Running Into Love - The Complete Box Set

by Annalisa Nicole

  “They dusted for prints and didn’t find any that didn’t belong there. There was absolutely no sign that she didn’t leave on her own. I refuse to believe that she would just leave and not tell anyone. That she wouldn’t tell me. The two of us have been best friends since we were in my mother’s womb.

  “For a while I drove myself crazy looking for her. She’s never used any of her credit cards or her bank account. She hasn’t contacted anyone in the family. Eventually, it tore my parents apart and they divorced six months after she disappeared.”

  “Kyle, that’s just horrible. I am so sorry. Nothing that has happened with Roger comes even close to what you’ve been going through.”

  “Honey, there’s nothing to compare here. What happened to you is a crime. You could have pressed charges against him. It sucks that there’s this big gaping mystery about what happened to Chloe, but I will never stop looking for her. What happened tonight was horrible. Did you want to talk about it some more?”

  “No, I think I’m all talked out. What do you think about just sitting here and watching some TV?” I ask, hopefully I don’t have to talk about it anymore tonight or if I’m lucky ever again.

  “Sure honey, whatever you need. I’m right here if you change your mind.”

  “Thanks, Kyle, you’ve been so wonderful to me through this whole thing.”

  We sink back in the couch and relax. I try to clear my mind of everything and try to drown my thoughts in mindless television. I can’t though. The thought of his sister missing for the past two years is just so tragic. It’s not even just that, but it caused his parents to get divorced too. I don’t know what happened next, because the next thing I know my eyes are opening and I can hear movement coming from the kitchen. My thoughts of Roger are still fresh in my mind and I jump off the couch in a panic.

  “Amelia, it’s OK. You fell asleep. I didn’t want to wake you, or leave you alone, so I slept on the other couch. I hope that was alright.”

  It takes me a minute to download what’s going on. Kyle is in the kitchen making breakfast and I can smell coffee, then I realize what I must look like at this exact moment. I desperately grab at my hair trying to smooth it down and tame it into some sense of order.

  “No, it’s fine. Can you excuse me for just one minute?” I say in a panic.

  “No problem, honey, breakfast is almost ready.”

  I do a walk/run to my bedroom and close myself in the bathroom. I scream in my head when I take a look at myself in the mirror. I quickly run a brush through my hair and brush my teeth. I take a deep breath and walk back out to the kitchen and take a seat at the counter. Kyle has two places set, then places a plate of scrambled eggs and cut up fruit in front of me. He fills a mug with coffee and before the last drop hits the cup it’s at my lips.

  “Someone likes their coffee in the morning,” Kyle says with a chuckle.

  “Try all day long. Willow knows not to even speak to me until I’ve had at least one cup of espresso in me in the morning. Thank you for staying last night and for breakfast this morning.”

  “It’s not a problem. I felt better about staying with you, than leaving you alone after running into Roger last night. Are you sure you’re alright?” he asks with such concern in his face it melts my heart.

  He’s so worried about me. I can’t imagine what he’s been going through. I should be the one asking him that.

  “I won’t lie. I’m still a little shocked. I’m more shocked about how Willow reacted to him. She’s a nut. It gave me a sense of relief though. I don’t know maybe, because I never stood up to him and having someone else stand up to him about what he did to me felt good.”

  “I hope you know I’m here for you too,” he says.

  “I do know that and thank you. I hope you know I’m here for you too. If you ever need anything, I’m right here.”

  We eat our breakfast and I really need to get ready for work. The temp will be at my office bright and early.

  “I need to get a shower and head into the office, you’re welcome to stay and we can walk out together,” I tell him, hopeful that he’ll stay.

  “Sure, I’ll just clean up the kitchen,” he says and throws me a wink.

  That sent warm shivers down my body and to my happy place. For the first time, I don’t think my happy place is so stupid after all. I lock myself in the bathroom and get ready for work.

