“Don’t you want a man to come home to? Don’t you want someone to make fruit salads for? Don’t you want a house… and garden… a baby?”
Angelica sucked in a deep breath, pursing her lips. “I just want a career.”
Her mother pursed her lips. “What? At that station? You never even get in front of the camera. You can’t even talk to me sometimes, let alone the rest of the world.”
Angelica had nothing to say to this. She kept her head down for the rest of the meal, focusing her attention on the crunch of the pineapple, the sweet juice of the strawberry. She could not deny the fact that her mother was at least a little bit right. Angelica found it difficult holding basic conversations with people. She always had, and yet, somehow, she went from a writer, to a journalist, to a newscaster and suddenly she wanted to be in front of people. She had a vision of herself; a better self. A self who could hop in front of the camera like it was nothing. A self she could love, truly love.
Her lunch ended on a quiet note, with subdued goodbyes and enough frowns to last Angelica the rest of the week. Her mother helped her into her parka as they stood in front of her front door. As soon as Angelica slipped her hands into the pockets, she noticed a sharp business card. She pulled it out to find that it was the number and address to the nearest gym. Spinning.
Angelica’s gaze returned to her mother’s face just in time to see her shrug apologetically. “I just want you to be happy.”
Angelica nodded, staring into those big gray eyes, she could scarcely deny that truth.
***
Angelica stood in the elevator at the station listening to her own breathing. It was just past four in the morning. She loved those quiet moments when it was too early, even for the newscasters. She could wander around the studio on her own, imagining a different life for herself. A smile played at her lips as the doors whooshed open, but it faded quickly. There was a light coming from an office on the far back wall of the floor.
Someone was here.
The elevator doors shut just as soon as Angelica stepped out. She tiptoed towards the office, squinting in the warm light. A part of her wanted to call out, another part of her wanted to do nothing. That part of her almost always won. Once she was close enough to tell, she could see through the blinds that it was clearly Clementine’s office: third door on the right. Angelica lingered there, wondering why Clementine, the one who always rolled in a clear ten minutes before her sound check, could possibly be at the station so early.
“Who’s there?” Clementine’s sharp voice cut the silence.
She had lingered too long.
No one!
“Angelica?”
She sighed. She was caught. She stepped towards the door, knocking… and knocking… and internally kicking herself for knocking…
“Jesus, Gel. Just come the fuck in.”
Angelica jumped, yanking the door open so hard that it slammed into the wall.
Clementine jumped, shooting her an annoyed look before returning her gaze to the computer screen in front of her. “What are you doing here this early?”
Angelica shrugged. “N-Nothing.”
Clementine sighed. “Okay.” She then turned back to the screen in front of her, the google search page reflecting off of her eye glasses. She glanced up at Angelica one more time before gesturing at the singular desk chair sitting in front of her.
Angelica followed her non-verbal order.
“I’ve been thinking a lot about this sad station.” Clementine glanced back up to check that Angelica was still listening.
Angelica was always just listening.
“Anyway, what we really need is a special. Some kind of thing to really take us over the edge you know? So I’ve been looking at this guy, Blake Hancock?”
Blake Hancock? The name sounded familiar.
“He’s like Oregon’s biggest treasure. He’s got this massive estate up in hills. You know, where it’s always snowy. Apparently, he inherited the country’s most profitable logging company from his dad and now he’s working on a business merger with some tractor company.”
Angelica failed to see the point in any of this.
Clementine glanced up from the computer, her eyes alight with excitement. She swiped a lock of hair behind her ear and said, “Oh come on! He’s a fucking billionaire!”
How was that supposed to help anything? What did that even mean? “So?” Angelica managed to say.
“We could go do a study or something. We could travel up there and get the inside scoop. This guy is gonna be the Donald Trump and when that happens, I wanna be able to say we got there first.”
A billionaire in Oregon? Fat chance.
