Was he really asking me out? My head was swimming and thinking suddenly became even more difficult. The intoxicating scent of his cologne and his emerald green eyes weren’t helping, either.
“I…lunch, no.” I sputtered, sounding like someone who speaks English as a third language. “I mean, no, I haven’t had lunch yet.” I would have kicked myself in the butt if I could have. He was just a man, after all. Ok, so his family was rich beyond measure and he looked like a more rugged and handsome version of the statue of Neptune in Italy, but still, just a man, right?
“So, come with me. Let’s have lunch. My treat.”
“Ok, sure,” I answered, and looked over at Karen again. She winked at me and stepped away from the elevator doors just as they slid open.
“Does your friend want to come?” William asked, noticing Karen again.
“No, that’s ok! You guys go ahead. I left something, uh, in my locker,” Karen called out as she walked away. “You kids have fun!”
We stepped into the elevator and the doors closed. I didn’t know whether to be thankful we were alone or just plain nervous.
“So, what’s for lunch? Where were you going to go?” he asked nonchalantly, and shoved both hands into his pockets. Was it my imagination, or did he actually seem a little nervous himself?
“Just the cafeteria, I guess. That’s fine with me.”
“How about we do something a little different?”
“Hmm. Like what?” I asked, and tried my best to look captivating in the dull glow of the elevator’s interior lighting. Somewhere deep in the recesses of my brain, I was hoping he would press the emergency stop button and just ravage me right then and there.
“Someone told me there is this place not too far away that has the best pizza on the planet. Maybe you’ve heard of it?”
My mouth watered at the thought. It had been so long since I’d had a slice of Eduardo’s custom, hand-tossed, whatever you want on it pizza. That place was an institution around here.
“Ooh, you mean Eduardo’s. Now that sounds like a killer lunch, William.”
He laughed and replied, “Well, hopefully we won’t wind up back here with clogged arteries!”
Was that a joke? This guy was the complete package. He also had a sense of humor, even if it was a little corny. When the elevator stopped, we got off and strolled through the lobby together, side by side. The gaze of women and men alike seemed to be drawn to him. Or was it us?
Not far away in the parking lot was a beautiful yellow and black Camaro. The thing looked like it was speeding already and it was just sitting there, baking in the hot July sun.
“Nice car,” I said, and he opened the door for me. Someone had taught him some manners.
“It’s nothing, really. I kind of have a thing for Transformers. You, know the car from the movies?”
I found myself a little stunned that he would say something that so fully revealed an inner nerd. His chuckle and badly feigned serious expression belied that he was only joking around. When he fired up the engine and peeled out of the parking lot, I knew the truth; he liked a ride that was hot, wild, and under his control.
Chapter Three
My mouth was experiencing what I refer to as the full-blown “mouthgasm”.
That’s when you taste something so sinfully delicious that your whole mouth seems to buzz with pleasure and you can’t wait to grab another bite. While similar to the regular “orgasm”, the mouthgasm doesn’t leave you first thing in the morning or cheat on you with your roommate. The same thing happens from time to time whenever I get a double-fudge chocolate shake from the ice cream place near my apartment.
Between bites of Eduardo’s pizza, William and I talked and laughed about all things. The state of his grandfather’s health. His awesome car. Nursing school. That incredible pizza. Things were going better than even I could have expected. Something about William just gave off this wondrous charge of energy and charm. It was wholly addicting.
“So, what did you do?” William said, holding back laughter through a mouthful of cheese and pepperoni pizza.
“I did the only thing I could do. Try not to laugh. The guy was like, 70 years old. I can’t help it if no one ever told him that toothpicks do not belong in your nose!”
“I guess you guys got it out, right?”
“Yeah,” I said, feeling more relaxed. “It was right there, we just plucked it out. The poor guy thought it had lodged in his brain or something.”
“I can only imagine what stories you’ll have when you’ve been doing this for a while longer. Sometimes I wish that things were more common for me, but when your family expects you to eventually pilot one of the biggest banks in the country, you aren’t left with much spare time.”
William’s face was flushed from the laughter and his plate was empty aside from the crusts of a few slices of pizza. My mental alarm clock had been blaring at me for over thirty minutes, but I had been hitting the snooze button. A quick glimpse at my watch told me that I was, indeed, way late. Tabitha was sure to have my ass for taking an hour long lunch.
William must have caught me looking. “I’ve held you up for far too long, Laurie. You’re going to be late getting back to work. I hope I haven’t gotten you in trouble.”
“It’s nothing I can’t handle. It’s been forever since I’ve been out and had any fun, so it’s definitely worth it.”
William produced a wallet and opened it, pulling out a wad of bills. He laid down a generous amount for the bill and the tip and put it away again. It was apparent he was trying to be as discreet as possible about it. We exited the restaurant and drove back to the hospital at a much more leisurely pace. Like a gentleman, he insisted upon opening my door and escorting me to the main entrance.
“Tell you what,” he casually started. “I’d love to get together sometime. How about it?”
My little apology lunch had turned into much more than I’d hoped for. He almost seemed poised for a disappointed, “No,” but a girl would have to be out of her mind to refuse.
