Chapter 3

KATE.

They said be careful what you wish for. I never knew how accurate that statement was until today.

Today has been a normal workday for me, I came to work at the usual time, I delivered Sue"s morning coffee, done some random work at the office and even sat for a conference meeting that lasted an hour.

Now here comes how my day became weird, I was on my way to run an errand for Sue when I saw two men in the lobby speaking to each other. They were both tall –one taller than the other with about three inches. The taller of the two had dark hair and the other one, brown. I couldn"t help but notice them because they commanded attention. They were bigger than the average man.

I walked past them, headed for the door when I heard someone say hey"

I looked back to see if it was directed at me and sure enough, it was, because I was the only other person in the lobby, other than the receptionist who was currently on a call. I glanced at the men, whom one of them must have called me and paused. Time froze.

I was sure my eyes were playing tricks on me because standing there, were the two people I thought I"d never see again.

The man with dark hair was the man I danced with at the company dinner and standing beside him was the guy who approached me on the balcony.

What in the ever loving hell?

Brown eyes –yes I call him brown eyes because I don"t know his name– came towards me, a huge smile on his face.

"Red! " he exclaimed, "How are you? " Red. He called me Red.

I was sure I looked as pale as a ghost because he quickly placed a hand on my shoulder.

He frowned, "Are you okay? What"s wrong? "

I wanted to yell what"s wrong is that I"m seeing you again when I thought I wouldn"t and why was green eyes just standing there? "

I massaged my forehead -I did that whenever I was stressed or trying not to be angry.

"I"m fine. " I managed to say, "What"re you... What are you doing here? "

"Oh. I came to see Drew. "

I muttered, "Drew? "

"Yeah. " he jerked his thumb over his shoulder, at green eyes – who was silently watching us .

"Why do you look like you"ve seen a ghost? " he asked.

Because I have.

Green eyes – who I just found out is called Drew, finally came to us. We stared at each other. Greens on greys. Why was he just looking at me? Didn"t he remember me? Say something! I silently willed him .

It was brown eyes who spoke.

"Drew, you remember Red? " he looked at Drew hopefully. I held my breath.

"I do. " that voice, good God. He stared at me with blank eyes, face devoid of any emotions. He angled his head, "What are you doing here? "

I deflated like a hot air balloon.

"What? " I asked, confused.

"What are you doing here? " he repeated.

I stammered, "Oh. Um. I work here. "

He gave me an unimpressed look, "What are you doing, standing here, right now? " who was this guy?

I frowned. Why was he so cold? "I"m on an errand. "

He pursed his lips, his face in a scowl. "Standing here talking? "

I blinked. What was happening?

Brown eyes cleared his throat. I"d totally forgotten about him. He looked from me to Drew in question. You could literally feel the tension in the air.

"So where did you say you were going, Red? " I never did but I wasn"t going to object. I needed to get away from here.

When j didn"t answer him, he said, "Come on then. I"ll drop you off. " he threw an arm around my shoulder and Drew"s eyes followed the movement.

My mind was running one thousand miles a minute.

Was Drew a twin? He had to be because the guy I danced with wasn"t like this. We had a connection. It was there, thick between us, almost tangible.

Then I remembered he left immediately I told him my name. That had to be it! What was so wrong about my name? What about brown eyes? How did they know each other?

I glanced up at him, "Who is that guy?"

He stared at me, his brows furrowing in confusion, "Who? "

I jerked my thumb at the hotel lobby . "That guy. Who is he? "

If he had frowned even more, his brows would"ve touched his nose "You mean Drew? "

I narrowed my eyes at him, "Yes, Drew. Who is he?"

"You don"t know him? He"s Drew Rutledge. "

Wait. What? "Drew Rutledge as in CEO of Rutledge Towers?"

He nodded, "Yeah. "

I massaged my head, "Jesus. " At this rate, I was going to get wrinkles before I hit forty.

"You didn"t know? "

I stopped walking. "How do you know him? " I asked, my arms folded across my chest.

He hesitated then, "I"m Chase Rutledge." Like that was the most normal explanation in the whole world.

I seethed. "He"s your brother? " He flinched.

I threw my hands in the air, "What the fuck? " I couldn"t believe this. "You told me that night that you didn"t know him. "

His eyes darted around "Wait, I can explain. "

I took two steps away from him, his face fell. "I don"t want to hear it. "

"Red. " he tried to reach for me.

I snapped, "Don"t call me Red. Fuck you and fuck your brother. " I stormed off, only to realize I had gone in the wrong direction, in my haste. I turned around, giving him a death glare as I walked past him in the right direction.

When I got back to the office, I couldn"t help but think about it. Green eyes was Drew Rutledge. Drew Rutledge as in my boss –technically my boss"s, boss"s, boss but still. And I had danced with him. Was he naturally a grade-A asshole or was it something I did that brought that part out in him? Because at the party he was different.

I thought about Chase and how I"d parted with him. Now that I thought about it, telling him fuck your brother" wasn"t really smart, it could totally backfire in my face. I groaned. What was I thinking? I let my temper get the best of me.

Then back to the question. What had I done to make Drew be that cold with me?

I hoped with everything that I was that the coldness wouldn"t transfer to my job.

••••••••••

I sat at tasty sips watching people go about their day, living their normal lives and wishing I had a normal life.

Today has been such a shitty day. We were called into the conference room and Drew was been there. He was never present at the conference meetings I attended so it took me by surprise. I wasn"t prepared to see him. I"d floundered and made a mess of myself, prompting me to receive questioning looks from Sue and all the while, Drew seemed go be getting off of my demise.

I sighed and took a sip of my usual –vanilla latte.

"Rough day? "I heard someone ask beside me. I turned and saw it was Bailey.

"Don"t you know it. " I said dryly.

Bailey and I have become friends over the month and we talked whenever I came here –which was almost everyday.

She took a seat in front of mine and rested her chin in her knuckles, "Want to talk about it?"

"Not really. How"s work?" I changed the topic. Bailey Jude was the proud owner of Tasty Sips. She single-handedly got this place and I admired her for that.

She beamed, "Going great, thanks." She was super proud of her investment. It was a small shop, sure, but it was what she wanted. "I would ask you the same but I already know."

I gave a light laugh, "Yeah. "

We talked some more and when I was about leaving, I remembered something.

"Can I have your phone number? "I asked.

"Yeah, totally. " she rattled it off and I stored it, dailing her number to make sure she had mine, "We could like hang out sometime. "

"Of course. " I waved as I left.

Sue summoned me to her office.

"What happened today Kate?" she asked, her fingers laced in front of her.

Shit. I didn"t have to ask to know what she meant –my epic fail in the conference room.

"I"m sorry, Sue. It won"t happen again."

She regarded me, "Yeah, I know it won"t. What I want to know is why it happened in the first place. You had days to prepare."

"Yes. And I was prepared I just –"

"Then what happened in there?" she snapped. I blinked. This was the first time Sue had ever raised her voice at me. Jesus. Was the presentation that important? Would this be a problem for me?

I murmured, "I guess I was just taken off guard to see Mr. Rutledge there. He never attended the meetings so I didn"t know he"d be there. It made me unsure."

"And that was exactly why you should have upped your game. Mr. Rutledge spoke to me, he wanted to know if you were a dedicated employee and I assured him you were one of the best." she said, "Today contradicts that. "

My head reared back. How was I going to get out of this?

"I want to believe that this was a one time thing and it should be because Mr. Rutledge would be present during our meetings from this day henceforth. " oh no. "Have a good day, Kate." She dismissed me.

Head hanging in shame, I left.

Drew.

I stared at my Mom over the rim of my glass. "I told you I can"t do dinner Thursday. "

"And you still haven"t given me a reason why."

"I have work."

"Surely you can fit in a few hours for us." my Mom said, hopeful.

"I don"t get why I have to go. Chase will be there. "

"Chase is not you. " my mother snapped. She was elegantly dressed in a white sheath dress that hugged her lithe frame and stiletto heels. Her face was make up free and line free –botox here.

I sighed. "Maybe some other time, Mom. "

"We can push the dinner till Friday. " she suggested. She was making it hard for me to refuse. The major reason I didn"t want to go was because of my father. I loathed the man.

She probably saw my reluctance because she pleaded, "Please, Andrew. You rarely come around. "

I cocked a brow, "And for good reason. "

But there was so much hope in her eyes and I wasn"t monster enough to take that away. "Fine. I"ll be there. "

"Splendid. " she clapped, beaming.

I shook my head. Smiling was an unnecessary stress on facial musculature, I wasn"t very fond of it.

She stood up and I mimicked her, going over to her side, "I"ll be on my way then. I have an appointment with that journalist, Deanna Johnson. "

I frowned, opening the door for her. Deanna Johnson was one of my few lays and in the usual manner –a quickie in the restroom. She had been rather pissed when she realized I had no interest in keeping in touch and she had vowed to make me pay. Overly dramatic, that one. I never thought she was going to act on it anyway.

"Mom be careful with her. "

She waved it away, "Oh don"t worry." She said as she went outside my office, "It"s just an article on fashion. "

Fashion eh.

My Personal Assistant was speaking to a woman. I stopped walking. I looked closer and saw it was Kate. What was she doing talking to my assistant? I couldn"t help but notice how good she looked. She was wearing a leather skirt and a wrap dress of some sort that weren"t indecent by any means. It was her body that did indecent things to the skirt. The way the leather hugged her ass was illegal and her ass wasn"t average to begin with.

"Ehem. " I heard a throat clearing.

I snapped my head in my mother"s direction. She was looking at me strangely and I didn"t like it.

"What? " I gestured forward, for her to continue walking.

"Who was that? "

"Who? "

"The woman. Who was she? "

"There were two women standing there, Mom."

"Don"t play coy with me, Andrew. " my mom warned, "Who"s the woman you were staring at? "

"I didn"t stare at her." I argued.

"No, drooling is more like it. Who is she? "

"She works here. "

Her brows rose. I didn"t think that was even possible since they were already raised –due to the tight ponytail she had on, giving her a perpetual look of surprise. "Here on this floor? I"ve been here several times I"ve never seen her before. "

"Newsflash. You don"t know everyone that works here. And I didn"t mean on this floor, I meant for the company as a whole. "

"Oh. " she frowned, then where eyes lit up, "But you seem to know her. "

"I don"t. " I pressed the button for the last floor of the building.

"You do. You looked–"

I ushered her in, "I don"t. Goodbye Mom. " and the doors closed on my Mom"s disapproving gaze.

I blew out a breath and turned around, walking past my assistant which meant walking past Kate and pretending I didn"t see her, which was not an easy task.

"Mr. Rutledge, wait. " she called in that husky voice of hers.

I closed my eyes and willed my body not to react to her. I spun around.

I was disappointed, alright. Because not only did my body like my presence, my mind did too.

"I have to speak to you. " she was standing six feet away from me like I was going to bite her. Well, I did want to bite her though, just not in the way she thought. I looked at the boring face of my assistant since that was safer.

"Does she have an appointment? "

"No. " she supplied.

Settled. With that, I continued my march to my office, intent on getting behind that door and controlling myself.

"Mr. Rutledge, please. " the plea in her voice stopped me. It brought flashes of memory of a time when I had pleaded and been mercilessly ignored. The memory restored my anger towards her. I would do the same to her. But apparently, I was a glutton for punishment because I turned again, taking a look at her face and I broke.

"Ten minutes. " I said as I strolled into my office.

The last thought I had before she closed the door behind her was; why did I like my name so much when she said it?

Kate.

I closed the door behind me, effectively locking myself in the lion"s den. No, that wasn"t quite right, I thought. The company was his den. This was his office –I had just locked myself in the lion"s jaws. Not a smart thing to do, I know, but my job was at stake here. I was going to do anything to keep it. Well, not everything. Almost. The point was, I didn"t want to lose it.

I stared at him, thinking of how to start. I still didn"t know what we were to each other. Friends? No, not with the way he treated me. Enemies? Maybe.

As I opened my mouth to talk, he said, "Did you come here to stare at me, Rossi? I have important things to do with my time. "

Asshole.

"I wanted to talk to you. "

"You"ve changed your mind then? "

I narrowed my eyes at him, "I still do."

"Use your words carefully. "

I stood by the door, waiting for him to ask me to sit but he didn"t look like he wanted me to. In fact, he looked like he"d rather be anywhere else.

He watched me as I sat without him telling me to. I could tell he very much wanted to tell me to get out in that moment but he bad given me ten minutes so there was nothing he could do. Granted, he could throw me out if he wanted to but I saw Drew like a man who kept to his words.

I wanted to ask him what I did for him to be so cold to me. I wanted to yell at him for making my job hard for me. But that wasn"t what came out of my mouth.

"Why did you leave? "

He raised a brow, his face giving nothing away. I knew he knew what I was talking about but he decided to play dumb.

"The dance floor. Why did you leave me? " I intended for it to come out snappy but it came out softly. So soft I didn"t even recognize my own voice.

He regarded me with frosty green eyes, "The song ended. What reason did I have to stay? "

"You could have –"

"I"m not going to waste ten minutes of my day discussing something so insignificant. " he said in that controlled voice of his, "If you have nothing else to say, leave. "

My blood boiled and my palm itched. I wanted to slap him but I knew it would get me fired on the spot. I exhaled, trying to control my temper. This wasn"t why I was here anyway.

"Why are you so mean to me? What did I do to you? "

He kept silent, watching me.

"Well? " I asked.

"That wasn"t a rhetorical question? " he looked genuinely confused.

Jesus Christ. This man. If I didn"t get out if here, I was going to commit murder.

My temper was redlining and that wasn"t a good sign.

"You can be mad at me all you want but don"t take that anger out on my job. " I snapped.

His eyes widened slightly in shock. Then the shock was replaced with green fire. "Are you insinuating that I"m deliberately trying to get you fired? "

"Oh, you"re not? " I purred, my voice dripping venom.

"Doing that would take time and effort. I do not waste time on meaningless things. " he fired back. I flinched. He called me meaningless. The hit reminded me of my ex. Then I remembered.

I narrowed my eyes, "I wasn"t so meaningless that night, was I? "

His eyes hardened and he clenched his jaws, "Get out. "

I smiled, savoring the sweet taste of victory. I had gotten to him, the bastard. He thought he was indifferent but he wasn"t . Now, I knew better than to get on his bad side because he literally had my employment in the palm of his hand but he was just so infuriating. I couldn"t just sit there quietly while he made me feel like trash.

I got up, keeping my head high as I walked to the door. I didn"t look at him again, I just closed the door and left.

Deep down, I could feel it. He had started a war and I won this round. I wouldn"t be so lucky next time.