Chapter 3
Hayden woke up and looked around, feeling strange suddenly. She was warm and cozy, but something was definitely missing. Since the sun was just coming up over the horizon, she knew that she hadn’t overslept.
Looking around, she tried to figure out what was wrong. The air was warm, so her heater was working once again. Lifting her head, she tried to…he wasn’t here! Hayden looked at the other side of the bed and realized that Viktor was gone!
Curling up, she pulled the quilt higher around her, feeling her nakedness and hurt like an open, gaping wound. He’d left? Why had he left without a word?
She realized that she couldn’t see her breath this morning but, for some reason, that fact didn’t make her feel any better. The man had left! Without saying goodbye. No, he hadn’t left money on the bedside table, but…Hayden’s eyes glanced over to her bedside table, just to make sure. Her shoulders relaxed slightly once she realized that it was still empty.
The man had made love to her yesterday, acting as if he were just as desperate for her touch as she’d been for his. And yet, she’d woken up alone. No kiss goodbye. No note. Nothing. Just an empty bed and a painfully empty feeling in her heart.
Tossing the quilt off, she almost stomped into the bathroom, furious with the man and his hurtful, domineering arrogance!
Turning on the shower, she fumed while she waited for the hot water to arrive, the old pipes creaking with the effort. Yeah, she needed new plumbing, a new furnace and…goodness, she couldn’t even imagine what would happen when her fridge broke down.
But those were all issues for another day. Right now, she had a hurtful, awful man to deal with.
As she let the warm water sooth over her sore muscles, she thought about all the things she could say to him, the different ways she could tell him that she was angry with him. But the look in his eyes yesterday afternoon struck her and she stilled, unware of the shampoo bubbles dripping down to her shoulders and back. He’d needed her. The look in his eyes, the hunger, the yearning…she hadn’t imagined that.
And last night, when he’d made love to her…or…well, it had been sex, she admitted grudgingly…yes, he’d needed her last night. She’d felt it in the way he’d touched her, in the way he’d shown her gently how to move, how to experience bliss in his arms.
And afterwards…Hayden sighed when she thought of the sweet way he’d held her in his arms. She remembered waking up in the middle of the night, startled by the heat. When she’d realized she was curled up in his arms, she’d smiled and gone back to sleep. But before her eyes had drifted shut once again, she remembered feeling him pull her closer, his arms tightening around her.
No, she hadn’t imagined that. His need, his comfort, and his gentleness…that had all been real.
With a sigh, she stepped under the warm water and rinsed off her hair. Did he really need her? Or was she just being a pushover?
Even Viktor had told her that she was too soft, too sweet.
“Hayden!” a female voice called from downstairs.
Hayden shut off the water and grabbed a towel. “I’ll be right down!” she called back to Natalie. She knew that her friend was worried about her. Natalie was most likely making tea already. She suspected that her friend had even brought over food. Natalie couldn’t afford that. Yes, she made good money at her job as a school teacher, but she needed every cent of it to put her adorable son into a special school. The kid was too smart for the public school system. He definitely needed a special school and Natalie had found the perfect place. Unfortunately, the tuition was crazy expensive.
Somehow, Natalie would figure it out. The woman was incredibly smart.
Hayden quickly dried off and pulled on a pair of clean jeans and yet another sweatshirt, feeling better after yesterday’s strange day. She picked the borrowed dress up from the chair, wondering how it had gotten there. Then memories of her time with Viktor sparked through her mind and she blushed, thinking of how she’d…and he’d…shaking her head, she banished those thoughts. She couldn’t think about Viktor and everything they’d done the previous afternoon and night. It was just too…embarrassing.
Just thinking about those things caused her cheeks to bloom with color so she folded the dress over her arm and carried it down the stairs, intending to take it to the dry cleaners before returning it to Natalie.
Walking into her kitchen, she felt the hollowness in her stomach and cringed. She hadn’t eaten anything at all yesterday. She’d been too nervous in the morning for breakfast. Then lunch had been skipped as she’d taken Viktor on a tour. Dinner…well, she’d sort of skipped that too.
Remembering the cup of yogurt she had left over, she hurried over to the fridge, trying to act like nothing out of the ordinary had occurred.
Unfortunately, this morning, it wasn’t just Natalie in her kitchen sipping hot tea. Kate was here as well. Double trouble, Hayden thought.
Natalie was leaning against the countertop with a strange look in her eyes as she sipped her tea. Hayden didn’t understand the expression on her features. “What’s up?” she asked, pulling the fridge door open, only to come to a complete standstill.
Kate was leaning her back up against the sink and smiled over her cup. Hayden felt more than saw, the look that passed between her two friends.
Fortunately, she had higher priorities than her friends at the moment. Food! She needed food like she needed….
Strange, she thought. Glancing over her shoulder, she saw Kate’s curious expression. “Something wrong?” her friend asked.
Hayden pulled her eyes away from Kate and looked back into her fridge. Yes, the yogurt was still there. But also fruit, fresh chicken, gourmet breads, eggs, milk, vegetables…some of which she couldn’t even identify. Her fridge was packed with food!
She slammed the door closed and just stood there, her mind going over the events of the previous day. Had she skipped a day? Had she gone to the grocery store yesterday and just… forgotten about it?
Impossible! She didn’t have the money to buy all of those groceries! So, where had the food come from?
“The freezer is packed as well,” Natalie commented.
Hayden glanced over her shoulder at the smirking woman, but then turned back to the fridge, peering inside the freezer area…carefully, as if a wild animal was contained inside and might jump out if she opened the door too wide.
Sure enough, the freezer was packed with packaged foods. But not the normal frozen food packages. Nope, these had fancy labels on them, hand written. Almost as if a restaurant had packaged up their entire menu and put it into her freezer.
“Want to know what else is strange?” Natalie asked.
