Page 10 of Her Christmas Wish

Instead, with her stomach knotting, she grabbed the keys to her office door, locked it behind her, pushed the elevator button and waited for the door to open.

Leigh’s private day care, hosted by the elite high-rise building that rented the top floor to Sage’s firm, was on the third floor.

And had parent viewing windows, so she could see her daughter in class but wouldn’t be seen.

The elevator dinged.

The door opened.

And Grayson Bartholomew stepped out.

Fully suited, including red power tie.

Fifteen minutes early.

Forcing Sage to take a step back to give him room to exit.

Not at all how she’d planned their first meeting in over ten years to play out.

Of course she looked gorgeous. Gray had expected that.

But the instant and fully inappropriate physical reaction he had to that petite, perfectly shaped, womanly frame was a surprise.

Highly unwelcome.

And thankfully unnoticed. He’d buttoned the jacket of the suit coat he generally only wore to weddings and funerals as soon as he’d exited his car.

Not for privacy, but for an equally pathetic reason.

He’d wanted to appear successful, wealthy and untouchable.

Commanding respect.

Or, at least, appearing more important than he’d ever been back when she’d known him.

She’d taken a step back the second the door had opened and she’d seen him there. Had turned as though to head down the hall. “You’re early,” she said, leaving him a view of a backside he knew almost better than his own. If you considered the number of times his gaze had feasted on hers naked and compared it to the times he’d actually seen his own butt in the nude.

“There was less traffic than I expected—I hit every green light and I didn’t want to leave you waiting.” He gave her far more than a minimal “yes” response, which would have been all that was necessary under the circumstances.

As though they were still the couple who told each other more than they ever relayed to anyone else. In more detail, at any rate.

Good to note. Something he’d pay attention to in any future dealings. Make sure it didn’t happen again.

He could have taken an extra step, walked beside her, but Gray chose to follow wherever she led down the hall. Giving himself a chance to regroup before another chance to be face-to-face presented itself.

He hadn’t been prepared. Hadn’t thought for one second that she’d be at the elevator to meet him. He’d thought he’d get a lay of the land, the firm’s layout. Hadn’t known he’d be shown to a private elevator that accessed the executive suite portion of the top floor. But as he walked through a quiet hall, and passed a corridor, he could see the glass wall that separated them from the rest of the thriving firm.

A flash of Sage’s face as he’d first seen it when the elevator door opened hit him. And he realized what he’d been too shocked to take in the first time around.

She hadn’t been expecting to see him, either.

As evidenced by heryou’re early. She hadn’t been there to meet him. She’d been on her way somewhere else.

And hadn’t been pleased by the interruption to her plan.

The thought gave him a hint of a jaunt to his step.

They were on equal, uneven footing.