by TN King
“No,” she quickly objected, lifting her hand. “It’s fine. I can get back alright.” She was more than used to bus travel, a driver taking her back not so much.
“Nonsense,” he insisted, waving off her refusal like it was nothing. “Come on. I’ll walk you down and see you off.” He stepped back, opening the balcony door and gesturing for her to go through it.
How could she possibly say no now? It was a sweet offer, any which way that he made it.
She passed inside, grabbing her purse and waiting for him to head out. Morgan grinned at her once more, opening the front door as well and gesturing for her again. He was a gentleman, through and through. He really did seem like he was the perfect guy and yes, he was leaving Philly now… Her chest seized, fighting putting her hand up to cover it. It was ridiculous, the thought of him leaving shouldn’t physically pain her, it shouldn’t bother her at all.
Yet it did.
Her smile slipped, glad that he was occupied with speaking on the phone to his driver. She wanted to engrave him into her memory so that she could remember him. Fuel for the fantasies later. She thought sardonically, following him into the elevator and allowing her hips to rest against one side. The end of the ride would signal the end of this whole adventure. Look out, real and dismal world coming up at the next stop. She tried pushing such sentiment away, berating herself for allowing it in the first place. You knew this was coming all day. So why be a baby about it now?
The elevator dinged, Ellie’s heart dropping down to the bottom of her pretty, red suede pumps. She forced her smile all the brighter on her face, stepping off of the elevator and following him out of the lobby silently. Her heels clicked against the sleek, grey stone, and her mind spun.
“My driver is parked across the street over there,” Morgan said as he came to a stop, pointing across the street at the black limousine at the curb. His smile was just as winning as ever, his body more relaxed than it had been up in his penthouse after getting off of the phone.
Ellie was still desperately trying to capture every feature on his face in her memory. He was beautiful. He was kind. And he was leaving. She withheld her sadness and nodded, stepping off the curb without looking away from his face.
She almost screeched, as a strong arm wrapped back around her, pulling her back on the curb with no warning and so quickly that her head spun. Her gasp was loud and high, head spinning back just in time to see a truck speeding past where she had been only moments before.
“Whoa!” Morgan exclaimed, his arms tightening. “Are you okay?”
He held her tight against his chest—so tight, that Ellie could hear his heart thump loudly in her ear. That was a truck, she would have been under that truck if he hadn’t saved her… again… She inhaled his cologne, savoring the feel of his polo over his muscular body. She didn’t even know what had just happened. “Yeah,” she managed shakily, slowly peeling herself away and off of him back into her own personal space.
“You gotta be careful,” he chastised, but his voice wasn’t harsh. It was more concerned, just as his arms still about her would imply.
“Yeah,” she agreed, slightly dazed, but not from the near death experience. She couldn’t take her eyes off of him. She couldn’t look away.
Looking up at him it was hard not to notice that he blocked the sunlight behind him, which again caused a halo effect, just like it did the first time they met. Her angel. Dammit, he just had to be perfect and right before he said goodbye. And…he had rescued her, again.
“Not sure if I should leave now,” he joked and offered her a smile that made the dimple appear in his cheek again.
She wished he would stay and protect her forever, but shook her head to try and clear it of such silly delusions. “That’s ridiculous,” she assured him. “I just wasn’t paying attention. I’m sure I can get home just fine.” She could feel the heat rising in her cheeks, embarrassment mingled with awkwardness. She gently pushed him away to prove that she could walk across a street on her own and, after looking both ways, stepped off the curb.
It was only when she had safely reached the other side that she turned to wave goodbye at him, bittersweet smile tugging at her lips.
Morgan waved bye back and his grin was huge. As if he felt proud, she’d gotten there without great peril.
In the limo, Ellie gave the driver the address to her apartment and fell back limply in her seat. Her excitement waned. It suddenly felt like she’d been riding sky high, then plummeted back down to earth. She shook herself. I did it. Spent the morning with him. Braved that world and spent some time with a great guy. It should be enough. More than she’d gotten in years. She could feel her tears threatening, stomach churning with a mixture of self-disgust and pain. She couldn’t cry in this limo though, she refused.
She would wait until she had gotten back home and in a hot, hot bath before she let those tears fall… it was just fighting to ensure that they waited that long…
CHAPTER FIVE
Morgan
The drive back to New York just seemed long and dull after having had such a wonderful start to his day, but Morgan felt happy to be almost done with the whole Yamato situation. He always felt good at the close of a deal, especially one as profitable as the one with the Yamato group. He would sign the papers and it would be done, which would leave him room to set his sights on the next goal. His next achievement. Somehow though, he felt like he was at a loss, as if he had achieved absolutely nothing despite the millions that would come from it.
Where the hell had this feeling come from? It was foreign and uncomfortable, sitting in his chest like a lead weight.
He was lucky enough to arrive in time to sign the contract in front of the Yamato’s. Which left him plenty of time to apologize for his mess-up while driving them, himself, to the airport in time for them to catch his flight back to Tokyo. He had made good enough time, even, to buy them a celebratory drink at one of the classier bars outside of their terminal. The deal had already been closed but by going to the lengths that he had he ensured that he closed one of a different sort entirely.
