Chapter One - Lauren
I was busy working at my desk well after everyone had gone home when a message popped up on the screen from the intercompany messaging system.
All ready for the meeting tomorrow?
I couldn’t help but break out into a huge smile when I saw the message from Marcus. I quickly typed my reply.
Yep. What time do you get in tomorrow?
I tried to read my email, but I couldn’t concentrate while I waited anxiously to hear back. It wasn’t long before he answered.
My plane lands at 8:00. Getting up to catch a flight that early is going to kill me.
A giggle escaped my lips as I imagined him groaning about getting up at dawn to get on a plane. I typed a quick response.
Poor baby. Meeting starts at 9:00. Gives you plenty of time to get here.
Marcus was coming to town for a customer meeting. I was the account manager at our design firm and he was the head engineer. We’d worked together on this customer for two years, but at different locations. I was at our Chicago main office while he worked out of the Denver engineering branch.
I’m looking forward to the weekend. See ya tomorrow.
I got butterflies in my stomach when I read that. Despite having worked for our company for two years, he’d never been to Chicago. Meetings had always taken place in Denver or at the customer’s location in Atlanta. He’d always wanted to visit, so he’d arranged his flight so he could stay a couple extra days and do some sight-seeing. Since he didn’t know anyone else in town, I was looking forward to showing him around .
I decided to keep it simple so I didn’t sound desperate at all. Travel safe.
I sat back, nearly swooning in my desk chair. I couldn’t believe Marcus and I would finally get our chance to be alone.
I’ll never forget the first time I met Marcus. I’d gone out to Denver to meet with him and his team of engineers before a presentation for our customer. We had spoken on the phone a few times prior and the instant I walked into the conference room I knew which one he was. He was talking to someone, but my eyes were instantly drawn to him and his 6’4” frame, his broad shoulders covered in a black suit coat. I could tell from his physique he obviously was very active. His dishwater blonde hair was cut short, but left long enough to give me visions of running my fingers through it. He’d turned to look at me as I walked in and his blue eyes looked me up and down before settling on my face. He’d shaken my hand with a sexy crooked smile on his lips when we were introduced and I almost pulled back when I felt the electricity that seemed to flow between us.
My blouse suddenly felt too tight thinking about the flirtation and strong attraction that continued to exist between the two of us throughout the course of our relationship. Nothing ever happened because I’d been dating Kyle. Kyle and I had even been engaged. Marcus and I never crossed the line past anything professionally friendly, but I was always painstakingly aware of chemistry we seemed to have.
I threw my pen down and scrubbed my face with my hands. I had ended my engagement to Kyle about six months ago when I caught him sleeping with his secretary. How cliché . Honestly, things with Kyle had been over long before the affair. We’d been college sweethearts, but after we graduated, he had law school and I concentrated on my career. When he became lawyer, it didn’t get any better and our romance fizzled out. Kyle’s affair was the last straw in our already crumbling relationship.
Thankfully work had kept me too busy to dwell on it too much but it’d been a big adjustment. I’d been with Kyle for so long I forgot what it was like to be alone. I hadn’t given much thought to dating anyone else yet. I didn’t have a lot of free time to meet someone new. It felt liberating to be on my own for the first time in years and I was enjoying my newly found freedom.
When this visit was scheduled a few weeks ago, the flirtation
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