Being good at her job, making Wordsmith a success, had a direct bearing on her father’s well-being. She had to remember that. Stay focused.
As always, she enjoyed the ride up in the elevator. It was usually full in the mornings and evenings as the building filled up and emptied out. Tonight it was empty, a big, wood-and-brass cube with bronze internal doors so polished they were as reflective as mirrors.
She looked at herself and winced as the elevator smoothly rose. Thank God it wasn’t office hours. She made such a point about meticulous grooming on the job, it was a good thing no one saw her. Hair pulled back in a messy ponytail, no makeup, jeans, a white shirt and flats. She looked at her face reflected in the doors. She looked tired and worried. Which was as it should be, because shewastired and worried.
The elevator whooshed to a stop and pinged as the doors opened. She walked down the corridor, itching to get to work. The evening cleanup crew hadn’t arrived yet. The flower arrangements were drooping; there was a streak on the floor where someone had dragged something heavy.
Tomorrow morning it would be pristine. Nicole loved that, that there was something in her life that someone else took care of.
She stopped in front of her door, in the middle of the corridor. Though she ached to reach the sanctuary of her office, she instinctively turned left, as if compelled by a powerful magnet.
She stood before a door exactly like her own except that the little shiny brass plaque readReston Securityinstead ofWordsmith.
Nicole reached out a hand to touch the cool, smooth wood.
Sam’s office. Tomorrow morning he would be behind this door.
She’d ring the doorbell and he’d open the door and…what? The next few minutes were a complete and utter blank in her mind. What would she say? Sorry?
Sorry, Sam, I just freaked. Couldn’t deal with you at all.
Would he forgive her?
She was so tired. Not just from last night and today. She was tired from wrestling with her problems day in, day out. So tired some barriers in her mind were coming down, crumbling to the floor, leaving her naked and raw and defenseless.
She stood, head bowed, hand on the door for a few minutes, coming to terms with the fact that she was looking forward to seeing Sam Reston again tomorrow. To absorbing some of the heat and strength that he seemed so happy to share with her.
Tomorrow. Tomorrow something might change in her life. But for tonight, she had work to do.
Feeling somehow better, Nicole turned back to her own door, fit her key in the lock and pushed it, feeling for the light switch as the door swung closed behind her.
Suddenly, hands grabbed her, slammed her against the wall so brutally it knocked the breath out of her. A cold steel circle ground so hard against her temple, the skin broke. A drop of blood slid down her cheek, dripped off her chin.
She couldn’t breathe, couldn’t see.
A puff of breath against her ear and a low, vicious voice. “Scream, and I’ll blow your head off.”
NINE
Sam knewit was stupid staying late in the office when he wasn’t getting any work done and he had a perfectly good home to go to. But the thought of walking into his house without Nicole, without having spoken to her, made his stomach clench. Would the house still smell of her? The sheets would. God, he’d ground her into his sheets. They would smell of her. Shit, if he went home without her, he’d just wander around his living room with a sad boner and nowhere to go with it.
He had to go home sometime, though. Harry and Mike were keeping tabs on him. If he was still here at midnight, they’d come to take him away, probably to some bar somewhere to get him drunk, then they’d get him home.
It was a thought. Getting shit-faced, oh yeah. Maybe pick up someone in the bar, fuck her, start getting Nicole out of his head.
Nope, that wouldn’t work. The thought had no appeal at all. Zero.
Jesus, this was scary shit. His dick hadn’t even stirred at the thought of fucking another woman. If anything, it shriveled, balls curling up into his groin. If his dick could talk it’d tell him only Nicole would do, which was bad juju, since the lady wasn’t talking to him.
He’d finally stopped calling her office and her home around midday, when she’d taken her phone off the hook. Cell phone still off, so he was stymied.
Mike had reported back on his mission to put the fear of God into those two scumbags but he’d been annoyingly close-mouthed about Nicole. When Sam had asked him how Nicole looked, he’d answered, “Beautiful.”
Yeah, thanks Mike. If there was one thing Sam knew in the world, it was that Nicole Pearce was beautiful.
Mike also said that Nicole loved her father very much.
After that, Mike just zipped it, leaving Sam hanging.
