Layers

by Sigal Ehrlich

  “Mr. Stark,” he says, a tad too seriously.

  Where’s the laughter now?

  “Hope you didn’t grope anyone while I was away,” Daniel whispers in my ear and winks at me.

  “I was waiting for you to do it,” I grin back at him.

  He tightens his arm around my waist, pulling me to face him—close, very close. From the corner of my eye I can see Tasha and Rob turning the other way.

  “Where were we, H?”

  “You just read my mind,” I say as I look up at him. He leans so his mouth can find mine and we kiss way too passionately for public viewing. Small currents make their way from my toes to my head.

  As we gradually unglue our mouths Daniel says that he will have to leave soon.

  “I have a call with Thailand; I need to do it from home.”

  “With the minister of defense?” I probe.

  A crease appears on his forehead. “How did you know?”

  “Let’s call it an educated guess.”

  “Any chance you’re coming with me?” He observes me with narrowed eyes and a small sinful smile that encourages me to agree.

  “Though that’s one of the most tempting questions I’ve been asked lately, I think I’ll have to take a rain check,” I reply, not even fully convincing myself.

  Daniel doesn’t try to conceal his disappointment. “Why is that?”

  “I’m starting the new job tomorrow and I want to be fresh and alert, which I’m pretty positive I will not be if I go home with you.”

  “I can’t argue with that. I want to, but I won’t.” He sighs. “So you got the job you wanted? Which magazine was it?” he asks, looking genuinely interested.

  “At YOU.”

  “If only you could work at me …” he murmurs, and I chuckle.

  “I am going to be the creative director’s assistant.”

  “Good for you,” he says, and kisses me. “So as much as I hate to let you go now and believe me, I do, I must head home.” He envelops me deeper in his embrace and kisses me again, taking his time. I inhale his smell as he does, feeling warm and protected in his arms.

  “Go please.” I start to pull back. “Before I change my mind,” I say, and could not be more serious.

  He holds my chin between his thumb and finger, raising it, and kisses me again. “Good night, Hayley,” he says, sending me a small, meaningful smile, and walks away.

  I look at him as he strides away and fight my urge to follow. Next I join Tasha and Rob and their group, though my thoughts are light years away. We stay for a couple hours more to see the main attraction, a concert by the moment’s it-group, with a full-blown smoke-and-lights performance.

  Chapter 13: Rite of Passage

  “Hales, wake up.” I hear Tasha’s voice from a distance, yanking me from my serene state of suspended consciousness. “You asked me to wake you up before I leave, so wake up, for heaven’s sake.”

  She’s now standing next to me, nagging me to actually sit up so I won’t go back to sleep once she’s gone. She does know me, after all, a little too well.

  “There’s a cup of coffee with your name on it in the kitchen. Get your butt in there pronto, Hales. I mean it.”

  “Alright, alright. Go already; go manage some important project at Stark Software,” I say in a drowsy voice, lumbering into the kitchen, still shaking sleep away.

  “I’m quite positive it’s you who deals with the important projects involving Stark, Missy. Actually, I urge you to make as many projects with him as you can. Project his brains off for the sake of us all. He might finally relax and be more easygoing.” She smirks at me. Her mouth is about to crack in two from the intensity of her grin.

  “Project his brains off? Really, Oh the poet thou art.” her face lighted as she checks her watch.

  “Hayley Grace! Shakespearean before eight a.m.? I’m getting the very best of you here. Too bad I shall shog.”

  “Shog?” I raise a questioning brow.

  She rolls her eyes. “Leave …”

  “Oh my god, you are such a nerd.”

  “Well, shog thy butt out of here.”

  She closes the door, leaving behind a trail of rich perfume and particles of cheerfulness that transfer joyful energy to the atmosphere.

  Checking out my closet, I go for an off-the-shoulder silky black shirt with tight blue jeans and my sneakers. For better effect, I choose a bright red bra to go with the shirt, which is revealed at the shoulder as the shirt hangs down, giving my outfit the final touch. Not bad. I smile at myself, feeling like a complete idiot as I do so. Who are you, some blondie at a trashy reality show? What’s with this stupidly good mood? And the letters DS pop into my head, flickering like a tacky Vegas sign.