Hayden glanced at Kate when she giggled. Ignoring Natalie for a moment, she looked at Kate curiously. “Why aren’t you over at your coffee shop?”
Obviously something really strange was going on, because Kate lowered her mug, looking curiously amused. “Toby is covering the morning shift. Natalie called me ten minutes ago and told me to get over here fast. So here I am and…”
Hayden waited, but Kate only shrugged her shoulder, her dark pony tail swaying ever so slightly as the woman’s green eyes laughed at some secret joke.
Her eyes narrowed at both women. “What aren’t you telling me?” she asked. This whole morning was confusing, she thought, trying to find something that made sense. Turning back to the freezer, she pushed a few of the boxes around, trying to figure out…anything! But no, nothing made sense.
Hayden slammed the freezer closed but stood there for a long moment, still trying to determine if she’d lost a day somewhere. Slowly turning around, she lifted her eyes to her friends. “Okay, I give up. What else is strange?” she asked, her voice sounding strangled and odd.
Natalie smiled behind the rim of her cup. “Well, I found one of your black shoes in the living room but the other was at the bottom of the staircase.”
Hayden’s cheeks once again bloomed with color, but she tried to appear casual about the oddly placed shoes. “Um…well…” She glanced over at Kate, trying to determine if her friends had figured out anything, but Kate…she looked just as amused and curiously strange as Natalie.
Natalie pulled Hayden’s attention back. “And there was another odd thing on the second step of the stairs.”
Hayden pressed her lips together, trying to think of what other piece of clothing might have fallen off her body as she’d been carried up the stairs. Unfortunately, the progression from the kitchen to the upstairs bedroom was pretty much a blur. “What was that?” she asked carefully, wary about whatever might have been…strewn.
Natalie’s eyes moved over to the battered kitchen table. “Who is VC?” she asked.
Hayden’s eyes followed her friend’s and she could barely swallow as she took in the cufflink sitting in the middle. Swallowing became difficult. Her eyes moved up to Natalie’s, then to Kate’s, and she wasn’t sure how to explain…what to say. “Um…”
Natalie’s eyebrows lifted in amusement. “You had a fun night last night, didn’t you?”
A muffled laugh came from Kate and Hayden took a moment to glare at the woman, but her glare was ineffective at stifling any amusement.
Hayden sighed, her shoulders drooping even as her knees gave out on her as well. “I don’t know,” she whispered, pushing her hair back with both hands as she stared at the cufflink on the table. It somehow seemed both innocent and serpent-like.
Natalie laughed softly but had some compassion for her best friend. Kate moved from the sink to sit down in the only other chair. “I think it’s great that you finally met someone, Hayden,” Kate said, rubbing her friend’s shoulder gently.
Turning around, Natalie poured hot water over the blueberry tea bag, then handed the cup to Hayden. “Care to tell us what’s going on?”
Hayden debated that for a long moment, not sure if she could really explain the past twenty-four hours. Sighing, she shrugged her shoulder slightly. “To be honest, I’m not really sure what happened.”
Both women laughed softly before Natalie lowered her cup down onto the countertop. “Why don’t you start at the beginning? I have an hour before I need to be at school and my mother took Alejandro out for breakfast. Toby can cover for Kate this morning. So it’s just the three of us for a while. Tell us what happened yesterday after I left here. You were heading into the city to ask Mr. Chenko if he still wanted to buy your farmland and house. What happened next?” She pulled eggs, bread, and butter out of the fridge and turned on the stove. “Tell me that you got waylaid by some gorgeous man and had wild, passionate sex with him!”
“Oh, that would be great!” Kate teased.
Hayden knew that her friends were teasing, but she simply couldn’t laugh. It was too close to the truth!
“Well,” she began slowly.
Natalie popped two pieces of toast into the toaster, then dropped some butter into the skillet, smearing it all over the bottom as it melted. “Or, maybe you found a long, lost lover and he’s just waiting to carry you away from all of this.”
Kate leaned back in her chair. “That would be good too. I’m pretty open to any story, as long as it ends with that special glow.”
Hayden grimaced as she took a sip of her tea. “That’s not exactly what happened.” But sort of, she thought, thinking about how Viktor had arranged for someone to fix her furnace.
As if reading her mind, Natalie paused and looked around, then back at Hayden who was sipping her tea at the kitchen table. “Hey, come to think of it, how do you have heat? Yesterday morning we were breathing icicles. Now it’s almost toasty in here.”
Hayden thought about that for a moment, then stood up and hurried over to the thermostat. Sure enough, the temperature was about ten degrees warmer than what she normally set it at. Viktor might have money to throw around, but she definitely kept things a bit leaner in her house. She adjusted the thermostat back down and turned, ready to explain to Kate and Natalie.
Someone knocked on the door before she could head back to the kitchen. But the delightful scent of bread starting to toast made her stomach growl, as her hunger became a very real part of her consciousness.
Since Natalie was a much better cook than she was, Hayden turned to the front door instead of heading into the kitchen. Opening the door, she looked out at a tall, rugged looking man with a tool belt wrapped around his waist and a clipboard in his hand. “Mornin’ Ms. Ferrant. I’m Burt and I’ve been hired to do a walk though and start listing all of the items that need to be fixed in your house,” he explained, his tone ending upward, as if he were asking a question instead of making a statement.
Hayden stared at him, not sure what he meant. “I’m sorry but…I can’t…” she shook her head, feeling awkward and painfully poor.
The friendly man looked down at his clip board, reading something off of the sheet. “A Mr. Viktor Chenko said all the bills should be sent to him, but he had some ideas that I should go over with you, just to make sure you are okay with them.”
Still, Hayden stood there, door open with the heat seeping out and the cold creeping in with her mouth hanging open, feeling foolish and awkward.
