CHAPTER SEVEN
Sarah
He smiles at me with a satisfied expression, and then his mouth captures my other nipple and pulls me in tight, cementing the connection between our bodies. The jarring ring of my phone brings me back to reality. I go from arousal to shame in an instant, and my face flames red. I push his arms off my body as I struggle to stand. Then I stumble toward my phone.
“Leave it!” he insists as he reaches for my arm, trying to drag me back into the undertow of his sensual thrall.
I manage to evade him, with the assistance of a brief glimmer of my wits. I grab my phone from my bag, knowing it must be an emergency. I’ve only given out the number to the school registrar’s office, my sister Amy, my roommate Tessa, and my employer, Stan. The restaurant is closed, and Tessa knows I can’t afford to waste my prepaid minutes. My heart sinks. Has something happened to Amy? I press answer, dreading what I’ll hear.
I hear Vorek swear something about “interruptions,” but I am too focused on the call to spare him a glance. Please be okay. Let my sister be safe. I whisper in the dark terror of my mind.
When I hear my boss’s frantic voice I feel like weeping in relief. It’s not Amy, and Stan doesn’t even know I have a sister, so that means she’s safe. It takes me a moment to realize that my boss is still talking, and something has him all worked up. His voice sounds an octave higher than it normally does, and that’s when I realize he’s calling about the break-in, and I can almost believe he’s actually worried about me.
He tells me that the cops are at the restaurant and that they’ve taken the gang members into custody. He explains that when they couldn’t find me at the restaurant or the apartment they assumed the worst.
“Where are you? Are you alright?”
“It was scary, but this guy showed up and saved me. I . . . I don’t even want to think what would have happened if it weren’t for him.”
Stan insists that the police will want my rescuer’s statement too.
“Uh no, that’s not possible. He had on a ski mask, so I don’t even know who he was. But he saved me, and he saved the money bag too. He threw it in the dumpster with the thieves, then ran off and left without revealing his identity. It was dark and I was crazy scared, so I really don’t remember any details about what he looked like.”
Stan asks where I am, and when I explain that I’m at a friend’s house, I’m forced to listen to Stan ramble angrily about the damage to his restaurant. He wants my statement as soon as possible so he can sort everything out with the insurance company and make the necessary repairs. He can’t afford to miss out on any business.
I interrupt the moment he pauses long enough to take a breath. “Okay. I’ll come back to give the police my statement, but it’ll take me a while to get there.”
“I’ll take you,” Vorek interrupts after I hang up.
“No, I’ve inconvenienced you enough,” I argue.
“You really need to learn to pick your battles,” he states, grabbing his car keys.
And then he’s helping me put my clothes back on, and somehow it’s even sexier than when he took them off. Vorek slips a big coat over my shoulders and it’s so warm that I bite down on my lips instead of protesting that I can’t take his coat. It smells like him and I snuggle into the sumptuous fabric and I try to tell myself that it’s a good thing we were interrupted. Yet I can’t help feeling like I missed out on something amazing.
When he pulls his fancy sports car up in front of the restaurant, I quickly hop out and wave goodbye. Rolling his eyes at me, he gets out and insists on escorting me inside. Stan greets me at the door, and for once he’s actually nice to me. He gives Vorek a double take, but is courteous, and doesn’t question why I’m with him. I’m sure he recognizes him as one of my customers, but he doesn’t let on. I’m just glad Stan is playing nice for once. He’s probably just grateful the thieves didn’t get away with the bank deposit.
Vorek waits patiently as I give my statement to the police. The adrenaline from earlier has completely worn off, and I’m barely able to stand by the time the police are done and I’m free to leave. Vorek puts his coat over my shoulders again. I’m too tired to protest when he once again sweeps me into his arms, and carries me out to his car.
When we reach my crappy apartment building, I’m so embarrassed that I instantly regret giving him my address. He insists on escorting me to my door. I mumble something about “overbearing control freaks” but instead of dissuading him it makes him chuckle. When we finally reach my floor, I get the keys from my bag and unlock the door.
“I’ll see you tomorrow,” he says gently as he leans in for a goodnight kiss.
I know if I let him touch me I’ll never stop. So like a coward I jerk open the door to my apartment and toss his coat at him as I dart inside. I slam the door in his face and before I lose my nerve I slide the chain lock into place. I hardly crack the door at all before I whisper brokenly, “I can’t see you again.”
Then I bang the door shut and lock the deadbolt, leaning back against the door I struggle to calm my racing heart. I can’t believe how close I came to sleeping with him. What’s wrong with me?
I jump when I hear his voice through the door. “This isn’t over, Sarah,” he says, just loudly enough for me to hear.
I stand there until his footsteps trail away. And when the hot prick of regret washes over me I try to reason with my rash emotions. This is the right decision. He’s a complication I can’t afford.
