HER

Chapter 7

Kaylie sat in the meeting room with Sebastian waiting. They had been waiting for a few minutes too long and still their client wasn't here. Kaylie glanced at her watch for the fifth time that morning as she sighed. She looked up at Sebastian who was watching her and gave him a smile that said 'fuck off' in the most-polite way possible and he smirked. He freaking smirked.

Kaylie rose from her seat just at the same time Richard walked into the meeting room but Kaylie's gaze was locked on the man that followed behind. Her heart skipped a beat and she wondered what the hell just happened. His gaze shifted and connected with her and she clenched her jaw and stopped herself from sighing.

"Patterson, Young, I'd like to introduce you to Alexander Guzman, owner of Ground Up; a rising architectural firm. Alex, these are my very best software developers, they'll take care of whatever you need."

"Thank you, Richard." Alex's voice was commanding and it made Kaylie swallow hard.

"Alright then, I'll leave you to it." Richard left the meeting room with the three of them.

Sebastian made his way to Alex.
"I think we should stick to first names since we'll be working closely for a few weeks. I'm Sebastian." He offered his hand to Alex who took it without a second of hesitation.

"Alex." He said.

"This is my co-worker..."

"Kaylie Patterson." Kaylie cut Sebastian off before he made it look like he was in charge rather than on mutual grounds with her.

"Nice to meet you Kaylie." Alex's eyes pierced hers as he took her hand in his. He held a hand a moment longer than necessary.

"Let's all sit and begin, shall we?" Sebastian pulled out a chair and sat before they could agree.

Kaylie reached to pull out a chair but Alex beat her to it which surprised her.
"Thank you."

He gave her a small smile that she found the sexiest thing.
"You're welcome." He went to the other side of the table sat down facing them. "We may begin."

"Right." Sebastian said "First things first, tell us a bit more about Ground Up."

"Ground Up was founded by my father almost ten years ago. It was still a small business when I took over a year ago. Everyone at Ground Up has worked really hard to get Ground Up to where it is right now and I want to make things easier with an app. I want people to be able to get access to Ground Up with the app, go through our past jobs and see what the team's capable of."

"That's what social media is for." Sebastian interrupted and Kaylie fisted her hand from reaching behind his head and smacking some manners into him.

"Yes, that's actually one of the reasons we're making a name for ourselves. My father is a traditional man, he wants to hand out company brochure to advertise the company, but I changed that once I took over. We're in a modern age, we need to grow with the world."

Kaylie smiled at that. She opened her mouth to ask something but Sebastian beat her to it.

"Does your father support your decision?"

Alex focused his gaze on Sebastian a tad longer.
"I don't see how that helps you with building the app."

Kaylie opened her mouth to say something but once again he beat her to it.

"Just wanted to know if I should consult with you father about what he wants since this is a family business."

Alex turned his gaze to her.
"You were going to say something Kaylie."

She smiled at him.
"Yes. Asides making building plans and construction work, is there anything else Ground Up does?"

The corner of his mouth twitched.
"Design." He said simply. "My wife had an interior design company which is now a part of Ground Up."