Haley's eyes met Nathan's in a look of complete and utter surprise.
"Nathan! Lucas!" Melissa jumped up to greet them. "I want you to meet the newest addition to personnel! Lucas, Nathan Scott, this is Haley James. She will be assisting me here in the office on several PR campaigns. This is her first day with us."
Haley had walked over and extended her hand to Lucas, "It's nice to meet you."
"Nice to meet you too, welcome to the team," Lucas replied with a smile.
She then turned to Nathan, "hello," she said shaking his hand.
"Yeah, it's nice to meet you," Nathan said with a nonchalant tone that shocked Haley.
To her great surprise, she could feel her cheeks flushing with anger.
"Yes, you too," she replied, struggling to maintain a friendly tone in Lucas' and Melissa's presence.
"Well, we're using Conference Room 1 Melissa. If you can show the reps from Wagner in when they arrive? They should be here shortly."
"Certainly, will do!" Melissa said brightly.
Nathan and Lucas walked through the office to Conference Room and shut the door.
Melissa rushed over to Haley's desk. "You may have guessed from the last name, but those guys started this company -- they're the head honchos around here. If they need anything, we go and get it done...no matter what."
Haley shook her head.
How was it possible everyone had failed to mention this minor detail before now??
"I really didn't know who had started this company so thanks for the information," Haley replied, dazed.
"They were both at the party the other night, I'm surprised you didn't meet them. I'm sorry I didn't get to introduce you," Melissa said before going back to work looking at proofs.
Haley nodded, a sick knot forming in her stomach. Yeah, she had met Nathan alright at the party… Now he was her boss and he had acted like he'd never met her before. That pompous, arrogant- Haley had to stop thinking about it. She couldn't think about it anymore, it made her nauseous. Could things get any worse?
~~~~~~~~~~~
Nathan and Lucas sat in the conference room.
"That girl, Haley, she looks familiar," Lucas said. "I think I saw her at the party the other night."
"Yeah, she was there," Nathan said, his eyes never leaving the paper he was holding.
"So, you met her before today?" Lucas asked, curiously.
Nathan sighed, "so what if I did?"
Lucas' eyebrows rose in surprise. "No matter...you just acted like you'd never met her before."
Nathan sighed and looked up at Lucas. "Alright, I'm going to tell you something. You have to swear, this never leaves this room...and it doesn't affect her or her job."
"What? What is it?" Lucas asked with interest.
"She's the one from Saturday night...she's who you heard leaving early Sunday morning."
Lucas' eyes widened. "Oh my God! Nathan!"
"Shh! Keep your voice down!" Nathan said in a low voice.
"Dammit! You didn't even wait for her to actually even start the job! You got to her before her first day!!"
"Just stop! I didn't even know she worked here. It never occurred to me to ask what she was doing at the party," Nathan replied. "I thought she was there socially with friends."
"You know this isn't good at all," Lucas said.
"Listen, it won't matter, alright? We're professional...we just acted professional in there."
"You are so clueless," Lucas said, looking at the wall.
"It won't be a factor...remember...she's the one who bailed that morning, not me."
"...that's because she beat you to the punch," Lucas said dryly.
Those biting words got to Nathan. He knew that his behavior toward women had been dubious at times. He knew that pretending to have never met Haley before this morning was dubious. It wasn't something he was exactly proud of...but that previous morning- waking up alone...it had really struck a nerve. This girl had gotten under his skin.