All Fired Up (17 page)

“After sleeping on that couch myself, I wouldn’t wish it on anyone.” She turned to go, then stopped. “I meant what I said earlier. You didn’t deserve what happened to you. I know words don’t make it better, but I am sorry you had to go through that.”

“You are right. Words do not make it better,” he replied, purposely keeping his voice cool.
Do not love me, lass. I cannot stay no matter what you do.

Disappointment replaced the kindness in her eyes. Just as well. He would not chance breaking her heart. Better she keep herself distant than dream of things that could never be.

“Good night.” She turned again and headed down the stairs.

“Good night,” he answered, but she was already gone.

Calleigh forgave him for being bitter. That was understandable. But he certainly hadn’t seemed like the same man who’d just kissed her minutes before and told her he couldn’t understand why any man would cheat on her. Sweet words but the sweetness disappeared quickly.

Still, she couldn’t stop thinking about what he’d told her. Betrayed then murdered by the very woman he’d fallen in love with. How could any woman do that to a man she had married? How could any woman betray the love of a man so fierce and beautiful? What would it be like to have a man like Alrik pledge himself to you?

The bedroom above hers was quiet as she climbed under the covers. One hand tucked beneath her pillow, she lay on her side absorbed in thought.

A man like Alrik could protect her from the world.

The next morning, Calleigh called and left a voicemail for the Human Resources department so they’d know she was on her way to see them. As expected, the ride on the subway didn’t thrill Alrik but by the second transfer, his knuckles were no longer white.

She prepped him on how to behave when they got to her office. Don’t talk to anyone, don’t touch anything, and above all else, stay put. The last thing she needed was a missing Viking in downtown Manhattan.

He carried the empty box she’d brought to hold her personal affects. She wouldn’t miss the job, but she’d miss some of the women she worked with. Especially since Jeana was no longer in her life.

The elevator scored big with Alrik and only after she promised they’d ride it back down did he finally get out. Heads turned as she walked down the hall to her desk. Without looking, she knew the eyes were not on her.

She saw the roses before she got to her desk. At least two dozen bright blooms sprouted from a cut crystal vase. A small square box, wrapped in gold foil, nestled among the flowers.

The woman she’d probably miss most sat at the desk across from hers. Erika glanced up as she walked in. “Girl, you got a gift and if you don’t open it up right now, I’m gonna open it for you. Especially since I see you brought your own gift with you.” She looked over Calleigh’s shoulder and smiled big. “Or is he for me? Please tell me he’s for me.”

Calleigh ignored Erika’s remarks about Alrik. “When did these get here?” There was no card that she could see, but she was pretty sure she knew who the flowers were from.

“A few minutes ago. You just missed the messenger.” Erika bobbed her head to the side again to look past Calleigh.

“Hello there tall, blond, and handsome. Do you have a name or should I just call you gorgeous?” Tossing her micro braids over one shoulder, she stood and stretched out her hand. Her long slender fingers were tipped with fuchsia and white French-manicured nails. A multitude of skinny gold bangles jangled around her wrist.

Alrik shook her hand, an amused twinkle in his eyes. “My name is Alrik.”

Erika gave him another appreciative glance then raised her arched brows at Calleigh. “Mmm mmm mmm. Honey, where have you been hidin’ this one? Your fiancé know you’re keeping company with a Greek god?”

“I am not Greek. I am Norse.”

“Norse, huh? I’m not big on snow but for you, I’d buy a parka.” Erika giggled.

“I haven’t been hiding him anywhere. It’s a long story.” Calleigh plucked the gold box out of the roses and ripped off the wrapping.

“Hmm.” Erika clicked her tongue as her gaze traveled the length of Alrik’s body. “I bet it is.”

Calleigh opened the box and groaned. The engagement ring. She was going to have to return it again. Which meant seeing Brad again, although having faced up to him during her first change made the prospect slightly less daunting. “Erika, you want these flowers? Otherwise, I’m going to pitch them.”

