She wondered how many other girls had succumbed to his spell. How many others had he seduced and forgotten? And how many others had been as stupid and oblivious as her? Probably not many. Most people at least remembered what their boss looked like before jumping into bed with them.
I’m just one of his flings, she thought. Just another one night stand with some unassuming girl. But this girl is professional and smart. She reminded herself of all the hours spent working towards this moment, this presentation. She was too deserving of this opportunity to let it slip away because of some one night stand. I am a smart, professional adult. I can do this.
Kat allowed herself one more deep breath before reaching to her bag to remove her documents. She was going to give this presentation or die trying. She tossed her bag onto the chair beside her.
“I’m here to present the future of Shoesy.” Her voice came out squeaky, but she was just glad it had come out at all.
AJ reached for the packet of graphs and explanations she’d spent the last month working her butt off on. For a moment she was proud of her new-found bravery, but her celebration was immediately cut short. AJ tossed the packet she had worked so hard on onto the filing cabinet behind him without a second glance.
“You’re not even going to look at it?” she asked incredulously. Fire flared within her. She was awash with a thousand emotions, but she could clearly identify a sense of frustration beginning to erupt. “Do you know how hard I worked on that?”
His lips twitched as he watched her react. A grin slowly started to form. It started in his cheeks but quickly took over the entirety of his expression.
“Just like I remember.”
His sentence took her by surprise. The frustration that had overtaken her face quickly dissipated and she felt herself blushing fervently.
No! Smart and professional. Focus on the work.
“I’d really like to show you what I’ve done.” She felt herself trying to recover from the flurry of butterflies beating rapidly in her chest. She paused, unsure if it was appropriate but needing to say it anyway. “It’s why I had to leave that morning.”
He didn’t move or react. Heat filled her face. She was supposed to be a professional and here she was bringing up their night together. A night he clearly wasn’t interested in as he hadn’t called her. She straightened up taller. “If you look at the first page, you’ll see our profit margins will increase by a projected-”
He ignored her efforts to control the moment and interrupted her. “Did you leave me a note?”
It took her a moment to respond. “I did.” She felt the guilt of her presentation fighting against the angst in her stomach. But she had to ask. “Did you not get it?”
“No. Well, sort of.” His light blue eyes held her captive. “Someone threw it away before I had a chance to read it.”
“Oh.” It was all she could produce. Her mind was spinning again. He didn’t call because he didn’t get it. He hadn’t received the note. Maybe... maybe he had wanted to call?
“I would have called, but...” he started softly, as if reading her thoughts. He pulled out his phone and began thumbing through it.
“You would have?” she asked, not waiting for him to finish. All thoughts of her presentation were long gone now.
He stood up and walked around the desk before casually leaning against its front. He finally seemed to find what he was looking for. He took a step away from his desk and closer to her. Close enough that she could smell his aftershave. The smell was a siren song that penetrated all the way to her brain and made it impossible to think of anything else.
“I would have called you that very day,” he said softly, his eyes focused completely on her.
“I would have answered that phone call,” she whispered.
A warm smile crossed his face that made her knees tremble. Again, he took another step forward. He was close now. So close that she could smell beyond his aftershave, she could smell him. Masculine and wonderful. He smelled even better than she remembered. It was a smell that froze her.
“I had the hotel torn apart to get that note. Here is all they found,” he said, handing her his phone.
She took a look at the torn letter in her handwriting, framed against a white background.
Dear AJ,
I had an amazi
I want to see y
I wish I coul
I hope you unde
Please call me. 5
Yours Truly,
Kat
She laughed as she looked at it, raising her hand to her mouth. All the ink had washed away, and there was a giant red stain across the top half of it. It looked like they had lit the paper on fire just to get this much out of it, but the rest was either washed or torn away. There was just enough to show how crazy she was for him, but not enough to find her.