Eric’s eyes widened a fraction and then he smiled. “Let her in.”
I nodded my head and walked back to my office where Sugar was smelling one of my roses. “Mr. Wolfe will see you now.”
She set my rose down and winked. “Thanks sweetheart.” I watched as she sashayed in to his office like a Latino seductress Barbie and felt my anger building. She shut the door and I snapped a pencil in half that I had picked up. How stupid could I be? Of course an attractive man like Eric would have girls like her. I tossed the pencil on my desk, put my headphones on and started typing a pleading that I had started earlier in the day. I was printing the pleading when Eric and Sugar walked out of his office. Sugar kissed Eric on the cheek and smiled flirtatiously. “Let me know if you need anything else.”
Eric nodded his head, “Always a pleasure Sugar. Tell that alpha of yours I said hi.”
Alpha? She winked at me as she walked out. “Wish I had your job sweetheart.”
I glared at her back as she laughed and walked out of the office. I grabbed the pleading from the printer and turned to hand it to Eric, but he was playing with the broken pencil on my desk. “Bad day?”
I handed him the papers, “I need your signature on this.” He searched my face, but I kept it carefully blank. He took a pen out of his jacket pocket and signed his name in that perfect elegant script he had.
He handed me the papers and frowned, “Ciara…”
I interrupted him. “You should straighten your tie. You have a meeting in five minutes and I’m sure you don’t want rumors spread around the office.” Especially if they concern me. The Latino seductress he would probably be proud to boast about.
Eric frowned harder. “Ciara it’s not what you think…”
I shrugged and sat down at my desk, putting my headphones on. “I don’t get paid to think Mr. Wolfe.” I pressed the foot pedal to start the tape and started typing. I could feel Eric still standing behind me, but focused on my work. A full minute passed before he walked into his office and grabbed his briefcase before walking out of my office to go to the conference room for his next meeting. I stopped typing and sighed. Way to act like the jealous girlfriend. Dammit. I walked to the copy machine and started making my copies, ignoring the stares of the other secretaries. I gathered up my copies and walked to the mail area. One of the secretaries stood up and smiled at me. “Bad day?”
I sighed. “Yes.”
She shrugged. “Every attorney has flaws. You just have to learn to ignore them or else they eat you up inside until you can’t work for that attorney. It’s like a marriage in a way. If you and your attorney aren’t on the same level you won’t make good partners, but if you are then you make the perfect team and that’s really how attorneys win cases. It’s also why secretaries and attorneys end up marrying a lot.”
I looked up at her. “What? I’ve never heard of that.”
She laughed. “Oh it happens quite often. Most of the time they just keep it a secret so you just think the boss shouldn’t be messing with his secretary ‘til you find out one day she’s also his wife. Then you decide that they must have one hell of a sex life since you know they get it on in his office. Man, how hot would that be?”
I stared at her in shock. “So, you’re saying that a lot of the attorneys here that we think are just messing with their secretaries are really married to them?”
The secretary nodded her head. “Every one of the attorneys here on the first floor, excepting Mr. Wolfe, is married to their secretaries.”
I finished closing the envelopes I had been working on and set them in the outgoing basket. “Wow.”
The secretary smiled. “I’m Rose by the way.”
I extended my hand to her. “Ciara.”
She shook my hand and winked. “Now try and work it out with Mr. Wolfe. He seems like a nice guy. And single is always good when they look like him.”
She giggled and sat back down at her desk and started typing. I walked slowly back to my desk replaying what she had said to me. This whole time I had thought that the secretaries were breaking the cardinal rule of law offices when really they were just having fun with their husbands. I sat down at my desk and started a new pleading. I was so focused that I didn’t notice Eric until he touched my shoulder. I jumped up and unplugged my headphones. Eric smiled. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to scare you.”
I swallowed the lump in my throat and shook my head. “’S alright.” I took off my headphones and set them on the desk. “Did you need something?”
