Chapter 28
YASMINE
I’m trying to remain cool, but I’m irked, irritated as a thrilling, almost unsettling current moves through me.
There are so many thoughts whizzing through my brain, I can’t keep up.
Lawyer. Tick.
Wildcard app member. Tick.
He matched with a project manager slash software designer. Tick.
I matched with a lawyer. Tick.
And Flyguy lost the woman’s number he told me he had a connection with.
Tick. Tick. Tick. Tick. Tick.
Cole is Flyguy.
Flyguy is Cole.
How the hell did this happen?
I’d never set eyes on this guy until the flight back from LA, and now suddenly he’s everywhere I am.
Standing at the back of the busy ballroom, I shift on my feet from side to side, unease and confusion making me restless.
The room grows louder as it comes alive with laughter and chatter, the Hart Law staff conference getting underway.
Usually when I attend events like these, they are duller than dishwater, but not this one.
The staff are buzzing to get started, and the woman who is about to make her way onto the stage has the most colorful and cool hair I’ve ever seen.
She’s like a human rainbow, and I already love her energy as she walks across the stage.
While I was expecting today to be a full-on day of concentration, learning everything I could about Hart Law and working out how to create the best app proposal they’ll ever receive, what I wasn’t expecting was to come face-to-face with the man I thought was just another one who talked big and made empty promises.
I’m not only shaken, but I’ve also been knocked sideways.
Memories swirl about in my brain like a cyclone, little bits of our conversation on the app as clear as day, while others are clouded.
Pulling my phone out of my pocket to test my theory, I quickly type out a message, even though he said he would be busy for the next few days and I might not hear from him, but I need to know, as it’s killing me inside.
CodeBreaker
Go with me on this but how many brothers do you have?
Cole has three. They’re sitting right next to him now all looking like something from a Forbes sexiest man alive feature.
From across the room, through the bobbing heads that are seated around the tables, Cole’s staring right at me one minute, then looking away the next, and every time his wandering eye moves back to me, I’m looking at him.
There’s nothing subtle about my ogling.
His brows dip, breaking our eye contact. Then he pulls something out of his pocket, his phone, I think, his whole face lighting up, and that’s when I know he’s received my message.
Because it is him.
I was right.
Relief floods my body but also…
Shit.
Shit.
Shit.
Staring at my phone, as the bubbles dance across the screen on our chat, I wait for his reply, the anticipation almost too much, panic gnawing at my insides.
Flyguy
Three. Why are you asking?
CodeBreaker
Just trust me, I’m getting there. What are you doing today? Specifically.
Flyguy
Am I allowed to say? I’m not breaking any ethical codes of the app or anything, am I?
CodeBreaker
No.
Flyguy
You’re acting weird today. Is everything okay?
CodeBreaker
Please, just tell me.
Flyguy
I’m at a staff conference. I part-own a law firm with my brothers and today is the annual staff conference.
I feel faint.
Is the room spinning?
The sounds of everyone around me fade away, as a cocktail of surprise, confusion, and hope rushes through my blood, spiking my pulse.
How can Flyguy be the same guy I met on the flight? And how can he partly own the company I’ve been assigned to write an app proposal for.
This is really happening.
This is also crazy.
Surreal even.
And yet, he’s real, here and in the flesh.
It’s predestiny, fate, luck, chance. Karma?
The reason Flyguy felt familiar was because I already knew him.
Because he’s Cole: the man I cannot seem to forget.
And he’s not the jerk I painted him out to be in my mind. I sort of feel bad about that now.
But he had a reasonable explanation. He lost my number, and he’s been searching for me; hell, he even put an ad in the newspaper to try and find me.
It’s just as well I didn’t make a voodoo doll of him. Not that I would have, but the thought did cross my mind after he didn’t call.
For weeks, I’ve been immersing myself in project after project, trying to erase him from my mind.
What I should have been researching was the company I’ve been assigned to develop an app for, to prepare for today; perhaps there would be a photo of Cole on their website, then I would have assigned this app to someone else on my team.
I’m lying. I wouldn’t have because part of me still wants him; even when I ran, I wanted him. I still do.
I’ve replayed the way he looked at me during the night we spent together, when he fucked me so hard I could barely walk straight the next day. It was a look of intensity that burned my soul. It was so strong.
Instead, today, I bypassed my usual due diligence on a project this size.
Had the servers not gone down yesterday afternoon and had we not had several angry clients on the phone, pulling their hair out because we’d crippled their business, I would have.
But by the time I got home at midnight, I was bone-deep tired and could only manage to take my makeup off before throwing myself into bed.
If only I’d done a quick google then I wouldn’t have been blindsided.
From across the room, I can feel the heat of Cole’s stare and I don’t have to glance up to know that he’s looking right at me.
I bury my nose in my phone again, my fingers moving quickly across the onscreen keyboard, and ask him another question. Even though I already know it’s him, the little devil inside needs to be one hundred percent sure it is most definitely him.
CodeBreaker
Do you remember during one of our conversations about our occupations, mentioning the female project manager or software designer you met? Where did you meet her?
Flyguy
I’m so confused, but I’ll tell you anyway. I met her on a flight from LA to San Francisco.
It was me.
I’m done playing games, I’m not hiding who I am, I have no reason to, and I don’t mess people around, I never have.
CodeBreaker
When you told me that you had a crazy connection with someone recently, before we started talking on that app, was it her? Please be honest.
Flyguy
Yes.
CodeBreaker
You told me you lost her number. Correct?
Flyguy
Yes.
CodeBreaker
Did you lose her number after you spent the night with her?
Flyguy
Yes. But how the hell did you work that out? You are freaking me out now.
CodeBreaker
You never asked me what make, and model of classic car I drive. Ask me now.
Flyguy
What the hell is going on?
CodeBreaker
Just ask me.
Flyguy
Okay… what make and model of car do you drive?
I type each letter slowly because whatever happens next could change everything.
This could go either way, and he’s either going to hate me or love me… No, not love. Shut up, Yasmine.
CodeBreaker
A 1967 Pontiac Firebird in black. And you are sitting right across the room from me.
I watch his reaction as it unfolds. In slow motion, Cole’s eyes widen, and I almost hear his sharp gasp from across the room, making my heart leap inside my chest.
The surroundings blur, as if I’m rushing through a tunnel in time: colors, people, and chatter blend like watercolors on paper.
My attention narrows solely on him—Cole—his head lifting, eyes locking with mine. A flicker of confusion crosses his face, quickly replaced by deep happiness as his mouth forms a stunning smile of pure joy.
He raises his hand and waves hello. From that small act, I know he’s not upset, because his search is over. He found me—that’s what he wants. I am who he desires.
And I can’t keep denying it anymore either; he is who I want.
I’m already emotionally invested from our app conversation, and we’ve already shared physical intimacy.
I can’t escape him now.
I don’t know why I ever thought I could.