My Protector

Chapter 2: Her

Killian's POV

Who was this girl? I couldn't get the picture of her out of my head. Her long brown hair fell down to her waist and her eyes were an innocent hazel, glossy and doe eyed when they met my own. Her skin was ever so slightly tanned, as if she just came back from a vacation in the Bahamas - a trip that I would gladly take her on twice a year.

Wait... who was I right now? I had never thought about another woman this way. I never gave them a second thought. Nobody ever kept my interest, mainly because they were all only interested in three things; my money, status, and looks. I was always careful to never show them off in the spotlight. I wasn't going to give them the satisfaction of that. Besides, they weren't that important to me. I wasn't a stupid man, I knew what they wanted. They were disposable.. and I didn't care how shitty that sounded because while I used them for one, they used me for multiple. I'm not proud of the amount of women that I've been with but did they really count? I was never in love.

In this world, nobody was genuine; nobody ever kept my interest. 

I approached Matt, the barista that had quickly become my favorite. He had tattoos up both of his arms and one too many piercings on his face, but I liked him. I liked how much of a badass he seemed like, not giving a shit about the old people who would come through the line saying that he was 'sinning' for 'ruining his body'. Power to ya brother. I placed my order for my usual quad shot mocha and stood off to the side, testing my willpower not to look through the faces of the coffee shop for her.

Adam always made fun of me for ordering such a "girly" drink but I prefer my coffee to taste good. It's what my dad always ordered when I was growing up and it always reminded me of him. Almost as if he knew I was thinking about him, his name popped up on my phone.

"What?" I sighed. He was always calling me to talk about stupid things, even though we had just seen each other twenty minutes ago.

"Dude where are you?? The meeting is starting soon and you're nowhere to be found." He said with a slight tone of panic in his voice.

"I ran out to get some coffee, some girl held up the line earlier so i'm running late. I'll be there in a few." Thinking about her again.. I should be annoyed that she made me late but i'm not??

"Well hurry, Smith is almost here".

"Hey maybe I'm just not trying to go to the meeting" I joked. I was not looking forward to another meeting, especially not with Mr. Smith. 

"Ha-Ha" Adam sarcastically laughed on the other end "Very funny Ian, I'll see you soon." I smiled and said goodbye before handing up. I didn't know why Adam was freaking out so much, our meeting wasn't for another thirty minutes and our office was just down the block. Plus, he knew how much I loved coming out to get my coffee. My assistant Val would've been more than happy to do it but honestly I preferred to escape the world of business sometimes. I was one of the most successful investors in the country, alongside my best friend Adam. We started this company 5 years ago after we graduated top of the class from Stanford.

"Here you go Ian, long day ahead of you?" Matt pushed my cup towards me.

"When is it not" I joked and thanked him before grabbing my coffee. Out of the corner of my eye as I walked out of the cafe, I saw the mystery girl sitting at a window seat. The soft curls of her brown hair swaying as she spoke with another woman. She must be here for a meeting of some sort, I wondered what for. I walked out to my car and pressed my lips together as I glanced at her muddy white jeep, significantly contrasting from my own car. 

I got into my car and shut the door, turning my key as the engine roared to life. I sat there and sipped on my coffee, watching the girl for a minute, shielded by the heavily tinted windows. 

With every additional look I took, she became more and more beautiful. The sunlight was shining just right on her, lighting her up as if she were an angel.

She was playing with the hem of her shirt under the table and was tapping her foot on the floor. She must be nervous I concluded. I took a sip of my coffee and watched as her lips, only as soft as I could imagine, would curl up and her perfect white teeth would shine through into a smile, masking the nerves behind it all.

I took another sip of my coffee and one final glance at the beauty in the window, which yes at this point I did feel like an absolute creep, before driving off. Within 5 minutes I was pulling into the parking garage with plenty of time to spare.

Right as I stepped into the lobby, backs straightened and throats cleared as everybody paused mid sentence. Everybody I walked by greeted me and smiled but I continued towards the elevator giving them nothing but a nod. All of the kiss ass behavior can get really tiring sometimes.

I entered the elevator and hit the button for the top floor, closing my eyes and mentally preparing for this long meeting ahead.

I walked past Val's desk and into my office. Taking one final sip of the mocha, I tossed it into the trash when I heard the door open behind me. There was only one person in this building who would barge into my without knocking and that was Adam.

"Where are you?? We cant find you anywhere!!" I mocked our phone call from earlier. "Well I am right here and I've got 15 minutes to spare!" I leaned on my desk with a satisfied smile on my face.

Adam just looked at me, his face as straight as a board which was weird because usually he was the one cracking jokes and I was the one who was unamused.

"Sorry, you know how important this meeting is and you know that Mr. Smith can be a real pain sometimes." He sighed, and small smile finally forming on his lips.

"No worries, honestly I think I just left so that I wouldn't have to sit here thinking about how irritated I was going to get in an hour." I chuckled and punched him on the shoulder.

Mr. Smith was the owner of one of the companies we were looking at investing in. A partnership with him would bring a huge deal of money to us. His company was already very well established in Canada but he wanted to move down into the states as well. Having a US company invest in them would make that process a whole lot easier and we were going to use that to our advantage. However he was also a very, very, very cheap man, so I know that our offer would possibly give him a heart attack and the arguments leading up to the deal would give me an aneurysm.

"Alright well then let's head over, shall we?" I asked as I gathered my laptop.

We walked over to the elevator and past Val's desk which was now empty, she was probably already preparing refreshments in the meeting room. She was one of the best assistants I had ever had. She had never been late to work a day in her life and I could always rely on her. She always seemed to read my mind and better yet, didn't act like an absolute kiss ass.

Adam and I arrived to the meeting room and settled in. This was a corner room facing the South and the West so we had perfect views of Mt. Rainier and the Olympic mountain range. Our building was one of the tallest in the city so nothing could obstruct this beautiful view It was a perk of being the biggest investment firm in the states. I practically owned the whole city so it would only make sense to have the best view. I sighed as we heard the door open and averted our attention to Val as she brought Mr. Smith into the room.

"Ah, welcome Mr. Smith." I spoke as Adam and I stood to shake his hand. "Hopefully we can come to an agreement today." I flashed a fake smile at him knowing that we would be sitting here until after the sun had set.

***

Killian and Adam vibes in the cover photo!!