“I still don’t…”
His smile was meant to be reassuring, but because she was still confused about too many other things, the expression completely missed its mark.
“I promise not to get in your way.” He paused and sniffed. “Smells like you are in the middle of breakfast. How about if I just go around and list all of the exterior issues first, and then we can walk around and talk about the interior problems that need to be fixed and then the changes Mr. Chenko suggested?”
The only thing Hayden could do at the moment was nod her assent.
With that, the man stepped back with a polite nod and lifted his clipboard, obviously starting out with her front porch.
Hayden closed the door carefully, leaning back against it as she tried to figure out what was going on.
“Breakfast is ready!” Natalie called out.
Food would help, she thought, aware of the clawing hunger in her stomach. Priority number one, eat. Number two, figure out how she’d gotten food to eat. Number three…well, she’d get to that after number one and two were cleared up.
Somewhere on her list of things to figure out…what had happened between last night and this morning.
Walking into the kitchen, she sat down at the table and stared at the egg on toast that Natalie had made. Kate was already eating and she waved Hayden into the kitchen.
“Okay, spill it,” Kate demanded, cutting into her breakfast. It had been a while since the three of them had shared breakfast together.
Hayden couldn’t wait any longer. Going a whole day without food had made her dizzy. At least, that was the excuse she was going with at the moment. Digging in, she quickly gobbled up her food, ignoring Natalie’s curious gaze.
When the egg and toast were gone, she sat back against the chair with her tea warming her hands and tried to get her brain moving.
“Soooo?” Kate prompted.
Hayden smiled slightly, not sure where to start. So instead, she stuffed more toast into her mouth, using that as an excuse to avoid answering the question.
“Um…”
Obviously, Natalie knew her well. “Start with yesterday morning. You went into the city and met with Viktor Chenko, the man you hate. The man you yelled at the last time he was here trying to buy your land and house. The man you swore would never step foot on this land as long as you were breathing. The man who…”
“Okay! I remember!” Hayden gasped, lifting her hand up to stop the onslaught of stupidity that had spewed from her mouth after the man had arrogantly offered her an outrageous amount of money for her family farm and then…
Well, Hayden wasn’t going there. More food. More avoidance.
“So?” Natalie prompted once again. “Spill it! How did the most hated man in America lose his cufflink in your stairway?”
Hayden swallowed the large bite of food, then shifted uncomfortably in her chair. “How do you know it is his?”
Kate snorted, shaking her head as Natalie gave Hayden a look that told her in no uncertain terms would she allow any sort of prevarication.
With a chuckle, Hayden tilted her head slightly. “Do all moms know how to do that?” she asked.
Natalie rolled her eyes. “Yes. And stop stalling. I want details.”
Hayden looked down at her cup, realized that she was out of tea and stood up, rushing over to the stove to heat up more water for another cup.
Once again, Kate laughed. “I’m not sure that mom-look is working very effectively, Nat,” she teased, and ducked behind her cup when Hayden turned that glare on her.
“Hayden!” Natalie cried. “Stop stalling! Tell us what happened!”
“He proposed,” Hayden blurted, leaning her arms against the countertop and waiting for the explosion. When there was only silence, Hayden peered over her shoulder, trying to determine her friends’ reactions. The stunned expression on both of their lovely features was almost funny. Or it would be if there was anything humorous about this situation.
“Say something,” she urged, turning around even as her fingers twisted the dishtowel nervously in front of her.
Natalie continued to stare. Kate opened and closed her mouth, looked at Natalie, then back at Hayden. “Are you kidding?”
Hayden could only shrug her shoulders slightly, not sure what else to do. But when they both continued to stare at her, she grew impatient, needing their guidance.
“Guys!” Hayden yelled.
That jerked both of them out of their stupefied trance. Kate was the first to speak. “Let me get this straight. You took two hours out of your morning to go to his office in the city, told him that you were now willing to sell your land to him and, instead, ended up engaged with a fridge full of food and a…”
Whatever Kate was about to say was interrupted by the doorbell.
Hayden lifted a finger, halting her friend’s dissertation on her crazy life for the past thirty six hours and hurried out of the kitchen. When she answered the door this time, there were two men standing on her porch. Burt was still looking around, his pen frantically scratching out something on his clipboard, ignoring the newcomers as he continued his work.
“Can I help you?” Hayden asked, thinking they were with Burt, but apparently not.
The first man stepped forward. He was wearing a slate grey shirt with his name on it and matching pants. “I’m here to check out your plumbing.”
Since that made no sense, she turned her eyes to the second man, silently prompting him to explain his presence. “I’m here to inspect and repair any electrical issues.”
Hayden stared, her eyes moving back and forth between the two men, to Burt and, when Natalie stepped up next to her, she looked at her friend. “Plumber and electrician,” she said to Natalie.
Kate was right behind Natalie, and Hayden felt her friend’s reassuring hand on her shoulder. “This is good!”
“Thank heavens!” Natalie agreed. “The electrical outlets in this house are ancient!” She laughed when Hayden poked her ribs. “And it takes about thirty minutes to get any hot water upstairs.”
The two men nodded in understanding, but because Hayden was still standing in the way, they didn’t move.
“You need to let them in,” Kate said in a stage whisper. “And then tell us what else happened.”
Hayden was even more confused. “I don’t need any electrical or plumbing work done.”
The plumber looked down at his clipboard…Hayden was starting to really hate clipboards…and said, “I’m supposed to install one of those endless water heaters,” he explained. “And check out the drip in the kitchen sink.”
Hayden’s mouth fell open in surprise. “How in the world did he know about…?” Hayden stopped talking and looked at Natalie, gritting her teeth at the woman’s curious expression. “I don’t need…”
Kate interrupted her, pulling Hayden out of the way to open the door wider. “She does. Come on in, guys. Do whatever you need to do. She’ll stay out of your way.”