“Hmmm?” Erika squeezed Alrik’s biceps and fanned herself. “So what gym do you go to, because I’m thinking about switching my membership.”

Calleigh tried again. “Hello? Do you want these flowers?”

“I know I want something. I might have to start datin’ white boys.”

Alrik held up his hand and squinted. “Am I a white boy?”

Erika fluttered her lashes. “Yes, sugarpie, you are.”

“Erika!”

She finally looked at Calleigh. “I’d love them. Shame to throw out perfectly good roses.” She slid the vase over to her desk.

“Alrik, I have to go to Human Resources now so why don’t you sit at my desk while I’m gone. Shouldn’t be too long. You don’t mind, do you, Erika?” Things with HR had better go quickly. Erika looked like she wanted to strip Alrik naked with her bare teeth and lick him like an ice cream cone.

“Mind having Mr. Fine sit across from me? Beats looking at the water cooler. Want some coffee, hotstuff?” Erika sat at her desk and shuffled papers without really looking at them.

“I do not like that drink,” Alrik said.

Calleigh mouthed a silent “thank you” to Erika before giving Alrik a smile. “I’ll be back as soon as I can.”

Half an hour later, she returned. Erika chatted on the phone and Alrik paged through a copy of
Couture
.

“Did Erika give you that?” She reached for the magazine but he swiveled away before she could grab it.

“You are back. Good.” He pointed to something on one of the pages. “Tell me, do all women know these ten secrets for making a man moan in bed?”

“What? Give me that.” She snatched the magazine and looked at the cover. Good grief, it was practically porn. No wonder they’d put Jeana in charge. “No, all women do not know that stuff. Most of it’s just made up anyway to get women to buy that rag.”

Erika hung up. “Everything all right? You look flustered.”

“Today’s my last day. Of my own decision. I cannot work for Mr. Berger anymore.” Calleigh put her coffee cup and a picture of her mom and dad into the box she’d brought.

Erika stood and came from behind her desk. “Oh no, really? I don’t want you to leave. You’re the best deskmate I’ve had since Tessa Wilson used to sit there and have phone sex with her boyfriend. Her ugly boyfriend, might I add.”

Erika bugged her eyes out and Calleigh laughed. “I’m going to miss you, too. I’ll email you and let you know where I end up. Maybe we can still do lunch once in awhile.”

“Sounds good. Can he come, too?” Erika wiggled a finger at Alrik. He grinned.

Smirking, Calleigh put the last of her personal items, a few scented candles and a peace lily, in the box. “Be sure to tell your
boyfriend
I said hi.”

“Sure thing. Take care of yourself.” Erika hugged her.

“You too.” Calleigh returned the embrace then lifted her box of belongings. Alrik immediately took it from her.

“I will carry this.” He rested the box on one hip.

“Thanks.” She smiled. “Let’s go ride the elevator again.”

Brad’s office wasn’t too far away so they walked instead of taking a cab, which was probably for the best. If her driving didn’t agree with Alrik, she could only imagine what a New York City cab ride would do to him.

“When we get there, just back me up on whatever I say, okay?” Calleigh asked. She’d give Brad something to think about.

“Back you up?” Alrik’s brow crinkled.

“Agree with me. If I say the sky is pink, you just nod and say yes it is.” She was getting used to having the Viking around. He really came in handy at times.

“As you wish. This is the man you were to marry? The one who betrayed you?” His eyes glinted darkly.

“Yes. I’m going to give him his ring back. Again.” She shook her head. Brad was such a conniving crapweasel.

“Do you wish that I should injure him?” Nothing in Alrik’s voice indicated he was joking.

“Hah!” Calleigh swerved to avoid a light pole. “As tempting as that offer is, I think I’ll pass. At least for now. But thanks.”

On the way up to the 22
^nd
floor, Alrik pushed every button in the elevator before she could stop him. The numbered panel light up like a Vegas billboard and the suits on board looked like they wanted to shoot him. Alrik didn’t notice and she didn’t care. Let him push every stinking button if it made him happy. He’d had enough unhappiness to justify it.

