Mr. Grogan rolled his eyes at her and headed down the hall. At her former job with the local newspaper, the dress and conduct code had been strict, and she’d gotten used to it. It was going to take her a while to adjust to the more laid-back environment of Grogan Home Theater, Inc., where she now worked as bookkeeper.
Bernice whispered, “He brought you flowers, Rachel. Is he your boyfriend?”
Lamely and with reluctance, Rachel said, “No. He’s a good friend of mine. Is he waiting in reception?” She wondered why he’d brought her flowers.
Because he still wants me to go out with him after two months, and I keep telling him no. Because I’m a dumbass.
“Yeah, want me to send him back?”
In the last two months since she’d met Eli, Rachel sometimes felt like she had an angel sitting on each shoulder. Good Rachel knew only trouble would come of dating a bouncer in a nightclub, especially a scrumptiously delicious-looking bouncer like Eli. Good Rachel wanted to play it safe and avoid getting hurt. Naughty Rachel wanted Eli anyway and was ready to kick the ass of any woman who dare lay a hand on him or approach him to flirt. Naughty Rachel wanted to get laid. Whether she kept herself at arm’s length or dated him, or worse, fall in love with him, she had a feeling she was going to have regrets.
Naughty Rachel tapped her shoulder.
He’s right outside waiting for me with flowers. He’s been so persistent. How can I say no to—
“Earth to Rachel?” Bernice passed her hand in from of her face.
Rachel grinned sheepishly and said, “Right. Tell him he can come on back.”
Bernice grinned and scooted back down the hall to deliver her message.
Rachel gathered her things in her arms and stacked them on the front of the desk. She figured it would be best if she walked him out, and if he asked her out, she would turn him down in private. She knew Bernice might be eavesdropping on her conversation. Rachel liked Bernice, but she was nosey.
Her head throbbed again, and she remembered she’d dropped her bottle of Tylenol in her desk drawer when she’d taken a couple that morning. Instead of walking around the large oak desk to pull open the drawer, she stretched across the thick glass top and hooked the drawer handle with her thumb, opened it, and reached for the Tylenol.
Several things happened at once. As she stretched to reach the drawer handle, she began to lose her balance, and she heard a knock on her open office door. The slick bottoms of her new red high heels slid right out from under her on the carpeting, and she flopped ungracefully forward, knocking her breath from her as she landed on her large purse and her laptop case, which began to slide toward the edge of the desk with her on top of it. Rachel knew she was moments away from sliding off the desk and landing flat on her ass. Her fingers made useless slipping sounds as she vainly tried to get a hold on the slick, empty desk top. Clutching her laptop to keep it from hitting the floor, she sought a foothold with her pumps, and her pointed toes hit the carpet, slid sideways out from under her and she did the splits.
Her head pounded painfully, and she whimpered as she tried to get her feet back under her. In the two seconds it took for this scene to play out, she imagined she looked utterly graceless and then heard movement behind her. Large warm hands caught her in a strong grasp right before she slid off the desk, grasping her precious laptop in her arms.
“Whoa, angel!” Eli Wolf said as he caught her around the waist, keeping her and her laptop from hitting the floor. She’d never felt like a bigger klutz in her whole life, and he, of course, never looked more gorgeous.
“Oh, damn.” She released her laptop when he took it from her and put her hands to her temples and whimpered again. Eli turned her to him and leaned down to look in her red-hot face.
“Rachel, are you okay?”
She looked up into his luminous gray eyes, which were filled with concern. Falling forward on her purse and laptop case had knocked the wind from her, and she felt a little nauseated on top of her pain and embarrassment.
He brushed her hair from her face and directed her to sit in one of the chairs in front of her desk. “Sit and catch your breath. What were you doing?”
She pointed to the open desk drawer. “I was reaching for my Tylenol. I’ve had a headache all day and what just happened didn’t help it any. I’m sorry you saw me…like that.” She envisioned her ass stuck up in the air with her feet flying out from under her, Lucille Ball-style, while she flopped around, and cringed again.
Want to get away?