Before Hayden could close the door, a delivery driver pulled up to the bottom of the wooden stairs, jumping out of his car with yet another clipboard.
“Are you Ms. Hayden Ferrant?” he asked, huffing slightly as he came to a skidding halt in front of her.
“Yes,” she replied warily.
“I have a certified check here for you. I need you to sign for it.”
Hayden looked down at the check and noticed that it was from Harry, not Viktor. A sharp burst of happiness hit her, and a matching burst of gratitude towards Viktor. He’d been right! “Wow! He really sent a check?” she gasped.
The man chuckled. “Certified, even,” he agreed, handing her the clipboard and a pen.
Hayden gladly accepted this clipboard and signed on the line, handing both board and pen back to him. He hurried off and Hayden tore open the envelope. Sure enough, there was a twenty-four thousand dollar check. And change! The line items showed that the twelve thousand was for the back-logged purchases and the additional money was for the new order. “Wow!” she said again, flabbergasted at the amount.
“Do you know what this means?” she asked Natalie.
Kate peered over Hayden’s shoulder, whistling as she looked down at the amount. “That’s a lot of zeroes!”
“You’re taking Kate, me, and Alejo out to dinner?” she teased.
Hayden laughed, throwing her arms around both women. “It means I can pay all of the back taxes!”
“Not before you explain what happened yesterday,” Natalie argued and slammed the front door before dragging Hayden back into the kitchen.
“Okay, spill it!” Kate and Natalie crossed their arms, waiting not-so-patiently for Hayden to fill in the blanks.
Hayden was still looking down at the check, relief surging through her with the amount.
“The man proposed…and?”
Hayden laughed. “Yes. He proposed, then he drove me back here.”
Kate nudged Natalie in the ribs with her elbow, both of them grinning. “And you had mad, passionate sex, right?”
Hayden couldn’t stop the blush that formed on her cheeks with Kate’s assumption and Natalie clapped her hands together. “Wonderful! It’s about time you got laid!”
“I think he expects me to marry him.”
Natalie waved that aside. “Of course you’re not going to marry the man!” she scoffed.
Kate agreed. “He’s drinking the crazy Kool-Aid if he thinks that.”
Hayden twirled her tea cup around, holding it in her hands, unable to look at her friends. She was excited and confused and overwhelmed and a whole host of other emotions. Harry had paid her…and it was all due to Viktor’s intervention! Oh, the man was extraordinary!
Natalie made a sound, bringing Hayden’s attention back to her cautious friend. “Hayden, you’re not going to marry the man, right?”
That brief glimpse of vulnerability came to mind once again. Hayden’s mouth stretched out as she tried to find the answer to that. “He needs me,” she finally said, wondering if her friends understood. Goodness, it felt wonderful to be needed!
Kate made an inelegant sound. “He’s a billionaire, honey. Trust me, he doesn’t need anyone.” She paused before she whispered, “Just tell me you used protection, right?”
Natalie and Hayden both looked at Kate. The two of them had discussed Kate’s wary attitude towards wealthy people before. They didn’t know about her background and accepted her without that knowledge, but there was something sad and…almost scared…in their friend’s eyes at that moment. They’d seen that look before and wanted to help her, but as warm and wonderful as Kate was about some things, she was completely closed off when it came to her past.
Hayden lowered her eyes from Kate’s sadness, then smiled weakly. “Yes. We definitely used protection.”
Natalie nodded, relief relaxing her lovely features. “Good. Trust me, you don’t want to deal with…” she waved her hands in the air again. “Well, I love Alejo with all my heart, but going through pregnancy without a father is…tough.”
Hayden covered her friend’s hand. “You’re not alone. Not anymore.”
Kate leaned over and hugged Natalie. “I’m here for you as well.”
Natalie sighed. “I know. And thanks.”
Turning her hand around, Natalie gripped Hayden’s fingers. “So, you had a wonderful experience last night?”
Hayden thought about the beauty of being in Viktor’s arms and the passionate way he’d made love to her last night. He hadn’t been gentle then, well, until…yeah, he’d been sweet and…no, not gentle, she thought with a silent laugh. But he hadn’t kissed her goodbye. Unfortunately, that’s the issue that seemed to bother her the most. He hadn’t said goodbye! He’d just left.
But both women needed something, needed reassurance. So she squeezed her friends’ hands and nodded. “Yes. It was nice.”
Natalie’s eyes turned angry. “It should be better than nice! It should be…” she looked up at the ceiling and Hayden saw a sad look come into her friend’s beautiful eyes. “It should be life-altering. Mind blowing.”
Hayden laughed and looked over at Kate, shaking her head. Kate shrugged as if she hadn’t had the experience of “life-altering” or “mind-blowing” sex either. Last night with Viktor had been all of those things. And would have been more…if he’d been there this morning with her.
The doorbell rang again and Hayden sighed with frustration. “I’ll get rid of whoever is at the door now.”
Natalie was not amused. “He didn’t satisfy you last night, and now he is invading your privacy. You didn’t like him the last time he came around…”
Sounds of someone yelling came through the door and all three of them stopped to look out the window.
Someone in a silver pickup truck and a small, red, sporty roadster were pulling into the parking lot. “What now?” Hayden groaned, rubbing her forehead as she tried to figure out how to deal with this latest intrusion.
Natalie wrapped her arms around Haden, giving her a gentle hug. “I have to get to work but tell these people to buzz off. We’ll talk about this later, okay?”
Kate joined in the hug as well, wrapping her arms around both of them. “I have to check in on Toby and make sure he didn’t blow up the coffee shop doing some sort of experiment with caffeine and creamer.”
The ladies laughed, knowing that Toby was a chef in-training and loved to experiment with different flavors of coffee and syrups. Some of the experiments were a real hit and others…well, some of them the customers didn’t appreciate as much.
