Chapter 19
ZACH
It’s cool and crisp early in the morning as I head back to the Stella offices. I feel a little off. A little distracted. A little unfocused, and yet completely wrapped up in thoughts of Maya.
I arrive in the office early and as time creeps by, the place starts to fill with people, but Maya’s still not here.
I try to act busy, every now and then scanning the open-plan space and waiting for her to get in.
And when she does, my body reacts in a way that makes it almost impossible for me to pretend she doesn’t exist. That she’s just another work colleague.
Maya is never “just another” anything. She affects my mood and my feelings, and last night I couldn’t sleep, because of the way she hugged me.
She looks right at me as she walks past and my heart stutters inside my ribcage.
It’s like we’re on the same frequency; our eyes meeting instantly and locking together like the pieces of a jigsaw puzzle.
Then she turns away, cheeks flushed, like she can’t look at me a moment longer.
Heat crawls up my neck, and I’m feeling flustered, and a little more frustrated than when I first walked in here.
That hug, the way our bodies pressed together; she left an imprint of her on me, with her arms around my waist and her face buried in my chest. It was the most unexpected thing, and yet the thing I’ve craved the most with each passing day.
It also means that working with her just got a hundred times harder. We have a meeting soon, and I need to get myself together. Act like a boss, and not a lovesick teen.
She comes to my door, notepad in hand.
“Come in.” I nod, beckoning her to enter.
I force myself to focus on my PC screen, staring blindly at numbers that don’t mean a thing.
“I’ll be with you in a moment,” I tell her, not even looking her way, as I try to still my racing heartbeat.
Try to fight my feelings for her, feelings I promised myself I couldn’t have.
“Did you get settled?” I ask, after a few minutes have passed. My eyes are still on the screen.
“Yes. Thank you. It’s a beautiful apartment.”
“Stay there as long as you want.”
“I think just one more night will be fine.” She coughs then fidgets like she’s nervous. “You must send me an invoice …” Her voice trails off. We’re talking in lower hushed tones than usual, and already it feels like we’re having a secret clandestine affair, and hiding secrets we shouldn’t have.
I chuckle. “I’ll send it to—”
The door opens without warning.
Dex struts in. “Well, well, well,” he says, looking straight at me.
For fucks’ sake. What the hell is he doing here? A muscle in my jaw jumps. “What do you want? We’re about to have a meeting.”
“Ah.” His gaze slides to Maya and he whistles softly, then grins, ignoring me completely. “Maya. Fancy meeting you here, after all this time.”
“Do you mind,” I hiss.
Maya gapes at him, like she’s trying to reconcile the version of him from being a sullen teen, to this guy.
Dex doesn’t stop. “Zach told me he ran into you again and that you’re working for Stella.”
“Some of us have to work for a living, Dexter,” she replies, unfazed.
Dex chortles. “Damn straight. We all have to work. Me too.” He leans against the wall, hand on hip, casual and smooth. “You’ve changed. You’ve grown even more ravishing—”
“I can’t say you’ve changed much,” she retorts. “You’ve just grown older and more of yourself than you ever were.”
“Color me shocked,” Dex continues, a mischievous glint in his eye. “Sassy as ever.” He laughs. “I think you and Dani would get on really well.”
“Dani?” Maya frowns.
“You haven’t brought Maya up to speed?” Dex shoots me a surprised look.
“It’s not work related, and Maya doesn’t need to know.
” I inhale a deep, steadying breath, while at the same time wondering what he’s doing here.
“Do you mind?” Irritation flares in my gut.
The audacity of this man. Walking into the Stella offices.
Into my office. Disregarding the fact that I’m in charge, that I’m working, that Maya and I are trying to have a meeting.
Dex’s grin widens. I swear, this man couldn’t annoy me more if he tried. He takes his sweet time, not caring that he’s pissing me off big time. He watches us both closely, clearly convinced of something and not at all surprised by what he thinks he’s seeing.
