by Molly O'Hare
Landing the hard to please, CEO of Jefferson Exports was far more important than the fact her breasts were now bouncing at such a velocity, they were seconds from giving her a black eye. Plus, the sounds of her extra lumps and bumps had now become her soundtrack.
It was like she was Rocky. And her body noises were now her theme song.
Abbie watched as the guy who’d gotten onto the elevator finally noticed her. His face held a mix of terror and disbelief.
Get ready, dude, ‘cause I’m not stopping. The moment she saw his hand move toward the elevator buttons she glared at him. I will murder you! If she were coordinated enough to shout at him and run, she would have.
However, with the way her morning went. She wasn’t going to chance it.
Abbie picked up her pace as the guy forcefully hit the button. When the doors started to close and with all the strength of a tiger ready to pounce, she leaped into the air, her arm stopping the elevator door just in time.
Rocky would have been proud.
When the door opened Abbie calmly walked in before shooting an evil look at the man eyeing her like she was a rabid animal. “Asshole.”
“Who you calling an asshole?” He looked her up and down.
“You.”
Any other time she would have chewed him out, but right now she had more important things to do.
Thank God she’d decided to wear flats today, rather than heels. Not that she ever wore heels to begin with, but on days like today, she always tried to put in that extra effort.
As she took a calming breath, ignoring the man next to her, Abbie finally saw her reflection in the elevator doors.
Her hand flew to her chest as the image startled her.
Oh, for fuck’s sake. No wonder the guy next to her was terrified. Her hair looked like she’d put her finger in a light socket. Her black pencil skirt was hiked up to the middle of her thighs and her once white blouse was now pretty much see-through since she spilled her water on it as she ran, showing to all that looked her purple polka dot bra with her breasts spilling out.
Abbie looked to the ceiling. Universe? What. The. Fuck?
Doing her best Abbie pulled back the white blouse and did the whole it’s too hot movement trying to dry out her shirt. She shimmied down her pencil skirt and ran her fingers through her hair the best she could.
This is as good as its gonna get.
She shook her head as she opened up her bag and pulled out her presentation notes. As she scanned through them she saw the chewed corner, she couldn’t help but chuckle.
Leave it to Rupert to take claim of everything as his. It was like his own little way for Abbie to remember him when she wasn’t home.
Her hairless Sphynx cat never ceased to amaze her.
Moving her eyes back to her notes Abbie felt her confidence grow. It might have been a shitty morning, but she knew she had this. She’d worked hard the last two and a half months putting together something Robert Jefferson would be a fool to turn down.
Plus, Abbie knew if she could get Mr. Jefferson to sign on with William Clark Michaels Advertising, that promotion to Account Executive was hers. She could taste it. Sure, her Creative Director role was great and all, but she wanted more. She wanted a challenge.
And she’d earned it.
When the elevator chimed, she threw her notes back into her bag and did her best to pat down her hair as she headed toward the conference room.
With her shoulders back and her head held high, she walked through the door.
She froze.
As in full-on, she was ninety-nine percent sure her heart just stopped.
Right in front of her sat her boss and owner of WCM Advertising, Bill Michaels. To his left was their perspective client Robert Jefferson. But that wasn’t what caused her sudden lack of motor skills.
Nope.
The other seat was filled with none other than Hunter James.
Hunter fucking James.
She closed her eyes tightly praying she was mistaken. Then she opened them slowly… Fuck me!
She would have recognized him anywhere. That deep hunter green of his eyes haunted her dreams.
As Abbie tried her best to get her heart to start again and remember how someone actually breathed, she took him in.
He’d filled out. Hunter had chiseled features and tan skin that only made his eyes pop that much more. His dark hair had that, I just rolled out of bed look, but it was also perfectly sculpted that way look. His tailored suit that almost hid his muscular arms made him look like he was actually here to shoot some pictures for the cover of some fashion magazine.
What the fuck? Of course, he would look like this. Universe, add insult to injury, why don’t cha?
“Abbie,” her boss, Bill, broke through her thoughts making her shoot her eyes to him. It wasn’t missed, he was sending her a disapproving stare at her appearance.
Great.
Abbie looked down at her shirt once more to see her purple polka dot bra making itself known again. Seriously, it was like she had a flashing sign over her head saying look at my tits.
She quickly pulled away her shirt from her skin trying her best not to freak the fuck out.
When Bill cleared his throat, it caused her to snap her attention back to him. “Mr. Jefferson here is eager to get started, Abbie.”
She nodded, still trying to figure out what warp hole she went through that brought her here.
“If you had gotten here on time,” he continued. “I would have been able to make this introduction beforehand.” Bill motioned toward Hunter, Abbie’s eyes followed. The second Hunter came into view she was once again taken aback as she worked her mind trying to piece together what the fuck was going on.
“I want to introduce you to your new partner on the project. This is Hunter James. Mr. James comes highly sought after. I’ve been trying to snag him for years. As I’m sure you know, he’s one of the top, if not the top Account Executives on the east coast.”
