Paired With His Fate

CHAPTER 4

Marcus should have been working on the proposal in front of him. Once he'd sold CirrusMB, the cloud storage company he'd created, he'd planned to move on to another project. He needed to move on to another project, to cure the slight loose-ends edge he'd experienced lately.

But he couldn't stop thinking about Adriana.

After their disastrous date at the charity ball, Marcus had dropped off Adriana at her brother's house and ignored her when she'd insisted he didn't have to come in. He followed her into the house to find Aaron had taken off in Shawn's car for an unknown destination. The tearful woman had babbled for a solid fifteen minutes to Adriana while Marcus stood around feeling useless.

He wanted to help but short of driving around looking for Aaron—which he nearly did three times—there wasn't much to be done other than wait.

Finally, Aaron had come home in one piece and Adriana shooed Marcus out the door. That had been a week ago and he couldn't get the luminous redhead off his mind. She wasn't the head cheerleader any longer, but something else, and he hadn't been granted enough time to find out what. Even so, he'd opted to move on and was waiting on EA International to come up with an alternate match. Someone who appreciated the man, not the myth.

Regardless, when his admin shot him a message via chat that he had a visitor, Adriana's name was not the one he'd expected to see spelled out on the screen. His first reaction shouldn't have been a smile, either.

Their relationship wasn't happening—too much baggage. She wasn't "the one." But as she filled the doorway of his office, he forgot why.

In stark contrast to the ugly monstrosity of the other night, she wore a stylish wrap-around dress that hugged her curves and completely destroyed the innocuous, slightly reverent image of her he'd carried in his head since high school.

She was all woman now. And he was very much a man who appreciated that.

"Adriana." He cleared the rasp from his throat. Didn't seem to matter how much money he amassed, a beautiful woman still affected him in ways he couldn't control.

"Hi." She bit her lip, a habit he'd noticed the other night.

He hadn't thought anything of it then. Too busy trying to salvage his conscience after the ill-conceived revenge plot. He didn't remember her having a speck of uncertainty ten years ago. It was a little unsettling to realize she'd lost some of her natural confidence. What had happened to it?

All at once, he regretted not having called her. He could have at least checked up on her, asked after Aaron and Shawn.

Marcus stood and skirted the desk. "How are you?"

"Oh, I'm fine." She seemed flustered as he approached, so he stopped. "I'm sorry for coming by without an appointment. I know how busy you must be."

Actually, he wasn't busy at all. Which was a bit of a problem. "You don't need an appointment. Please, sit down. What can I do for you?"

She perched on the edge of the chair he'd indicated and as he slid into the adjacent one, she sighed. "I've been thinking about what you said. About how I know I've changed. The thing is, I feel different on the inside, but I haven't done anything with it. I want to. But I need your help."

Her huge hazel eyes shimmered as they captured his, begging for his understanding. And that's when he realized she didn't suffer from lack of confidence, but instead had gained a vulnerability she'd not had before.

It made her very real in a way he'd not acknowledged. Maybe they needed to just start over and see what was what.

"I'd like to help. Do you have something specific in mind?"

"I do. It's a huge imposition for me to come to you with it, I realize. But I need to prove to you that I'm different. That people can change."

"Because of what happened at prom?"

"Yes. Among other things," she said cryptically. "An apology isn't enough. I need to make amends for who I was. I have an idea how to accomplish that and you deserve a front row seat."

This got more interesting by the minute. "So my role is dual purpose. Assist and witness?"

"I read some articles about you and I respect what you've done with your life." She smiled for the first time since entering his office. "It's not stalking if the name Marcus Braun is plastered all over the internet."

His return smile sprang to his lips instantly. That was one of the nicest complements he'd ever received and it meant ten times more coming from Adriana, who'd known him before he became a billionaire. "I definitely don't think of you as a stalker. Actually, I was thinking about taking you to lunch. There's an Italian place on the first floor of the building if you're up for it."

Wary surprise crowded out her smile and he didn't like it. He much preferred her smile.

"I didn't come here to mooch lunch off of you. I have a proposition for you. It's personal and a little unorthodox, but I hope you'll agree."

He kept his eyebrows in place through sheer will alone. Surely she didn't mean that the way it sounded. Though, on second thought, maybe he wouldn't mind if she did.

"Lunch is where you talk about unorthodox propositions. Unless it's one better discussed behind closed doors."

She didn't miss the blatant implications. Awareness skipped through her expression but she didn't look away. "It's not that kind of proposition. At least I don't think it is."

"Now you have me thoroughly intrigued." He held out his hand and when she placed her palm in his, the contact zapped him in the gut. A crowded restaurant was suddenly the last place he wanted to be. "Forget lunch. Tell me about this proposition."