Cherry Girl

by Raine Miller

  “Because I’m not interested?” I gave him a fake smile.

  “Aww, baby, don’t be harsh. I just want to take you out and show you a good time, you know, for old time’s sake. What do you say?”

  I set down my Kindle and gave him a patient look. “I say, dear Denny, for about the tenth time, no thank you.” Not for old time’s sake, or new time’s sake, or any future time’s sake are we ever going out together.

  God, I could only imagine the scenario he’d have set up for “showing me a good time.” No. Just no. I wasn’t going back to an ex that had cheated on me with some slut in a back alley behind the pub.

  Even though I wouldn’t ever consider him, I had to say, Denny Tompkins surprised me in where he’d ended up. I’d have placed bets on prison. But according to him, he hadn’t been to prison and was gainfully employed at his father’s import business. I could only imagine what illicit goods they imported, but it was better than the street dealing I was pretty sure he used to do. Maybe still did. Who knew? He’d been persistently stalking me on my lunch hours since he’d spotted me down here in the courtyard on my second day of work.

  “Are you finally going to tell me where you work today, baby?”

  “Stop calling me ‘baby’ and no, I’m not. It’s called an invasion of privacy, Denny, and you need to stop.”

  He smirked at me and tilted his head, his dark wavy hair falling over his eyebrows and making him look dreadfully charming. He might be a hooligan in a suit, but he was a very handsome man all the same.

  “You’re tough now, Elaina baby. What happened to the sweet young thing you used to be with me?” He put his hand on my leg. “We had good times together.”

  “She grew up. And watch how you talk to me. And stop groping me,” I said firmly, while brushing his hand off my leg.

  I remember how relentless he’d been with me after Neil left for Afghanistan, and before I went to Italy. I couldn’t shake him then, either. Ian finally had to step in and make him stop pestering me to be with him again. He just wanted me back in his bed, but I wasn’t interested. Denny had the persistence gene for sure, but was too dense to understand that no man would take Neil’s place.

  No, that spot was a permanently empty placement.

  “All right, then. Until tomorrow, baby.” He leaned in and gave me a peck on the cheek. He also reached into my lunch bag again and stole a few more grapes before sauntering off.

  I rolled my eyes and tried to get back into my book, wondering how in the hell, out of all the places in London, my new job put me smack dab in the same locale as my ex, Denny Tompkins. No luck had I, apparently.

  With that thought, I gave up my decadent vampire book and gathered my things. I sought out the newsstand for some foreign papers instead. Reading the news in Italian or French kept me up to date with the foreign headlines, and sharp in a different way than just reading the language.

  “That’ll be two pound fifty.” Muriel, the newsagent on the corner was quite the character. She looked like something between a homeless crone and a Gypsy fortuneteller with her habit of attempting to predict the future. Her eyes were the most amazing greenish-hazel though, unlike any colour I’d ever seen. Just stunning.

  “Here you go, Muriel, and keep it.” I handed her a fiver.

  “Ye be an angel ta me, so bless ye.” She flashed me a horrific toothy grin. “Gimme your hand, girl. I’ll read ye.”

  She took my right hand and held it at an angle. She traced over the lines of my palm with her gnarled finger and muttered as she named them. “Life, Health…Love.” Her beautiful eyes snapped up to mine at the last one. “Ye have love comin’ yer way, girl. True love is a comin’ for ye.” She smiled again.

  Muriel’s declaration rattled me. I pulled my hand out of her grasp, mumbled a quick “thanks” and left quickly with my newspapers; sure she was just trying to validate her fortuneteller act with me.

  Seriously? True love was coming for me, huh? I wanted to laugh, but I didn’t. The particular words she’d used, were ridiculous because I knew her prediction was totally false. I had only one true love, and I’d told him a long time ago…to never come for me.

  ****

  I’d returned from lunch when Frances buzzed though and asked me to make my way down to the executive offices with the translations I’d done.

