Unforgettable Feelings

Chapter 13

Present

Kaiden looked at her hand before taking it. He was a second too long before he did, Josie noticed it but no one else in the room did.

Good.
She thought.

It was a brief handshake and she numbed herself to the feel of his large hands engulfing her small one. He still had a few inches on her even with her 5'6 height and the five inches extra she had on.

"Please." She said as she offered him to take his seat while she took the one next to his, on the right side of the table. Her left leg crossed over her right leg out of habit and Kaiden's gaze dropped as it did. "I'm sure my team has given you an overall concept of what it is we've done and what we plan on doing."

His eyes found hers.
"All of which was really impressive but unnecessary." He said. "I would have offered all the information it is you need to see this through."

"Mr. Williamson, the way we do things here at O'CE is different. We don't believe in anyone or anything except the data; that never lies."

He blinked at that as she had hit a sore spot. He masked it with a smirk and a nod of his head.
"I trust you and your team. I wouldn't be here if I didn't."

"The same way I'm sure you had someone run a background check on us here, we ran a check on you." She said. "All part of the procedure. If anything we've come up with sounds wrong, which never happens, you'll let us know."

"Nothing, so far." He looked at Frank and the team that stood at the end of the table consumed in their own little world as they all talked about their new project, his company.

He turned his gaze to her; her eyes were glued to his face as she waited for him. He took a moment to study her, her expression, what she was feeling. He came up empty. She was either doing a good job at hiding whatever it is she was feeling or she felt nothing at all, the latter scared him. If she was indifferent to him then getting her to forgive him was going to be harder than he had initially thought it would.

"Then we're done here." She smiled again and he fisted his hands.

If he thought her smile was beautiful then, now it was a killer.

He was silent for a moment.
"For now."

She blinked at him before she stood up.
"Well, it was nice meeting you, Mr. Williamson." She said. "Frank is handling your security upgrade, if there's anything you need or any issues you have, he'll be happy to help."

It was on the tip of his tongue to ask why she wasn't in charge of his project but he stayed silent.
"Thank you."

Josie gave him a curt nod, turned around, and made her way towards the door.
"Frank." She called as she walked past the team. "Meet me in my office after this."

Frank nodded before she walked out of the meeting room and straight to her office where she could breathe again. She took her seat, palms splayed out on the table as she tried to get everything she was feeling under control, the numbness had worn off.

"Josie." Georgie walked into her office. "Are you ok?"

Josie looked up at her and smiled.
"I'm fine." She paused. "Why wasn't I informed that Kaiden Williamson is the CEO of Williamson and Son?"

"Frank did mention it, at the meeting." Where she hadn't paid attention.

"Of course." She nodded. "What do you have for me?"

"A new project just came through."

"Oh, good." She said as she took the file Georgie held out for her. "Something new."

"Just want you to go through it before I file it for later. Everyone has their hands full with ongoing projects."

"It's ok. I'll handle this one." Josie said as she paged through the file, her eyes catching keywords in the project.

"Are you sure?"

She looked up at Georgie and smiled.
"Yea."

"Alright."

"Josie," Frank called as he entered her office. "You wanted to see me."

"Yes. All good?"

"All good." Frank said as he walked to her desk and Georgie took her leave.

Josie's eyes followed Georgie out of her office and through her glass office, her gaze fell on him making his way towards the elevator. She looked for a moment too long and turned her attention back to Frank as the elevator opened for him.

Kaiden felt her eyes on him as he stepped into the elevator. His gaze sought her out and immediately found her when he turned in the elevator. She was talking with Frank and then the doors closed.

Things weren't going as planned. Frank was taking the lead on his project, not Josie. But he had come up with a way to fix that.

"I'm handing everything off to you." Josie told Frank.

He stared at her, shocked.
"What?"

"I'm handing over Williamson and Son's project to you."

"But you'll still be the one making the calls." He said.

"Frank, everything." She said again. "Just give me a detailed report on everything that's been done before we have to meet Mr. Williamson again when the project is ready for installation."

"Oh, Mr. Williamson said he'll be by frequently to be kept in the loop."

She looked at him.
"What? Why?"

"I don't know. I offered to send him weekly reports but he said he prefers to have his hands-on things."

"Oh." She said. "Alright then. Make those reports anyway and have a copy sent to me as well as him."

"I can do that."

"Good." She said.

"Any reason why you're handing this particular project over to me?"

She looked up at him and almost blurted out the first thing that came to her head but decided against it. For the first time in so long, she told the truth about anything relating to Kaiden Williamson.
"I have a history with him and it might affect the job." She said. "I don't want to have anything to do with Kaiden Williamson, now or ever."

Frank was surprised because for as long as he had worked for Josie, it had never been heard that she was involved with anyone. He knew that because of the female workers on his team and Josie had joked about it a few times. They called Josie the ice-queen in the sweetest way possible. She was an amazing boss but her love life was zero.

Who would have known that Josie O'Callaghan had a history with Kaiden Williamson?

They were so civil in the meeting room like they were just meeting for the first time.

"Not a word of this to anyone."

"Of course not."

She gave him a smile and a curt nod then watched him make his way out of her office and join the rest of the team. She leaned back into her seat and slowly released her breath, her pen rotating between four fingers of her right hand. She stared at the closed elevator for a moment before looking down at the open file on her desk.

Focus.
She urged herself, then with her sigh she held the pen by the tip and leaned into her desk, her head bent as she got herself back into her work.