Page 12 of Room One Hundred and Twenty

Once my head is clear, maybe I’ll make another visit. I can be normal about this. Ask her out for coffee and catch up on the missed years.

If I’m lucky, she’ll consider me an option again. We can pick up like we never parted in the first place.

That, or maybe I’ll be able to fill in the holes in my heart and move on.

With a groan forming at the back of my throat, I’ll save thinking about the future later. For now, I’ll think of the present. I’ll think about Eloise and her sweet voice and the compliment she’d given me all while I shamelessly release this tension growing in the pit of my stomach.

Eloise

With the sudden appearance of Nicolas reentering my life, it became immediately obvious that I need to do my research now instead of later. Rather than on my future customers, I need to do some digging on both Jake and Nicolas.

I don’t want any more surprises coming up. My poor heart can’t take anything else popping up without warning. Not after the stress of moving and getting back into the habit of being busy.

Sitting cross-legged on the couch, I crack open my laptop as the television in the background plays old reruns of a detective romance I obsessed over back during my teenage years. Hardly paying it any attention, I type upStartBit Techand click on the first website that pops up.

Knowing Jake must be pretty high up on the chain of command, I look into him first.

Finding theAbout Ustab, I pause when the CEO fills my screen. Rhett Landersan sits at the top of the page. Whistling softly to myself, I’m noting how attractive all of these higher-ups are. If only he didn’t have a scowl carved onto his face.

Probably scared the photographer when this picture was taken. He missed the fact he was meant to smile while getting his picture.

Those icy blue eyes are giving me goosebumps and I’m not even near the guy. Here’s to hoping he’s so busy with his work that he never has a sugar craving.

Scrolling further down and skipping the paragraphs about the guy, I move on to the COO. When I see Nicolas’ face, my heart lurches straight up into my throat and I choke on my gasp.

While he looked like he was doing well for himself, I never thought he’d be so far up the chain. Cursing under my breath, I stare at his picture for what feels like an eternity. Doted up in a nice suit, he doesn’t look like the guy I dated back in high school one bit. Matured, to say the least.

Without realizing it, I find myself staring for far too long. There’s no denying the curiosities forming by the minute.

Nicolas’ surprised expression when seeing me for the first time pops up in my mind once more. With a smile forming, there’s a small tingle at the pit of my stomach.

Despite this man getting to where he’s currently at, somewhere, he’s saved a small section to remember who I am.

Knowing I shouldn’t entertain these curiosities, I linger for another moment before continuing to scroll further down.

Spotting Jake’s face, I’m hardly surprised to see he’s got the title of a CFO over his head. In charge of the financial department, I can see he’s happy to spend money where he pleases.

Just like the other two men before him, he looks just as handsome in his photograph.

Look at me, reminiscing over an old relationship and then getting another tingle by taking in Jake’s face.

All of these sensations are ones I should not entertain. A few smiles sent my way are hardly enough to give me a reason to start getting ideas here.

I am in no way ready to start making this new life of mine complicated by humoring anything in the romance field. All of my love needs to go to my business.

Besides, there’s hardly a chance of anything happening at all.

Nicolas wouldn’t dare do something that might result in repeating history. All of our old feelings have been left behind.

Jake, well, he’s simply very charismatic. Those sweet smiles of his are a tactic used to get what he wants. Even if he likes to stop by each morning for one of the first baked muffins of the day, he’s simply making sure I’m not going anywhere.

There’s nothing there, not a spark or anything close. Just these pesky butterflies that can be crushed with the determination to keep my dream alive.

Letting out the sigh that’s forming deep in my chest, I close my laptop and abandon my seat. Drifting across the apartment, I take a moment to appreciate the view of the city. Only on the fourth floor, I’m hardly high enough to see a sight worth taking my breath away.

All the same, it’s one I find myself getting caught up in.

Before, I lived on the outskirts of the city, down in the suburbs where hardly much happened. There weren’t many worries of heavy traffic or long walks along sidewalks with friends after days of school.

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