  This was it. Meeting time. I tried to suppress the nerves suddenly making me jittery and prepared to leave my station.

  I hurriedly gathered up my paperwork and folders and went to open the door using the security key code on the access panel. I punched in Z-A-R-A and got the door open successfully, but my paperwork not so much. The edge of the folder got jumbled on the door frame and I lost hold of it. The contents spilled out all over the floor at my feet.

  “Well, shit.”

  I dropped down to pick up the pages, mortified and praying not too many people saw my blunder, when two well clad male feet stepped into my line of sight.

  “Let me help you with that,” he said, dropping down and beginning to pick up the mess of papers scattered at our feet.

  “Thank you,” I managed, too embarrassed to make eye contact when he handed a stack to me.

  He rose up and so did I. Determined on organizing the pages in my now very untidy folder, I was distracted and not paying close attention when I offered an introduction to my helper. “Sorry for that. I’m Elaina, the new reception—”

  I drew my line of vision up a very large-suited chest, and met eyes I had looked into before. Dark, beautiful eyes, that had burned back at me with love in moments of deepest intimacy. Eyes I had loved…

  I lost the rest of my words.

  My heart hammered. Speechless didn’t even begin to cover it. Breathless and dumbstruck needed to be in there too, because I dropped the folder again and heard the papers dump out in a heap at our feet with an airy swoosh.

  “N-Neil.”

  “Elaina,” he said stonily.

  The hard frown on his face proved he was just as surprised to see me, as I was to see him.

  15

  For fucks sake! Elaina was the new receptionist?!

  My heart skipped and stuttered from inside my chest as I tried to process this bit of information. Frances had just mentioned to me, not a half hour ago, that we’d hired a new girl. Never in my wildest dreams…

  Well, it all made sense to me now. I figured out who was behind it in an instant. And was going to kill the miserable sod just as soon as I could get my hands around his traitorous neck. Mum Morrison would get a pass on the strangling, but I was greatly annoyed with her as well.

  But first, I needed to look... Five years since my eyes had rested on her. Even longer than that at a close enough distance to reach out and touch her. I dragged a hand along my scalp instead, gripping the back in a handful of hair and pulling hard until it stung.

  Now this was a mind fuck in the purest sense. I was barely able to keep myself contained, my mind and my body operating at odds and totally independent of one another. My Elaina—the woman I’d never stopped loving, the girl who’d captured my heart all those years ago, and who I’d painfully LET GO—was here before me claiming to be newly employed at BSI.

  Fuck me into next week! And then some more.

  My thoughts were totally lost in a jumble of shock and disbelief.

  Eons might have passed, I don’t know, but yes, this was indeed a fuckin’ blow to my sensibilities. I needed a drink, or a pitcher, or maybe I’d just sleep in the pub tonight. And I definitely felt a headache coming on.

  “I—I didn’t know…” she began. “Nobody said—I—I’m—ahh…”

  I didn’t register what she was saying because I couldn’t. I just stared.

  So, here she was again right in front of me. As beautiful as ever. More beautiful even than I remembered. No longer a girl of eighteen trying to find her way, but a woman of twenty-five with the confidence to go with the maturity.

  Her confidence might be a tad lacking at that very moment
though. Those midnight-blue eyes reminded me of a deer caught in headlights. It took great effort on my part to keep from touching her. To reach out and embrace her was instinctual, and I wanted to, but I controlled the urge and waited for some kind of response from her. After all, she’d been the one to leave me hanging without letting me have my say. The wound from that gash to my heart was still there, freshly ripped open and dripping metaphorical blood down the front of me. I’d waited this long, I could wait some more.

  “Wh—what are you doing here?” Her throat moved as she swallowed hard and made me want to put my mouth there and taste. I craved the experience of remembering the flavor of her skin, but more than anything, I wanted her to acknowledge me again. I wanted her to have to look at me, to talk to me, to accept me being near her. And, if I knew anything about Elaina, it was that she would try to flee from me again.

