Awakening (6 page)

Ryan walks in the conference room scowling. Lovely. He crosses the room briskly and sits without removing his topcoat. Placing his briefcase on the table, he snaps it open and pulls out the plan book and room schematics.

I glance at Julie who sits waiting, impassive. Okay, here goes nothing.

“Hello, Mr. Cole. How are you doing today?” I start.

“Yeah, fine. Blah blah blah. I’d like to get this done as quickly as possible. I have clients to attend to.” He speaks without even looking up. What happened to fun Ryan? I feel myself bristling and sit up straighter. There is no way this could be the same man from the club. Ryan Cole is cold, rude and wound up like a top. I feel stupid for even wanting him to be the same man.

“Well yes, by all means, let’s move pleasantries and manners aside and get straight to work!” I clip.

I hear a slight gasp from Julie, but I refuse to look at her. This man has got to be stopped. How dare he come in and treat us this way? He called this meeting, not us.

“Right, then,” I hear Ryan say, but I’m not looking at him. I am pulling out the summary I typed up. With an extra copy in hand for him, I stand.

“Mr. Cole, here is an updated summary of where we are. I wrote this about ten minutes ago, so it is as up to date as we can get. Maybe you would like to review this, first.” I walk across the room, but just before I get close enough to hand it to him, he stands abruptly.

We are eye to eye, only about three inches between us. I smell soap coming off his skin. His eyes are dark chocolate this morning; they seem to go on forever. He reaches out and slowly takes the summary from me, brushing his hand slowly across mine. An involuntary gasp comes out of me. Damn.

His eyes widen in surprise, and I see a small smile play across his lips. Double damn.

Holding the paper, but not taking it from my hand he says, “My apologies, Miss Young. I didn’t mean to be rude. I only meant to hurry the meeting along.” Somewhere in my fogged brain I hear a small voice telling me to move away from him and go back to my chair.

Responding a little too late, and I walk back to my chair without saying anything. I’m desperately tying to compose myself and try to breathe. By the time I reach my chair, my brain has regained its speaking capabilities.

“Apology accepted, Mr. Cole. Now, since you were the one to call this meeting, is there anything specific you needed reassurance on?”

I steal a glance at Julie while he is reading the summary. She is ashen, her jaw still open. I glare at her and she recovers. She looks down and shakes her head and then smiles up at me with a wicked I-know-what-you-dreamt-about smile. I am so doomed.

“As you know, Mrs. Foster is concerned about the place looking its best. Flowers and what have you. Paper pads with logos on them, et cetera. Is all that confirmed?”

“Yes.” Julie pipes up.

“And have you had any more issues with the hotel management trying to move our room reservations around?”

“No. That seems to be resolved as well.” I jump in on that one.

“There is one more thing that we neglected to add to the festivities,” he says, looking away from both us.

Oh, no. They want to add something with less than a week to go.

“Oh?” I ask, trying to sound calm.

“Yes, well, we forgot about the corporate gift. Actually, we had an internal debate about it. There were some who felt that it was unnecessary, and I guess those who felt that it was necessary have won the debate. Only just. So, yes, I need to add a corporate gift to the to-do list.” Ryan looks pained as he says this.

I am guessing that he was heavily in the unnecessary side of the debate.

“Okay.” I breathe out. “Did you have something in mind?”

There are loads of wonderful corporate gift ideas out there, but nothing that will work within our time frame. I’m trying hard not to panic.

“Yes, in fact, I do.” Ryan sits up and pulls something out of his briefcase. “This is a monogramed pen and mini notepad set. I made some calls this morning, and I believe we can get this ordered and shipped out in time.” He starts to pass the paper across the table.

Again, the table is too large to reach across. He notices this and somewhat awkwardly starts to get up. Oh, maybe he thought I walked over there to flirt with him?

I watch as he moves across the table, and to my shock, he sits down next to me. Be still my heart. I can deal with all these confusing emotions across the table, but now I feel the heat rising from his skin as he sits next to me.

“Here are the company details. And my notes.” He leans closer, showing me the papers. Suddenly, my brain is completely empty.

I feel his gaze on me. “Did you have a late night, Miss Young? You look a little tired.” As he speaks, I hear the humor in his voice.

Rage spikes though me. He is laughing at me, damn him. Rage is good, it fuels my brain, and now I am on fire again.

“Mr. Cole, I am a little tired, thanks for asking. Nothing for you to worry about, this project is my top priority,” I say, icily shifting in my chair to face him.

I feel his surprise as he jerks back, the smile fading from his mouth.

He waits a beat, giving me a searching look. I gaze back at him, hopefully with an impassive look on my face.

I pick up the order forms and the notes. “I’ll get right on this.” Flipping through the notes, I notice that there is no employee list attached. I hand the order form over to Julie, without looking at her; I can’t take what ever expression is on her face right now, I am doing everything I can to hold my own with Ryan so close.

“Do you have a list of all the employees who will receive one? First and last names? We need all of that as soon as possible.” I turn and look up at him. He is staring at me with an unreadable expression on his face. His eyes are flashing, possibly with some salacious thought? I’m not sure, but whatever he’s thinking, it’s not about the corporate gift.

Without taking his eyes from mine, he leans in and says, “I will have that for you shortly.” My mouth goes dry and my heart rate spikes. This effect he has on me is baffling. With each little word he speaks, tingles run down my spine, landing in my belly. I can barely breathe.

“Well, I’d better get started.” Julie breaks our spell and I let out a deep breath.

“Was there anything else you needed, Mr. Cole?” I ask, trying to appear devoid of emotion.

He looks rather sheepish as he stands, straightening his topcoat. “Um. No. I think that about covers it.”