  To make sure I don’t look like one of the characters in Twilight I put on some mascara and a tan shade of blush. That’ll do. Time to play grown up.

  ~~~

  I arrive earlier than we’ve agreed upon, but Ken doll, aka “boss” is already there, grinning at me with a tad-too-excited-to-see-me smile as I approach his room.

  “Good morning.” A perfect set of bright, white teeth greet me as I enter his office.

  “Good morning.” I mirror him. “Here and ready,” I declare.

  Hope that didn’t come across wrong. Stupid innuendos! That’s something I should say to Daniel when I see him. Then I suddenly realize we haven’t planned anything together when he left off yesterday. I get slightly low thinking about it.

  “Let’s get some coffee in us first, shall we?” Josh offers.

  “I like your thinking.” I follow him. “Where are we going?” I ask, noticing he’s walking toward the main entrance.

  “We have a Starbucks just around the corner.” That radiant, at-the-verge-of-annoying smile again.

  “Valuable information,” I murmur idly.

  “How do you take your drink?”

  I look at him, distracted, still deep in my thoughts.

  Noticing my puzzled look he asks, “How do you take your coffee?”

  Oh. “I’ll take a grande, doubleshot, extra hot cappuccino without too much foam.”

  “One of those,” Josh now shines his smile at the blushing, freckled redhead operating the register.

  “Anything else?” he refers back to me.

  “I’m good, thanks.”

  “So let’s go start the day, shall we?”

  That smile again. The guy is a walking ad for Colgate.

  ~~~

  “Hayley, there’s someone here to see you,” I am hailed by Miss Piercings from reception. Looking at her perplexed, I question, “Is that so? I don’t think it could be for me. Perhaps there’s another Hayley around?” She twists her face into a shrewd smile—the first time I see her smile. She’s actually kind of cute if you overlook her hair and defiled face.

  “We don’t have another Hayley here,” she mutters, short-tempered. Relax, kid. Josh looks at me questioningly; I shrug, having no clue who it might be.

  “Where is this someone? Does he have a name?”

  “He’s in the reception area. I didn’t ask for his name but he’s ultra-hot.” Both Josh and I look at her saucer-eyed. She grimaces back at us, seemingly completely indifferent to our stares. Impudent young creature.

  I see him casually leaning against the wall in the reception: tall, white polo shirt, jeans, wavy gold hair, all Daniel. My heart skips a beat, both from seeing him and from seeing him here. Josh looks at me with an inquisitive stare.

  “Daniel,” I say as I get closer and face him.

  “Good morning.” He sends me his irresistible, crooked smile.

  And the reason for your gorgeous self being here would be? I smile back, still waiting for some sort of enlightenment. Josh coughs next to me.

  “Oh, Daniel, this is Josh Wilde, the creative director of YOU.”

  Josh enthusiastically extends his hand for a shake; Daniel mirrors his action except with utter apathy.

  “Daniel,” he mumbles, his eyes fixated o
n mine.

  Josh completes his line with deferential enthusiasm, “Stark.”

  The bored thin line on Daniel’s lips could not be more suggestive of his slight annoyance.

  “Nice to meet you,” Josh says, still eager.

  “Same here,” Daniel says, still indifferent.

  “So, to what do I have the pleasure, Daniel?” I ask, glancing sideways at Josh trying to signal, can we have a moment here? And there’s also Miss Goth-Gone-Wild observing us shamelessly.

  “I didn’t want to start my morning without kissing you,” Daniel says bluntly, that wicked grin of his on his face; I freeze and imagine that my face is currently the brightest shade of red that exists on the planet. Josh finally dismisses himself, murmuring something about me coming to see him later.

  Daniel takes a step to get closer to me and settles himself legs parted with mine in-between, one hand at my lower back, pulling me closely to him till I can feel his concrete chest against me. His other hand, at the back of my neck, gently tilts my head up to meet his slightly-parted lips and kisses me the most corrosive, lustful kiss.

