Page 5 of Destined To Fall

The ding breaks my train of thought, and I step forward without looking up and walk tits-first into large, masculine hands.

“Jesus!” The hands tense, then move at lightning speed from my breasts to my upper arms, steadying our collision.

I’m about to snigger when I look up at startled, piercing blue eyes the color of a deep summer sky, inches from my own and fixed on me. The raw intensity in their depths has my laugh dying before it can make a sound.

“I—wow. I’m sorry, are you okay?” he asks, and I stare for a beat too long.

“Fine,” I recover.“You were very gentle.” A satisfying pink tinges Mr. Grabby-Hand’s embarrassed face.“It’ll take a lot more than that to rattle my cage, though.”

He chuckles and removes his firm grip, trailing his fingers down my bare arms an inch before dropping them to his sides.

“And, uh, usually at least a drink first.” To my surprise, it comes out a little breathy.“I don’t make a habit of handing out free passes.” I wink, regaining my wits.

I step around him into the elevator and press my floor when he turns around, planting himself between the closing doors, stopping their progress.“So, how about that drink,then?”

“Some other time.”

He grins wider but makes no move to release the doors, or me, from his gaze. Damn, what a gaze. He’s cute, I’ll admit. Not your traditional kind—his nose is a little big by model standards—but that boy-next-door kind. With hypnotizing blue eyes, thick dirty-blond hair, and just enough scruff on his jaw to give him that manly feel. I have a feeling without it, he’d look twenty. With it, he looks about twenty-six.

“There’s a little cocktail bar just next door that does a mean menu. The least I can do is buy your breasts a drink. Maybe lunch?”

I laugh. How can I not? My eyes drop to his polished Ted Bakers and trail up the fitted black jeans he’s paired with a tailored dark charcoal suit jacket and tie, then back to his amused face. My lip twitches, and my curiosity stirs.

“Okay. Now, can you let me go?”

He steps out of the door’s path, and the corners of his lush mouth twitch with what I can only gather is satisfaction. It almost radiates out of him.

“One hour. Inthe lobby?” His brow quirks, waiting for my response, and I nod as the doors close.“Wait.” He thrusts his hands between the doors again, making them bounce open a second time.“I don’t know your name.”

“Vivienne.”

“Vivienne,” he repeats, and I get a full-face smile, his eyes crinkling at the corners, and his whole face beams as the doors close.

Well, damn.

It takes seventeen floors before it clicks that I might have just agreed to go on adate? With a guy. With your everyday, I-work-in-an-office, Joe kind of guy. One that groped me, nonetheless, and I don’t even know his name. I shake my head at myself. I’ve done far stupider things in life and probably worse.

Chapter Two

“We’ll start off slow. It’ll be fine.”

God, what am I getting myself into?

I’ve lost track of how long I’ve been sitting in Maxwell’s office while we discussed my skills and how he wants to utilize them. I scoffed in his face until he convinced me otherwise, but then nerves got the better of him, and now I find myself doing the convincing.

“All right. So, when can we start? Tomorrow night? Oh, no. What was I thinking. I have the annual charity auction. Saturday?”

“I’ll have to check my schedule.” His face falls, and I respond before thinking.“Yes, fine.”Shit. Antony.I forgot he extended our agreement. I don’t relish the thought of having to rearrange. He won’t be pleased, but the lost, almost hopeless, look on Maxwell’s face twists something inside me. Why I’m making it my problem, I have no clue.“I’ll make it work. Have a few drinks beforehand to relax, hmm?”

His relief is evident as he gives me a small smile, and I know I’ve done the right thing, whatever that is.“I can have a car collect you. What time?”

“Seven.”

“Okay.”

“Okay.”

Leaning over his desk, I spot my business card and scrawl my address on the back of it with a stray pen, then hand it back.

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