Kaylee’s First Crush (8 page)

Kaylee laughed.
“Get out of here. I have
work
to do.”

Darla huffed.
“If you get anymore gifts you’d better tell me. I want to be the first to
know!”

“You’ll be the
only one to know, don’t worry,” Kaylee assured her friend dryly.

A week later,
Kaylee received another gift. Darla followed the deliveryman to her office,
eyes sparkling.

“I see your
fairy godfather has arrived,” she said, walking past the guy and plopping down
in the guest chair once more.

Kaylee sighed.
“Don’t torment the delivery people. They’ll lose your packages accidentally on
purpose,” she retorted.

The guy held
out his clipboard for her to sign and winked at her. “It’s okay. I don’t mind
being tortured by two pretty ladies.”

Darla’s mouth
dropped open. Kaylee laughed as she signed the sheet and took the package.
“Thanks,” she said. The man smiled at her and left the office.

“Did he just
flirt with us?” Darla asked.

“Yup.”

“Wow. That
never happens.”

Kaylee didn’t
answer. She was too busy
unwrapping
the package to
worry about Darla’s self-consciousness. They were friends for a reason, after
all: they were both shy. A flat rectangular box the length of her forearm fell
from the outer box.

Darla’s eyes
widened. “That looks like a necklace box,” she said.

Kaylee had to
agree with her. She bit her lip, wondering if she should open it or just return
it to its sender. She’d tried to get Hugo’s phone number after he’d given her
the earrings last week so she could thank him, or talk to him,
anything
,
but she’d had no luck getting through. Calling Valtree Enterprises had been
quite the experience. She’d managed to get to his assistant’s second assistant
and then she’d hit a figurative wall. It was like trying to call the President:
impossible.

“Stop staring
at it; you’re killing me here,” Darla complained. “Put me out of my misery and
open it.”

Kaylee flashed
her friend a grin, then steeled herself and opened the box. She sucked in a
breath.
Oh my God
, she thought,
stunned. Inside
lay
the most gorgeous necklace she’d
ever seen. A single large diamond hung from a delicate, lacy chain—it had to be
platinum. It matched the earrings.

“Holy shit,”
Darla breathed. “That’s the biggest diamond I’ve ever freaking seen outside of
a museum.”

Kaylee couldn’t
move. She was completely, totally overwhelmed.

“My God, put it
on. At least you’ll be able to tuck it inside your blouse before someone tries
to steal it. I wouldn’t be surprised if Lisa mugged you for it.”

Kaylee snorted.
“I don’t believe this.”

“
You
don’t believe this? Ha. I feel like
we’re in a romantic comedy or something.” Darla fanned herself. “This guy,
whoever he is, has a serious crush on you.”

Kaylee shook
her head. “I don’t know.”

“Put it on,”
Darla said again. “We can speculate later.”

Kaylee took it
out of the box and slipped it over her head. The diamond slid down to rest just
between the top curves of her breasts. It was cool at first, but soon warmed as
her body infused the jewel with heat.

“Wow.
That looks great,” Darla said, voice hushed.

Kaylee
swallowed and extracted the note that had been tucked under the necklace. The
Valtree logo was at the top again, but she didn’t have the energy to hide it
from Darla this time. She read it aloud:

This should
sit right over your heart, in the spot my lips want to be.

Kaylee flushed
just thinking about Hugo kissing her there. Like before, there was no
signature.

“Is that
written on Valtree Enterprises stationary?” Darla asked
,
tugging the paper from Kaylee’s frozen fingers. “Whoa. It totally is.” She
looked up at Kaylee. “Who do you know who works at Valtree?”

Kaylee let a
small smile break free from her shock. “I’m not telling.”

Darla scowled.
“You are a sucky friend.”

Kaylee laughed.

Over the course
of the next few weeks, Kaylee received several more gifts. The week after the
necklace, he sent her two origami swans, folded from gold-leaf paper, necks
entwined to form a heart. She instinctively knew he’d folded them himself.
Darla had almost swooned over that gift.
And
I’m kind of fond of them myself
, she thought, running a finger down the
paper bird. She’d put them on her desk so she could see them all the time.

The week after
that, he’d sent her a gift card to one of the most exclusive dress shops in the
city. Darla had dragged her out of work the moment she’d received it, not
caring that it was the middle of the day. To be honest, Kaylee didn’t mind.
She’d found dresses for the gala for both herself and Darla.
 
For once, she hadn’t had to scrimp to pay for
an evening gown. The luxury of picking something that fit and having the
in-shop seamstress make sure it draped properly was intoxicating.

This week, he’d
sent her a single dark chocolate. Darla didn’t understand how he could send her
an obscenely expensive gift one week and one that cost literally five dollars
the next.

“It’s not about
the money,” Kaylee explained, savoring the chocolate. The note this time had
said that the taste of the chocolate reminded him of her: sweet, sexy, and
surprisingly complex. Her heart was still fluttering over those words, even as
she tried to explain Hugo’s personality to her friend. “He’s trying to woo me,
I think.” She smiled to herself. Who could have guessed he’d be such a
romantic? She’d suspected, especially after how gentle he’d been with her in
Chicago, but she hadn’t really dwelled on it. Now, remembering how many love
sonnets he’d made them read in high school had her chuckling. Suspecting
someone was a closet romantic and experiencing it first hand were entirely
different sensations.

“Clearly he has
money to burn, though. Maybe he’ll send you a car next week?” Darla asked
cheekily. “That would be cool. I’d like a ride in a Ferrari.”

Kaylee tucked a
stray hair out of her eyes as she smiled at her friend. “I don’t want a car.
I’d settle for his damn phone number.”

Darla frowned.
“Wait. You’re telling me that you know who it is and you don’t have his phone
number?” She shook her head, clearly exasperated. “Why don’t you just call
where he works? Valtree must have a directory or something.”