Clementine glanced up at her again, an impatient scowl darkening her face. “Just come over here and look at this guy. I know you’ll want to come with me.”
Angelica’s eyes went wide. “C-come with you?” her lips hovered around the end of that word, as if she expected it to turn around and come back through her mouth.
Clementine nodded. “You have to follow me around right? Wanna do a story? A real story?”
Angelica doubted interviewing a billionaire about cutting down trees was a real story, but she leaned over Clementine’s shoulder anyway. Her heart nearly stopped at the image in front of her. It was the eyes. It had to have been the eyes. They were forest green, the pigment practically jumping out of the computer screen at her. Then, there was his face. It was squared off, a perfect, strong jaw. Bushy eyebrows. Lots of hair. An expensive looking suit draped his dense-body. He looked like a carpenter dressed like broker. It was the best of both worlds: the smart business man with the suit and the fancy razor and the handyman who always knew what to do when the faucet wouldn’t stop dripping water.
She gulped down that lump in her throat. The thought of meeting him excited and frightened her all at once. So, she nodded, naturally. “I’m in.”
Chapter 2
Darren turned the van one last time and everything leveled off. They were all shaken from the nearly life threatening drive up winding roads and hairpin turns. One more massive hill towered above them, the road leading straight up. The cars that had periodically passed on the other side of the road eventually disappeared until there was no one. Beyond the hill, embedded in the ever-present clouds, was a mansion unlike anything Angelica had ever seen. Her hands left the back of Clementine’s seat for the first time during the entire drive as she took in everything from it’s dark stone walls, to the red shutters and the sharp edges.
Darren popped the cigar out of his mouth and clasped the wheel. “All right., Just easing her up…”
All three of them held their breath as he climbed that hill, the van cranking and whining in protest.
“Jesus, Darren. Will you put that thing out?” Clementine snapped in a shaking voice.
Darren’s eyes flashed wide in exasperation. “Do you want me to drive or do you want me to drive?”
Clementine just turned away from him, because she did, indeed, want him to drive.
Angelica released a sigh of relief as they finally made it to the top of that hill. She laid her eyes on the estate in front of her. It spanned as far as she could see in either direction. She imagined, in warmer climates, some sort of fountain might have dominated the roundabout driveway, but instead, there stood a massive weeping willow. Thoughts of “Colors of the Wind” flashed across Angelica’s mind as she stared at the piece, wondering why he would want such an oppressive plant in his front yard. Yet, she couldn’t deny that she was intrigued.
“That took long enough.” Clementine muttered as she climbed out of the truck.
Darren let out a sharp whistle. It echoed as he rounded the truck. “You ready, hun?” He asked, slapping Angelica on the shoulder as Clementine slipped her beanie off of her head to check her hair.
Angelica nodded.
Just when she began to wonder where the welcoming committee was, she heard the sound of a door being pulled open. She looked up just in time t
o see a man dressed in a cumberbund, a white button down, and a gray wool jacket step outside, holding the massive door open for someone else, a woman.
Angelica peered at her as she stepped over the threshold and made her way towards her. Her long, down feather coat hung open, revealing a black sweaterdress underneath. Her thick, graying hair flowed down her sides and back as she made her way towards the three of them. Her lips, which she had covered in dark red lipstick stretched into an alluring smile. “Welcome to my home,” She said.
Clementine shot her her television smile, her gloved hand shooting out towards her. “Thank you for having me-- … us. Clementine White.”
The woman nodded. “Fiona Daniels.” She then turned her attention to Darren, a bourgeois frown darkening her face as she gingerly shook his hand. “My husband smoked cigars,” She said, a note to his breath and smell.
Darren nodded, a knowing smile stretched across his face. Angelica could read his body language like a book. His stiff back and set jaw told her he didn’t like her… not even a little bit. “And how’s he?”
She shrugged, waving her hand. “Nearly dead.”
Nearly dead?
Darren ducked his head as the four of them made their way back to the front door. “What happened to the guy?”
