Right now Ruby would believe that the sky was falling in if Veronica told her. ‘Wellington Towers?’ Her brows lowered in confusion. She’d clearly missed that part of Sam’s speech.
‘Apparently Sam owns it. Five floors of office space were cleared out over the weekend to make way for the merger. A lot of the hardware and case-sensitive info has already been moved out too, so it’s just our personal stuff that has to be—Ruby, are you okay? You look white as a sheet!’
Ruby glanced at Veronica and gripped her forearm. ‘Actually, I feel terrible. Just...’ She looked around wildly as she felt herself being inched forward in the line to greet their new boss. ‘I’ll see you in my office.’
Veronica frowned. ‘Sure, sure. Want me to give Mr Ventura your apologies?’
‘No.’ Ruby squeezed her arm. Lord, no. ‘Just don’t mention me at all.’ Because she was going to have to resign, so why bother mentioning her name?
Five minutes of deep yoga breathing later she felt no better, but at least she was no longer thinking about resigning. She loved her job and there was no way she was going to have her career sidelined by a man. She’d made that vow a long time ago.
And why would he sideline her career anyway? He didn’t know she was the woman he’d had sex with at the party on Friday night. As far as Sam was concerned, she was Miller’s best friend he had shared a few kisses with a couple of years ago and that was it. No big deal. Nothing to get bent out of shape about. And perhaps he’d been too drunk to remember kissing her that night two years ago...she certainly hoped he was too drunk to remember having sex with her at a party three nights ago.
Nearly knocking over one of the paralegals as she exited the bathroom, she apologised profusely over her shoulder and stepped straight into the path of the long, self-assured strides of her current boss and...her new boss.
Heart hammering, Ruby first met blue eyes and then molten brown, her breath backing up in her lungs, her brain automatically registering how big and devastatingly good-looking Sam Ventura was sans mask. He was a couple of inches taller than Drew, his white shirt with the blue stripe perfectly complementing his olive skin tone, his navy-blue suit jacket stretched perfectly across his broad shoulders.
Her gaze lingered on his clean-shaven jaw and sensual mouth. He had pleasured her so thoroughly on Friday night her body immediately felt hot all over. Hot and weak. Especially when she remembered the way his mouth had felt on her breast, the way he had used his teeth and his tongue to torture her with mindless pleasure.
Coffee surged out of the spout of her to-go cup and dribbled over her fingers. Squeaking in dismay, she brought her hand to her mouth to capture the drops before they hit the carpet and nearly tipped the whole contents out instead.
Sam reached forward to pluck the cup out of her nerveless fingers while Drew handed her a handkerchief from his breast pocket.
‘Ruby? Hell. Are you burnt?’ Drew asked, concern lacing his voice.
‘No,’ Ruby croaked. Just embarrassed. ‘It was cold.’
She kept her focus on Drew, knowing she would turn stop sign-red if she looked at Sam.
‘Okay, well, I’m glad we caught you. I didn’t see you in the conference room at the meet and greet,’ Drew said.
‘I was there,’ she assured him. ‘I uh...had to duck out.’
‘So you know Sam and I are sharing the managing-partner role?’
Ruby’s lips stretched into a tight smile. She’d missed that bit of the speech as well. ‘Great. Congratulations.’ She cast a quick glance at Sam to include him in her felicitations, only to find him studying her far too intently.
Ordering herself to act normal, she gritted her teeth and broadened her smile to make it more genuine. ‘Welcome to the team.’ A team that would soon be less one lawyer. Her. Because her first instinct had been spot-on: she would have to resign. There was no way she could see him in the office every day and remember everything they had done in Technicolor detail and then actually work for him in any sort of professional capacity.
‘Thanks.’ Sam’s deep voice reverberated through her whole body, tightening every nerve ending to an excruciatingly fine point. ‘I’m pleased to be here.’