Stubborn Hearts (Timid Souls #1)

by Melanie Munton

  And I wasn’t the only guy noticing. Every male head in the room was focused on her, even some of the ones with girlfriends who were trying to be coy about it.

  Either she didn’t notice it or simply wasn’t interested because once those piercing eyes of hers left mine, she focused her attention on Staci and found herself a drink.

  At least she hadn’t attempted to throw a plate at my head or claw my eyes out with those sexy red nails of hers. I would have understood if she had.

  Over the next twenty minutes, Claire and I didn’t speak to each other, not once. But there was plenty of smoldering eye contact that told me she certainly hadn’t forgotten about me. Whether or not the smoldering from her end was sexual tension or just simmering hate for me, I didn’t quite know. I knew that what I was communicating to her definitely wasn’t hate. But I wasn’t positive she was reading it that way.

  Regardless, she wasn’t ignoring me, which was good because that was when you really had a problem. If the girl showed any reaction toward you, good or bad, it meant that she cared on some level and you were still in the game. Even if it meant you had to do some major damage control. It was when she stopped paying attention to you altogether that you needed to worry.

  So, after giving myself a pep talk and commanding myself to be nice to her—to repair the poor opinion I knew she had of me—I scooted around the table and eventually squeezed in next to her.

  “Having a good time?” I asked, having to raise my voice to be heard over the music. My mouth was close to her ear and I could smell her shampoo. Green apple.

  Damn.

  Now, I’d never be able to smell anything even remotely similar to that without thinking of Claire.

  She looked at me with a bewildered expression, like she couldn’t believe that I’d asked such a simple question without coming on to her. Truthfully, it was hard not to say something suggestive about how much I loved a lady in red. But I refrained, giving myself a mental pat on the back for holding my tongue.

  “What, you didn’t come over here to ask me for a quickie in the bathroom?” she asked, raising an eyebrow and taking a sip of her drink. Her full lips skimmed across the edge of the glass in the most tantalizing way, making it impossible to look anywhere else.

  Damn her. She made it look as if she were teasing you even with the simplest of actions. Like everything she did was a form of foreplay because frankly, anything she did could turn you on. Or, at least turn me on.

  And now I was envious of a damn glass.

  “Well, I wasn’t going to say anything but since you brought it up…”

  You’re supposed to be charming her, dumbass. Not proving her theories about you correct.

  She rolled her eyes, shaking her head at me, but I caught the slight quirk in the corner of her upper lip that she tried to hide behind her glass. Huh. That was interesting. She might actually enjoy our little form of bickering more than I thought. And more than she wanted to let on.

  She made it a point of looking around the bar and waving her hand at the scene surrounding us. “Seems to me that there are plenty of options here, many of whom would probably be more than willing to serve as one of your conquests. So, why don’t you take one of these privileged princesses home with you and stop wasting your time with me.”

  I was about to say that nobody else had caught my eye like she had, not that she’d probably buy it even though it was true. But something in the way she’d said that stopped me, irking me.

  “Why do you think I’d go for the privileged princess type?”

  She raised her eyebrows at my tailored suit, expensive shoes, and Rolex, which had been a graduation gift from my parents a few years before. “Oh, I don’t know. I thought you might be kindred spirits,” she replied dryly.

  Her judgmental attitude was pissing me off. Normally, I couldn’t be so easily riled up, but my upbringing was kind of a touchy subject with me, especially considering the current nature of my relationship with my father.

  Plus, it was Claire. She had an uncanny ability to get under my skin.

  I tried to stop myself but the beer was taking effect. “Well, maybe you should take Andrew over there home with you,” I said, pointing to a friend of Thomas’ that I had met tonight for the first time. “He seems like the boring type. You know, the one position, only on a bed and in the dark, done in ten minutes type. You two would probably have plenty in common. Although, he might even be able to show you a thing or two. How’s that vibrator working out for you by the way?”

  Well, shit.

  There went any chance of having her legs wrapped around my head tonight.

  But Claire once again surprised me. She didn’t stomp off in a huff like I would expect most women to do. Instead, fire lit in her eyes and she chuckled under her breath, as if she had me all figured out.

  I hoped not.

  Because I sure as hell didn’t have her figured out.

  “Actually, he hasn’t seen much action recently.” I started to laugh at that and then realization sunk in of why she wouldn’t have been using it. The glint in her eyes was knowing as she continued, “Haven’t really needed him because I’ve been well-satisfied with the non-boring type. You know, the fuck me against the wall, bend me over the hood of the car, make me scream until I’m hoarse type. You know that type?” Her eyes traveled down my body and landed on my pants which were, much to my displeasure, becoming uncomfortably tight. I couldn’t help it, though. I’d like to see a straight man listen to a beautiful woman talk like that and not get hard. She noticed, too, and looked back up at me, smirking. “Of course you don’t.”

  Then, she walked away into the crowd.

  And I was left, yet again, with a painful hard-on and an image of me bending her over the hood of my car.