  Kyle

  I won’t lie, the thought of Amelia in the shower naked does things to me I’m not exactly proud of. I channel my mother in my mind scolding me on the art of dishwashing and that takes care of the problem. About thirty minutes later she comes out dressed for work in another pair of have-mercy heels.

  Think of my mom, think of my mom.

  I walk her to her car, turn her up against the door and press my body against hers. Reaching in her hair, I place my hands against the nape of her neck. Slowly I kiss her, her lips are warm and soft, and she smells like vanilla.

  She drops her bag and keys, grabs my face, and holds me to her tight. The kiss is hot and slow. She ever so softly touches my lips with her tongue. From that moment on, it’s hot and heavy, and if I weren’t in a parking garage, I’d seriously consider laying her down and showing her what a real man is like. I can’t do that though. She may still have some lingering emotions connected to being with a man like Roger. I have to let her take this at her speed.

  And I can do that.

  For her.

  “I don’t have to be on shift until noon. How about if I bring us lunch to your office today around eleven? I’ll even bring you coffee,” I ask.

  I want to spend as much time with her as I can.

  “You fed me breakfast, now you’re going to feed me lunch?”

  “I’m guessing you’re going to have another busy day.”

  “You’re probably right. I would love to have lunch with you today,” she says and gives me a squeeze.

  I give her one last kiss, then bend over to pick up her bag and keys, and hand them to her. I watch as she gets into her car and drives away. I head home to shower and get a few things done before picking up lunch and heading back to Amelia’s office.

  I knock softly on her halfway open office door and glance inside to see she has a phone to her ear, elbows on top of her desk with her hands resting on either side of her bent head. I can see that her eyes are closed. She didn’t hear me come in, so I just stand there and watch her for a few minutes. She sounds like she’s having a hard time with whoever is on the other end of the call. The take out bag in my hand makes a crinkling noise, startling her. The phone drops from the crook of her neck with a clang on her desk. She looks at me and quickly picks up the phone and ends the conversation.

  “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to scare you,” I tell her.

  “No, you didn’t scare me. You just startled me a little. I didn’t hear you come in. Is my temp not at her desk? She’s been more trouble than it’s worth. I think I’m better off just waiting for Willow to return,” she says, puts her head down on her desk and literally bangs it a few times softly.

  “No, no one was out there. Are you hungry?” I ask and take a seat in front of her desk.

  I place the bag between us, lean forward and kiss the back of her head.

  “Yes, starved,” she mumbles and slowly lifts her head.

  “Those are some pretty orange roses you have there, your whole office smells like roses,” I say and point to the arrangement sitting on the side of her desk.

  “Yes, they’re gorgeous, they’re from Asher. I think he’s still worried about last night, so he sent me my favorite flowers.”

  Note to self, her favorite flowers are orange roses.

  “I brought us sandwiches for lunch. I hope you like turkey with pesto,” I say and dig out two sandwiches and two bags of potato chips.

  “I do, thank you. After lunch are you on shift at the hospital?”

  “Yes, I’m on for forty-eight hours, then I have this weekend off. We should do so
mething this weekend,” I say and take a bite out of my sandwich.

  “Sunday, I have dinner at my parent’s house, you should come with me. My parents would love to meet you. You already know Asher and Willow. It’s always so much fun with all my brothers and my sister. Willow already opened her big mouth and mentioned that I was seeing you. I don’t have any plans for Saturday. What were you thinking about?” she asks as she opens her chips and eats those first.

  “Sunday sounds good. I’d love to meet the rest of your family. Saturday morning I’m playing ball with Spence, then I’m free the rest of the day. How about a drive to Mt. Rainer? We can pick one of the trails and take a leisurely hike.”

  “That sounds wonderful. I love that I get to put my hiking boots to good use,” she says, wiggling her eyebrows at me and I can’t help but laugh at her.

  Amelia in her sexy heels is one thing, but her in jeans and hiking boots takes her to a whole new level of wanting to show her how much I want to prove to her that there are good men out there.

