“So are you nervous?”
“Very.” She said nodding. “I need this job.”
“Well, just calm down everything happens for a reason what will be, will be.” She smiled up to him.
“My mom says that.”
He leaned closer to her. “Mines too.”
The doors to the elevator opened. She took a deep breath.
“Well this is my stop I should go. It was nice meeting you Mr. Waters.”
“Call me Christian. Hope I’ll see you around.”
“Yeah, me too.”
Scarlett bit her lower lip as he smiled at her. Stepping off the elevator and walking into the office, she tried to push the vision of Christian out of her mind. She headed towards the front desk wondering if she would see him again. The receptionist smiled at her. She had long dark hair with blonde highlights. Her skin was almost pale. She wore a dark blue skirt and white top that had brown stains on them. Scarlett figured the stains were coffee.
“He tends to do that to all the ladies.” The receptionist’s desk was a dark mahogany wood with a laminate finish with wire cutouts and spacious cubbies. The round desk with a latch opening was a place Scarlett could see herself working. It was modern and very organized.
“Excuse me?”
“You were in the elevator with Mr. Waters or Christian as he likes to be called. That fine man leaves them all speechless. If I was single he would me too.” Scarlett stared at her.
“Ok so maybe he does just don't tell my husband.”
She laughed and Scarlett couldn’t help but laugh with her.
“My name is Mindy how can I help you dear?”
“I am Scarlett Hale and I am here to see Mr. Mario’s.”
“Do you have an appointment?”
She reached into her bag for her resume. “No I am here for my interview.”
“Oh I’m sorry you have the wrong floor.”
“This is the 24th floor right? Mr. Mario’s office? I am asking because his name is on the door.”
“It is, but whoever called you for the interview should have told you that the interview is on the 12th floor. I can call down and let them know.”
“Could you? Thank you for that.” Scarlett held her breath replacing her resume into her bag.
“No problem I should warn you though there are other people interviewing for the job and being late doesn’t work in your favor good luck.”
“Thanks you have a good day.”
“You too.”
Scarlett nodded as she walked out the office and back to the elevator. She felt tears rush to her eyes; she prayed they would still see her. If this was a sign of what was to come she just wanted to get home. Home, how could she walk through that door without a job again? She took a deep breath. She had to do whatever it took to leave there with a job. While in deep thought, the doors opened and Christian stood there with a Folder in his hand. He smiled. Scarlett looked away so he wouldn’t see the tears in her eyes. The doors tried to close but Christian held them open.
“What’s wrong? You were going down right. How did the interview go? You weren’t in there for very long.”
“I am fine and yeah I am going down.”
“So you are crying because you had to see me again? Ouch.”
She wiped the tears from her eyes and reached in her bag for a tissue but stopped as Christian handed her a handkerchief. She took it looking at the light purple material with the initials CPW embroidered on it, she wiped her eyes sighing and shaking her head,
“That’s not it. I am on the wrong floor and it frustrated me for a second I am fine.” The doors started to close again but Christian grabbed them.
“Are…you coming in or are we going to stay out here letting people think I made you cry…”
She looked at the double doors behind her and of course, Mindy was looking at them wondering what was going on. Scarlett took a deep breath.
“So is this your job? You ride elevators all day trying to rescue women in need?” Christian smiled leaning against the elevator door.
“No thank you very much as soon as I stepped into my office I realized I left something in my car.”
“Oh.”
Scarlett looked at her watch then walked onto the elevator wiping the tears from her eyes again with his handkerchief. She wanted to run somewhere and cry but there was something about this man that made her comfortable in his presence.
***
From the moment Christian Waters laid eyes on Scarlett, he knew there was something special about her. She looked so familiar he just couldn’t place where he knew her from, but it didn’t matter when he looked her in her eyes he knew he would never be the same. She was not his type by the standard set for men of his stature but she was beautiful. Pretty short about 5’4 maybe 5’5, light skinned with smooth clear skin. Her body was so sexy too, she was thick in every aspect of the word, big full breast and curves that would drive any man crazy. She wore a baby blue dress with a suit jacket, it fit her body perfectly. Her legs were short but long if that made any sense. And those heels and stockings just did something to his body.
In addition to her overwhelming sexiness, her eyes were fascinating. They seemed to change colors. They were grayish light brown when he first met her and when the elevator doors opened they were black. Now they were a soft brown and just so beautiful behind her glasses.
She wore very little makeup from what he could tell and lip gloss but that didn’t bother him because he didn’t like a lot of makeup to take away from a woman’s beauty. The more he saw of her the more he realized that to him she was gorgeous. Her scent was overwhelming it reached into his soul and pulled him closer to her. He didn’t know what it was that she had on but he loved it.
When their hands touched, a spark shot up his arm and to his heart. Her skin was so soft and smooth all he wanted to do was embrace her whole body. Once she got off the elevator and he inhaled her and knew he needed more, wanting to head back down to Mario’s office just to see her again.
