Chapter One
I TOOK A MOMENT ON the way to my car before work to stop and gaze longingly at my apartment complex’s pool.
I pictured me sipping cold fruity drinks while floating on the unicorn inflatable my nieces bought me.
It was only February, but I could almost taste spring.
I knew I should probably enjoy the season because soon enough I’d be complaining about the heat and humidity Tennessee residents suffered through every spring and summer, but I felt like saying, “Bring it on.” The winter had been harsher than we Southerners are used to.
But I had survived four winters in Colorado.
It was hard to believe that it had been almost a decade ago that I’d received my undergrad degree.
It kind of made me feel grown up, especially today.
I had a feeling I would be receiving some good news today.
My stomach fluttered at the thought of being promoted to Marketing Director of Chandler Media.
I wasn’t the only candidate in the running, but I was the only in-house candidate even though that ruffled some feathers at work because of my age.
Maybe I was a little young to be heading up a marketing firm, but as Regional Marketing Manager I had proven myself.
Our financial institution clients were adopting my idea for digital ad software rapidly and—not to be immodest—I was well liked by my colleagues, even the old-timers who got their feathers ruffled.
And it didn’t hurt that Gary, the owner and current director, and his wife Holly loved me like a daughter.
I only hoped now that Gary was ready to retire and enjoy more time with his wife and grandkids, that he trusted me enough to hand over the reins. I would sorely miss him. I loved sharing adjoining executive offices with him. He was more than my boss; he was like a second father to me.
I took one more second to look at the pool before heading to the parking lot.
Climbing into my little convertible made me wish for spring even more.
I missed the fun and the freedom of having the wind blow through my hair while the sun beat down on me as I drove.
I swore the car was begging for me to push the button and slide the top down.
“Just a few more weeks,” I said aloud, as if the car was actually listening to me or really cared if its top was down.
As I made my way through early morning Nashville traffic, I could barely contain my excitement.
I was meeting with Gary, who I fondly called Boss, first thing.
I dressed up for the occasion. Our office typically took a more casual approach, unless we had clients in the office, but with the way technology was now, that was a rarity.
I had done more conference calls than I could count.
Personally, I liked face-to-face visits best, but they could be inconvenient and expensive.
Today I looked like I was ready for a face-to-face visit with a classy charcoal gray dress that left no doubt I was a woman, and my glammed up dark hair.
To pull it all together, I brought out the red lipstick.
It made my fair skin and blue-green eyes pop.
I hoped it screamed, I’m ready to take on the world! Or at least Chandler Media.
When I pulled into our office parking lot, there were already a few cars there.
I noticed Boss’ midlife-crisis Camaro. I laughed when I remembered Holly telling Boss she didn’t mind the car, but if he ever decided to indulge in other midlife crisis activities, he would be sleeping in that car.
I knew Boss never would. He still looked at Holly like a man who had wandered in the desert, and she was a tall glass of cool water.
I noticed Delfia’s car next. She was the most fabulous executive admin assistant ever.
She usually beat me to the office. Next to her car was a stylish white Infiniti.
I smiled and wondered who got the new car, but then I noticed the Colorado license plates. Weird, I thought.
The license plate had me reminiscing. I loved Colorado.
I missed the Rocky Mountains, with the hiking and camping in the summer and the amazing powder for skiing in the winter.
It was the only time I had enjoyed snow.
I think I would have stayed there if I hadn’t been a lovesick fool.
Everything in Colorado had reminded me of Ian, so as soon as I graduated, I hightailed it out of there.
Ugh. What a morning to think about him. I needed positive happy vibes.
I wasn’t going to be rejected today by another man.
I was going to go upstairs and claim my promotion.
I took a deep breath and tried to cleanse my thoughts of the evil Ian, killer of dreams and love.
I began to repeat in my head, Director of Marketing at Chandler Media, Kelli Bryant.
It sounded perfect. I chanted it to myself silently as I walked in through the empty reception area.
It was only 7:30, and we didn’t open until 8:00.
By the time I made it to the staircase, I was feeling cleansed of the foulness that was Ian.
With my thoughts back on track, I took the stairs two at a time to the executive level.
This was going to be an incredible day. I could feel it.
As I walked toward Delfia’s desk, which sat outside and between the adjoining offices Boss and I shared, I noticed her humming away, organizing the files on her desk.
I admired her so much. She was the epitome of someone who took lemons and made the best lemonade you would ever taste.
At forty-two, with practically two grown children, her husband left her.
He was the world’s biggest idiot, but she picked herself up by the bootstraps and did what she had to do.
She’d been working for us for the last couple of years.
I didn’t know what we would ever do without her.
When she noticed me approach, she flashed me a smile. “Good morning, you hot little thing.”
Did I mention how much I loved this woman? I posed, movie star style. “Do you love the new dress?”
“Yes, if only I could fit into it,” she sighed.
I waved away her obvious lie. She looked great in her slimming pant suit and new bobbed do that went perfect with her high cheek bones. I could only hope to look so good in my forties. I noticed Boss’s door was closed. That was odd. “Is Boss here?”
“Yes, he’s meeting with a gentleman that wasn’t on the appointment calendar.”
“Huh.” I smoothed out my dress. “Did you catch a name?”
“No, but he asked about you.”
“Really?”
She wagged her brows. “He was quite attractive. Is there someone you’re not telling me about?”
