Taming the Whirlwind Read online

  I thought about putting makeup on or doing my hair, but what’s the point? I stared at my reflection, hoping to see someone worthy of standing next to him, but all I saw was pale skin, green eyes, and long brown hair that never did anything it was supposed to. There was no hint of extreme beauty that I knew he was used to. I was just plain Elizabeth. No matter how much I messed with my makeup or hair, I couldn’t avoid the truth. I sighed deep and just went for my usual look: the plain ponytail with eye shadow and mascara.

  When I made it back to the kitchen, Meg was already pouring me a cup of coffee. Even in her PJs, she stilled looked beautiful. Why couldn’t I do that? “Well, good morning to you too. You woke up on the wrong side of the bed apparently.” I guess I scowled at her.

  “What? No, I didn’t. I didn’t sleep very well last night. I just need my coffee fix and I’ll be fine.”

  Meg handed me my cup and said, “Well, drink up then. It looks like it’s going to be a caffeine filled day for you.” I just nodded. I knew she was right. There was no way I was going to make it through today on my own. I was exhausted and hurting everywhere. We drank in silence. That’s one of things I loved most about Meg. She knew when I wanted to talk or more like when she could push me to talk and when to back off. I took a few aspirins with the last of my coffee and rinsed my cup out.

  “I’ll see you after work. Maybe we should try cooking tonight?”

  “Have a good day at work, honey,” she smirked. “I’ll have dinner cooked and waiting for you at 6 pm promptly so don’t be late.” I laughed, knowing full well that her definition of cooked differed from mine and, well, most people’s. Most likely we would have take-out on a plate instead of the container. I shook my head, grabbed my bag, and started out for another day at work.

  “Hey Liz,” Danny greeted me as I walked in the door. “I hope you’re ready to work. We have some new clients coming in today.”

  “Morning. Of course, I’m ready.” I smiled for the first time in what felt like forever. The morning zoomed by in no time. I had worked with three new clients. It was fun getting to start from the very beginning. On my way to the elevator, I put my headphones in and turned them way up. I didn’t want to give my thoughts from earlier a chance to resurface. I stepped onto the elevator and instantly regretted it. I felt the electricity humming as soon as the doors closed. What was going on? The pull was getting stronger, so much so that my breathing increased and my pulse went sky high. This can’t just be from him; maybe I should see a doctor or something. Yeah right, what was I going to tell the doctor? My whole body feels like one big static shock runs through it. Oh, and by the way, it only happens when I’m around this incredibly attractive guy? Get real! He’ll think ‘you’re crazy’ and probably recommend me a shrink. I just needed to get away and stay away from him. Luckily, I was the first one off the elevator and made a clean getaway to the lobby.

  Suddenly, there was a hand grabbing my elbow that sent tingles to every part of my body. I looked up and there he was in all his black tailored suit, crisp white shirt, and black tie glory. He pulled my headphones out of my ears and smiled. “Good morning, Ms. Elizabeth. How are you?”

  “Actually, I think it would be good afternoon. I’m sorry. I’m fine, thank you. How are you?” I looked up into his eyes and the world went fuzzy for a minute.

  He dropped his hand from my elbow and ran his hand through his hair, then laughed. “You’re right…I guess it would be good afternoon.” How pathetic do you have to be to be jealous of a hand? Oh my God! Not only am I imagining electric charges, but now I’m jealous of body parts. Maybe I really do need to see a shrink. “Do you have plans for lunch?”

  “Yeah, umm no, not really. I was just going to walk to the deli around the corner and grab something quick.”

  “That sounds great. I haven’t eaten. We better hurry if we want a table.”

  What? Please play it cool, please play it cool. “Sure, why don’t you join me?” I replied sarcastically. I slapped my hand over my mouth.

  He cocked his head to the side and gave me a smirk. He completely ignored my sarcasm when he replied, “I thought we already established that.”

  “Not really,” I grumbled. With a nod, his hand was at the small of my back as he directed me through the lunchtime traffic. His touch had every part of my body humming. He did things to me with one touch that no man had ever done to me before, which I both loved and hated.

  On our way to the restaurant, I took a step wrong and winced. The morning was so busy that I forgot how sore I was. “Are you all right?” No, I’m not okay. My hormones are racing because you’re standing next to me.

  “Yeah. I overdid it at the gym last night,” I replied.

  He smiled, “Where do you work out at?” Why do you care? Wow, defensive much? Good Lord, he is just making conversation.

  “There’s one close to my apartment which I’m sure you saw on your way over last night.”

  He tried to stop his smile but you could see the edge of his lips twitch. “Yes, I know which one you’re talking about.” With that, we were quiet.

  We finally found a table and a very pretty blonde waitress walked over to take our order. She smiled at me and then she saw him. Her eyes glazed over and her cheeks flushed. Well, at least I wasn’t the only one. Her reaction irked me a little. Why was she looking at him like that? Oh, great…now I’m jealous of a waitress for looking at a guy that isn’t even mine. Seriously, I have got to be getting my monthly because I’m all over the place.

  The waitress turned her body towards him and asked with a smile, “What can I get you?”

