Chapter Two

SERENA

I made it to the bathroom before my brain fully exploded. The moment the door swung shut behind me, I gripped the sink and stared at myself in the mirror like I was expecting to see a ghost instead of my reflection.

You idiot! You absolute fucking idiot!

I splashed some cold water on my face, then I whispered, "Okay, just breathe and think." Right. I just needed some rational thought. Logic. Science. Slept-with-a-stranger-and-forgot-his-name 101.

Which twin was it?

I squeezed my eyes shut, forcing myself back to that night. I tried to remember the way he held me, the way he looked at me, and the way he spoke. His voice had been low and measured, and very serious. He hadn't laughed much, and it was obvious that something was bothering him the entire time. The details were still a bit foggy to me, but I suspected that he was probably recovering from a breakup or something, which was how we ended up in that situation. But then I remembered his hands, his hunger, and the way he'd looked at me with a sparkle in his eyes.

Could that really belong to the stoic twin?

Or the smirking one who looked like trouble on purpose?

I groaned and almost drove my fist into the mirror out of frustration. My memory was tequila-stained and romanticized, and I could barely remember what I wore that night. For all I knew, I'd invented half of it.

I decided I needed a new plan. Complete and total denial. If I just keep my head down and work quietly, and never speak to either of them again, then hopefully I can just pretend I never slept with my boss's, boss's boss.

I dried my face and adjusted my blouse, then I practiced a different smile from this morning that said, I definitely didn't make catastrophic life choices recently.

After taking several deep breaths, I opened the bathroom door. And because the universe wanted to screw me over again, I slammed straight into a wall of muscle.

"Oh God! I'm so sorry," I stammered, nearly rebounding off him before strong hands suddenly steadied my arms.

He looked down at me calmly, and with a jolt I realized it was one of the twins.

Fantastic.

"I should've watched where I was going," he said, and his voice as smooth as sin. "Sorry about that."

It was the cold twin, in his charcoal suit.

My breath caught in my chest, and I stared up at him blankly until he stepped back and said, "Are you alright?"

"Oh, y-yes," I stammered. "I'm completely fine. Perfectly stable. I don't even collide with people daily. That would be weird. I mean, I do sometimes, but not in a stalking way. Not that I'm stalking..."

'Shut up, Serena.'

Something flickered in his eyes. Was it amusement? Or pity?

He extended a hand slowly and said, "Adrian Knight. Pleased to meet you."

So this was Adrian Knight. The infamous CEO. Mr frozen glare, billionaire ice sculpture. My heart slammed against my ribs as I shook his hand, and I was extremely aware of the fact that my palm was clammy like a damp pancake.

Was he the one?

But then I noticed a simple silver band on his ring finger, and I froze as the realization dawned on me.

He was married.

My brain clapped, because it was clearly not him. He has a wife, and there is no way I slept with a married man. I'm reckless, but not evil. There hadn't been a ring on his finger that night, or had there? I would have noticed surely, right?

No, there definitely wasn't a ring that day. I didn't sleep with a married man. I didn't. Which meant it wasn't Adrian.

I released a breath I didn't know I was holding, until I realized who I was now dealing with.

Fuck!

Aiden Knight was the dangerous and unpredictable brother, and there was no telling how he would react if he recognized me and remembered we’d slept together. Would he brush it off as a mere coincidence? Or would he lose his mind and start yelling at me, and possibly even get me fired? After all, it would be awkward to know that one of your employees had seen you naked, kissed you, and felt your…

"I... I have to go," I blurted out suddenly.

Adrian blinked confusedly at me as he asked, "Do you work here?"

"No,” I answered too quickly. “I mean yes. Maybe. I mean, I do. I’m a new hire. My name is Serena. Oh wait, that’s not important. You didn’t ask me for my name."

“Relax, Serena,” he said as he chuckled. “I’m not going to bite you. You can calm down.”

I backed away slowly, nodding aggressively like a malfunctioning bobblehead. "I should get back to my desk,” I said. “It was great meeting you, Mr. Knight. Bye."

And then I ran. I mean I literally ran back to my cubicle, and I collapsed into my chair, my heart racing as I thought about what this all meant.

I slept with Aiden Knight. The corporate hurricane. The walking scandal. The black sheep billionaire with a reputation for chaos. My life was officially on fire. The only thing left to do was to keep my head down, and make sure he’ll never see me.

By noon, I was ninety percent sure I had developed a rare neurological condition that caused chronic stupidity. There was no other explanation for my behavior. I spent the entire day in a heightened state of alert, my eyes ping-ponging around the office like a paranoid meerkat.

