Bound to the Fallen (Prophecy #2) (19 page)

Gavin

R
esting against my counter, I watched her. Her hair was slightly messy and most of her makeup had rubbed off, but she still had this undeniable beauty about her. So innocent, she looked so damn innocent in that t-shirt, sipping the coffee I’d given her. She glanced up at me and smiled. A deep-seated want was obscured by the brightness of her eyes.

She stood up and brought her cup to the sink, setting it into the stainless steel basin. I walked up behind her and touched her shoulders lightly, pressing my body flush against her backside.
Turning around, she gazed up at me and rubbed her palm against me in just the right spot.

“Don’t tempt me,” I whispered. “I’ll make you entirely too late, and that flush that covers your body after I’m finished with you,” I paused briefly
as I remembered the way she looked when I pleased her. “Dead giveaway.” I smiled down at her. “I brought your suitcase in. It’s at the end of my bed.”

Casting a sarcastic smile over at me, she said,
“Thanks,
Dr. Hunter
.”

“You’re still going to call me that at work, aren’t you?” I asked.

“Absolutely,” she replied and walked around the island toward the hallway.

After
dropping her off at her car I turned my stereo up, my thoughts bobbing around in my head. I felt a slight unsettling in the pit of my stomach and I realized I didn’t want to stop whatever was happening between us. I knew I should, I knew it was wrong; I feared I would hurt her.

My thoughts were interrupted
when the music cut off and the automated voice said, “Text message from Amy.”

“Read text,” I instructed.

The monotone voice said, “Tonight?”

I shook my head as I merged onto the interstate. I hit the Bluetooth button on my steering wheel
. “Call Amy.”

The phone only rang once before she answered. Her voice was all too cheerful for that hour of morning
. “Well, hello,” she sang out.

I sighed, glancing into my rearview mirror. “Did I not make myself clear enough when we had lunch the other day?”

“I heard what you said,
but
I saw the way you looked at me...”

Gripping
the leather of my steering wheel, I inhaled deeply. “You saw whatever you wanted to see, because there was nothing there. I told you, you’re not a good fit for me. You’re too defiant for one, and honestly, you do absolutely nothing for me.”

She laughed. “You expect me to believe that?”

“Believe whatever you like, but I’ve nothing for you.” I hit the disconnect button and music blared through the speakers.

C
hecking the blind spot to my left, I caught a faint whiff of Brooke’s perfume on my dress shirt. Her scent stirred want inside of me. She was possessing my senses. I was completely and perilously infatuated with this woman.

I
pressed my head against the seat. Steering with one hand, I massaged the tension forming in my shoulders. Being with Brooke was going against every instinct I had. I had no business becoming involved with her, and I knew how dangerous it would be. The amount of control and restraint it would take to keep her from becoming a victim of this darkness – the idea was so tempting to me. Playing with fire — she was like playing with fire.

Brooke

July 18, 2014

My entire
drive to work was spent trying to erase the image of a naked Gavin Hunter from my mind. I turned my radio up in an effort to drown out the sexy sound of his voice whispering naughty things as he touched me. I wanted nothing more than to run into Ashley’s office and confess everything to her; I just wanted to tell somebody who appreciated how absolutely amazing this was, but I knew better. I pulled into the parking lot behind Gavin. We parked several cars apart and I had no idea how I should act as I got out of the car and walked toward the elevator.

“You don’t have to
ignore
me,” Gavin said, jogging up behind me.

I nervously bit down on the inside of my cheek.
“I don’t know what to do,” I said.

“Don’t do anything. Just act normal. Even if it were perfectly fine for us to be together, we couldn’t be all over each other at work. Right?”

There he went saying “together”.

What the hell did that mean? Chill out, Brooke. This is a freakin’ man! We’ve slept together — we’re just sleeping together.

My thoughts were spiraling out of control and it was only seven-thirty in the morning. The doors to the elevator opened and we stepped in. Gavin looked over at me, leaning in to gently kiss my neck.

“See,” he
shut his eyes as though he were savoring the taste of my flesh. “That’s something we shouldn’t do,” he said and leaned back against the wall.

S
haking my head, I sighed. “You’re not going to make this easy, are you?”

He laughed and the doors to the elevator
screeched opened. “I’ll see you later.”

My head was swirling from everything that had happened the last few days. I unlocked the door to my office and was greeted by a shadowy figure sitting in my seat. A small cry came from my lips as I jumped back in shock.