When he realized that she went to his office and not to the interview room he knew he had a chance to see her again so he headed back down. And when the doors opened there, she was looking so distraught and sad. As she stepped into the elevator, he smiled.
“So you’re headed back down to the ground floor?”
“12.”
He hit the button for the 12th floor and the elevator started to move. Christian wanted to say something but he couldn’t. He prayed a silent prayer that some way he could help her. He looked at her fanning her face trying to compose herself, but before he could speak, the lights flashed and the elevator began to shake.
Scarlett pressed her backside against the wall as Christian went to her. Christian held her as the elevator swayed a bit then stopped. He looked down to her as she looked up to him and felt his body come alive. Sexual tension built for the both of them as he they stared in silence at each other. He cleared his throat after a moment.
“Are you ok?”
“What’s happening?” she asked with his voice shaking in fear.
“I don’t know I am going to check it out ok.”
She nodded as he moved to the elevator’s phone. He picked it up.
“Hello? Hello? This is Christian Water’s I am stuck in elevator 2.”
“Mr. Waters we are experiencing a blackout. I think someone ran into the pole outside we are working to get everything back on as soon as we can.”
Christian looked over to Scarlett and sighed. “Do you know how long we are going to be stuck in here? There are two of us.”
“No sir but we will do our best to get it up and running.”
“Ok thank you.”
Christian placed the phone onto the receiver and glanced over to Scarlett who had managed to slide down the back wall. She had her hands to her face. Christian pulled his suit jacket off as he sat next to her.
“It looks like we are going to be here a while.” He said loosening his tie.
“You know you can take me up on that offer to talk. We aren’t going anywhere anytime soon.” She bit her lip and looked away. He placed his hand on hers.
“So tell me what's wrong.”
Scarlett couldn’t hold her tears anymore she just broke down. She took Christian’s handkerchief and wiped her eyes.
“I don’t know what I am going to do, I was counting on that job, I had two other interviews today but I came to this one…we can’t survive without it. And because some girl gave me the wrong info I ended up on the wrong floor and now I am stuck in an elevator and any chance I had at the job is long gone.”
“I am sure if you tell them you had been stuck they would he will let you keep your interview.”
“There are like 12 other people who were on time and have better references. I wouldn’t have gotten the job anyway.”
“Don’t be like that.”
“Like what?”
“Well you are being kind of negative.”
Scarlett stood and crossed her arms over her chest. She felt the elevator rock but didn’t care she was angry.
“I’m being negative? Well excuse the hell out of me for having feelings. My life has been so frustrating that I am sure even on your worse day you wouldn’t understand.”
She dropped her arms feeling tears well up in her eyes. “I woke up this morning to complaints from three different birds chirping in my ear. Why are we stuck here, I need new clothes, school is starting and then I get out on time just to realize that I have missed the bus.”
Christian stood across from her looking down to this woman whose beautiful brown eyes turned dark with anger.
She threw her hands in the air. “A bus that was supposed to be at the stop at 8:45 but came at 8:35 and you want to know how I know. Because as I was walking up to the stop it was driving pass me. All I have been able to think about for the last few weeks is how is this going to get paid, and how is that going to get done.
What are we supposed to do now?”
“We?”
Scarlett looked at him and frowned. She shook her head and exhaled.
“I'm not in school that’s just the story I was going to tell everyone. I was up here interviewing for the secretary position because I need to support my family.”
Christian’s heart sank when he heard the words family. First thing, that popped in his head was a man holding her and kissing her. He wanted to speak up but something told him to let her finish first.
“The job paid $12 an hour and it had benefits and vacation time. We just moved here, my mom has breast cancer, and thanks to my no good rotten excuse for a dad all the money she saved from working two jobs he blew through. It seems so weird because she was in remission four years ago and I was so excited I could go to school. But she has gotten worse. Her disability checks only covered her expenses and I had to quit school and take care of my younger siblings.
“Devon is 17, Maggie is 15, and my daughter Angel is 9. And yes, I said my daughter is 9 you didn’t hear me wrong. We had to move here because there is a treatment center here that will do more things to help my mom than I ever could. I needed this job to help support my family. I am all they have now. I mean we have like one aunt but she has four kids of her own and our older brother who is 29 and has his own problems.
“I won’t allow him to be around any of them because I can’t bear for him or our father to hurt them. I had to sell our house to pay for the Shrines that’s where we put my mom in and I sold my car so we could move here. We have no money, are staying in a hotel and school is about to start. I just don’t know what to do now. And to top it off I am sitting here rambling on to a complete stranger.” Christian stared at her for a moment.
“First you need to take a breath. Calm down everything will be alright.”
She did what he asked as he slid back down that wall and took a seat then patted the space next to him.