“Why don’t you ladies come by the coffee shop later today and we’ll finish this conversation?”
“I’ll try,” Hayden agreed, thinking that she wasn’t really in the mood to talk about it at all.
Natalie agreed as well and grabbed her purse before rushing out the doorway. Hayden watched her friends leave, wishing that she could do something to help both of them. Natalie’s son really was adorable and just thinking about the man who had fathered the beautiful boy made her angry. And Kate…? Yes, there was a mystery in Kate’s past, but she didn’t share. And every once in a while, Hayden stopped by to talk with Kate and caught a flash of terror in her friend’s eyes. It only lasted a moment, and only when Kate was off-guard, but the look still concerned Hayden.
The doorbell rang again and Hayden sighed as she walked towards the front of the house. Her morning had started out crazy and was getting more insane by the hour, she thought.
Opening the door, she blinked as she took in the three different people standing there waiting for her.
“Can I help you?” she asked, but not to anyone in particular.
The two women both started talking at once. “I’m here to help you select flowers for your wedding. If you want something by next Saturday, we need to move quickly.” And at the same time another woman spoke up. “I have dress samples for you, Ms. Ferrant. I really need to get your dress size so that I can order the dress. Especially if you want something from Paris or Milan. Alterations take time, you know.”
Hayden lifted her hand in the air, palm out, indicating that both women should stop. They continued on regardless and Hayden rubbed her forehead. “Stop!” she yelled when the two women started bickering with each other.
Pointing to the guy behind the ladies, she said, “What do you need from me?”
The man looked to be in his twenties, maybe early thirties, and he just grinned, his freckled face soothing her temper slightly. “I’m just here to drop off your new cars, ma’am.”
Hayden stared at the Opie-looking guy for a long moment, not sure she fully understood. “Car?”
The guy’s grin increased. “Well, two of them, actually.” A long finger pointed to the side of the house and Hayden peered around her door. The silver pickup and the sporty, red Miata were sitting there, looking innocuous and beautiful.
Hayden straightened and looked back at “Opie”. “Those aren’t mine,” she told him. “I didn’t buy a car.”
The giant Adam’s apple in the poor guy’s throat bobbed as he swallowed nervously. “Um…” he looked down at his clipboard…she was really starting to hate those things now…and read off the information. “Are you Hayden Ferrant?” he asked.
“Yes,” she replied warily. Immediately, a tall, dark haired, arrogant, obnoxious, irritating man popped into her mind.
“Opie” shrugged, not sure what to do. Apparently, no one had ever rejected delivery of a vehicle before. “Mr. Chenko said that you needed cars. He specifically said that you needed them this morning, immediate delivery.”
More forehead rubbing and Hayden tried to calm herself down. Shaking her head, she wasn’t sure what to do. “I’m not…he shouldn’t have…”
The guy swallowed again, his happy grin completely gone. “How about if I just drop these keys off with you? If you don’t want the vehicles, then Mr. Chenko will have me come out and get them another time.” With that, he extended his very long arm, depositing both sets of keys into Hayden’s hands before she could think to tell him no. A fraction of a second later, he was literally jumping down the stairs and diving into yet another vehicle. The car drove away with three people inside, “Opie” telling the other two something that was most likely along the lines of “crazy lady”.
Hayden might have laughed if she didn’t feel as if she might choke from the panic welling up inside of her. The breakfast she’d eaten a scant hour ago was not sitting well in her stomach, threatening to come back up. “This is insane,” she whispered.
The florist laughed softly. “Marrying a man like Mr. Chenko can be like that,” she observed.
Hayden lifted blue eyes to glare at the other woman. “I am not marrying that man!” she snapped.
Two mouths fell open in shock. And horror?
Feeling horrible for speaking so badly, she lifted her hands once again. “I’m sorry,” she soothed. “I don’t mean to be rude, but…”
How was she supposed to explain to these women that the man had only proposed to her yesterday? Of course, she’d slept with the man. Well…and a whole lot more!
But these women couldn’t know that.
“I really…this will have to wait,” she told both women.
The electrician came up behind her at that moment. “I’m going to fix a few things today, but from what I understand, the installation of the endless water heater is going to take a special circuit and you have walls coming down. That’s going to need some re-wiring too. So, I’ll just fix the emergency issues today and come back after the other issues are finished.”
Hayden stared at the man, her mouth hanging open like a gasping fish. “I have electrical issues?”
“Yes, ma’am,” he replied, but when she continued to stare at him, he tapped his clipboard. “Not many. It won’t be bad.” More staring and he tried to soothe her by saying, “Mr. Chenko is paying for all of it.”
She blinked, not soothed in any way. “But…what walls are coming down? I don’t want walls to come down!”
The contractor stepped in at that point. “Mr. Chenko suggested that the walls between the kitchen, living room, and dining room come down to open up this area,” he explained.
Hayden looked at her walls, the cozy spaces where she’d grown up, opened Christmas presents, watched movies curled up between her parents on Friday nights or watched cartoons on Saturday morning.
“But…I don’t want the walls to come down!” she told him, trying to be firm, but knew she sounded pretty pathetic now.
Unfortunately, the plumber came up the stairs at that moment, still writing on his damn clipboard as he said, “I’m going to have to take out the basement window to get the old water heater out of that area.”
When he looked up at the crowd, Hayden’s mouth was no longer gaping. She was furious.
“Oh my! We have a lot of work to do here, don’t we?” a new man announced as he stepped into the house, almost shoving the florist and dress woman out of the way since they were still standing in the open doorway. Good thing her heater had been repaired yesterday because that baby really needed to crank out the heat today!
