AllFreeNovel
Share Us
The words died on my tongue when the man I'd run into turned around slowly. I knew my senses must have been on the fritz because I couldn't smell him and couldn't feel anything. All synapses were focused on my visual cortex and the six-foot-three-inch man I saw in front of me. His thick, dark, curling hair. His bronze skin. Those wintergreen eyes that were equal parts intense and eerie. And his mouth that looked like it was carved for sin.
His name was a gasp on my lips before I could even register and process what my brain was seeing. “Atticus.”
I couldn't breathe. I couldn't move. I was rooted in space and time to that position on the floor until he spoke my name.
“Gwen.”
The gravel in his voice did something to unfreeze me and jar my brain back online. Then all the sensations came online at once. The cacophony of sound. A printer somewhere in the distance. Something dripping from somewhere near my left, probably a coffee machine. My heartbeat. All of it. The biggest heartbreak of my life
All the lies I’d told myself and my sister about being fine, about being over it, about moving on. I could see the liar I’d made of myself. Every last memory and emotion came flooding back. From his scent, to the feel of his stubble against my skin when he kissed me, to the timbre of his voice. He still had this effect on me.
The sensory overload was a tsunami of emotions and overwhelmed me instantly. I did the only thing I could do in that moment. I followed my instinct for self-preservation and ran.
I knew trying to outrun him was a bad idea and wouldn’t get me very far. I knew that this was a nightmare come to life. And I also knew I couldn't trust myself.
I ran blindly down the hall. The Pendragon Tech offices were set up as a large square maze with offices and cubicles lining the center and additional offices and conference rooms along the corners and the walls.
I had no idea where I thought I was going. Maybe I could find the stairwell. Maybe I could duck into an office and hide. Who the hell knew? I had just completely lost it at that point.
I chanced a look behind me and didn't see him. Then I bolted through the cubicles, hung a sharp left to my office, and locked myself inside.
Really? Your office? As if he won't think to look for you here.
It didn't matter. I was just buying some time to think and figure out what the hell I was going to do. And all in all, it seemed like a half-decent hiding spot. That was until I heard the key card disengaging the lock.
* * *
Atticus
She ran from me. Honest to God, she just fucking ran.
And like the moron that you are, you're chasing her. Always chasing her.
There must have been a delay on her tracking app because it showed she was still on the street.I’d never intended for her to see me.
I’d had an early call from Dubai, so I’d come into the office to take it.
When I saw the ends of her braids fly around the corner, I gave chase without another thought until she bolted into her office.
I almost felt bad for her. How did she not realize that I had a key to every office in here? It was my goddamn company.
I pulled my keycard from my pocket and didn't even utilize a single brain cell as I swiped the key. But before I opened the door, I stopped. "Gwen, open the fucking door."
She did not, in fact, open the fucking door.
So I pushed it open. "You ran from me."
She shook her head frantically. "You're not supposed to be here."
If only I could have stayed away.
She swallowed hard, and I kept walking toward her. "I’m sorry, Gwen. You weren't supposed to see me."
I was keeping her safe for her own good. But it had been weeks since I’d heard her laugh. Months since I'd touched her. Months since I had tasted her.
Months since you broke her heart.
I reached for her, but the unexpected crack and the sting of pain against my cheek made me stumble back a step. I glowered at her. "What the fuck, Gwen?"
