by J. Sterling
If even half of what Ben had spewed that day was accurate, I’d decided that I would rather be alone forever than be with someone who wanted me to change who I was. Accepting that the majority of men wouldn’t be able to handle me and my passion for my job, I’d convinced myself that I was perfectly okay with that.
And I had been.
I was.
6.
ELIZABETH
I spent the rest of the evening avoiding Daniel Alexander—or at least I tried to. I forced myself into awkward conversations with the other attendees, none of whom held even half the charm in their entire bodies that Daniel was blessed with in his pinky.
How had I gotten roped into this event again? Each person was supposed to be fascinating, smart, interesting, ambitious, driven, and young Mostly, they were superficially arrogant, socially awkward, or inherently competitive. These were all traits I found completely undesirable, especially in settings like this one where I couldn’t sneak away and find refuge in a restroom away from the chaos until the night ended—without my absence being noticed, that was.
“Dance with me,” Daniel suddenly cooed in my ear.
I scowled. “No.”
“Just one dance,” he all but begged, pulling me away from a small group of event sponsors.
I glanced out at the merely empty dance floor. “No.” I paused. “But thank you.”
I wasn’t sure why Daniel seemed so hell-bent on bothering me, but I was flustered. I hadn’t felt this way—hell, I hadn’t felt any way for a guy in a really long time. I was pretty sure that Daniel Alexander was the last person on earth I wanted to go and have feelings for, attraction or otherwise. He had heartbreaker written all over his stupidly gorgeous body.
Grabbing my hand, he eased me onto the dance floor. He moved one hand tight against my lower back while the other clutched mine in perfect dance form.
“Did you not get told no often enough as a kid or something?”
I tried to pull away from him, but he only gripped me tighter as the orchestral music filtered throughout the room.
“I heard no plenty. I just don’t want to hear it from you.”
“Oh my God, are you a caveman?” Part of me flushed with want, and the other part fought back with repulsion. “Do you carry a club? Are you going to hit me over the head with it?” I looked around at his sides, my eyes searching for the mock weapon.
“Very funny.” He smirked and twirled me effortlessly across the dance floor, his moves fluid and his body strong.
I felt safe in his arms, and an unfamiliar feeling of longing soared through me.
“I just know what I want, Elizabeth, and I have a hard time letting go.”
“What are you saying exactly?” I cocked my head to the side and looked into his hazel eyes.
“You need me to spell it out for you?”
He winked and dipped me low, causing my head to fall back. I squealed in response to the sudden shifting of my weight before a giggle slipped out. Daniel’s lips brushed over my ear, and my eyes closed automatically in response.
“I want you.”
My eyes shot open as I placed both feet on the ground and righted my body. “You can’t possibly mean that. You know nothing about me.”
“You’re exactly the type of woman I want to get to know better.”
My body chilled as excitement spiked through me. The idea of doing anything with this man was tempting, but I had to remain focused. Glancing over to the side of the room, my eyes were met with glares from the other few women in attendance.
“Looks like you have a fan club.” I nudged my head in the direction of my now glowering female attendees.
“I’m well aware.”
“Are you always this cocky?”
“Are you always this difficult? I just wanted to dance with you, and you told me no.”
His thumb moved up and down on my hand, and I lost all focus.
“Now, I tell you that I want to get to know you better, and you deny me. You keep running away from me, Elizabeth, and I don’t like it.”
“So?”
“So…” He paused before leaning in and breathing in the scent of my neck. “Stop running.”
“Stop chasing.” I smiled.
He loosened his grip, and catching him off guard, I left him alone on the dance floor.
7.
ELIZABETH
After shoving away from Daniel’s body, I quickly moved toward a small group of esteemed male guests. Their conversation came to an abrupt halt as soon as I appeared. Sensing the uncomfortable air that had obviously followed my presence, I smiled politely and excused myself.
Now was the perfect time to seek out that restroom refuge I so desperately needed. Once inside, I sat on the ledge of the ornate pedestal tub. I focused on my breathing, berating myself for being so attracted to Daniel and enjoying his Neanderthal advances.
Hadn’t I learned my lesson back in college? Over the years, I had convinced myself that Ben was right about men and the kind of women they wanted by their sides, and I wasn’t it.
A loud knock startled me, and I almost fell into the tub I was perched on the edge of.
“Almost done,” I announced with a stutter, cursing under my breath that my safe haven had been discovered.
“Just let me in, Elizabeth.” Daniel’s voice breathed out through the doorframe.
After hesitating for a moment, I pushed off the ledge and clicked the door’s lock. He opened the door and stepped in before locking it again behind him. All the while, he eyed me, his head shaking.
“Why are you hiding in here?” he asked.
I returned to my tub of solitude. “Why are you always following me?”
“Maybe I find you interesting.” He took a step toward me, closing the small space between us.
“Maybe I find you irritating.”
“You don’t.” He knelt in front of me.
His head was still slightly above mine, causing me to look up in order to eye him.
“I most certainly do.”
“I don’t believe you,” he said before placing a hand on my waist and pulling my weight forward, causing me to grip the tub for balance.
