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Chapter Five
Poppy
Monday mornings are always busy at the office. I gaze around, my eyes moving from one colleague to the next as they’re caught up in their work. I wonder if anyone would notice if I suddenly stripped naked and performed a rendition of Swan Lake. Probably not. I’m invisible around here.
Edgar Financial Consulting provides help to companies trying to get back on their feet financially. Helping people is a passion of mine so you’d think my job would be satisfying and rewarding, but it’s anything but.
I glance at the conference phone, checking if my boss, Harry, is free yet. He took a call ten minutes ago, and I’ve been waiting on pins to speak to him. Ten minutes becomes fifteen, and then twenty. Finally, the little light goes off; signaling Harry has ended his call. I wait a few minutes longer before making my way to his office and knocking firmly on the door.
“Come in!”
I smooth my sweaty palms down my black work pants before stepping inside. Closing the door behind me, I turn to face the man sitting behind the desk.
“Morning, Poppy. What can I do for you?” Harry asks, lifting his gaze from the papers on his desk to me.
I take a few steps towards his desk, clasping my hands nervously in front of me. “I’ve been with the company for almost three years now. Almost three years of making sure this office and everyone in it runs smoothly. I know we’ve spoken before about taking on clients of my own, and you told me I wasn’t ready, but I’m ready now. I’m not the inexperienced young woman I was when I first came here, fresh from college. I’ve spent every spare minute learning the ropes from the ground up and taking every course I can to better myself and my prospects. I’m more than qualified to provide the level of service this company prides itself on giving. I have a natural eye for business and numbers, for what works and what doesn’t. Which is why I’m asking you again to give me a shot because I’ve poured my heart and soul into this company, and I deserve an opportunity to show my full potential as much as the next person.”
I press my lips together as I finish my speech, willing my trembling legs not to give me away.
Harry raises an eyebrow at me, his blue eyes revealing nothing. “You finished?”
I sigh in defeat. “Yeah, I’m finished.”
“Good, because I agree with everything you just said.”
I gape at him. “You do?”
“Yes,” he nods, the overhead light bouncing off his prematurely gray hair and turning it silver. “Which is why I’ve just arranged your first consultancy job at The Lockhart Club downtown.”
My jaw drops. “I—The Lockhart Club?”
“You don’t want it?”
“No! I mean, yes, of course, I want it!” I reply with more force than I meant to.
Harry smiles, his blue eyes twinkling in his perpetually tanned face. “Good. I’ll email the information to you. This is a lucrative contract. I suggest you spend some time familiarizing yourself with the company. I told Mr. Lockhart you’ll be there tomorrow morning at nine sharp.”
“Tomorrow?” I squeak. “But—what about my usual duties?”
“Call the agency and have them send Lydia to cover you for a few weeks. She knows the ropes. She’s covered for you when you’ve been on vacation. If things work out, we can offer her your position permanently, leaving you free to work as a consultant full time,” Harry explains.
It takes everything I have not to jump up and down on the spot like a giddy schoolgirl. Instead, I thank Harry twenty-seven times before heading back to my desk.
This is it! I’m finally getting my chance. With The Lockhart Club, no less! The same place I ran into my mystery man on Friday night—or, to be more precise, he ran into me.
Coincidence?
Oh, God, how awkward would it be if my mystery man works at The Lockhart Club? Not that he looked like an employee, dressed as he was in jeans and a casual button-up shirt that did nothing to disguise his spectacular physique.
My cheeks flame as I remember the encounter, the feel of his arms around me, and those hypnotic brown eyes boring into mine with an intensity I felt all the way down to my toes.
I’ve never experienced instant attraction before but seeing him again only confirmed what I felt the first time he almost knocked me off my feet. There was something about him, a magnetism, that called to me on a fundamental level. It was as if my body already knew him, recognized him from another lifetime. And that freaked me the fuck out.
Which is why I hoofed it out of there like a nun running from a Magic Mike show.
Jeremy’s betrayal is still too fresh. Finding him mid-thrust in another woman wounded my pride and dented my confidence. I don’t want to be in that situation again, where I’m vulnerable to a man.
I sit at my desk and pull up a new internet tab on my computer screen, typing in The Lockhart Club. I need to get clued up on this establishment before tomorrow morning.