Fiona nodded at the butler as she stepped inside.
Angelica immediately took a whiff of the oak and cinnamon that filled the air inside of the house. She pursed her lips at the contrast between her worn snowshoes and the shiny, dark, hardwood floors.
Fiona sighed. “He was in a hunting accident with my son. By the way, don’t mention that to Blake. He acts… strange.” Her voice dropped at that last word.
A chill shot up Angelica’s spine. Before she could think too hard about it, Fiona clapped her hands together. “Well, my son is very busy at the moment. Something about a merger. But I will lead you up to his office.”
Clementine gave an eager nod, then stepped next to Fiona, slipping her legal pad out of her messenger bag and scribbling this or that on it.
Fiona took one step towards the daunting spiral staircase before coming to an abrupt stop. She let out a singular giggle, glancing at Angelica and the others. “Silly me. I didn’t even offer to take your coats.” She said before snapping her fingers.
A different man in the matching cumberbund and button down appeared to take their things. Once their coats were stacked in his arms, he nodded at Fiona and disappeared.
Angelica wondered wildly if she would ever see those coats again.
“So anyway,” Fiona started, ascending the stairs. “Since you called me, I am sure you understand what makes this place unique.”
“You don’t need to sell it.” Darren muttered.
Clementine shot her a crooked smile, “Well, I called Blake.”
Fiona laughed as they reached the landing at the top of the stair case. She stepped up to the railing, laying her arms on it, stretching them out to either side of her. “Don’t be silly, Blake doesn’t answer his own phone.” she said, her words falling lazily out of her mouth.
“But you do…?” Darren cut in.
Fiona ignored him, standing straight up and continuing on to the corridor on the other end of the landing. “I am essentially the most important person in household,” She said. “I keep the books, pay the bills, handle renovations, take care of his father…”
By then, they were standing in front of a set of double doors. Angelica looked right past Fiona, her heart flipping at the knowledge that there Blake was, right on the other side of those doors.
Clementine gave Fiona a curt nod. “Right. Thank you.” She said, before shoving her legal pad into her open messenger bag.
There was the shuffling of feet before both doors whooshed open and Angelica found herself stunned, frozen in place in the presence of the man standing in front of her. He was even more glorious in person than through a computer screen. He towered over all of them, his height halfway to seven feet, his body of thick, dense muscle draped in black crew-neck sweater and forest green slats. He looked less like a human and more like a sculpture.
Clementine swiped the beanie off of her head, shoved it at Darren and flipped her hair around, her thin arms flapping around as she shifted the thick mass of blond this way and that.
“These are the reporters you were expecting?” Fiona said.
Blake nodded, stepping aside so that they could enter.
As Angelica stepped over the threshold, her stomach rolled around. She would have to walk right past to him. In three…. two… one… They were less than a foot away from each other. Angelica fancied could just smell the scent coming off of him.
Fur?
The doors shut behind them.
Clementine sat down in the seat across from his desk without even asking him. She dropped her messenger bag on the ground by her feet and slapped the legal pad onto the table. Shouldn’t she have at least given him a second to catch his bearings? Asked some unrelated, get-to-know-you, questions before she whipped out the pad?
Blake ground his teeth, crossing the room to his seat on the other side of the oppressively thick, wooden desk. He folded his hands on its surface, his gaze, even and barely seeing.
“Do you mind if we…” Clementine gestured at the camera in Darren’s hand.
Blake grimaced, then ducked his head ever so slightly. His eyes narrowed at Clementine in contempt. “If you must.”
Angelica went hot with desire.
“So, you must be pretty proud of this estate. It’s… well magnificent.” The great Clementine White sounded more like a flustered fan girl than an objective reporter.
Stop blushing goddammit. Angelica glanced at Darren, searching his face for the same kind of disapproval that she felt.
He shook his head.
“Is there a question in that?” Blake asked, his body unmoving, but the message of impatience expertly imbedded into those words.