His lips crushed against mine before I could protest. And holy shit, I did not want to protest, no matter how many warning bells rang in my ears. My mouth opened, allowing his tongue to enter. His free hand ran up the length of my dress and stopped on my chest before taking a handful of my breast and squeezing. He moaned into my mouth, and I reached out to remove his jacket with my hands before groping his chest and abs.
Jesus. Was it legal to be that smart, successful, and toned?
“How do you have time to work out?” I blurted into his mouth.
He pulled away, wearing a cocky smirk. “Come again?”
“I haven’t yet. But I was asking, how do you have time to work out? I don’t have time to eat dinner, much less anything else.”
I’d spend nearly all my time at the office or doing something for the studio, like attending functions, events, press releases, junctions, and so on. When I did attend a business meal, I would spend the majority of it speaking about our latest project or answering a million questions about the speed of production and the potential cost of delays. Usually, I’d only have one or two bites by the time the meal ended.
“Well, sometimes, I get a chance to run, but that’s about it,” I added.
“I make time, and so should you.”
I leaned back, my body arching away from his touch. “Did you just call me fat?”
He laughed. The deep and throaty sound bewitched me all the way into my girlie parts.
“Do I look fucking stupid?”
Shrugging, I cocked my head to one side and warningly eyed him.
“I wasn’t talking about the working-out part. By all accounts, you don’t need it.”
He licked his lips, and I stopped myself from panting.
“I only meant that you should make time for things like dinner. Fo
od’s important, being fuel and all that.”
“Overrated.”
“Better in bed.”
“You are such a guy.”
“Thanks for noticing.”
Standing up, I adjusted my dress and made one last mirror check before turning toward Daniel. “I really should get going. I have a flight to catch.”
“Stay.” His hand caressed the back of mine as he rose to his feet.
My heart raced inside my chest at his offer that sounded too good to be true. Even if he did mean it, I couldn’t. Men like him were a distraction. Listening to my heart was stupid, and I refused to ever be stupid again, no matter how much my heart pounded in defiance against my chest.
This industry was waiting for me to fall apart, to do something dumb, to lose it all, and I had to reject anything that could possibly help that happen. Daniel Alexander could make me lose sight of everything I’d worked so hard for. While in his presence, I seemed to lose all ability to say no to him.
“I thought you didn’t do this kind of thing?” I asked.
“I’ll make an exception.” He smiled, seeming sincere.
I almost believed him. “I won’t,” I said as I unlatched the lock on the door.
“This isn’t over. I’m not letting you walk away from me that easily.”
“Sure looks like it to me.” I walked out, leaving Daniel to watch me go.
8.
DANIEL
Goddamn. Watching Elizabeth Lyons’s ass walk away from me was one of the hottest things I’d witnessed all year, and I’d seen a lot of hot shit.
I knew what she was trying to do by avoiding me. She assumed I was bad news. It was the normal first impression of me, no matter what I would do or say. When it came to women, I was often told that I reeked of trouble—whatever the hell that meant. Although, to be honest, it usually only fueled their desire for me. What could I say? It seemed that women not only liked trouble, they fucking loved it. And they loved fucking it.
But not her.
Elizabeth was focused. She had probably dealt with more come-ons in her industry than I cared to imagine. This wasn’t a game to her.
After spending more time with her tonight, I sensed that her actions were pure, her reactions to me sincere. She wasn’t the type of girl who fucked around. Actually, she didn’t seem like the type of girl who fucked at all. She had come off as sort of repressed, but she’d tried to hide all that behind a sassy mouth. God, what a mouth it was.
Kissing her had challenged my willpower. Hell, being in the same room with her had challenged my fucking willpower. I wanted to unrepress her, undress her, and whatever else she’d let me do. I knew that wouldn’t be much of anything, so I’d restrained myself the best I could. A man could only be so strong when faced with temptation and desire.
That kiss had to happen. I refused to let her leave tonight without giving her something to miss. I was attracted to her on a primal level. Her body was like an instrument made purely for my hands, and I found myself unable to stay away, no matter how hard I tried.
But there was more to her than that, depth and substance to a degree that I wasn’t accustomed to in my lifestyle, even though I constantly looked for it. Female attention was always easy for me to come by, so that wasn’t the problem. Not to mention, having the reputation I did in the Bay Area had landed me on more than one of the hottest Bay Area bachelor lists.
As much as I hated those fucking things because of the unwanted attention they’d bring me, they would also introduce me to some new business ventures I wouldn’t have had otherwise, so I couldn’t write them off completely. But I could do without the trashy, classless, and money-hungry women who always appeared right after those articles.
You shouldn’t get me wrong. I was not a fucking angel by any means, but I was trying. I used to love dipping my dick into any pussy that would let me. It was certainly crude, but it had once been the truth.
In the earlier days of my success, I had absolutely been the kind of guy who tripped face-first into any and every hot piece of ass that passed by. She couldn’t hold a conversation about anything other than clothes and makeup? I couldn’t care less. All she had going for her were her model good looks and legs that refused to quit? Perfect. Wrap those babies around my shoulders. She never graduated from college or had any vital life experience? Hot, sweaty sex didn’t need a degree the last time I’d checked.