“How could I say no?”
“Perfect,” he said, and reached across for my hand. His touch was warm and inviting. Tingles shot down my spine and I could’ve sworn some part of me quivered. “How about tonight?”
I mentally thought about all the schoolwork I needed to do, all the studying, and how exhausted I’d be once my day was finally over. None of it mattered. I had a date with William Battle!
“Sure, tonight sounds great.”
His voice changed for a moment, and he spoke as he rubbed his thumb across the tops of my fingers. It was like another part of him had opened up, a deeper and more serious persona.
“I want you to wear the sexiest thing you own. If you don’t have anything you like, I’ll gladly purchase something for you.”
Before I had a chance to ask why he wanted me to do that or say anything, he pulled me close, wrapped his other hand firmly around my waist, and locked his lips against mine.
He was a man that got what he wanted, and what he wanted was me.
The hot wetness of his mouth and his lips pressing firmly against my own momentarily caused it to feel like my legs would surely buckle beneath me. His grip on my waist was firm and sure, but his hands did not explore any further down. The tension I had felt earlier returned to my belly and instead of trying to draw away, I felt myself draw even closer to him.
Anyone watching got one hell of a show.
When our lips finally parted, I desperately wanted to ask questions about his request but I couldn’t find it in me to do so. I’ve never been in a fight, but I can only guess being sucker punched would be an adequate comparison to his sensational kiss.
If it had been any other guy, he probably would have walked away with a firm impression of my palm on his face. Whatever the reason was that I didn’t was beyond my comprehension. His charm was seductive, to say the least. At that point, all I wanted was for him to kiss me again, to let his hands linger or slide down to
my posterior. I wanted him right there. To hell with all the other people standing around.
“Tonight. I’ll send a car out to pick you up,” he whispered to me, penetrating me with those soulful eyes.
“Ok,” barely escaped my lips.
“I’ll need your address,” he said, once again cracking a wise-guy smile.
Thinking quickly, I reached into the inside chest pocket of his suit. He seemed taken aback for a moment, but realization dawned on him when I produced his cell phone and entered my information. I could hardly believe what I was doing, but something had overtaken me. I had to have him.
Once he had his phone back, he placed it inside his pocket and let go of me. Without his hands there, I felt a coldness seem to take over. With a spry wave and a nod, he turned away, walked back across the parking lot, and drove off in his car.
I could only stand there for a moment after he had left, watching the back of his car disappear into the distance. A million little confused thoughts ran through my head and the tingling madness in my belly refused to stop. If he wanted me to dress like a slut, I’d do it.
I walked through the doors and back into the main lobby of the hospital. One of our oldest volunteers, Gertrude, was manning the information terminal right by the entrance. She was proudly dressed in her navy blue uniform and the short, white shock of hair on top of her head looked more like some furry animal had been placed there than any hairstyle I’d ever heard of. Her face was as red as a beet when I looked towards her and said, “Hello, Gertrude.”
“Hello yourself,” she returned and gave me a devious smile like she had just witnessed some debauch secret love affair going down in public. In no time word would spread through the whole hospital of the student nurse hooking up with the rich grandson of one of the patients. I wondered what my instructors and Tabitha would think about that, but decided I didn’t really care. Up the elevator I went again, hoping that somehow Tabitha wouldn’t know how long I’d been gone.
“So? How’d it go? Don’t keep me in suspense, Laurie! You’re almost an hour late from lunch. Tabitha has been going nuts asking where the hell you are!” Karen half barked and half pleaded with me.
Tabitha. The matron saint of pissed off nurses. So much for getting off scot-free, I figured. Before I even had an opportunity to fill in Karen, a voice which I’d learned to dread growled at me from behind the chart carousel.
“Laurie! Where the hell have you been?”
I spun around and faced her. Tabitha was an intimidating woman who did not take lightly even a perceived amount of slacking. The little yellow smiley-face pattern on her scrubs did nothing to hide her true personality as the biggest grump and bitch in the whole hospital.
“You’ve been gone for over an hour! I’ve been running in circles taking care of patients and looking for you. What’s your excuse this time?” she nearly spat the words out like acid.
“Tabitha, sorry I’m late. Time just got away from me, that’s all,” I weakly replied.
“Hhumph,” she grumbled. “Well, your evaluation just got away from me ten minutes ago. I’m sorry to say that it’s not a good one. I’ll be sending it off to your instructors next Monday. You are quite possibly the worst nursing student I’ve ever had working on East wing. You come in late, forget what I just told you constantly…how do you expect to ever make it as a nurse responsible for people’s lives?”
I had a distinct feeling that I wasn’t the first student to ever endure such verbal abuse from that bitch. She had effectively taken me off cloud nine with an atomic bomb of bad attitude. Before I could try to defend myself or just give her a dirty look, Tabitha grabbed my paperwork and clutched it close to her chest.
“You’re off for today. We don’t need you right now. See you on Monday, if you can get here on time for once.”
With that, she angrily gathered up a few remaining charts and filed them away on the rolling cart used to organize them for the doctors. I turned to Karen, who could only give me an apologetic look and mouth the words, “Call me.”