Ashley cackled. “I knew it would get you.” She leaned over in the chair, continuing to laugh maniacally.

“What are you
doing?
Trying to give me a heart attack?” I fussed at her as I put my purse down and flipped the light switch on. I noticed that Peggy had taped a piece of paper above the switch that read, “Please do not tape the light switch up. It wastes energy.” I grumbled as I was brought back into the reality of how bad this place sucked.

“I just wanted to see your face. I missed you.”
Ashley paused and squinted her eyes. “
Plus
, I went out to dinner with Colton and Constance last night.” She paused again and an evil smile formed over her face. Rolling the chair a few inches forward, she glared at me. “Anything ya want to tell me?”

Constance had told her?
I couldn’t believe it. This was fantastic. I hadn’t even been back five minutes and Ashley already knew. I was going to
kill
Constance!

Ashley
waited, watching me while I stood there with a shocked look on my face, fumbling for an answer. She flung her hair behind her back and her smile grew even wider. “You dirty little girl! I can’t believe it. You are the
chosen
one. Do you know how many women have tried for months to get that man to screw them… and here you come, what’s it been… weeks? And you got him to bang you? Kudos, you must teach me your ways.” She paused again, expecting me to say something, but I was still speechless. “So you know I’m going to need all the nasty little details. He’s hung, isn’t he? Oh, he has to be, don’t ruin this for me Brooke… tell me he’s hung?” Ashley pleaded.

I was in full panic mode
, and trying to dodge answering question from a pervert. My heart was racing. I was so distraught I pulled out Peggy’s nasty chair and sat down in it. “Oh, I was just messing with her,” I said, trying to control the jerky sound of my voice. “She gave me such grief about trying to seduce him. I thought it’d be funny to lie to her.”

“Bullshit!”

The heat of embarrassment flashed up my neck. I sat there staring down into my lap, furiously picking at my cuticles while tiny beads of sweat seeped from my pores.

“She came to the restaurant after she left the airport. Colton and I had told her to bring you with her. She said you texted her and told her you were
going home
with Gavin. She also said she saw you guys walking and you were holding on to him. She
described
him — you can’t make up looks like that, Brooke. Just admit it.”

I shut the door to my office and lowered my voice almost to a whisper. “Look, you can’t say anything to anyone. We don’t want anyone to know. He could get in trouble, Ashley. Please, please, please! Don’t say anything. Don’t act weird. Don’t make any obscene gestures behind his back at me.”

Jerking her head back, Ashley scowled at me. “You think I’d do that? I’d never tell on you. You’re my friend,” she paused. “Now, I can’t promise that I won’t make some blow job movements if he has his back to me, but other than that,” she laughed. “Now tell me what it was like.” Her eyes widened and her lips pulled in like she was trying to savor some exotic flavor. “Did he kiss you?”

I scrunched my face up as I answered, “What the hell kinda question is that? Of course he kissed me! I’m not a prostitute or anything. If we had sex, don’t you think it started with a kiss?”

“Yeah, I guess that was pretty stupid. So, what’d his lips feel like — I bet they’re soft, aren’t they?”

I shook my head as I drew my bottom lip in. “Ohhhh, they are so unbelievably soft,” I whimpered

“Okay, so details. What was it like? How good is he? How was the foreplay?”

Ashley had no filter
. Only someone as perverted as her would be begging for details like that. At least now I could blab about it without feeling so guilty. I was honestly dying to tell someone. I gave her a pretty detailed recount and stopped when I got to the part about the shower the morning we left Boston.

Falling
back against the seat, she placed her hand to her forehead. “Oh, my God, I’m going to need a minute. I think I may have just had a partial orgasm.” She twisted the top off from her bottle of water and took a sip. “God, I knew it! I knew that man had to be amazing in the sack. There’s no way a man can look that good and suck, it’s just impossible. I bet the dirty things he said sounded even better with that accent of his.”

I nodded. “They absolutely did.”

Peggy’s bags came rustling down the hallway and realized it was eight-thirty and I hadn’t even turned my computer on. I shooed Ashley out of my chair and flipped the monitor on.

“Don’t you let on that you know or I’ll tell Dan you want him,” I threatened her.

Ashley crinkled her nose up. “I mean, you didn’t have to go
there
did you?” She opened the door, leaning her face back in as she formed an “O” with her mouth, moving her head up and down over a long imaginary dick before trotting off down the hall. I heard her greet Peggy when they passed each other. “Good morning, Peggy. You look lovely today.”