“Maya,” I say tightly, “would you excuse us?”
Dex waves his arm at her, motioning for her to stay. “No need to. She can stay. I’m not here for long.”
I glare at him. “Why are you here at all?”
“Been trying to get hold of you. I called you about ten times last night. Left voicemails. Haven’t seen you in days.” His gaze sweeps around my office, then outside. “I guess you’ll be spending all your time here for the foreseeable future.”
I clench my teeth, take a deep, deep, deep inhale and try to hold it together.
“Where were you, bro?” he asks.
“I was busy.”
“Busy doing what?” His gaze flits between me and Maya, like he’s already decided what we were up to.
“Jesus,” I hiss. “Will you give it a rest?”
“I asked a simple question!”
Maya lets out a gasp, like she can’t quite believe this pantomime playing out before her. I shoot her an apologetic look, then turn to Dex. “What do you want?”
He shrugs. “Just wanted to see how you were doing.”
I know better. He’s watching us. Scoping out the situation and filing it away. No doubt he’ll inform Jett of his findings.
“Maya, we can continue this later,” I say.
She looks between us, unsure.
Dex lets out a loud sigh. “I really don’t want to interrupt anything special here.”
“Jesus,” I mutter.
“I’ll go,” Maya says, getting up to leave. She slips out of the room, and tension fills the air the moment the door closes.
“What the hell, Dex. What are you playing at?”
He slides into the chair Maya just vacated. “Like I said, couldn’t get hold of you. I was worried.”
I grit my teeth together so hard, my jaw starts to ache with the effort of holding my temper in check. “I was with the Trevayne twins.”
He squints and sits up. “Both of them?”
“Got an image in your head you like?” I tease.
“No, but I know you’re lying.”
“You know, do you?”
“You’re lying, brother. You’ve got eyes for no one but Maya. Any fool can see that you’ve got the hots for that girl.” He glances through the glass to where Maya’s sitting. “Can’t say I blame you. She’s grown into a fine—”
“Shut the hell up.”
“I’m not saying anything disparaging. She’s gorgeous.”
“Don’t.”
“You like her, bro. It’s written on your face. It confirms what we’re all thinking, about why you acquired the majority stake in Stella.”
“I did it to help Stella. I want to turn the company around. If it helps her, so be it.”
He studies me for a moment, like he doesn’t believe me. “Listen. Your birthday’s coming up. Big Three-Oh. It’s a milestone. What do you want to do?”
Not that again. My insides clench with irritation. “I don’t want to do anything.”
“Come on. Just a little party. A few people.”
“I said no.”
He sighs. “It’s a milestone birthday. If mom were here she’d be so excited to celebrate—”
“Don’t.” I struggle to keep my voice down. If mom were here ... who knows how things would be now? “I need you to go,” I snap. “This isn’t about my birthday plans. You came here to snoop around. Who are you reporting back to? Jett? Dad? Rio?”
“You seriously think so little of me?” He looks offended. “I was curious to see her. That’s all. It was pure luck I caught you both together.”
“We weren’t together. We were in a meeting.”
“Defensive much?” The corners of his lips curve up into an infuriating grin. “I wanted to know how you were around each other.”
“There’s nothing going on.”
“Does she know how you feel about her?”
“Just leave, Dex. Just go.”
I’m so pissed off, and for once Dex seems to receive the message loud and clear because he does exactly as I ask.
But him leaving doesn’t make me feel any better, or any calmer. It’s bad enough that my mind is filled with memories of the past, but Dex has kicked up some dust.
And he’s not wrong.
I do have feelings for Maya, feelings she doesn’t want me to have. I’ve been able to keep things purely professional, and I will still, but if he can tell, there’s every chance she can.
That’s not what I want. Maya told me, and has made it plainly obvious that she doesn’t have those same feelings for me. She hugged me last night out of gratitude. That’s all it was. Nothing more.