A Perfect Match: (Raining Romance Series) (3 page)

When she opened her eyes, he removed his hand from her nape and stepped away from her. 

“We are done here.  I have had enough of you for one day.”

She looked as if she had been slapped.  When she turned to walk away, he caught her by the arm and spun her back around.  “Michael was right about one thing.  I could use an administrative assistant.  If you are still interested, be in my office tomorrow morning.  Eight o’clock sharp with pad and pen in hand.”

He chuckled when she didn’t respond and, instead, tried to jerk free.  Her attempt was futile.  He tightened his grasp.  “Do you understand what I want from you, Miss Scarpa?”

“Sadly, I think I’m starting to.  I told Michael I’d stay and help, but I didn’t agree to be your truffle on the side.  How could you behave this way when your wife is dying? Bree was right. You are a Nazi!”

Confusion clouded his mind for a split second. Then it dawned on him.  When Michael spilled the beans about Sahara, this bright-eyed temp naturally romanticized it.  She had jumped to the wrong conclusion, assuming he was Sahara’s husband instead of her brother.

It was just another in a long line of mistakes the hot little temp had made that morning.  Given his dark mood, he was hell-bent on teaching her a lesson.  Slamming the breakroom door, he pushed her back up against it.  He barely recognized the sound of his own voice.  It seemed to come from somewhere far away.  “No, Jaslyn.  I am not a Nazi.  That would be my great-grandfather, Armin Birkner.  During World Wa
r
I
I
, he was a high-ranking officer in Hitler’s Third Reich.  He took great pleasure in annihilating your people. 
Scarpa
—it is a Jewish name, is it not?”

He didn’t think it was possible, but her fair skin turned an even lighter shade of pale.  Her breath was coming in short spurts, tickling his neck.  A faint sheen of perspiration covered her upper lip. 
Damn
it!
He wanted to make her pant and sweat but not out of fear.  However, there was a part of him that wanted to make her pay for making such horrible assumptions about him.  Despite her obvious discomfort and the fact he was causing it, he pressed on.  “Unlike my great grandfather, I am not the least bit interested in the extermination of your race.  On the contrary, I would very much enjoy propagating it.  Some day.”

Her body shuddered against his.

“I’m sorry, Mr. Birkner, but I won’t be able to complete this assignment after all.”

A roiling nausea permeated his gut.  He had pushed this young woman too far.  Knowing he had royally fucked up, he stepped to the side and let her leave. 

HOW IN THE WORLD had this day gotten so far out of kilter? Only a few hours ago, life had been raindrops on roses and bright-colored mittens.  Now, it was urine on toadstools and turds in a punch bowl.  Her knuckles were white from gripping the steering wheel, and she felt like she couldn’t get a deep breath.  Never in her twenty-five years had she encountered a more infuriating man than Rhein Birkner.  Sure he was tall, dark—so dangerously dark—and handsome.  One minute he made her feel desirable, the next terrified and angry.  But none of that mattered.  She had to put him out of her mind.  He belonged to another, and Jaslyn had no business thinking about him at all.  Besides, she had walked out on him and the assignment at Zena Starkler.  It was the right thing to do.  She wouldn’t be seeing the moody, sexy CEO ever again.

She wasn’t looking forward to sharing this news with her roommate.  Kitsy was forever accusing her of being an empath, telling her she felt things too deeply.  Maybe she was right.  Perhaps it was time for Jaslyn to stop internalizing every little feeling that flitted by.  She blew out a cleansing breath.  Life would be so much simpler if human beings weren’t involved. 

Pulling into the drive, she frowned.  Kitsy’s car was still sitting where it had been that morning when Jaslyn left for work.  Her roommate was a computer game programmer and worked from home, but she never missed her eleven o’clock kickboxing class at the YMCA.  Exercise was her religion.

Feeling panicked, Jaslyn quickly jumped out of the car and ran to the front door.  It was slightly ajar.  With her heart clawing her ribcage, she tried to open it, but the door wouldn’t budge: something was blocking it. 

“Kitsy! You okay in there?”