Peggy grunted a
nd dropped her bags onto the floor.

P
ulling a chart out of the cubby on my desk, I opened it. I figured I could daydream for five minutes, work for fifteen. I’d just started entering data when my cell phone beeped. Glancing down, I saw that it was a text from Gavin.

Gavin:
I can’t stop thinking about U. This is going to be trying.

I swooned
, still in disbelief that this was happening.

             
I keep trying to find reasons to come to ur office.

Gavin:
You don’t need a reason…

             
Well, I’d like to keep my job, so I think I’m just gonna stay down here.

Gavin:
Suit yourself.

Gavin:
Meet me for lunch around noon?

             
Absolutely, where?

Gavin:
How about the Thai House?

             
See you at noon.

I sat my phone on my desk and heard Dan coughing in the hallway.
He unlocked his door and immediately began fiddling with some papers. Seconds later his head poke out from his door. “Brooke, would you come over for a minute?”

Sighing, I
walked to his office, stopping in the doorway. “Yes?” I asked dryly.

“Come in
. Have a seat.” He drug the chair up next to him. I hated that he always pulled the chair up so close to him.

I sat down, pulling at the hem of my skirt
, trying to cover as much of my leg as I could.

“So, how was the trip?”
Dan asked.

“It was fine. Very informative. I think it helped me nail everything dow
n — you know, all the study stuff.” I caught myself trying to avoid
anything
that could have been turned into a sexual innuendo and taken as a hint about what Gavin and I had done.

“That’s good.” Dan turned to his desk and pulled out his bottom drawer. He retrieved a toothpick
, shoving it into his overgrown, halitosis-infested gum line. “Did Dr. Hunter mind his p’s and q’s?”

“Excuse me?”
I swallowed back the acid creeping up my throat. As if he weren’t disgusting enough, watching him dig in his gums like that made my stomach turn.

“He didn’t try to come on
to you, did he? He has a habit of being inappropriate with beautiful women. Just wouldn’t want you to be placed in a situation that made you uncomfortable.” Dan peered at me as he burrowed deeper into his gums with the toothpick.

Those
words stung a little.

Gavin hadn’t been like that with anyone else… had he?

I was mulling over what Dan had said when I realized he was still waiting on me to answer him. I shot him a tense look and said, “No. We didn’t really get to speak to each other too much. The training took up most of the day.”

“Good. It’s probably best if you stay away from him. He’s a
bad
person.” Dan paused and examined the disgusting piece of debris he’d picked from his teeth. Bringing the toothpick up to his nose, he took a small sniff. The odor turned his nose up and he hurled the toothpick into his trashcan. “You know, he had the balls to ask that I get you two seats next to each other on the plane. I knew what he was up to, so I made sure to get you a seat away from his sorry ass. I’m here to protect you, Brooke,” Dan proudly said.

I was furious
and directed my anger at him. “I told him I didn’t like to fly. He offered to sit next to me to try to alleviate some of my anxiety. He was
just
being nice.”

Dan laughed hi
s creepy little psychotic laugh. “Yeah, I bet he was going to
alleviate
some anxiety, all right.”

Standing up, I
flattened my skirt out. “Was there anything else you needed,
Dan
? I have a lot of data to enter.”

He froze and glared at me. “You seem agitated. Did I strike a nerve
, Brooke? You seem awfully favorable of Dr. Hunter.”

“I just have a lot of work to catch up on.” I stood there
, envisioning taking my high heel off and chunking it at his head while I waited for him to give me approval to leave.

“Very well
.” He picked up his pen. “What time do you want to do lunch?”

M
y nostrils flared as I huffed out, “I already have plans.”

“Hmmm
. Well, you should get your priorities straight. I’m taking you to lunch tomorrow. No excuses.”

I
stomped back across to my office. Dan was such an ass. Why would he say things like that about Gavin? I caught myself getting upset when I realized I was letting a man who talked about everyone and did nothing but glorify himself get to me. I knew he had no idea what he was talking about.

Snatching
my water jug out of my bag, I started chugging it and tried to calm myself down. I sat there the rest of the morning entering data. Dan cancelled staff meeting that morning for some reason, and I have to admit that I was relieved. I had no idea how I’d be able to sit in that conference room with Gavin and Ashley and not turn fire-engine red. I knew that she’d jump on the first opportunity to make an “O” face at me.