He moved toward her, his body big and strong, his movements fluid. He stopped a few feet away, placed his hands in his front pockets, and looked down at her quizzically. Sugar found herself licking her lips, trying to feign control but failing miserably.
“You’re probably wondering why I’m here.”
He didn’t speak for several seconds and she swallowed, her throat feeling so tight and dry.
She licked her lips again and saw the way his gaze lowered to watch the act. She felt heat fill her, a flush no doubt covering her face is it crept up her neck.
“Miss Albright, I think we’re ready to start.”
Neither looked at who spoke, but she watched as one of Colton’s eyebrows lifted, saw the way the corner of his mouth kicked up.
“Miss Albright? The same one who gave me the runaround for the last couple weeks?”
“Yeah, sorry about that.” Neither moved after that, and for long seconds they just stood there staring at each other. It was then she felt people watching her. She looked over to see half of the conference room staring at them curiously. She cleared her throat and straightened, taking on her professional stance. “We should probably get to it then?”
She didn’t wait for him to respond as she started making her way past him. But Colton reached out and took her arm in his hand, his fingers curling gently around her wrist. She looked over her shoulder at him, trying to stay in control, but she felt anything but.
“We will be talking about this after,” he said in a stern, authoritative voice.
“Yeah, I guess that would probably be a good idea.”
He held onto her arm a little longer than was probably necessary, but Sugar couldn’t deny that she liked his touch, craved it even.
She didn’t know what Colton might say once they were alone, but she definitely knew what she wanted to do with him and it was less than professional.
8
For the first five minutes of the meeting, Colton was pissed. This woman had been driving him crazy in and out of work. First at work because she kept avoiding this damn meeting. Then about his dog. He wanted to date her.
He pushed all of those thoughts aside and concentrated on the meeting that was happening right now.
He didn’t have the time to be thinking about the fact she’d known who he was. She had to and yet he hadn’t had the first clue who she was or what she did.
As the meeting continued and she brought them to points of the potential contract that were not workable to her, he admired her skills.
She was a confident woman.
He’d noticed that at the dog run.
She knew what she was doing. Her reputation proceeded her and, considering that he’d been an ass to her that first day, no wonder she’d been hesitant in arranging a meeting with him.
By the end of the meeting, everyone started to leave. He told his colleagues to go on ahead without him. He had a few things to do.
With just him and Sugar in the conference room, he closed the door, giving them the privacy that they both needed.
“I know you’re angry,” she said.
“You knew who I was?”
“Yes.”
“Why didn’t you say anything?”
“Honestly … I didn’t know what to say. You took me by complete surprise with your presence and I wasn’t sure what to say or how to change what was happening. You weren’t listening to me when I said I wasn’t a dog walker. You clearly believed I was just being difficult. I walk my own dog.”
“Yeah, I fucked up there.”
She smiled. “I have to say that is the first time I’ve heard that kind of language here. It’s new for me.”
“This deal means a lot to me. I wasn’t thinking. You were in control and I guess I don’t know what I was thinking. Clearly, I was hoping that you were the answer to all my prayers. I had this dog that I should have left at a pound. I couldn’t deal with him but I didn’t want to take him to a place that might put him down. He’s not the best dog but he belonged to my sister. I loved her and losing her was hard.”
“I am really sorry about her. I’m also sorry for misleading you. I knew who you were and to be honest, I didn’t know what to do. It’s why I avoided this meeting for so long. That was my mistake.”
He saw she was sincere.
When he walked in she looked like she wanted to run in the opposite direction. He knew all about that feeling.
“How about we have a fresh start?” she asked softly.
“I’ll put the past behind us if you can, Sugar.”
She took a deep breath and he saw she liked the sound of that.
“Okay. That I can do, Colton.”