Undeniable Attraction

by J B Heller

  “Yes Sir!” I gave him a salute and strolled over to my desk.

  From the corner of my eye, I saw his smile return as he shook his head at me. We had always worked well together, and I was glad I hadn’t ruined that with my little revelation about my feelings for him.

  CHATER FIVE

  When Ivy told me she had been followed this morning I was very close to completely losing my shit. I couldn’t believe how calm she was being about it. I just wanted to bundle her up and lock her in my house where I knew she would be safe until I found out what was going on. Some would say I was overreacting, but the men from her past were not to be taken lightly.

  I made a few calls but it seemed that all possible suspects from her past were still out of action. Which was a relief, but left the question of who the fuck was watching her? I asked her if she had any idea who it could be, but she didn’t have a clue. Girls like Ivy don’t make enemies. She wouldn’t hurt a fly, let alone a person.

  The more I thought about it, the more irritated I became. This was what I do for a living, I find people. But I had no leads. No starting point, nothing. Running my hands through my hair for the millionth time today, I let out a frustrated growl.

  “Bitch, Mole!”

  I heard Ivy curse in the front room, well Ivy’s version of cursing. I had left the door between our work spaces open so I could hear if anyone showed up. I walked out and found Ivy nursing her finger with a bloodstained tissue wrapped around it. “What’d you do?”

  She looked over to me with tears in her eyes and started sobbing. I was by her side in a flash; I knelt down beside her and took her injured finger in my hands to assess the damage. It didn’t look too bad, just a small cut on her index finger. But it was bleeding like a bitch.

  “How’d you cut yourself?” I questioned.

  She’s the most well put together person I know; clumsy is not the norm for her.

  “The letter opener. Sorry. I wasn’t focusing, I’ll clean it up,” she sniffled.

  “You don’t need to apologise. You are under a lot of stress at the moment and I imagine you’ve been thinking about your past a fair bit today, huh.”

  A sad smile lifted her lips. “Yeah, I guess I have. I was thinking about my mum when I cut myself. I just really miss her you know.”

  Then the tears fell like a waterfall. Shit, I’m not good with tears and emotions. I had never wanted to comfort a crying woman before. Whenever I was confronted with a tearful client, I’d call Ivy in to deal with it. But I found myself wanting to make her feel better. So I pulled her closer to me and held her tightly. Hugs help with this shit, right?

  After a few minutes, she pulled away from me; I missed the contact immediately. She wiped her tear-stained cheeks with her good hand and inhaled deeply. Her eyes were puffy with black smudges underneath from that shit chicks put on their eyelashes and her nose was red. Simply put, she looked adorable. “You good now?”

  She gave a slight nod before starting to apologise again.

  “I told you, you don’t need to apologise, Ivy. It’s ok. Let me go get the first-aid kit and I’ll clean this up, ok?”

  She sniffled and agreed to let me clean up her finger. When I came back with the first-aid kit, she had pulled herself together and cleaned up the black stuff from under her eyes. How is it that I had never noticed how beautiful she was? My protective instincts flared to life. I had to protect her from whoever is watching her. My instincts are never wrong, and right now, they’re telling me that this is far from over.

  I went back to her desk and pulled over one of the spare chairs in the corner to tend to her finger. I was as gentle as possible, but she still winced when I wiped it with the alcohol swab to clean it. “Sorry, should have told you it would sting.”

  “It’s ok, I knew it would. I’m just a wimp.” Her smile was back in place and what a beautiful smile it was then she bit her lower lip. My dick twitched.

  “Am I hurting you?” I asked.

  Her cheeks flushed a soft shade of pink. “No, I umm, nothing, it’s nothing, I'm fine.”

  She was squirming in her seat; the more she rubbed her thighs together the harder I got. Fuck, this wasn’t good. I quickly finished cleaning up her finger and wrapped a Band-Aid around it. “There you go, all done.”

  I had to get away from her before I did something stupid, like bury my face in those gorgeous tits. Did she always dress so provocatively? Surely not, I would have noticed. She looked like a sexy pin-up model today. Her long blonde hair was in this twisty thing, revealing her slender neck, and that outfit; well fuck me. Her skirt had ridden up her leg, exposing her creamy thighs, and the first two buttons on her top were open, giving me a good view of her tits. Not huge, but more than a handful.

