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“I see you still have that mouth.”
I paused at the sound of his voice.
“Good morning, Olivia.”
I slowly panned my gaze up to his face and froze. Those steel-gray eyes. I’d know them anywhere. But everything else about him was different.
Absolutely everything.
I ran my eyes down his body, down the crisp gray suit he wore that matched his eyes. His button-up shirt was ironed out straight, clinging to the muscles of his chest. The black tie he paired with it blended in with his shirt, bringing out the thick black jungle of his hair. Gone were the tendrils that swooped along his brow as a college kid. Gone was the one eye covered with the wisps of hair he kept long. Instead, his raven hair was swooped back, showcasing his strong forehead, his prominent brow, and his wolfish eyes.
But it was his body that shocked me to my core.
He was no longer the lanky kid I remembered. His muscles were no longer unassuming. His chest was swollen with strength, and his arms boasted of a thickness that made my knees weak. His long legs called to me. I watched his thighs clench against the silken fabric of his suit. I raked my eyes slowly back up his form, taking in the way he had his hands clasped behind him, as if to confidently open himself up to any attack anyone might bring his way.
Brett Greyson was not the young boy I remembered.
But he sure as hell looked good as a full-grown man.
“Good morning,” I said.
“Enjoying your coffee?” he asked.
I looked down at the cup in my hand. “I haven’t taken a sip of it yet. I got it at the coffee bar as I walked in for work today.”
“Then maybe you should take a sip. May help calm those…”
He swept his eyes down my body, and I tried ignoring the tremble in my hand.
“Nerves of yours,” he finished.
This was weird. All of it, weird. Taking this job wasn’t a good idea. I didn’t know what the hell I’d been thinking. I brought my coffee up to my lips to keep my mouth from running off. I needed to stay silent. Silence was always a good option. There was something strange happening in my body—strange feelings I hadn’t entertained in years as Brett’s eyes drank me in. I tried fighting off the reaction. The way my heart clenched. The way my knees knocked together. The way my skin heated as I watched fire rush behind his eyes.
I knew that look. I’d know that damn look anywhere: that predatory stare he always pinned me with before he pounced.
I guessed some things never changed.
“Are you settling into your office okay?” Brett asked.
I pulled my lips away from my coffee. “It’s fine. Yes.”
“I didn’t ask if the office was fine. I asked if you were fine.”
“I’m fine. The office is good. Everything is… a-okay.”
“Uh-huh.”
I turned my body to face the doors of the elevator. I looked up at the floor level. I worked on level nine, and he worked on nineteen. At the top. Why the hell were we only on level five? It felt like I’d been standing in the damn elevator for two hours.
“Are you doing anything for lunch today? I was hoping we could get together and discuss some things,” Brett said.
“Um… business things?” I asked.
He chuckled, and I thought I’d melt into a damn puddle on the floor.
“Yes, Olivia. Business things.”
“Then, yes. I’m free for lunch,” I said.
“Interesting.”
“What?” I asked.
I whipped my head back up to him and saw him grinning down at me.
“Nothing. Just interesting,” Brett said.
“Oh.”
His eyes danced around my face before I managed to pull my gaze away from him. Even his face looked different. No more boyish features. No more soft cheeks. No more pale skin. He had color to him. His jawline was so sharp I could cut my finger open on it. I didn’t remember his cheekbones being so high. Then again, he’d had cute little plump cheeks when I’d first met him at that Halloween party.
Holy shit, manhood looked good on Brett.
The elevator doors opened to the ninth floor, and I quickly moved off the elevator. Anything to put space between us. Anything to get away from his pull. I needed out of his orbit. I needed to catch my breath.
Apparently, I also needed to cancel lunch, but not for the reasons I originally assumed.
“See you in a few hours, Olivia.”
The way he said my name in that smooth voice of his sent a cascading shiver down my spine.
“Of course. See you for lunch,” I said.
Why the hell had I agreed to lunch again?
I turned around and saw his eyes locked with my body. Our eyes connected just as the elevator doors closed, and I felt myself falling and floating at the same damn time. Business. That was why I had accepted his invitation. To talk. To get this initial meeting out of the way. But did it have to be a lunch meeting? That felt so… intimate. This was also the corporate world, not some psychologist’s office. The only free time he had was probably lunch. And that was how I needed to view things. I wasn’t something special on his schedule. I was a last-minute issue he had to squeeze in.
