A Flare Of Heat (H.E.A.T. Book 1)

by Claire, Nicola

  "It'll look avant garde," I suggested, not sure what avant garde actually looked like, but it sounded good anyway.

  Wayne chuckled and followed me back down the hall. We both came to stop by the behemoth display.

  "It's such a shame," Wayne murmured.

  I took a breath in thinking he was about to delve into dangerous waters, a bouquet of flowers like these shouldn't be sneezed at, I suppose.

  "If only he'd pricked himself on a thorn or something, but it looks like the florist de-thorned them all. Ah well, dreams can't always come true."

  I should have laughed, or at least smiled at him, but his words hit hard. My dream of a loving relationship hadn't come true and now Brett was threatening the only other dream I had ever had.

  My fingers automatically went to my purse hanging over my shoulder, slipping inside and feeling the envelope hidden within. The envelope that had forced my hand, made me file a Trespass Notice and consider hiring a lawyer. He wouldn't win, he couldn't. If I lost Sweet Seduction I would lose all that was left of me.

  I nodded at Wayne and made a hasty retreat down the hall and into the lift. The moment the doors closed, sealing me in the metal box, my body sagged. I wasn't sure how much longer I could go on pretending to everyone that everything was OK. It wasn't, I knew this. But saying it aloud would make it more real and for just a while longer I wanted to pretend.

  Auckland shone bright and clear when I made out onto the pavement outside my apartment complex. Summer in the city was always the best. Emily Place was already buzzing with the promise of a new day, I could even hear birds in the Pohutukawa Trees across in the park. Our building may have been a warehouse conversion done on the cheap, but it was prime real estate. I loved living here.

  I started up the hill towards Queen Street, my walk would take me past the entrance to High Street where Sweet Seduction is, but the lawyers' offices were on Queen itself. I dreaded to think what they would cost. I knew what commercial rent in the city cost and although High Street is the place to be for fashion and food, Queen Street is all about business. Legal firms, accountants, investment companies, banks. Anything that requires location to boost its clientèle base, resides on Queen Street.

  Anscombe, Drake and Kline was one such firm. The big stylised ADK out the front of the building left you in no confusion as to who the main occupant was. A list inside the granite floored entrance noted a few additional firms, all complementary, or at least on par with the legal company that took up three of the five floors. Wow. I was so not going to be able to pay for this. What the hell was I thinking?

  I bit my bottom lip and stood stock-still in the centre of the foyer, contemplating leaving and flicking through the phone book back at the shop. I'm sure there'd be something more within my budget out West. The lift doors pinged off to the side and I jumped slightly. The sound echoing in the tall ceilinged room. I was five minutes late already. If I missed this lift, I'd be later. Still I just stood there, breathing a little too quickly and feeling well out of my depth.

  I finally shook my head and decided I'd head back to the store, there was nothing else for it. I simply could not afford to pay my mortgage, pay my latest supplier's bill and pay for a lawyer like this too.

  "Are you getting in?" came a deep, silky, masculine voice from inside the elevator. "Or am I holding this door open for no reason?"

  I leaned over slightly to get a clean line of vision into the lift compartment itself. The most gorgeous, thirty-something-year-old man I had ever laid eyes on stood with one hand holding the door open and the other holding both a take-away coffee cup and a briefcase. The cup was on a lean and threatening to spill. It wasn't one of mine.

  His blue-blue eyes flicked up to mine and I thought I saw them widen slightly, but if they did, it was too quick to be sure. He looked a little impatient now and the coffee cup was tipping even more over, in an angle that did not mean good news for the cleaning crew at all. Still, it wasn't one of mine, it probably tasted like crap.

  He sighed, which looked absolutely divine - making his broad shoulders flex and drawing my eye to his large and obviously well maintained physique - and a bubble of laughter sprung up uninvited from my chest. Expensive suit clad god was impatient all right. His lips twitched slightly at the edges when I laughed.

  "I'm running late, sweetheart, climb aboard." I wasn't sure if he had meant that to sound so provocative, but I couldn't stop the slight blush that crept up my cheeks.

  He watched my face as I walked stiffly into the elevator, unable to think of refusing his instructions right now.

  I turned and stood on my half of the lift, facing the closing doors. I could see his hand hovering over the floor buttons, I wondered why.

  He cleared his throat. "What floor?"

  Oh. "Um... fifth." His hand returned to his other, taking the coffee cup and lifting it to his lips. I tried to get a look at the logo, but there wasn't any, the cup was a cheap generic one. Ours were black with hot pink writing, proclaiming to one and all, Sweet Seduction on High!

  I was supremely amused to see him grimace when he swallowed the opposition's product down.

  "What's so funny?" he asked in a drawl.

  "You don't look like you're enjoying your coffee much," I answered immediately and then cursed myself internally for several beats. Why couldn't I just keep my mouth shut? Who gives a toss about whether he enjoys his coffee or not?

  He leaned against the side of the lift and looked at me, his body now full on to my side. I was determinedly looking at the closed doors, my hazy reflection depicted there making me look a little squat. I'm not that short, but it didn't do me any favours.

  "It's not that great, you're right." His answer was so slow in coming, I thought he had decided to ignore my ridiculous remark.

  "You should try Sweet Seduction on High," I offered, then was instantly mortified to be touting my wares like some street hawker inside this plush building, on my way up to probably the most expensive lawyers' office in town. And to a man who looked like an Adonis and dressed like he owned half the city.