Kaylee snorted.
“I know exactly where he works and trust me, you can’t just call him.”

Darla fell
silent at that, eyeing her speculatively.

Uh-oh
, Kaylee thought, correctly interpreting the look on her friend’s
face.
I just gave it away
. She
shifted uncomfortably on her chair.

Darla narrowed
her eyes at her. “It’s Hugo Valtree, isn’t it? Your secret admirer is the
hottie billionaire himself,” Darla said, not a hint of doubt in her voice.

Kaylee bit her
lip.

Darla made an
impatient movement with her hand. “Come on, out with it.”

“Out with
what?” Kaylee tried to act innocent.

“You had him
for English in high school, don’t think I forgot that,” Darla said. “The
question is
,
how does he know you now? You were in
California, not exactly close to his usual hangout here in Manhattan.” She
ticked off a few more points on her fingers. “You’re shy. You don’t date. You
told me yourself that you’ve never had a boyfriend.” Her eyes sparkled. “Are
you a virgin?”

“What? No!”
Kaylee had never been so happy to be able to tell the truth. She’d be mortified
if anyone, even Darla, found out how old she was when she first had sex. Thank
God Hugo had solved that little problem for her.

“Okay, given
all that, how do you know Mr. Insanely Hot and Rich Valtree now that he’s no
longer your teacher?”

Kaylee looked
at her friend and recognized that she wasn’t going to be put off this time. She
took a deep breath and plunged into her explanation. “I met him again right
before I started working here. I ran into him at the airport in Chicago when
our planes were grounded because of a winter storm.”

Darla nodded.
“And?”

“What do you
mean, ‘and’?” Kaylee asked.

“Running into
an old teacher at the airport doesn’t lead to that.” Darla pointed at Kaylee’s
ears where the diamonds Hugo had given her dangled.

She sighed.
“All the hotels were full up. He offered to let me stay with him for the
night.”

Darla stared at
her. “You shared a room with Hugo Valtree.”

Kaylee
shrugged. “He’s a nice guy. I was an old student, just like you said. He
insisted.”

Darla didn’t
speak for a long moment. Kaylee squirmed beneath her friend’s penetrating look.

“How nice?”

Kaylee blinked.
“What?”

“How ‘nice’ is
he?” Darla used air quotes to emphasize her question.

Kaylee flushed
as the memory of him kissing her clit and grinning up at her sparked across her
mind.

“Oh ho!
I take it he’s very,
very
nice,” Darla crowed.

“Shut up,”
Kaylee said, swiveling around so her back was to her friend. She pressed her
hands to her cheeks, trying to cool down. It didn’t work. “I used to have a
massive crush on him in high school. All the girls did,” she found herself
muttering.

“Gee, I wonder
why?” Darla said with fake ignorance.
“Maybe because he’s
gorgeous?
All that dark
hair, that
ripped
chest.
Mmm-hmm.
I
have a crush on him, like,
right the hell now, and I’m a grown woman.”

Kaylee glared
out the window. Her friend was totally laughing about this.

“Maybe we’ll
see him at the gala,” Darla offered more kindly, when Kaylee didn’t respond.

Kaylee lifted a
shoulder as though she didn’t care.
Which was a lie.
The truth was
,
she
wanted
to see him again.
Desperately.

“We’ll see,”
she said eventually. When she turned around, Darla was gone.

Chapter Seven

Hugo sat at his
desk and stared at the blank sheet of paper. A ring box sat next to it. It was
a simple teardrop diamond set in platinum, the match to the earrings and
necklace he’d already sent to her. He didn’t know if he should give it to
Kaylee or not. It was an engagement ring. No one would mistake it for anything
else and he knew it. Even considering this was crazy. They barely knew each
other, except…

I know she’s
the one I’ve been waiting for
, he thought, tapping
his pen on the desk nervously.
She’s perfect for me, and I know it, even
after only one night with her, as insane as that sounds. The worst she can do
is say no, right?

He thought back
to that fateful evening in Chicago. Her shyness, tempered with her
determination to not ask for anything, had drawn him in. Her sense of
self-worth and total indifference to his money had cinched it for him. He knew
her basic personality, who she really was inside, after teaching her for a
year, despite how long ago that had been. Now that she was all grown up with a
life of her own, her independent spirit appealed to him. She’d gone to college
and managed not one, but two degrees in the same amount of time it took most
people to get their bachelor’s. She’d moved to New York on her own, with no
support system and thrived. She was strong, but also still innocent.

He nodded and
put pen to paper.

After writing
his note, he sealed it in an envelope and grabbed a stamp. The box he put in
his pocket. He’d see her at the charity gala tonight.

Kaylee eyed
herself in the mirrored wall next to the elevator. The gown she’d bought with
Hugo’s gift card made her feel beautiful. It was a deep rose satin, soft and
pretty. The bodice sat off the shoulders, highlighting her bosom. It fell in
soft drapes around her hips before elegantly swooping to the floor. She loved
it. She loved how good she looked in it.

I suppose
having enough money to get something perfectly tailored helps
, she thought. Dressing well sometimes seemed like an exercise in
futility as she hunted for clothes that would fit her top and bottom yet still
flatter her waist. With this dress, she hadn’t had to hunt around. She’d tried
it on and the boutique’s seamstress had fitted it for her body. It made her
breasts look gorgeous and her belly look nonexistent. It was the most beautiful
dress she’d ever owned.

She clutched
the matching purse, blushing slightly as she heard the crackle of paper. She’d
received his last note just that morning. Unlike the other gifts, this one had
come to her office with the regular mail and hadn’t had any accompanying box.
It was just a note, but oh, what a note it was! She pulled it out, unable to
resist reading it one more time: