Romance: Edge of Desire (6 page)

Chapter 15

The day drifts past and I try to ignore the emotions that I felt earlier today. 

I am NOT going to get sucked in his ridiculous charm… but we have had more than that. For the past month I have flirted with this man every morning and the connection between us is real… at least I think it is.

For every moment that I try to convince myself that he is using me, my heart says something different. My heart or my mind?

It is so hard to know which one to listen to. 

I know that Brad is a player. In my head I know that.

He is a womanizer.

I can see that clearly. And I am a smart woman. 

Then why does he still make me feel that way? I know that he is bad for me. I know that. But it is something I can’t switch off.

I want to switch it off. I really do. I don’t want to fall for a womanizer. I don’t want a player to have my heart. I know that is bad for me.

Really bad.

No girl wants that rollercoaster.

Nancy breaks my deep thought pattern, “Two coffees.  A latte and a cappuccino.  And…”

“What’s up?”

“One of Brad’s mentors is in there.  He’s the older man who ordered the latte.  Just…” she thinks before she chooses her next words. “Just watch out for him. He’s very old school and can be quite offensive.”

If he’s anything like Brad, then I bet he can be very offensive.

After making the coffees, Nancy nods, indicating that I should take the coffees into Brad’s office.

Walking in and placing the coffees on the desk, I can see the baldness of the mentor’s head but I can sense that he is not a nice man. He is giving off a really bad vibe.

Both men stop talking the instant I place the coffee’s down. 

As I begin to walk away, I listen back to the conversation.

“Nice,” says the mentor.

“Yes…” Brad responds.

“I bet that one is wild in bed.”

“What?” I turn around to face the men.

“Oh, a feisty one too. I like you, honey,” the mentor grins creepily. “But be a good little girl and turn back around to let me watch that cute little butt.”

“Pardon?” my eyes almost pop out of my head.

I look to Brad but he avoids my eye contact. He doesn’t say anything to his mentor either. No defense for me.

“I like you sweetheart. If you’re not busy tonight, let me know. Now hurry on out of here and let the big boys talk.”

I stare at Brad, waiting for him to defend me.

But nothing.

He doesn’t even look at me. No eye contact or even a glance.

He just lets me stand here and be embarrassed by his mentor.

Bastard.

Both of them are.

In a huff, I turn around and storm out of the room.

I am done.

I can’t work here. I can’t take any of this. He can shove that paycheck right up his cute butt.

Trying to slam the glass door behind me, I get even more frustrated as it softly closes. Damn. I can’t even slam a door properly.

“I’m done Nancy.”

“What do you mean?” she asks but I think she knows why.

“I can’t work here. I can’t be around here and I can’t work for him. I can’t do it. No amount of money is worth putting up with this. It is too much.”

“Harper…”

“No Nancy. I am a strong woman but even I can’t take this. I quit.”

“Wait,” she pleads. “Let me tell Brad first. Give him the chance to apologize.”

“No. I’m done with him.”

“Please,” Nancy eyes look at me pleadingly.

I shake my head.

My city adventure is over.

Chapter 16

Two months later…

Time has now passed since my passionate night with Bradley Adams, the most eligible bachelor in the country. 

That week was an amazing, incredible and magical rollercoaster.

Nicole was right. I will hold onto that memory for the rest of my life. It will get me through the tough times.

Nicole was shattered when I packed up all my belongings and moved away from the city. After spending two days crying in my apartment with Nicole by my side, I cried the whole, long, bus ride home.

Mom wasn’t very welcoming either.

She actually seemed quite cocky about being right, which I should have expected. The first thing she said to me was, “I told you that you’d be back.”

Yep. That wasn’t the welcome I needed.

Mom and I have never really got along. We pretend for the sake of playing happy families but ever since she separated with Dad, things between us have been icy.

I have tried to be nice to her and I am sure that she has tried to be nice to me, but our personalities always clashed. Dad passed away four years ago and Mom has tried to build the bridge between us, but it will never be comfortable.

So, I arrived in her small two-bedroom house, and she organized a job in the local diner for me. It’s only three days a week at the moment but it’s a start. Not paying half my wage in rent certainly helps too.

After I left Brad’s job, Nancy sent me a check for $5,000, more than enough to cover my debts. I sent it back. But she refused to accept it back and forwarded it to Mom’s house. She said that I deserved it after surviving with Brad for those few days. I couldn’t really argue with her as the money cleared all my debts, so that was nice.

Nicole and I still talk every day. I love that girl. She is my best friend and always will be. Man, I miss her.

Those two years will always stick in my memory as the time my life changed. Despite walking away from Brad, Nicole and the city - it is the adventure that inspired me.

My plan is to work here for one year; save up every dollar I can, study a management course online and then have another go at living in the city. That’s where I belong. I don’t belong here.

I would love to manage my own coffee shop in a hip part of New York City. That is my dream now.

