Shatter Me (7 page)

             
“I don’t understand.” I tell him, not trying to hide my annoyance. “Who has sent me flowers and where exactly are they anyway?” I peek out into the hall and find the corridor deserted except for the delivery man.

             
“On their way up in the service elevator miss.”
He tears off the top sheet of paper that I have just signed and hands it over.
“Couldn’t get them all up in the other.”

             
I blink. “What?”

             
But just then the service elevator at the end of the hall opens and two other men start extracting dozens and dozens of roses from inside.
Yellow roses, pink roses, red and white roses.
I gasp and step back to give the men room as they begin placing the beautiful flower filled crystal vases around the apartment. They move quickly and within ten minutes nearly every flat surface is covered in sweet smelling flower arrangements.

             
But I still have no clue
who
has sent them.

             
Heart pounding I reach for the card sticking out of the closest arrangement. Fingers trembling I pull it out of its envelope and blink once more.

             
Dinner?

             
That’s all it says.
Nothing more.
And it isn’t even signed. Biting my lip I read the next card.
We need to talk
.

             
I am beginning to suspect exactly who has sent all the flowers and I don’t know whether to be shocked, thrilled or angry.

             
There are three more card
s
and I gather them up, tip the delivery men generously and head into the office. I can’t even think about what the other three cards might say because I am already running late for my first appointment.

             
Thirty minutes later I arrive at Winthrop Charities. I greet the receptionist with a distracted smile and continue on to the second floor. I took over for my mother, who had been the founder and president of Winthrop Charities. Hunter had nearly forced the job onto me, knowing tha
t my mother would have wanted
me to take over where she had so suddenly left off.

             
When I step out of the elevator onto the second floor I am greeted immediately by my secretary whom I have also inherited from my mother. Rachel is a
thirty something divorcee who i
s perfect at her job. She kept my working life in such wonderful order than at times I wish she could do the same for my personal life.

             
I hand over my briefcase and she gives me a handful of messages that need my immediate attention. “Your nine o’clock is already
hear
. But I put him in the conference room.”

             
I frown. “Why would you do that?” I ask distracted when I see that one of the messages is from Keith and another is from Blake.

             
“Because it looks like a florist threw up
tulips
in there.” Rachel calmly explains as I open my office door and discover that
I barely have enough room to get to my desk.

             
Once more I am in a jungle filled with
flowers
. This time it is tulips, which are one of my favorite flowers. There is only one card among the many flower filled vases and I snap it up without bothering to read it. Muttering curses under my breath I
turn,
slam the door to my office and turn in the direction of the conference room.

             
I have to think about work and get through the day. Then…Then I
will deal with my annoying step
brother.

             
But three hours later, as lunch time descends on me and I finally have time to breath I find myself glaring once more down at the four cards. Bighting my lip I pull the top one out of its envelope and scan it.

             
I know you are mad. But try to give me a chance.

             
You mean more to me than you realize.
Said the next card.

             
I know you are crazy about me.

             
I ball the third card up and toss it into the trash can. Arrogant, self-centered…Completely right asshole!

             
Finally I extract the last card, the one that had come with all of the tulips and sit back with a gasp.
I am going out of my mind thinking about you.
I need you! ~Keith~

             
I sit there for the longest time, my trembling fingers brushing across the words that have completely shut me down.

             
I need him too!
             
I had only been deluding myself last night. Every promise that I had made to myself had flown out of the window when Keith had shown up at my party. I didn’t end up giving Blake a chance after all.
And sure as hell had
not
lost my virginity.

             
Even as Blake was saying goodnight to me early this morning with a light kiss across my lips I was thinking about Keith and how I wanted to be back on the dance floor with him.

             
Even my wish as I was blowing out my candles the night before had been for Keith!
I want him to be mine
, had whispered through my mind as I had blown out the twenty one blazing candle
s
.

             
“Damn it!” I push away from my desk and
raise
to my feet. I feel suffocated from all of the flowers crowding me and the raging feelings boiling inside of me.

             
“Rachel?” I call out as I gather my briefcase.

             
She is instantly at my office door. “Yes, Kari?”

             
“Do I have anything pressing that can’t wait until Monday?” I ask.

             
“No. You are free tomorrow. But you do have a dinner to attend Saturday night for the new Children’s
W
ing at the hospital.” She reminds me.

             
“Good. Use your magic and hold down the fort until Monday. I have something urgent that needs taking care of.” I glare around at the many, many flowers. “And have
all of these dreadful flowers sent over to one of the nursing homes. I’m sure there are some old ladies who will enjoy them more than I ever will.”