The man stepped into the foyer and looked around, tilting his head left and right to peer into the other rooms before he sighed, shaking his head disdainfully. “I’m here to decorate. And just in the nick of time!” he laughed.
Oh! That was the last straw, she thought.
With a growl, she spun around on her heel and grabbed her purse. She normally didn’t carry a purse because…well, she was a gardener. A purse looked pretty silly with grubby jeans and a bulky sweatshirt.
But she’d used a purse yesterday, trying to look professional. Look what that had gotten her! “No more!” she snapped. Looking down at the keys, she had no idea which one would start either vehicle, but she stormed out the door and started pressing buttons. When the red Miata blinked, she tossed the remaining keys into her purse and yanked open the door. Revving the engine, she practically made the tires squeal as she backed up and drove out of the parking lot.
She was fired up and even the thirty-five mile drive into the city couldn’t soothe her temper. In fact, because of the heavy traffic at this time of the morning, the normally forty-five minute drive took her two hours. Hayden grumbled the entire way as she inched along with the rest of the Washington, D.C. commuters. What was the point of having a car if public transportation was just as fast?!
By the time she reached the building that housed Viktor’s offices, she was even angrier!
“I’d like to see Mr. Chenko, please,” she growled through gritted teeth to the security guard in the lobby.
The man’s face went from pleasant to blank in a fraction of a second, most likely to hide his wariness at letting her through.
“Do you have an appointment?” he asked politely.
Hayden smiled, well, most likely she just bared her teeth as she said, “I’m his fiancée. Maybe he will see me without an appointment?” She paused to take a breath. “Ask him if he’ll see Hayden Ferrant.”
Her foot tapped impatiently on the granite flooring as she waited, irritated since she’d just been here yesterday. Granted, she’d been wearing a dress and heels yesterday. She looked dramatically different, but she didn’t care. It was just one more irritation to heap onto his broad shoulders. Okay, broad, sexy shoulders. Broad, sexy…no! She wasn’t going there! She was mad! Not turned on! Just mad!
“Ms. Ferrant, ma’am?” the guard called out.
Hayden’s head swung around and she guessed by his bland features that he’d called her name several times.
“Yes?”
“He’ll see you immediately.” The man handed her a badge and she snapped it onto her collar.
“I know the way,” she said when it looked as if he was going to give her directions.
Five minutes later, she was pacing back and forth in the man’s office. Again, she should be cooling her heels, trying to calm her temper. But when he stepped through the double doors, looking fresh and handsome and…darn it! Why did he have to be so sexy?! Why did that dark suit look so amazingly hot?!
Blinking, she focused all of her ire on the man and his grey eyes, ignoring the quiver of awareness that blossomed in her stomach as he came closer.
“You!” she snarled, pointing her finger towards him.
He laughed softly, those grey eyes starting to turn silver. How did he do that?!
“Yes. It is me. Hopefully, I’m the person you came here to see.”
And still he stalked closer and closer.
Her anger morphed to wariness with his steady approach and the dangerous look in his eyes. “Stay where you are!”
“Why?” he asked, continuing to eliminate the distance between them.
“Because I’m mad at you! You sent people to my house!”
Still no pause in his relentless pursuit. “Yes. Your house is falling down around you. If you want to stay there, then I will have that house fixed so that it is safe to inhabit.”
Darn it, that accent just totally made her body tingle!
She didn’t want to tingle! She wanted to…
“What are you doing?” she demanded when he continued to come closer.
“I’m greeting my fiancée,” he told her smoothly, his accent deepening as his eyes heated up with his intent.
She stepped back when his hands smoothed over her waist. “I’m not your fiancée,” she told him, but the anger was gone from her voice now. She sounded breathy and…feminine. She didn’t want to sound feminine. She wanted to sound assertive and confident!
“You told my staff that you are my fiancée. I’m taking that as acceptance of my proposal. We are now engaged.”
She shook her head, but pushed her hands behind her back, refusing to touch him since…well, yesterday…her touching was what had started all of this!
Obviously, Viktor understood exactly what she was doing. “Put your hands on my chest, Hayden.”
Her hands on his chest were a dangerous place for them to be. She shook her head again. “No. I did that yesterday and…well, it wasn’t good.”
A dark eyebrow lifted in amusement and…challenge? “You didn’t enjoy yesterday?” he asked gently, but there was a husky tone to his words now.
“Viktor, you can’t…”
He laughed softly, the sound sending shivers of awareness throughout her whole body. “A piece of advice, my dear. Never tell me what I can’t do. It only spurs me on to prove that I can.”
She shivered with that warning. “I’m not challenging you,” she told him, still backing up and still refusing to put her hands on his chest. No touching, she told herself firmly.
“You look lovely, this morning. I see you got a good night’s sleep.”
Goodness, she loved the way he softened some of the vowels while consonants were…harder? She shook her head, not wanting to figure it out. “We’re not talking about me,” she asserted as firmly as she could.
He pulled her into his arms, his hands running up and down her waist and back, dangerously close to her bottom.
Jerking out of his arms, she backed up further. Remembering why she’d stormed to his office, she narrowed her eyes in anger. “Darn it, Viktor! You sent people to my house! They say walls are coming down! They told me I needed flowers and a dress and some jerk said that my house needed redecorating and they have to blow a hole in my basement!”
Viktor stopped, looking down at her with a sharp glance. “A hole in your basement?”
She sighed, relieved that he’d finally stopped trying to touch her. It didn’t mean she could think properly, it just meant that…well, that he’d stopped. He was still too close and images of yesterday afternoon flashed through her mind.
Turning around, she took several steps towards the windows. “Viktor, you can’t just take over my life like this. I came here yesterday to…” she spun around only to find him standing directly behind her.
“Yes?” he prompted, one hand moving higher, tracing the line of her jaw. “I think I like this assertive side of you, Hayden,” he commented, his finger trailing along her skin. “It turns me on when you’re angry with me.”