  “You’re on at the hospital for a whole forty-eight hours? That must be hard,” she says, as she eats the last chip and unwraps her sandwich.

  “It’s not so bad anymore. I used to have to work crazy long hours and six, sometimes seven, days a week. Now I work five days a week. I don’t always have the same days off, but it’s manageable. I work a forty-eight-hour shift once a month and I’m on call several nights a week. There are enough of us there and we rotate everything around,” I say, wrap up my trash and shove it back in the bag.

  “You get breaks for meals and you get to sleep too, right?”

  “Of course I do. It’s never a set schedule, and that can be hard, but we have a doctor’s lounge and sleeping quarters,” I assure her.

  “I was going to call my sister, Ava, in a little bit to see if her and I can meet for dinner tonight. What about tomorrow? Can I bring you lunch or dinner at the hospital?”

  “Sure, but I might not be able to tell you exactly when right now. It may be last minute. It depends on how busy it is. I need to get going though. You have a good time tonight with your sister. I’ll call you tomorrow and let you know how my day looks.”

  “Alright, sounds like a plan.”

  I stand and wrap up the garbage from lunch. I walk around her desk to find a trash, she stands and grabs a chunk of hair and starts twirling it. I grab her hand and kiss her knuckles. I step close and run my nose along her cheek to her ear.

  “I wish there was something I could do to help you stop that,” I whisper in her ear.

  “I’m sorry. I don’t even realize I do it. I guess it’s just a habit now,” she says in a whisper.

  “It’s alright, maybe in time I can help you forget,” I say, hoping it wasn’t me walking up to her that triggered it.

  I trail kisses from her ear to her lips and pull her close to my body. She still smells like vanilla and she tastes heavenly. Just then a woman comes barging in.

  “Amelia, these were left on my desk while I was at lunch. Where do you want them?” the woman says.

  We break apart the kiss and Amelia sighs, with what I’m guessing is somewhere between anger and trying to hold in her frustration and not bite her head off.

  “I’ll call you later, OK? Don’t work too hard and don’t stay too late either. Have fun with your sister,” I tell her.

  I squeeze her hand and give her the sexiest smile with a wink and walk out of the room. I can hear her talking to the temp as I push the down button on the elevator.

  Chapter 7

  Amelia

  After I get rid of the temp, and I do mean, really get rid of her, I call the temp agency and tell them we just didn’t getting along and I no longer need their services.

  I search around my desk for my cell phone to call Ava. She’s a busy attorney at a firm here in downtown Seattle. My baby sister definitely works too hard and like me, has no social life. I dig in my purse pulling everything out searching for my darn phone. I finally find it and I dial her number. She answers on the first ring, which can’t be a good sign.

  “Hey Amelia, what’s up?” she says.

  “I was feeling the need to spend time with my baby sister. Are you busy tonight? I thought maybe we could go to dinner and maybe catch a movie after.”

  “I’m swamped at work. I don’t think I can,” she says, sounding frustrated.

  “I won’t take no for an answer. We’ve both been putting in way too many hours and I, for one, can use the night out with my little sister,” I tell her matter-of-factly.

  “I seriously don’t think I have the time,” she insists.

  “Alright I’ll make you a deal, no movie, how about if we meet at the Italian place by my apartment that we both love?” I try again.

  “Alright you win, you had me at Italian. I’ll meet you there at seven,” she says, giving in.

  “Cool. I’ll see you then.”

  I end the call and shove all the contents back into my purse.

  I spend the next few hours making huge progress and my desk looks somewhat organized. I shut down my computer for the night and make a quick stop at home to change and freshen up before dinner with Ava.

  I’m the first to arrive, so I grab a table and order a glass of wine. Within a few minutes, Ava joins me at the table. She leans in, kisses me on the cheek then takes her seat.

  “You look tired. Are you feeling OK?” I ask Ava.

