Impact (Iron Orchids Book 3)

by Danielle Norman

  “I’ll see you tomorrow, get some rest.” I stood and placed another kiss on her lips before striding for the door.

  Chapter 20

  Katy

  Katy, you have a delivery.”

  “Thanks, I’ll be right up.” I pressed the disconnect button on the intercom and pushed back from my desk. Slipping my heels on, I headed to the front lobby. A man was standing there holding a large bouquet of orange lilies and red roses in a red vase. It looked like he had an arm full of fire from a distance the bouquet was so vibrant.

  “Are you Miss Nichols?” The man held out a small clipboard.

  “Yes.” I could barely get out the words.

  “Sign by your name, please.”

  No one had ever sent me flowers before, and it had my hand shaking so badly that my signature ended up resembling nothing like it usually did. I wanted to snatch the flowers and inhale their scent.

  When he handed them to me, I was shocked by the weight, which was far heavier than I’d imagined. I didn’t walk back to my office, I skipped; fuck it if water splashed on me, I had fucking flowers.

  After setting the vase down, I plucked the card from the clear plastic holder and carefully tore open the envelope.

  There’s a spark.

  ~Damon.

  If Damon were in the office instead of at a site, I would burst into his office and jump him, but since he wasn’t coming in until noon, I set the flowers on the corner of my desk so he’d be sure to see them. When I heard the door to his office open, I twisted the vase a bit and sank down in my chair a tiny bit more to hide.

  “Nice flowers, who sent them?”

  I could hear the air of playfulness in his voice so I decided to play along.

  “Not sure, there was no card. I guess that I have a secret admirer. Maybe it’s one of our contractors or clients?”

  “There was no card?” He reached for the flowers to look.

  Shit. I forgot. I stuck the plastic fork thing back in there after I’d read the card.

  “It’s right here.” He pulled it off and handed it to me.

  “Ohh, I’ve never received flowers before. I thought that was just the label for the name of the florist.”

  “Never?”

  “Nope, never.”

  “Well, open it and let’s see who they’re from.”

  “Nah. I’ll wait until tonight. I’m at work, and you’re paying me to work.” I felt my teeth bite into my lip.

  “Very funny. You’re bullshitting me. You already read the card. No woman could sit here and wait.”

  “Ah, I’m offended.” I laughed. “Of course, the first thing I did was search for the card. These are breathtaking, a fire bouquet if I’ve ever seen one.”

  Damon picked up the bouquet and moved it to the top of the filing cabinet.

  “Spark?”

  “Yeah, definitely a spark.”

  Something in his eyes made me nervous. He leaned in and brought his hand up to cup the back of my head, pulling me closer to him. And I was like some loose hussy, cause I went willingly, welcoming his kiss, at work. Wait. That was what he was going to do, right? I closed my eyes and waited. Seconds. Or was it minutes? I felt my panties go wet. Holy shit, would he kiss me already? Slowly cracking one eye open and then the other, I zeroed in on the shit-eating grin on his face. He’d been enjoying watching my reaction to the anticipation of his kiss.

  Fuck.

  I was so fucked.

  If anticipating did this to me, I could only image what my reaction would be if things got serious between us. I didn’t have time to consider it before his lips were on mine, stealing all my thoughts. His hand was holding my face close to him as his tongue tangled with mine. A chill swept over me, and it took me a second to realize that he had pulled away.

  I brought a hand to my lips and could still feel the heat from the friction we’d created. “What was that for?”

  “I’ve been dying to kiss you, and odds are, I’ll do it again. Soon.” He leaned down and gave me another quick peck to prove his point.

  “Oh.” Oh? What kind of response was that? I bet I just impressed him with my vocal prowess with that word.

  His eyes lowered to my throat as I took a deep swallow then he lowered his eyes some more.

  I was afraid to look down and see exactly what had caught his attention. Afraid that my nipples were betraying me and showing him exactly what I was feeling at that precise moment.