             
“Right away.”
Rachel grins at me. “
What should I do with the chocolate?”

             
I turn, completely surprised by her question. “What chocolate?”

             
“The three boxes of
white chocolate and
caramel truffles
that just arrived.” She points
to the large white and gold boxes on the edge of her desk.

             
I groan. Caramel truffles are my favorite. But no! I am not going to be swayed by expensive chocolates!!! I am not.

             
Summing all my will power I ignore the boxes as I pass them. “Share them among the other women.” I tell her even as my mouth waters at the thought of the sinfully delicious sweets going untouched by me.

             
“Well
,
you just gained a group of followers.” Rachel laughs as she lifts the lid of the top box while I wait for the elevator. “There’s a note. Do you want it?”

             
“NO!” I practically shout
as the elevator doors open
. “Tear it up and throw it away.”

             
“Right
away!”
She calls after me, tearing
the little card to shreds as I step into the elevator.


      
             

             
I don’t go home. Instead I take a cab to my father’s house in the Hamptons. His other house, just outside of the city is too close to things I want to get away from. I love the Hampton house. There are so many good memories here.
Most of them of me and my father playing on the beach.

             
I breathe a sigh of relief as I sit on the back deck overlooking the beach. Mrs. Dean, the housekeeper who has been around since my father was in diapers is the only soul around. She has spent most of the evening making me homemade cookies and the sweetest lemonade known to man. I am just starting to relax when my phone starts ringing.

             
It’s Bianca. But I know she is just calling to yell at me. She probably thinks that I am going to give in to all the romantic gestures that Keith has been doing all day.
The flowers, the chocolates…the incredible message on the card with the tulips.

             
And I don’t want to argue with her, because I know deep down that I
am
giving in.
I just don’t want to deal with it right now. I don’t want to admit to even myself that I am half an inch away from falling into Keith’s arms…Or, and I suspect  it is all he wants, ready to fall into his bed.

             
The call goes to voice mail and within seconds an alert tells me there is a message. But it isn’t the end of it. I get three rapid fire text messages.
Can I
get no peace?
I think angrily as I reach over to turn the damned thing off.

             
But as I start to turn it off one of the messages is still up on the screen.

             
Keith is HERE!!!

             
I bite my lip, not sure what to do. Heart pounding I fight with myself.
Call?
Turn off the phone like I should have already done? Groaning I pull up the text messages. The other two tell me that my bestie is concerned about me and wants to know where I am. Belatedly I remember that we are supposed to have a girl’s nigh
t
out tonight.

             
Going MIA for a few days.
Do
what
u
want with
K
& flowers
. Not interested!

             
Of course the last part is a lie and my gut clenches even as I hit send. But nearly as soon as it is gone I get a smiley face back in response from Bianca. Rolling my eyes I toss the phone aside without bothering to turn it off. I am sure that Bianca will leave me in peace unless something important comes up and Keith does not have my cell number as far as I know.

             
Finally I am able to close my eyes in peace.


      
 

             
Friday I have all to myself. I spend it just being lazy on the back porch and taking care of a few e-mails for Winthrop Charities. When I get back to the city on Saturday morning I am so relaxed that I don’t even roll my eyes when I find Christian sprawled out on the sofa when I get back to the apartment.

             
“Hey, beautiful!”
He greets as I pass on my way to drop off my things in my room.

             
“Hey.” I give him a grin. “Enjoying your Saturday off?”

             
“I would be if I weren’t dreading having to go back to Japan on Monday.” He sighs. “I hate having to work for my living.”

             
I snort. Christian Marshall didn’t have to work a day in his life if he chose not to. He c
omes
from money as big and old as the Winthrop’s. But he had also drifted away from his family’s business ventures and had gotten into a few of his own. At twenty nine he was already a millionaire within his own right. “Yeah, it must be hard.” I call over my shoulder.

             
I toss my things on my bed and change clothes before grabbing my phone and wallet. I have to go to a Charity dinner tonight which Winthrop Charities is a big part of and I have nothing to wear.

             
On my way out Christian frowns at me.
“Keith Winthrop was here again yesterday. Did Bee tell you?”

             
“No.”
Bianca and I haven’t spoken or messaged each other since Thursday. “What did he want?”

             
“To know where you were.” Christian shrugged. “Things got heated between him and Bee. She said some things to him that made even me blush and he stormed off accusing her of keeping him from you.”

             
I grit my teeth. I can only imagine what by bestie said to him. Bianca can get imaginative with verb usage when she wants too. I was sure that
the  words
‘fucker’ and ‘cock sucker’ were used because those were her favorite vulgar words in her arsenal. “Where is Bianca now?”