He stepped around her desk and found the Tylenol in the open drawer and brought the bottle of water that had rolled to the edge of her desk in her clumsy scramble. As he stepped back over to her, she noticed a bouquet of vivid orange roses lying on the floor.
He noticed where she was looking and lifted the bouquet from the floor. “I brought you flowers,” he said as he placed them in her hands.
Rachel took a few seconds to enjoy their fragrance, noticing that a single bright red rose was nestled in the center of the bouquet. He hadn’t picked these up at the grocery store. These roses had come from Merritt’s Florist, judging by the tissue paper that bore the florist’s logo they were wrapped in.
“Thank you, Eli. They’re beautiful. What are you up to?” she asked as she laid the roses in her lap. She opened the bottle of Tylenol, and he handed her the water.
“I came by to see if you had plans for this evening. I’d like to take you to dinner.” He hesitated and looked down for a second as if he were bracing himself. “If you’d like to, that is.”
I can’t do this, I can’t do this, I can’t do this—
She heard Bernice speaking to another employee in the hallway. She didn’t know if Bernice would return to her desk behind the reception counter and knew she could not turn him down within the hearing of her coworker.
“Let me get my things and I’ll walk out with you, okay?” she asked softly. She hadn’t told him yes, but the happy smile that lit his face made her heart do another flip-flop.
Oh, yes I can, oh, yes I can, oh, yes I can!
She contemplated the slippery slope she was on as she lifted her purse from the desk. He watched her carefully, as if making sure she was all right to get up from the chair, and lifted the laptop case strap to his shoulder. Her head throbbed, and she wanted that bubble bath something fierce, but she found that she also wanted to say yes to this knight in shining armor. If she let him, she knew he could charm her socks off. Heck, he could charm her panties off, for that matter.
“I’ll go tell my boss good night.”
He smiled in understanding. “I’ll wait for you in the lobby.”
Carrying the roses and her purse, she followed the hallway down to the end and stopped in her boss’s open doorway. Another man sat conversing with Thorne, but Thorne looked up and grinned when he saw her. “Headed out for the evening?” he asked as he glanced at the roses she held. Her cheeks warmed a little, and she nodded.
“Did you get the e-mail I sent you?” she asked.
Thorne nodded. “Yes, and I saw the discrepancies you were telling me about. I can’t go into detail about it, but I appreciate your diligence in getting to the bottom of the matter. I knew I made a good move when I hired you, Rachel. Good work. Enjoy your evening.” His smile was broad, and he glanced at the roses with speculation in his eyes.
“Good night, sir—sorry! Good night, Thorne.” She did it again. He rolled his eyes and propped his cowboy boots up on the corner of his big oak desk.
“G’night, Rachel. Have a good evening.”
She nodded at the other man who had turned to see whom Thorne was speaking to and made her way back down the hallway.
Eli stood near one of the front windows looking out but did not appear focused on anything outside. Light from the windows shone in and illuminated his pale gray eyes. He was dressed in his leathers and a T-shirt and, as she approached, she could detect his clean, spicy scent. He looked good enough to eat with his shiny, long black hai
r streaming down his broad back. Underneath his T-shirt, every muscle stood out in relief, and the short sleeves lay snug around his bulging biceps. Her fingertips twitched with the desire to reach out and stroke him.
He must have finished early with his tower climbing job and gotten cleaned up to go to work at The Dancing Pony. He worked three or for days a week for the local electrical cooperative as a subcontractor doing some of their tower climbing work. To listen to him talk about it scared her. The thought of climbing three hundred feet or more in the area gave her the heebie-jeebies.
Eli looked up when he heard her heels click on the ceramic tile in the waiting area. Her heart flip-flopped when a broad, sexy smile spread over his face. His gaze warmed her as he looked appreciatively at her from head to toe. Her earlier humiliation at being seen in such an awkward position was salved by the admiration in his gaze now. He was used to seeing her in western wear, but for work she dressed in skirts, blouses, and heels. Today, her long brown hair was pinned up in a clip.