  He lifted his eyes to meet mine, “Do you know what you want?” He never took his eyes off of mine, no matter how much the waitress tried to flaunt her tiny figure and obviously fake boobs.

  I waved my hands in front of her face to get her attention. “I know. You think he’s the sexiest man you’ve ever seen but I’m over here. I’ll have a grilled chicken wrap.”

  She reluctantly turned towards me with a glare, “Anything to drink with that?”

  “Yes, a sweet tea, please.” She nodded and turned back to Kade.

  “Were you ready to order now too?” she purred.

  “I’ll have what she’s having.” The waitress took the menus and turned on her heel. “So I’m the sexiest man alive, huh?” He gave me his cocky smirk that I was starting to love. I flushed red and looked at my hands.

  He reached across the table and lifted my chin with his long fingers so that our eyes met again. “Don’t look down. You have the most exquisitely beautiful eyes.” I flushed scarlet again. “I would give anything to know what you are thinking right now.” What am I thinking? Well, for starters, there was the ‘why the hell we’re eating lunch together.’ Of course, there is the constant thought of ‘what would it feel like to have his lips on mine?’ I decided to go for the less embarrassing one.

  I waited to reply until the waitress set our drinks down. “I was just wondering why in the world you would want to eat lunch with me.” Did I seriously just ask it like that? I made it sound like eating lunch with me was a bad thing.

  He choked on his drink. “Well, I was hungry, and it’s never fun to eat alone.” He shrugged.

  Oh great…it’s a convenience thing, how embarrassing. “Oh, I see.” I turned my head to look out the window.

  “I didn’t mean it like that. I’m glad we’re eating together.” Huh? He wants to eat lunch with me? He laughed. “Yes, I wanted to eat lunch with you.” Can he read my thoughts?

  “I asked that out loud, didn’t I?” He nodded. “Yeah, I have a bad habit of doing that.” I shook my head. I’ve got to watch that, especially when my mind wanders to the gutter. “Anyways, where were we? Oh, yes, about lunch. Why?”

  He gave me a half smile. “Do you really want to know?”

  I frowned, “I wouldn’t have asked if I didn’t.”

  He laughed and replied, “You are pretty blunt sometimes, aren’t you? To answer your
question, I have no idea why.”

  “Well, okay, that explains everything.” With that, the waitress was back with our meals. Her eyes never left his face but he never stopped looking at me. She finally gave up and sat our food down before walking away.

  “Once again, I didn’t mean it like that. Guess I’m not doing very well explaining myself today.”

  “Then what did you mean?” We sat there, blue eyes staring into green.

  “I meant that I don’t really understand my desire to have lunch with you. That didn’t help explain it either. Let’s eat before our food gets cold.” With that, we ate silently. It was incredibly hard to eat considering my stomach was in knots.

  Out of nowhere I blurted out, “Why are you always in the building? I know you don’t have therapy every day.”

  He cocked his head again and bit his lip to stop from laughing. Oh great, now he’s laughing at me. “Do you not know what the building is called?”

  I looked at him and tried to think. I’d only paid attention to the address when I went for my interview. I remember standing in front of the building and looking up. I blushed from head to toe. Ah, crap…the building is clearly marked Parker Towers. Like usual, there goes my foot to my mouth. I tried to cover it, horribly, “Just kidding! Of course, it’s Parker Towers.” He smiled at me. “Can we just say I had a blonde moment and forget the last five minutes ever happened?”

  “That’s quite all right. Maybe I need to have a bigger sign if people aren’t going to remember the building.” He winked at me.

  “I doubt there is anything to do with you that needs to be bigger.” Oh crap! I did not just say that out loud but I guess from the look of shock across his face, I did. Think, brain, think! “So, what exactly do you do, Mr. Parker?” I tried to recover from my major screw up but I don’t think there was a way back from that.

  Through gritted teeth he replied, “By that, you mean, how do I make my money?” Whoa, mood shift much. Where did that come from? That wasn’t what I meant at all.

  “Ummm no, I meant what do you do all day, as in from 9am-5pm.” He visibly relaxed. He must be touchy about his money but I could understand that. It would be hard to know if people saw you or they only saw dollar signs, especially women.

  “Well, I usually work more than 9-5. I’m what you would call a ‘workaholic’. I make my money in real estate, various other opportunities and investments.”

  “Real estate can be a tough career. I’m impressed.”

  “A compliment from you? Thank you but it’s like everything else in life. If you’re willing to work hard, you can be successful.”

  I had to laugh and his eyes went dark. I shut up mid-laugh. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to insult you. It’s just that what you said sounds like those crappy posters that employers hang all over the office.” I made a mental note never to make him mad, because just his eyes going that dark sent shivers down my spine, and not in a sexy way.

  He took a long breath before chuckling, “Yeah I guess I can see what you mean but it’s a philosophy I’ve held my whole life and trust me, I didn’t get it from any poster. It’s always nice to have a back-up plan so if my career tanks, I could always try creating motivational posters.” I smiled at him but I didn’t know what to say. His mood swings were giving me whiplash. I had never been so happy to see a waitress before.

