Finally!

I’d spent the past four days putting together two different binders to handle the chaotic hell my life had just become. The Northwest Adventure Classic was six months away, but when it came to events like this, that meant we were already six months behind. And I couldn’t just take care of it on my own, because Poppy and Blake wanted both their companies to sponsor it equally. So, I had to do my part for Poppy’s company as her assistant, and Lukas would take care of his and Blake’s family company’s contribution.

Why they’d decided to dump this on my plate along with all the wedding crap was beyond me. But now wasn’t the time to whine. There would be plenty of time later, and lots of vodka, for me to curse my best friend, my boss and my godchild growing inside of her.

With both binders complete, I could no longer avoid the one thing I’d put at the bottom of my list the moment I left Poppy and Blake’s place.

Meeting with Lukas.

It wasn’t that I disliked him, even though I kept him at arm’s length. It was just that everything about him, from his curly blonde hair, that even the best product couldn’t tame, to his chocolate brown eyes with lightning rods of gold shooting through them, it all reminded me of my ex. He was too rich and too arrogant for my taste. And he’s been trying to get in my pants ever since Poppy’s and Blake’s orbits overlapped.

He was tempting as hell, and I knew it would be an unforgettable night if I was ever foolish enough to act on it. But I didn’t shit where I ate, and no man was more in my life than Lukas, whether I wanted him to be or not.

A quick look at the clock told me I needed to get going, because heaven forbid the man try to make my life easier. His assistant had insisted that he couldn’t possibly make it out of the office today, so I grabbed my jacket, packed my bag and made the drive to Peak Adventures. This wasn’t my first trip to Lukas’ workplace, but it was always as Poppy’s assistant, not that much had changed, but this time I had to deal with him on my own.

“He’ll be with you soon. Have a seat.” Scarlett was no fan of mine, which was strange, since I’d only ever been polite to her. Lucky for Scarlett, I didn’t give a flying rat’s ass.

“He has five minutes.” I didn’t care that he was the CFO of a big corporation, we had a meeting scheduled, and if he couldn’t stick to the timeline, this would never work. Taking a seat, I pulled out my tablet and sent confirmation emails to pick up the cake bites for tasting when I left this meeting, fielded two phone calls and glared at Scarlett at least thirty-nine times. “That’s it, I’m out of here.” Next time I would just make the appointment with Lukas directly.

“Maybe he forgot.”

I turned back to look at her. She knew what her assets were, and based on her outfit, she planned to use them to snag a rich husband.

“No honey, I think it’s you who forgot. My best friend is marrying your boss’ boss, do you really want to play this game with me? Because I promise you, no bedroom acrobatics you could pull would save your job.” I was beyond being polite right now.

The door office opened, and Lukas stepped out. His frown disappeared and morphed into a welcoming smile that I told my body to ignore. His rugged jawline and that barest hint of a dimple did nothing for me. Nope, nothing at all.

“Hey Talia, what’s going on?”

“What’s going on is, I should have known you wouldn’t take this seriously, I just wish you’d had a little bit of respect for my time.”

And then I was out of there. Those two can stew in my dramatic departure.

The only good thing about this mix up was that I could stop and have lunch before picking up the cake samples and taking them to Poppy. When I found a deli, I ducked inside, grateful it was the tail end of the lunch hour rush, and there were several free tables. I set my stuff down in a booth and placed my order before calling Poppy.

“Have you eaten anything today?”

“I’m going crazy Talia, break me outta here. Please!”

I shook my head at her stricken tone. “It’s barely been a week Poppy, nut up.”

She sucked in a breath, and then promptly burst out laughing. “Nut up? Seriously?”

“You were spiraling. So, food?”

“I’m good. Blake offered an intern a job in the mailroom while he got intern credit if he would keep me fed each day. The kid has good taste, brought me a lobster burrito with tomatillo salsa and fresh chips. Fresh chips, Talia!”

At least now she was calm. Mostly. “Well, I’ll be by with the cake samples soon, so I hope you didn’t overdo it on fancy burritos.”

“No way, I only ate half in anticipation cake!” It was nice to hear Poppy back to her usual upbeat self. I couldn’t imagine spending two months in bed, then again, I couldn’t imagine growing a baby in my belly either. “Aren’t you supposed to be meeting with Lukas? Don’t tell me you skipped it.”

