Page 26 of Loving Her Enemy

Not Marcella, though. The fashion concierge was bold and entitled and had been that way since they were kids. Over the years, she’d gotten worse. Their parents were good friends, and Sloane and Bristol, as well as Marcella and her three siblings, had pretty much been raised together.

“I wasn’t talking to you,” she snapped at Reece before turning her attention to Sloane. She smiled at him demurely and ran a hand down the sides of her body-hugging wrap dress.

With anyone else, Sloane would’ve stood and greeted her properly, but instead, he rocked back in his chair. Whatever she was offering, he wasn’t interested. He would never be with a woman he didn’t respect, and he definitely didn’t respect her. It had started when they were juniors in high school, and she had snuck into his childhood bedroom. He found her naked in his bed.

His opinion of Marcella had plummeted from there. It didn’t matter if she was a beautiful, intelligent, brown-skinned woman who was always impeccably dressed. Her horrible personality overshadowed all that.

“First of all, don’t ever barge into my office again,” Sloane ground out. “Secondly, if you ever disrespect one of my employees, you’ll be banned from here. I don’t give a damn what other businesses you frequent around here, you’ll be stopped the moment you step foot into this building.”

She placed her hand on her hip and frowned at him. “Oh, so it’s like that now? This is how you’re going to treat me?”

“Marcella, we’re in a meeting. What do you want?” Sloane snapped, not in the mood for whatever drama she was about to cause.

Sabrina eased out of the office, closing the door behind her, but Reece made no move to leave. Which Sloane appreciated since he didn’t trust Marcella. Instead, Reece was typing something into his phone and looked as if he had totally tuned them out.

Marcella set her designer handbag in one of the visitor chairs. Then boldly moved files aside and sat on the edge of Sloane’s desk.

“I ran into your mother yesterday, and she suggested I stop by and see you.”

“Well, you’ve seen me. Now you can leave.”

She pursed her ruby-red lips and leaned forward, giving him a full view of her cleavage. She had to know he wasn’t interested in any part of her, but if she didn’t, he’d gladly remind her.

“You don’t have to be rude, Sloane. I’d like to talk to you, alone,” she said side-eying Reece who didn’t seem to be paying attention since he was typing frenziedly into his phone, but he spoke.

“Did you not hear the part about us being in a meeting?” Reece said without looking up. “And if you’ve come to shoot your shot after reading about Sloane in that magazine, you’re wasting your time. Others beat you to it.”

“What are you, his spokesperson or something?” Marcella growled. “I came to talk to Sloane. Not you!”

Sloane huffed out a breath. She and Reece hadn’t liked each other from day one, and they never failed to push each other’s buttons.

“Again, Marcella, what do you want?”

Before she could respond, Sloane’s intercom buzzed and Sabrina said, “Mr. Davidson, your eleven-thirty is here. I’ll send her right in.”

Sloane frowned. He thought his afternoon meetings had been canceled, and since when did Sabrina send people in versus escorting them in?

“Sabrina, I thought—”

Sloane’s voice trailed off when the door swung open and his words caught in his throat. He blinked several times, sure he was seeing things, but nope, she was standing right there.

Halayna.

Surprise rattled him as he continued staring at the woman who he hadn’t been able to stop thinking about. The woman who looked like God’s gift to men in that outfit.

His gaze took her in from her long, dark hair, bone straight and draped over her left shoulder, to her perfectly made-up face. And that dress? Good Lord. Had she just left a photo shoot for Vogue or some other fashion magazine? The white off-the-shoulder garment hugged her curves and stopped just above her knees. Tasteful, classy, and sexy as hell.

Did she know he was a leg man? Sloane wondered because she was always showing off hers. Today she accentuated them with the sexiest white sandals he had ever seen on a woman. They were tall, giving her an extra four inches of height, and they had straps that wrapped around her shapely calves. Calves he couldn’t wait to run his hands up and down.

Sloane swallowed hard and his dick stirred as his gaze did another stroll over her body. The woman was absolutely stunning.

She stepped farther inside the office. “I hope I’m not interrupting.”

Sloane didn’t snap out of his trance until Reece chuckled. Considering the way Halayna was fighting a smile, Sloane suspected his friend had something to do with her presence in his office. That would’ve been the only way she could’ve gotten past security downstairs and Sabrina. Unless she pulled a Marcella, but Sloane didn’t think so.

“Who the hell are you?” Marcella asked, venom in her tone as she pushed off his desk.

Sloane had temporarily forgotten she was even there, and he still couldn’t seem to find his voice. His gaze went back to Halayna. This time when he looked at her, there was a mischievous glint in her eyes. One he hadn’t seen since she and Bristol had been in college.