  “I’m Chief of Operations here at BSI.” I let that sink in for a moment and watched her beautiful complexion grow pale before my eyes.

  “You work here.” It was not a question, but a statement, as if she were trying to convince herself of this bit of news.

  And I know just how you feel, darlin’.

  She pulled her hand through her hair and drew it down to rest in the hollow of her throat, like she was trying to protect herself. Interesting watching her terrified reaction to my bomb drop. Strangely, it made me happy at the same time. If she was instinctually seeking protection from my proximity then it meant that seeing me again was having some sort of effect on her. Good. If she was this affected by me just being there, then it had to be nothing compared to what I was experiencing in her presence. For so long, I’d wanted to be this close to Elaina again. So long. It almost felt surreal to finally get my wish after aching for it to happen. Years, I’d waited. I’d figured it would happen eventually because I was still close with her family, but I suppose I couldn’t really prepare myself for the actual reality. And, not like this. Working together in the same office? Jesus, God, and all the angels!

  I felt numb.

  I was indeed numb as I spoke my answer, not really quite sure how to break the news to her, when she was right in front of me.

  “Every day since its founding over five years ago.” I nodded slowly, trying to keep it cool with her. “I served with E—Ethan, in the SF.” I gestured with my hands up. “Yeah, all this was waiting for me when I came home from the war.” But you weren’t, were you, Elaina? I could be a bastard when I felt like it, and I have to say, I felt like it right then. Fuck, but I was entitled to something more than this stilted, chilly reunion. I’d known her since forever and we were reduced to this awkward silence and distance after where we’d been together? But that was the problem wasn’t it? The part where we’d been together. And all the intervening years when we hadn’t.

  The whole thing was pretty fucked up. But, I was used to that in my life though. Lots and lots of fucked up had made its presence known to me over the years. I didn’t remember a time when it hadn’t, but Elaina was never part of all the bad in my life. She was the good. Only good…at least that’s how I remembered it...until the very end. The ending of us had nearly destroyed me.

  I hoped for some kind of reaction from her, something. Anything at all would do.

  “Oh, okay…” Her eyes flickered over me for an instant and then down and to the side. This was all definitely a surprise for her, too. Good. Again.

  I saw her breathing hitch, and remembered what she’d been like when I’d had her beneath me and about to come. Those sexy breaths of air as she’d shuddered around me. The tight grip of her pussy squeezing around my cock when I was inside her…

  I couldn’t help what I said to her next. “Looks like we’re going to be workmates, Elaina.”

  “Ahh...yeah.” She did something that I wasn’t expecting then. She bit down on one side of her bottom lip and pulled it into her mouth a little, a look of discomfort flashing across her face as if experiencing pain. That’s what it looked like at least, and I felt some kind of small victory. The comment about this job “waiting” for me was a dickhead move on my part, but it came out of my mouth and I wasn’t calling it back. It was the truth even if it gave me no satisfaction. She moved to pass me in the space of the pathway. “Frances is expecting me in her office…we’re going over some contracts I’ve just translated...”

  “Would those be them?” I pointed to the floor.

  “Shit.” She dropped down again and started grabbing up the pages, the short black skirt she wore riding up quite nicely along her legs as she worked. She was clearly embarrassed and I could see the flush in the tops of her cheeks as they reddened.

  My cock reacted the instant I saw the rosy blush appear in her skin. Just like old times.

  I bent down to help once more and caught a whiff of her perfume, the scent taking me right back to six years ago as if only mere moments had passed. “Do you think you’ll be able to get that file down the hall to Frances or shall I escort you?”

  Inhaling sharply at my comment, she snatched the last paper from my hand and shoved it sideways into the folder. “I should be able to make it this time, thank you,” she said with a bite of sarcasm.

  “Good luck, then,” I said, standing up yet again and offering my hand to assist her. “Focus, Miss Morrison.” I forced a smile.