I had been, by all means, a typical red-blooded American male. A wealthy, ambitious, attractive, and young guy, I’d worked my ass off by day and screwed my dick off by night—not literally, thank God.
My record-setting pace hadn’t taken long to catch up with me, and I’d eventually had the scare of my up-to-that-point life.
A one-night stand had waltzed into my place of employment—luckily, I owned it—and demanded to see me. She had all but thrown a hissy fit in the lobby of my busy building. The moment she had seen me, she’d broken down into tears, sobbing, while I’d scoured the recesses of my mind, trying to remember her name or where exactly I’d met her.
She’d started screaming about sleeping with me and being late, and before my brain could catch up with whatever the hell she had been trying to tell me, she’d blurted out that she was pregnant. My world had spun, and I’d lost all focus as I grasped on to the receptionist’s desk to keep my knees from buckling.
Ladies, if you ever wanted to scare the ever-loving shit out of a man you’d just met, you should tell him you were pregnant with his kid. I didn’t say that to be cruel. It was just honest. The scariest moment I’d had in my life was when I’d thought that I had gotten someone I didn’t know at all pregnant.
Sparing the gory details, the girl—whose name was Lori by the way—had admitted she lied about the pregnancy. She had concocted the scheme to either extort an exuberant amount of money from me or to get me to marry her, either resulting in the same ending, money after the inevitable divorce. Neither had worked, considering the size of the legal team I had at my disposal. They had quickly determined that she was a filthy liar, so I’d filed a restraining order.
The day of the scare, I’d stopped sleeping around with strangers. That little nightmare down Almost Daddy Lane had been enough to pretty much kill my libido, and I could swear that my dick had experienced a mental breakdown in the lobby of that old building because he hadn’t been quite the same ever since. He still worked and got his rocks off, but it wasn’t without a lot of help on my end.
That was, until tonight.
Tonight, he’d woken up all on his own, and I’d never been so happy to see him. I had been half-tempted to throw him a welcome-home party, but I digressed.
Elizabeth Lyons had woken up the sleeping dragon, and now, she’d have to deal with it.
9.
ELIZABETH
I made sure to get into the office extra early. The fact that I had barely slept after I’d gotten home last night might have something to do with it. Daniel had riled me up, and knowing he was about five hundred miles away from me had done nothing to settle my nerves.
“You didn’t fall in love and stay the night? I’m so disappointed.” Barbara’s voice filtered into my office, and the sound of desk drawers opening and closing quickly followed.
“I’m here, aren’t I?” I stepped out of my door and into the quiet hallway.
I enjoyed being at the studio before the rest of the crew got in, and everyone’s ears perked at the slightest bit of personal talk or gossip.
“How was he? You’re…”
She eyeballed me, and I suddenly wanted to go hide in my closet.
“Oh my God, you’re flushed. Did you bring him back with you or something? Is he in your office?”
I laughed out loud. “What on God’s green earth are you talking about?”
“Daniel Alexander. He was by far the only guy worth drooling over at that mixer. So, tell me everything.” Her voice rose in pitch with her excitement level. “And I swear to God, Elizabeth, if you leave out a si
ngle detail, I’ll know. My vagina will tell me.”
“Shut the hell up. What is wrong with you?” I whisper-shouted at her through my tight-lipped smile as I leaned in.
She swatted my shoulder. “It’s fine. HR isn’t even in yet. No one’s here. Now, tell me everything.”
“I wasn’t even talking about HR.” I rolled my eyes at my insane assistant, whom I loved dearly.
Even though she was a crazed lunatic, she was my crazed lunatic. We walked into the kitchen, and she grabbed coffee while I piled fruit onto a plate.
“You were right about Daniel. He was hot, so hot,” I informed her.
“Anyone with eyeballs could see that. What was he like?”
I tried to think of how to classify Daniel. What words would describe him best? “I don’t know. He was bossy and arrogant and irritating. He pretty much stalked me all night.”
Sipping her coffee, she almost choked as she quickly swallowed. “Oh my God, you like him.”
“Nope.”
“You do.”
“I don’t.”
“Do.”
“Ugh,” I groaned. “You sound just like him. Maybe you two should date. It would be like elementary school all over again.”
“I’m hurt.” She placed a hand over her heart. “I would never move in on a man you liked. You know I’m not that kind of lady.”
“I don’t even know him. Even though I think he’s hot, it doesn’t matter. You know my rule, Barbara—no guys.”
I wanted to forget about last night. Daniel Alexander could continue living his über successful life up in San Francisco, and I could pretend that he didn’t exist. This was the best option for me anyway, considering I couldn’t get him out of my damn head since I’d walked away from him.
My rules—or one rule actually—consisted of no dating and no distractions until I made a solid name for myself at this company and in this industry. I realized that I’d already made a splash that most people would kill for, but that was because of my age and title, not necessarily because of my work.
