The Price of Love

by Cassy Roop

  The wind blew harshly and whipped my long chestnut hair around my face. It was a chilly fall day that was made even colder from my ass being planted on the ground. I looked down at my torn skirt and stockings. I also felt an aching in my tailbone from hitting the ground so hard.

  So much for today being a good day.

  “Are you ok?” A deep and husky voice asked from behind me. I turned towards the stranger who was the only person on the street to even ask if I was ok. Slowly I began to stand and the stranger offered his hand out to help me up off the ground. I stood trying to support my weight with my hand still being held by the stranger. As I looked up into his eyes to thank the gentleman, my heart stopped. I saw the most beautiful emerald eyes stare back at me. His eyes mesmerized me. Not only was his eyes beautiful, but the rest of him was as well. His strong jaw held a tiny bit of stubble. His dark hair was windswept and kind of messy from today’s weather. My eyes then landed on his lips. They were full and just begging to be kissed. I instantly wanted to be just the girl to do that. I realized, after way too long, that I was staring at this gorgeous Adonis when a smile crept upon his lips.

  “Th-thank you,” I managed to stutter. Did I just really stutter? I thought to myself as embarrassment flamed my cheeks that were already rosy from my fall. My eyes took in the rest of his body as I scanned him from head to toe. He wore a charcoal grey suit with a white shirt and a soft green tie that only enhanced the emerald green of his eyes. The suit looked expensive, like it was tailored to specifically fit him. On the wrist of the hand that still held mine was a beautiful gunmetal watch that probably cost more than a new car.

  “My pleasure. Those bicycle couriers can be ruthless. They don’t care who they run over as long as they get to their destination on time,” he said to me sympathetically as he reluctantly released my hand. His voice was husky yet smooth. If I wasn’t already instantly attracted to this man, his voice would do it for me. My hand instantly felt cold from the absence of his warmth. Something about his eyes though seemed so familiar. It was as if we had met somewhere before. I shook the thought away as quickly as I thought it.

  There is no way I could forget anything about meeting this man.

  “Sir, we really must be going if you are going to make your morning meeting,” an older man stated matter of factly from behind my sexy stranger.

  “Yes of course, Garrison,” the Adonis replied and his eyes finally tore away from mine and onto the gentleman behind him. “Are you sure you are ok? Are you hurt or need a doctor?” he asked me with sincerity in his voice.

  “No. No thank you. I’m ok really.” I replied meekly. He took one more long look at me as if trying to find out if I was telling the truth.

  “Ok then. Have a good day. Stay out of the path of those bicycles.” He spoke with a slight laughter to his voice.

  “Yes sir. Will do!” I replied as I brought my hand up to my forehead and saluted him.

  OMG Kendall! You just saluted the man! Way to make an impression. He probably thinks you are a big dork now.

  He smiled his perfectly straight, white teeth at me.

  Yep. Definitely a dork Kendall.

  “Good day, Angel.”

  Those were his last words to me as he turned to head in the opposite direction I was heading. I stood frozen in place unable to move.

  Did he call me Angel?

  I watched as he continued down the sidewalk away from me. My body was begging me to go after him. I didn’t even ask his name! I stood there the entire time looking like an idiot who couldn’t stay away from bicycles and speak without stuttering. I have never felt this instant attraction to a man before. Somewhere deep down I felt like I knew him or of him, at least.

  As I finally watched him climb into a waiting black car at the end of the street, I shook my head to clear my thoughts. I glanced down at my watch.

  Crap I’m going to be late to work.

  Since I already knew I was going to be late, I decided to go into the coffee shop on the corner before heading to the magazine. The door chimed as I walked in. Thankfully there was only one customer in line when I approached the counter.

  Good. I won’t be even later than I already am.