I completely botched my to-do list, and I ended up CC’ing HR in a simple email to the tech department, which was confusing for everyone as I had to explain that it was a mistake. I was just so distracted by the thought of Aiden Knight sitting up in the executive floor, probably playing video games on his laptop and not actually doing anything. I was too nervous to see him, but at the same time I also wanted to see him. It just didn’t make any sense.

He has to come down eventually, I reasoned. People have to eat, right? Even billionaires need snacks or something.

I refreshed meaningless spreadsheets just to look busy while peeking over my monitor every five seconds. Amy, my cubicle neighbor, leaned in around noon and whispered, "Are you, like... hunting someone?"

"I'm just adjusting my chair a little bit," I lied, blinking aggressively. “Sorry.”

She nodded sympathetically and said, "I know what you mean. That was my chair before you came along. It’s sort of a ritual for the newbie to endure the chair until they are relieved by a new employee. Sorry."

I hadn’t even noticed how uncomfortable the chair actually was until she mentioned it. But thankfully it distracted me a little bit from the thought of Aiden Knight, and I could focus on the squeaky noise coming from the chair. But I had to keep myself busy, because Ms. Stanton (my boss) was circling like a hawk. I was just about to leave for lunch when she suddenly dropped a stack of files onto my desk, and said, "These were meant to be copied and sent down to financing an hour ago."

I looked down in horror, and realized it was the quarterly report for the company. I had accidentally printed only two pages of each spreadsheet, and it was repeated over and over again.

Great. I was going to be fired on day one. That had to be a new record or something.

"I'll fix it," I blurted out. “Sorry.”

"You will redo it," she corrected, her heels clicking away like gunshots. “And do it right now before lunch. We’re all waiting on you.”

I got to work immediately, while still being a little bit distracted by the thought of Aiden Knight. I expected to see him show up at any time, but by 2 PM, there was nothing. And at 3:15 PM, I thought he was the one who walked in, but it turned out to be an intern with a similar bone structure. I’d finished correcting my mistake by then, and Ms. Stanton had ordered me to get her a coffee. I hurried off and came back on time in case he’d left the building, but he was still up there when I asked one of the interns.

Was he ever going to come down?

By 5 PM, my spirit had left my body. I gathered my purse and straightened my blouse, and I promised myself I would go home and scream into a pillow like a responsible adult. Aiden Knight clearly wasn’t coming down any time soon, and I had to just forget about it.

I made my way to the elevator, and pushed the button with a satisfied groan. Today had been exhausting, but at least it was over and I could go home and watch Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets with Lola.

I’d just pushed the button for the door when I suddenly heard a family voice saying, “Hold the door.”

Fuck!

I turned around, and sure enough it was Aiden Knight hurrying towards me. He was still in his black dress shirt, although the sleeves were rolled up carelessly, his tie was gone, and he had one hand in his pocket. He leaned against the panel with such unrestrained ease that it looked like he owned the entire building (which I forgot he technically did), and he pressed the button for the lobby.

“Sorry about that,” he said as he turned his back to me. My breath vanished as his eyes briefly flicked toward me, and then he turned away. There was no shock or recognition in his eyes, no interest, and not even a hint of vague curiosity. He just gave me a nod of acknowledgement, like the kind you give a random stranger on the road.

‘He's pretending. He has to be pretending.’

I stood stiffly beside him, gripping my bag so tightly my knuckles turned white. The silence was deafening, and my heart was punching through my ribs. I knew I had to say something, but I didn’t know what. The fact that he didn’t recognize me was humiliating enough, and I didn’t know what to make of myself. But maybe if I started talking to him, it would jog his memory a little bit.

"Long day?" I suddenly blurted out before I could stop myself.

He didn't even look at me as he said, "Very. I’m exhausted."

“Me too,” I chuckled, only to stare down at my feet. I expected some sort of response from him, since he was clearly the friendly and more extroverted twin. But his expression remained blank and indifferent, like I was a random employee he'd never seen before.

The elevator chimed as we reached the ground floor, and he stepped out without a backward glance. I didn't move from where I was standing, and my head was now spinning because only two things were now possible:

1.    He had completely forgotten about me.

2.    It wasn't him.

Which meant I was back to square one, because I didn’t know which of them it was. And whichever brother it was, he either didn't recognize me, or he’d recognized me and he chose not to say anything.

One of them was lying for sure. And I had to figure out who it was.