It was unlike anything that had ever happened to me before. One of those pristine moments where I almost seemed to be watching myself, out of my body, give the performance of a lifetime. The second I began to speak, a strange force took hold of me. A cool, confident persona—perhaps the same one who’d claimed to be Katie McGill just a day before. The room fell absolutely silent, all eyes on me, as I paced back and forth. Raising my hands at all the appropriate times, delivering the pros and cons with a thoughtful look of concern, even pursing my lips with that perfect ‘professional frown’ as I paused for questions.
It literally couldn’t have gone any better. Patti Macer was beaming, Jamie flashed me a silent thumbs-up, even Trask was frowning pensively—as if trying to remember my real name.
I nodded my head with a gracious smile and was about to take my seat once more when a deep voice called from the back of the room.
“Whose notes are these on the Bekam Report?”
The entire room swiveled around, and I squinted to make out the man’s face in the shadowed corner. Then an intern snapped on the lights, and I sucked in a silent gasp of surprise.
It was Thomas Larchwood. Michael’s older brother, Abe’s other son.
And coincidentally...the man I’d almost soaked in coffee the day before.
What little color there was drained from my face as I froze in my stilettos. How had I not seen it before? How had I not made the connection? With all the thousands of times I’d seen his picture in the news? Thomas freaking Larchwood?!
Then I remembered that he’d asked a question, and my panic doubled all over again.
“Um...they’re mine,” I answered quietly.
My new confident persona abandoned me entirely, leaving a small, fidgeting girl in the land of giants. I mean, I had studied this man in business school for Pete’s sake! A brilliant financial tactician and the youngest person ever to be named on Forbes most influential people’s list. All that and he was only a few years older than me! Of course, I had careened right into him...because the cosmos had in mind a fate worse than death.
KEEP IT TOGETHER, JEN!
His head snapped up, and I was able to get a good look at him for the first time. He was exactly like his younger brother—even more stunning in person. Only while Michael was effervescent and approachable, like a playful demi-god just looking for something or someone to do, Thomas was...striking. Everything about him screamed ‘control.’ From the way he dressed to the way he combed his hair, to the strict way he held his face—with a tension that made him seem years older than he was. They were also colored completely differently. While Michael was all lights—light brown curls, bright twinkling eyes, Thomas was the opposite. Dark hair—fiercely combed—dark suit and deep bronzed skin. In fact, the only light thing about him was his blue eyes. But even they were such a piercing shade that they made you think twice.
So at a glance, I guess you could say the only thing the brothers had in common was that they were both absurdly attractive.
Absurdly, devastatingly attractive.
I blinked quickly to recover myself as I struggled to meet his gaze. He had been staring at me a bit too long, eyes tracing and re-tracing my face. Then all at once, his face lit up, and a sparkle of recognition gleamed deep in his eyes. My heart sank in my chest.
So he’d put two and two together—he remembered me as well. Coffee girl.
The corner of his lips twitched, but he maintained perfect composure. “These are your notes?” he repeated. He couldn’t keep the surprise from his voice, and I found myself a little insulted. “On the Bekam Report?”
My chin jutted up in spite of myself, and I found I had no trouble meeting his eyes now. “Yes, they’re my notes. I made them last night.”
His eyebrows shot up in blatant disbelief. “All of them. You read through all of this last night.”
He didn’t even raise it as a question, deeming it so ridiculous as to be rhetorical, and I felt the hair on the back of my neck stand on end.
“Yes,” I said again, a little louder this time. “I read through it yesterday, and those are my notes. Now do you have a question about the material, Mr. Larchwood? I assure you, I can answer anything you like.”