The office buzzed with activity, so different than the night she’d walked this hall alone. Brad’s secretary smiled at her as they approached. “Hello, Ms. McCarthy. I’ll just buzz Mr. Volk and tell him you’re here.”

“Is he busy? I’d rather just pop in.” Calleigh tried to look as innocent as possible and tucked her ringless hand behind her back.

The older woman eyed Alrik with a questioning gaze.

Calleigh leaned forward like she was sharing a secret. “I got him a personal trainer. It’s a surprise.” Boy, was it ever.

“Oh, isn’t that nice?” The woman waved her hand. “Surprises are so much fun.”

Calleigh wanted to laugh. “Can I leave this box with you for a few minutes?”

“Certainly. Just set it on that chair, I’ll keep an eye on it.” The secretary pushed her glasses back. “Did you like the roses? He had me send them this morning. You lovebirds are so thoughtful of one another.”

Calleigh faked a smile. “They were lovely. Can we go in?”

The woman adjusted the salt and pepper bun at the nape of her neck and glanced down at the flashing lights on her phone. “Go ahead. He should be just about done with his call.”

Thoughtful
? Is that what you call sleeping with your fiancé’s cousin? She pushed open the door. Brad yakked into the phone, his feet propped on the window sill.

He spun around in the chair, the phone still at his ear. He grinned at Calleigh but his smile vanished when he saw Alrik behind her.

Calleigh gave Alrik a big smile. “Shut the door, will you, sweetie?”

Chapter Eleven

“Let me call you back, a client just walked in.” Brad hung up, then stood with his hands on his hips and nodded toward Alrik. “What’s going on? Who’s this guy?”

Calleigh pulled the ring box from her purse and tossed it to him. “Here’s your ring. Keep it this time, okay? This
guy
happens to be a very good friend of mine. A very good non-cheating friend.”

“What’s that supposed to mean? I told you it was just a onetime thing with Jeana. I thought we were working things out.”

“Hah,” Alrik grunted, blowing a hard breath through his teeth.

Brad glared at Alrik. “This doesn’t concern you, buddy. Calleigh and I need to talk privately.”

Alrik moved closer to Calleigh and slipped his arm around her waist. “I am not leaving her alone with you.”

“Get your hands off my fiancée before I call security.” Brad shook a menacing finger at Alrik but remained behind his desk.

Calleigh shook her head. “His hands can stay right where they are. I am
not
your fiancée any longer.”

Scowling, Brad huffed. “So you bring this meathead in here to do what? Intimidate me? Show me you can get another guy? Fine, you got another guy. Good for you, but I’m not impressed. Or intimidated. You probably borrowed him from your uncle.”

Alrik lunged forward a single step. Brad jerked back and tripped over his chair. He caught the edge of his desk and righted himself.

Stifling a giggle, Calleigh put her hand on Alrik’s arm. Rock-hard muscle flexed beneath her fingers. A delicious tingle tripped down her spine, broadening her smile. “I’ve said everything I came to say.” She turned her gaze toward Alrik. “We can go now, sweetie.”

“You can’t be serious. You’d rather be with this…this long-haired…barbarian than me?” Brad sputtered, something she’d never seen him do before. In fact, he practically foamed at the mouth.

“You bet your Gucci loafers I’d rather be with him.” She patted Alrik’s chest. “And unlike Jeana, all this is real.”

She turned to leave, and Alrik put his hand on the curve of her hip. The possessive gesture sent tantalizing heat through her like wildfire. Her lips quivered with giddiness. She paused at the door, nerves steeled by the allegiance of the man beside her. She looked back at Brad, now red-faced. “One question. Does Jeana have any idea how deep in debt your gambling has gotten you? She’s not exactly a low maintenance girl, you know. Trust me. I’ve known her a lot longer than you have.”

