Mr. Billionaire **ReVamped**

Chapter Fourteen

The moment I pushed open the doors to Liam's office and made my way inside, he looked back at me from where he was standing. If I hadn't been so freaked out, I probably would have laughed at how cliché he looked standing there, staring out his window with his hands in the pockets of his too-expensive to be necessary pants. The whole scene looked like something out of some TV show directed to be aimed at the female population.

But I was, indeed, too freaked out to really think about how he looked like the perfect love interest in a TV show or a movie. My hands were currently shaking and my heart was beating faster than it should be. My mind was filled only with thoughts of how incredibly wrong Gretchen had looked, how incredibly wrong her gaze had made me feel.

For the first time in my life, I was deeply unsettled.

Seeing the look on my face, Liam moves from where he had been standing and crossed the room to stand in front of me, his blue eyes looking into mine worriedly.

"Are you okay?" he asked, placing his warm hands on the tops of my arms in an attempt to comfort me.

His attempt worked, though, because I immediately felt myself relax and my heart rate starts to calm down. Her face was still in my mind's eye, my instincts were still screaming at me that I shouldn't be here, that she was going to something terrible to me but it was calmer now.

"Nothing," I said, shaking my head to shake off the thoughts. "It's just...your secretary is kind of...intense."

Liam's eyebrows furrowed for a minute in confusion. "Gretchen?"

I nodded once.

"Did she do something to make you feel uncomfortable?" His eyes still retain their worry. "I can have a talk with her if that's the case."

For some reason, I got the feeling that if Liam went to scold Gretchen on my behalf the situation would just get worse. Maybe she liked Liam or something and maybe the idea of Liam with a girlfriend—especially since she didn't know it was fake—probably upset her. I decided that I didn't want to rock the boat. No need to make an already bad situation worse.

I shook my head. "No. I'm fine. Anyway, I'm not here to talk about your secretary." I walk past him and into his office like I own the place, sitting down on the couch he has there and resting my purse on the ground next to me. As he sits down next to me, I say, "Kate invited me to their wedding."

Liam didn't look very surprised but he still rose an eyebrow.

"Is that so?"

"You don't look shocked."

"Were you?"

"A little," I admitted, sighing. "I just didn't expect that she would want me to watch..."

"She sees that you're doing well, she thinks you've moved on. Of course she wants to dredge up old wounds. But this is your opportunity."

My eyes widened. "Opportunity for what?"

"To regain the friendship of Sasha and Kale," he said matter-of-factly. "Befriend them again. That's the quickest way to show that you're over everything that happened."

I couldn't speak for the longest time. Never had I ever thought of becoming friends with the two people who had backstabbed and betrayed me, even if it was for revenge. I wasn't sure if I was ready for that to be completely honest. The idea of seeing them again, together, sent a lance of pain through my chest before I could even fully process the thought. Whether I wanted to be over it or not, I don't think the humiliation would ever wear off.

"We can do it together," Liam said softly, drawing my attention back to him. He was looking at me softly, his blue eyes compassionate. "Because, if I'm correct,"—he checked the expensive looking watch on his wrist— "the two of them will be going to lunch in a few minutes. I took the liberty of having Gretchen bring me Sasha and Kale's schedules. I haven't eaten and if you're hungry, why not join me? If we go now, we're sure to run into them."

My heart felt like it was going to leap out of my chest. Was I really about to do this? Although I had been Instagram stalking the two of them since the whole wedding catastrophe, this would be my first time seeing them in person.

But, if I wanted to get revenge, I would have to come face-to-face with the two of them eventually. It was probably a better idea to do it now, quickly, like ripping off a Band-Aid.

That's how the two of us end up walking out of his office, hand in hand. When we exit, Gretchen's face sours a little but for the most part, she's polite. As we walk out of his office, though, I can feel her glares on my back like they are daggers and when I turned, despite my instincts screaming that I should just keep walking and not look back, she had this blank, cold look on her face that sends shivers down my spine. Without thinking about it, I whipped my head around and moved closer to Liam, hoping that if she decided to attack me, he would help.

We were in that little intersection area when Liam just stops all of a sudden. Since I was trailing behind him a little, I bump into his back. I looked up at him only to find that he was looking ahead of us, where his father's office is located, where Kate works. I saw the door leading out of his father's office area—the place where Kate's desk probably sat, if it looked anything like Liam's office area—begin to open and painfully familiar voices are speaking to each other as they come out.

Liam moved so quickly that it was hard to believe that a man who sits behind a desk was the one who did it. He took my arm and spun me so that I was facing away from the office and looking into his eyes instead. I can see movement from the corner of my eye where Simon and Kate are but my eyes are trapped in his brilliant blue ones.

"I'm going to kiss you now, Miss. Michaels," he said quietly so only I could hear.

"Wha—?"

Before I could finish my thought, Liam bought his head down and his lips captured mine.

For a moment, I didn't feel anything, I didn't really process anything in my surprise.

And then suddenly, I could feel it all. How soft and warm his lips were, how gentle his hands were as the gripped my face to pull me closer, how fast my heart was pounding. I could feel his pulse flying beneath my fingertips and I wondered why it was beating so fast. Was it because this was an unexpected turn of events for him, too? Because he was afraid they would see that we were just faking it?

More than anything, I wondered about the part of myself that was pressing closer to him. I wondered at the part of me that tilted my head up to kiss him back. She was like a stranger to me as she kissed this handsome man greedily. I didn't recognize her.

And then, all too soon, it was over. Although his lips were no longer touching mine, he's still very much in my personal space. He's looking down at me with eyes filled with an emotion that has not been directed at me in a long time: lust. His blue eyes are darker than they were a few moments ago and he's breathing hard, a slight pink tinge coating his cheeks.

"Yvonne?"

I turned toward where the voice was coming from and met the eyes of the two people who had been the cause of my pain for the last eight months.