After that one night

chapter three

Diana Sylvester had never been good at waiting.

Waiting for a reply irritated her. Waiting for an appointment tested her patience. Waiting for someone to finish a conversation when she already knew what she wanted to say was practically unbearable.

But standing in the reception area of her family's biggest competitor was beginning to push her patience beyond its limits.

She glanced at the expensive watch on her wrist.

Twenty-three minutes.

Twenty-three minutes since she had walked into the building and announced exactly who she was.

Twenty-three minutes since the receptionist had smiled politely and told her, “You’ll need to speak with the manager.”

Then the manager had sent her to the chief executive officer.

The CEO's assistant had apparently decided that the CEO was unavailable and directed her to the managing director.

And now the managing director's assistant was telling her that the owner was—

“Currently unavailable,” the woman repeated.

Diana stared at her.

“Unavailable?”

“Yes, ma'am.”

Diana slowly folded her arms.

“I was told to speak to the owner.”

“And I understand that, ma'am. However, the owner is currently occupied.”

Diana gave a humorless laugh.

“Occupied doing what?”

The assistant hesitated.

“Business matters.”

“Of course.”

Diana turned around and looked at the enormous reception area.

Everything about the company screamed wealth.

The marble floors were spotless. The walls carried carefully selected pieces of modern art. Employees moved around with the kind of confidence that came from working for a company that had been at the top of the industry for years.

Her family's company had been competing with them for almost as long as she could remember.

Sylvester Group had built its reputation through hard work, aggressive expansion, and an almost obsessive commitment to quality.

This company had done the same.

Which was precisely why Diana was there.

There was a business matter that needed to be settled, and she had decided she wasn't going to leave until she spoke directly with the person who owned the company.

She approached the assistant again.

“Look, I don't have time to go around in circles.”

“I apologize, ma'am.”

“I don't need an apology. I need to see the owner.”

The woman swallowed.

“Perhaps you could leave a message—”

“No.”

Diana's answer came so quickly that the assistant blinked.

“No message. No appointment. No perhaps. I came here personally because this matter concerns both companies, and I'm going to discuss it with the person responsible for this company.”

The assistant looked increasingly uncomfortable.

“I really don't have the authority to—”

“Then find someone who does.”

A few heads turned.

Diana noticed.

She didn't care.

She had inherited many things from her father, but patience had never been one of them.

“Miss Sylvester,” the assistant began carefully, “I assure you that the CEO can handle—”

“I didn't come to see the CEO.”

“The manager?”

“No.”

“The managing director?”

“No.”

“The—”

“I want the owner.”

Her voice echoed across the reception area.

Silence followed.

Diana exhaled sharply.

She knew she was making a scene.

She also knew she had reached the point where she didn't particularly care.

“If I have to sit here all afternoon to get five minutes with him, then that's exactly what I'm going to do.”

The receptionist exchanged a nervous glance with another employee.

“Ma'am—”

“No.”

Diana lifted one hand.

“I have been sent from one office to another since I arrived. If the owner doesn't want to meet me, he can come out and tell me that himself.”

The atmosphere changed.

It happened so suddenly that Diana almost missed it.

The employees near the reception desk straightened.

Someone whispered something.

Another person quickly stepped away from the hallway.

The assistant's face changed from irritation to alarm.

Diana frowned.

“What?”

The assistant didn't answer.

Instead, she looked toward the elevator.

Diana followed her gaze.

The elevator doors opened.

And the entire reception area seemed to hold its breath.

A man stepped out.

He was tall.

Very tall.

He wore a perfectly tailored dark suit that seemed almost effortless on him. His dark hair was neatly styled, and his expression carried the calm confidence of someone who was accustomed to having an entire room adjust itself around his presence.

Two men followed behind him, speaking quietly.

He listened for a moment before lifting one hand.

They immediately stopped talking.

The man continued walking.

Diana stared.

Something about him felt familiar.

Not familiar in the ordinary sense.

Not I've seen him somewhere before familiar.

It was stranger than that.

Her mind seemed to recognize something her memory couldn't quite reach.

His face.

His posture.

The way he walked.

There was something about him.

Something she couldn't name.

The man stopped when he noticed the gathering at reception.

His eyes moved across the room.

Then they landed on Diana.

He froze.

Only for a fraction of a second.

But Diana noticed.

His expression changed.

Recognition.

She saw it clearly.

He knew her.

Diana frowned.

How?

He started walking toward her.

Every step was measured.

Calm.

