He’s seen me too, and he looks about as shocked as I am.
No. Freaking. Way.
This can’t be real.
He must be a figment of my imagination.
I blink, trying to clear my head, but he doesn’t disappear. He’s still there, looking just as chiseled and handsome as I remember, dressed in a very fetching—and expensive, no doubt—suit.
I catch my breath.
He’s the reason I’m late. He’s the reason I feel like crap with morning sickness. He’s the reason my life is an unfathomable mess. And he’s here.
I realize everyone is still staring at me. The meeting has completely stopped while I stand there gaping at Luke. I clear my throat, my face burning.
“Sorry for interrupting,” I croak. “Jenna is sick today, so I’ll be taking the minutes of the meeting. Please, continue.”
I find a seat at the back of the room, feeling the heat of Luke’s gaze on me as I walk across the room, trying desperately not to meet his eye.
I’ll deal with . . . that, later.
For now, I need to focus on the job at hand.
The meeting continues. It seems to be lawyers, discussing the finer details of some sort of merger or something like that. It’s all stiff, legal language that doesn’t make a whole lot of sense to me. But because it’s so impersonal and formal, it’s relatively easy to follow. I scribble down what they’re saying in shorthand. I’ll write it up properly afterwards.
I soon settle into a rhythm. They appear to be working their way down through a list and I sort of zone out, my hand scribbling away while my mind wanders.
“…an initial capital transfer of five hundred million dollars….”
Should I tell him about the baby? Doesn’t he deserve to know?
“…to ensure a smooth transition, I will ask that InFini executives….”
No. Not yet. I need to get this annulment dealt with as my first priority. Once that’s done, I can focus on other things.
“…important that we reassure investors in both companies to avoid a selloff…”
Besides, I’ve had a miscarriage before, and there’s every chance it might happen again. I don’t want to say anything to him until I’m totally sure. There’s no point bringing it up now and making things even more complicated.
“And that concludes the legal details. If everyone is in agreement, and if Mr. Alder is ready, we can complete this deal now.”
Everyone, including me, turns to face Luke. He glances at me, then around the table.
“Good work, everyone.” At the sound of Luke’s deep baritone, snippets of memories flash in my mind. Hot, steamy, sweaty memories. Memories that have no business inserting themselves into the middle of this very serious meeting with very serious lawyers. He continues, “I’m happy to sign off on this acquisition, and I hope that moving forward, Alder Investments and InFini will have a long, fruitful, and mutually beneficial relationship.”
He pulls a pen out of his lapel pocket and signs the document in front of him with flourish. Once he’s done, a round of applause breaks out around the table, with men patting themselves on the back and looking extremely self-satisfied. Every single person in this room is rich beyond my wildest dreams, and I feel like a fraud sitting there with them.
“I plan on being very hands on with InFini in my new role,” Luke says, his gaze riveted on me. My stomach sinks as he winks and fixes me with a grin. “I’m sure we’ll all be seeing quite a lot of each other in the coming weeks and months.”
Just what I need. Thanks, universe, you’ve done it again.
Luke
Tessa looks distinctly uncomfortable as she sits through the meeting, busying herself with making notes as the boring suits around me drone on and on.
She’s quite deliberately avoiding even acknowledging my presence, but that just means I can stare at her as much as I want.
After she gave me the cold shoulder the morning after our night together, I’d quite honestly never expected to see her again.
I’d instructed my lawyers to draw up some preliminary plans to protect me, just in case she decided to come after my assets or anything like that, but I just had a feeling that she wouldn’t. She’d told me that she wasn’t interested in my money, and I believed her. I had no reason to suspect otherwise.
Apparently she was going to draw up an annulment or something like that, so I was just leaving it to her, hoping she might change her mind, get in touch.
But never in my wildest dreams did I expect this. What a delicious twist of fate, to have her working as a PA for InFini, just as we’re making our acquisition.
I can’t take my eyes off her.
She looks a little flustered, like she’s been rushing to get somewhere. Her hair is a little mussed up, her clothes not quite perfectly pressed, but it only makes her more gorgeous in my eyes. A little wisp of hair curls down over her face, and I ache to go to her and tuck it back behind her ear.