  Surprisingly, she accepted my hand and let me pull her back up. At least there was some contact. Hands. My hand was on hers and I didn’t want to let go. I wanted to tug her against me and carry her off somewhere private. I wanted to demand to hear her story and I wanted to make her listen to mine. We deserved that much. Both of us deserved at least that little bit of honest communication for closure if nothing else.

  Elaina released my hand and attempted to tug her skirt down without losing the file for a third time. Quite the feat for her apparently, and I had my doubts about whether the file would make it safely to Frances’s office or not.

  I very much enjoyed watching her try though, just as I enjoyed the view of her magnificent arse from behind in that short skirt as she walked away.

  My sweet Cherry Girl was back in my life whether she liked it or not. I knew where she lived and I knew where to expect her every day for work. I would get to see her and she would even have to talk to me. I was her superior here, and she didn’t have a choice in that.

  She might still hate me and never give me another chance with her, but we’d just have to see what happened, now wouldn’t we?

  I had a task that needed my attention, or rather a best mate that needed murdering.

  I went straight out, left the forty-fourth floor and down to number forty-two. I sailed past Ian’s secretary holding my hand up to her surprised protest and barged into his office.

  He was speaking into the telephone but I ended his call for him. I stabbed the red button several times and disconnected him.

  “What the fuck, Neil?” Ian glared at me. “I’m taking a call of business here. Do you mind?”

  “Yes, I do in fact mind very much, you meddling cocksucker! What in the fuckin’ hell are you on about bringing Elaina to work at BSI?”

  Ian sat back in his leather desk chair and folded his hands in his lap, looking smug and cocky. “My sister needed a job, and well, it’s a perfect fit for her…in every way. Frances, Mum, everyone agrees.” He flipped his dark blue eyes, which matched Elaina’s to perfection, up to peg me hard. “Wouldn’t you agree as well, mate?”

  I pointed at him, my outstretched finger visibly shaking. “I would agree that you’re a fuckin’ arsehole, how’s that for agreement?”

  Ian shrugged, picking up the telephone and redialing. “Sticks and stones, brother.”

  “How about staying out of my business…brother.” I was so angry at being played, I knew I had to leave before I committed a heinous assault on the bloke I considered my brother, even though by blood he wasn’t. “Fuck off, Ian,” I said, turning to go.

  “You’re welcome, Neil,” Ian called out cheerful
ly. “We’ll talk later at the pub.”

  16

  I slammed into the house I’d grown up in and started yelling.

  “Mum, how could you?” I demanded, throwing my purse down on the table and kicking off my heels. “You knew Neil worked at Blackstone Security, didn’t you? You set me up, and Ian too, the bastard.”

  “Now, darling, please don’t be upset, but think about your new job and how much you’ve loved working there in just the short time you’ve been employed. It’s a marvelous opportunity for you. And I know you love Neil despite whatever happened between you two,” she admonished.

  Yeah, and this is not news to me, Mum. I glared at my mother; totally unbelieving she’d done something so manipulative and underhanded to me.

  “And he is so good to me…” she trailed off, taking a sip of her six o’clock gin and tonic while trying to look innocent. She was damn good at it too.

  “Did Neil suggest to you to get me to apply for the job? Did he ask Ian to recommend me?” Realization dawned and I felt the urge to thrash somebody. “Wait—what do you mean Neil is always so good to you, Mum?” I was absolutely fuming with the knowledge I’d been duped by my own family to bring me back to England, and to Neil. But something didn’t ring true with my theory. Neil did not act like he was expecting me. In fact, he looked completely and utterly shocked at seeing me again. Nobody had told him I’d been hired, I would bet my bank account.

  It all made sudden sense. My family was conspiring to get us back together.

  Not. Going. To. Happen.

  “Well, Neil’s always been a lovely boy, Elaina darling. You know that about him. Such a help, especially after your father died.” She took another healthy slug of her G&T and sniffed. “He—he checks in on me quite regularly, my dear, I just never said anything to you about him because he specifically asked us not to bother you with it.”