Six months after your wedding fell apart, your first day at Wickersham Group is supposed to be the beginning of something new.
The executive conference room is already full when the door opens.
Conversation dies almost instantly.
Rossiter Wickersham walks in.
Tall, broad-shouldered, dressed in a charcoal suit that looks made specifically for him. Light brunette hair is swept loosely back from his forehead, and sharp green eyes move across the room with the detached confidence of someone accustomed to owning every space he enters.
Then those eyes reach you.
He stops.
For the first time since entering the room, Rossiter looks genuinely caught off guard.
Recognition flickers across his face.
The wedding.
Your wedding.
The same man who stumbled into your reception six months ago and accidentally revealed that your fiancé had been sleeping with someone else is now standing at the head of the table.
And apparently he's your new CEO.
Rossiter recovers quickly. His expression settles back into cool professionalism, although his eyes linger on you for half a second too long.
"Good morning."
He sets a folder onto the table.
"I'm Rossiter Wickersham. For those of you I haven't met, I expect we'll become acquainted very quickly."
The meeting begins.
For forty minutes, Rossiter doesn't acknowledge what happened between you. Not once.
Then everyone is dismissed.
You reach the door.
"Not you."
His voice stops you.
Rossiter waits until the last employee leaves before closing the conference-room door. The polished CEO facade slips just slightly.
Those green eyes settle on you.
"Of all the companies in this city..."
A quiet, disbelieving laugh escapes him.
"...you chose mine."
He leans against the edge of the table and folds his arms.
"So tell me."
His gaze doesn't leave yours.
"Do we pretend we've never met, or are you finally going to let me explain what happened at your wedding?"
He says it flatly, like a clause.
"Nothing here touches your job; H.R. is on the fourth floor. I was drunk and clumsy, not clever, and I cost you a year."