No. No fucking way! Abbie scanned the room. This was one hundred percent some alternate universe she had walked into. Maybe if she took a step back the way she came, everything would right itself.
As she put one foot behind her to leave, Bill cocked his brow before giving her “the look.”
Shit. Abbie cleared her throat. “I apologize, sir. I did not know Mr. James was in this field.” She turned toward Hunter. “I guess he really isn’t at the top. If he was, I would have known about him.” Abbie shrugged, doing her best not to lose her shit.
Where the hell was the exit to get the hell off this crazy train?
Bill let out a deep laugh as he clasped Mr. Jefferson’s shoulder. “She’s a joker. I told you she was a spitfire.”
Abbie’s eye started to twitch as her fist clenched.
“The moment I informed Robert that the Hunter James was joining our firm on a trial basis he insisted on him being put on the project. I guess they’ve worked together in the past for a fundraiser,” Bill continued.
Are. You. Fucking. Kidding. Me? “It would have been nice to let me know before this morning,” she mumbled.
“It’s nice to see you again, Abbie,” A deep voice interrupted her boss from saying anything.
Abbie’s eyes shot to Hunter. When she saw that fucking smirk appear on his face as his eyes danced with amusement; it took everything inside of her not to leap over the table and tackle him.
If they were kids, she would have done it in a heartbeat.
I’ll kill him! Before this meeting is over, I’m gonna be hauled out of here in fucking handcuffs.
“Yes, Miss Collins,” Mr. Jefferson got her attention distracting her from plotting the death of the man next to him. “I hope you don’t mind. I know you’ve been working on this proposal for quite some time now, but when Bill here let it slip last week he was trying to recruit Hunter I had to have him on this. As you know, my company is one of the largest manufacturers and exporters of building materials. I only hire the best. That
Abbie forced a smile on her face. But inside her world was crashing around her. This couldn’t be happening. There was no way in hell this was really going on. She tried wrapping her head around the fact that Hunter James was not only in her same career field but was less than five feet from her.
She’d never thought she’d see Hunter again.
And she was thankful for that.
Closing her eyes, Abbie was thrown back to the memory that she’d tried so hard to bury all those years ago.
The exact moment that broke who she once was.
“Abs, I don’t get it. You’re such a prude,” Hunter joked as he poked her shoulder. “You never have any fun.”
“I have fun all the time.”
“No, you don’t, the only fun you have is when I force you to have fun.”
“You don’t force me to do anything.” Abbie pushed at his shoulder. She enjoyed these types of interactions with Hunter.
The safe ones.
Ones where they weren’t at each other’s throats. Somehow over the years with their constant dare-off, they became friends or at least Abbie liked to think so. Sure, there were moments she still wanted to destroy him, but most of the time, she’d just roll her eyes, do the dare and try and find an even worse dare for him.
Did she want to punch his lights out still? Yeah. But, when they were in the middle of this dare-off game, something felt right.
No matter what was going on in the world, she knew she could count on Hunter to distract her. And he was right. If he didn’t dare her to do half of the things he did, she would have kept her head in a book and never experience any excitement.
The adrenaline rush of who could dare the other to do something crazier was addictive.
Hunter was addictive.
She loved it. She loved the whole game.
She would never admit it, but she did.
To her, Hunter had become her best friend.
She’d take that to the grave.
If word got around that the school nerd, actually liked the jock and that their constant feuding was nothing more than a game, she’d be ruined. She worked hard on keeping up appearances of her hatred toward Hunter.
As they sat on the brick wall outside of the school auditorium, Hunter turned toward her. “Are you going to prom?” he asked.
“No. I’d rather gouge out my eyes with a rusty spoon than go.” Abbie shuddered in disgust. “I don’t need to see horny teenagers grinding up against each other. No, thank you.”
“You’re a stick in the mud.”
Abbie rolled her eyes. Jerk. “Are you going?” she asked.
“No. I was gonna go, but something came up.” He looked away from her.
“Oh, and what was that?” she asked. “Your stepmom finally ground you for the shitty grades you’re getting? Or wait, maybe you’ve decided to join the traveling circus and the train leaves tomorrow?”
A strange look ran across Hunter’s face right before he laughed. That deep laugh that always made her stomach do that stupid flip thing she hated. “That’s it, Abs. I leave on the train tomorrow.”
“I knew it.” Abbie hugged her arms around her body.
She did think it was odd Hunter had found her sitting here and decided to join her. Their conversations were normally left to the backyard. Nonetheless, she shrugged it off.
School had ended hours ago. She had only stayed behind working on an English project and she imagined Hunter was there for some athletic thing.
Hunter broke the silence first. “Remember that time I dared you to eat a grasshopper and you did it?” he laughed.
Abbie shuddered in disgust. “Yeah. Don’t remind me. You’re such an asshole.”
