by T. N. King
Then she gazed around again. Might as well look and enjoy something she’d never seen up close, or would ever see again, probably. Wow, his place even had its own fireplace. And above it, a painting of a provocative nude woman eerily gazing out at the spectator. Ellie liked art. This one was definitely interesting. She studied it while she waited for Morgan, too overwhelmed by the awesome feeling of the painting to look anywhere else.
Morgan
Damn that Marge for interrupting his morning run on the tread, but seeing Ellie again, completely made up for it. Man, she was gorgeous, Morgan thought while he showered. He’d known that the day he’d held her in his arms though. That flirty dress she wore, and those cute heels with her beautifully pedicured toes peeking out—was she trying to drive him crazy? His mind raced with all of the things he wanted to do to her.
He glanced down at his fully erect reaction to thinking about her. “Calm down, boy. We’ll have to take this slow. Don’t want to scare her away.” He closed his eyes and let the cool water wash over him. No harm in thinking about it, though.
He’d start by cuffing her slim wrists and hanging her from a height that forced her up on her tippy toes. He’d enjoy watching her squirm for a while. Then he’d tease her. He’d drag his fingertips lightly over her slim, delicate, arms, down to her sensitive underarms, and even further down to her slender waist. And he’d kiss those sweet, rosy lips of hers. Then he’d—
“Goddammit,” he cursed as his painfully erect cock demanded satisfaction. No time for that.
He adjusted the water temperature to cold, so he could finish his shower.
Ellie was waiting. The real thing. He intended to have that too—the real thing.
After drying off and putting on a pair of casual dress pants and a smart looking dark blue polo, he went back into the living area of his suite and found Ellie admiring the art above the electric fireplace. “That’s supposed to be an authentic Manet,” he said. “One of his earlier works. I’ve always admired his Olympia. This one is said to have been a discarded first attempt of that famous painting. I purchased it at a private auction from an Italian man who claimed his great, great, grandfather actually studied under him. Don’t know how true that is, but I liked the painting, so I bought it.”
“It’s very provocative,” Ellie said and turned her gaze towards Morgan.
“That’s the point,” he said with a provocative smile of his own. He took his time to better appraise her and thought, if she only knew all of the provocative things he had been thinking about just moments ago.
“Well, I should be going,” she said. “I just wanted to return your phone—and thank you, for yesterday. I never really got a chance to…what, with all the chaos and all. So, thank you.” She looked him right in the eye and smiled.
Man, she seemed so sweet and innocent—it made him want her all the more. “You can thank me by joining me for breakfast. They have a wonderful restaurant on the twentieth floor that overlooks the city. I’ll call and have them reserve us a table out on the balcony.”
Ellie bit her lower lip and tucked a strand of dark brown hair behind her ear.
The action just seemed so unaffected, so sweet and Morgan resisted the temptation to pounce on her right there.
“Okay,” she finally answered. “That sounds great.”
“Great.” Morgan called down and made the arrangements.
Ellie excused herself to powder her nose.
Morgan thought about her not needing anything else to make her look more delicious. Whoa down, boy. Just take it slow.
Ellie
She closed the door behind her and put a hand up to her forehead. Holy crap! She was actually going to have breakfast with him. She still felt too frazzled to decide whether or not this was a good thing. She’d felt edgy just being in such close proximity to him, and it had reminded her of the reason for excusing herself.
She’d nervously chewed off all of her lipstick. It was a bad habit that she just couldn’t shake. She dug in her purse for the little tube of lipstick she’d put on earlier, only to remember that she’d left it on her dresser at home.
“Crap.”
She looked around at the palatial bathroom. It wasn’t the one where Morgan had just taken a shower in. No, this was the guest bath. Morgan’s suite included several bedrooms, each with their own private bathroom, she’d supposed by the size of the place. She couldn’t imagine such a thing though. This bathroom alone, was bigger than her living and bedroom put together. It housed a hot tub and a separate shower that looked big enough for two people.
Pull yourself together, Ellie. He is used to living like this, don’t act like some poor little girl who’d never seen wealth.
She approached the full length mirror to make last minute adjustments to her outfit. Applying a fresh coat of lipstick was out of the question, but at least her lips had a natural rosy color to them. Her hair still held its curl. She fixed her belt again. The buckle had a habit of sliding to the side when she walked. She’d have to be mindful of that. Other than that, she looked as good as she could.
She would have breakfast and an interesting conversation with hottie Morgan, and that would be that. She needed to realize these cold, hard truths and not to expect anything more. Yes, that would be the hard part. But at least, she’d gone for it. Came all the way here and entered this world, where she knew nothing about anything. She may be nervous but she had done it! Ellie kept the squee from releasing and squared her shoulders then opened the door.
CHAPTER FOUR
The Palazzo Balcony Restaurant was the ritziest place Ellie had ever had breakfast, or any other meal, for that matter. The maître d’ led them out to a beautifully set table right on the veranda. She sat and gazed out into the open to see the entire city of Philadelphia.
“Wow,” she whispered in awe. “This is amazing. I never knew the city looked like this.”
