by Melody Anne
“I’m Nate,” he said, reaching out and running his finger down Elena’s hand.
She felt nothing at the touch but confusion. This was wrong; it was wrong on so many levels she didn’t know what to do about it. Her head whipped around, searching the crowd again for Tina. She needed help.
Without conscious thought, she picked up her new drink and took a large sip. Instead of consuming more alcohol, she really should be asking for water and a cab home. Dalton was going to be furious with her.
Feeling lightheaded, Elena didn’t have the strength to pull back when Nate took her arm and pulled her from her seat. “Let’s dance.”
His voice was a sensual purr as he led her to the dance floor and pulled her against him. Even in her dizzy haze, Elena had no doubt about the arousal pushing against her stomach when this stranger held her inappropriately close.
She was unable to do anything more than grip his arms as the spinning in her head grew faster by the minute. Nate was whispering something in her ear, but she couldn’t make out the words, and when she felt his tongue trace the lobe, she tried pulling away but had no strength.
“I’m not feeling so good,” Elena managed to get out of her scratchy throat. But with the loud music she wasn’t so sure he’d heard her.
“Mmm, you feel so good,” Nate said and clutched her even more tightly against his hard body.
Elena closed her eyes as the spinning made her want to throw up. She needed to go home, lie down, and do anything other than be locked in this stranger’s arms. Blackness began to weigh in on her, and panic filled her as she fought passing out.
Just as she was about to give in to the blackness, she felt her body being lifted, her feet leaving the ground. But a new smell invaded her senses — a smell she recognized and loved.
“Elena, are you okay?”
That was a voice she would recognize anywhere. Even the angry tone was familiar and . . . welcome.
It took colossal effort, but Elena managed to open her eyes and the fury staring back at her was most certainly recognizable.
The two of them were moving as he cradled her close to his chest, and Elena couldn’t help but smile when a cool breeze touched her cheeks at the same time the enormous noise from the club dimmed when Dalton stepped outside.
The fresh air helped clear her foggy brain the tiniest bit, but not quite enough.
Lifting her hand, she ran her fingers along his cheek, enjoying the feel of his stubble from not shaving since the morning.
“You smell wonderful,” she murmured as she snuggled in closer to his chest. She felt safe at last. Even the worst of Dalton’s fury was nothing compared to the fear she’d felt at a stranger holding her close.
“Dammit, Elena!” he thundered, as he moved to the curb. She found herself cradled in his lap as he sat down in the back of his large SUV. It immediately pulled away from the bar. The motion made her head begin to pound as she barreled against his chest, trying to stop the spinning.
“I’m sorry,” she mumbled, not knowing what she was apologizing for.
“You damn well will be,” he said.
The words sounded like she was in a tunnel though. Elena tried to reply, but the blackness returned, so she sighed, giving in and letting the darkness sweep her away to oblivion.
Chapter Nine
It was possible to die from a combination of humiliation and pain. That was a fact Elena was one-hundred-percent sure of. She didn’t even need to open her eyes to know that her day wasn’t going to be a good one. Lying perfectly still in her bed, too afraid to move so much as a finger, she searched her mind for images of the night before.
It hadn’t started out badly. Not at all. Tina had made sure she was dressed nicely, and then brought along with a few very nice women to a crowded bar. So far so good. But once the drinks had started, they hadn’t stopped.
Apparently Elena hadn’t known her own limits.
Turning only the slightest bit, she felt razor sharp edges race across her temple as her pounding headache thumped in sync to the beat of her heart.
“Sit up slowly, Elena. You need to take these pills.”
The quiet, steady voice of Dalton made her wince, and wincing made her wince again. Oh, how she hurt. Never again would she drink so much.
Why was Dalton in her room? Was he planning on beginning her punishment immediately? A shudder passed through her at that thought. It was too awful to imagine. She was in no shape to move, let alone play Dalton’s games.
Elena had known better than to do what she’d done the night before. The moment she’d begun to feel the effects of the alcohol she should have switched to water. Her life wasn’t her own to do with as she pleased.
At least not yet, it wasn’t. Maybe someday in the future . . .
Maybe if she didn’t move again, Dalton would assume she’d fallen back asleep and would leave her alone. It was a long shot, but it was all she had at the moment.
A sigh escaped Dalton, and she felt his hands at her waist and couldn’t fight the tensing of her muscles as she felt prickles behind her eyelids. He didn’t like repeating himself, and she’d ignored his request.
“I’m sitting you up. If you don’t take some medicine and get water into you, you aren’t going to feel better for a very long time.”
His voice didn’t sound angry, and much to Elena’s surprise his hands were gentle as he propped her up, a cushion of pillows behind her. Slowly, she cracked her eyes open, delighted at the dimness of the room.
She pulled her lids a little more open and focused on Dalton, who was sitting next to her in her bed. He said nothing more as he gripped her hand, dropped pills into her palm, and patiently held a glass of water in front of her.
