His Unexpected Lover Page 0,1
some work done. She wouldn’t think about Axel. She would simply push him from her mind every time he entered. And if she saw him in the hallways at work? Well, she’d known that would happen when she’d accepted the position at The Thorpe Group. The man was one of the co-owners, for goodness sake. She would have been a fool to think she’d never see him.
But after so many years, she’d hoped that she was over him.
She shook her head with derision. Did one ever get over someone like Axel? He really was one in a million. She remembered the first time she’d seen him, laughing in a bar just like this one. She’d been a sophomore at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C. and he’d been clerking for a Supreme Court justice.
He’d been magnificent, she thought with a smile. So tall, so handsome and one could just see the charm and charisma oozing from the man’s smile...
Six Years Earlier….
“This place is too crowded,” Kiera pointed out, peering through the windows of the upscale bar in Georgetown. “Why don’t we go back to our usual hangout?”
Debbie just grabbed Kiera’s hand and pulled her deeper into the crowd, obviously eager to be here for some reason. “Because Brian will be there,” Debbie replied, referring to her ex-boyfriend, almost yelling over the noise of the bar. “And I really don’t want to run into him again. He’s still angry about our breakup last week.”
She quickly shifted out of the way of someone who almost spilled beer on her. “This place is a bit rowdier than the places we usually hang out,” Kiera cautioned.
Debbie looked around and smiled. “It’s nice! I like trying out new places and meeting new people.”
Except that Debbie had invited all of their old friends here so they probably wouldn’t meet anyone they didn’t already know. “I’m not sure I’m feeling all that adventurous tonight, Debbie,” Kiera cautioned. It wasn’t so much that she wasn’t into trying new things, but she preferred less crowded conditions. This bar was wall to wall people.
“Just pretend for one night,” Debbie laughed back, pulling Kiera up to the bar and ordered two beers.
Kiera shook her head, but followed her friend, not sure this was such a good idea. “Fine,” she agreed and tried to hide the weird feeling that had come over her suddenly. Midterms had just finished, and she had a bit of breathing room before her next paper was due, so it wouldn’t be a bad thing to relax for a few hours. “We’re not staying late.”
Was she being too cautious? Probably, she told herself as she slipped between a couple that was heavy into a debate on the latest political wranglings. It was hard to avoid those kinds of discussions in a Georgetown bar. Not only were they mere miles from the heart of the federal buildings where real estate was so expensive, the area was teeming with history. The streets were mostly cobblestones from the colonial period and even a small townhouse would cost well over one million dollars. The cobblestones were ballast from the rum trade, but the political debates were due to the proximity of the federal government. She suspected that many of the people here were either international studies students, political science majors, or were interning for a senator or representative.
“This is awesome,” Debbie called back to her, grinning from ear to ear, obviously excited to be in a new setting instead of their normal haunts. The bar was darker, probably proud of the bare bricks and heavy, wooden beams overhead that might or might not date back to the colonial period. If they weren’t, Kiera doubted the owner would ‘fess up to having new beams. Many of the establishments promoted the “old time” feel of their buildings by refurbishing so that the décor was reminiscent of colonial times, but with all the bells and whistles of modern conveniences. Of course, there was the one trendy bar she knew of that bragged about having bullet holes in the walls. Not that they claimed the bullets were colonial, but every bar had to have its quirks, she supposed.
She took the beer Debbie handed her and then turned around, trying to find a place to sit down. The odds of finding a chair or stool in a place this crowded would be pretty slim, she thought while her eyes surveyed the room.
Kiera noticed him the moment Debbie’s back was turned. He was in a group of four or