My Brother-in-law Is My Ex

~Five~

When Peyton walked away three years ago, she had no intentions of seeing these people again. She would have preferred it if her family had truly disowned her, and that would have made her life less complicated. Peyton had vowed she would only return to Wickham Falls if someone was deadly ill or for the reading of a Will. She had no idea that, in three short years, one of those things would occur.

But she kept reminding herself. "It’s all in the past, ‘besides, Nadia looks happily married. I’m sure Max must feel the same way. If that’s the case, I shouldn’t have anything to worry about. No doubt now he views me as his sister-in-law, and we should have a respectful working relationship.’

She took the long way to his office, refusing to use some adjourning door. Peyton took a moment to collect herself and gather the calm, cool facade she preferred for business dealings. No matter how much time she used to take in the past to affect that cool facade, however, she could count on Max Lanaro to have rattled her within five minutes.

“He’s probably changed. I shouldn’t expect him to be the same guy as a married man,” she said out loud as she clutched her briefcase, walking down the corridor to his office. "I need to get through this introductory meeting and then stay focused on my job from that point on.” Peyton walked up to the secretary's desk. It's a mature woman in her forties, not very attractive, but a decent-looking lady. Peyton notices her kid's pictures on her desk. She knew right away Nadia had something to do with her getting hired. No young spring chickens as Max's secretary.

“Hi, Miss Jenkins,” the woman said.

“Hi, and your name?”

“Oh, it's Jillian. I will be both your secretary and Mr. Lanaro's secretary. He’s waiting for you in his office.”

“Thank you. Nice to meet you, Jillian.”

Peyton took a right, heading to the end of the hallway. She reached the closed door to Max’s office, her heart beating, her palms were sweaty, and her stomach fluttered with nerves. Why did the thought of seeing him undo her? Peyton had a flurry of mixed emotions. She was still positively angry after all this time. It was maddening!