Clementine looked up at him, a deer caught in headlights. “Of course.” Clementine chuckled. She looked down at her legal pad as if the answer were right there.
They all stood in that room, staring at her with expectant eyes. Ironic how she was finally the center of attention. As she continued to gaze, unseeing, at the stack of yellow paper, Angelica realized that the answer was right there in front of all of them.
Blake glanced at her. At first, it was a fleeting look, barely noticeable. But then his eyes settled on her, the green pupils scanning her from top to bottom. His plump lips hung slightly open, a haze in his gaze. Angelica wildly imagined herself sitting on top of him. She imagined those large hands caressing her curves and that look… that inviting look. “Are you seeing anyone?” There wasn’t even a trace of a stutter. A stunned look took over everyone’s face, including Angelica’s.
Blake’s lips stretched into a smile, his eyes twinkling in the dim lighting. “Excuse me?” He asked, but there was no denying the amusement in his stare.
Angelica had transcended her body. In her head, she imagined herself a rock star. The next words came out of her mouth before she even had a chance to think about them. “You’ve got this big house. You live with your mom… and your dad. What about your wife?”
Clementine’s frown had devolved into a disbelieving grimace.
Blake lifted his left hand, which, of course, was devoid of a ring. “There is no wife.”
Angelica’s face flushed pink. It was happening again; her words piling up in the back of her head. There were way too many possibilities and Angelica simply did not have the time to sift through the stupid phrases. Just like that, she crashed back into her normal self.
Blake had eyes only for her. “I am afraid I have an afternoon meeting that I must attend. Could we pick this up tomorrow?”
Angelica nodded, even though the question couldn’t have been for her. She could see Darren’s crooked smile out of the corner of her eye.
Clementine shot out of her chair. “Of course.” She said, reaching
her hand out as if she intended him to shake it.
He stared at it for a moment too long before finally taking it. Clementine seemed to melt at the touch. “Are you ready?” She asked, looking at Angelica and Darren.
Darren nodded, took the camera down and began to pack up the rest of his belongings. Angelica lingered a bit, wanting to stretch out her time in Blake’s presence as much as possible before she stepped out. Her foot had barely made it over the threshold before she felt something on her arm. She turned to find Blake standing right behind her, a crooked smile lighting up his face. “You were completely out of place.”
It was an accusation Angelica couldn’t deny. “I’m always out of place.” Something about him invited her in.
He stood even closer to her, his hand a mere centimeter from hers. Half of her expected him to touch her and the other half had no idea what she would do if he did. “Why are you nervous?”
She raised an eyebrow. “Can you tell?”
He traced his hand from her shoulder down to her fingers, lifting her hand up to his lips. He planted a soft kiss on it, the touch driving her mad with desire. “Don’t be. You’ve already won me over.”
Angelica shook her head, waving a wishful thought before it even got a chance to become fully formed. “What does that even mean?”
He leaned even closer to her, resting his hand above her head.
He’s just looking for an easy lay. Girls don’t come around here that often. That’s all this is.
But then he said, “You captivated me from the moment you walked in,” and Angelica didn’t care what this was.
“Have I?” She could hear Clementine’s voice coming from the hallway: “Should I go back? I wanna go back in there!” and Darren: “Jesus, Tine. Just give it a rest for today.”
“I don’t need to tell you that I felt the same way.” She was her best version of herself when she was around him.
He continued to hold on to her hand. “I usually take my dinner on my own… but now that I’ve met you, I wouldn’t be able to bear it.”
Angelica’s eyes were wide with endearment. She tilted her head up towards him, that smile pasted on her face even though her mind was going into overdrive. “Well now I have no other choice than to accept.”
VAMPIRE:Vampire Guardian Series: Paranormal Mystery Vampire Alpha Male Romance (New Adult Contemporary Paranormal Royalty Fantasy Romance Collection)) Page 45