  “Will this be two checks?” she asked hopefully, of course not even looking at me.

  Regardless if she asked me or not, I wanted out of there so I answered her, “Yes please.”

  His beautiful eyes turned dark again and he replied, “No, it will be on one.” He looked at me, daring me to argue, but I wasn’t stupid enough to try that. As soon as he handed her his credit card, she was gone. I wished I could retreat from that stare so easily.

  The waitress returned with his receipt. He sighed, which made me look up. His piercing blue eyes were back and he looked like he wanted to say something but he went with “Are you ready to leave?” instead. I just nodded, stood up, and started walking for the door. Once again, he put his hand at the small of my back as he weaved me through traffic. The tingle of his contact was eclipsed a little by his attitude.

  I kept replaying the end of lunch in my mind, especially his glare, and I couldn’t think of anything that would have offended him that much. The poster thing he seemed to understand and the check thing. “Thank you for lunch. You didn’t have to do that.”

  He guided me through the door and once inside, he dropped his hand. “You’re welcome. The pleasure was all mine.” He hit the elevator button and once again silence flowed over us. The doors opened and I started to walk in but he grabbed my elbow and pulled me aside to let others on. I looked up at him and he simply replied, “We’ll take the next one.” Once that elevator was gone, he pushed the up arrow again. In seconds, the doors were opening again. He led me into the elevator, his hand still on my elbow. He dropped it and quickly hit the close button and the button for my floor before anyone else could get on.

  I don’t know if it was because we were alone in an enclosed space but it felt like my whole body had been electrified. He murmured something under his breath but I was too lost in my own thoughts to hear what he said. All of a sudden, he entered a code and the elevator came to an abrupt halt. I turned towards him when he stepped back. I was about to ask what he was doing but the look I saw flash in his eyes froze me in place. Before I knew it, I was in his arms. Then his hand was in my hair, pulling my head up to meet his gaze. His eyes were hooded from desire and I’m sure mine mirrored his. His other hand was at the small of my back pulling me into him. His lips crashed into mine before I could take a breath. His lips felt so soft but strong against mine. I moaned from the pleasure and he used his tongue to explore my mouth. The way he was kissing me set my blood on fire. I put a hand on the nape of his neck and pulled him closer. The other hand I put in his glorious hair. He groaned from the contact. I don’t know how it happened, but the next thing I knew my back was up against the elevator wall. He pushed me into the wall so I could only feel his body, every hard inch of him. In that instant, I realized he wanted me as much as I wanted him. Our tongues were doing a slow and erotic dance that had me moaning again. When he put his hands on my butt to lift me up, I wrapped my legs around his waist and fisted both of my hands in his hair. The feeling of his body pressed against me and his tongue moving in my mouth was indescribable. I rocked my hips against him, which caused both of us to groan. My hormones were raging and I wanted him right now, right here. I should add elevator sex to my bucket list. I wonder if he would help me cross it off. Hmm, think we would get in trouble for that? I mean, he owns the building so I’m pretty sure we wouldn’t. Holy hell, what am I thinking? I’ve never thought about having sex in public before, but now that I think about it, it does sound kind of hot. Seriously? I’m debating whether public sex is a good idea or not right now? All I should be thinking about is the way his lips feel moving against mine. I don’t know how long we kissed, but I do know it wasn’t long enough. He sat me down then trailed kisses up and down my neck until both of our breathing returned to normal.

  He reached over and punched in another number and the elevator lurched back into action. I’m glad I didn’t do anything fancy with my hair today because it would have been destroyed. I straightened my ponytail and my clothes. I looked over to see him straightening his tie. He looked lost in thought so I kept my mouth shut. Not that I could think of anything to say. The rest of the ride was filled with complete and utter silence. When the doors opened, I rushed out without giving him a backwards glance. What was that? We just had, hands down, the most amazing kiss of my life and then complete radio silence. He probably thought it was a mistake. Well, if he thought it was a mistake, then so did I. I couldn’t let myself be alone with him ever again. We could never kiss again no matter how amazing it was or how bad I wanted to do it again and again. I wouldn’t let it happen again. No, I couldn’t let it happen again. I nodded my hea
d, took a deep breath, and walked back into work.

  “Are you okay? You look flushed,” Lori the receptionist asked. She was about my age and seemed like a lot of fun.

  “Yeah, I’m fine. I was just rushing to get back from lunch; I didn’t want to be late.” That was a total lie but I guess it worked because she dropped it.

  I looked at the schedule for that afternoon and it looked like I had six clients to work with, which meant it would be a busy afternoon. I was just hoping I could focus on work and not on what just happened in the elevator. The first two appointments were established so they were easy to get through. The third client was a six-year-old girl who had me laughing throughout the whole appointment. Her name was Lucy and she was very perceptive for her age. She’d fallen out of a tree trying to get her cat, Mittens, and broke her arm in three different places.

  I had finished with my last client and started cleaning all of my equipment when Danny came over. “Still glad you came here?”

  “Yes, so far, I love it. The clients are great.” I replied with a smile. I did love it here; every day was something different.

  “Good, you’re doing an amazing job. Once you get more comfortable here, I will send more clients your way.”