She would have rolled her eyes at such an outrageous statement, but she couldn’t move. He was touching her and…
Unconsciously, her lips softened and her eyes dropped to his mouth. “Stop touching me.”
He laughed, a deep, sexy sound that she felt all the way to her toes. “I don’t think that’s possible. You were saying?” he prompted.
Leaning backwards, she realized that she was leaning against the conference table. “Viktor, this…this isn’t appropriate.”
Those silver eyes were still laughing at her, but they moved from her own blue ones down her figure. “Do you have any idea how sexy you look in jeans?”
She ran a hand down her denim clad thighs. “I don’t…I will wear a dress next time.”
He shook his head, his eyes moving to her hands, his body hardening with need as he watched her hands caress her legs, exactly as he wanted to do. “You wore a dress yesterday. I liked that too.”
She huffed a bit. “So, what don’t you like?”
Once again, that deep, sexy laugh sounded and she shivered, almost moaning as her need jacked up again.
“Naked. Why don’t you try naked? I might not like that.”
Her eyes did roll with that comment, and she was unaware of how her lips curled up into a slight smile. “Be serious,” she admonished.
“I am. Completely.” His hands slipped around her waist, quickly sliding up underneath her sweatshirt. “I want you, Hayden.”
She was shaking her head, her hands grabbing his wrists in a lame attempt to stop him. “You can’t. We’re in your office.” Her voice was barely above a whisper as her mind instantly jumped to the possibilities. Her body didn’t really care that they were in his office. Her mind was trying to care, but her mind was failing miserably. Her mind was focused on memories of last night. Her mind wanted to experience last night again. Since neither her mind nor her body were fighting this moment…
He smiled. A moment later, she was lifted up so that she was sitting on the polished surface of his conference room table. “I locked the door.”
She gasped, her mind working once again and it was horrified at the implication. “Well, go unlock it!” she ordered.
He laughed again. “Not a chance,” he told her and before she could argue with him about it, he covered her mouth with his. This kiss was just like yesterday’s in that it caused her whole body to melt with need and excitement instantly. At the same time, his hand moved higher on her waist, those diabolical fingers teasing her breast, cupping the weight while his thumb flicked over her already taut nipple.
“You have to get rid of these sports bras, my dear,” he grumbled as his mouth moved from hers to her neck, finding that spot and causing her body to ignite. With a nudge, his legs spread her knees, then his hands cupped her bottom, pulling her against his erection. When she felt that pressure, she gasped, her eyes widening with shock and…lust.
“Viktor, we can not do this here,” she told him, whispering for fear of breaking the contact with his body. Already her hips were aching to move, to find that pressure once again. Just like yesterday, she needed something that she didn’t think was right. This man…he was wrong for her. And yet, at this particular moment, he felt exactly right as his hands moved back up her body.
Her sweatshirt was pulled over her head and, before she could protest the action, his hands had already tugged the straps of her bra down, exposing her nipples to his silver, heated gaze. He stared at her breasts for a long moment and she almost whimpered with the need to feel his hot, moist mouth tugging on the hardened peaks. Just the thought made them pucker more tightly and he blew air on them just before he lowered his head. Slowly, with just the tip of his tongue, he swirled around her nipple. The touch was too much and yet, not enough. “More,” she begged, shifting in his arms, offering her breast to him. Her fingers tightened around his neck while her hips unconsciously scooted closer.
“Damn, when you do that, it makes me crazy, Hayden,” he growled into her ear. Swiftly, he moved down her body, his hands trailing along her skin with his mouth and teeth following along in their wake. Everywhere he touched her, she felt like she was on fire, burned by his touch. She wanted more and pressed his hand against her skin. It wasn’t enough.
Shifting her hips back and forth, she teased him, tempted him, subtly trying to entice him to give her what they both wanted. “Enough!” she sobbed when she felt his fingers slip into her heat. She sat up, but that only pressed her nub against his hand and she gasped. But she was on a mission. She didn’t have time for shyness or inhibitions. He’d taken her beyond that. She didn’t have the patience for teasing any longer. She needed him inside of her. She needed to feel him thrusting into her, bringing her the kind of release she’d enjoyed so intensely last night.
Looking up into his eyes, she fumbled with the zipper on his slacks, not even bothering with the buckle in her haste to feel his erection, to hold him in her fingers. Without any hesitation, she released his erection, already hard and throbbing, into her hands, sliding her fingers around his girth. Up and down, teasing him just as he continued to torment her while she watched his eyes. She could see in his eyes that she was getting to him and that only turned her on more. When his finger pushed aside the cotton of her panties, she gasped, feeling his invasion and squeezing him harder. As her fingers tightened around his shaft, she heard him groan. With each stroke of their fingers, they tormented each other, both of them trying to send the other over the edge first, but neither of them winning the battle.
Until he took control. She whimpered when his fingers disappeared, but opened her mouth to object when he kissed her again, his tongue moving against hers and another battle ensued. Once more, he won this round, but she didn’t mind. She felt his fingers against her core, his knuckles lightly brushing against her nub as he rolled a condom over himself. A moment later, his strong hands gripped her hips, pulling her right to the edge of the table and then…
“Yes!” she gasped as he pushed into her heat. She shifted, her hips wiggling as she adjusted to his size. With a sigh of exhilaration, she tilted her head back, loving the way he felt inside of her. It was almost as if he were a part of her, an extension of her body. He fit so perfectly, felt so incredible, that she stilled, just enjoying that sensation for a long moment.
Then he started moving and there was no enjoyment any longer. It was only frantic gasps, desperate moves against him in her body’s effort to find that release, to find satisfaction.
