No Coincidence

by Tiffany Patterson

  “Are you considering renting out an office space?”

  I shook my head. “No. My building, they’re doing some renovations so it gets kind of loud during the day. I just figured I could use her office for a few weeks while the workers did whatever they were doing during the day.” I shrugged to come across casually. “So let’s see what’s on the agenda for this week.” I flipped open my weekly planner, hoping that Shauna would drop the subject.

  I wasn’t so lucky.

  “I like the brick background of the office. Gives it some character. Like those new loft-style condos they’re building around me. Those are very in these days.”

  I nodded and took a sip of the latte I’d made this morning at Connor’s. A smile played at my lips at the memory of us riding into his office together.

  “What’s that smile all about?”

  I blinked, looking back to Shauna, who—behind those cat-eye framed glasses—had an eyebrow lifted.

  “Nothing, I was smiling at the thought of the loft-style apartments you mentioned. I bet they’re nice.”

  Shauna eyed me as if I were her little girl instead of her colleague. “Nice but expensive. Way overpriced,” she finally scoffed.

  I let out the breath I’d been holding. “So for this week …” I went on with our meeting, going over the plans for the week, what needed to be taken care of, what could wait, and so on.

  “Hey, I noticed a file labeled ‘Connor’ in the shared folder that you uploaded over the weekend. I opened it and whoa! Is this a new brand you’re working with?” Shauna questioned, confused, as we closed out our meeting.

  Shit!

  I forgot that Shauna had access to that particular folder where I saved all of the pictures I took of Connor that Saturday. Though it was only two days earlier, it felt like that photoshoot was so long ago.

  “No, no, it’s not a brand I’m working with.”

  “Oh, because I was going to say … when did you get into working out and protein shakes?” She giggled. “But he is fiiine. Did you find those images online somewhere?”

  “Unh, unh. He’s a … it’s just a favor for a friend who needed some help with their social media pages.”

  “Resha?”

  I startled at the knocking on the opened door followed by Connor calling my name. Glancing up, I swallowed at the imposing image he made at the door. His long and broad body took up just about most of the width of the doorway, and the way the dark jeans and black T-shirt he wore clung to his frame was enough to have me swallowing. And if that wasn’t bad enough, images of the way he’d made my body sing the night before floated through my mind.

  “Who’s that? Is that him?”

  “Shauna, I have to go. Talk to you next week. Bye.” I quickly disconnected the call at the same time Connor pushed away from the door frame and headed over to the desk where I sat.

  “Hey,” I greeted, standing as if I just got caught with my hands in the cookie jar.

  “That was Shauna?” he questioned, rounding the desk and peering down at the screen that now displayed the homepage of my blog.

  Clearing my throat, I responded, “Yes.”

  “You didn’t want me to meet her?” he teased, a smile tugging at the corners of his lips.

  “We were working.”

  He chuckled. “Anyway, I have to head out for a couple of hours.”

  “You have a work meeting?”

  He paused, and something in his eyes looked uncomfortable. “Something like that. I’ll be back around four. My receptionist will be here, so if there’s anything you need let her know or call me. I’ll have my phone on me. Oh, and I ordered lunch. It should be arriving around one.”

  “That wasn’t necessary, I could’ve just gotten—”

  “You would’ve lost track of time, and before you know it, would’ve gone the whole day without eating. All you had this morning was a coffee and one of TKO’s protein bars.”

  Putting my hand on my hip, I cocked my head to the side. “I thought you stood by your products,” I teased.

  He moved closer, taking my chin in his hand. “I do, and there’s a reason they’re called supplements. They’re meant to supplement a well-rounded diet. Not be a meal replacement. Lunch will be here at one.” He pressed his lips firmly to mine before releasing my chin and stepping back.

  “What’re you going to eat for lunch then?”

  “I’m picking up something on the way to my meeting. I’ll be back by four.”