The answer came in the form of a strangled moan.

Jerking her phone out of her pocket, Jaslyn called for help.

“9-1-1, what is the nature of your emergency?”

“There’s something wrong with my roommate!  Can you please send an ambulance to 1871 Balinger Road?”

Jaslyn was trembling.  Her mouth felt dry. Her palms were sweaty.   She couldn’t imagine life without her best friend.

“I’m dispatching EMTs to your location.  Is your roommate conscious?”

“Yes, I can hear her groaning but can’t get to her.  I think her body might be blocking the front door.  Oh God, please tell them to hurry!”

“Try to stay calm.  Help should be there soon.  Are there any other entrances to the house?”

“No.  It’s tiny.  We only have the one door.  We have windows big enough to crawl through.  I should bust out a window!”

“Don’t do that.  The last thing you want is to get injured yourself.  The emergency workers will be able to safely enter and get your friend out.  What’s your name, sweetie?”

“Jaslyn.”

“Okay, Jaslyn, you’re doing fine.  I’ve just checked our GPS, and the ambulance is less than a quarter of a mile out. You should be able to hear the sirens now.”

“Yes! I hear them!  Oh, good. I see them, too.  Thank you!”

Jaslyn was so happy to see the cavalry that she disconnected the call without hearing the operator’s final response.

Jaslyn watched in amazement as the EMT workers deftly and quickly removed the hinges from the door and slid it right past Kitsy’s crumpled body.  She was writhing in pain.  Her skin was chalky white, and her hair was soaked with sweat. 

One of the paramedics pressed on her abdomen to the lower right of her navel.  When he did, Kitsy let out a blood-curdling scream.

Jaslyn grabbed his shirt sleeve.  “What’s wrong with her?”

“It looks like acute appendicitis.  We’ve got to get her to the hospital before her appendix bursts.”

In a flash, they had placed Kitsy on a gurney and loaded her into the back of the ambulance.  Before the EMT could close the doors, Jaslyn hopped in and knelt beside her best friend.  Taking Kitsy’s cold, clammy hand she whispered, “Everything’s going to be fine.”

In a matter of minutes, the ambulance driver careened into the hospital parking lot, screeching to a halt in front of the emergency room entrance. 

Jaslyn found herself being shoved to the side as a flurry of nurses and the ER doctor bustled about.  In all the commotion, she was able to deduce that Kitsy was being rushed into surgery for an emergency appendectomy. 

As Jaslyn watched them disappear through a set of double doors, she felt utterly despondent and alone.  Feelings she had never experienced before.  They were unwelcome to say the least.

RHEIN HATED ENTERING THE hospital through the emergency room, but the other parking lots were slam full.  If he didn’t come in this way, he’d have to leave his car in the parking garage across the street. Then make his way through the crosswalk tunnel connected to the main floor of the cardiac unit.  Although the tunnel walls were made of glass, he still felt claustrophobic within its confines.  Plus, it was out of the way.  Sahara’s room was two floors down on the opposite side of the building.  The ER was the most expedient route.

The automatic doors yawned opened and, immediately, the pungent odor of disinfectant assaulted his nose.  No matter how many days, weeks and months he had spent here visiting his sister, he never got used to that hospital smell.  Only today, the faintest hint of green apples and rain tickled his olfactory.  His eyes nearly bugged out of his head when he caught a glimpse of the temp.  Only an hour ago, he thought he would never set eyes on the raven-haired beauty again.  But there she was, nervously pacing the ER waiting room, wringing her dainty hands together.  Obvious worry wrinkled her brow, but she looked even sexier than she had this morning with her back pressed against the breakroom door.

Walking toward her, he softly called out her name.  “Jaslyn.”

Despite his best efforts not to startle her, she whipped around too quickly, losing her balance.  He couldn’t help but chuckle as, once again, she fell head-first into his chest.

Gently, he righted her and asked, “Are you okay?”

A smile continued dancing at the corners of his mouth while she quickly smoothed her hair into place.  His chest tightened when her delicate hands fluttered over her blouse and down her black, hip-hugging skirt.  At that moment, he decided her feminine ensemble was the most flattering he had ever seen.  In her case, it wasn’t the clothes that made the woman but most definitely the other way around. 