“Now take a seat.”
Scarlett looked at him and sighed as she did what he asked again.
“I know things look grim but it’s when the clouds come and the storm is overhead that a rainbow is in the horizon.” She gave him a sarcastic smirk.
“Really?”
“What?”
“Are you trying to run game on me or something because no grown man I know goes around talking about rainbows in the horizon?” Christian held up his hands.
“No I’m not. Sorry my mom says that to me when I am going through it and it helps so I thought it might help you.”
“Oh well thank you. And I do know that when the going gets tough a blessing is on the way. I have faith I just, everything is just weighing down on me, and it has been bad for so long and I do pray and fast but look at me. I broke down in an elevator with some man I just met.”
“Ok first I am not some man and well from what I see you have kept this inside for a while I’d rather you broke down in front of me than somewhere else.”
Scarlett smiled up to this man who seemed to come to her just when she needed him. As Christian wiped a fallen tear from her left eye, he couldn’t help but feel for her. He had fought the urge to hold her since she walked into the elevator. Now he couldn’t fight it any longer, he had to hold her. He pulled her to him and hugged her. She wrapped her arms around him and cried harder. He held her tight and honestly didn’t want to let her go. He wanted to help her and he knew exactly how he could.
“Scarlett.”
“I am so sorry for breaking down like that.” She said her face still buried in his chest. She felt so safe and secure and didn’t want to leave his firm body.
“It's no problem. I think I can help you.”
“You don’t have to.”
“I believe everything happens for a reason and meeting you is one of those things. It just so happens I am the Vice president of Waters Empire.”
“Waters Empire?”
“Yeah not my choice for the name, that falls to my dad and mom.”
She looked straight ahead wondering how this man’s wife or girlfriend would feel if she knew Scarlett was resting her head on his him. “How old are you?”
“29. Why?”
“You just don’t look like you’re that old.”
“Well are you really 27?”
“Yes. And breaking down like a school girl.”
“Everyone breaks down its normal. And crying cleanses the soul.”
“You are a really sweet guy.”
“Sweet is the new rough neck I thought you knew!”
Scarlett started to laugh at him and he shook his head.
“Sorry girls like the big strong tough rough neck kind of guy so.”
“I will take sweet over rough and tough any day, trust me.”
“Well that is me I like to think my parents raised me well.”
She relaxed a little bit in his arms. He kicked his long legs in front of him as she laid her head on his shoulder.
“I have to admit. It feels good to cry when you have a shoulder to cry on. To be able to let it all out. I can’t do it at home because once I start I won’t stop.”
“So tell me about your family.”
“You really want to know?”
“I wouldn’t ask if I didn’t.” he said looking down to her.
Her face lit up as she smiled. Christian realized in that moment her smile did something to him.
“Well Devon is 17 and is really talented. He dominates the court I guess they say. He’s a really smart kid and kind. He helps me a lot with the girls. He has this theory in his head that he is the man of the house. He has felt that way since he was 12.”
“12.”
“Yeah he has always been that way, wanting to make sure that the girls and I are tak
en care of.”
“Sounds like a great kid.”
“He is. Now Maggie she is 15 and in her teenage phase where she just wants everything to go her way. The move hit her hard. I hated to do that to her but then she agreed with us it was what was best for mom. Now my Angel is a pistol just like me. So sweet and smart and was born with a smile and no matter what mood I'm in I can look at her and know everything is fine.”
Scarlett opened her purse and handed him a picture with Scarlett an older woman 2 young girls and a young man all smiling and all happy. Christian smiled.
“That is a beautiful family photo.”
“Thanks.”
“So she’s 9 and you are 27.”
“I got pregnant at 17 and had her a month before my 18th birthday.”
“Was she planned?”
“At 17?”
“Sorry I just.”
Scarlett shook her head. “Don't worry about it. I have gotten those questions before and the looks. Mostly thinking it's my fault.”
“I never thought that.”
“You don't have to pretend. I know what people think about me.”
“And what is that?”
“That I slept around until I got pregnant. Truth is I wasn’t like that. I’m not like that.”
“Ok so what about her father?”
“What about him?”
“Are you guys together?”
“No.”
“So he can’t he help you?”
“It will be a cold day in hell before I ask him for anything. I don't want nor need his help.” Christian held his hands up.
“Ok.”
“I'm sorry it's just a bad situation I am still kind of raw about it.”
“That’s ok. I get it.”
“And what is it that you get?” she questioned.
“Whoa calm down I just meant that I get you are raw about it.” Scarlett glanced up at him as her eyes softened.
“So what about you?”
“What about me?” he asked looking down to her.
“You’re 29 no wife no kids?”
She laid her head back on his shoulder as he loosened his tie more.
“I guess I am pretty picky when it comes to women. I would love to have a wife and kids but I got to feel it.”
A Passion Rekindled Page 2