  He left my office and went over to his and got to work. Before I knew it, the day had flown by, and it was time for me to get Bee. After this past weekend and the flowers, I knew that I couldn’t fuck with his feelings or his trust in people just because my outlook was messed up. I really liked him and wanted more of him. That sounded wrong and made it seem as if I were selfish and a user, but it was the truth. I wanted more us and I wanted to see where this went.

  Leaning into his office, I waited until he looked up to me before saying, “I’ll see you in a bit.” I blew a kiss at Damon as he sat behind his desk, shocked that I was being so bold. I loved the way he looked when he wore his glasses.

  “Drive safe.”

  My heels clicked on the travertine tile floor, the sound that several weeks ago had made me self-conscious but had turned comforting. I pushed the door open and dug into my purse for my keys with one hand and swung my lunch bag with the other as I headed to my car. I was just sliding into the front seat when the black Charger slowly drove past the entrance to the parking lot.

  Like a damn scared bunny, I slammed my door shut and slumped down in the seat, peeking through the window every five seconds to make sure the car was still there. I needed to calm down. Carter said there were tons of black Chargers in the city, and hell, it might not have even been a Charger. I didn’t know one muscle car from the next except maybe a Corvette since they were so unique in their style. Shit, maybe that wasn’t even a muscle car.

  Damn it, I needed to focus. If this was Presley, I needed to know because job or not, Bee and I were out of here.

  I needed to do something other than sit and cower.

  I straightened, dropped my purse onto the passenger seat, and pulled out my phone. Normally the sounds of cars didn’t faze me, there were so many that passed by since I worked on a major road, but today the roar of a souped-up engine sent shivers down my spine. I unlocked my phone and scrolled to the camera app before tucking my keys in my fist so that they were sticking up between my clenched fingers as if I was Wolverine. Then I opened my door, took a deep breath, and climbed out.

  Determination to get some answers or his tag number so Carter could help me get some answers drove my feet forward as I held my phone and yelled, “Who are you? What do you want? Why do you keep following me? Get out of the car, you motherfucker, get out! Do you hear me! Get out. Get out of the fucking car!”

  The engine revved, the tires spun, and the car took off. I followed him with my phone and got the tag just as two warm arms wrapped around my waist and pulled me against a hard chest. All the anger and adrenaline that was pumping just mere seconds ago wasn’t deflating; it had popped like a balloon, and it hit me.

  “Oh my God, what was I doing? He could have had a gun? Bee? Oh my God. I was so stupid. Who’d take care of Bee if something ever happened to me?” My knees buckled but Damon held onto me.

  “Come on, you’re not driving anywhere. I’ll take you to get Bee. We can talk on the way.” He wrapped one arm around my shoulder and slid one hand to the back of my knees and curled me up into his arms. He didn’t put me down until he reached his truck, but even after he set me on my feet, he kept his arm around me as he fished for his keys and unlocked the passenger door.

  When I was safely tucked inside, I watched him run around, get in, and start the truck. He turned on the air conditioner and twisted the vents to point the air at me since sweat was running down my face.

  “Do you need anything out of your car?”

  “Huh?”

  “Your car. D
o you need anything out of it?” He reached forward and pried the keys from my fingers.

  “My purse.”

  “Okay, I’ll be right back. He got out, and it was only then that I moved to turn the recording off on my phone, taking note of how long the clip was. Twelve minutes. It seemed like too long and not nearly long enough at the same time. When Damon climbed back in and handed me my purse, I tucked the phone away, not having the energy to actually watch the footage.

  We were on I-4 when he twisted his fingers through mine and asked, “So, are you going to tell me what that was all about?” His thumb traced over my knuckles—once, twice, and then he continued. “Why I was sitting at my desk and heard you screaming in the parking lot? I have no clue what I knocked over on my way to get to you, but whatever it was, I still couldn’t get to you fast enough. Did you even hear me calling your name?”

  “You did?”

  “Yeah, I did. So, what was all of that about?”

  “On and off for over a year, that guy has been following me.”

