Page 82 of Protecting Bianca

I would fight for love—especially when it was me I needed to love and forgive first.

20

Bianca

I stopped at a coffee shop on my way to work to freshen up my makeup before heading back to the office. I knew Jager would read the distress on my face, and I didn’t want to talk about it right now. I just wanted to focus on moving forward in my life, and that included concentrating on the big launch event tomorrow.

A couple of employees were talking in the office foyer when I arrived. I pressed my thumb to the scanner, and the light turned green. The makeshift turnstile opened, and I walked through toward the elevators. My heart beat normally again as the familiarity of the office surrounded me. I was good at my job, and I felt confident here, more than anywhere else.

As soon as the elevator door opened onto the tenth floor, I spotted Jager in the hallway. His head whipped toward me and his eyes zeroed in on my face. My cheeks flushed as I worried his concern would be my undoing. I didn’t want to lose my composure here, of all places.

He walked toward me. His black suit clung to him in all the right places, including his chest and thighs. He was beautiful. He'd always been. But his strength gave me comfort now as I’dlaid my head on that chest every night this week. And it meant more to me than I could have imagined.

“Hey,” he said when he reached me. He raised his hand mere inches from my face, but dropped it when I looked behind him at the receptionist. “Are you all right?”

I stared at him, searching his face. His eyes held so much compassion I knew I would break if I said more. “I will be.”

His hand brushed mine. “We’ll talk tonight.”

I nodded and forced a smile so he wouldn’t worry. I would be okay. It just hurt for a little while, but I always got over it. And this time, I would have him to help me get through it.

I dropped my purse on one of the chairs in my office and sat down at my desk. I knew I would be late this morning, so I had sent my team the event task list last night to work through in my absence. While I booted up my laptop, I emailed a meeting request to my team to meet in the small boardroom in an hour.

Over the next forty-five minutes, I checked the RSVPs for the event—fortunately only one person had to cancel—and replied to emails requesting one-on-one interviews with Mr. Towers at the event.

When it was time, I walked over to the boardroom and sat at the head of the table. My team slowly poured in over the next few minutes. There were six of us, including me.

“All right folks, there’s a lot to do before our event tomorrow. Has everyone had a chance to review the shared document on the event?”

They all nodded.

“All right. Claire, I need you to create the check-in list along with headshots of our guests and their titles for Mr. Towers to review before the event tomorrow. I want him to be familiar with the guests when he greets them.”

“Not a problem,” said Claire, taking notes on her laptop.

“Oh, the New Yorker will not be attending. I received a cancellation from them this morning, so you can remove them from the list,” I added.

Then, I turned to the others. “Tanya, Jackson, and Troy, you guys come with me to the hotel. We are going to set up the event space. The furniture was delivered this morning. We’ll leave in ten minutes.”

I stood from the table, but Jeremy stopped me before I could go. “What do you want me to do?” he asked.

I hadn’t given him a task since Jager told me to stay away from him as much as possible, but I had to give him something. “I’d almost forgotten. Jeremy. I need you to pick up the press releases from the printer and insert them in their folders, along with the photos we developed.”

He frowned but didn’t comment further.

“Whose car are we taking?” asked Tanya.

“Shoot. My car has been making strange sounds lately. Let’s just take a cab. I’ll schedule one right away.”

“I’ll grab my coat and meet you in the lobby,” said Troy.

I nodded while opening the car service app.

The team filed out of the room, but one person remained. “Is this about the photos?”

I looked up. Jeremy stood two feet in front of me with his arms crossed.

“Excuse me?”

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