When I reached the Waldorf Astoria, I kicked her out of my mind once more; said hello to Sean, the valet guy; and headed to the elevator, ready to turn my focus back to business and away from the past.
The sleek metal elevator shot up to the twenty-third floor, and as I checked my phone, I saw I was early for the meeting. When I reached the SkyBar, the hostess greeted me and said that James Foster was already there. Exactly as I’d suspected. James was beyond punctual, and I was grateful every day to have such a steady guy as my lead investor and business partner.
I scanned the bar for the Donald Glover doppelgänger, who was seated in an oversized red leather chair by the floor-to-ceiling windows that showed off the city. I made my way to James.
“I see you’re late as always.”
“I see you’re full of shit as always.” He reached out a hand to shake and welcome me back. “Also, nice tan. Clearly means you spent the whole time slacking,” James said as he sat down again, gesturing to the booth on the other side of the table.
“Yep. Drank piña coladas poolside and napped in a hammock.”
“Just as I suspected.”
I scanned the room for the server. “Maybe I need a daiquiri to bring back those island memories.”
“The waitress should be right back. She’d just stopped by before you arrived,” James offered.
I gestured to the square bar in the middle of the space. “I’ll just grab a drink myself. You want something?”
“Vodka tonic would be terrific.”
I threaded my way around the leather chairs and chrome tables to the towering shelf of liquor that framed the bar, then ordered a scotch on the rocks and James’s drink too.
“Coming right up,” the bartender said.
I drummed my fingertips against the steel countertop as he headed to the other end to pour the drinks. Turning around, I leaned against the bar and stared out the windows, where the entire city stretched far beyond the glass. City of sin. City of secrets. City of endless opportunities. Whatever bout of exhaustion had threatened when I’d landed had vacated the premises. I was wide-awake and energized, ready to sign deals, to grow Edge, to keep on building the business.
Glass clinked against metal, and I turned to grab the drinks and start a tab. A minute later, I had a glass in each hand and was making my way back to the table when I stopped short.
My pulse pounded.
My throat went dry.
The floor tilted and loomed closer. The glass walls zoomed in. I blinked.
I was seeing a mirage. Either that or I’d slipped back in time, because there was no other explanation.
After all those years, there she was, in the flesh. A vision in black and red—and a brunette now. I stared from across the room, trying to process what I was seeing.
Shannon Paige-Prince.
The biggest regret of my life, more stunning than she’d ever been, and she wasn’t alone. She was with one of her brothers, and they were both focused on James. Heading for our table.
As she turned in my direction, she looked up and we locked eyes.
The woman who got away.
My drinks slipped from my hands, crashing onto the dark wood floor and shattering.
3
Shannon
The waitress swooped in quickly with two new drinks.
She was so fast I barely had time to think.
But my ex? He had no problem not only thinking, but quipping.
“That answers my question. Those glasses are indeed breakable,” Brent said, tapping on his glass as he sat back down with his new drink and raised it in a toast.
James laughed, and the men clinked their glasses. “Good thing you tested it. I was so darn worried,” he said, flashing an isn’t it funny that Brent is a glass-dropping klutz grin. I faked a smile, still shaking in my skin. The entire bar seemed to sway and bob, like a boat on the seas. I dug my fingernails into the leather of the armchair I’d claimed—a necessary stake in the ground because it gave me distance from that man. That man I wasn’t supposed to see tonight. Who wasn’t supposed to be here. Who’d been just as surprised to see me as I was him. And who was clearly doing a much better job at covering it up than I was, with his little jokes.
Everything was so easy for him.
The man was a master at ad-libbing, at covering up the hole in the routine.
I hated that he had the ability to patch a gaffe so quickly by mocking himself. With that endearingly self-deprecating tone and expression he’d mastered. The one that had worked its way into my heart in mere seconds and made me fall in love with him when we were younger. He was so damn charming when he owned every bit of who he was.
Just a guy navigating the world.
But another part of me was decidedly pleased that he’d been so shocked to see me that he’d dropped the glasses.
Served him right.
That felt like the tiniest bit of payback.
“In any case, now that my CEO has finished his quality control inspection of the Waldorf Astoria’s glassware, I’d like to introduce everyone,” James began, gesturing to my brother and to me. “This is Shay Sloan, the founder and head choreographer for Shay Productions. And her brother, Colin Sloan, a financier who advises Shay Productions. Shay and Colin, allow me to introduce Brent Nichols, who runs Edge.”
“Good to meet you. I’ve heard a lot about you,” Colin said, going first, no doubt sensing I’d need a moment to collect myself. He extended a hand to the man he’d met at Christmas the year Brent had proposed. But my twin knew how to cover up the past, and knew intuitively that I’d want him to.
“All good, I hope,” Brent said, with a quirk to his lips, though he had to know it couldn’t be good. Colin, Ryan, and Michael knew exactly how the engagement with my college love had ended.
Catastrophically.
They had nothing good to say about the man across from me—the man who was looking far too handsome to be believed. Broader, sturdier, and older. A decade older, and he’d aged well. A line here or there, a crinkle in the corner of his eyes—it all worked. He dragged his hand through his hair, all that dark, soft hair.
I knew how it felt in my hands.
The sensory memory swept through me.
“And—” James began, gesturing to me, but before I could say a word, Brent jumped in.
“Great to meet you, Shay.”
I blinked, surprised he went so quickly to my new name, but grateful too. I gave him my best professional smile. “Good to meet you. I wasn’t expecting you to be here tonight. But it’s a delight.” Delight, my ass.
“I wasn’t expecting you either,” he said meaningfully, and James shot Brent a strange look as if to say, Of course you were.
When Brent shook my hand, a million things zipped through my body. Memories, feelings, promises. He never once took his deep brown eyes off mine as our fingers met. I drew a breath and wished I didn’t feel a slight charge in my body from the way his gaze held mine. How could my body betray my heart like this?
“Hi there,” he mouthed quietly.
I said nothing as a fluttery sensation spread through me with every breath. For a second, maybe more, we were the only ones there. We lingered on this connection, and the handshake went on longer than it should have. Longer than it should have with a man who broke my heart.