  “What?”

  “Yeah, no clue why. The other day when I left work to get Bee, he followed me all the way across town. I ran through an intersection just to get away from him. I didn’t want him following me to where Bee was. But by the time I got there, I was shaken up.”

  “Of course you were, anyone would be.”

  “Carter found me in my car having a mini-meltdown. I told him the same thing. Since we know nothing else and there are tons of black Chargers, he wanted me to try and get a tag number or call him if I saw the guy again.”

  “Why didn’t you just call him instead of charging after him?”

  “I don’t know. I sort of lost it. How dare he make me paranoid all this time and then chase me down? Now he was coming to my work. All of this pent-up frustration just seemed to pour out of me.”

  “Nala. Motherfucking Nala.”

  “Yeah, I guess so. But Nala didn’t have a job and reputation where she needed to portray stability.”

  “And she probably didn’t have a boss who was also part owner of the company that would be lenient. I respect you for being fierce, but next time come get me, call the cops, just whatever you do; don’t chase after them.”

  “But I got the tag number.” I waved my phone as if that should let me off the hook for any wrong doings.

  “Here.” Damon handed me his phone. “Call Carter and ask him to run that tag number since he knows the situation.”

  I dialed the number, my hands shaking that it would come back as belonging to Presley Hayes and I would have some explaining to do.

  But when Carter ran the tag through FCIC, their computer system, I was relieved and disappointed. “Sorry, the tag comes back as not assigned.” I could hear Carter clicking away on his computer as he told us this information.

  “What does that mean?” Damon beat me to the punch.

  “Most likely it means that the tag is old and has been removed from the system. Without the VIN we are pretty much at a stalemate for now. I’ll try and see if I can dig into the past history of the tag, but that might take a bit.”

  “Thanks Carter.” I pressed end call.

  The rest of the ride to the community center was quiet, and Damon waited in the truck while I ran inside to get Bee, who was excited to see Damon with me.

  Damon pulled in to the Chili’s drive-thru, and I gave him a puzzled look. “I called while you were getting Bee. I figured this would be better tonight instead of worrying about what to make for dinner.” The Tex-Mex flavors filled the truck cab as we pulled up to Tristan’s house. “Please go inside and get whatever you need for tomorrow. I want you to stay at my house. Will you do this for me?”

  “Damon, that isn’t necessary.”

  Bee hopped out. Damon clasped my arm before I was out too. “You are still shaking. Do this until Carter gets back to us, you two stay at my house, I need to know that you’re both okay. Please. I’m begging you.”

  That was it, those last four words, and I was a goner. “Okay, give us a minute.”

  Bee and I darted inside and grabbed a few things, outfits for tomorrow, food for Bee’s school lunch and her cereal. We were back out and in the truck in under five minutes. Almost comically, Damon backed out of one driveway, drove all of thirty feet, and pulled into his driveway. “Leave all that for now. Let’s eat while the food is still hot, and then we can come back and get it.” Bee and I dropped the bags and closed the doors. He pressed the button to close the garage door, and we were shrouded in near darkness, only the slight light from the automatic opener illuminating the large area.

  “Is she settled?”

  “Yep, she says that she likes your house more than she likes Tristan’s. She’s even claimed one room as officially hers.”

  “I’ll make sure to rub it in when he gets back.” He smiled and held up a glass of wine. “This is for you. Come sit and relax.”

  “Just this one glass.” I took it from him, hoping that this would settle my still-shaking nerves. Damon was here, so it was very doubtful that anything would happen, so I needed to focus on that.

  His watchband scraped against my wrist as he slid his hand up to grip my arm and pull me down to him. “Sit with me. I just want to hold you. No funny business, promise.”