***
It was incredibly late by the time I finally stumbled into bed. Sleep eluded me. When I closed my eyes it was like I had an IMAX theatre housed in my brain. Two features were playing. First there was the action thriller where the young heroine (me) watches as the hot alien (Vorek) takes out a whole gang of thugs intent on raping the heroine (me again). There are lots of heart stopping special effects in that one.
It’s followed by a steamy romance movie that also gets my heart pounding every time it plays. Same actors, just a different genre. It’s still brimming with action, although now it’s the steamy kind. Because there’s no one there to judge me as I replay the sexy bits over and over, but the torrid thrill has no release and seems more like a punishment.
Sometime before dawn I finally fall into a fitful sleep, but my alarm goes off before I actually manage any rest. I wake up to an empty apartment. Tessa and I have been like ships passing in the night lately. Maybe this is for the best. I’m tempted to blab about my confused feelings for Vorek, but even if I were willing to break my promise and share his secret, I couldn’t possibly trust her advice.
Groaning, I throw on some clothes and head to the kitchen. Since I was the one to close up the restaurant last night I had packed a really good bag of food after Stan and Charlie left, not that I would get to enjoy it. I was pretty sure I’d dropped it in the dumpster along with the garbage, the cash bag, and the keys when I was attacked. I look in the fridge and there is nothing, zilch, absolutely no food. Feeling discouraged, I fill my old water bottle and head out the door.
Chad is, as usual, poised to open his door as soon as I open mine, but he’s not the only one waiting for me. A delivery guy holding a beautifully wrapped gift box smiles at me.
“Good morning, Sarah,” he says cheerfully.
I raise one eyebrow, without verbalizing a response. It’s become harder and harder to maintain my shy and quiet facade since Vorek has come into my life.
“A gift from Vorek,” he says. As if an explanation was necessary. There isn’t exactly a line of suitors outside my door, well, not unless Tessa is right about Chad anyway.
I lift the lid and see that it contains a gorgeous new backpack. There’s a card inside, so I open it up to read it. His handwriting suits him. It’s both elegant and strong.
“Sarah, please accept this backpack to replace the one I ruined. It’s made only from reclaimed materials. So you don’t have to worry about overflowing all those nasty landfills. Missing you already, Vorek.”
I look at the backpack with lust, well at least much affection as a person can have for an inanimate object anyway. It’s obviously a one of a kind designer creation. It’s chock full of secret pockets and very well organized inside. Vintage buttons and hooks have been used as closures. I can’t even imagine how much it must have cost him. All I know is that I can’t accept it.With resolve I set it back in the box, hoping no one notices how I stroke the soft material as though saying goodbye. After fishing about in my old backpack for a pen, I write on the back of his fancy card.
“Thanks, but no thanks. I can’t accept this. Please just leave me alone, Sarah.”
I ask the delivery dude to, “Please make sure Vorek sees my note,” before thrusting the package into his hands. I ignore Chad’s wounded puppy dog eyes as I book it down the stairs. There’s still a small chance I might make it to class on time.
I don’t know why I’m surprised, but a few hours later Vorek is waiting in the hall when I leave my Biology class. Seriously, can he not take a hint? He grabs my hand and pulls me into an empty classroom to talk, and I know I need to get away before I melt into a puddle at his feet. I need to stay strong.
“Why did you return my gift?”
“I can take care of myself. I don’t need help from you or any other man.”
He looks at my old cast off clothes, scrutinizing me from head to toe. “Yes, I see exactly what you mean.”
“My things may not be nice like yours, but I paid for them myself, and at least there aren’t any strings attached.”
“Are you implying what I think you are? That I’d venture so low as to use gifts to force you into sleeping with me out of gratitude?” He asks and I realize I’ve hurt his feelings.
“That’s not what I said,” I mumble, wondering when I became the bad guy.
“Sarah, please accept my gift,” he says, offering the beautiful backpack to me once again.
“No!” I resist stubbornly.
“If you don’t take this I’ll be forced to make sure you don’t have a choice. And I’ll buy you a new laptop to go in it,” he threatens.
“You wouldn’t dare!”
His hands are a blur. I don’t even see what he’s doing until he’s done. In an instant he’s taken my backpack, and transferred everything into the new one. The new backpack is in my hands, and I watch as the smartass rips the old one into a dozen pieces and drops them into the trash can.
“You are infuriating!”
“Funny, that’s exactly what I was thinking!”
“You don’t play fair.”
He steps towards me, so close that I can feel his sweet breath caressing the side of my face as he tells me, “You don’t understand the rules of the game, my Sarah. So I’ll give you fair warning . . . I never lose.”
Vorek
After my confrontation with Sarah, I leave without another word. I don’t trust myself to stay near her right now, not when I want her so badly. She’s the only person who has ever affected me like this. It’s not that I haven’t dated before. I’ve had many partners, both human and Krinar, and we always enjoyed ourselves. But they never consumed my thoughts, never filled me with uncontrollable lust.
