I only halfway listened as she continued to talk and apologize. Images of the scrawny girl came to mind, and it was in stark contrast to the ridiculously stunning young woman standing before me. Joanna was still petite, but she was far from the stick-figure she used to be as a kid. She had grown up to develop ample curves in all the right places. Her curly hair fell smoothly down her back in a ponytail, and her gray eyes—which had once been identical to her brother’s—now held a sensual gaze that was hard to look away from.
I blinked again, suddenly realizing that she was thrashing paper towels in my face.
“I’m sorry,” she said again.
I cleared my throat. “Yeah…I got that.” I took the paper towels and began wiping at the jacket of my suit.
“I don’t think you’ll be able to see it once it’s dry,” she said.
I nodded. “Yeah, I think you’re right.”
A long silence stretched between us. “Well, I’ve got to get back to Tobias,” she said. “I’ll, um…See you around, Anderson.”
I nodded again. “Yeah. See you, Joanna.”
* * *
Running into Joanna had completely thrown off my day in ways I would have never anticipated. No matter how much I tried, I couldn’t get her out of my mind. Every time I saw her passing by, I couldn’t stop my eyes from trailing her every move. My mind was completely boggled that she was truly the same girl I had known so many years ago.
I’d been sitting in my office thinking about Joanna when Tobias suddenly appeared. My face instantly felt like someone had lit a match over it.
What the hell is wrong with you, Anderson? I thought to myself.
The sisters of friends were off-limits. I was well aware that my thoughts were completely out of line considering Joanna was the kid sister of my best friend. It didn’t matter how gor
geous she had become; my attraction to her would always be unacceptable. Hell, simply finding her attractive was damn near incestuous, any sister of Tobias’s should have been like a sister to me.
But she’s not my sister, a voice in my head challenged.
“Come on,” Tobias said, snapping me out of my thoughts. “You’re going to be late for the meeting, man. What’s your deal?”
I swore and sprung up from my seat. I had almost forgotten about the meeting because I’d been too busy thinking and fantasizing about Joanna.
“What’s wrong?” Tobias asked.
“Nothing,” I answered far too quickly. I found that I couldn’t even meet his gaze; I was afraid he would somehow sense my thoughts and want to kill me for my betrayal. I cleared my throat and scratched the back of my head.
“Have you seen Joanna today?” Tobias said.
My heart literally skipped a beat at the sound of her name. “Why?”
“Just asking,” Tobias said. “She’s new here. I can tell she’s a little nervous. She could use a friendly face. So help her out and be nice, all right?”
“Oh…Um… Sure. Yeah, I can do that… I mean, I’ll try…”
Tobias narrowed his eyes at me. “Are you sure you’re okay, man? You seem weird. Weirder than normal, I mean.”
I laughed. “How so?”
“I don’t know. Oh…wait a second…”
“Huh? What?” I said, my heart hammering again.
Tobias folded his arms. “How are things going with the new project?”
“Fine.”
“Yeah right. That’s what you’re hiding, isn’t it? You can’t get those numbers together.”