Chapter 2 – Drake
I couldn’t believe that the woman in front of me was the very same one I had noticed days before. She looked completely different when she was at work. I knew who she was because I had done my homework about what I was planning to invest in. Erin Adams was the curator of the Museum of Natural History, and though I wasn’t there to see anything more than the location and architecture for my new club, I had noticed more than just that.
Before, the young blonde was dressed as one would expect a museum curator to be, similar to a librarian. She had her hair swept up in a tight French braid down her back. Now that it was flowing and straight my fingers itched to touch her. That is all I wanted to do. I knew that I couldn’t, but there was an urge that I hadn’t felt in a long time.
As my eyes traveled down her body and over the tight black dress and bared shoulders, I was thinking more about what I would say when I went up to her. She was like a butterfly fresh from her cocoon, and I knew that I had to have her. It was a pull, a drive inside of me that I had felt from her before, even when she had been dressed so unassumingly. I almost missed the small pair of glasses that had been perched on her nose and then pushed back into her hair when she was talking to someone. Before she had been intriguing for an unknown reason, and now I knew why. It was hard not to feel it when she looked like that. My body must have seen her potential and knew that she would be something magnificent.
“Drake Calloway?”
I was a little startled when I heard my name. I turned to see the person I was there to see. My PR manager had insisted that I meet with Rose Woods about promoting the Dragon Fly. I wasn’t sure if I was ready for that, but Mary had insisted, so I had agreed. There was no doubt in my mind that she was right. It was something that I dreaded to do, but instead of just ignoring her advice, I had heeded it and made my way downtown to see her.
She was not what I had expected, but there was an instant charm that was palpable. I put my hand out to take hers and shook it gently. Rose had been talking to Erin just a bit ago, and I wondered how the two were acquainted. I had a strange moment where I wanted to ask that very thing, but I didn’t, because I knew I shouldn’t.
“Yes, you must be Rose Woods? Mary Whethers has told me so much about you. You must have impressed her, which is hard to do.”
The girl smiled and played with the curly tips of her dark hair. That was the reaction that I was used to, not Erin’s stricken look when she had noticed me here and back at the museum. It was a sharp contrast, and the easy smile on my lips was a reaction to how she was looking at me.
“Thanks, you’re too kind. I just got back and thought to put a few up. The country is really beautiful.”
I agreed, and though I had spent most of my time since Erin walked in trying to adjust myself to her new look, there had been a time in the beginning when I had actually done what I was here to do in the first place.
“Well, I like what I see. When can we get started?”
Rose was taken aback, as most were the first time they did business with me. While it looked like I was making a decision on a whim, I had studied her and her career the last couple of hours and I knew that she was a good fit. She was low on controversy and was a rising star. I liked the idea of helping her kick-start her career while getting a good product as well. It was a win-win situation of the kind that I was always eager to get into.
“Get started? We just met!”
I kind of chuckled. I was trying hard to ignore the look in her dark eyes. If I hadn’t already been fawning over Erin and her new style, I might have taken the dark depths up on their offer. “Well, I have seen a lot of your work, especially what you did for Espe magazine. I am impressed as well. This meeting was more a formality than anything. I like to personally meet the people that I go into business with.”
Rose smiled, and I liked the open way that she did it. I was just about to ask her about Erin and how she knew her, but the place was packed and everyone was vying for the woman’s attention. I gave her my card and told her to call me on Monday.
“This is a project that you are going to want to take.”
“Thank you, Drake. I look forward to working with you and your company. I have been trying to get my friend to go to the Dragon Fly. It is a great place, but I haven’t managed it yet.”
I told her to just come by and tell them I sent her. “It would be good for you to get an idea of what kind of place it is. Have you been there before?”
She nodded, and I promised to set things up for a special time when she was there. I left her to her fawning fans and searched the room with my eyes until I found the blonde who had captivated me before. She had her back to me, and all I could notice was the slight roundness of her backside and the hair that flowed as she moved.
Erin looked back at me once and our eyes met for only a moment before she was back to what she was looking at. I knew that she had noticed me. She had noticed me in the museum, too, but like then, she wouldn’t even meet my gaze for more than a few moments. It was hard to concentrate with her around. Why did I feel this way?
The wine was getting to me and I went to the bathroom. I needed to splash some water on my face as well. I wanted to think that it was all of the people crammed into one space that made me feel this way, but I had more inclination to believe that it was because of Erin that I felt all out of sorts. She had to know what she was doing to everyone who saw her like that. She was beautiful.
Peering into the mirror, I dried the water from my tanned face and tried to look relaxed. I wasn’t supposed to be worried about women like that. I didn’t usually worry about them even when I’d taken them to bed the night before. But Erin had stayed with me for some reason. The schoolmarm had captured my attention, and tonight it was impossible to look away.
Resolving myself and straightening the jacket over my shoulders, I made my way back to the exhibition to go talk to the innocent woman who possessed those topaz eyes that transfixed me. It was time to make my move. I knew that once I put my sights on her she was going to be no different than all of the rest. There was nothing that she could do. She would be mine.
But my eyes moved across the room and I couldn’t find Erin’s long, flowing blonde hair. It became clear that the party was starting to wind down. There were fewer people there than before, and it seemed that Erin was one of those who’d already gone. I took my time, sweeping one side of the room to the other several times before I accepted that she had gotten away. I wasn’t used to not getting what I wanted, especially something I wanted this badly. I wanted her so badly.
When I was sure that she was really gone, I didn’t quite know how to feel. In a way I was upset that I wasn’t going to be uncovering all of her secrets that very night, but there was no need to worry. I did know where she worked, after all, and I had a feeling that she was soon going to be a little more apt to hang around. Erin was about to get some news that was going to change everything for her, and I had a feeling that she would give me the time of day then.