  I sighed. “Fine.” How was I to argue with a man who wanted to feed me? “I’m going to work on a few posts that I need to finish up, and then I can look through the pictures I took of you on Saturday and help you with writing out some captions. Hey, I was also thinking you might want to hire a web designer to update your site.”

  He grunted. “Yeah, Jersey’s already sent me over some names of web designers to help with that.”

  “Good. I can help you pick out one to work with.”

  He nodded as he stared down into his phone, distracted. “Yeah, that’ll be helpful,” he finally stated, stuffing his phone into his back pocket and moving closer to lean down and give me a kiss. Never had I experienced a man who was so affectionate. I couldn’t say I didn’t like it.

  “I’ll see you later. Remember, anything you need, just ask my assistant.”

  I shrugged, knowing that he was saying, without words so much, that he didn’t want me leaving the building for any reason. I would’ve told him that I’d go wherever I damned well pleased, but … well, the look in his eyes told me to can it.

  I swallowed my pride as I remembered there was still a stalker out there who’d broken into my home.

  “I’m sure I’ll be fine. Don’t worry about me, I’m a big girl.” It was meant to be a joke, but the way Connor’s nostrils flared and his eyes narrowed as they slid down my body, there was nothing funny about the way my body warmed.

  “I’ll be back by four.” Connor’s voice was thick and rumbling.

  My nipples instantly pebbled, and as soon as he departed from the doorway, I fanned myself with a piece of paper from the desk. “Lord, what’ve you gotten me into?” I purred.

  ****

  Connor

  “I really like this one. You need to post this one on the homepage of your website.”

  Staring down at Resha’s grinning face, I grunted. We were both sitting on the floor in my living room, looking over the images she’d printed out from our photoshoot the other week. While we sat there, with my arm wrapped around her shoulders, my hand making small circles over her right arm and Resha leaning into me, she smiled down at the images she’d taken, something came over me. A feeling of complete peace. I’d had this experience before a few times in my life. Once after winning a national championship that I’d been training many years for. The peace of owning my own home and knowing my brother and family never had to worry again because I’d be able to care for whatever they needed.

  However, never had I experienced this peace in conjunction with another human being, let alone another woman. It’d only been a week and a half that she’d been staying with me.

  “You don’t have to go back,” I suddenly blurted out, surprising the both of us.

  Resha’s eyes doubled in size, telling me she knew exactly what I was talking about. I watched as she visibly swallowed. Then her eyes fell, her fingers playing with one of the photographs—it was of me in only a pair of grey sweatpants, mid-jump as I jump roped, staring dead center into the camera. None of my TKO products were in the shot, so the likelihood of the shot ever making onto my social media feeds wasn’t very high, but Resha kept looking at it.

  I moved my free hand to her chin, raising her face so she could look me in the eye.

  “You don’t even have an office for me to work in. I can’t keep borrowing your empty office space at work. What if you hire another employee?”

  Jerking my head in the direction of the long hallway, I stated, “I’ll clear out the guest bedr
oom and you can make that your office.”

  Her lips pinched and a contemplative expression crossed her face. “Balcony.”

  I frowned. “What?”

  She sighed, and her eyes moved over to the sliding glass doors that led to the balcony of my condo.

  “It was my favorite spot in my home. Not my office, or my bedroom, or even the kitchen.”

  Both of my eyebrows lifted because I would’ve sworn her favorite room was the kitchen. Every night for the past week and a half that Resha had been staying at my place, she cooked for us, even when I attempted to insist that she didn’t have to, or it would be easier to just order something, she was persistent in making a home-cooked meal for the both of us.

  “It was where I went to daydream, come up with ideas for my blog or podcast topics. Where I journaled and would drink my lattes in the morning or hot chocolate on cold nights. It was my little sanctuary. I miss it,” she finally stated. “Of all of the things this stalker has taken or tried to take away from me, my balcony is what I miss the most.”

