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“I think so. Is this on your tab today?” Another question which she should know the answer to. Mandy was sweet and probably didn’t want to assume anything.
“Yes, please.” I scratched the tip of my nose, feeling a bit weird as Mandy’s eyes looked past me again.
A throat cleared as if the gentleman behind me was irritated. He better not get snippy with me. If he was worried about being late, he should have arrived sooner.
Oddly, my heart fluttered and my skin heated. I hadn’t felt like this in years, since…Stop it!Don’t think of him.
Perhaps I was coming down with a bug.
Mandy set my cup on the counter, her eyes darting behind me again. I didn’t like this uneasy feeling I had. I took my drink, ready to get back to my office. “Thanks, Mandy.”
“Autumn?”
I turned to the left when I heard my cousin’s voice. I smiled and took a step. She went white as a sheet.
“You forgot your parfait,” the irritated man said. His rich, buttery,familiarvoice poured over me in waves and I froze.
Seconds passed as Davina and I stared at each other, my heart thudding against my ribs. The stunned expression on her face revealed all I needed to know. It couldn’t be possible. Why after all this time?
The whispers and giggles on the marketing floor… they were because ofhim.
I whirled around, needing confirmation. There I was, face-to-face with my ex-husband—like, inches away from his face. Dammit all to hell, he was more handsome than the last time I saw him.
“Ms. Lucas, lovely Wednesday morning, isn’t it?” With a smug curl to his lip, he drank me in. His blue eyes slowly roamed over my hair and face. Leisurely they traveled to my breasts and down to my feet, then back up to my eyes. His gaze seared my skin as it brushed over me, and my body ignited into a stupid, infuriating inferno of desire.
The blood drained out of my face and my heart jumped in my throat. More freaking whispers surrounded us, but I didn’t have a mind to care with my eyes locked on Eli’s.
“You might want to close your mouth,” he said in his hypnotic voice, the one that used to talk me to sleep when my brain wouldn’t stop. The one that used to make me come with his dirty talk as he fucked me. “It’s giving me indecent thoughts.”
I narrowed my gaze, ignoring the pulse in my panties. Effing Eli, he was still a smartass with a foul mouth. He apparently hadn’t forgotten how to rile me up either. “What are you doing here?”
A cocky smirk glided across his perfect, kissable lips. The throbbing between my thighs intensified, drenching my panties. “I work here now.”
“Autumn, sweetie…” Davina placed her hand on my arm. “Let’s go. Eli.” She said his name in a tart tone.
“Davina,” he replied. “I forgot you worked here.”
“I’m sure you didn’t.” She took my parfait from his hand and tugged me away. “Come on, Autumn.”
“I’ll see you later, Ms. Lucas.” The confident lilt in his declaration had my nerve endings sparking for the first time in three years.
I let Davina lead me away as my hands trembled, my breathing erratic.
The door closed to my office and I broke into a frantic pace. This had to be a dream—a nightmare of gargantuan proportions. Eli couldn’t be on the West Coast. In SJI.
“Breathe, sweetie. I’m so sorry I didn’t get to you before he did. I tried calling you when I saw who was hired as the new director.”
I stopped, clutching my stomach. “Eli is the director of social media marketing? The position I was passed over for?”
“Yes. Mr. St. James hadn’t breathed a word about it. Each time I tried to hint at it, he redirected the conversation. I’m not sure what happened. Why they would hire someone externally. It doesn’t normally work that way here. They always hire in-house first.”
“Well, this is just fucking great. My ex-husband is my boss. Eli Morgan is my boss. Son of a bitch.”
I braced my hands on the desk, feeling light-headed and dizzy. This couldn’t be happening. I hadn’t seen Eli since that day in his lawyer’s office, three years ago today. The last kiss we shared haunted me. I dreamed about it. Woke up panting and aroused. How could he do this to me?
“Sweetie, try to stay calm.”
“Why is he here? Why would he swoop in when he had to know I wanted the position? I’m qualified for it—more than qualified.” I shook my head. “I can’t work with him, for him.” I spun around with my hands balled into fists. “The celebration dinner for SJI’s anniversary is this weekend. Then there’s the business trip I’m going on with a couple of junior level staff. He’s not going to Manhattan too, is he?” On wobbly legs, I went to sit in my chair and rested my elbows on the desk and squeezed my head between my hands.
