Never Got Over You

“Is there room for one more?” a woman yelled as she rushed toward the open doors.

There wasn’t, but someone claimed that there was.

As the people ahead of us starting squirming to make room, James gently gripped my waist, turning me to my side, so I could have breathing room. So I could look directly into his eyes.

The elevator moved again, straight up without stops, and I leaned in closer to James, felt him leaning in closer to me. My lips were an inch away from his chest, and for a moment, I imagined that he was lightly caressing my ass.

It took all of twenty seconds for me to realize that I wasn’t dreaming about that at all. His palms were definitely pressed against my backside, and my panties were a lost, wet cause within seconds.

With his eyes locked on mine, he lowered his head as if he were about to kiss me. I opened my mouth, invited him to kiss me—to give me a taste of what I hadn’t felt in years, but the abrupt stop of the elevator brought our moment to an end.

The laughing group stepped off as one, still lost in their own world of conversation, and James and I slowly stepped away from each other. The other group stepped off on Floor Forty-Nine, and the moment the doors opened on Floor Fifty, a grey-haired man with glasses—Mr. Levin from Human Resources, was waiting in the hallway.

“Ah!” He clapped his hands. “You’re both here at the same time. Let’s get started, shall we?”

He didn’t give us a chance to react. He led us into large room that overlooked the city and motioned for me to take a seat first.

“Now, Miss Kennedy,” he said, “as a new member of the executive team, we always have the CEO attend this introductory session to get you well-acquainted. But given the circumstances, I think we can bypass that part. I believe that you two were friends in the past, correct?”

“No.” James shook his head. “I’ve never seen Miss Kennedy a day in my life.”

“Huh?” Mr. Levin responded as my jaw dropped. “I thought Mr. Jewell said—”

“Mr. Jewell is misinformed. I don’t know her.”

“Okay, then…” He clicked his pen. “Give me one second to get that introductory sheet.” He left the room, and I crossed my arms.

“Seriously, James?” I said. “You’ve never seen me a day in your life?”

“Seeing as though you’re calling me ‘James’ and not by my actual name of ‘Sean’ right now, I’d say that’s quite plausible.

“James—” I didn’t get a chance to finish my words.

“Now that I think about it, you do look a little familiar.” He leaned back in his chair, acting like he had no idea who the hell I was. Like what we had before didn’t mean anything.

“You do, too,” I said, more than willing to play his twisted game. “You look like someone from the past, but I guess my mind can’t seem to remember.”

“That’s okay.” He smirked, looking me up and down. “I’m sure your body does.”

“Okay! I hope I didn’t leave you alone too long with Mr. Holmes.” Mr. Levin returned to the room. “Bad news, the interns have taken over all the printer stations; Good news, I hate doing that anyway, so we can just get this done first.” He clicked a pen and slid a contract toward me. “First, you’re responsible for the entire marketing department and you’ll need to discuss any changes to campaigns with the CEO. Can you do that?”

“Yes.” I signed the page.

“Are you willing to work overtime during sweeps season?”

“Yes.” I signed that page, and then listened as he read me the overview for a hundred more—ignoring the intense gaze of James.

When we were finally finished, he presented the stack to James and requested for him to sign the last sheet.

“Alright, perfect.” Mr. Levin extended his hand to me. “Honored to have you here with us, Miss Kennedy.”

“Thank you.”

“I’ll make you a copy and be right back.”

James extended his hand, and I once again felt an immediate jolt of warmth as his skin touched mine.

“Let’s try to keep things one hundred percent professional,” he said, looking into my eyes. “If that’s alright with you, Miss Kennedy.”

“That’s more than fine with me, Mr. Holmes.”

“Let’s try not to talk to each other if it’s not about work.” He was still shaking my hand. “I mean, you did get this job by default with a split vote, so I’d try to do my best work, if I were you.”

“Mr. Jewell said the vote was unanimous.”

“It was 16-1.” He paused. “I was the one.”

“Yeah.” I narrowed my eyes at him. “You were … Until you didn’t come back.”

He raised his eyebrow. “Come again?”

“Off the record,” I said, “it must feel good to have achieved all you have in such a short time, to become who you’ve always wanted to be.”