It came faster than she would have liked, but it was stronger, more intense than she could handle. Her fingers gripped his shoulders, hanging on as she screamed, his mouth covering hers to absorb the sound while their bodies rocked together. She felt his own body tense and knew that he’d climaxed as well, but she couldn’t do anything to help extend his pleasure since she was trembling with her own.
Slowly, she released the tension in her arms from around his neck, but she shook her head when he tried to pull out of her. “Just a moment,” she pleaded, feeling silly for needing that connection. But it still felt too wonderful. Just a few more seconds, she promised to herself.
She felt his lips against her shoulder, her throat and smiled, tightening her arms around his neck as she enjoyed the feeling of his warmth around her for as long as possible.
When she felt his lips against her ear, Hayden sighed. “You didn’t kiss me goodbye this morning,” she told him softly, surprised when she heard the words. Hayden hadn’t meant to say them out loud but…well, now she felt foolish.
Viktor lifted his head and stared down at her. As she watched him, she fought desperately to quiet the rioting emotions that were tangling in her brain. Sadness, joy, elation that he still wanted her and…yes, she saw that need in his eyes. Since he was still intimately connected to her, she knew that it wasn’t sexual need at this moment. He needed her. He needed her touch and her…love? Was she being silly?
Viktor looked down at the delicate beauty, not really sure what to say. This morning, he’d forced himself to leave the warmth of her bed, carefully extricating himself from her arms even though he’d wanted nothing more than to slowly kiss her awake and do it all over again.
Even as he’d dressed, Viktor had watched her sleeping, knew that her hand was reaching for him, and felt like an ass.
But he wasn’t the romantic type. He was cruel and logical. He relied on facts, not emotions. So when he’d slipped his coat onto his shoulders, he’d purposely turned away from the sight of her delicate hand reaching for him.
Now she was telling him that she’d wanted him to kiss her? That seemed…romantic.
He wasn’t romantic, he thought.
So why did he slowly lower his head and gently kiss her? Why did he welcome the sweet sigh of contentment as he moved his lips over her cheek, her neck, then come right back to her lips for one more sweet, gentle kiss?
He didn’t know, nor did he want to figure it out. He was perfectly comfortable with himself, with his treatment of women in the past.
Just one more kiss, he thought. It was only to appease her, he told himself. If her soft hands drifted over his skin…well, he liked the way she touched him.
He pulled his eyes away from her, aware that kissing her like this felt…Viktor suddenly realized where they were, that they’d just had loud sex on his conference room table. “Chert!” he snapped, standing up quickly. Grabbing a tissue, he dispensed with the condom, but then realized that Hayden’s pretty eyes were once again hurt and vulnerable.
He quickly zipped his pants, then reached out to help her up. “I’m sorry, Hayden. I just…” he looked around again, still stunned by what had just taken place. Gently lifting her off of the table, he picked her sweatshirt up off the floor, then her bra.
With the bra dangling in his fingers, he looked down at her. “I’m not sure I want you to get dressed,” he admitted, and then almost laughed at the horrified look in her eyes. She was so passionate when he was kissing her, but when she wasn’t in his arms, his Hayden was a bit of a prude.
Hayden looked around, shocked and horrified that she’d just had sex on the man’s conference room table. In his office! How tacky was that? She could just imagine the surprise on his assistant’s face if the older woman had dared to walk in during the past…Hayden wasn’t sure how much time had passed since she’d walked into his office. The world was just completely out of whack.
Now that she wasn’t in his arms, the cold of his office was hitting her. Grabbing her bra, she quickly pulled it back on, and picked her underwear up off the floor.
When she was fully dressed, she suddenly realized that she was the only one that had been naked! Good grief, she hadn’t even unbuttoned the man’s shirt! She’d only unzipped his pants and…
She heard Viktor’s soft laughter and knew that he understood exactly what was going on in her mind. “Stop it,” she admonished him, turning away to run her fingers through her hair. She most likely looked like a mess since she hadn’t even bothered with makeup this morning. She’d been too hurt after waking up alone and…
“I came here to…”
“Yes,” he responded, putting a hand to the small of her back. “You were very forcefully telling me about the visitors to your house this morning before you distracted me.” He led her over to a sitting area where a leather sofa and two chairs surrounded a coffee table.
Hayden tried to think back to the morning. Yes, there had been several people with clip boards at her house, demanding information. Although, if she were perfectly honest with herself, the real reason she was so out of sorts was because he hadn’t been with her when she’d woken up this morning.
She lifted her head to look directly in his eyes. Clenching her fingers together tightly on her lap, she pressed her lips together for a moment. Taking a deep breath, she blurted out the words she needed to tell him. “If you ever leave me without saying goodbye in the morning, there will never be another time. Do you understand?”
She watched as his eyes changed. The flash of emotions that flitted over his handsome features surprised her; shock, admiration, and…acceptance.
“Understood,” he told her and lifted her hands, gently kissing her fingertips.
Hayden nodded her head and stood up. “Thank you.”
He stood up as well, taking her hands in his before she could step away from him. “Is that all?”
She jerked her head to a nod, wanting to pull her hands away from his, but she didn’t think it was appropriate to jerk away from his touch after what had just happened on the conference room table. Besides, he’d just agreed to be more considerate when leaving her bed, the least she could do was be more considerate when leaving his office. Fair was fair, she thought.
“I only suggested to the contractor that walls should come down to open up the house,” he offered. “If you don’t want that to happen, then just tell him what you want.”
Hayden was surprised at his compromise. She appreciated that more than she could say. “Thank you for that.” There was no way she could accept his generosity, but she was amazed that he was willing to concede anything to her. She doubted that he did that very often.
A moment later, she walked out of his office. She’d like to say she felt euphoric because she’d won the battle, something she wasn’t sure would happen very often. But as she pressed the ignition button on the cute, red Miata, Hayden admitted that she wasn’t really sure what she was feeling.