“Oh.” It was all she could produce. Her mind was spinning again. He didn’t call because he didn’t get it. He hadn’t received the note. Maybe... maybe he had wanted to call?
“I would have called, but...” he started softly, as if reading her thoughts. He pulled out his phone and began thumbing through it.
“You would have?” she asked, not waiting for him to finish. All thoughts of her presentation were long gone now.
He stood up and walked around the desk before casually leaning against its front. He finally seemed to find what he was looking for. He took a step away from his desk and closer to her. Close enough that she could smell his aftershave. The smell was a siren song that penetrated all the way to her brain and made it impossible to think of anything else.
“I would have called you that very day,” he said softly, his eyes focused completely on her.
“I would have answered that phone call,” she whispered.
A warm smile crossed his face that made her knees tremble. Again, he took another step forward. He was close now. So close that she could smell beyond his aftershave, she could smell him. Masculine and wonderful. He smelled even better than she remembered. It was a smell that froze her.
“I had the hotel torn apart to get that note. Here is all they found,” he said, handing her his phone.
She took a look at the torn letter in her handwriting, framed against a white background.
Dear AJ,
I had an amazi
I want to see y
I wish I coul
I hope you unde
Please call me. 5
Yours Truly,
Kat
She laughed as she looked at it, raising her hand to her mouth. All the ink had washed away, and there was a giant red stain across the top half of it. It looked like they had lit the paper on fire just to get this much out of it, but the rest was either washed or torn away. There was just enough to show how crazy she was for him, but not enough to find her.
She wanted to respond, but couldn’t remember how to speak. He raised his arm and gently grazed her cheek with his hand. She shivered as she felt each individual finger against her skin, filling her with desire and warmth.
“You still want to give that presentation?” His grin had grown into a charming smirk.
“Eventually,” she said, finding her voice. “You can’t distract me that easily.” It was a bluff so obvious that it might as well have come from a child. She couldn’t give that presentation right now for all the tea in China.
She wanted to speak again, wanted to attempt one more half-hearted protest, but before a sentence had even formed in her head, AJ was leaning in.
The moment was slow, like an autumn leaf drifting to the ground. She felt a sort of heavenly warmth combine with the scent of his cologne as his face grew closer to hers. Her eyes closed and her lips were ready.
His mouth was only centimeters from hers when there was a knock at the door. It was soft but assertive.
Kat’s eyes shot open and she stumbled back just as the door opened. His secretary waited on the other side without entering the room. She cleared her throat before speaking. “I’m sorry, sir, but the board is on the phone.”
Kat was sure the secretary suspected something. She knew her face was on fire and that she had to look guilty as hell. It didn’t help that she was frozen again, unable to look anywhere but at AJ. He was visibly irritated.
“I am in the middle of a meeting.” He spoke slowly and enunciated each syllable carefully.
The secretary tucked her hands together in front of her. “I’m sorry, sir. They were rather insistent. The lawyers are meeting again.” She looked at Kat, evaluating her, before whispering, “Apparently the settlement was not to the plaintiff’s liking.”
Frustration seemed to engulf AJ’s face. It was a blend of anger and disappointment. He shut his eyes tight and took a deep breath, exhaling out of his nose. His wonderfully broad shoulders tightened and he attempted to roll his neck to relieve the tension, yet none left.
His glance returned to his secretary with a sort of professional focus. He took another deep breath that inflated his chest, this time his eyes remained open. “Tell them I am in the middle of a very important meeting that is going to make them a lot of money. When I am finished, I will be more then happy to listen to whatever their latest demands are.”