He frowned. “I wanted to explain…”
I shook my head. “You don’t need to explain anything. What you do in your office is your business, not mine.”
Eric sighed. “But nothing happened, Ciara.” I walked into his office and grabbed a file from one of his shelves that I needed for the pleading. I turned around and Eric grabbed my arms with his hands. “Ciara, listen to me. Sugar is a friend and that’s all. Nothing happened.”
I frowned. “I don’t know why you’re telling me this. I’m just your secretary.”
He groaned and shut his door and turned the blinds so no one could see inside. “You are not just my secretary.” He took the file from my hands and tossed it on a nearby chair. “I care about you and I want you to know the truth.”
I swallowed and backed up, but ran in to the shelf. “Mr. Wolfe, you…”
He growled. “Stop calling me that! If I wanted you to call me that I wouldn’t do this.” He reached forward and pulled me against him kissing my lips bruising hard. My body melted into his touch, but I forced my hands to stay by my sides. He pulled back and searched my face. “Tell me that you don’t have feelings for me? Tell me that you don’t want to kiss me as much as I do you?”
I opened my mouth to say it, but it wasn’t true and Rose’s words came back to me. I looked down. “I do have feelings for you, but…”
He tilted my chin up and shook his head. “There is no but. Let me take you out tonight, anywhere you like.”
I frowned. “I thought we agreed on not dating.”
He smiled. “Then it won’t be a date. Just two friends going out together to have some fun.”
I smiled. “Bowling.”
He raised an eyebrow in surprise, “Bowling? You want me to take you bowling? I offer to take you anywhere and you choose bowling?”
I shrugged and tried to pull away from him. “If you don’t want to go…”
He pulled me back into his arms and shook his head. “Bowling is fine. Can we go to dinner first?”
I stared in to his golden brown eyes and gave in. “Sure.”
He rubbed his cheek against mine and nipped my earlobe. “Mexican?”
I shivered against him and whispered, “Sure.”
He rubbed his cheek along the other side of my face and I jumped backwards. “Why are you doing that?” It was a classic wereanimal sign of possession. Rubbing his face against mine like that would leave his scent on me for the rest of the day.
He frowned. “I just like touching you. Why are you so jumpy? You act like you think I’m going to attack you or something.”
“Sorry, it’s just…never mind.” I said as I ran a hand through my hair. Was I crazy to keep comparing him to preternaturals?
He kissed my lips softly. “I only talked with Sugar. She was passing on a message from her boss to me. That’s all.” He kissed my lips again. “I am not seeing anyone else and am not being intimate with anyone. I don’t expect you to give me the same offer, but I wanted to let you know.”
I frowned. “You mean you’re being exclusive with me?”
He nodded his head and ran his hand up and down my back slowly. “Yes.”
“You hardly know me,” I whispered.
“I know enough and I know I’ll learn more the more time we spend together,” he whispered back.
I swallowed. “You want me to be exclusive with you?”
He shrugged. “It’s your decision, but I would like it.”
It
wasn’t a tough decision. I smiled. “I’m not seeing anyone.”
He smiled. “Except me?”
I rolled my eyes. “Right.”
He exhaled a loud breath. “Good.” He fiercely kissed me then whispered, “I don’t like the idea of having to share you.”
I smiled. “Me either.”
He rolled his eyes. “I noticed the pencil.”
I blushed. “Anger is a natural emotion.”
He licked my top lip. “And very attractive on you.”
I knew if I didn’t move away from him soon that I would find out just how attractive he thought it was. It took all of my willpower to pull away from him, “We can go to dinner straight from work if you want.”
He smiled. “Sure. I have a change of clothes here.”
I grabbed the file and walked back to my desk. What the hell had I started? I didn’t even know what he wanted in life. I took my anger out on the keyboard and didn’t stop the rest of the day. At six Eric made me stop so I could change. I shut down my computer and organized my desk and grabbed my backpack with my change of clothes. I changed quickly and re-brushed my hair and reapplied makeup. When I walked out of the bathroom Eric was leaning against the opposite wall of the hallway looking as scrumptious as ever. He looked even sexier in jeans and a t-shirt than I could have imagined. And he was definitely muscular. He smiled. “Are you ready?”