  Wow. Every molecule in my body has awakened. While I’m still in a state of shock he leans down and whispers in my ear, “Why, Miss Grace, you seemed so much more talkative the last time we had the pleasure of meeting. Have you lost your words now, do you need a moment?” Oh, I need a moment; yes, I need a moment to regain the power to stop myself from jumping you in public, D.

  He chuckles and hugs me close, very tight, enveloping me against him, then says in a low voice, “Please wear this bra tonight when you come over. It is so hot.”

  We’re meeting tonight?

  Hardly getting back to my senses, I manage to say, “As long as you promise to take it off later.”

  His look narrows and his face turns stern. “Keep saying that and I will drag you to the nearest alley.”

  By all means, please do.

  “When are you off? When can I pick you up?”

  I blink at him, elated. So determined, Mr. Stark. Care to ask perhaps if I can, if I don’t have any prior plans? “I don’t know yet, I’ll text you later.” Being my first day here and you causing a scene and all …

  “Hayley, what’s your favorite food?”

  What? “That would be sushi.”

  “Okay, I really need to go now. I don’t pay myself to play.” He huffs a short chuckle and I snicker in response. Another kiss, and then my own private tornado of sinful scars and up-to-no-good-smile is gone.

  I turn on my heels to get back to my new boss at my new job. Daniel, you could not have picked a better occasion to fulfill your urge to kiss me; he came all this way just to kiss me. My heart twirls with joy. Miss Piercings is ogling my every step; I frown at her and head to Josh’s room.

  “I am sorry for, hmmm, that,” I stutter to Josh. I feel my face flush.

  He ignores me and asks, looking somewhat surprised, “You’re Daniel Stark’s girlfriend?”

  I’m not sure about the girlfriend part, and why is that of any importance anyway?

  “We are … dating,” I reply. You know, your usual boy meets girl story … Boy sends girl mixed messages for a while. Boy driving girl insane with all of his contradicting cues. Boy goes from I don’t kiss if it doesn’t mean anything to coming all the way to girl’s first day at a new job just because he had to kiss her …

  Josh seems rather contemplative for a short while, and I wonder what he’s thinking about.

  Next, he gives me a list of tasks for the rest of the day. I am to go over a few older issues of YOU, review some designs made by my fellow colleagues which I will have to discuss with him later on, and attend some meetings he scheduled for me beforehand with some key people I’ll be working with.

  “The first cubicle opposite my room will be yours,” he mentions. “I’ll check on you later on.”

  I believe this is my cue to be dismissed. Just before I commence actually working I text Daniel and Tasha.

  I’ll be at your place around 7, see you later, H.

  @ work, tons to tell you but not tonight, as I will be projecting Mr. Stark’s brains off H

  Not a minute passes before I get a text back from Tasha.

  Tasha: Since when is it my place? I thought we were roommates, you have something to tell me, Hales?

  Oh no, fuck no., if I’ve sent Tasha the first text? OH, NO! I feel the blood drain from my face. FUCK, FUCK, FUCK!

  Txt mix up; will tell you tonight, still your roommate –love ya

  I don’t even manage to put my phone back before it rings. Looking at the screen I bite my lips and answer, trying hard, very hard, to sound as casual as I possibly can.

  “Hello.”

  “There were five people in the room when I got your text, Hayley, and I’ve asked them all to step out as I had a very important matter to iron out.”

  His voice sounds way too amused. He’s so going to make a whole fiesta out of this one. He pauses for a long moment, letting me stew.

  “They’re all waiting just because of you and I do pay them a lot, so now we are officially wasting Stark SW capital, hence enlighten me, Hayley, quickly if you can, for the sake of the company, that is.”

  “Well, since you’re so interested, that wasn’t actually meant to be sent to you.”

  “So I gathered.” I can actually hear his wicked smile from his smug tone. He is so enjoying every minute of this.

  “It’s a private joke between Tasha and me; it’s not even that funny. How are you?” I try to divert him away from the subject.