Walking into the new diner where I work is a disappointment every time. It’s a nice place, with nice people, but it doesn’t quite meet the lofty standards of the place I used to work at. I don’t think I have seen one suit since I started working here – it’s mostly boots and work-wear around here.

As I make coffee and take orders at the diner, I can’t help but think back to that one night. With every coffee I serve, the memory becomes clearer.

The explosive passion.

The lustful embrace.

The adventure of a new experience.

It was a bigger adventure than I could have ever imagined.

And then, as the sun starts to rise high in the sky, I look to the entrance of the coffee shop…

No.

Chapter 17

Brad’s tall elegant frame looks out of place in this small town.

Even in casual clothes, he looks like he is made of money. His neatly pressed polo shirt sits on his wide shoulders, his watch looks like it is worth more than the average annual wage in this town, and even his shorts look classy.

You know a man has style when he can rock shorts and a polo shirt.

As he takes off his sunglasses, he looks to me.

Damn.

Our eyes connect and my heart stops beating.

For one moment, for one small moment, I smile. Those eyes have sent me to another place.

Then, I remember that he is a bastard.

And I won’t fall for him again.

Abruptly, I turn around and wipe a bench clean. In the reflection of the window, I watch as he sits down and picks up a menu.
There isn’t any fancy food here, buddy
. 

He places the menu back down on the bench and I see Rex, the diner’s manager, approaching me. Shit. I know what he wants.

As he gets closer, he raises his eyebrows, “There’s a customer, Harper.”

I sigh. “Yes boss.”

Taking the notepad out of my dress pocket, I walk over to Brad. Intentionally, I keep my eyes focused away from him. I can’t look him in the eyes. I can’t resist those deep, green eyes.

Just don’t make eye contact.

“What’ll it be?” I ask, just the same as I’ve asked a thousand times in this diner.

He waits and I can feel his eyes on me.

They are staring at me.

Waiting.

Waiting to catch me in their trap. But I won’t fall for it. No way. Not this time.

He doesn’t respond to me.

I stare at the table in front of him, determined not to look him in the eyes.

His hands don’t move as my heart beats faster and faster.

Even without looking in his eyes, I can feel the tears starting to well up inside me.

“Coffee then.”

I turn and race back to the kitchen for a pot of coffee. Batting my eyelids rapidly, I fight back the tears. Damn it.

I pour the cup of coffee and quickly deliver it to him, again avoiding eye contact. Brad still doesn’t say a word to me… he is waiting for me to look at him.

But I don’t.

I remain strong.

Retreating to the kitchen, I glimpse out occasionally to watch what he is doing. After a short while, he becomes engrossed in his phone.
Always focused on work.
  

“If that guy comes out here, I need you to tell him to leave me alone,” I tell Rex.

Despite being a prick of a boss, he is an old-fashioned, loyal type-of-man. Nothing would make him feel more like a man than a damsel in distress. I have no doubt that Rex would go into battle for me.

Rex is a big, hairy guy.

And he has a knife. A large, sharp knife.

“Whatever you need, sweetheart,” Rex smiles.

Rex and I keep a keen eye on Brad as he sits at the table by the window. He sits there for forty minutes until he decides he has had enough and leaves.

Just like that.

He leaves without a fight.

As I go to clean up his cup of coffee, I find no note or indication that he wants to talk. Just a very large tip.

I wonder if that’s the last I’ve seen of him?

I wonder if he got the idea that I don’t want to talk to him?

Knowing Bradley Adams, I don’t think that he will give up that easily.

Chapter 18

For the next two weeks when I am at work, Brad shows up every day. 

And the routine is always the same. He walks in, everybody stares at him, I walk up to his table, we don’t speak, I pretend to write ‘coffee’ on my order pad, and then I place a coffee in front of him and he leaves ten minutes later.

Just like that.

Every time.

Brad has created quite a buzz around this small country town – but I’m sure Brad is used to creating a buzz where-ever he goes. Every woman in the town is swooning over the man who arrives every day in his nice new fancy car, wears a different outfit each day, and never talks to anyone.

Rumor is he is staying two towns away from here, in the largest town in these parts. I guess that’s because it has the only decent hotel around here. Still, it is at least an hours drive each day to come to the diner.

And I’ve tasted the coffee here.

He definitely isn’t coming for that.

Finally, I gain the courage to say something to him.

“Why are you here?” I state firmly as I stand next to him, ready to take his order.

“I hear that it is the best coffee in town,” he grins as he looks up at me with those beautiful green eyes.

I remain firm, “I’m sure that’s not why you are here.”

“Can we talk?” he asks softly.

I sigh.

He has shown enough dedication to show up here everyday for the past two weeks. That has to be worth something, right? No player would go to those lengths just to sleep with a girl, right? If player doesn’t get what he wants – he walks away.

Brad hasn’t done that.