“You never do turn down a dare. Do you?” He stared her in the eyes.
“No and neither do you.” She smiled, but something felt weird about this moment. Then again, whenever she and Hunter were together, it was always a cluster fuck of weirdness.
At least it was consistent.
“Abbie?”
“Yeah?” She pulled out her phone to see if her mom had sent her a text, but Hunter placed his hand over the screen causing her to look at him.
“I dare you,” he whispered.
“You dare me to what?”
“Kiss me.”
Abbie’s eyes widened as she stared at him like he’d grown two heads. “You can’t be serious, Hunter. Stop messing around.”
“You know I am. When have I ever joked about a dare? Those are sacred. And,” he stated matter-of-factly. “If I have my numbers correct. You’re down by two.”
That bastard! “I am not!” she protested. She quickly calculated the number of dares in her head from the sick game they started years ago.
“Yeah, you are. You pretended to break into the school library and repaint the mascot mural, but we both know you didn’t.”
“I did too, I just didn’t break-in. I did it during school hours.”
“Doesn’t count.”
“Whatever.” She narrowed her eyes at him. It should count. She almost got caught… twice.
“Kiss me.”
Abbie gave him the once over.
He couldn’t be serious. And more importantly, why was she even thinking about it? This had to be on her top ten stupidest things list. Which not surprisingly all involved Hunter in some way shape or form.
Then again as Abbie looked at him, her eyes glanced to his mouth. She’d be lying if she said she hadn’t thought about his lips on hers over the years. Late at night, Hunter would pop into her head during the most inopportune moments. She did her best to push them away, but there were times she indulged in her sick and twisted fantasy.
“If I kiss you will we be back to even?” she did her best to sound as calculated as possible. If Hunter even got a whiff of what she was really thinking, he’d use it against her.
As Hunter looked at her, she contemplated the strange expression on his face.
“Yeah, we will,” he finally said after a few seconds.
“Fine.” She leaned forward ready to kiss his cheek, but Hunter was fast. He moved his head at the last second.
Her lips connected with his.
All of a sudden that weird feeling came back in the pit of her stomach. But this time it was like an explosion.
Her heart raced as he deepened the kiss. She couldn’t blame her increased heart rate on a heart attack. Oh, no. She knew this was one hundred percent Hunter James induced.
Abbie had heard horror stories about first kisses, but as far as this one went, she was mesmerized.
This was unlike anything she’d ever experienced before.
She felt Hunter’s hand squeeze her hip pulling her closer to him.
“Dude, eww! Are you really kissing the Collins chick?” A voice interrupted them causing Hunter to jump back from her in shock.
Abbie’s eyes shot open as she tried to figure out what had just happened.
“Dude, you are!” Troy yelled in amusement.
Hunter jumped up from where he was sitting and looked at his friend before looking back at Abbie. There was a sadness in his eyes that she couldn’t quite register.
“Nah, man.” Hunter looked back at Troy.
“I saw you.”
“What can I say?” Hunter shrugged. “I wanted to see if Abbie flabby was easy.” Hunter turned toward her with the godawful smirk on his face. The one she hated to admit she’d grown to love over the years. “Turns out she is.”
Abbie sat there in shock as Hunter’s teammate roared with laughter. Hunter looked at her dead in the eyes as he spoke his next words. “If you hadn’t come over here I probably would have gotten into her pants. You know the bigger girls will always do whatever it takes to feel wanted.”
Her heart stopped as her brain worked overtime trying to understand. She was in such shock she couldn’t even defend herself. It was like a straight punch to the gut.
“Turns out she’s nothing but a loser.” Hunter then ran off with his friend laughing never once looking back at her.
Something changed that day. Hunter did everything in his power to make her next week a living nightmare. He spread rumors throughout the school about her. Every turn she took in the halls she’d hear people whispering and snickering about her.
But the nail on the coffin was the interaction the last time Abbie Collins ever saw Hunter James. He stood at the end of her driveway and looked her square in the face after she confronted him about his behavior. He let it be known, he never wanted her in any way, friendship or anything else, and it should be something she should get used to since her dad didn’t want her either.
His words cut into her like a pain she’d never felt before.
And then he was gone.
The next day his house went up for sale, and she never saw or heard of him again.
But the damage was already done.
The next few weeks at school had been hell.
Until she said enough was enough. After some self-pity, she turned the nightmare at her school into drive. She begged her mom to let her be homeschooled, reluctantly her mother agreed.
Abbie then had worked her ass off. She ended up graduating early and moved right into college. She was lucky enough to intern with WCM Advertising Firm. They had loved her so much they offered her an entry-level position in the creative team and she took it in a heartbeat. There she worked her way up to Creative Director. She was next in line for the Account Executive position and she knew bringing Robert Jefferson on as a client would seal the deal.
But right now, none of that mattered.
Not one single freaking bit.
Hunter James was sitting in front of her like he knew he’d won.
She hated him. Abbie hated him with all of her being.
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