4. Evan
4
EVAN
N ot much had changed in the past eight years here at headquarters, though the offices had gotten a carpet upgrade at some point. I strutted through reception and past the cubicles of some of our associates. After the emergency board meeting held yesterday afternoon via Skype, I knew my presence here would come as a shock. Only the higher-ups were being told about me taking over for Jacob, and the shift would be temporary.
I shuddered to think what would happen to our father’s company if Jake died. Me being voted in as temporary acting CEO was a hard sell—the way Jacob told me it would be a long time ago. There were reasons why my father handed the company over to him in his will, reasons I was the one sent overseas to build and expand. It wasn’t that I wasn’t trusted. It was that I hadn’t been trustworthy.
But my playboy ways were done now, those moments long forgotten. I learned my lesson the hard way when I had my heart ripped out of my chest by more than one woman. I grew up really fast, and when Amber and I had that fling, it was a moment of clarity to me. I was messing with people’s emotions, including mine, and I had to stop it. I’d never forget the look on her face when I told her I was going to Europe for at least eighteen months, maybe longer.
It was just a flash, so brief I almost missed it, but she was hurt. I hadn’t meant to hurt her. I thought at first I was just comforting her after her father died, but then things turned more frequent, more serious. In my heart, I knew she wanted to ask me to stay, and I wanted her to. It just didn’t work out that way. Jacob thought shipping me overseas to do something for our company would make me grow up, and it had. Really fast.
The surprise I thought I’d see on the faces of the lower-ranking staff was there. Wide eyes accompanied head nods and stiff smiles as I passed desks. Taking over for Jacob was going to be a hard job but not one I was incapable of taking on. I’d been in R Erin said nothing about it. The history between us was thick and rich with so many not-safe-for-work memories. I wasn’t sure if we were going to be able to put that aside to work together.
“Uh, yes.” She nodded, but there was something there. My dick twitched as she got more flustered. I imagined her getting flustered by me, turned on a little. Maybe her body was reacting to being near me again after all these years, the way mine was to hers.
“Something’s wrong. Tell me,” I said, and I tucked the tablet under my arm and crossed my arms over my chest.
Amber’s cheeks were rosy now. She fiddled with the hem of her jacket, the way she did when she had something to say but she was scared to. I’d seen her do it a million times. I had memorized her like the lyrics to a love song I would never forget. She was imprinted on my mind.
“It’s just that, well, sir…” She pressed her lips into a line and pulled the jacket down again. “Jacob and I have this arrangement. I’m a single mom and I have to take care of my children, so he gave me?—”
I waved my hand and she stopped. “Whatever arrangement he had stands.” I smiled and winked at her, feeling my body kick into overdrive at her nervous energy. It turned me on, the embarrassment, the vulnerability. When we would role-play she would get so flustered, and I loved it. Seeing this—her real embarrassment and nervous energy—had my dick swelling.
“Thank you, sir,” she said, and I swore she curtsied. Then she turned to go and I called after her.
“Amber …”
She stopped to turn back to me and her hands were on her jacket, tugging at the hem again. “Yes, sir…” The way her voice rose at the end, the question in her tone, made me want to command her to come back and bend her sexy body over my temporary desk, but I wasn’t getting those vibes from her—yet.
“Stop calling me sir.” I winked again and her lips flushed darker. “Please. I’m not replacing Jacob. He’ll be back when he’s recovered, and I’d much prefer the sound of my name on your lips…Not ‘sir’ or ‘Mr. Montgomery.’ Oh, and if it’s possible, would you be able to work through lunch? Maybe later tonight too? I need help to catch up.”
“Oh, uh…Yes, of course.” Her forehead wrinkled and her smile faded into nervousness again, but she really had no choice. I really did need the help.
“Good, you can go.”
She nodded but she said nothing as she scurried away, and I watched her hips sway back and forth. How lucky of a man was I? After all this time it felt like fate had intervened in my life to put her in my direct path. I walked to Jacob’s chair and sat down, but when my eyes fell on the picture of him and Erin together on their trip to Hawaii, I felt guilt needle at my conscience.
Fate would never harm my brother just to align my path with Amber’s again. And I could never wish harm on my brother just to get a chance to see the woman I had been in love with all those years ago.
But that didn’t mean I couldn’t enjoy working with her or trying to rekindle a flame that had long since died out. Amber Lawson and I were going to work together as two professionals under one roof. If something more came from it, so be it.
And maybe I hoped it did.