He has persisted with me.

I owe him the courtesy of a few minutes.

“Rex,” I call out. “I’m taking my break. I’ll be back in ten minutes.”

Rex instantly shows up at the counter with his largest knife.

“No Rex,” I smile. “It’s ok. We are just going for a chat.”

Rex’s eyes stay locked onto Brad. Despite Brad’s supreme confidence, I am sure that even he is a little nervous at the sight of a large, hairy, angry man holding a well-used knife.

I lead Brad out of the diner and into the parkland next door. Sitting on the bench, I turn to him, “You have ten minutes. If I’m not back in that diner by then, Rex will come looking for you.”

Brad smiles, “Now nobody wants that to happen.”

“Why are you here Brad?”

Brad sits down on the park bench next to me, and leans forward, looking at the ground. It takes at least one minute before he says anything.

“It’s funny, but I have rehearsed this line over and over again. I knew exactly what I was going to say to you. And I knew that if I showed up at the diner everyday, then I would eventually get the chance to talk to you. But now that I am here, next to you, I have forgotten the lines I wanted to say. I have forgotten that perfectly scripted statement.”

“I don’t want to hear a ‘statement’. I want to hear what’s in your heart, Brad. I don’t want some rehearsed lines; I want the truth. I want to know what you are doing here.”

He turns his head and looks at me directly in the eyes. Not around me, or through me, but into my eyes. His statement is firm, “I’m here for you.”

My heart skips a beat.

“You don’t know me,” I shake my head and pull my gaze away from his.

“Yes, Harper. I do. And I want to know you even better.”

“Why?” I turn back to him.

“With you next to me, everything is worth it. Everything is worth doing. With you around me, the world comes alive and I have never felt that before.”

“I thought you were driven by power.”

“I was,” Brad’s eyes drop back to the pavement. “I loved power. I loved success. It meant everything to me. But from the moment I first saw you in the coffee shop, my world changed. Everything took on a new meaning. When I walked away from our first conversation, I was on a high. And then when you left…”

He shakes his head.

“Go on,” I want him to continue.

“When you left… it meant nothing. Everything that I built – all that wealth, all that power – it meant nothing. I couldn’t understand why. It used to mean everything to me – and suddenly it all felt empty. Nobody has ever made me feel like that. Nobody. I didn’t even know it was possible. Everything about the business started to make me angry. All the power, all the money, I started to hate it. It meant nothing.”

“It always meant nothing to me.”

“And that’s what I loved. I loved that it meant nothing to you. I loved that
I
meant something to you… or at least I think I did.”

“You did,” I whisper.

“And you meant everything to me. I couldn’t see it at the time - or maybe I could see it but I couldn’t understand it. But everything that meant something previously, suddenly meant nothing. I hated it when you weren’t there. I couldn’t understand what was happening to me.”

“So what happened?”

“Nancy sat me down and gave me a lecture about life. And she was harsh too. Really blunt. She told me that she would support me to do anything in my life, but not this. She couldn’t let me throw the chance with away.”

“She’s a good woman,” I whisper.

“But it wasn’t her decision to chase you. It was mine. I want this. Harper, you are the most amazing, wonderful, lively, funny, witty, engaging, beautiful, and strong woman I have ever met. I didn’t even know women like you existed until we met. I have never met anyone like you, and you take my breath away. I really, really want to spend more time with you.”

“Well, that’s kind of hard because I work in a diner in a small town and you live in New York City running a billion-dollar empire.”

“I don’t run it anymore.”

“What?” I am surprised.

“I still own the business, but I promoted one of my employees to CEO. They are now running the day to day operations of the business and whilst I still take a keen interest in the outcomes, they are the driving force for the firm now.”

“One of those pinhead executives? You didn’t seem to have a lot of faith in them.”

“No, not one of the executives.”

“An outsider? That’s a big risk.”

“Not an outsider.”

“Who then?”

“The only person that knew the business better than I knew it. When I thought about it, the person was always destined to run the business. And since she took the reins six weeks ago, the business is actually doing better than it was before. The woman is a genius.”

“A woman I know?” one of my eyebrows pop up.

“Nancy,” Brad smiles.

“Nancy? Your personal assistant?” my mouth drops open.

“Absolutely. There is nobody better. She is firm, direct, makes great business decisions but also brings a personal touch to the organization that I could never achieve. She’ll have some hard times ahead, but right now, she is doing an amazing job. She is going from strength to strength.”

“You really made your personal assistant the next CEO of your company?” I smile.

Nancy deserves every success that she receives. She is a beautiful, intelligent, strong woman. An inspiration.

“I did. But I didn’t do it because I thought it would be nice. I did it because she was the best person for the job – and she has already proved that.”

“Wow,” I can’t wipe the smile off my face. Nancy definitely deserved that. “What will you do with your time now then?”

“I bought a coffee shop.”