  She looked up at me with apologetic eyes.

  I turned and looked out onto the balcony that I rarely used, and then back to Resha, dipping my head to brush my lips across hers.

  “You’re still staying.”

  Her smile turned into a giggle. “You can’t keep me hostage,” she quipped.

  Wiggling my eyebrows, I retorted, “Sure, I can. All I need to do is …” I trailed off as I took both of her wrists into one of my hands, pushing them over her head while I pressed her back against the floor, moving over top of her.

  “All you need to do is, what?” she challenged.

  I parted my lips to respond, but the sound of my elevator door opening caught my attention.

  “Connor!” Mark’s voice suddenly rang out in apartment as he pushed the door open, entering my place.

  “Son of a bitch!”

  “Oh, there— Oh shit!” Mark yelped as he rolled over to the foot of the couch, seeing both Resha and I there. His eyes enlarged, but it was Resha who was most surprised.

  She squirmed out from underneath me, quickly lowering the T-shirt of mine that she wore back down around her hips, standing and damn near breaking a leg to head up the stairs.

  “Eyes on me,” I growled at my brother, whose head followed Resha’s bare legs up the stairs.

  Mark looked back to me a sparkle in his hazel eyes that mirrored my own, chuckling. “If I’d known you had company—”

  “You still would’ve brought your ass over here unannounced.”

  He paused, pondering that before nodding his head and laughing again. “You’re probably right.”

  “Give me back my damn key,” I demanded, rising from the floor of my living room to stand over him.

  Mark made a cynical expression. “Yeah right. Like that’s gonna happen. Not my fault! I didn’t expect you to have anyone over here. This hasn’t happened before,” he grunted. “I do believe this is the first time we’ve ever run into a situation like this.”

  I scowled at the laughter I heard in his voice as he moved behind me, following me into the kitchen.

  “What the hell do you want?”

  He shrugged as I glared down at him. “Didn’t know I needed to make an appointment to see my older brother. It’s been weeks since I’ve heard from you. It’s not like we don’t live right across the street from one another.”

  I rolled my eyes. “You saw me at the Underground two weeks ago.”

  “Yeah, after I came early just to catch your attention. By the way, it looks like you took my advice. I’ve noticed the revamping of your social media over the past few days. Bravo. Who’d you get to take the pictures?”

  “I did,” Resha’s voice responded, causing Mark to look over his shoulder before fully turning himself around to face her.

  She stood at the entranceway of the kitchen, in a pair of blue jeans and an off-the-shoulder T-shirt of hers, obviously having changed. Never before had I had an urge to kick my brother out of my place. Even though I’d barely been speaking to him for months now, when he did come over, I never wanted to demand he get out as much as I did in that moment. I wanted Resha all to myself and Mark was getting in the damn way.

  “Resha, right?” Mark snapped his fingers as if just recalling her name.

  She nodded. “That’s right. And you’re Mark. Connor’s younger brother.” She extended her hand, to which Mark took into both of his.

  “Connor’s much more charming and attractive younger brother, Mark.”

  Resha giggled, her gaze rising to meet my scowl. Her eyes squinted, wondering what the sour expression on my face was about.

  “Don’t mind him, he always looks like that when I’m around lately,” Mark stated.

  “Is that so?” Resha questioned, moving closer to me, placing her hand on my abdomen.

  “Unfortunately. Anyway, you’re the one who took those photos I’ve been seeing on his Instagram posts?”

  Resha pivoted on her bare heels to face Mark, and I let my eyes drop, admiring the dark brick red color she’d gotten her toes painted just the day before.

  “I did take the photos.”

  “You’re a photographer?”

  Resha laughed. “Not be any stretch of the imagination, but I’ve taken some classes on photography, run my own blog for almost a decade, and I do my own posts, so I was able to help Connor out.”

  Mark whistled. “You more than helped him out. Those photos were practically screaming sex. And now that I see you were the one who was behind the camera I can see why.”