“If you don’t mind, I’ll get started working on this right away.” Julie bolts for the door. I glare at her, pleading for her to stay. She doesn’t even look back, or say goodbye. She practically runs to the door and is gone before I can respond.

I turn back to face Ryan. Our distraction is gone, but the spell now seems to be broken as he moves back toward his briefcase.

“I am sure we will meet on this again, Miss Young.” He snaps his briefcase shut and looks up at me. No more sheepish boy look, no more wickedness in his eye. Just Mr. Professional.

“Yes, of course.” Exhaustion seeps back into my bones.

He stops and looks back at me flashing that salacious smile of his, “You look great in those heels, Young. You should wear them more often.”

My mouth drops open. Before my brain function returns he is out the door and down the hall. Stunned, I watch him until he disappears. What was that? I sink back into the chair. I’m going to need another coffee to make it through the rest of this day. What little reserves I had are now depleted. My stomach aches, my heart is leaping around, and somewhere deep inside of me, is an awakening, something I have never felt before.

~~~

The text comes in from Darren as I’m leaving the office, ‘Here. Where r u?’

Crap. Crap. Hurriedly, I text back ‘Running late. On my way now.’

I rush to the car; my frazzled nerves are over stimulated by my obscene consumption of caffeine. Exhaustion, confusion, and a quagmire of emotions clash around my body. I feel knocked around and the exhaustion resonates deep in my bones. I want nothing more than to simply go home by myself, take a hot bath, and go straight to bed tonight.

While driving home, memories of the other night flood my brain. Could Darren and I ever get that passionate? I mean, without sex toys obviously, but would he take me dancing and let go like that? Would he even want me to dance with him that way?

I meant to send Darren a text or call him or something. I hadn’t had a second all day. Guiltily, I realize that I have had thoughts of Ryan Cole reeling around in my brain. Ryan’s smile comes rushing back to me, causing my stomach to flip. More guilt seeps into my system. My phone buzzes once again.

‘Waiting at ur door. Where r u? :( ’

Oh lovely. Now he’s mad. Just what I need right now. Well, excuse me for having a busy day at work.

As I step off the elevator, I see him pacing in front of the door. Taking a deep breath, I start damage control.

“Hi there. Sorry I’m late. Crazy day at the office. How come you didn’t use your key?”

Rushing down the hall, I don’t think about my shoes until I lean down to kiss him and realize that I am towering over him. Damn these shoes! As I reach toward the lock with the keys, he steps to the side to let me pass. When I open the door, I can feel him seething behind me.

“I see you’re wearing your heels,” he says, coldly, as we enter my apartment.

Quickly, I slip them off. “I know, what a mistake. I thought they would help me get through this God awful day. But man, my feet hurt.”

He breezes past me heading towards the kitchen. “I’ve told you time and time again to throw those away. They’re not good for your feet. You look awful in them. They just look so uncomfortable.”

I freeze, astonished. Did he just say that? I’m pretty sure I should be royally offended. Darren and his damned insecurities! So you’re shorter than me; get over it, already. I laugh at the thought of actually saying that out loud. Like that would ever happen!

“So. How was your day?” I want the mood to get better fast.

“Great,” he says sharply, while he starts busying himself in the kitchen.

I head down the hall to change. “Good. I’ll be right out.”

I want to try and bring up the other night again, but obviously now is not the time. I’m thinking I over reached with the sex toy and hope that talking about it will work better. I am a bundle of nerves, excited about the possibility of bringing that kind of passion into our relationship, but I’m just not sure what the best way is to bring up dancing like that with a stranger. I’ll have to wait and see if his mood gets better.

We’re finally sitting down to dinner and I still haven’t mentioned it, memories of the condom fiasco fresh in my mind. The food is delicious, Chicken Piccata, my favorite, with steamed carrots and a tossed salad. Darren seems to have forgotten about my dreaded entrance, and my insides start to relax for the first time all day.

“Yum! This is so good! Thank you for making dinner. This is so what I needed.” I smile at him across the table. Darren is sipping his wine with an odd expression on his face.

“Good. I’m glad you like it.” He seems genuinely pleased. I feel myself relax even more. “You seem a little out of sorts today. Are you okay?”

“Yeah. I’m just a little tired. Didn’t sleep well last night.” I smile at him.

“Sorry to hear that.” He goes back to eating.

This is the perfect time to bring it up. I open my mouth to speak, but nothing comes out. Adrenaline surges through my body; I’m just so afraid of what his reaction will be! He looks at me expectantly.

“So, on the way home from the office, I heard that ad again.” I start with the first thing that comes to mind. “You know the one for law school.” I use my best announcer voice, “Are you thinking about going to law school?”

He drops his fork and scrapes his chair back. “Oh come on, Nora. Are you going to start with that crap again?”

What? I stare at him in complete bewilderment. What crap? I blink back at him, too stunned to speak.

“You know what I mean. I thought we agreed that you weren’t going to pursue that old subject again.” He waits a beat and I continue to blink at him, wondering to myself when we ever agreed I was giving up my dream, because I think I missed that.

“You’re so much happier when your not stressing out about some pipe dream you had in college.”

“Pipe dream?” I stutter back at him. “Pipe dream? Is that what you thought all this time? That law school was some pipe dream I had as a starry eyed freshmen?”

This is so unexpected. I was just making conversation, but now I’m angry. I can feel it slithering around like a snake thrashing through my body, coiling its way to the surface.

He looks back, surprised. And then he chuckles, “Okay, Nora. You want to go to law school now. Let’s talk about it.” The sarcasm in his voice is vivid, I see red.

“Darren, what is your problem? You’ve known since the day we met that I wanted to go to law school. Why are you acting like this is new information?”

“Really, Nora? You really want to go to law school?” He almost shouts back at me.

“Yes, I do. And I would have, but we were waiting until your career got established.”