Falling For the New Guy (A Risqué Business Novel)

Chapter Three

Caleb

"Fuck."

I threw my notebook on my desk and sunk down into my chair. One meeting and I'd already pissed off the VP. I'd told myself going in I was there to listen and observe. Which lasted all of ten minutes. If I'd been paying closer attention to the conversation instead of writing ballads, I would have known Brooke wasn't looking for ideas while rolling out her big plan. 

I'd stepped on her toes, and she stepped on my throat. 

Melissa, my ex, had always told me I was a shit listener. Too busy thinking of what I was going to say next instead of really hearing what she was trying to tell me. I guess it takes more than six months to change something you've been doing most of your life.

I shook the memories of New York from my head and took stock of my current situation. Outside of a quick walk through the week before when I got here, this was the first time I'd actually had time to sit in my new workspace.

The cubicle was bigger than most I'd worked in, I'd give the Milan Group that. But it was pretty vanilla for a luxury home building company. The walls were bare, and the drab tan box shared more in common with a prison dorm than a space designed to inspire creativity. The idea of spending sixty hours a week in this holding cell felt like a prison sentence.

On the other hand, maybe this blank slate was exactly what I needed. I wasn't the type to haul in pictures or put things on the walls, anyway. Too personal. I'd learned long ago that dragging feelings into anything destroys it. No one wants to patch scarred walls, and my walls were barely standing anymore. I needed a fresh start, free from everything, including distractions.

I logged in to my computer with the info IT gave me, staring at the double monitors. It prompted me to change my password, away from the standard new hire password of Welcome1. My fingers moved despite myself and I grimaced when I saw the result.

Crimson1

Shit. So much for no distractions.

My thoughts ran back to the planning meeting like a video on rewind, skipping right past my public embarrassment to the reason I'd lost focus in the first place—the crimson one. Or was it maroon? It didn't matter. The beautiful brunette in the red silk top.

My throat tightened at the memory of her, the video in my mind pausing to linger on the first time I laid eyes on her. My mind's eye traced the gentle curve of her breasts as she sat down, and how the soft light of the meeting room showcased the delicate form of her collar bones. Without even realizing, I had begun writing the second she entered the room.

a seed of desire

takes root within

I shifted in my seat and adjusted myself. Just the thought of our first encounter had me hard as granite.

The ringing of a phone snapped me out of my reverie, and I could feel my face turn a deeper shade than the silk blouse I'd been daydreaming about. All I needed was someone to walk by and I'd be fired on my first day. I wasn't okay with being the new guy who got publicly wrecked by his boss AND popped a boner day one. One was enough.

Besides, I'd already screwed up any potential connection between us. I frowned, thinking of my behavior and the short exchange between us. Lexa had been thoughtful, considerate. She'd tried to console me, offer kind words. I'd thanked her by being cold.

I shook my head. I was an asshole now in her book and there was no coming back from that. But it was for the best. I didn't know her and I didn't need to know her. I didn't move back to California to find love. I moved there to escape it.

But there was no escaping what I'd felt the first time our eyes met. She was beautiful, and something in her eyes had already ensnared me. I tried to deny it, but I knew I was in danger.

The deadliest flowers were always the most beautiful.