As I stood up, I accidentally bumped my head on the table. No, bumped wasn’t the right word. Slammed. Because everything went black.
I woke up a second later with the most handsome man in the world cradling my head. His deep brown eyes stared at me through his glasses.
“Are you okay?” he asked.
“I…”What the hell just happened?
He looked at one of his assistants. “We need an ice pack.” Then he turned back to me. “Do you remember your name?”
“Ash. Ashley Cooper.”
“It’s a pleasure to meet you, Ashley. You hit your head against the table and knocked yourself out.”
Then it all came flooding back to me. My new job. The presentation. My stalker walking in pretending to be named Tanner Rhodes instead of Ryder Storm. Me hiding behind ANOTHER glass table and then knocking myself out like a total idiot.God, why did I always have to be so embarrassing?I could feel my face turning red. Everyone in the room was gathered around staring at me. I laughed awkwardly. “I’m fine. I meant to do that.”
“You meant to knock yourself out?” asked Tanner. He looked confused. And very concerned.
I nodded. Then, just loud enough for him to hear, I whispered, “I wanted to snuggle with you again. Last night ended too soon.” I added a saucy wink for good measure.
And he gave me the most puzzled look in the world. It was like I was speaking another language.Oh no.Had I started talking in German? One time I read about an Italian guy who hit his head and then only knew how to talk in French. Or was that a weird sex dream I had? I mean…it is kind of sexy to think about. An Italian stallion with a French accent? Yes please.
Tanner handed me the bag of frozen peas that his assistant had fetched. “Here, this should help. You should still probably see a doctor, though.”
“Am I going to die?”
He laughed. “No, but you may have a nasty bruise.”
Chastity knelt down next to me. “Don’t worry, Mr. Rhodes. I’ll look after her tonight.” She brushed his arm and gave him her best seductive smile.
Hey, slut! That’s my man!I needed to separate them ASAP. “You know what? I feel all better. Let’s just get on with the presentation.”So that everyone can stop staring at me.
“Are you sure?” asked Tanner. “We can always postpone it for another day.”
“Really, I’m fine.” I pulled myself to my feet and plopped unceremoniously into my chair before I fell over. The room wasthe thing spinning, not me. Or was it me?Am I spinning right now?
Chastity began the presentation as the room settled around me. I kept sneaking glances at my stalker, but he seemed to be focused on the presentation. Or maybe he was just focused on Chastity. As always, she looked amazing. I had never competed with Chastity for a man before, but I hated the thought of it. There was no way I stood a chance against her showstopping beauty and world-class flirting skills. After the presentation I’d tell her that Tanner Rhodes was actually my stalker and that I’d called dibs. And thanks to Single Girl Rule #31 (A girl who calls dibs has 2 weeks to close the deal), she’d be forced to back off. I snuck another glance at him.Mine!
Something didn’t feel right, though. Why was he dressed so differently than usual? When he stalked me, he was always wearing colorful suits and had his hair up in a bun type thing. But today he was dressed in a crisp black suit and his hair was pushed to one side. And he was wearing glasses. I could easily explain away the glasses by telling myself that he wore contacts during stalking because stalking was difficult work and no one needed their glasses falling off their face while they were perched in a tree outside your window.
But the change in suit preference hardly made sense. He was a freaking billionaire. He could wear whatever the hell he wanted and no one would say a word. He could have shown up to the meeting in a pair of his stupid Crocs and a man thong and no one would have flinched. He’d be able to pull that combo off way better than Brett Favre had in that sext. I pictured it in my head. My stalker, not Brett Favre. I couldn’t decide if it was a good look or not. I mean, on one hand, his package looked amazing. Itwas like someone had stuffed an anaconda into a spandex sock. Sorry, bad analogy. But you get the point. His junk looked great. The Crocs were kind of throwing me off though. I mean, why was he wearing them? Was he an old lady gardening or a little boy on the beach?
Someone shook me.
“Ash?” asked Chastity.
I snapped my head around to pretend like I hadn’t been staring directly at my stalker for the past five minutes. “Huh? What? Sorry, still a little dazed from hitting my head.”Please don’t make me talk in front of all these people.What the hell was she thinking? She knew public speaking was my 5thbiggest fear.
“I was hoping you could elaborate on this slide about our Facebook ad strategy?”
“I uh, sure.” I stood up and started stumbling through the slide.
Tanner chimed in halfway through. “I’ve heard enough.”
Shit.Was me talking for two seconds really bad enough to blow the whole deal?
“I think BIMG would be a great fit for us. We’re happy to sign the deal.” Tanner stood up to shake hands with Bee and Mason.
I let out a sigh of relief. I didn’t blow it after all. I took a step toward Tanner as he disengaged from Mason. Not only had we had the perfect night together, but now he’d saved me from public speaking. I was in love. I waited for him to comecongratulate me and whisper something sexy in my ear about meeting up later that night, but instead he just turned and left the conference room.