  When the lady in front of me finished her order and stepped away from the counter, I approached. I gave my order to the young blonde haired girl behind the counter. I ordered a caramel latte for Cassie too, knowing that they were her favorite. The young girl taking my order gave me my total. As I reached into my handbag to grab my wallet, something caught my attention out of the corner of my eye. Under the counter was a rack that held numerous magazines from gossip rags to Time Magazine. My eyes bore a hole into one of the gossip rags. On the cover was a gorgeous green-eyed, dark haired man. On his arm was a beautiful statuesque blonde as they posed at some event. I dropped my wallet scattering some of its contents all over the coffee shop floor. It was the green eyes that had me gasping. There, on the front cover, was my sexy stranger. My Adonis. He was none other than the billionaire business mogul, Tristan Price.

  After leaving the coffee shop I walked the four blocks to my office building. I stood staring up at the tall building with pride. After my parents’ death this dream seemed like wishful thinking. I was determined to be the best I could be in school so that my parents would look down on me with pride. Brett took everything from me that day. I would not let him take my dream too.

  I walked into the Cashman building where the headquarters for Lively Magazine was located. I worked for its smaller sister magazine, Flushed, in Dallas for several years after graduating from college and before being promoted, from a freelance writer to an editorial assistant. Cassie had been here in New York a few months prior to me arriving. We both worked at Flushed together in Dallas. She then moved to New York to work at Lively to be the assistant to the photo/art director.

  The lobby of the Cashman Building was bustling with people as I walked in through the revolving door. The floors were covered in a beige marble and the walls a soft eggshell. There were brown leather couches and chairs that surrounded glass tables to offer a place for people to sit as they waited to be called up to whatever office they were visiting. Each table had a beautiful arrangement of flowers. From the aroma that filtered in with the smells of perfume and cologne, I could tell they were fresh and not the fake variety. The security desk was in the middle of the lobby. It was circular in shape so that the security guards could have a panoramic view of the entire lobby. As I approached the desk, I pulled my ID badge from the front pocket of my red pea coat.

  “Good Morning.” I said cheerfully to the blond haired security guard.

  “Good Morning, Miss Jones.” He replied formally after seeing my name on my badge. Since I have only been at my new job for a few weeks, I was still trying to get to know all the security guards who rotated shifts frequently. I had seen the blond haired guard once before. I noted his name take said “Mike” as I walked by heading toward the elevators.

  Lively Magazine was housed on the fourteenth floor of the Cashman building. I stood and waited for the elevator car to arrive at the ground floor. There were about eight other men and women dressed in business suits and dresses waiting along with me. As the first car arrived, I made my way over, nearly being trampled on by everyone else trying to get to their floors as fast as they could. I made it into the waiting car without spilling the coffees I held in my hands. The elevator ride took forever due to it having to stop and let people off or on at nearly every floor.

  Maybe I should start taking the stairs. I could use the exercise. Then I thought better of it since it would be fourteen flights of stairs.

  Finally reaching my floor at nearly an entire hour late for work, I stepped off the elevator into the reception area of our magazine’s office. Rachel, our young strawberry-blonde receptionist, smiled at me as I made my way towards my cubicle.

  “Hi Kendall.” Rachel said vibrantly as I approached.

  Seriously this girl was always so chipper. I wish
I had a quarter of her energy.

  Her cute little face scrunched up in worry as she took in the appearance of my skirt and stockings. I had not even noticed that there was a small tear in them until she pointed at them questionably.

  “What happened Kendall?” she questioned with sincerity, “Did you get attacked? Mugged? Oh my gosh, did a dog get you?” I chuckled slightly at her questions. She was so animated in everything she did or said.

  “No. No dog, or muggings. But I did get attacked by a bicycle courier.” I answered her with a small smile. “I landed flat on my bottom. Which is still kind of sore come to think of it,” I said as I ran my palm across my aching behind.

  “Those couriers are ruthless! I’m surprised there aren’t any newspaper articles daily about death from those guys!” Rachel said with a serious tone. I laughed.