She turned to Bernice, who was currently ogling Eli from behind her reception counter. Bernice’s facial expression mirrored those of many other women Rachel had seen gazing raptly at Eli over the last two months. The receptionist was his senior by at least ten years, although she was still in great shape, but Bernice was happily married with two kids, so Rachel didn’t feel like gritting her teeth at her perusal quite so much.
“Good night, Bernice,” Rachel said as Eli moved to hold the glass door open for her.
“G’night, sweetie! Y’all have fun!” she called in her high-pitched, reedy twang.
The sun hit her full in the face as she walked through the door. She held her fingers to shade her eyes and groaned at the excruciating pain in her head. A feeling of disappointment began to grow in her heart. She was definitely weakening under Eli’s charm because she knew she would have said yes to a supper date this evening if not for the pain in her head.
Eli moved to block the sun from her face and put the palm of his hand to the back of her head. “It’s pretty bad, huh?”
“Mmm-hmm. The brightness is killing me,” she murmured.
“Come on, angel. Let’s get you to your car.” He put his arm around her shoulders and walked her to her vehicle, which was thankfully parked under a tree in the shade. She glanced up and noticed his big Dodge pickup was parked beside her car, dwarfing it. She used her remote to unlock it, and Eli opened the door for her. She sighed in relief as she sat down in the driver’s seat. He put her laptop case on her back seat and then squatted down beside her as she sniffed her roses again.
“These are beautiful Eli, but I—” Should she tell him she would have gone out with him tonight? Should she encourage him?
At the sound of clicking heels, she looked up as another member of Mr. Grogan’s staff walked down the sidewalk toward them. It was the big-busted blonde in her early twenties who worked in sales. Rachel saw the moment the girl laid her eyes on Eli. A sexy smile spread across her bright red lips, and she immediately exaggerated her wiggling walk, twitching her skinny ass as she approached. When she was even on the sidewalk with Eli and in his full view, she dropped her car keys then made a big production of retrieving them from the sidewalk, giving him a generous and slow-moving view of her big-busted cleavage in the process. The girl never even looked at her as she smiled invitingly at Eli and proceeded around the corner to her car.
Bitch.
Rachel fumed at the interruption of their moment and the slutty forwardness of her coworker. She glared at her then looked back at Eli, to find he was completely focused on her.
“You don’t feel well at all, do you?” he asked, his brows knitted together. Rachel hesitated for a second, and he continued, “Would you have said yes, otherwise?”
Rachel reached back and rubbed her neck as another wave of pain brought on by the heat and brightness made her groan. The nausea from earlier returned as well. She looked at him and said, “I don’t know. Maybe?”
Her answer seemed to satisfy him, and he stood. “I know what you need. Why don’t you go on home and, if you don’t mind, I’ll swing by in a few minutes.”
“What are you going to do?” She wanted to get in her bubble bath as soon as she got home, but he’d piqued her curiosity.
“I’m going to bring you something that will help. Don’t worry, I won’t stay because you need your rest. I’ll see you at your apartment.” He fished his keys from his pocket and closed her car door for her after she buckled her seat belt. She fished in her purse for her sunglasses, wondering why she hadn’t thought to slip them on before leaving the building.
Maybe because I had six feet, nine inches of man-candy distracting me?
Eli allowed her to back out of her space first, and she noticed as she pulled out of the parking lot that he headed the other direction, farther into town. She made the short drive home and was standing in her kitchen gazing into one of the cabinets, trying to figure out which was the least unappealing choice, when she heard him knock.
When she pulled open the door, a delicious aroma wafted to her nostrils as Eli stood there holding a paper bag and a to-go cup. He had a warm smile on his face as she let him in.
“I brought the cure for what ails you.”
Oh, baby, you have no idea. If I wasn’t feeling like hammered crap, I’d let you cure me good!
“What is it?” she asked as she closed the door and followed him into her kitchen.
He opened the bag and removed the Styrofoam bowl and plastic spoon and handed them to her. She pried the plastic lid off the bowl and discovered the origin of the mouthwatering aroma.
“Have you ever had Rudy’s Chicken Poblano and Habanero soup?”