I never even had a chance to put down my purse. With an upset gesture, I walked right back over to the elevator and left the building. My sweltering, falling apart Civic waited for me, like a steely, hot bucket of rust. After a few tries, it finally cranked up and I was headed down the road.
“Fucking bitch,” I said out loud, holding back the tears. “I was late all of two times the entire semester. Both times because of my piece of shit car.”
The thought of smashing Tabitha’s face in brought me temporary, albeit welcome relief. The incident had nearly flooded my mind and washed right over the fantastic, erotic experience with William that afternoon. Focus, I told myself. Don’t let that bitch ruin your night.
So, I repressed as much of the memory of Tabitha yelling at me as I could. I had an important night to plan, and William had instructed me to wear something sexy. My closet was mostly full of casual clothes or nursing scrubs. My prom dress from high school was the closest thing to sexy evening wear that I owned. Next to that was my faded and decidedly un-sexy purple “business casual” dress that I wore for my nursing school interview. There was no way I was going to wear that out on a date with the countries’ most eligible bachelor.
The Plainview Hills Mall appeared on the horizon, just up the road, a shining monument to capitalism. Surely I could find something there that was affordable and sexy enough to satisfy Mr. Rich and Handsome. Before I nearly missed the turn, I swerved into the right lane, nearly colliding with another vehicle. I meekly tossed up one hand in the universal “my bad” signal and ducked low in my seat as the other car blasted its horn and revved around me.
“Welcome to Shea D’Gendire,” the polite and stunningly beautiful woman at the checkout counter said to me as I entered one of my favorite stores to window shop at. I nodded my head and gave her an acknowledging wave. This place was way, way out of my price range. The last time I checked my account I had about 45 dollars left in it.
“Can I help you find anything?” the woman asked, eager to make a sale and some commission.
“Just browsing, thanks,” I replied and steered myself away from her.
The racks full of designer clothing were amazing. They had everything someone with money would want to look absolutely amazing on a date with a man like William Battle. In the lingerie section, they had nightgowns made with silk so soft it felt like almost nothing under my fingers. A lacy black set of sexy undergarments with little hearts and a garter belt stood out as a sure-fire way to get his attention if the night led were I hoped it would lead. I scooped it up and looked at the price tag.
“100 dollars?!” I whispered to the bra and panties in my hands. “Who the hell can afford that for something that is going to come off in five minutes anyway?”
Still, I held onto it. Maybe my credit card had some room left.
The evening gowns were to die for. Extravagant was not enough of a word for some of them. A few even had actual diamonds sewn into the shoulders or around the base of the hem. Any of them would have been enough for me, but what to get the man who has everything?
A provocative, yet elegant black gown caught my eye. The dress was a full-length, but shorter than some of the others and the bust line was cut low. It would fit me perfectly as a relatively short girl. A dual set of fragile, shiny silver chains danced along the waistline to accentuate the hips. It was both classy and inarguably sensual. I had to have it.
When I turned over the price tag, I nearly fainted. Jovani Limited. $1,249.99. My first thought was, “Just how badly did they need to add on that extra 99 cents?”
There was no way I had nearly enough to cover it. I probably couldn’t even get it if I tried to trade in my car for it. Depression started sinking in. Maybe I should just go naked. The last thing I wanted to do was show up at William’s door wearing full-on Walmart.
So, I decided to steal it. I know what you’re thinking. Naughty girl. Stealing is wrong. Well, charging over a thousand do
llars for an evening gown that isn’t made of gold is wrong in my book.
A quick glance around revealed several dark black orbs on the ceiling which veiled security cameras. It was very likely that some of them, maybe all of them, were pointed right at me at that very moment. I peered around the display in front of me, but could see no sign of the helpful woman at the store’s entrance, nor any other employees. The only other person around was a beefy-looking man wearing a black suit and casually browsing some of the perfumes several yards away.
Looking like I was already guilty, I lowered the dress under the display and pulled it right off the rack along with the sexy underwear I had also taken. My head was spinning in all directions until I unzipped my purse and started rolling the garments up into a size small enough to be stashed inside. I could only pray that there wasn’t some type of alarm at the door or a team of security guards waiting to bust me when I walked out.
I had just finished forcing the clothing into my purse and zipping it shut when the voice of a man called out only inches behind me.
“What do you think you are doing?”
Chapter Four
Like a kid caught with her hands in the cookie jar, my eyes sprung open and my shoulders jerked sharply upward in surprise. I turned around slowly, hands shaking, to see the face of the big man who I assumed was just another shopper.
He stared at me severely. His head was completely shaven and on his face, a bushy, out of place mustache. The suit he wore was sleek and plain, and seemed to be a few sizes too small. There was no doubt this man could probably rip a telephone book in half without breaking a sweat.
“N-nothing. Just browsing,” I meekly answered, and swung my pocketbook back over my shoulder. I had to hope he was just some guy, but everything about him suddenly screamed undercover security guard. How did I not see it before?
Steamy Stories (Volume 1) Page 2