  I stood up abruptly, nearly knocking her off her seat in front of me. My hands shot out, grabbing her shoulders to steady her. “Shit, sorry.”

  Her cheeks were bright red now, glancing further down to where she was currently focusing, I caught sight of the massive, unmistakeable, erection pressing against my zipper. Fuuccckkkk!

  I stepped back, spun on my heel and took off for the safety of my office. Once inside I closed the door and sat behind my desk. What the hell was happening to me? This was crazy. She doesn’t even have to touch me and my dick is rock solid and ready to roll. I ran my hands through my hair and glanced down at my crotch, yep, my dick was still standing at attention. The only thing that was going to kill it was a cold shower. I hoped.

  I got up and went into my private bathroom I’d had installed when I started up my company. I was pulling massive hours trying to build up my clientele and I rarely got home to sleep, let alone shower.

  I stripped off and stepped under the cold spray. My balls sucked up into my body and my dick pulled back into itself, trying to hide from the freezing water. I didn’t bother soaping myself down, that wasn’t the point of this shower. I got out, dried myself off and re-dressed. When I came out of the bathroom, I noticed the clock on the wall said it was five. Thank God, time Ivy went home for the day.

  I pushed the memory of her eyes glazing over while staring at my crotch to the back of my mind. I couldn’t think about her and my dick at the same time, it would do my head in. I got to my feet to see her off, as I did every afternoon. When I opened the door between our working spaces and poked my head out, she was sitting at her desk twisting her hands together. “Hey, you ok?”

  Her startled eyes met mine and I knew something was wrong. “Umm yeah, I suppose. I mean, that last phone call was just weird.”

  I cocked my brow, what was that supposed to mean? “Weird how?”

  “Well, there was nobody on the other end. I mean, there was, but they didn’t say anything. There was just the sound of them breathing on the other end.” She gave me a half-arsed smile.

  “Why didn’t you call me out?”

  She lifted her shoulder in a small shrug, “I don’t know, I didn’t think it was a big deal. It’s just, the more I think about it, the more uneasy I feel.”

  “All right, but next time, you call me,” I said firmly. She needed to take this shit seriously.

  Her eyes were wide as she nodded frantically.

  “Get your bag, I’ll walk you out.”

  She gave me a slight smile and went to get her bag. I met her by the front door, and walked her out to her car. She was looking around the parking lot with narrowed eyes.

  “You feel something?” I asked.

  She bit her lip and shook her head. “No, no one’s here.”

  “Call or text me when you get home. Just to let me know you got there safely, ok?”

  “Ok, thanks, Gabe.”

  “Anytime, darlin’,” I said as I sent her a wink.

  She got in her car and I spun on my heels, running my hands through my messy hair. Darlin’, where the hell had that come from? I’d never called anyone darlin’ in my life. She was affecting me and I didn’t know what to do about it. I couldn’t keep her at a distance right now
, not until I found out who’s been watching her.

  As I walked back into the office, I decided that I wasn’t going to get anything productive done on my other cases, while I was worried about Ivy. I grabbed my sunnies, keys, phone and wallet, locked up the office and headed to my local haunt, Freddie’s. I needed a drink.

  I loved Freddie’s, I felt at home here. I sauntered up to my usual stool and nodded to the girl behind the bar. She slid a cold one into my waiting hand. They all knew me here, I didn’t even have to tell them what I wanted. Taking my first long pull from my beer felt good. It was crisp, fresh and just what I needed.

  The stool beside me screeched along the floorboards as Freddie pulled it out and took a seat next to me. “Haven’t seen you in here since I had to call that nice little assistant of yours to pick your arse up.”

  “Yeah, about that; what the hell man?”

  “You needed it. I was sick of seeing your sorry arse in here every damn night. I knew that fiery little girl would pull your head out of your arse. You should be thanking me. It actually looks like you’ve taken a shower. That’s an improvement, a welcome one.” he joked.

  “Fuck off, I wasn’t that bad.”