  “Oh no, I’m not letting you get away with this one. Either you tell me what ‘projecting my brains off’ means, and of course I can assume I am the alleged Mr. Stark in question, or perhaps you will be projecting some other lucky Mr. Stark’s brains off tonight,” he chuckles and adds, “or I could always summon the esteemed Miss Taylor to my room and ask her. What do you say, Miss Grace? What will it be?”

  I’m Miss Grace now? “I presume making me squirm is one of your kicks. We do have a history with that. Very disturbing, I must say. Have you ever thought about seeking professional help?”

  “Hayley Grace, you’re straying from the crucial subject again,” he snaps, trying to sound harsh. Now I can hear him calling his PA. “Anne, ask Miss Taylor from R&D to come over,” he tells her.

  Oh no. You’re seriously demented, huh? What are you doing? Don’t you have a serious business to run?

  “Okay, okay, you made your point, leave Tasha out of this. My god, you are so irritating.”

  “Am I now?” he laughs. “Anne, it’s okay, I won’t need Miss Taylor after all.”

  “Now people are waiting, Hayley. Time is money,” he urges me.

  He won’t let me get away with this one, psycho that he is. “I meant that I’ll be doing you tonight,” I say very quietly. I am sitting in an open space and don’t need this conversation to spread any more than it already has.

  “Meaning?” He laughs a low, throaty laugh.

  “Should I really be more graphic? Haven’t you already had enough fun?”

  “Seriously, you’re the sweetest thing. Now I’m craving tonight even more.”

  “I am glad.” I try to sound upset. “Bye, Daniel.”

  “Bye, sweet Hayley.”

  Sweet Hayley …

  And finally my first work day can start.

  ~~~

  “I’m going home,” says Christina, my assigned mentor at YOU.

  “What time is it?” I ask.

  She checks her watch; her short, silky, brown hair falls on her face. “It’s half past six.”

  I won’t even have time to stop at home.

  Will not come home after work; see u either very late tonight or tomorrow morning. Don’t miss me too much.

  Tasha: Please by all means go ahead and do all the things I wouldn’t, can’t resist missing you—ENJOY, she texts back. I smile fondly at that; how Tasha of her.

  Chapter 14: Second Time Around

/>   I grin awkwardly at the security cameras that make me uneasy. I don’t think I’ll ever get used to them. It seems so alienating to have to pass via security to get to your, not sure how to classify him, house …

  Daniel leans on the doorframe, waiting for me: loose white tee, barefoot, jeans that fit his body snugly in the most sensual way, and damp, messy hair. At least someone had a chance to freshen up. There are butterflies in my stomach, again. The good kind.

  He smiles as I get closer, taking a step to reach me. “Hey you,” he says, and I smile, exhilaration reaching every part of me.

  “Hey back.” He opens his arms slightly for me to cuddle into and I do so happily, reveling in the feel of his arms caging me in a firm embrace. I raise my head to meet his soft, hazel eyes. He bends and kisses me a gentle, sweet, chaste kiss that hastily evolves to a union of our tongues anxiously teasing, tracing one another. A few prolonged moments pass before we disconnect, both highly charged.

  “Let’s get inside,” he says into my hair, still holding me tight.

  “I am starving,” I say.

  He chuckles. “So let’s get some food in you.” Daniel pecks my head. Lacing his fingers with mine, he leads us inside, straight to the kitchen.

  “Have a seat,” he mutters, nodding to the bar stool at the kitchen counter. He circles the counter to stand in front of me. I love the song playing in the background.

  “Great song,” I say. “Need any help?”

  He smiles and shakes his head. “Started listening to them thanks to you.” I’m gifted with a short, meaningful glance that affects me in the sweetest way.

  “Would you like some sake?” he asks.

  “Please. Any chance you can warm it?”

  Hearing my request his eyes light with pleasure. “Of course. That’s the way I like it.” He halts for a moment, his eyes drinking me in. He then bends across the counter and gently pecks my lips. I grin inwardly, a wide grin.

  “How was your day?” he inquires, taking small bowls and two plates out of the cupboard. I gape at him moving so gracefully around the kitchen and all I can think of is how attractive I find him, how hyperaware I am of every single motion he performs.