I nodded my head and followed him out of the back door to the employee parking lot. He held the car door open for me and I climbed in. He set a black velvet bag in my lap and started the car. I stared at the bag in shock. “What’s this?”
He smiled as he got in. “A gift.”
I frowned. “But you didn’t know I was going out with you tonight.”
He shrugged. “I was hoping you would some time this week so I kept it in here. Go on, open it.”
I untied the black velvet bag and tipped it upside down. A small white gold ring with a claddaugh symbol on it fell in to my hand. My eyes widened in shock and I stared at Eric. He held up his hand stopping me from talking. “It’s not an engagement ring. It’s a claddaugh. If you are taken you wear the ring with the heart pointing towards you. If you’re single you wear the ring with the heart pointing away from you. You don’t have to wear it if you don’t like.”
I stared at the ring in shock remembering a scene from my favorite television show where the man had given the ring to his girlfriend. I was well aware of its meaning. I slipped the ring onto my left hand with the heart pointing towards me. “It’s beautiful.” He drove us to the most expensive Mexican restaurant in town and let a valet park the car. I was pleased as we walked to our table that he hadn’t tried to hold my hand, but also a little disappointed. I knew I couldn’t have it both ways, but my feelings didn’t.
We sat in a booth in the back of the restaurant, but a waitress quickly came over, drooling over Eric. “Are you ready to order or would you like to order drinks first?”
Eric smiled. “Ciara?”
I smiled back at him, loving the envious look the waitress was giving me. “I’ll have the steak fajitas and a mudslide.”
Eric raised an eyebrow. “I’ll have fajitas as well, but make mine chicken and a glass of water.”
The waitress smiled at him. “Of course. I’ll be right back with your drinks.”
I shook my head. “That’s the first time I haven’t been carded.”
He laughed. “Trust me when you get older you want them to card you. So, a mudslide, huh?”
I nodded my head. “What isn’t there to like about a drink that tastes like a milkshake but is alcoholic? It’s perfect.”
The waitress brought our drinks and a basket of chips and salsa. I ate two chips and sipped my drink. Eric smiled at me. “So, have you always wanted to be a legal secretary?”
I laughed. “No. I didn’t really want to be anything growing up.” Except normal. “But the job was the easiest for me in my circumstance.”
Eric frowned. “You keep talking about your circumstances, but not what they are.”
“It’s better if you don’t know.”
“Ciara, I’m not as fragile as you think.”
I chewed up another chip and asked, “Did you always want to be an attorney?”
He frowned at me for changing the subject. “No, I was in the military for awhile, and then decided I needed a change of pace.”
I looked down at my drink. “So, what do you want now?”
He was quiet for a moment and then spoke quietly, “I want someone to spend the rest of my life with. Just one person who will stay with me through the tough spots and love me for who I am. Right now I can’t imagine having kids, but things change and I wouldn’t presume to be set on having kids or not without consulting my significant other. What about you?”
“Are you opposed to getting married?” I asked.
Eric smiled. “Not at all. Of course there are some women nowadays who feel marriage is just a way for men to tie them down. So, I’m open.”
The waitress came back with our food, giving me a chance to be silent. The food was delicious and filled me up. Eric paid and then we drove to the bowling alley. After obtaining our rental shoes and picking out our balls we set up the game in lane sixteen, the lane I tried to reserve each time. Eric stood on the edge of the lane holding the ball in his hands. He took two steps forward then released the ball. I watched as every single pin fell. Eric smiled. “Strike.”
I rolled my eyes. “Of course you’re good at bowling. Is there anything you aren’t good at?”
Eric tapped his chin thoughtfully as I waited for the pins to be reset. “Nothing comes to mind.”
