by Kaye Blue
“Alex. Hi,” she said on a breathy voice that betrayed her nerves and gave me the smallest sliver of satisfaction.
Without waiting for me to respond, she extended her arms and closed them around me, capturing me in a stiff, awkward hug that was over as soon as it started.
That had been unanticipated, though I certainly should have expected it, especially given Mia’s knack for throwing me curve balls.
Still, the embrace, if I would even call it that, left me off balance.
I was angry, beyond angry that she would offer me such a friendly greeting. Pretend like we had left things on good terms, like we were old friends catching up.
But at the same time I was exhilarated, the whiff of her shampoo, her skin, the feel of her hand on my back through my suit jacket and shirt, the faint brush of her breasts against my chest…
It was an overwhelming, heady sensation, one that was both more sensual and more meaningful than the countless sexual encounters I had had since I’d seen her last.
It seemed she still had an effect on me, something I had suspected before but now had fully confirmed.
I ignored that, though. Focused on the anger.
I would need to stay on my toes, keep my mind on what I wanted and why I was doing this. I couldn’t let myself get distracted.
At least not yet.
There would be time, and plenty of it, for me to indulge myself, explore her body, take her as many times as were necessary to get her completely out of my system.
Until then, I needed to close the deal.
So I went about doing just that.
“Yeah,” I said with a stiff nod.
She lowered her lids slightly, then lifted them back up, an expression I immediately recognized as one of confusion.
I ignored it, and instead settled on her, trying to evaluate how she was processing this.
“I have to say, this is quite a surprise,” she said.
Her voice was calm, nonchalant, but I knew Mia well enough to know that she was putting up a front.
I guess I understood why she would do so. The circumstances that had brought her here weren’t exactly normal, so I understood her keeping her guard up, but I certainly wouldn’t let her know that.
“What? You were expecting someone else?” I asked, feigning nonchalance though I was practically humming with the energy of the moment.
I couldn’t imagine who she would have thought was behind the invitation, but then again reminded myself that whatever I had known of her in the past, I didn’t know of her now, and even the extensive background check I had run wouldn’t have told me everything.
“I wasn’t exactly sure what I was expecting,” she said.
“That’s honest,” I said.
“I always try to be,” she responded.
There was more in that statement than I cared to address, so I ignored it and instead refocused on her.
“I…” she started before she trailed off.
“Yes?” I asked, keeping my voice emotionless.
She shrugged, but then dropped that particular line of conversation and looked around.
“This is your place?” she asked.
“The entire building is mine,” I said.
I wanted to take the words back.
Bragging was beneath me, and I instantly knew that my assessment had been right. Mia didn’t look even marginally impressed. For some reason, I found that incredibly upsetting. I had accomplished so many things, things people had sworn I never would, and she didn’t seem to care.
Instead she smiled, nodded, and then said, “Congratulations. It seems like you’ve done well for yourself.”
“Mia,” I said, my voice dropping an octave.
“Yes, Alex?” she responded, her voice also dropping, perhaps to mimic my own. Or, perhaps she was aware that something about this conversation had changed. That wouldn’t surprise me. Mia had always been perceptive, and despite whatever facade she might present, I was still certain that not much got past her.
“I bet you’re wondering why you’re here,” I said.
She smiled, the expression revealing beautiful white teeth, the crinkle at the corner of her eye that was enough to almost take my breath away.
“That’s an understatement,” she said.
“Let me clarify a few things for you, then,” I said, trying to keep my voice businesslike while my heart threatened to pound out of my chest.
“Okay,” Mia said, her trepidation clear, as was her willingness to continue on.
“We have business to discuss,” I said.
She frowned, her brows furling with a little indentation that I couldn’t help but imagine kissing, tracing with the tip of my tongue.
“Business? You and I?” she asked.
I nodded, and her frown deepened.
“What kind of business would you and I have to discuss?” she whispered, her voice sounding sincere, so curious.
Cautious.
I paused a moment, and then locked eyes with her again, allowed one corner of my mouth to lift in what I knew was a predatory smile.
“The unfinished kind.”
Three
Mia
*
I swallowed hard, the gesture an attempt to wet my dry throat, and also an attempt to buy me some time.
Time I desperately needed.
My last conversation with Alex had started much the same way, me tongue-tied, unable to speak, him looking at me expectantly.
The end of that conversation was something I never allowed myself to think of.
But despite how similar these conversations might seem on the surface, I knew they were anything but.
Because the tough, sweet boy I had known then was completely gone.
In his place was a man, an exceedingly handsome one.
One I didn’t know at all.
I’d been shocked when I saw him, fully convinced that my mind was tricking me. There was no way it was Alex on the other side of that door, no way that Alex was behind all of this cloak-and-dagger.
As impossible as it seemed, it was definitely him.
He was tall as he had been all those years ago, but his lanky frame had filled out.