“I’m perfectly fine.”

“You do not look fine.  You look distraught.”

She also looked absolutely gorgeous, and it was all he could do to hold his body in check.

When she didn’t respond to his observation, he pressed a little harder.  “It has been my experience that people do not just hang out in the emergency room for fun.  Why are you here, Jaslyn?”

“My roommate Kitsy.  She’s having an emergency appendectomy.”

The tears pooling at the corners of her beautiful blue eyes, tore at his heart.

He placed a comforting arm around her shoulders.  “Try not to worry.  Kitsy is in good hands. She will be fine.”

“You don’t know that for sure,” she said, sniffling.

“No, but I do not offer assurances lightly.  When you have spent as much time in this hospital as I have, you pick up on a few things.”

“Like what?”

“Well, patients who are young and strong—I am assuming Kitsy is both—usually do just fine.  Appendectomies are fairly routine.  I would say her odds of a complete recovery are pretty damn good.  Your friend has a helluva lot better shot at surviving than a lot of the other patients here.”

His thoughts immediately turned to his sister.  The unexpected caress of Jaslyn’s hand on his cheek made him jump.

Her voice was soft and soothed his aching heart. 

“Patients like Sahara?”

He nodded, instantly missing her touch when she let her hand drop from his face.

“I’m sorry, Mr. Birkner.  I didn’t mean to be insensitive.  I’m not very good in these types of situations.  I hate hospitals, and I’ve never seen Kitsy so weak and in such pain before.  I feel utterly helpless.”

He took a deep breath.  “I know the feeling all too well.  You have nothing to be sorry for.  It is I who owes you an apology for my rude behavior at the office.  I am a man who is used to fixing things.  It has been maddening and excruciatingly frustrating not being able to help the person I love most in the whole world.  It is not easy for me to admit this, but I sometimes take my frustration out on others.”

“I can’t imagine what you’ve been through.  Please consider the office incident forgotten, Mr. Birkner.”

Relieved, he smiled.  “Okay, but only if you will call me Rhein and agree to accompany me upstairs to see Sahara.  I think she would very much like to meet the only person outside of our family I have ever apologized to,” he said, winking.

He couldn’t determine if the shocked look on Jaslyn’s face was from his admission, his winking at her or the prospect of meeting his sister.  He had just made some headway with this temp, and he didn’t want to blow it. He was hoping by evening’s end he could convince her to come back to Zena Starkler and finish out her assignment.

She stammered a little, and he found her all the more adorable.  “I—I—think I can handle calling you Rhein, but I shouldn’t intrude on your time with Sahara.  Besides, I need to be here when Kitsy comes out of surgery.”

He glanced at his watch.  “How long have you been here?”

“About half an hour.”

“I have read every surgical pamphlet in this hospital.  I had to distract myself somehow,” he said, smiling.  “On average, appendectomies take about an hour.  That should be plenty enough time for introductions and a little chit chat.  So what do you say? Will you come with me?”

JASLYN COULD BARELY CONTAIN herself. Her pulse soared sky high when he offered her his hand.  She hated herself for finding him so irresistibly attractive.  Knowing he belonged to another woman—one who was deathly ill—should have been more than enough reason for her to turn tail and run.  Instead, her body continued to betray her just as it had in his office and the breakroom.  Taking his hand was a mistake.  It was so big and easily engulfed hers.  The warmth and strength she felt in his touch ignited a fire deep inside her soul.  His complete about-face and unexpected apology had only served to cement the emotional attachment she had already developed for this moody, unpredictable man.  Since this morning she had literally fallen into him twice while recklessly falling head-over-heels for him. 

Given the circumstances, it was wrong for her to feel this way.  And it was also brutally unfair.  Love at first sight was special and extremely rare.  She had heard it described by others.  Now, she understood what they were talking about.  Her feelings for Rhein were powerful and overwhelming.  They had slammed into her like a hurricane, catapulting her headlong into the stratosphere.