’ Wagner.

“Brooke? Are you all right?”

I slowed just enough in hurrying down the hall to smile at the temp. “I’m fine. Just remembered I need to go for, um, an early lunch.”

With that, I bolted, first to my desk to grab my purse and then out the door. As I left the office, I grabbed my phone and texted Rena.

Brooke: SOS. Are you busy?

Rena: There’s this thing called work, but no. SOS for what?

She managed PR for a bookstore, and her office hours were relatively flexible. Or what she did in her office was. It wouldn’t be the first time I’d done a pop-in.

Rena: My door’s always open for you.

I texted back a thumbs-up, which she hated, but she didn’t loathe it as much as a simple K. If I wanted to piss her off, I’d make it a K!

I got there in no time, and as she’d promised, she wasn’t on the phone and no one was there to butt in.

“What? What is it?”

“Kaden Wagner.” I slumped in the open seat that wasn’t covered with stacks of books. “Kaden fucking Wagner.”

She leaned against the edge of her desk and held up her hands as she shrugged. “Who’s he?”

I’d met her well after high school, so she wouldn’t know. “He’s at my office representing Wagner Industries. I reached out to them for a partnership.”

She rolled her hand, prompting me to get to it. I filled in a few more details, ending with the reason I’d frozen at his voice. “I went to high school with him.”

Rena smiled. “Which was, like, how many years ago? Ancient history, right?”

I winced. “I, um, knew him then.”

She slapped her forearm over the other. “Imagine that,” she quipped dryly.

“In a not-so-good way.”