“Who brought Jessa to my office?”
“Madison did.”
“Tell Madison she’s never to allow a visitor to enter a Fairchild office without permission.”
“But Harper always does.”
My stomach sank. The lines were blurring. I couldn’t have that. “No visitor may enter a Fairchild office on their own, without permission. Remind the staff. If it happens again, there will be consequences. That’s all.”
“Okay.” Felicia’s voice sounded quivery now. “Am I in trouble? I—I—”
“You’re fine, Felicia. But let’s remember this going forward.” I hung up the phone and then raked a hand through my hair. Each second that ticked by without acknowledging Jessa only allowed the awkwardness to multiply.
Fuck.
I pushed to standing and crossed the distance between my desk and the door in four big steps. I tugged the door open, straightening my back, pulling the icy, neutral mask into place. The mask I had to wear on Wall Street and in most of Manhattan. The mask that allowed me to get shit done without breaking down entirely.
Even though I was on top of the world, I sure didn’t feel like it. Nobody had ever warned me it would be so miserable up here. So utterly uninspiring and stressful. Who could blame me for a midday blowjob to help me make it through?
Jessa sat in the guest chair in what should be my secretary’s office, gnawing on the inside of her lip as her gaze bounced around the space.
“Jessa?”
She jolted and looked up at me and then glanced away. “Ahhhh, hi.”
Right. So this was going to be awkward as fuck. “You ready to come in?”
“I don’t know, are you?”
I bit back a grin. We hadn’t seen each other in more than twelve years, but familiar energy thrummed between us. Jeremy Walton and I were ride or dies. We didn’t talk nearly as much as we used to, but we had each other’s backs for life. That’s just how it was. Which meant I’d do whatever he asked when it came to his family.
Including hiring his little sister, who I’d been infatuated with during high school. But I’d also been too scared to ever make a move.
Thirteen years later, I was even less inclined to make a move, even though every single thing about Jessa had gotten better with age.
She surged to her feet, facing me with a straight back and the crystal, silver-blue eyes that had snagged me as a seventeen-year-old horndog and again as a slightly more mature thirty-two-year-old horndog.
“Come on in. We can…chat,” I said, ripping my gaze from her figure. The black dress and fifties vibe she had going on worked a little too well. She was a pinup model in the flesh, with curves in all the right places. I’d fantasized only a million times back in high school about what it might be like to seduce Jessa Walton, but not wanting to cross the line with Jeremy had always held me back.
The air buzzed between us as she followed me into the office. I headed for my desk, rubbing at the back of my neck. “So listen…”
She cleared her throat, sitting primly in the visitor’s chair. I came around behind my desk and leaned on it, pressing my palms against the surface. I dared myself to look her in the eye.
Her crystal blues were waiting for me, the blush of her high cheekbones serving as a strange knife to my chest. Looking at her this close after so long produced something far too warm and sinuous inside of me.
Dangerous.She was mahogany-haired danger wrapped up in the most beautiful and voluptuous package.
“Sorry for what you walked in on,” I said, needing to get that shit out of the way first. “Probably made my case for why I need a confidential secretary so bad, huh?”
“Hey, it’s your office, Damian. You do you.”
I hefted with a laugh. “Right. Well, let’s start over. What’s up, Jessa? Long time no see.”
She cracked a smile, her posture relaxing slightly. “Hey, Damian. I guess Jeremy filled you in.”
“Yeah.” I gestured to her. “You look…”Stunning. Breathtaking. Like the woman of my dreams.“Great. He told me you came to New York this summer, right?”
She nodded, dragging her tongue across her plump bottom lip. I couldn’t look away as she traced the soft pink line there. “Got here in August. It’s been a wild ride ever since.”