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No. Not true. I’ve been in more—
“All clear now. Are you coming?” Tobias’s words break through my memories. I push them down.
Now is not the time to think about that. In order to get through the day, I don’t think about anything from my past. That doesn’t mean I don’t catch myself wanting to rub at my wrist to calm the pounding in my heart. But I don’t.
Instead, I take a deep breath.
Inhale.
Exhale.
Push all thoughts away other than this meeting.
I follow Tobias as he leads us to a bank of elevators. The doors open, and his men walk inside first. It’s crazy that these men have been with us the whole time, yet I never noticed them.
Were they in my office building that day he came to see Seth? Were they in this morning when I grabbed my files?
I look at them with my eyes narrowed.
“You have a question?” he asks.
I turn to face him. “Were they with us the whole time?”
“They go where I go.”
“That’s not an answer.” I roll my eyes.
“It’s the only one I have.”
My teeth grind at his sidestep, but I guess with the power and money, and most of all, the dangerous enemies he has, he has to have security. I’m not sure why it makes me angry.
But I do know. I have always watched my surroundings, but in the presence of this man, I’m missing things left and right.
I’m constantly being pushed back into my thoughts and making mistakes. I don’t like this at all. I need to always have my wits about me, and I’m starting to understand that I might be in a little over my head where this single, solitary man is concerned.
I follow Tobias to the elevator.
Then we are stepping in and are enclosed in the space. The usual elevator music isn’t present. Nope. Not here. Instead, there is a peaceful sound that makes me feel as if I’m walking into a spa instead of a business.
“Interesting choice of music.”
“Trent’s trying to calm his life. For some crazy reason, he says elevators are stressful.”
“They are,” I respond.
“Are you stressed?” he says, but his voice is a bit rougher as the elevator climbs.
I look over at him and notice the knuckles on his left hand are white.
“I don’t like elevators very much.”
“To be honest, me neither.”
I can tell, I think, but I don’t say anything because he looks uncomfortable.
“Normally, it doesn’t bother me. But sometimes, like now, since we are talking about it—”
“Yeah.”
“It’s almost more defined if that makes sense. Like my—” I stop myself. What am I doing? This is going against rule number one, my biggest rule—never let your guard down. All it took was one look from him, and here I am, blowing my rules out the window.
Pressing my thumb against my pulse, I will myself to calm. Luckily, I don’t have to deal with this for long because as tall as the building is and as high as we are going, the elevator travels so fast, we are already there.
As soon as the elevator stops, I swear I let out an audible sigh. I’m not normally like this. When I was going to Tobias’s office, it didn’t even dawn on me. Maybe because of the height of the building? Or maybe it’s the size of the elevator. Maybe it’s him.
Tobias steps back and reaches out to signal for me to go first. I take a step and am happy to be on flat ground again. Once off the elevator, I wait for him to move forward.
“This way.” He starts to move, and I follow suit. I increase my pace to keep up with him. We move down the hallway side by side. I watch as Tobias takes long, powerful strides from the corner of my eye. He looks in control as if he owns this building and everyone in it. He appears larger than life.
There is nothing this man doesn’t appear to master. It’s actually quite annoying. No one this attractive should be this sure of himself. Maybe that’s what makes him so hot.
Nope. That’s not just it.
It’s the dark hair and light eyes. He looks at you like he can see everything. I wonder if he does.
Does he see everything?
The thought makes my hands feel clammy. I sure hope he doesn’t. I don’t need him to see the real me and know anything about who I really am. The more distance I can put between us, the better.
This office is nothing like Tobias’s. There are numerous employees. This isn’t a front or pretend office. Nope. This place reminds me of my office, only higher up. Much higher up.
Tobias doesn’t bother talking to anyone. He just proceeds down the hall and opens an office door. I have to assume he comes here often.
“You don’t bother knocking?” I hear someone laugh.