Slowly, so slowly she felt like a statue, she accepted the glass, placing the pills on her tongue and swallowing them. She handed back the glass and leaned into the pillows as she let her eyes shut again, trying not to focus on the pain in her head.
“I’ll be right back.”
The bed barely moved when he got up and exited her room. Elena sat back and waited for any measure of relief. The brief movement of sitting up had made her nauseated. After about ten minutes, the pounding dimmed enough to open her eyes again. The nausea went away and her only worry was Dalton.
He came back into her room a few minutes later, carrying a tray with toast, juice, and coffee on it. Elena knew she had to be dreaming. He had never done anything like this for her before.
It was too kind, too intimate.
She’d been expecting rage and punishment, not a caretaker.
“Eat the toast and finish the coffee and juice. You’ll be glad you did,” he told her while setting the tray on her lap. Then he stepped back and took a seat in a chair next to her bed, his eyes never leaving hers.
Elena obediently ate the toast, drank the coffee, and then the juice. Surprisingly she felt much better when she finished the meal. She still felt as if she could sleep for another ten hours straight, but at least her head didn’t feel as if there was a band practicing inside, and the queasiness had settled.
Without saying anything to Dalton, she set the tray aside, and shifted her legs, stepping down from the bed, then steadying herself before she moved. She was quite wobbly as she took her first steps toward her luxurious bathroom.
Relief swept through her when she was inside and shut the door behind her. At least she hadn’t ended up face-first on the bedroom floor. She could almost hear the heavy sigh coming from Dalton if that would have happened.
When she was brave enough to glance at her image in the large mirror, she cringed. Her hair was sticking out in every which direction thanks to the goop Tina had put in it. There were black smudges beneath her eyes from day-old makeup, and her skin looked almost grey.
A femme fatale she certainly wasn’t.
Elena didn’t care; she di
dn’t want to be attractive to Dalton, she told herself. Immediately after having the thought it was dismissed. That was foolish. No matter how much she told herself she was just trying to become stronger, she did care about the man.
Being kind to her during her first illness — even if it was self-induced — wasn’t helping her to deal with her confused emotions.
Leaning heavily against the counter, Elena brushed her teeth, attempted to get a comb through her hair before giving up, and ran a warm washcloth across her face. She was doing it for herself, she assured her conscious. It couldn’t possibly be for Dalton.
But thinking that was a foolish thought. She didn’t want him to kick her out, now that he knew she wasn’t able to handle one simple social occasion.
Even though she’d only been gone ten minutes, exhaustion was pulling her under, and Elena couldn’t put off going back to the bedroom any longer. She would love to shower, but she feared she wouldn’t be able to get out if she did.
“The pills you took will make you sleep more, but they should take away the last of your pain. I suggest you come back to bed,” Dalton said.
He was standing next to the door and took her arm, looking fearful she might tip over.
Elena was so confused by how caring he seemed to be.
“Thank you,” she said, her voice barely above a whisper.
“Don’t thank me quite yet,” Dalton told her. “I’m not happy with how things turned out last night, but I think you might have been slipped something, and that infuriates me.”
The raw edge to his voice sent a shiver through her. Elena climbed into bed with his help and lay there looking at him as he towered over her. She felt the heaviness of her eyes, but she figured this was the best time to ask what she wanted. The answer wouldn’t matter since she’d be passing out right after.
“Are you going to make me leave?” she asked, his face becoming blurry, making her blink several times as she tried to refocus on him.
He appeared shocked.
“Why?” he asked.
“Because I couldn’t handle myself,” she said, hating that he was making her admit her faults.
Dalton looked at her for so long she didn’t know if she would be able to stay alert long enough to hear what he had to say. Finally he bent down, his face close to hers.
“No, Elena, you’re not going anywhere,” he said.
The way he said it sent a shiver down her spine. But Elena didn’t need to know more right then. All she needed was sleep. Finally letting her body have what it demanded, she closed her eyes and snuggled beneath her warm blankets.
Her last thought before sleep claimed her was that she definitely wasn’t going to do something as stupid as she’d done the night before ever again.
Chapter Ten
When Elena woke up the next day, Dalton was gone, but later that night when he returned, he didn’t mention her trip to the bar or her behavior. Over the next few days, he said nothing, and slowly the unease Elena had been feeling from the moment she’d woken with a massive hangover, began to ebb.
It disappeared completely when he asked her to leave the house again. The next few weeks flew by, and Dalton was giving her more chances to pass his test of whether he could present her in public.
The afternoon air and hot sun came through the sunroof on the SUV and Elena sat back, feeling relaxed as she looked at the Seattle skyscrapers. Dalton expertly maneuvered the vehicle, returning from a pretty spectacular lunch date.
As much as she wanted to be strong enough to be on her own, she couldn’t imagine leaving Dalton. She was too secure with him — too comfortable in his large home, and in his presence — even when times weren’t perfect.
His phone rang over the speakers of the car, and it startled her, making her jump. Instead of pressing a button, he picked up his cell and spoke, his relaxed expression instantly evaporating.