Now he wouldn’t have to worry about business souring or snags in their future due to his missteps since the fire.
He wished he’d of been able to have more time to do that with Ellie. Close any sort of deal, really. Or even just have been able to spend more time with her at all. She had been more interesting than he had even been anticipating.
It surprised him to realize that this was what he’d felt so off about all day, leaving Ellie behind and not getting the time with her that he had wanted. It, again, was a completely foreign feeling, especially as it came to females that he kept company with. He found himself even more surprised to realize that he wanted to turn around right then and find himself back in Philadelphia.
It was a plan that he had been planning on making a reality, with the intent of driving back and inviting her out to dinner. Probably too soon, but it had seemed like a bet he was willing to hedge. At least until his personal assistant had called to remind him that he had an important meeting the next morning in New York. She hadn’t been as vague on the details as he currently felt, but his mind had been occupied with Ellie. Even when she had begun talking about that other event that he was supposedly needed to attend later after that meeting.
His fingers ran raggedly through his hair as he sighed, driving back to his place in Lake Placid at a slightly increased speed than what was necessary. From the way his schedule was already sounding it looked like it would be at least a few days before he could make the drive back out to Philadelphia and Ellie. Something that shouldn’t have made a difference for him at all. It was only a few days…
A few days that felt suddenly much longer than they had before with his previous plans.
Morgan cursed himself for allowing his sudden obsession with her to mess up his usually smooth business acumen. He definitely needed to find a way to just quench his thirst for her so that he could dismiss her from his mind. She was
too distracting.
And dammit all ‒ he still managed to forget to get that girl’s phone number ‒ again.
Morgan arrived early to his board meeting in the conference room at Hunt Headquarters the next morning. It had been that recurring dream that had him up so early today. For two nights in a row, he’d had it. It had been focused on Ellie, of course. She was with him in his suite in Philly and she was dressed in a glimmering evening gown. She seemed shy, and he had to pull her out of it. She was so damned sweet when she smiled. He knew he wanted her and just simply told her so in much blunter a manner than he would normally employ.
The next thing he knew they were in his bedroom and he found himself ripping that gown from her. She didn’t respond negatively to the roughness in his removing her dress, or even the roughness of his hands on her at all... In fact, she seemed to instead revel in it and was just as submissively perfect as he’d expected.
The next thing he knew he had her in bed, auburn hair spread out behind her on the pillow and her naked body heaving as she begged for it. He tried to resist, tried to draw it out, but her blue eyes lifting to his so wantonly undid him. His hips thrust forward into hers, eyes rolling back from the warm, wet heaven that she had hidden between her thighs. It was heaven, sinking into her willing flesh, listening to those little moans of pleasure as he did so. Each passing inch felt better, but even fully seated inside of her finally, he burned inside as if it wasn’t enough.
Hanging onto him, she whimpered and just the sound made his hips pound into hers all the harder. The room spun, the both of them getting louder in their pleasure.
His skin burned, her moans rose... But suddenly she was crying.
Without warning, the bed caught fire and the room was engulfed in flames. Orange and red danced across the room reminiscent of that fire that had introduced them. He knew he had to get her out, knew that their time was short.
But as he got up to look for an exit the room spun again. And when he turned back the bed was gone. It had burned up in mere seconds. There were nothing but ashes, and that photo of her dad that she’d risked her life to get was laying atop the ashes accusingly.
When Morgan awoke he was sweating bullets. He couldn’t understand it, no matter how hard he tried both times that it happened. A wet dream that ended in fire? Was it all because he’d pulled her from a fire, saving her? Or was it because he was then using that fact to plan an elaborate seduction, simply to have her, use her and leave her?
He rose shakily from the bed, heading in the direction of his shower forlornly. He didn’t know if it would be hot or cold, didn’t know if he should have been trying something else before then or not. All he knew was that he needed to wash away the remnants of that dream and the sweat that it had inspired.
Dammit, he’d never been so conflicted when it came to women or the seduction that he planned for them. What the hell was this guilt part? Where had it even come from? It wasn’t like he was going to be doing anything to her that would negatively impact her life. It was a night of fun, or a weekend if he could swing it that far…
He had finally made it into the bathroom despite his shaking muscles, turning the water on lukewarm and tiredly getting into the spray in order to ready himself for the meeting that he had needed to stay in town for.
Now, a few hours later, here he sat waiting for the members to come in. He was even more anxious to get back to her now that he had more time to focus on it. He was just hoping that the other members of the board would agree to rush through the meeting and get it over with. It wasn’t as if they had any new business to discuss, they only needed to go through the motions of the monthly meeting in order to satisfy the board’s criteria.
The sooner he got done with this, the sooner he could get back to Philadelphia. He’d already left a message with his assistant to cancel anything else he had scheduled for the next couple of days. He’d also arranged for a construction crew to start working immediately on the diner, so he had a legitimate business type excuse to go back. Yes, he’d been on that whole endeavor last night. He had people on it already. Which was probably devious, and would certainly be frowned upon if anyone were to find out his reasoning behind it. However, the chance of anyone doing so was slim to none.