He was still lean, but I could see from the cut of his obviously expensive suit that he was well muscled.
I’d seen pictures of him before. They would have been easy to avoid, but I’d never made an effort to do so. I’d never told anyone, not even Chelsea, but when I’d first seen a glimpse of a man I’d thought was Alex in a business magazine, I’d searched for everything I could, following the growth of his fortune every step of the way.
My happiness for him was unparalleled. After all he had been through, he deserved his success. And even my melancholy, the sadness at the way things had ended between us couldn’t overcome that fact.
So though I had seen pictures of him in magazines and the paper, the occasional footage on the TV, they hadn’t prepared me for him in the flesh.
His physical presence was intoxicating, but when I locked eyes with his, I had been taken aback.
How many hours had I spent staring into those eyes?
How many had he spent staring back into mine?
Countless, and those had been some of the best times of my life, still were even now.
But this was different.
The eyes from his youth, shadowed, burdened by what he had seen and gone through at far too early an age, but still hopeful, still loving, were gone.
There was a hardness to him now, a distance, a sternness, an arctic cold.
He didn’t look like Alex.
Not my Alex.
I almost physically shook my head to empty that thought, but at the last minute stopped myself.
He hadn’t looked away from me, and there was no way he would have missed that. I certainly wasn’t up to explaining because I didn’t trust myself to lie to him.
So I stood there, waiting, hoping that he would do something, say something to explain,
do something to break some of the tension that had been steadily increasing in the room.
But as I looked at those eyes, lifted mine to take in the light brown hair cut to precisely just above his neck, the strong planes of his lean face, lips that I knew were perfect for kissing, his expression so blank it made me want to shiver, he hadn’t seemed inclined to speak at all.
Instinctively, I sensed that this was some kind of test, some kind of game. And that threw me off. Games weren’t really Alex’s style, or at least they hadn’t been before.
But again I reminded myself that I didn’t know him now, and couldn’t rely on what I had known of him then. So, for lack of anything else to do I’d walked toward him, giving in to the intractable pull toward him and the desire to be close to him.
I had done what seemed natural, reached up to hug him, but had just as quickly realized I’d made a mistake.
There was nothing in particular in his stance that told me that. He didn’t hug me back, but he didn’t pull away either.
No, it had been my reaction that told me I had made a huge mistake.
Because as much as I accepted that I didn’t know him now, as many warning signs were going off in my head, I couldn’t ignore that pull toward him.
I’d always been drawn to Alex, felt a kinship with him, a connection that I hadn’t felt with anyone before or since.
But this now…it was deeper, more.
For all intents and purposes he was a stranger to me, one who, if I trusted my gut, didn’t necessarily intend me anything good. But despite knowing that, knowing it with every fiber of my being, I wanted him.
And touching him was a deep distraction, an attack on my equilibrium that I wasn’t sure I could withstand.
I’d pulled away, looked at him, confused, and when he’d finally spoken, told me we had unfinished business, I had been struck with a moment of clarity. I hadn’t been fully here, was too busy thinking about the past, my attraction to him, ways he’d changed, ways he hadn’t.
He was playing another game altogether, and I needed to get in it.
I looked toward his eyes, but didn’t dare look in them.
“What are you talking about, Alex?” I whispered.
It hadn’t been my intention to speak, and I certainly hadn’t wanted that little tremor in my voice, but I was incapable of controlling them. And given the stakes that I could sense in this interaction, I decided I didn’t have the time to bother with pretense.
Alex would see through it anyway.
Yes, things had changed, but I doubted that was one of them. He’d always been able to read me, had always seemed connected to my feelings, even when I hadn’t wanted him to be. I’d always thought it was because he was one of the few people who ever cared enough to pay attention, but I couldn’t let myself think about that now.
I swallowed, still waiting for him to speak, reminding myself that I needed to stay focused.
“You don’t think we have unfinished business?” he asked.
His voice was silky soft, and I could tell it wasn’t put on. He wasn’t trying to impress me; if anything, he was doing just the opposite. But the effect was the same nonetheless.
“No, I don’t,” I said, managing to keep my voice firm, though I wished it was above that whisper.
“I disagree,” he replied.
“Alex, can you explain what’s going on? And why these games? They don’t seem like you,” I said.
After I spoke those words I saw the first real emotion on Alex’s face. He scowled, his expression twisting. He recovered quickly, but I shivered a little, remembering that look on his face. It had been colder than a barren winter, and only served to remind me of how tenuous my position, and this situation, were.
“You think you know me?” he asked.
He was as he’d been before, distant, reserved, but that little glimpse of what lay underneath had been enough warning for me.
“Apparently not,” I said softly.
“Apparently not,” he repeated.
He seemed satisfied by that, which confused me. Things between us hadn’t ended well. I took my share of the blame for that, but the anger I could sense in him now, anger that I was surprised I had missed for so long, confused me with its intensity, as though the years hadn’t dampened it at all.