“Thanks for the vote of confidence, Poppy. I showed up and he kept me waiting for thirty minutes, so I left. I have other things to do, so I’m just going to take care of it myself and you guys are just going to have to trust that it’s equitable.” I sucked in a breath and realized—too late—my mistake. “It’s taken care of and if you worry about it I swear I will kick your ass.”

“Fine,” she sighed and I could see her rolling her eyes in my mind. “I’ll see you later.”

Poppy ended the call before I could issue any more threats, which was fine by me, because the pink haired waitress brought my pastrami with dill chips just as I set the phone down.

“Mmm, so good.” It was the kind of deli sandwich that should be illegal, because it made the person eating it moan like a porn star.

“Looks like I showed up at just the right time.”

I groaned again, but there was no pleasure in it.

“Why are you trying to ruin my lunch?” It was bad enough he’d screwed with my day.

“I guess that’s just a happy byproduct.” He dropped down into the seat across from me. When I didn’t respond, he ducked low until it became so awkward that I had no choice but to look at him. “That’s better. Care to tell me what I did today to piss you off?”

I finished chewing my food and glared at him. “You mean other than wasting my damn time by not showing up for our meeting, and then not having the decency to call to say you were busy, and then you let me wait in your lobby for a half an hour? Gee Lukas, I have no clue what you did to piss me off.”

“I don’t know who told you we had a meeting today, but we definitely did not.”

“No!” I smacked both of my hands on the small wooden table and I’m sure my eyes were spitting fire in his direction. “Don’t fucking lie to me, Lukas. I called and spoke to your assistant myself the day after we met at Blake and Poppy’s. This meeting was on the books for almost a week.”

He blinked, looking genuinely puzzled by my words. “I honestly have no clue what you’re talking about.”

I wasn’t surprised that was the excuse he would go with, so I flipped open my email program, and showed him my follow up exchanges with his assistant. Because I always follow up in writing after a call.

“Want to tell me again how you’re not fucking her, but she went through these lengths to stop the meeting?” Lukas didn’t say anything, because what could he possibly say?

“For the last time, I am not sleeping with my assistant! But I will find out what the hell happened today.”

“Don’t bother. I’ll have a copy of both binders sent directly to you and they won’t be handed over unless you’re there to sign for them directly. If you’re still interested in helping out, then I prefer to deal with you directly.” Before his assistant decided to go all Fatal Attraction on me.

“Fine, that’s probably for the best.” He glanced down at his expensive watch and then up at the chalkboard menu above the register. “Do you have time to meet now?”

“No. I have other stops I need to make before picking up the cake samples to take over to Poppy.”

He frowned again, unhappy with this news. “I thought we were both doing that.”

“You want to drive across town to pick up cake samples, drive them back to Poppy’s, go over the notes from the baker, and help her make a decision?”

He grinned. “I do. Thanks for asking, Talia.” He let my name roll of his tongue like he was a Spaniard or something. It was sexy, and he damn well knew it. I crossed my legs under the table to stave off the ache his presence often caused.

“You can’t be serious.”

He smiled and leaned back, casual as you please as he flung one arm along the back of the booth. “I can, and I am. Pick me up in front of the office?”

“Follow me to my car, or have your assistant set up a ride for you.” With any luck she’d send him to her apartment and I could finish my day in peace.

“If you’re that impatient to get me alone, let’s go.” He grabbed the other half of my sandwich just as I started to wrap up for later.

“Hey, that’s my food!”

He shrugged. “Now it’s mine.”

I glared again at his entitled ass, so much like Frederico it made me physical ill. Desperate to get away, I left Lukas sitting inside the deli while I left a tip for the pink haired girl and stormed out, walking as fast as my fabulous stilettos would carry me to get as far away from the man as possible.

“Jackass.”

“You forgot me, Talia!” His footsteps sounded behind me, and I knew when I was beat. For now. “Why’d you leave?”

I could hear the smile in his voice, I turned and I pointed at him. “Stop talking. Just stop talking. Right. Now.” Maybe if he was silent for the next few hours I’d make it through this without an arrest for murder.

To his credit, Lukas didn’t speak. But the spectacle he made while trying not to laugh was making me second guess my stance on the color orange.