  My eyes flicked up briefly to catch his expression. It was amused. I blinked and watched as his mouth widened in the sexiest smile I had ever laid eyes on. He had a dimple, in the cleft of his chin. Oh my God. I realised my mouth was hanging open slightly, so quickly snapped it shut and turned back to the doors. The man didn't say anything, thankfully, and just then the doors opened to Anscombe, Drake and Kline's main office.

  I took a deep breath in and walked out of the lift, realising belatedly that the man was following two steps behind. I stopped and looked over my shoulder at him. He was still smiling. His blue-blue eyes and short midnight dark hair framing an obviously quite amused handsome face. He held his arm open indicating the reception desk.

  "You first. I'm still finishing my god-awful coffee that isn't as good as Sweet Seduction's on High, I believe."

  I paused, then decided to hell with it and smiled at him. I saw it then, the widening of his eyes. I was watching his face when I smiled and I swear his eyes got larger. Then swiftly returned to a half-mast state that would look great in bed.

  My smile was still on my face when I approached the girl at reception, sitting behind a highly polished wooden desk. ADK in bold embossed lettering centre front.

  "Hello," she chirped, giving me a wattage overloaded smile in return which somehow managed to look fake without being obvious. Her eyes trailed down the length of me, in my normal work attire. Black slacks, crisp untucked white fitted blouse over the top and flat black leather shoes. Who wants to stand on heels behind a coffee counter all day or get coffee grounds and melted chocolate on their designer wardrobe? She was quite clearly unimpressed by my presentation skills though, obviously not the firm's normal clientèle. Maybe it's a girl thing. Girls just know when other girls are being insincere and judgemental. Or maybe she was just that much of a bitch it wasn't too hard to miss.

  "Hi," I said a little too deliberately. Kelly always said
I couldn't refuse a bitch moment when presented with one. This woman just had bitch written all over her expensive clothes and way too much jewellery. "Genevieve Cain for Finn Drake."

  She ducked her head down and looked at something on her screen.

  "Your appointment was for 9am," she remarked curtly, obviously trying to not-so-subtly point out I was ten minutes late.

  "Sorry about that, had to get rid of a truck-load of red roses. You know how it is, there's only so much room you can spare for the blasted things."

  She frowned at me and then reschooled her face into a faux smile when the god-like man I had forgotten all about behind me, coughed. Or it could have been laughed, it was difficult to tell.

  "Take a seat." She indicated a set of couches in the corner for me to sit on. "Mr Drake will be with you shortly."

  I nodded and turned around, only to find the god-like man was standing right in my space. I stepped to the side to walk around him at exactly the same moment he stepped to the same side to avoid me. We collided, his hands came up to steady me, briefcase and I'm presuming near-empty take-away coffee cup as well. He was close, I could feel this amazing heat coming off his body in waves. It made me feel a little dizzy. I think I might have swayed.

  Coffee tipped out of the take-away cup and fell to the cream carpet on the floor.

  "Oops," I said before I could stop myself. "That looked like black coffee, so blotting it with cold water should do the trick, no need for a laundry detergent," I added helpfully and then cringed. What the hell? Shut up, Gen. "Bit of a waste." My mouth seemed to be permanently switched on. My brain wasn't though. "Shouldn't waste good coffee." My motto, come to haunt me.

  He smiled at me. It was beautiful. "It wasn't good coffee," he admitted quietly, as though it was a secret and he only wanted me to know.

  I leaned into him, somehow drawn to an invisible magnetic force and whispered back, "I won't tell anyone you didn't shop for coffee at Sweet Seduction. I promise."

  He stared at me for a moment and then muttered something under his breath I couldn't quite catch. It broke the spell, whatever the hell the spell was in the first place. But I was suddenly lucid and quite possibly in trouble of winning the title for most ridiculous banter on earth.

  I quickly untangled myself from his grip and rushed over to the couches, immediately grabbing a random magazine off the coffee table and burying my face in its pages. I didn't dare look up, but I knew he was watching me. I could feel it, which is ridiculous, but true. His eyes bore into me as though they were physically able to reach inside my skin. I concentrated on breathing, unable to take in the glossy mag's pages before me.

  I distantly heard him say to the bitch-at-reception, "Any messages for me, Cathy?"

  "Not this morning, Mr Anscombe," came her overly chirpy reply.

  Ah crap, I'd flirted, most embarrassingly and quite unsuccessfully, with the guy who owns the law firm. I blinked a few times to clear my head of all the curse words storming through my brain.

  And realised, belatedly, that the magazine I was holding was upside down and around the wrong way.

  Jeez, Gen. Get a grip!

  About The Author

  Nicola Claire lives in beautiful Taupo, New Zealand with her husband and two young boys.

  She's tried her hand at being a paramedic, bank teller and medical sales representative, (not all necessarily in that order), but her love of writing keeps calling her back.

  She has a passion for all things supernatural, spiced up with a good dollop of romance - as long as they include strong characters, alpha males and capable females, and worlds which although make-believe are really quite believable in the end.

  There's nothing better than getting caught up in a compelling, intriguing and romantic book.

  When she's not writing or reading, she's out on her family boat at Lake Taupo, teaching her young boys to fish, showing them the beauty that surrounds them in nature and catching some delicious trout for dinner.

  Kindred has been a joy to write, creating a rich world with dynamic characters and paranormal twists that shock and awe has been pure bliss for this author. And just as well, because there's a lot more story yet to tell...

  Find more Nicola Claire books at:

  Nicola Claire Website

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