Controlled.

Yet there was something about his gaze that made Diana suddenly aware of herself.

She straightened.

The man stopped a few feet away.

“What's going on?”

His voice was deep and controlled.

Diana's heart skipped.

She didn't understand why.

She had heard thousands of men speak before.

There was nothing extraordinary about a man's voice.

And yet—

Something about his voice tugged at a distant memory.

A night.

A conversation.

A face she couldn't quite see.

She pushed the thought away.

The assistant quickly stepped forward.

“Sir, Miss Sylvester has been requesting to see the owner.”

The man's eyes remained on Diana.

“I see.”

Diana's eyebrows drew together.

“You're the owner?”

A faint expression crossed his face.

“Yes.”

There was something almost amused in his eyes.

Diana suddenly felt embarrassed about the scene she'd caused.

Only slightly.

She quickly recovered.

“Good. Then perhaps you can explain why your employees have been sending me around this building like a lost visitor.”

The man's mouth twitched.

“Can you?”

The assistant looked startled.

Diana stared at him.

“Can I what?”

“Explain why you wanted to see me.”

Diana narrowed her eyes.

“I just did.”

“You made quite an entrance.”

“I wasn't the one who kept sending me to different offices.”

He studied her for a moment.

Then he smiled.

It wasn't a large smile.

Just enough to change his entire face.

And something inside Diana shifted.

Oh.

That was the first thought that crossed her mind.

Not intelligent.

Not useful.

Just—

Oh.

He was handsome.

Not simply attractive.

There was something striking about him that made it difficult to look away.

Diana hated that she noticed.

She hated even more that she seemed unable to stop noticing.

His eyes were the same eyes her mind had been trying to remember.

She had seen them before.

Hadn't she?

But where?

The man extended his hand.

“Adrian.”

Diana looked at his hand.

Then at his face.

“Adrian what?”

A slight smile returned.

“Adrian Blackwood.”

The name meant something.

Diana's mind searched desperately.

Blackwood.

Of course.

She knew the name.

Everyone in their industry did.

Adrian Blackwood was the owner of Blackwood Enterprises.

The youngest person to take complete control of the company.

The man whose business decisions had turned a struggling company into one of the most formidable competitors to Sylvester Group.

Diana had read articles about him.

She had heard her father mention him.

She had seen his name in reports.

But she'd never met him.

At least, she didn't think she had.

She finally took his hand.

The contact lasted only a moment.

Still, something strange happened.

Her stomach tightened.

A flash of memory crossed her mind.

Dim lights.

Music.

A man's voice.

A pair of eyes looking at her.

She pulled her hand away.

Adrian noticed.

Of course he noticed.

His expression remained composed, but something in his gaze became more intense.

Diana looked away.

“I'm Diana Sylvester.”

“I know.”

Her eyes snapped back to him.

“You know me?”

“Yes.”

There was no hesitation.

That answer unsettled her.

“How?”

His gaze held hers.

“You're difficult to forget.”

Diana didn't know what to say to that.

For perhaps the first time in her life, she found herself without an immediate response.

Adrian turned toward his employees.

“Give us the room.”

They immediately began leaving.

The assistant hesitated.

“Sir—”

“It's fine.”

She nodded and disappeared.

Within moments, the reception area was nearly empty.

Diana watched Adrian.

There was something about him that made her feel strangely nervous.

She couldn't understand it.

She had walked into this building prepared to argue.

She had been furious.

She had planned exactly what she was going to say.

Now she was standing in front of the man she had come to confront, struggling to remember why she had ever been angry in the first place.

Adrian gestured toward a nearby seating area.

“Let's talk.”

Diana followed him.

She sat across from him.

He leaned back slightly.

“Now,” he said, “tell me what brought you here.”

Diana opened her handbag and pulled out the documents.

“This.”

She placed them on the table.

Adrian glanced at the papers.

Then back at her.

“You could have sent these.”

“I could have.”

“Yet you came personally.”

“Yes.”

“Why?”

“Because I wanted an answer from you.”

He nodded slowly.

“Fair enough.”

Diana watched him pick up the first document.

His fingers moved across the pages as he read.

She tried to focus on the business matter.

She really did.

But something kept distracting her.

His face.

His voice.

The way he looked at her.

Most importantly, the feeling that she had met him somewhere before.

She studied him carefully.

There was something about the shape of his eyes.

Something about the way his mouth curved when he almost smiled.

Something about the calmness in his expression.

Then suddenly—

A memory surfaced.