  On top of all of that, I let her get in the last word. Again.

  I sighed and scrubbed my hands down my face as the memory slowly faded from my mind.

  Every time I was around Claire, I forgot that the woman actually drove me insane. All it would take was one flick of her hair or bat of her absurdly long eyelashes, and whatever scathing remark I had ready to deliver vanished and was instantly replaced with a detailed, yet filthy, description of what I’d like to do to her if she’d give me the chance.

  Having her as my assistant was probably the worst idea ever.

  But for some perverse reason, I couldn’t wait to get started.

  ##

  Chapter Four

  Claire

  Eight months ago

  February

  “So, the banquet hall we were supposed to be using in April for the Campaign Kick-off dinner is no longer an option,” I told Annette, waiting for the outrage that was sure to follow that announcement.

  “What?” she screeched, making me jump and almost drop my yogurt down the front of my blouse. I was expecting it but that woman could hit high notes that only dogs could hear and you never really could fully prepare yourself for them.

  I nodded at her and swallowed the bite I had just taken. “Yeah. Apparently, they failed their safety inspection and have to undergo major renovations before they can hold any more events there, which they don’t currently have enough funding for. Either way, they said there’s no way that April was going to happen.”

  Annette sighed deeply and swallowed a few Tylenol that she pulled out of her pocket, making me silently laugh. Whether the woman actually had the headaches that she claimed she suffered from or it was just her way of dealing with the stress of this job, I didn’t know. But I enjoyed working with her and her dramatic antics nonetheless.

  I’d been working at the office for a month and was loving my position. It could be stressful work, and I hadn’t left the office before seven o’clock since my first day there, but I was learning a ton and liked almost everyone I worked with. And I was right about the coffee. Everybody had flipped over my hazelnut coffee and had instantly taken a liking to me.

  Except for him.

  David and I ha
d barely spoken to each other since my first day, aside from the occasional “good mornings” when we’d pass one another in the hall or in the break room. He’d been out of the office a lot with Clay, so I hadn’t had to see him much. But when I did, that tension was always there between us and was becoming harder and harder to ignore, much to my dismay.

  Every now and then, a feeling would pop into my head that I actually missed fighting with him.

  But then I told myself to shut up and took out my vibrator. It was just sexual frustration. That’s all it was. I could even write an article about the link between insanity and unfulfilled sexual yearning because it was absolutely a real thing. Surely, I wasn’t the first person to discover this.

  “Claire,” Simon called from his desk a few feet away, “you want to come approve these posters for the fundraiser next week before I send them to the printer?”

  I was surprised with how much authority Annette had given me, even after only be there for a month. Apparently, she had been impressed with my work ethic and my problem solving skills and was now allowing me to make a lot of the judgment calls on the floor, at least regarding event details.

  I walked over to Simon’s computer and leaned over his chair to see the images on the computer. He shifted around a little in his chair but didn’t exactly move away. I could tell he was interested and had been flirting pretty heavily lately. He hadn’t asked me out yet, and I was repeatedly asking myself if and when he ever did ask, whether or not I would agree.

  He was cute and smart and we got along extremely well, probably because we had so much in common, I had learned. He came from a one-parent household as well and hadn’t come from money. He was about to finish his master’s degree in graphic design and had big ambitions for the future.

  Plus, he wasn’t a pompous egomaniac like some people.

  So, yeah. I think I’d go out with him if he asked.

  “There’s something off about it but I just don’t know what,” he said as he tapped his pen against the surface of his desk.

  “What if we lightened up the blue a bit and made the red brighter? Made it pop a little more,” I said, pointing to the computer screen to show him what I meant.

  He did as I suggested and made some adjustments in the design. When he was finished, he looked at it and smiled. “Much better. You’re a genius.”

  He lifted his hand in a high five which I reciprocated and responded with, “No, that would be you. If I was in charge of this stuff, we’d be stuck with Sharpies and my hideous block letters.”

  He laughed and scooted back in his chair, stretching his arms out with a groan. “Staring at a computer all day really takes its toll.”

  I smiled and couldn’t prevent my eyes from drifting down his body. He was only a couple of inches taller than me and was obviously in shape, though he wasn’t muscular, per se. Just toned, like a runner’s body. He had short blonde hair that was always neatly combed and a nice smile. My heart didn’t exactly flutter whenever I saw him but he was definitely attractive.

  He rolled his neck around on his shoulders and looked back up at me. “A bunch of us are going to Sully’s after work to watch the Georgetown game. You want to come?”

  I thought about it for a second and thought, what the hell. I hadn’t given myself much of a break since I started and I’d like to hang out with some of these people outside of work.

  I smiled and nodded. “Sure.”

  He looked so happy that my smile grew even bigger. “It’s just down the street, so we usually all walk over together.”

  “Sounds good. Just come get me when you’re headed out.” I got up to head back to my desk and back to work.

  Five hours later, I was packing up my bag and following Simon and a bunch of my other co-workers out the door.

  “You going to put your bag in your car?” Simon asked me as we passed the employee parking lot.