“There’s a better view from the balcony in my room,” Morgan stated. “I take it you didn’t go out there for a look?”
Ellie shook her head, regretting that decision. She overlooked it because she’d felt so nervous and so intrigued by the Manet painting.
“No worries,” he said and shot her a dazzling smile as he held her seat out for her. “We can check it out afterwards.”
He just seemed so easy-going and care free. Ellie liked this in a man. It certainly helped to ease her anxiety. She smiled back and nodded before taking her seat.
Morgan then sat down and placed the cloth napkin over his lap.
Ellie followed his cue.
“So, since you’ve never eaten here before. I’ll tell what I always like to have.” He picked up the small menu on fancy card stock and pointed to the English Eggs on Toast. “Ever try this?”
Ellie glanced at the menu. “No, but it looks yummy.”
“Best English eggs you’ll find anywhere in the city,” he said.
“Well, then that’s what I’ll have.” She set her menu down, because she felt certain she had no idea what any of the other items were and eggs sounded like a sure bet.
Morgan gave her an approving look and called over the server. “Two English eggs, please, a pitcher of OJ and a pot of black coffee.” Then he looked over at Ellie and asked, “Is that okay with you?”
Ellie nodded. “Yeah. Sounds great.”
The waiter took the menus and retreated back into the kitchen.
Ellie took a sip of her water and looked back out onto the city.
“You should see it at night,” Morgan suggested. “Not as impressive as New York, or Paris, for that matter, but still a sight to see.”
“You’ve been to Paris?” she asked.
“Yeah,” he replied easily and reclined in his seat. “My work takes me all over the globe.”
It had never occurred to ask him what he actually did. “So, what exactly do you do?”
“Cyber security. It’s actually a pretty lucrative industry. High tech is the way of the future and everyone
needs protection from viruses and hackers. My company’s services sell themselves. I came here to Philly to close a deal with the Yamato group. That was the important meeting I had to go to.”
“Wow,” she said, wondering what she could possibly say to impress him. Well, there was the incident she saw with the drunk and his ever threatening drumstick in her awesomely impressive world of bus riding. She almost laughed aloud, but managed to keep it in. “So, you arrived at your meeting all right?”
“Yeah,” he said with a chuckle. “A little late, but after I explained why, I think that pretty much made the sale for me. I guess I should thank you.”
Ellie smiled and glanced away as she felt her cheeks heat up, but she could feel the weight of Morgan’s stare.
“So, you work at a diner, right?” he asked, bringing her attention back towards him.
“Yeah,” she said and nodded. Nothing exciting there.
“Tell me about that.” He leaned in just a bit.
What was there to tell? She hesitated before answering, “I’m just a waitress. It’s pretty boring work.”
“Nonsense,” he said. “You’re in the service industry. You have to be skilled at selling and closing a deal, right? I mean, you have to try and upsell the customer’s order, correct?”
She furrowed her brow because she’d never thought about it like that before. “Uh, yeah, I guess. I mean, yeah, of course. I usually try to upsell, so that I can get a better tip.”
“There you go,” he said and smiled. “We’re not so different. It’s all about using the skills you have.”
“I suppose you’re right.” Ellie shrugged and wondered at the huge chasm there really was between the two of them. Couldn’t he see it? To her, it felt like this huge grand canyon of a gap. Could she even leap it? Keep up with his type of lifestyle? She sighed. What was she even saying? He wasn’t inviting her to. He was just being nice. The man had saved her life…that should be enough to offer in the way of anything. Just enjoy this meal and get as much of looking at him as you can. Then traipse on back to your life in the slums. At least, you never felt out of place there.
Morgan
Of course, he was right. She was selling herself short if she only considered herself a waitress. So many possibilities were available to her if she only realized it. But he sensed that she was timid and afraid to take risks—the complete opposite of him. God, he’d love to turn her into the strong, dominant woman that she was capable of becoming, but he’d love to completely dominate her, himself, first. He realized, however, that he would have to take things slow with her. That meant holding off on the Tahiti trip or anything else he had in mind—at least for now.
“So, I guess the diner’s closed for now?” he continued.
“Yeah,” Ellie said and nodded with a sigh.
“This upsets you, huh?”
“Well,” she began but hesitated to finish.
“Go on.”
Ellie nervously reached for her glass of water and took a sip, then she said, “I can’t really afford to take time off, like I said I would yesterday. I need to find another job, now. It’s not the funnest thing in the world.”
“Hmm. I see.” He felt like a dolt. Of course, she couldn’t afford to take a vacation. That would be his way of handling things. He sometimes forgot that not everyone had the same options he had. He made a mental note to remedy her situation. For now, he would just change the subject. “So where have you gone? Ever been out of the country?”
Her eyes brightened. “Once. With my dad. We drove up to Canada to see Niagara Falls. We stayed there the weekend. It was great.”
“Tell me about that,” he prompted.