  “You can come up with the craziest thing, Rachel,” I chuckled. “Anyway, that is why I’m late. Laura hasn’t been asking for me has she? I swear I could not make a worse impression by being late only three weeks into my new job,” I said nervously. Rachel looked at me with sympathy in her eyes. I knew instantly that I could possibly be in trouble with my new boss.

  “Laura has asked me several times if I had heard from you I am afraid,” Rachel replied shyly. “Apparently there is someone coming in for a meeting about a piece for the magazine. She wanted you to be in the meeting. She said it’s some hotshot billionaire guy or something.”

  Great. All I want to do after this morning is sit and listen to some old CEO of some company talking about how great he is.

  I sighed and made my way back to my cubicle. I generally kept my space clean and tidy. I only had a few pictures in my space, one being a picture frame that held a picture of my mom and dad. I wanted to feel like they were with me wherever I went. Pictures helped me see their faces, even when my mind struggled to remember their voices. The only other framed picture on my desk was of Cassie and me. It was taken when we went on vacation to Cancun after we graduated from college. Both of our smiling faces stared back at me as I remembered the great time we had. We had a stranger take it for us. We looked like complete contradictions of each other. Where I was average height with deep chestnut hair and blue eyes, Cassie was tall with long golden blonde hair and brown eyes. She was the one person in my life I knew I could depend on. She came into my life at a time when I had nothing left. She was more my sister now than best friend.

  After setting my coffee and personal things on my desk I walked around the corner and down the hall to Cassie’s office. The art director and she shared an office since the art director was always at shoots or on location. Cassie was his assistant which meant she was left doing most of the left over work. She didn’t seem to mind.

  I tapped my knuckles on her door, after finding her dark brown eyes glaring at her computer screen with frustration. She gazed up at me and after coming out of her trance finally spoke.

  “Bloody hell, Kendall! Where have you been? I’ve called and texted you like twenty times. I was getting ready to file a missing persons report!” she exclaimed.

  “Stop being so dramatic, Cassie. I just saw you this morning at the apartment for Christ sake. I’ll tell you all about my very strange…and at the same time unbelievable reason for being late,” I explained to her.

  “Mind telling me why you couldn’t answer your phone? I swear one of these days, Kendall, you are going to give me a heart attack with worry.” Cassie complained.

  “Chill out, Cass. I’ve told you for years now that you don’t need to worry about me anymore. I’m not going to breakdown…again. Anyways why are you so frazzled today? You seem on edge, more than normal.” I said accusingly with a smile.

  “It’s because these stupid graphics are giving me trouble. My deadline is this afternoon and I can’t get this picture to do what I picture it to do in my mind. It was so much easier when all I had to do was take the pictures and not edit them.” Cassie blew out her breath like she had been holding it. “Enough about me and my frustrations. Spill it. Why were you late? You know Laura has been in here looking for you right?”

  “Yes, I already spoke with Rachel. Honestly Cassie, this story is unbelievable but true.”

  I went on to tell her about the events that unfolded upon my commute to work this morning. The bicycle courier, me falling on my ass thus the reason for my torn skirt and stockings seemed like a story someone creative would come up with as a reason for being late. Then I told her about the man. The gorgeous, sexy man with the windblown hair and piercing green eyes. I also spoke about the way he stared at me and the familiarity I felt when I looked at him and the fact that he called me Angel.

  “That’s so sweet.” Cassie sighed romantically. I hadn’t given her the stinger part of the story yet. “Wait,” she snapped grabbing my attention, “you said he looked familiar. Do you know him?”

  “I didn’t at the time,” I said truthfully. “It wasn’t until I went into the coffee shop to get our coffee that I found out who he was when I saw his face staring back at me from a magazine. Here’s your coffee by the way…you’re welcome.”

  “Ah, you know the way to my heart.” Cassie smiled upon me handing her the coffee cup. “So he’s famous? This story just gets better. So who was it?” she squealed impatiently.

