Page 2 of Stay

“He should just delegate it out.” Jaedyn tips his head at Tamara. “You should plan it.”

“Oh hell no.” She shakes her head. “I learned my lesson three years ago when I organized a baby shower for my sister. It was so much work I was ready to quit by the time she cut the cake. Besides…” Tamara lowers her voice. “Can you imagine the micromanaging Noah would do?” She shivers dramatically. “I’d die of frustration.”

Noah’s a brilliant businessman, but he’s also a control freak with a temper. He’s made more than one employee cry around here. I can’t stand the man, but I’ve put up with him for the past three years because I’m a little stuck with which direction I want to take my career next. In the meantime, the pay and benefits are nice.

Tamara glances at her watch and tips her head towards my office. “You better hurry in there, Cole. Your nine o’clock has been waiting since eight fifteen.”

My brow furrows. “I don’t have an appointment until eleven.”

“I emailed you yesterday saying you had a new client add-on.”

Shit. “I didn’t see it.” Because I didn’t look.

I’ve been on a mission to leave work at the office lately and part of that practice includes not opening my emails once I step foot inside my house.

Tamara scrambles to apologize. “I’m so sorry. I should have—”

“It’s not your fault. This is on me.” I’m not like Noah, so there’s no chance of me blowing up over something this small. Waving the files in the air as I turn to head to my office, I get my head in the game. “I’ll sign these for you in a couple of hours, so you can schedule the courier.”

“Thanks!” she calls out.

Walking down the hall, checking my cell, I refresh my emails so I can at least find out the client’s name before I step into this meeting. It’s moments like this when I wish we had a lobby for clients to wait in. But we’re not a doctor’s office, we’re architects. I usually meet them at their house or business.

Christ. Seventy-six new emails fill my inbox. Half of them are from Tamara. There’s no way I can find the one I need fast enough.

Fuck it.

Pushing my glass door open, I stare at the back of a woman’s head and immediately think of Haley. It’s the curly auburn hair that does it. And the slope of her shoulders. She’s about the same height too. An ache forms in my chest because I miss that woman so much that some days it actually hurts.

Okay, I need to pull my head out of memory lane and get down to business. “Good morning. Sorry to have kept you waiting.”

The woman turns in her seat, and our gazes collide. “Hi, Cole.”

Hot liquid splashes all over my shoes and legs. I think I just dropped my coffee.

I know I dropped my files.

I’ve also dropped my motherfucking jaw.

Haley.

“Let me get that.” She kneels on the floor, gathering my things while I still can’t move.

I should do something. Say something. Pull her back to her feet at the very least, because having her on her knees like this makes my dick hard. Especially when she looks up at me with those big, blue eyes, and her pretty little pink mouth curves in a sexy grin.

Like she’s doing now.

My manners and common sense vanish.

My brain fritzes.

I think steam is billowing out of my ears.

How is she here? How is this real?

“Here you go,” she says, lifting my files that are now dripping coffee.

I can’t fucking move. Memories override my ability to speak as I’m thrown back to the good times…

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