“Yikes. Habanero? No, I can’t say that I have.” The one time she’d tried a habanero pepper, on a dare at summer camp, she’d gagged and coughed for an hour afterward. She could still taste it the following day, and her digestion hadn’t liked it very much, either. Rachel wanted to keep her tongue in its current uninjured condition and was about to thank him graciously before refusing his offering.
“That is the look of someone who has eaten one whole,” he said with a chuckle and she nodded sheepishly.
“Rudy removes all the seeds from the habanero before mincing it, so you get all of the flavor and none of the fire. The poblano pepper is mild. The soup will help to open up your sinuses a little. This,” he said holding up the tall to-go coffee cup, “will also help. Rudy brewed it double strength for you. It’s his cure for a headache, especially migraine headaches. He says he hopes you feel better, too.”
Standing there with the steaming bowl of soup and cup of coffee, Rachel looked up at him humbly. He no longer cared about taking her out. He just wanted her to feel better.
She’d held this man at arm’s length for two months refusing, for various reasons, every time he asked her out. Her reasons were starting to sound weak even to her own ears.
“If you ask me out again sometime, I’ll go out with you.”
A wide grin split his face, and he closed his arms around her after she went into his solid embrace. “Angel, you can count on the fact there will be a next time. Let’s get you out of those killer high heels and comfortable so you can eat then I’ll get out of your hair.”
Eli led her to the couch and slipped her shoes from her feet. He rubbed each arch for a few seconds then propped her feet on her coffee table and said, “Okay, you go ahead and eat. Don’t forget to drink that coffee. Remember, it’s gonna be stronger than what you’re used to.”
“I will, then I’m gonna take a nice long bubble bath and go to bed.”
Good Rachel tapped her shoulder and said, Now why did I tell him I’m planning on taking a bubble bath?
Naughty Rachel responded, Because I want for him to think of me nekkid in my bubble bath, silly! Why else?
Eli’s piercing gray eyes were warm as he gazed at her, and she had to wonder if he wasn’t already imagining it. He smiled and said, “I guess I’l
l leave you to it, then.” He patted her knee and rose from the couch. She put her soup down and followed him to the door. Being out of those heels was helping her feel better, too. He turned to her as he opened the door of her apartment and said, “I hope you feel better soon. I’ll call you sometime and see about cashing in my rain-check for our date.”
Good Rachel rolled her eyes and shook her head while Naughty Rachel did a jiggling happy dance. “Okay.”
He gave her a sexy grin and bent down to kiss her cheek. His spicy aftershave flooded her nostrils, and she was filled with the sudden desire to taste him, all over.
“Enjoy your bubble bath.”
Rachel ate her soup, which was delicious, and filled the tub with hot water and bubbles as she sipped her coffee. It was incredibly strong but very flavorful, and she sipped on it as she soaked in the tub. She added warm water a couple of times, and after an hour or so, she finally let the bath water out. Her head felt much better, and she knew Eli’s remedy must have helped.
All the peppers in the soup did open up her sinuses, and the extreme caffeine jolt had her feeling ready to take on the world. Rachel placed the vase containing the sweet smelling roses on the nightstand then settled in bed. She thought about Eli as she looked at the flowers and wondered at the significance of the single red rose in the center.
She recalled there was an old poem that spoke of the different sentiments behind rose colors and wound up googling the meanings of each color. A florist’s website provided the answer and she felt her cheeks warm as she read it. Orange roses symbolized strong passion. Orange was a blending of red, which signified love, and yellow, which symbolized friendship. Orange roses could serve as a bridge between the two, signifying the desire of the giver for more than friendship with the receiver. Then there was the single red rose amongst the orange ones. Rachel could only use her imagination about what message he was sending with it.
After working on her manuscript until late into the evening, Rachel fell asleep. She nearly jumped out of her skin when someone woke her from a sound sleep pounding on her front door.
The Divine Creek Ranch Collection, Volume 1 [Book 1 - Divine Grace, Book 2 - Her Gentle Giant, Book 3 - Heavenly Angel] (Siren Everlasting Collection) Page 61