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Anderson Lawrence.
I knew he worked with my brother and that I was bound to run into him sooner or later. If I was being perfectly honest with myself, I also knew that he was part of the reason I felt so nervous. Throughout my teenage years, I’d maintained a super-intense crush on him. There were times that my young self wanted him so badly that I didn’t know what to do.
What I hadn’t been prepared for was that over the years, he would manage to become even more handsome.
He was drop dead gorgeous; my memory hadn’t been doing him justice at all.
“Dammit, Joanna,” he said.
I recoiled.
Anderson was even more gorgeous than I remembered, but obviously, one thing hadn’t changed at all.
He still hated me.
CHAPTER 4
Anderson
I stared down at the hot brown liquid staining my new suit. In that moment, I knew Joanna was going to be just as much a nuisance as I always remembered her being. I began having vivid flashbacks of the annoying kid sister Tobias just couldn’t shake off whenever I was around.
“Oh my God,” she said. “I’m-I’m so sorry…”
I glanced up and froze dead in my tracks. I blinked, staring after her as she scurried across the room for p
aper towels, talking a mile a minute.
“I just started officially working here and it’s been a bit overwhelming,” she said. “I’m sorry about being so on-edge. And I’m sorry about the coffee, I just—”
But whatever else she said fell upon deaf ears because I was too stunned.
When the hell did Joanna Gentry get so beautiful?
I only halfway listened as she continued to talk and apologize. Images of the scrawny girl came to mind, and it was in stark contrast to the ridiculously stunning young woman standing before me. Joanna was still petite, but she was far from the stick-figure she used to be as a kid. She had grown up to develop ample curves in all the right places. Her curly hair fell smoothly down her back in a ponytail, and her gray eyes—which had once been identical to her brother’s—now held a sensual gaze that was hard to look away from.
I blinked again, suddenly realizing that she was thrashing paper towels in my face.
“I’m sorry,” she said again.
I cleared my throat. “Yeah…I got that.” I took the paper towels and began wiping at the jacket of my suit.
“I don’t think you’ll be able to see it once it’s dry,” she said.
I nodded. “Yeah, I think you’re right.”
A long silence stretched between us. “Well, I’ve got to get back to Tobias,” she said. “I’ll, um…See you around, Anderson.”
I nodded again. “Yeah. See you, Joanna.”
*
Running into Joanna had completely thrown off my day in ways I would have never anticipated. No matter how much I tried, I couldn’t get her out of my mind. Every time I saw her passing by, I couldn’t stop my eyes from trailing her every move. My mind was completely boggled that she was truly the same girl I had known so many years ago.
I’d been sitting in my office thinking about Joanna when Tobias suddenly appeared. My face instantly felt like someone had lit a match over it.
What the hell is wrong with you, Anderson? I thought to myself.
The sisters of friends were off-limits. I was well aware that my thoughts were completely out of line considering Joanna was the kid sister of my best friend. It didn’t matter how gorgeous she had become; my attraction to her would always be unacceptable. Hell, simply finding her attractive was damn near incestuous, any sister of Tobias’s should have been like a sister to me.
