The women don’t look at me as they press the button for their floor. It’s the way people behave in elevators, barely noticing their surroundings. There’s another man in here, scrolling through his phone. Nobody interacts.
But I can’t stop staring, my eyes moving relentlessly over her body, my hands trembling as I resist the urge to slide my fingers through her hair. Even my lips tingle, as though in anticipation of kissing her.
And then it happens, the thing I thought never would and ever could happen.
Suddenly, my mind is alive with a possible future.
I see my fresh-faced woman with a baby in her arms, her hair all sweaty as she smiles radiantly up at me, and then down at our child. “Look what we did, Preston…”
Her voice is hazy in my mind. I haven’t even heard her speak yet.
Then I’m granted my wish. Her friend asks her what she’s going to do.
I listen keenly.
About what?
“I don’t know.” Her voice is sweet, nervous, as though she needs me to show her how beautiful she is. “Tell Me Everything. What a joke. I should rename the blog The Biggest Fraud Who Ever Lived.”
My instincts kick in, gathering, and storing information away for later. What is she talking about?
“Just give it your best shot. Or find a man to take you on a date.”
“Yeah.” My woman sighs. “Because it’s so easy.”
My woman.
I shouldn’t be thinking like this, not when we haven’t even spoken, but it’s good to know she’s single. But why is she looking for a date?
I shouldn’t be imagining what it would be like to cradle her in my arms, as she presses her face against my chest, weeping with pure joy after she says yes… yes to my proposal and my hungry need to make her mine, only mine.
I shouldn’t be thinking about yanking her pants down, revealing those round luscious globes, pushing them together to make them ripple for me and…
The elevator doors open.
Lena gasps, her eyes on me. Her hands' tight fists at her sides.
A heavy weight drops in my stomach.
And Lena steps forward, glaring at me.
I suppress a sigh as my woman and her friend turn to see who Lena is looking at.
This isn’t good.
CHAPTER THREE
Penny
I was so caught up listening to Juliana, that somehow I missed him standing right there. I guess it’s a testament to how obsessed I’ve become with Tell Me Everything, but now that I’ve seen him, I know I’ll never be able to let him go.
For a moment, I forget all about Lena, my attention wholly on this giant beast of a man.
He looms over me at six and a half feet at least, his hair a dark shade peppered with iron, swept casually to one side. It’s the sort of hair that makes me want to run my fingers through it, savoring the feeling of him against my fingertips. He wears a casual shirt and trousers, the sleeves of his shirt rolled up, showing his taut and ready forearms.
His jaw is squared and strong. His eyes are an intense shade of green as they roam over me.
For an insane second, I’m sure he wants to kiss me. It’s blazing from the look in his eyes, pinning me in place.
“What are you doing here?” Lena hisses, as the elevator doors close.
Juliana gives me a look as if to say, Uh oh. And then I realize who this must be.
Preston Packer, the ex-football star. My boss’s ex-boyfriend.
My heart thuds almost painfully as the truth crashes into me. I can’t allow these fantasies to grip me so easily because when I blink the look is gone if it was ever there, to begin with. He’s glaring at me, like he’s angry, like he blames me for Lena’s sudden appearance.
“I came for a meeting,” Preston says, his voice calm. “For the charity.”
“Right,” Lena mutters dryly. “Because you’re such a charitable man.”
I cringe at the proximity of the argument. Absurdly, I find myself wanting to defend Preston, to scream at Lena that she has no right to speak to him that way, even if I know it makes no sense.
I don’t know this man. This is the first time I’ve ever laid eyes on him, and yet the urge to defend him is there.
She can’t speak to him like that.
Why?
Because he’s mine.
We’re going to have a family together. He’s going to possess me, every inch of my body, and nothing’s ever going to separate us. I try to tell myself this sort of thinking makes no sense, not when I’ve only just met him.
Heck, not even met. We haven’t even exchanged names. He doesn’t know who I am. If I told him about the feelings swirling around inside me, he’d laugh in my face.
And he’d be right to do so.
Preston sighs, stuffing his hands in his pockets.