Bossy Fiance Mistake
By: Roxy Reid“Got anything better to do right now?” I ask.
Alyssa shakes her head and walks toward the elevators. Her blue eyes lock with my brown ones for a few seconds. The moment feels gripping until it’s gone.
I smile to myself as I feel a surge of excitement rush through me. I enjoy my job and what I do, but it can be some of the same each and every day. It’s not every day I get a blast from the past, especially one as notable as Alyssa Hammond.
With my hand on the small of her back, I walk her to the elevators. I feel her body subtly lean into my touch as we stride through the lobby side-by-side. Some things don’t change. Some things don’t need to.
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3
ALYSSA
My eyes automatically shift to Ethan as we ride up to the eighth floor in one of the tall building’s elevators. I can’t believe that I’m in this situation. I was supposed to be interviewing for some marketing company, and now I’m about to interview to work for my ex-boyfriend, who owns his own big-time company.
Based on how nice the place is and how busy everyone seems, it’s clear he’s successful. There’s an air of productivity here, like everyone has a purpose. It’s nice to feel, and it’s not surprising he’s created such an atmosphere. He was driven and ambitious back in college about opening his own business, and it seems like he turned his dreams into reality.
I’m happy for him. Despite how things ended between us, I don’t have any ill will toward him. I never wanted him to fail, and I know he didn’t wish for me to fall short either. We just weren’t meant for each other then. That’s all there was to it.
“So, you do consulting for businesses?” I ask him to break the tense silence. I suppose I should know more about the company I might be working for. I gather only a little bit from the name of the company, but I can infer some of the duties that are performed by him and his employees.
Ethan turns to look at me and nods.
“We give them advice and guide them to success, step-by-step,” Ethan replies with a slight grin.
I can’t help but smirk a little. He really hasn’t changed much since I last saw him in college. It’s strange being near him again all these years later. We had a fairly rough breakup, one that depressed me for quite a while.
He meant a lot to me, and I had strong feelings for him. For a while, I thought he was the one for me, but we started having issues and differences that we couldn’t handle. We weren’t the best at communicating. If someone got upset, they usually played the silent treatment, and nothing got resolved. Unless we found our way to the bedroom.
“Congratulations on all your success. I know you worked hard for it,” I tell him politely as I pull myself out of my thoughts.
“It can be yours too,” Ethan points out as the elevator doors open. His hand finds my back again as he leads me down a hallway. Chatter and the ringing of phones echo from various offices on either side.
I glance over at him with a lifted eyebrow.
“You know, I can walk on my own,” I say. I wonder why he feels the need to touch me like that. Maybe it’s a habit for him. It takes me back to old times on campus when he would walk me to class.
“Just showing you the way,” Ethan replies. He knows exactly what he’s doing.
I don’t say anything else. I merely let him show me to his office, which is huge and has windows on two sides. He can see so much of the city from his own wooden desk. It’s an impressive view that I can’t help but to admire. I sit down in a cushioned seat in front of his desk.
Instead of sitting across from me, Ethan perches on the edge of his desk near me. He looks down at me with a charming smile.
“So, what positions have you held since college?” Ethan asks as he rests his joined hands on his knee.
I’m surprised he wants to get right down to business and not mess with me anymore. He’s always been a tease, always trying to find different ways to get under my skin. It should bother me more, but maybe I’m just used to that type of attention from him.
“I started off as an assistant for a small marketing firm, then a marketing specialist for a media company, and then I became the marketing manager for that media company,” I tell him as I reach into my purse to pull out a copy of my resume for him to look over.