Peyton took one last moment to prepare for her mental and emotional state. It was time to be unbothered as she raised her hand to knock.

~~~~~

Max sat at his desk, emotionally disturbed and happy all at once. He felt himself feeling slightly annoyed. How could she be standing outside my office door healthy and in one piece and not even thinking about contacting me once in three years by picking up the phone to say, "Don’t worry, I’m alive?" Max had worried himself sick constantly about PJ's well-being, especially considering their past relationship; he thought he deserved that much from her. He straightened his tie as he said.

“Come on in.”

Oh, that voice. That accent. It was all positively lethal. Peyton opened the door and stepped inside, closing the door behind her. When she glanced at the desk, she found him sitting back in his chair, eyeing her with what seemed to be a mixture of joy and annoyance. Good, at least they were both annoyed.

He got up slowly and went around the desk. “PJ, I mean Peyton. It’s been so long. It's nice to see you.”

She surreptitiously rubbed her sweaty palm on her red calf-length pencil skirt before she returned his handshake. It was really appalling how she wanted to lean in for a better sniff of his cologne. He still wore the same cologne she brought him as a gift from years ago.

He wore his dark brown hair shorter, and his dark suit was cut to fit his broad shoulders.

“Something wrong?” He asked.

Peyton snapped out of her visual perusal to realize she was still holding his hand. She quickly released it and searched for her missing composure.

“Of course not. I was checking out your office and how nice it is…”

“What compared to yours? Well, once you get settled, you can redecorate it. It's already in the new budget. Have a seat. Can I get you anything to drink?”

“No, I’m fine.”

Rather than sit behind his desk, he took one of the leather chairs next to hers and crossed his long legs. Peyton’s mouth went dry as she watched him behave a little too comfortable with her for her taste. ‘Why isn’t he nervous and uneasy like her? Well, I can’t be sitting here, the only one feeling this way.’ Peyton thought and acted on that emotion.

“My sister, mother and father have put us in some kind of fix here, don't you think?” She asked. Peyton watched him go stupid in the head seeking a response. ‘Now we both are uneasy.’ she mischievously thought.

Peyton heard that accent hundreds of times a day from others, but no other voice was quite like his, as he stated.

“I’m happy that you are here.” Max gave her that gorgeous smile.

“And the great thing about this reunion. We’ve done this before…”

Peyton thought, 'What was he implicating with that statement? There should be enmity between him and her, and he’s trying to conjure up past pleasant memories already! How long have I been sitting here? What? Two minutes at best!'

She got defensive. “I’ve never been a vice president before. So speak for yourself; you were the business owner. I've never been a VP.”

“Well, that may be true. But we have done this before, and I wouldn’t like to do it with anyone else other than you. PJ, you are one of the hardest-working people I know, and you are one of a kind. I’m sure together we can turn things around.”

“Yes, let’s focus on turning the company around so I can get back to my life in England and you to being a married man to my little sister.”

“Fine,” he said in a begrudging tone. “I’ll do what I can to make sure we are successful, and I hope you’ll support me in every way possible.”

At that, now his expression appeared to have hardened.

“What’s that supposed to mean? I will support you in this business venture as much as I can. That's why I’m here and the only reason I’m here. It's for this company, my investment and future inheritance depend on me being here.”

“Fine. Let’s get started.”

“Fine.”

Max’s dreamy eyes took a perusing journey over her in that red suit and red and white blouse. She looked sexy, though fully covered. His lingering glances left Peyton feeling naked and exposed. She knew that after four years of dating this man, it made her upset. He was married and had no business looking at her that way.

“What’re you looking at?”

“You,” he said bluntly.

“Why are you looking at me?”

“Because you’re the only other person in the room.

He had such a way of making her feel silly. He made her want to tell him a thing or two about how he is a fool for marrying a girl he doesn't even love, but she didn’t say that.

Rather, she squirmed in her seat, sending the message that he was making her feel uncomfortable. That was probably his goal.

Max begins looking down and typing on his laptop computer keyboard. “I’m going to pull up the company finance records and print you a copy so you can go over it. So sit tight for a second.”

“Okay…”

There was silence and then more silence. The only sound was his long slender fingers moving profitably over the keys on his laptop. Then he broke their quiet time.

“Do you remember how we met? You were wearing this sexy all-black crochet one-piece jumper. You had dyed your hair that sexy dark purple color that came long past your shoulders… Boy what a night.” he said swiftly, tapping on the keys. Not giving her a chance to even respond.

Aghast, Peyton stared at him as heat crept into her cheeks. “What? What are you doing? You are a married man.”

“In name only.” He said under his breath, but she heard him containing her shock.

“What did you say?” No, never mind. Why would you say such a thing to me?”

He shrugs casually, as if this conversation was normal, as if it was going to be a part of his normal business routine with her. It most definitely was not normal.

“PJ, I never meant it to turn out this way. I know you probably don’t want to hear this from me. But I think about us all the time. I can't stop, and now that you are here, I can ask if you can do the same. That’s all.”

Peyton wasn’t prepared for this coming from him. She didn’t want to ask why? She absolutely did not want to know the answer to that question. “You wonder if I think about the past?” Clearly, Peyton didn’t mean to ask that either, but her mouth was working faster than her brain or was it her heart?

“Here is your copy of the finance report for the past six months. I also wonder if you are seeing someone else. What do you do in your spare time? What do you look like when you go out? That kind of stuff. I miss us and all the things we used to do.”

Peyton had never expected to hear all of this, and she was even more surprised to hear he wondered about her. No, that can’t be so? She needed to get out of here as fast as she could because she was unraveling.

Peyton stood up suddenly and said, "Thank you for the report? I'll send my analysis to you as soon as I review it."

She began to advance toward his office door to leave, and before she knew it, Max stood up, and grabbed her by the hand. His touch instantly ignited something within her. Was it anger or desire? And how would she respond?