I rolled my eyes again. “You are no Wesley.”
Eric smiled. “No, I believe I am much more handsome and better educated than Wesley.”
I took a step toward the lane. “Wesley couldn’t be educated except for what he taught himself because he was just a farm boy. Buttercup still loved him though.” I threw the ball down the lane and sighed as it took out only four pins. It was actually fun to banter about the movie Princess Bride.
I walked back and waited for the ball to come up. Eric sighed. “If only women were so easy today.”
I scoffed. “Some still are. As long as you’re human, straight and kind, you pass my tests.”
Eric’s face fell slightly. “You are very persistent about human. Are you aware of aliens living here that I’m not?”
I picked my ball up as it was pushed up out of the floor on the conveyer. “You wouldn’t believe me if I told you.” I threw the ball and smiled happily as the rest of the pins fell. “Spare.”
Eric stood up and stopped in front of me blocking my path. “Ciara, I wish you would talk to me.”
I looked up in to his sincere face and tried to open my third eye. Nothing happened. “What if I told you that the fairy tales we had been told when we were children, are true? That fairy tales were meant as warnings to humans? What if I told you that fifty percent of the people in this town aren’t human?”
Eric smiled. “I’d believe you. I’d also be curious as to how you would know.”
I shrugged. “Some call it a gift. I think it’s a curse. Either way it draws their attention and that is never a good thing.”
Eric frowned. “So you can see them when humans can’t?”
“Even when other beings can’t,” I whispered.
Eric took my hand in his. “And that makes you a target? Which is why you said I shouldn’t be around you?”
“Especially why you shouldn’t be around me. If they were to hurt you I…”
Eric kissed my lips softly. “I can protect myself.”
“How can you protect yourself from something you can’t See? They look completely human to others, but their real faces are often horrible.”
Eric frowned. “Are they all bad?”
“Oh, no. Everyone on our first floor is a preternatural and none of them have tried to harm me, yet.”
Eri
c’s eyes opened in surprise. “That’s why Mr. Wallace attacked you. He knew you could see what he really looked like.”
I nodded my head. “Yep. He thought I was sent there to find him and take him back to the wereanimals.”
Eric frowned. “Why would the wereanimals want him?”
“He was probably a slave or something. Preternaturals aren’t humanitarians like the humans. Most are very barbaric and animalistic, but that’s to be expected from some who are animals half of the time.”
Eric asked, “And what do you think about wereanimals?”
I shrugged. “I haven’t really talked to many of them, but the ones that I have are very single minded.”
Eric raised an eyebrow in question. “How so?”
I took his ball and tossed it in to the gutter. “Sex is all they think about.”
Eric frowned. “That was my shot.”
I shrugged. “You took too long.”
Eric waited for his ball to come and then tossed it down the center of the lane getting a strike. Bastard. “So, what happens if they find out you can see them?”
I looked down at the ground. “I try not to think about that. Let’s just say that there aren’t very many positive possibilities.”
Eric reached out to console me, but I pulled away and grabbed my ball. I tossed it down the lane and grimaced as it swung in to the gutter. Eric laughed quietly and I spun around glaring at him. “Not all of us can be perfect you know.”
Eric’s laughter faded and his smile disappeared. “I’m far from perfect.”
“Right. Because there’s nothing you aren’t good at?”
He shook his head. “That was bantering. If I wasn’t so selfish I would be pushing you away and telling you to run, but I can’t push you away.”
He started walking toward me and I couldn’t move. The openness of his words and the fragile look on his face as if he expected me to turn him away forced me to stay and listen. He stopped in front of me. “I’ve never felt this way about a woman before. I know you’re worried for my safety, but I assure you that I can take care of myself. It is much more damaging for me to be away from you. I’ve tried to ignore it, but you are too much. Your scent, your face, your body. It all draws me in and I can’t ignore my cravings.”
True Faces Page 5