Ellie shrugged and smiled. “I was just starting high school and so nervous about it, I’d made myself sick. He promised me that if I got better, we’d go and I’d been reading a lot of stuff on the power of mind over matter, so I convinced myself that I wasn’t choosing to go to high school since I had no say in the matter, so worrying about something that I couldn’t change was pointless. It sounds weird but it worked. I got better and my dad and I went.”
Morgan’s curiosity was definitely piqued. “And your first day at high school?”
“Was great, actually. After I accepted that I had no power in the situation, I just let it happen, so to speak. I approached it as something I had to do, so I just did it.”
“Interesting.” He now rested his elbow on the table with a fist under his chin and leaned forward as he listened to her speak with such passion about this time in her life, where she completely gave herself over. He wondered if she knew that she’d just described herself as a submissive. The fact that talking about this event was the most animated that he’d ever seen her was telling. It filled him with anticipation. Here was an innocent. A woman so held within herself. I bet she never came as hard as I could make her—he halted this kind of thinking. He needed to reign in this lust. This hadn’t happened in a long time. A woman causing him to become hard while just speaking to him.
Their eggs arrived just then and disturbed the mood. He thanked the server and waved him off, hoping to get back to the interesting conversation they were having. “So, do you do that often? Just, give in like that?” Leading question put out there, he couldn’t wait to hear the answer.
Ellie furrowed her slender brows. “I guess I do. I mean, I kind of did that coming up here.” She closed her eyes and cursed under her breath.
He focused carefully on her, amused that she’d tripped up.
“I mean, I was nervous coming here because I wasn’t sure what to expect.” She shook her head and picked up her fork. “I didn’t think you’d remember me.”
He felt the broadest grin spread across his face. “I’m harmless,” he said. “And I have an awesome memory.”
She laughed and looked up at him.
Dammit, she was cute. He caught her sweet baby blues and winked. A moment later, he asked her, “And what about after high school? Any plans for college? Did your strategy work there, too?”
Ellie looked down and pushed her food around with her fork. “Plans, yes. But—I never saw them through.” She shrugged. “Just wasn’t meant to be, I guess.”
Morgan sensed that she was holding back part of that story, but decided he didn’t need to hear the details. He’d gotten enough information to formulate his own strategy from her high school story. That’s what a good businessman did—gathered information before making a move. He felt confident that he’d done just that. This would be all the more interesting but he needed to tread carefully. He would build this and he had more patience than most. It took time to build something spectacular and this—Ellie, he knew would be the most beautiful thing when he finally got her where he wanted her. He smiled and picked up his fork. “Now, let’s eat, so I can show you my balcony.”
Ellie
The eggs were great, just like Morgan had promised, and she was going back up to his room with him to see Philadelphia from his balcony. She couldn’t help but pretend that she’d just accepted an illicit proposal from a handsome, rich, stranger, and was now on her way to complete the task. Fantasy was the spice of life, after all, and after this, she’d probably never see him again, so she might as well get the most out of it. She would retrieve this memory later, while she was in the shower.
After all, that was reality, hers anyway. Fantasy. She had needed it to get through the bad times, the worry. The lonely existence she’d been leading.
He opened the door and held it open for her so she stepped in, marveling once again at the exquisite luxury of his penthouse suite.
Morgan picked up a remote control that laid on the marble table in front of the plush leather sofa and clicked a button that made the rich, gold drapes part to reveal a beautiful view beyond the glass doors. “Come on,” he prompted and tilted his head towards the balcony.
Ellie set her purse down on the leather sofa and followed him out, realizing that she would probably agree to just about anything that he
proposed with very little question. She knew she should second guess this attitude. It in itself was a dangerous thing. Once outside, a warm wind whipped at her long hair creating a scarf effect around her neck. Once she got her hair under control, she joined him at the banister and became awestruck—truly, a sight to behold.
“What do you think?”
Ellie gaped. “It’s amazing,” she said, finally. “I feel like I can see forever from up here.” She grabbed hold of the railing because she hated that feeling of falling she got every time she went up high.
“Yeah,” he agreed and placed his hands on the rail right next to hers.
For a few brief moments, all was well with the world. It felt like perfection. High up in the air, with the world at their feet. Her mind drifted a little and she was ever so conscious of his body next to hers.
Then his phone went off.
Ellie recognized the ringtone from yesterday.
Morgan glanced at her and then reached inside his pants pocket to pull the phone out. After looking at the screen he said, “Sorry, I have to take this.” He retreated to the privacy of the indoors as he answered.
Ellie stayed on the balcony and enjoyed the view. So, what was next? Would he invite her to lunch? Dinner? A trip to Tahiti? She sighed, remembering that she had promised herself she would be satisfied with breakfast and not expect anything else from this kind, sexy, stranger who’d saved her from a burning building. This was more than she could have ever hoped for. In reality, if she hadn’t braved the burning building or this building, she would not have even had this much. ‘Take the little that you’ve got,’ her dad always said. But what if it was just too little? Too far and in between. Never quite enough?
From inside, she could hear Morgan speaking in an annoyed tone into the phone. She wondered if all was well with him. Then she heard a loud goddammit! She turned to look.
