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What was he thinking? Damn it, Sam, what were you thinking? Stop fumbling your hands in your pockets and just something, anything. Wait, was that a half-step forward? Yes. Yes, it was. Then why was he stepping back again?
“I have to go.” This time, Sam walked away with hurried, determined footsteps that conveyed that nothing would stop him again.
My hand went over my chest. To feel my heartbeat.
But all I could feel… was nothingness.
* * *
Chapter Twenty-Six
I thought he said we’d meet in his office.
But Sam’s office was at the opposite end of the floor. In the direction I was being escorted by the receptionist, I knew well enough there was only one place where the meeting could be held. The conference room.
Pushing all thoughts aside, I focused on the singular reason why I was in this building. I wasn’t here to see Sam’s office. I was here on business to meet the big boss Samuel Webb. Not Sam. I was a guest here for a business meeting. That’s why I was wearing the visitor’s tag on my blazer. Oh, how things change.
The first thing I noticed when I reached the empty conference room was the glass walls. The mismatched frosting on the new glass was the dead giveaway which panels had been broken during Sam and Joe’s brawl. Gosh, I hadn’t imagined they had shattered two panels. Must have been a much wildermano-a-manothan Joe let on.
The receptionist made to leave, but she stopped at the door. “It’s good to have you back, Lucy. Never in a million years would I have guessed you’d leave Mr Webb. You were a great team. He’s definitely not the same without you.”
And with her usual kind smile, she left.
Like I said, things change.
Then I spotted the one thing that never changed.
Sam.
He looked the same as always. Immaculately dressed. Pompous strut. A glowing aura of grandeur. And as handsome as ever.
As much as I tried to regard him as the big boss, I just couldn’t. He was Sam. For whatever reason I’d meet him, he would always be Sam to me.
Even my body’s reaction was the same as the last time I’d been there. The second Sam pulled open the door and walked inside, my own body began to tremble with the excitement of just being in the same room as him.
My attempt to steady my composure was restricted by the awareness of Sam scanning me from toe to head. He was looking at me like he’d never seen me before. Definitely not like this. Being honest, even I was amazed at seeing myself in my bedroom wall mirror earlier. Yes, I wore suits to work before, of course I did. But today I wasn’t wearing a casual, bright-coloured suit. Today, it was the ultimate power suit – fitted, white, classic and sophisticated. I never looked this powerful. A woman on a mission.
“Good morning.” Sam nodded as he walked past me around the table to his usual placement.
“You’re late.” I noted as I set down my laptop bag on the table.
Sam raised up his forearm and pushed back his jacket’s sleeve to expose his wrist. “No watch, remember?”
Yes, I remember he said he ditched his watch. I remember telling me that in the hospital room. That and other things.
The door swivelled open again. It was Joe.
“Oh, you’re both here. Guess I’m right on time then.” He walked in and headed to take seat beside Sam.
What the hell was Joe doing here?
“I brought Joe in for his counsel,” Sam answered my unspoken question while he shrugged off his jacket and then dressed it on the chair.
I didn’t believe that for a second. Sam had moved the meeting to the conference room to evade being alone with me between the four concealed walls of his office. I knew he did it intentionally because I myself had used that same tactic before. And Joe in the same room with us was an extra layer of protection. Joe’s brief apologetic shrug confirmed that.
“Shall we start?” Sam settled back in his chair, precisely angled at me standing at the head of the table. “I’ve only got around fifteen minutes. Got to drive my daughters to their new universities.”
The realization of being the sole focus of these two men reminded me that at this moment, they were businessmen and not my acquaintances. The added tension of that made me shiver a little. As if presenting a business proposal wasn’t stressful enough in itself.