  I gave in to his request and allowed myself to let go, hand over the stress from today, the anger at whoever was in that Charger, and the helplessness that I couldn’t do anything about it. Hopefully, Carter would find something out. But the only problem was when I let all of today’s events go, I was left with the fact that this gorgeous man had stepped up to be my knight in shining armor and I was keeping secrets from him, I’d taken advantage of his company for over a year and lived in their model homes and now…God, I didn’t even know where to begin, now he was holding me, making me feel that I wasn’t alone in this world, giving me a job, a place to stay even though he didn’t know I didn’t have one, giving my kid attention, and for what? He got nothing in return except someone’s discarded goods.

  Damon Christakos was not a thrift store shopper, and I was definitely thrift store goods. Used by a guy and had a baby. Used by my parents and left on the streets. And I had used his company for shelter and didn’t tell him.

  When I woke, it took me a second to realize that I was still on the couch, but I wasn’t alone. Damon was behind me. His soft snore was a rhythmic putter. Sliding my hand down; I realized that he must have covered us before turning off the lights. I laid my head back down, I couldn’t remember ever feeling so warm and safe as I had right that moment. I gave back in to the overwhelming weightiness of my eyelids and was back to sleep.

  Chapter 21

  Katy

  I glanced up at the knock on my door and closed out of the screen I’d been in. “Whatcha need?”

  “Just checking in on you. Can I do anything to help? I know you have to leave early to get Bee, but is there anything I can do to help you before the talent show?”

  “Nah, I think I’ve got it covered.”

  “How about if I pick up some dinner?”

  I knew that he didn’t mean anything bad by it, but at that moment it was as if everything was closing in on me and I was struggling just to breathe. My worries over the black Charger seemed to be catching up to me faster than my past was. I loved this job; hell, I liked Damon. I just didn’t know what to do. I’ve never asked for help from anyone.

  “Katy? Dinner?” Damon moved toward my desk.

  “That’d be nice. I’ll be crazy and not in any mood to cook.”

  “Got it. I’ll see you at Tristan’s.”

  “Damon?” He stopped at the doorway and waited for me to speak. “Thank you.”

  “Anytime.”

  I watched him walk away and looked down at my calendar app on my phone. Yeah, three weeks. All it took was three fucking weeks for me to loosen my hold. What was it with this family? Their grabby hands, their meddling ways, their shoving food in my face, their having people
call kids by names that weren’t theirs. I’d never seen anything like it, and yet, I wanted Bee to have all of it. God, I was jealous of this family and all they gave each other.

  I turned into the pickup lane and let out a groan as soccer mom Suzy and her BFF Tits Magee stood on the sidewalk with the kids.

  Bee saw my car and stood to race toward me, but whatever Manday said halted her, and she kept her eyes focused on her. Yeah, I’d felt a bit guilty about letting Stella loose on that bitch, but I wasn’t anymore. Perhaps once I got some extra money, I’d kick those ads up a bit.

  When I finally pulled up, Manday walked Bee to the car and opened the door to let her in before leaning down to say hi to me.

  “Oh, it’s you. I should have guessed.” Manday gave me a totally fake half-smile.

  “Hey.” I smiled tightly. “Did you do something different to your hair? I don’t know, kind of looks different from the last time I saw you.”

  “No. I haven’t changed it.”

  “Huh. Well, maybe it was your car, could have just made your hair look fuller, you know, small spaces.”

  When Manday patted her hair and moved to try to catch her reflection in my windows, I mentally licked my pointer finger and put one hash mark on the invisible scoreboard for me. Finally regaining her composure, she slammed my car door. I checked to make sure Bee was buckled in before driving off.

  After dinner, Bee and I left so I could get her to Ringo in time for him to work his magic, and I headed to the cafeteria to find seats. I’d stopped saying anything about the talent show and just figured whoever showed, showed. I wasn’t going to worry about it, I was going to sit up front and cheer my daughter on.

  Thankfully, they’d set up seats in theater style, and there were always rows of empty seats at events like this, so I didn’t feel bad no matter how many people showed up.

  “Yo, woman.” I turned and smiled at Stella. Leo was right behind her. “Figured you might need some help reserving seats,” Stella said, sliding into the row behind me as Leo slid into the one behind her. “How many seats?”