Chapter 4
Chapter Four
CARA
“If I never hear another jackhammer as long as I live, it’ll be way too soon.” My assistant, Eloise, groaned. I couldn’t have agreed more.
Apparently, the city decided construction needed to start bright and freaking early on a Monday morning. They couldn’t do it on a weekend, when I wasn’t in the office? Who was I kidding, I would still be here on a Saturday.
“Seriously. Maybe we should take a break? I’ve got a pounding headache now. We’ll take a lunch and hopefully they’ll go on break for a few weeks.” I laughed.
“That sounds good. What are they doing, do you know? I heard whatever it is, it’s going to be happening for the next month or so.”
I groaned. “Yeah, I heard that, too. We’re going to have to figure out a game plan. Meetings outside the office? Headphones and zoom instead of our in-person meetings?”
She nodded. “Sounds perfect to me. So does that mean I can work from home in my jammies?”
I gave her a look. “Nice try.”
She shrugged. “Well, I’m going to go be nosy and see what they’re working on. Aka, see if there are any hot construction workers out there. Want to come with?”
I shrugged. “Sure, why not? I’m sure there will be some nice sweaty men for you to look at.” That was a gross image for me to have, but I laughed anyway. I may have been a woman loving woman through and through, but I could still be supportive.
The gleam in her eyes was comical. She always had a thing for sweaty men, and women if the mood struck her. Personally, I preferred the only sweating to be going on in the bedroom, but I wasn’t there to yuck her yum.
We stepped outside the office, the heat from the sun hitting all at once. “Oh, Jesus!” I yelled, not expecting to be affected by it so much.
Eloise laughed and fanned herself. “I couldn’t have said it better myself. Look at the ass on that one.”
I laughed, giving into her dreams and looking at the group of construction workers standing around on the corner. “Which one? They all look the same to me. They all have dark hair and orange vests.”
“The only one wearing a hat. I’m getting thirsty.”
I snorted a laugh, still looking in the direction of the construction zone. “Yeah, you definitely are.”
I had to admit, even if it was attached to the wrong gender, the ass was nice. I watched as he took his hat off, shaking his hair and running his fingers through them. Then he turned and… Oh my.
It wasn’t a man at all. She had short dark hair, dark brown eyes and she was staring directly at me. She blinked a few times before her eyes narrowed and she started heading towards us. Weird.
“Oh, she’s… holy hell. And she’s coming over here.”
When she walked up to us, she opened her mouth to say something, but closed it when Eloise started talking, reaching her hand out to introduce herself.
“Hi! I’m Eloise. This is my boss, Cara. What are you guys working on?”
Her eyes flickered back and forth between me and my assistant. “Hola, Eloise. Cara, a pleasure.”
She extended her hand to me and I took it, a familiar feeling causing me to be confused. That accent sounded familiar, but I couldn’t place it. She brought my hand up to her lips before placing a gentle kiss. What was I, the queen of England?
“We’re just replacing the sidewalk. So, what is it that you ladies do?”
“I’m a publisher. I own a publishing house. We have a floor in this building.”
“I’m her assistant. I don’t think we caught your name.”
The woman kept looking at me. Did she think she knew me or something? While I was getting a weird deja vu vibe, I didn’t think I’d ever seen her before.
“I’m sorry, where are my manners? I’m—”
“Okay, Vera. Break’s over. Quit flirting and get back to work, chica.”
I stood there stunned, not blinking. My lungs felt tight and I grabbed the rail to steady myself. She looked at me with a titled head and cocked an eyebrow. “You okay there, princesa?”
I took a step back, only to have forgotten there were steps there, and almost tripped. I stopped her when she tried to reach out a hand to help me. “I’m… yeah. Low blood sugar.”
“Okay… Well, I better get back to work. Take care of that blood sugar before it gets serious.” She looked skeptically at me, but didn’t argue my lie and turned around to head back to work.
There was no way Vera was here. And working in front of my building. That just couldn’t be. I was dreaming. I still didn’t think I had blinked since the whole encounter started. My eyes were stinging and I jumped when I felt a hand on my arm.
“Who was that, and why did she call you princess.”
“Princesa,” I corrected, unable to stop myself.
“What?”
I shook my head. Still staring at the spot where my mystery hook-up had just been standing. “Nothing. Our break is going to have to wait.”
I had so many questions but mainly, why? Why the hell was she here? I mean, clearly she was working, so that would be why. But also, why? I was fully prepared to only fantasize about our night in the confines of my dark bedroom or shower, and now I had a walking reminder?
I found myself following Vera back to her coworkers, watching that ass I remembered so vividly get farther and farther away.
“What? Why?” Eloise's voice startled me and I dragged my eyes away from Vera, just as she turned back around.
“My office. Now.” I didn’t give her time to reply as I turned on my heel and tried not to run back to my office.
As soon as she came in, I shut the door and locked it, finally catching my breath. I hadn’t breathed since those brown eyes found mine, and my heartbeat was trying to keep up with itself, basically jumping out of my chest.
“Okay, Cara, you’re actually scaring me. You don’t look so good. What’s going on? Who was that?”
I sat on the couch in the corner of my office and groaned. I steadied myself before I answered, still not believing this was real life. I didn’t want to believe that my one-night stand had been standing inches away from me. And recognized me, no less.
“That was Vera.”
“I’ve gathered that much. But who is she, to you? Why did seeing her make you have an out-of-body-experience?”
“Because, El, we… You remember a few months ago when I was out of town?”
“Yeah. You went to that speed—Oh my God, did you meet her there?”
I nodded. “Yes. We sort of hit it off and… slept together. What the fuck?!”
Her eyes were wide and her mouth was parted. She just stared at me. I tossed my head back and closed my eyes. What a fucking mess! I’d hope she’d forgotten about me, but with her little nickname, that hope was crushed. What was she going to say before Eloise interrupted her?
“Okay, I have a few comments, questions, concerns. One being, she is hot as fuck! Excuse my French. But that leads me to my question of, I thought that wasn’t your type? Have you ever dated a butch before?”
I shook my head. “No, I haven’t. And we aren’t going to be dating. That’s not my type, I just. I was drinking, and she was charming, and one thing led to three others. You heard her voice. None of it was my fault!”
She laughed. “Oh yeah, I did. And if pussy was my thing right now, I’d be all over that. Again, sorry for my French, I’m just in shock here.”
“So am I! What the fuck, Eloise? When I woke up the next morning, she was already gone. I thought I’d never see her again and now, here she is, and here she’ll be for months? What am I supposed to do with that information?”
“Ask for a repeat?”
I snorted out a laugh. “That was a good one.”
“I’m serious, Cara. Was it bad?”
My knowing blush was all the answer she needed and she shrugged. “Exactly. “
“Well, when you put it like that, how can I argue that logic?” I scoffed, barely believing the absurdity of the situation I had found myself in. “No, Eloise, I will not be asking her for a repeat. As earth-shattering as it was, it won’t be happening again.”
I was thankful she didn’t say anything more on the subject.
I didn’t want to talk about it. She’d be gone in a month and I’d never see her again.
We wouldn’t have this grand reunion, we wouldn’t fall in love and live happily ever after.
Which was exactly what I wanted. I wanted to move on and pretend that entire magical night never happened.