He was pulled from his thoughts by the sound of the door closing, his gaze lifting to find that the first board member to arrive besides himself to be Chance Givens. The scoundrel, if possible, looked even better than the last time he had seen him. Something that he didn’t mind admitting, mentally at least, seeing that the man was his best friend and golf partner.
Not that he was going to be verbally acknowledging any such thing, certainly not when Chance had a big enough ego as it was.
“Morgan,” he cheerfully greeted, extending his hand to shake. “Has it been a month already?” He joked easily, taking that distraction of Morgan’s hand in his to not-so-lightly punch Morgan in the shoulder as well. “I’m fairly certain it has been. Thirty whole days…”
Morgan laughed easily, looking up from his laptop and rubbing at his shoulder good naturedly. “Chance,” he acknowledged with a grin. “I guess it has.” Even if it didn’t seem like it should have been that long. He hadn’t realized that long had gone between the last time they’d seen one another, usually one of them managed to catch it before it reached that point.
“You’re here early,” Chance noted, the question in his tone as he took the seat next to Morgan, arranging his folders out in front of him and crossing his legs beneath the table.
“Yeah,” Morgan acknowledged, hedging his answer to try and find how best to explain himself. He was notably on time, early was out of character however. “I just kind of want to make my appearance and then—disappear for the next few days.” He explained with as little detail as he could manage giving.
“Got big plans, huh?” Chance questioned further, eyebrows lifting on his forehead.
It wasn’t often that Morgan kept anything from him, and to be honest he didn’t even know why he felt the need to do so. Other than the idea of Chance trying to hone in where he was already laying groundwork.
“Kind of,” Morgan hedged again as he returned his gaze to his laptop. Something big planned with a little woman that seemed to loom too large in his mind. Visions kept appearing in his mind of her face when he finally entered her after having her beg him to do so. Only this time, it wouldn’t end in a fiery explosion or in her crying. At least not unless that crying was in begging him for even more. This time it would be real. He shoved away the erotic fantasy with difficulty, swallowing back that need and trying to erase the reactions from his features. BIG plans. Plans, he really didn’t feel like discussing with his best friend.
“Do tell,” Chance urged, obviously having caught Morgan’s expression changing. “I’m all ears,” he encouraged, leaning in like he was going to attempt viewing what it was Morgan was doing on his laptop.
Morgan minimized his screen and swiveled his chair around to face Chance resolutely. There was no simply not answering him, just like there would be no giving him a completely falsified answer. “Oh, you know, just a business opportunity I’ve discovered in good ole’ Philly.” He folded his hands and rested them on his abs as he reclined a bit in his seat, wording his response carefully so as to keep from giving Chance too much to grasp onto.
“Business opportunity, huh?” Chance asked looking doubtful, he knew him better than most. He knew how little a business opportunity would amount to when it came to certain matters, just like he knew the actual lengths he was willing to go to and the ones that he wasn’t as well.
“Yeah,” Morgan continued, shrugging as if it weren’t any kind of big deal at all. “An old diner burned down earlier this week. I’ve donated the materials and labor to fix it. Might open up some doors in that area. I’m going down there today to check it out.” He trailed off, flicking a piece of lint easily off of his wrist and looking back up to Chance as nonchalantly as possible.
“An ol
d diner?” Chance questioned, regarding him with a suspicious glance. “Sounds like there might be more to it,” he added and raised a brow at him.
Morgan shrugged, biting back his instant response. There would only be dissuading Chance so far, he knew, which meant that he needed to play it as close to the vest as possible. “There’s always something more to it.” He hedged, leaning back even further in his chair.
Chance laughed, shaking his head as if he couldn’t believe that they were playing this game. “If I know you, I bet there’s a girl down there that you’re trying to impress.” Although the way he said girl sounded more like he meant toy.
Morgan chuckled, looking up at Chance with one brow raised in disbelief. “Do you really think I need to try to impress anyone, Chance?” He tried infusing as much confidence and faux emotion into the one sentence as possible.
“I suppose $4.2 billion does most of that for you, huh?” Chance laughed again, shaking his head as if he couldn’t quite believe it. No matter how long it had been since Chance himself had been poor, the nuances of it all still sometimes, seemed to trip him up.
Morgan scowled. Chance was a longtime friend, the longest actually. It was something he found himself now having to actively remember. They regularly joked with each other about everything, appropriate and otherwise... but this last comment left a sour taste in Morgan’s mouth. Not even for Chance purposes, but for Ellie. It wasn’t his money that Ellie was impressed with, was it? And even if it was, why should he care? After all, he only wanted to have sex with her, so why would it matter?
He was torn, too many questions as to why he was so mixed up over all of it and not enough answers. He was just after her to get a taste and be satiated, right? Before he had time to respond to Chance’s observations two more board members arrived with coffee and donuts, the door barreling open and the both of them laughing over some conversation they had carried in with them from the hallway.