  “I don’t have a car,” I shrugged. “Just take the Metro everywhere. I’ll put it under the table. No big deal.”

  “Well, at least let me be the gentleman and carry it for you,” he replied, reaching over and sliding the strap off my shoulder before I could protest. I didn’t know if I should let him but he already had it swung over his own shoulder and I figured there was no harm.

  “Good God, woman. Do you often feel the need to carry bricks around?” he asked dramatically, acting as if the bag was weighing him down.

  I shrugged. “I left my pepper spray at home.”

  “Noted,” he deadpanned. “Don’t mess with Claire.”

  He looked over at me with raised eyebrows and playfulness in his eyes. And then he laughed, making me laugh. “I will say, though. You do look pretty masculine with your man-purse right now.”

  He scoffed. “I thought it brought out the color in my eyes.”

  I laughed again when he started to strut down the sidewalk, swinging his hips back and forth as if he were on a catwalk, even stopping in front of a newspaper stand to strike a pose.

  He may not make my engines rev up like the Indie 500, but Simon was definitely fun to be around.

  We walked through the doors to Sully’s which was already pretty packed and walked to two tables in the back that had been reserved for us. I guess they came here a lot. There were about a dozen of us, Jackie, Patricia—a thirty-something married woman from the office—and myself being the only women. There was a certain comradery amongst the group that was typically hard to find with a band of co-workers. I couldn’t have been more grateful for how much I had lucked out with this internship.

  Looking around the group, I wondered if David and Clay were often invited to after-hours functions. Clay was only in his early thirties and David a couple of years younger, so it wasn’t as if there was a huge age division between them and the rest of us. But they were essentially considered the bosses, so I had to wonder if there was a sort of divide between them and the people on the floor.

  My questions were answered not five minutes later when the beautiful, conceited man himself walked over to our tables.

  “David, my man!” Joe said, slapping David’s back. “It’s about time you came out with us. Been forever. Where the hell you been, man?”

  David chuckled and started loosening his tie. “Just working, Fuller. You know the drill.”

  I watched with fascination as David greeted some of the other guys around the table, acting just like any normal guy out at the bar with his buddies. Seeing him in this light was different but not unpleasant, I had to admit. He wasn’t acting the uptight authority figure like he did at the office. And he wasn’t being a jerk to anyone either. In fact, I’d never seen him behave remotely similar to the way he had with me, with anyone else. Apparently, it was just me he felt the need to antagonize.

  Lucky me.

  Then, those gray eyes of his landed on me.

  And darkened slightly.

  “Claire,” he said in a smooth, low voice, using an entirely different inflection than what he’d used with everyone else.

  “David,” I replied and immediately broke eye contact. It sounded too damn good to hear my name come off his lips and such a thing just wasn’t acceptable.

  “How has your first month been?” he asked, obviously not taking the hint that we were still supposed to be ignoring each other.

  I nodded, studying the bowl of beer nuts in front of me, refusing to meet his searing gaze again. “Good. I’m enjoying it. Learning a lot.”

  Maybe only giving him short answers would dissuade him from pursuing further conversation with me.

  He walked around the table and squeezed into the space next to me on the bench.

  Or not.

  There was only so much space and the entire right side of his body was flush against my left side, his body heat warming my insides and making me squirm as I tried to create some distance between us. He certainly wasn’t shy about appearing too close to one of his employees. He seemed completely at ease with the seating arrangement.

&
nbsp; “You could have pulled up a chair, you know,” I said with less bite in my tone than I wanted, which was probably because I liked feeling him next to me way more than I should.

  He gestured around the room with his hand. “Do you see an empty chair anywhere?”

  I looked and he was right. The place was packed, Georgetown basketball fans occupying every table and stool at the bar. I didn’t give him the satisfaction of proving his point, though. I just took another sip of my drink and acted as if I was paying attention to the game.

  But at that point, with David’s leg grazing mine and his elbow rubbing against my arm, I wouldn’t have been able to tell basketball from football.

  Everyone around us suddenly started yelling at the television when the referee made some sort of bad call. I missed it and had no idea what was going on, but David took advantage of the distraction and leaned in close to my ear, lowering his voice.

  “So…been fucked up against a wall lately?”

  I spit out my drink.

  Luckily, it was a small sip so nobody else even noticed. I started coughing and wiped my mouth with a napkin as David’s deep laugh rumbled out of his chest and traveled straight to my core.

  Leave it to him to throw me completely off-balance.

  I had totally lied about that whole up against a wall, bent over the hood of the car thing. I hadn’t had sex in over eight months, and the only action I had been getting was with my vibrator. But even that was starting to leave me less than satisfied. I’d just wanted to shut David up at the time and it had worked.

  I finally cleared my throat and regained my senses, easing back into this weird quarreling thing we always seemed to fall into. “No. This time it was against a door.”

  He narrowed his eyes at me, as if were trying to discern whether or not I was lying. I maintained eye contact the whole time without even blinking.