I didn’t dare ask him about it, though. And I didn’t trust that he would give me an honest answer, and in truth, I didn’t really want to know.
Even now I still carried the guilt of having hurt him. To have him confirm that he still carried that hurt, was still angry about it, was more than I wanted.
“I think things between us ended poorly,” he said.
He spoke the words without any inflection or emotion, but none was necessary. I felt the hurt in my chest as I remembered that last meeting, the one where he had poured his heart out to me and I had crushed him.
“Yes,” I said.
There was nothing else to say, no way I could disagree.
“I’m being a little too circumspect, so let me be blunt. You screwed me over, Mia,” he said.
“I’m sorry you think so,” I replied.
I understood why he saw it that way, but my intentions had been anything but malicious. I’d done what I did to save him.
But did it really matter after all these years?
I lifted my eyes, finally met his again, deciding I needed to ask the question.
“Things did end poorly, but is that your unfinished business?” I asked.
He nodded slowly, the gesture equal parts chilling and intriguing.
“I’m sorry, Alex.”
I hadn’t intended to speak the words, but they came out nonetheless, and they were sincere.
I was sorry, more sorry than he could ever know.
“You’re sorry? You think that’s it, huh?” he asked.
His voice had barely changed, so I wasn’t sure if I heard something different or was imagining it. But I looked at him, saw the slight tightness around his jaw, realized that I hadn’t.
He was angrier now than he’d been since I’d walked into the room. It seemed my apology had only increased that anger.
“Maybe it’s not. But it’s all I have to offer,” I said.
I wasn’t sure why I’d been compelled to add the last. He hadn’t asked me for anything, and I couldn’t imagine anything I could have that he would want. Yet the preemptive statement felt necessary, though I didn’t dare hope that it would save me.
Alex took a step back, smiled, and then slowly looked me over from my head to my toes, then back again.
“I disagree, Mia,” he said.
His voice had deepened, softened, and despite the fear racing through me, I shivered.
There was something about that sound, the long look he gave me that relit the flame that had momentarily banked.
My sex clenched, my body feeling heavy with the instant desire. I pushed it back, knew that I was being ridiculous.
I wasn’t exactly sure what Alex wanted, or what he had planned, but this reaction was totally out of place here.
But much as I knew that, I had no ability to ignore it.
So instead of even trying, I just looked at him.
He smiled.
“Are you going to try to pretend you’re confused?” he said.
At the slight taunt in his voice, I felt a flash of irritation but quickly bit it back.
“I’m not pretending, Alex,” I said tightly.
“Ah, so you are confused?” he taunted.
I used all of the self-control I could muster not to glare at him.
He just smiled, lifted one corner of his mouth, the expression almost gleeful, and one hundred percent irritating.
“You’re also upset,” he said.
“Alex, if you want something, tell me. I don’t have time for these games,” I said, feeling ragged, raw, and knowing I wasn’t up to this, whatever the hell this was.
My voice was stiff as I bit back the impulse to yell at him.
“Some things never change,” he murmured.
“What are you talking about?” I snapped.
“You want to yell at me, curse me, but good old Mia Marshall is far too polite for that. So dishonest,” he said.
Screw you! my brain screamed.
But my mouth said, “I don’t know why you think I’m dishonest, and at this point I’m not interested in finding out. I think I’ll leave now.”
I was annoyed that he had hit so close to the mark, but even more I was annoyed by the wild sensations bombarding me. Ten minutes with Alex felt like an hour with my worst enemy, and I was nearing the end of my rope.
I was confused, steadily losing my grip, and he didn’t seem to want to make the situation any better.
“Fine. But don’t you want to hear my demands first?” he whispered.
He sounded all business, but one word in particular had caught my attention.
“Your ‘demands’? What makes you think you have a right to make demands of me?”
He looked at me, his face was shifting into a devilish smile, one that simultaneously turned me on and made my stomach drop.
“Because, Mia, you’re in a very delicate situation, and you don’t even know it,” he said.
I waited a moment to respond, not wanting to scowl, not wanting to give Alex any more ammunition. I shouldn’t have come here. Even without knowing Alex was behind this, the circumstances alone should have been enough to warn me off.
Damn my curiosity.
Alex was clearly playing at something, and I was far outmatched. But it was too late now, so, after I had regained some measure of my equilibrium I said, “What delicate situation am I in?”
I hated to even ask the question. I was playing directly into his hands, but what other choice did I have? Even though I had no idea what he thought he might have on me, I knew Alex wouldn’t make an idle threat. And his words had assuredly been that.
My heart started to pound. “How are things in the business?” he asked.
The shift in the conversation almost left me with whiplash, and for a moment I paused as I considered what he said, and the meaning behind it.
I nervously wiped my hands against my skirt, hating to give away how on edge I was but unable to do anything but.
His question about the business hadn’t been a pleasantry and certainly wasn’t a coincidence.