“I told you I didn’t want to be disturbed,” he curtly said into the phone. He was silent for less than a few seconds. “I’ll be right there.” He didn’t say goodbye before disconnecting the call and getting off at the next exit on the freeway, turning the vehicle around.
“We have to stop at the office,” he said. Then he was silent again.
They pulled up to the huge building in downtown Seattle; Elena couldn’t help but be awed. So many people were bustling around in a flurry of motion, and she wanted to get out and walk the streets.
Dalton quickly pulled the car into a garage, driving to a spot close to the elevators and turned off the engine. Elena wasn’t sure if she was supposed to stay in the vehicle or go with him, so she stayed where she was as he exited the car.
When he came around and opened her door, she was surprised and delighted.
“I guess you’ll see where I spend most of my days,” he told her.
“What kind of business is this?” she asked, realizing she had no idea what the man did for a living. Obviously whatever it was, he made a lot of money.
“I own a private technology firm that focuses mainly on government contracts,” he told her.
Elena knew nothing about technology, but that was a pretty vague answer.
“What do you do?” she asked.
He pushed a button on the elevator and they began going all the way to the top floor of the building. She couldn’t wait to look out the windows.
“A lot of what we do, I can’t speak about,” he told her, then surprised the heck out of her when he winked.
Was he joking with her, or did he just not want to tell her? Or was he serious? If it was government jobs, it might have to do with weapons or something like that. She was dying to know, but she didn’t push him.
The doors opened and Elena took everything in. Several people milling around the huge reception area greeted Dalton before continuing on their way.
Dalton led Elena down a wide hallway with door after door, some opened with people behind desks speaking on the phone or typing on their computers, and some closed, the blinds on their windows drawn.
Elena wondered what they were doing in there. She wondered what it would be like to go to work everyday. The feeling of accomplishment had to help them feel good about themselves.
She really didn’t have a purpose in life other than pleasing Dalton. The more Dalton took her away from the only home she truly remembered, the more she wanted a life outside of it. Maybe he was helping her so she would be able to go, or maybe he didn’t realize what he was doing. Either way, Elena wasn’t going to say a word.
“How many employees do you have?” she asked as he continued moving down the hall, being stopped at times by people they passed.
“In these offices, I have just over three thousand. But all over the world, there are over twenty thousand employees,” he told her.
Her mind was reeling to even think about trying to manage that many people. No wonder he always seemed in control. He had no choice but to be a leader.
“Here’s Tina’s office. I’m going to leave you with her while I take care of some urgent business.” He didn’t even say goodbye, just left her in the doorway and took off.
Tina was on the phone but when she looked up, she flashed Elena a big smile while holding up a finger, letting her know she’d be just a few more moments.
Elena didn’t move from her spot in the doorway. She hadn’t been invited inside. She hadn’t spoken with Tina since their night out. The confusion of not knowing if Tina was disgusted by her or not made her motionless.
“I’m sorry about that, Elena. Sometimes I want to take my phone and chuck it out the window,” Tina said after she hung up.
She stood and walked over to Elena.
“It’s not a problem. Dalton got called in for something and said he wouldn’t be too long,” Elena said as she shifted nervously on her feet.
“Well, he says that frequently and
then his ten-minute meeting turns into three hours. Let’s go to the cafeteria and grab some coffee and a donut,” Tina said as she led Elena down the same hallway. “I’m sorry we haven’t gotten to speak since our night out. I was called out of the country for some problems in one of our divisions.”
“That sounds good. I’m a little tired today, so caffeine is the perfect solution,” Elena told her, ignoring the other statement for now. She was nervous what Tina would say about it.
They rode the elevator to the first floor, which opened to another large lobby. Around a corner were a few different cafeteria areas.
They entered a Starbucks where several people were sitting at tables with their laptops while others were in line, waiting for their order to be taken.
“I wouldn’t survive without this place,” Tina said as they joined the line.
“Is this just for employees or is it open to the public?” Elena asked.
“It’s open to the public, sometimes we get other people in here, but it’s far more frequented by the employees than anyone else. However, there are times when you just have to get out of the offices even if it’s to go to another building that’s almost identical,” Tina told her.
The barista took their order, and they waited for their drinks then found a small table in the corner.
“What have you been doing today?” Tina asked before taking a bite of her maple bar and sighing in pleasure.
“We went to lunch. I think Dalton is still testing if I’m suitable to take out in public, especially after the bar scene,” Elena said as she winced.
When Tina laughed, Elena relaxed the tiniest bit.
“Hmm. I think Dalton needs to be taught how to behave in public himself and not worry about you,” Tina said when her chuckles died down. “Last year at the annual charity ball he got in a fight with his best friend, and it was splashed over all the papers. Don’t even worry about our night out on the town.”
Elena was completely shocked by this. Tina brushed off the event like it was nothing at all. The relief surging through Elena was monumental. If Tina wanted to drop it, she was more than happy to do the same. She focused instead on the rest of what Tina had said.