I rolled my eyes. “Yes, Delfia, I’m trying a new tactic.
I thought I would have Boss interview all my potential new suitors at seven-thirty in the morning.
This way he can weed out all the morons and save me the trouble.
” She laughed at my sarcasm, but honestly, it wasn’t a bad idea.
I should consider it. “So, no name, huh?”
“No ma’am, but he seemed anxious to see you. He kept asking when you would be in.”
More and more curious. “Well . . . okay.”
I walked into my office and the door between Boss’s offices and mine was closed too.
Just for curiosity’s sake, I checked to see if it was locked, and to my surprise, it was.
He never locked that door. I was more than intrigued to know who he might be meeting with at such an early hour.
Maybe he was interviewing whoever it was to take my current position.
That made sense, so I relaxed a little and began to think of anyone I knew who would be a good candidate.
While I thought, I started up my laptop and scrolled my phone for any new messages.
There weren’t any messages and I couldn’t come up with any ideas of who it might be, so I walked back out to ask Delfia what he looked like; maybe I could guess then.
Before I could say anything, Delfia beat me to the punch. “Are you still taking the belly dancing class at the YMCA?”
“Yes.” I turned to show her my backside.
“Can’t you tell by the way my butt looks?
” It was then I noticed, too late, that Delfia wasn’t my only audience.
While she snickered and stared at my backside, a man came out of Boss’s office.
Not just any man. It was the man I didn’t need to think about this morning.
I stood there not only mortified, but very confused.
“Ian,” I gasped. I felt flush from the top of my head to the tips of my toes.
Probably because my heart was beating double time.
I couldn’t believe he was here and that he’d just heard me tell Delfia to check out my butt.
Could someone please shoot me now? Or more like shoot him. I was never supposed to see him again.
His wide eyes roved over me. “Kelli.”
I stood up as straight as I could and tried to regain my composure.
But I was finding that difficult under the circumstances.
I was sure my jaw had dropped and no matter what I did, I couldn’t seem to close it.
It didn’t help matters either that Ian looked, um .
. . let’s say freaking amazing. I wasn’t sure what he had been doing for the last twelve-and-a-half years, but it looked like a stylist had gotten a hold of him.
He was in a tailored black suit that fit him to the T.
The glasses were gone, and he’d grown out his hair slightly.
It looked even more deserving of fingers running through it. All he needed was a runway.
“What are you doing here?” I spluttered once some of my senses came back online.
Before he could answer Boss walked out.
“Kelli, my girl, you’re already here. Good, I see you’ve met Ian.” Boss wrung his hands together.
The nervous wringing of Boss’s hands had me on edge. I raised a brow at Ian wondering why Boss thought this was our first meeting. Ian cleared his throat and ran a hand through his hair.
Fine, I’d play along. “No, I haven’t had the pleasure yet.” I walked toward Ian with a sinister grin on my face.
Ian swallowed hard a few times.
I held out my hand. “I’m Kelli Bryant.” I wanted to throw in, “Remember me, the girl who loved you, but since that wasn’t in your plans, you decided to walk away and pretend like I never existed?”
He held out his hand, but he looked wary.
I kept up the act and shook it. I didn’t want to touch him, but what else could I do under the circumstances?
As soon as we touched, I felt a surge of warmth.
That couldn’t be good. I did my best while shaking his hand to ignore my conditioned response to him.
It meant nothing. We were ancient history.
We are talking prehistoric before the dinosaur’s kind of history.
“Ian Greyson,” his voice hitched. “It’s a pleasure to meet you.”
I smirked at his mock sincerity. For a moment, I thought he was going to smile, but that was very un-Ian like. He squeezed my hand once before letting it go. I directed my attention toward Boss. I wanted to know what the heck Ian Greyson was doing here.
Boss was redder than a chili pepper. His balding head had beads of perspiration on it.
“So, what are you gentlemen up to this morning?” I was never one to stand on ceremony.
A pointed look passed between them before they faced me. Why did I feel like this didn’t bode well for me?
“Kelli, can I talk to you in my office, dear?” Boss waved his hand toward his door.
Oh, this wasn’t good. He never called me dear, honey yes, but never dear. I looked back at Delfia, and she knew too by the way her shoulders sagged.
“Delfia, could you please get Ian some coffee?” Boss asked Delfia.
What? Ian was staying?
“Gary, is there somewhere I can set up my laptop?” Ian asked.
“Delfia, please show Ian to the conference room and give him access to the Wi-Fi,” Gary directed.
I couldn’t believe this. My head was spinning.
Before Ian followed Delfia, he directed his attention to me, or at least I thought it was to me. “I look forward to meeting with you later.”
He must be talking to Boss. There was no reason for us to meet later, and I had no intention of doing so. I looked at Boss to respond to him.
Boss was rubbing the back of his neck now. Whoa, he was on edge. “We’ll all meet together after I’ve talked to Kelli. There will be plenty of time for you and Kelli to meet later.”
Uh, that was a negative. I was absolutely not meeting with that man.
Like ever. What could we possibly have to meet about anyway?
I stared at Boss blankly. When he wouldn’t make eye contact with me, I marched into his office and sat down in one of the leather seats in front of his desk, my heart pounding out of my chest. I heard Boss mumble something to the moron before he walked in and shut the door.
He didn’t sit at his desk, instead he sat next to me. This wasn’t good at all.