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Why had she bolted so fast? Because Xander touched a raw nerve? Because she was terrified he could be her everything? Her mind was all screwed up. The same thoughts had been floating around, intruding on her every moment for the last eight days.
Damnit, something had to change. She stood up straight and went into her contacts. Text would just memorialize her muddle. Voicemail? What was the chance she would get through to his voicemail?
With the conference room just a few meters away, at least she had an excuse for getting off a call quickly if he picked up.
Clearing her throat, she scrolled through and found his number, saved as X. Nothing more. It was supposed to be just his initial but seemed prophetic.
Quick. Come on. She didn’t have all day. Fuck it. She pressed call. No going back.
Raising the device to her ear, her whole body was tingling. Her stomach flipped over and over. Why was she nervous? Could adrenaline be responsible for numbing her fingertips, or was she having a stroke?
It rang and…
Another tone echoed from further down the corridor. Frowning, she peeked left and right. There was no one there. And that ringtone. It wasn’t typical. In fact, she’d only heard it one other place.
Creeping along the corridor toward the suspicious sound, trepidation seeped in. Her boss wanted her in that conference room.
Lowering the phone from her ear, she rounded the door and…
Xander.
Several people occupied the conference room, but she only saw one. Him. Standing there behind a trio of Northberg associates. Dynamics own top-tier team stood near Eric Donal and her supervisor, Stacey. Everyone was fawning over the older guy surrounded by the Northberg people. Everyone except Xander.
This was a nightmare. Had to be a nightmare. Oh, God, she better not be naked.
Xander slipped his hand into his inner pocket. For his phone? Maybe.
Without looking, she pressed the disconnect button on hers.
What was he doing there?
Why was he loitering in the background? Not that he looked suspicious. No, despite being closest to the corner, he was still the most intimidating. Maybe the brooding, unimpressed thing was a tactic.
Although his phone stopped ringing, Xander retrieved it anyway. It took him just a second to read her name on the screen. Like he sensed her, his attention pounced to hers.
She wasn’t a bad person. Being clumsy, and sometimes saying the wrong thing, didn’t make her evil. Xander had told her if going to the press and outing him would make her happy she should do it. It hadn’t even occurred to her. Never would she do something so callous and intrusive. Why open a can of worms she’d be powerless to close?
Except, he was doing the equivalent.
Alex, the man she thought her friend to be, would never intrude on her livelihood. Her job was her life. Not because she wanted it to be exactly, but she wasn’t like him. Her savings were meager. If she lost her job, she wouldn’t make rent.
And she hated games. He knew she hated games.
Why would he invade her workplace? What could be his reason?
They just stood there. Eyes locked. The contrition she’d seen in him in the past wasn’t gleaming like she expected it might. Xander wasn’t sorry to be there. He was determined.
The setup didn’t seem right if his aim was to get her fired. Ruining her would take nothing more than a single phone call for a guy of his influence.
Her mind wasn’t as shrewd as his. How conniving might he be? To reach his stratosphere of success, Xander must have a ruthless streak. Something she was learning in real time.
“Rainie.” That happy voice belonged to Stacey, her boss. “Come over here and meet Hal Crean, Northberg’s CEO.”
So that was the older guy surrounded by his cronies? Ignoring the menacing figure in the corner, she pasted on a smile as she crossed to join Stacey and Eric Donal.
“It’s a pleasure,” she said, shaking his hand and the hands of the three people around him.
The Northberg trio were Viva’s usual contacts. Having their CEO in the room, with Xander in attendance too, couldn’t be a coincidence.