Not completely.

Just fragments.

A hotel room.

A stranger.

A conversation.

His voice.

Diana's breathing stopped for a second.

No.

That couldn't be right.

She looked at him again.

Adrian was already looking at her.

Their eyes met.

His expression told her everything.

He remembered.

Diana's stomach dropped.

No.

Her mind raced.

The night.

The stranger.

The man she had spent that unforgettable night with.

The man whose face she had tried and failed to remember properly afterward.

She had never known his full name.

She had never expected to see him again.

And now he was sitting directly opposite her.

The owner of the company she had just walked into and nearly caused a scene in.

Adrian Blackwood.

The stranger.

Her face grew warm.

Adrian watched her realization unfold.

“You remember now,” he said quietly.

Diana couldn't answer.

Her thoughts were everywhere.

She remembered enough.

Not every detail.

But enough.

The voice.

The eyes.

The feeling of familiarity.

She suddenly understood why she had felt strangely unsettled from the moment he walked into the room.

She hadn't recognized him immediately because the circumstances were completely different.

That night, he had been a stranger.

Now he was the man sitting across from her in an expensive office, wearing a suit and looking at her as though he'd known all along exactly who she was.

“You knew,” she finally whispered.

Adrian's expression remained calm.

“I recognized you the moment I saw you.”

Diana stared at him.

“And you didn't say anything?”

“I wanted to see if you would remember.”

“That is not funny.”

“I wasn't laughing.”

She looked away.

Her heart was beating far too quickly.

This was absurd.

She had come here to discuss business.

Instead, she had discovered that the mysterious man from that night was the very person she had been trying to reach.

Adrian leaned forward slightly.

“Are you all right?”

“Yes.”

“You don't look like it.”

“I'm fine.”

“Diana.”

The way he said her name made her look at him again.

For some reason, hearing her name in his voice brought another wave of memories.

She quickly looked down at the documents.

“We should discuss the contract.”

Adrian's lips curved.

“Of course.”

He picked up the papers again.

But Diana could feel his eyes on her.

She tried to ignore it.

She failed.

There was something deeply unsettling about seeing him again.

Not because she disliked him.

That would have been easier.

The problem was that she didn't.

She remembered enough about that night to know that she'd been drawn to him immediately.

And now, sitting across from him, she could feel that same inexplicable pull returning.

It wasn't something she wanted to examine.

It certainly wasn't something she intended to admit.

So she did what Diana Sylvester did best.

She focused on business.

She pointed at the document.

“This clause needs to change.”

Adrian looked at it.

“Why?”

“Because it gives your company too much control.”

“That's the point.”

“Not if we're negotiating.”

“You're assuming I'm willing to negotiate.”

Diana lifted an eyebrow.

“Then why are we sitting here?”

He smiled.

“Because you insisted.”

She stared at him.

Then, despite herself, she smiled.

It disappeared almost immediately.

But Adrian had seen it.

And something in his expression softened.

For the next several minutes, they argued over every clause.

Diana challenged his proposals.

Adrian challenged hers.

Neither backed down.

And somehow, beneath the disagreement, there was an unfamiliar ease.

As though this conversation was only the beginning of something neither of them had expected.

Eventually Adrian placed the papers on the table.

“I'll have my legal team review your proposal.”

Diana nodded.

“Good.”

She stood.

Adrian stood as well.

She reached for her handbag.

“Then we're done.”

“For today.”

Diana paused.

She looked at him.

“What does that mean?”

His expression was unreadable.

“It means I suspect we'll be seeing each other again.”

She didn't answer.

She simply walked toward the door.

But before she reached it, Adrian spoke.

“Diana.”

She turned.

His eyes met hers.

“You really didn't recognize me?”

She hesitated.

Then shook her head.

“No.”

A faint smile appeared on his face.

“I recognized you immediately.”

Her heart gave an uncomfortable little jump.

She hated that.

She hated that he could still affect her without even trying.

Diana opened the door.

“Goodbye, Mr. Blackwood.”

“Goodbye, Miss Sylvester.”

She walked out.

The door closed behind her.

Diana stopped in the hallway and released a breath she hadn't realized she'd been holding.

She pressed a hand against her forehead.

“This is a disaster.”

Because she had gone into Blackwood Enterprises expecting a business confrontation.

Instead, she had found the one person she had never expected to see again.

The stranger from that night.

And judging by the look in his eyes when she'd left—

He had no intention of letting their unexpected reunion be forgotten.