Sarah makes me lose my composure. And instead of angering me, it merely stokes my desire even higher. She’s like an out of control fire, burning through all my careful restraint. While she argued with me it was all I could do to resist tearing off her clothes and leaving them in the same state as I had her sad backpack. Then I’d lock the classroom door and we’d pick up exactly where we’d left off the night before. But she’s a human and I don’t want to scare her off with the intensity of my feelings. It doesn’t matter that I’m stronger. I would never take what she doesn’t want to give. That damn phone call ruined everything, and now she’s spooked and I’m running out of patience.
The drive to my office building is short, and I don’t pause to talk to anyone as I head toward my office in grim determination. Everyone stands in anticipation, hovering nearby without actively blocking my path. I know they all have things they need to discuss with me. And I’m sure they’re all valid details like project updates or decisions they need me to sign off on.
I’m normally a really great boss, but today I blow right past them without a word. I don’t even acknowledge my secretary, Deborah, who’s giving me a wide eyed stare. Great, now my entire staff is going to be worried about their jobs all day. I shut the door to my office with a little more force than necessary and instead of sitting at my desk I stare out the window and fixate on how something so simple as giving a gift could have blown up in my face.
There’s a long list of things I should be doing, but instead I conjure up tantalizing images of Sarah. The way her mouth dropped open wantonly as she straddled my thigh. The rosy tips of her breasts, and how they darkened subtly as I teased her nipples with my tongue. The thoughts are sweet torture and I feel myself hardening again, and wonder if there will ever be any relief for the torment she evokes.
I tried to find solace in the arms of another after Sarah first turned me down, but I couldn’t even work up to a kiss. Sarah is the only one I want, and the way she responds to my touch tells me the feeling isn’t one-sided. So why does she continue to reject my gifts? Why is she fighting the undeniable chemistry between us? The intercom buzzes, breaking my train of thought. It’s a merciful interruption, because my thoughts are winding down and ever deeper spiral.
“Yes, Deborah?” I answer.
“The private investigator you hired is here to see you.”
“Send him in, please.”
Tom enters, carrying a thin manila envelope. Tom is the type of person you wouldn’t notice in a crowd. His clothes are nondescript, not really shabby, but nothing too nice either. Everything about him is average from his height to his cropped brown hair. I suppose this serves him well in his line of work. This is the second time I’ve used his services. I was so impressed with him that at our last meeting I decided to keep him on retainer. I motion for him to sit in one of the chairs facing the desk, and I take a silver letter opener from my top drawer and slit open the sealed envelope.
“Is this it?” I ask surprised that the envelope holds a single piece of paper.
“That’s all I’ve found so far. But don’t worry, I’m still looking. I’m far from exhausting all of my resources I just thought you would want to know this much right away.”
Her address is listed at the top, but since I found that out for myself last night when I took her home I’m not impressed. I see that the apartment lease is not in her name, but in her roommates’, Tessa Swinson. Next is her class schedule which I already purloined, then her work schedule. Now that would be helpful. The paper has only two other items of information, both financial.
I school my face into a blank expression, but my mind reals in shock. Sarah’s only bank account has a meager balance of $24.34 in it? I’m floored. Of course as a waiter she would have a lot of tips, so she probably pays for things in cash. But I saw last night how little she made in tips even after a double shift. I knew she was poor, but this is even worse than I expected. And all of the sudden I’m angry. Why is she so adamantly opposed to accepting my gifts when she obviously needs help?
The last pearl of information shows me that she is dangerously close to defaulting on her student loans. She’ll be lucky if they wait until the end of the week to kick her out of her classes. I’d suspected as much after snooping through her mail, but this confirms it.
“Tom, see what else you can find out about her. She can’t have just appeared from nowhere when she registered for school. Where did she live before? What happened to her parents? How about other family members? Does she have friends here at school that she hangs out with? I need more than this.”
“I’m on it, sir,” Tom says as he stands to leave. One of the reasons I pay Tom so well is that he never asks me why I need to know the things I ask him to investigate.
Alone again in my office, I have an uncontrollable urge to take care of her. But how can I when she won’t let me? Why does she fight me at every turn? What is she afraid of? What is she hiding? I’m certain she has secrets. Why else would she push me away every time I try to get close? She’s a fascinating and infuriating dichotomy. Her mouth tells me no while her body screams yes. If I had any sense, I’d walk away without hesitation. But there’s no turning back for me now.
That’s when I realize that she’s the one. The one I’m going to spend the rest of my life with. Sarah is mine. I’ve never been one to back away from a challenge, which is a good thing because I have a feeling that winning Sarah’s heart is going to be the hardest battle of my life. It will also be the most important one. The problem is I have no idea where to begin.