  His only response was lifting an eyebrow at me and shaking his head.

  “Ah shit, I’m sorry man. Hope I wasn’t bad for business.”

  “Na, the ladies loved coming in to watch you brooding over here,” he replied.

  “Whatever man, anyway, how’ve you been? I’ve been so tied up in my own shit that I haven’t really spoken to you for a while.”

  Freddie just shrugged his shoulders; he never was big on talking about himself. “I’ve been all right I guess, just keepin’ busy.”

  “Good to hear, got a new lady in your life yet?”

  He hadn’t picked back up with a woman since I busted his now ex sleeping with one of the bartenders. That was over a year ago. Freddie was too good a person to be alone. I’d just sworn off women not so long ago, so I could relate. Although my stint didn’t last long, I was already finding myself increasingly attracted to Ivy. Not that I would cave, but I could now see myself eventually finding someone.

  Freddie looked miserable; he must have really loved her. It made me second-guess myself. Obviously he was still hung-up on what’s her face; it had only taken me weeks to start developing feelings for someone else.

  That’s when it hit me—I never really loved Sloan at all. The realisation slapped me upside the head like my Granma used to when I was being a little shit.

  If this was how I reacted to losing someone I wasn’t truly in love with, then I don’t think I would survive losing real love.

  Freddie still hadn’t answered me. He was just looking down at his hands. I didn’t know how else to break the sudden awkwardness, so I slapped him on the back and took my leave.

  “Sorry I asked man. I gotta head out, I’ll see you soon.”

  He just nodded and signalled for a beer of his own as I walked out. I felt like a shit for leaving like that, but I honestly didn’t know how to deal with other people’s emotions and shit. I was flat out trying to deal with my own.

  When I got to my car, I realised I hadn’t heard from Ivy yet. I pulled out my phone and noticed a missed call and a text. Shit, I’d forgotten I’d switched my phone to silent earlier in the day when I was trying to keep an ear on things out front.

  I opened the text.

  ~Got home alright, nothing suss till I arrived. Not a big deal, just a note on the front porch. Nothing I can’t handle myself. See you tomorrow.~

  My blood began to boil the moment I read the words ‘note on the front porch’. Fuck no. There was no way I was letting her handle it. I put my car into gear and sped off in the direction of Ivy’s house. I’d never been there before but I knew the address. A drive that should have taken me twenty minutes, took me ten. I was out of my car and banging on the door in seconds.

  “Ivy, it’s me. Open the door,” I yelled.

  Tessa, the chic I met at the bar the other night flung the door open. She was pissed. “What the hell, dude, are you crazy? Bangin’ on the door like that after we just got that fuckin’ creepy arse note. Are you trying to scare the shit out of us?”

  Shit, I hadn’t thought of that when I started pounding the door with my fist, I just wanted to see she was safe. I ran my hand through my hair, again, for the millionth time today. It was going to fall out if I wasn’t careful, and I’m pretty sure that not even I could rock the bald look.

  “Sorry, can I come in? Where’s Ivy?”

  “Sure, since you asked so nicely. Ivy’s in the kitchen,” Tessa snapped as she stepped back, opening the door with her. I walked straight in, spotted the kitchen and made a beeline for it. When I stepped in Ivy was leaning against the bench with one hip, while staring into a cup of coffee. I knew it was coffee, aside from the aroma, because Ivy had a serious addiction and I rarely saw her drink anything else.

  “Ivy, what the fuck? A note, how is that not a big deal?” I said as I threw my hands up in frustration.

  She was startled by my outburst. Having seen that she was ok, I was now pissed with her. How could she downplay it like it was nothing? It was not nothing!

  “I didn’t feel anyone watching me when I got home, so I didn’t see it as a big deal.” She shrugged her shoulders and turned her back on me, walking over to sit at the table. My eyes honed in on her arse swaying as she moved across the room. Tessa shoved my shoulder on her way passed me, then turned and smirked at me. Busted.

  That’s when I saw it, a long stemmed red rose with a note tied to it sitting on the table. I stalked over and grabbed it. The thorns sank into my fingertips as my fist clenched tight around the stem. Blood dripped onto the table, but I was too fixated on the words of the note. My fist clenched tighter as I read, causing the thorns to gouge deeper.

