Her big brown eyes meet mine, and she holds my gaze as her body turns toward me. Fuck, I haven’t been this close to Emily Walker, up close and personal, in years. She was always beautiful but now…
Now, her curves are on fire. Her silky cream blouse drapes over full round tits, and she walks toward me with a sway to her hips of a woman who is very much all grown up.
I’d swear my blood has stopped pumping because my limbs are suddenly numb, yet I can hear the whoosh-whoosh of my heartbeat in my ears.
She brushes her long hair over her shoulder and picks up a black leather portfolio bag from the ground, her eyes never leaving mine. One corner of my mouth turns up in a smirk as she gets closer.
“Emily,” I greet her in my best bedroom voice. Her name rolls off my lips, muscle memory returning as I say it aloud, not just in my head for the billionth time.
She has a thin gold chain around her neck that hangs off her collarbone. I force myself to keep my hands in my pockets when I catch a trace of her familiar smell. It’s something clean and fresh like sunshine hitting laundered sheets hanging in a garden or some girly shit.
“Cole, how nice to see you,” she smiles and crooks her head a bit like she’s surprised to see me here.
Bullshit.
“Been a long time,” I let my eyes run down her neck and past the first couple of buttons undone on her blouse. It’s been at least a thousand years, but who’s counting?
“Ahem,” Dante elbows me in the side. The prick is still here. I don’t want to waste the few words I get with her on Dante.
“Emily, this is Dante Renzo, my teammate. Dante, this is Emily Walker, an… old friend from high school.” I tip my head toward Dante for the introduction, but don’t take my eyes off Emily. I couldn’t even if I wanted to.
Dante takes Emily’s hand and kisses the back of her fingers, “Ciao, Emily, Pleasure to meet you.” Emily smiles at him sweetly. I’m going to rip his head off for that, later.
“Nice to meet you, Dante,” she takes her hand back. “So, you both work here, then?”
You know goddamn well I work here.
“Yep, what brings you to London?” I ask since apparently she still wants to play these games.
“Small world, I have an interview for an engineering position,” she answers in a tone that is way too chipper to be genuine.
“Is that so,” I say as a statement, not a question.
“Unless, of course… would that bother you, Cole?” She cocks her head to one side and blinks her long lashes at me.
Dante lets out a muffled snicker beside me.
I crinkle my brows at her.
Then her lip quivers the tiniest bit, her tell.
“Bother me,” I laugh, “that’s hilarious. We were just teenagers having fun. No harm, no foul, right?”
No harm, my ass. The countless hours I’ve spent keeping track of her, watching her across an ocean, pining after her—and she still wants to play cat and mouse games with me.
Did you think she was going to leap into your arms, asshole?
“Perfect, glad to hear it,” she clutches the leather strap of her bag and puts it over her shoulder. She checks her dainty gold watch, “I’d better go. Dante, nice to meet you.”
She reaches to shake his hand, and being the opportunistic tool that he is, Dante kisses the back of it again. The fact that his lips get to touch her skin infuriates me.
“I hope to see you again soon,” he whispers.
“I’d like that very much,” she smiles back at him. “Cole, nice seeing you,” she nods to me, keeping her hands very much to herself when dismissing me.
I take a partial step out of the hallway entry so she can squeeze past me, “Good luck, gorgeous girl.”
Her smile drops faster than light the moment she hears her pet name leave my lips.