  My damn head nearly exploded when I watched Mark’s eyes rove up and down Resha’s frame in the same way mine had minutes before he’d arrived.

  “Get the hell out!” I barked, moving to step in front of Resha.

  Mark immediately began laughing as I grabbed onto the back of his chair and started pushing him out of the kitchen.

  “Connor’s usually terrible at taking pictures. He hates being in front of the camera! She must be your inspiration, big bro!” He laughed heartily as I pushed him over to the still open elevator door.

  “Get out!”

  “Fine. I know when I’m not wanted.”

  “Hey, Mark?” Resha called from the living room, causing us both to look at her.

  “Yeah?”

  “How about you come over for dinner tomorrow? Around six? I’ll cook us something.”

  I started to tell her that wouldn’t be happening but Mark beat me to the punch.

  “That sounds great, but I don’t mind picking up something for—”

  Resha waved a hand dismissively. “No takeout. What is it with you two? I’ll cook. Just bring your appetite. Is there anything you don’t like or are allergic to?”

  Mark shook his head.

  Resha’s smile grew. “Great. Then we’ll see you tomorrow night.”

  The last image of my brother I had was the cocky grin he tossed my way as he informed us that he would be here with bells on the following evening.

  “And don’t forget to lock the door behind you!” I called. He was always forgetting to lock the elevator door once he got off on the ground floor.

  “The hell did you do that for?”

  Frowning, Resha folded her arms across her chest. “He’s your brother and you treated him like he was some sort of inconvenience.”

  I moved closer to her, pulling her into my arms. “First of all, he is an inconvenience just showing up out of the blue like that. Especially, when I was about to …” I dipped my head to the side of her neck, kissing the vein that’d already began beating more rapidly.

  “You c-could be n-nicer to him.”

  “Mmm,” I growled, continuing to kiss her sensitized skin and pressing my hips against her stomach, allowing her to feel the bulge growing in my pants. “How about I be nice to you instead? Very, very nice.”

  “That might make up for your behavior.” She sighed against my lips just before I captured hers.

&
nbsp; There was no more talk of my brother that night.

  Chapter Thirteen

  Resha

  “That was Detective Brookes on the phone,” Connor stated as he entered the kitchen.

  I slapped his hand as he tried to reach into the pot with one of the slices of bread I set aside to ladle with the beef bourguignon stew I prepared for our dinner with Mark.

  “The hell?” he grumbled.

  “That’s for our dinner. Mark will be here in ten minutes.”

  “He’s late.”

  “Not his fault he had to stay late at work. We’ll eat soon. Here,” I moved to the fridge to grab the hummus I made earlier and a bag of the pita chips I picked up from the store earlier in the week. “These will hold you over.”

  Connor took the proffered snack, looking relieved.

  “Did Detective Brookes have any news?” I questioned as I went back to stirring the simmering stew before turning the heat down just to keep it warm while we waited.

  “Nothing viable yet but he wants to speak with you down at the station next week.”

  “Does he think there are any suspects? Last time I spoke with him he said that Jarvis had been ruled out as having anything to do with the break-in.”

  A shadow passed over Connor’s face but it quickly cleared as he responded, “It wasn’t him. Jarvis was out of the building for most of the day when your condo was broken into. But Brookes finally got the video footage from your building’s security. Wants you to take a look at it to see if you recognize anyone.”

  I nodded and continued stirring the stew. “Do you think this guy’s even still worried about me? I mean, I haven’t gotten anymore emails. What if he’s gotten it out of his system? You know, like the break-in was what he needed to get over whatever infatuation he had and now he’s past it?” The excuse sounded dismal and pathetic to my own ears, but I looked over at Connor, hopeful. That was, until I saw the frown that crowded his face.

  “The break-in was this fucker escalating,” he informed me as he moved closer, lowering the hummus and pita chips to the counter so he could wrap his hands around my waist.