  “Tristan Price.” I stated meekly. My heart rate speed up with just the mere mention of his name. My hand started to tingle as it remembered the last place he touched me. Cassie was quiet for what seemed like forever. Then it was as if she had been electrocuted back into existence.

  “Holy shit pickles on a cracker, Kendall! Tristan fucking Price?” she yelled. The sound of her voice echoed off the walls of her office. I knew the people in the cubicles just outside her office had to hear her little outburst.

  “Keep your freaking voice down, Cass. Jesus,” I scolded as I shot her a look of exasperation.

  “Sorry Ken-Doll.” She said jokingly as she used her all too famous nickname for me. “But it’s not every freaking day that the CEO of a multi-million dollar company plays your knight in shining armor!”

  “Billion dollar.” I said to her as I smiled wide still not believing that the incident happened this morning.

  “Give me the…” she was cut off as we heard my name being called from around the corner. My boss Laura’s nervous shrill came out as she rounded the corner to Cassie’s office in search of me.

  “Oh thank God, Kendall. Where the hell have you been? I needed you here an hour ago. We have a very important meeting this morning and I need you there. This piece could be the biggest story our magazine has ever done and you are lollygagging around?”

  Did she really just say lollygagging?

  “I’m so sorry Laura. I have a really good excuse for being late I promise.” Before I even had a chance to explain she interrupted me.

  “Save it for later. Our meeting is in ten minutes and I need for us to prepare. Meet me in my office now so we can get ready.” She huffed as she spun round on her heel and took off for her office.

  So much for me making a good impression.

  After making lunch plans with Cassie, I left her office and headed toward Laura’s. On my way, I passed the conference room where our meeting would be held. I noticed several men and women already starting to gather. I didn’t notice any faces as I passed by and walked into Laura’s office.

  “Grab that stack of folders would you Kendall?” she asked as she pointed to a stack sitting the corner of her desk. Laura moved around her office nervously trying to gather everything we needed for the meeting.

  “What is this meeting all about Laura? You look almost panicked.” I told her hesitantly. I was hoping that her panicked state was because of who we were meeting and not because I left her feeling unprepared.

  “We have a meeting with the CEO of Cashman Enterprises. He is interested in letting us interview him in exchange for a huge spread in our magazine about his chain of hotels he is opening.” Laura explained.


  “Cashman Enterprises? The same people who own this building?” I questioned.

  “The very same, she answered enthusiastically.

  “I don’t understand Laura. Why is this guy such a big deal?” I asked her scrunching my face up not understanding.

  “He never does interviews. He is a very private person. Not many people know his history. He is famous for avoiding the media and he has agreed to an interview with us exclusively.” She told me as she emphasized the word exclusively. “Come on. They are probably already here waiting on us.”

  Still not understanding why this guys was such a big deal, I followed her to the conference room. Who cares about some guy who doesn’t give interviews? Maybe he is a hermit or he was heliophobic. I thought as I chuckled to myself.

  Laura entered into the conference room ahead of me. I followed her closely as she addressed the people in the room. “Please forgive us for being tardy, ladies and gentlemen. Are we ready to begin?” she asked the group.

  As Laura moved out of the way I looked up and my eyes landed on a familiar set of piercing green eyes. I froze in place as time seemed to stop. I faintly heard Laura introduce herself to the CEO and his group.

  “And this is my editorial assistant, Kendall Jones,” Laura said as she waved a hand in my direction. “Kendall this is the CEO of Cashman Enterprises, Tristan Price.

  Chapter 2

  Tristan

  I was not prepared like I thought I was the moment Kendall stepped into the conference room for our meeting. Her beautiful cerulean blue eyes hit mine and froze. Her eyes were her most stunning feature right down to her heart shaped mouth. Her body. Oh. My. God. She was average height and had curves in all the right places. Kendall’s hourglass figure started at her perky breasts that flowed down to a narrow waist then curved down to her luscious hips. Her long toned legs looked even longer with the nude pumps she wore. Her chestnut hair was in soft waves that flowed down past her shoulders and back.