“I really hope you’re not in public right now. Because you’re talking very loudly about something you’ve got no business blurting out to other people. You know this stays between us, right?”
“Of course I do! What the hell do you think I’m going to do? Go blabbing about it to the whole world?”
“Right now, I don’t know what to think about much,” I said.
“Well, I can tell you this much. History has a way of repeating itself sometimes. Don’t become blind to your past with Brett.”
“Then you should probably to the same with Mason,” I quipped.
I hung up the phone with Katie and tossed it across my desk. Holy hell, I couldn’t even talk with my best friend without us spiraling into some sort of bullshit argument. I ran my hands through my hair as tears lined my eyes. Try as I might have, they still fell. I had never been a crier. It wasn’t my thing. It hurt in my chest and ached in my bones whenever I did. But as I sat there at my desk, the tears fell without an ability to stop them.
A stark reminder of the situation I’d gotten myself into.
“What the hell am I going to do?” I whispered.
And the voice in my head that was always so loud during times of crises, for once, was silent.
24
Brett
I stepped off the elevator for the top floor of my headquarters and stopped dead in my tracks. I saw Katherine at her desk typing away, securing the rest of the plans for my trip to Amsterdam. And sitting right by her desk was a man I didn’t wish to see. He stood as he locked his eyes with me, his gaze smoldering and hot. His salt-and-peppered brown hair was swept off to the side, and his hardened gaze slid down my body. I stuffed my hand into my pocket, carrying my briefcase as I approached him. I had no idea what the hell he was doing on the top floor of my building at eight in the morning, but I wasn’t going to be taking any of his bullshit.
“Olivia works on the ninth floor, but she isn’t in yet,” I said.
“And I’m sure you’d know that, wouldn’t you?” Daniel asked.
“The two of us don’t have an appointment on my schedule. But if you’d like to speak with my personal assistant and schedule, I’d be more than happy to escort you into my office at the scheduled time,” I said.
“Don’t worry. If you haven’t something else going on, I can wait. I’m a very patient man.”
“I’m sure you are.”
“We need to talk. This won’t take long,” he said.
“Trust me. It won’t,” I said.
I looked over at Katherine and nodded. I held my hand out for Daniel to follow me, then unlocked my office. I heard Katherine already on the line with someone, postponing an eight-fifteen call I had on my calendar for the morning. Ten minutes is all I’d need with this man, but in case things got loud or slowed down, I wanted to make sure my bases were covered. I ushered the inconvenience of a man into my office. I closed the door behind me, giving myself time to rally my thoughts. I didn’t like Daniel, not one ounce of him, and I didn’t care if he knew it. I heard him move to sit in the chair in front of my desk as I turned around, watching him ease one leg over his knee, sitting as if he had something important to tell me.
“To what do I owe this visit?” I asked as I walked around him.
I set my briefcase down and eased myself into my chair, watching as Daniel waited for me to sit. I leaned back into the leather that comforted me every morning. But this morning, it did nothing but bring me to high alert. Daniel studied me. His eyes didn’t look like that of a protective father, but more of a shark, waiting to take a bite out of me as he sat there in his chair.
Though I knew he’d make it about Olivia. That was his schtick—his “in” with whatever it was he was doing.
“Olivia and I have been speaking throughout the week,” he said.
“I’m glad to hear it. I know she wants to try a relationship with you,” I said.
“She talked me through college, actually. Her classes. What she wants to do with her life. How the two of you dated.”
I narrowed my eyes slightly at the man as he drew in a deep breath.
“She told me how things ended. The fight that happened. The things you said.”
“I was a young boy back then. Both of us had a lot of pent-up anger regarding the circumstances surrounding why we split,” I said.
“She said you told her that her dreams were unreachable.”