  “I’m alright. I should be asking you how you are. I dropped by Asher’s and he drilled me on how you were. He looked like he was ready to kill someone. I asked Willow what was going on and she told me to ask you myself. It must be something pretty big. Did you want to tell me what’s going on?”

  I take a deep breath and spill my guts. Why not? Three people know already and I’m sure it won’t be long until Aiden and Adrian know too. Of course the look in Ava’s eyes is similar to Asher’s and it’s no shock she threatened him within an inch of his life if she ever sees him in person.

  Dinner goes by much too quick and the two of us do have work in the morning. I’m glad I got some one-on-one time with her though. We say our goodbyes and I walk back to my apartment. The fresh air and the cool breeze on my face is the perfect ending to a rather perfect day.

  As I walk in my door my cell phone rings and glancing at the display, I smile when I see that it’s Kyle. And I thought my day couldn’t get any better.

  “Hey, honey. How was dinner with your sister?” he asks in that soothing voice.

  “It was just what we both needed. I told her about Roger.”

  “I’m glad. I think the more you talk about it with your family, the better you can deal with what happened and it will help you move on.”

  “I agree. I’m so glad I told you and I can’t thank you enough for being so great about it.”

  I don’t think I have the right words to tell him just how grateful I really am.

  “Honey, I’m honored you put your trust in me. I’m calling because it’s really slow here and we’re double staffed. I can step away for about an hour. I was wondering if I could swing by and spend a little time with you.”

  “Absolutely, come on by,” I tell him, feeling a whole lot giddy.

  “Great, I can leave here in a few minutes, I’ll be right over.”

  I freshen up my makeup and hair and brush my teeth. No sooner than I do that the door is buzzing and I let Kyle up. As soon as he gets to my door, I open it and throw myself at him with a hug. I know I only just saw him at lunch, but it seems a lot longer than that. He grabs my mouth in a fierce kiss that sends tingles down my entire body. I kick the door closed with my foot, then he turns me around and presses me up against the door. He trails kisses down my jaw, and then down my neck. I don’t know what comes over me, but my hands go under his scrub top and I yank it off over his head. He stops mid-kiss and looks into my eyes.

  “Honey, this isn’t what I came over here for. Are you sure?” he asks, looking into my eyes with a mix of caution
and lust.

  “I’ve never been more sure,” I tell him.

  We stare at each other for a split second, then all hell breaks loose. We’re back at each other kissing and grabbing at clothes. I walk backward to my bedroom kissing him the entire way. I don’t even think twice about it and I rip my shirt off over my head. We kiss all the way to the bed, then he gently lays me down.

  “Honey, I really don’t want to rush you. I need you to be ready not just physically, but emotionally too.”

  “Kyle, shut up and kiss me,” I tell him.

  “Scoot up to the top of the bed. Put your head on the pillow,” he orders.

  I comply eagerly. He unbuttons my pants and peels them down my legs. I’m left only in my bra and panties. He hovers slightly over me, taking all of me in with his eyes.

  “God, you’re so beautiful,” he purrs.

  He launches himself softly on top of me, kissing just under my ear. He raises his leg and his upper thigh hits my happy place and I moan with pleasure. He kisses down my neck to just between my breasts. He moves his hands behind my back, and with one effortless movement, my bra is unhooked. He pauses again and looks into my eyes. He’s still not sure if I’m OK with this.

  I give him a nod and he ever so carefully removes my bra and tosses it to the floor. I love the feel of his upper arms. He’s so strong and smooth. He starts kissing down my stomach and stops just at the top of my panties. I’m so turned on that I’m panting with excitement.

  “God you smell so good,” he says to me.

  He traces just under my panties with his finger, I’ve never felt anything so intimate, so sensual. He slowly removes my panties and now I’m bare before him. At that point, Roger comes into my head and I start to feel self-conscious. Kyle must sense the change and he’s back in my face looking in my eyes.

  “It’s alright Amelia, you’re safe with me. I’m not going to do anything you don’t want me to do. Do you understand me?”