  Roses are Red,

  Violets are Blue.

  It makes me hard,

  Just watching you.

  What the FUCK!

  “Gabe, you’re bleeding,” Ivy pointed out quietly.

  “What the fuck, Ivy! This is not nothing! How could you even think that? You have a fucking stalker,” I spat the words in her face. I began to tremble as my body was consumed with rage. I wanted to find this sick fuck and end him.

  “It’s just a cheesy little poem; I would have been more worried if they were still hanging around when I got home, but they weren’t. It’s probably some little punk kid pretending to be all tough to his buddies,” she tried to make light of it, again.

  “Ivy, do you really believe that shit?”

  I could see by the look in her eyes that she was trying to brush this off. She was scared, why wouldn’t she just admit that to me? Her blasé attitude was just pissing me off. Still, she didn’t answer me, just pulled her shoulders back and took another sip of her coffee. I dropped the rose and snatched the coffee cup out of her hand, spilling it all over the table, but I didn’t care, I was furious.

  I watched as the fear in her eyes disappeared, replaced with a fury of her own. She stood slowly, the chair scraping on the tiles as she placed both her hands on the table. Her eyes narrowed at me and she took a deep breath. This couldn’t be good; I gently placed the cup on the table in front of her and slowly backed away.

  “Don’t. Touch. My. Coffee. EVER!” She punctuated each word in a deadly tone.

  I knew how particular she was about her coffee, but right now she looked like she was about to leap over the table and choke me. “Sorry, I should have known not to mess with you and your caffeine. But I had to get your attention. You’re not taking this seriously, Ivy.”

  “What do you want me to do Gabe? Cower in the corner? Cry myself to sleep? Well I won’t do that. I know how to take care of myself, I will not be victimised again. I’ve lived that life and I hated every moment of it. I cannot and will not do it again.”

  Ivy was full of surprises lately. And they just kept coming.

  “I don’t want y
ou to hide like a scared little mouse, but I do want you to take this seriously. I want you to see this for what it is. There’s a sick bastard stalking you. I don’t know who and I don’t know why, but I swear to you, I will find out. You won’t have to live that life again.”

  She nodded once as her eyes glazed over. I couldn’t stop myself; I was around the table and wrapping her up in my arms in an instant. She sobbed into my shoulder as I held her tighter.

  “I just, I never thought I’d have to go through this again,” she whispered.

  My heart broke for her; she’d been through enough in her life already. She didn’t need to be the target of some psycho’s sick fascination. I laid my cheek on the top of her head and offered her soothing words as she continued to cry.

  CHAPTER SIX

  After my little breakdown last night, it took me two hours to convince Gabe that I was fine and he should go home. I had to promise to call him if I heard any strange noises or if I got the feeling that I was being watched again. When he finally left, it was past midnight and I was spent from the emotional roller-coaster I’d been riding all day.

  I stripped off my clothes and crawled into bed in nothing but my panties, not even bothering to shower. Exhaustion washed over me and I was asleep as soon as my head hit the pillow.

  When I woke in the morning, it was to the smell of freshly brewed coffee. Tessa was sitting on the edge of my bed holding two steaming mugs in her hands. I slowly sat up, bringing the sheet with me, very aware that I was pretty much naked. I never slept naked. That’s how knackered I was last night, I couldn’t even be bothered throwing on my jammies. Tessa’s expression was unreadable. That usually meant something was wrong.

  “What’s up, Tess?” I asked as I breathed in the tantalising aroma of my coffee.

  She turned to look at me fully. Black bags sagged under her eyes, which were puffy from lack of sleep. “Drink up and come out when you’re dressed. We need to talk before you go to work.”

  I nodded my agreement and she left my room, closing my door behind her. It was strange behaviour, even for Tess. I drank my coffee slowly, savouring every last drop. I loved the feeling of my body coming alive as it absorbed the caffeine. I’d never done drugs in all my life, but I’m pretty sure this is the feeling a junkie gets when they take that first hit. Ecstasy.