His jaw dropped, disbelief glazing his eyes. “How—“

“Anyway, have fun with that. Bye.”

On the other side of the office door, she exhaled. Her hands trembled with adrenaline.

“You did very well. I am proud of you,” Alrik said.

“Thanks. You were pretty good yourself. Grab that box and let’s get out of here. I’m buying you lunch.” She knew just the place to go. Good thing she’d worn her classic black suit. She checked her watch. Perfect. Just enough time to drop the box off at her uncle’s studio for safe keeping.

Her uncle was out, so she left the box with his assistant, Leona, and promised to be back in a couple of hours.

The maitre’d at Aureole ushered them to a table near the windows, right in eyeshot of everyone entering. Not until after they ordered did the person she’d been waiting for show up.

Calleigh held the tall blonde’s gaze, obligating her to acknowledge their presence.

“Hello.” Jeana’s smile was forced, her wave half-hearted and weak. She eyed Alrik like he was the main course on an all-you-can-eat Viking buffet.

“Jeana. How nice to see you. I don’t think you’ve met my date. Alrik, this is Jeana.”

He stared at the tall, leggy woman. By the ice in his eyes, Calleigh knew he was thinking of another blonde in his past. She nudged him. “This is Jeana. My cousin.”

Snapping back to the present, he nodded and laced his fingers through Calleigh’s on the table top. “I know who she is.”

If someone had just filled her with helium, Calleigh couldn’t have felt lighter. His tone said it all. Jeana had just been introduced to a really hot guy who couldn’t care less that she was a really hot blonde.

“Well, nice to see you. I should get to my table.”

Liar. You don’t think it’s nice to see me at all. “Yeah, you probably should.”

Lunch tasted calorie free and when it was over, she didn’t even flinch at the amount on the check.

“That was very good, but why do they put such small amounts of food on such large plates?” Alrik asked.

“That’s
haute cuisine
for you. But we didn’t really come here for the food.”

“I know.” He smiled.

Calleigh could see Jeana’s table when they stood to leave. Jeana stared. She tipped her head in the blonde’s direction as she addressed Alrik. “So if you enjoyed lunch, why don’t you thank me properly?”

He slanted his eyes toward Jeana’s table with a knowing smirk. “If you insist.”

“I do,” Calleigh said. Anticipation made a great dessert.

Still smiling, he drew her close, his hands on her waist. She closed her eyes. His kiss was firm and possessive and perfect. She wanted Jeana to see, to know that another man, a better man, wanted her. Curly hair and all.

Their lips parted but still he held her, his face nuzzled against her neck. He whispered in her ear. “Did that please you?”

“Oh, yes.” A strand of his hair tickled her cheek and she inhaled. He smelled so good. All warm and cinamonny. Why couldn’t he be real instead of some fairy god-Viking? Two more wishes, and he’d be gone. But she’d think about that later. She peeked at Jeana and nodded. “I think that did the trick.”

Jeana powdered her nose and pretended not to look, but Calleigh could see her eyes widen over the rim of her Chanel compact. Good. Maybe Brad would get an earful too.

She slipped her hand into Alrik’s and he knit his fingers with hers. The comfort of his hand was a temporary pleasure, but while he was here, why not enjoy the benefits of having her very own Viking?

As they walked toward the door, he slipped his hand out of hers and onto the curve of her hip as he’d done in Brad’s office. She could only imagine Jeana’s expression at that move.

They held hands again when they got outside. No point in hailing a cab just yet. That would mean letting go. But too many blocks lay between them and her uncle’s studio. If it weren’t for her box of belongings, she might not have gone back at all.

Well, it wouldn’t kill them to walk a little. The next few blocks passed beneath their feet without either of them speaking. She didn’t feel the need to break the companionable silence with needless chit-chat.

The trees were starting to bud, a sign that spring was about to burst forth in all its green blooming glory. Alrik would probably be gone by then. Holding his hand and kissing him and daydreaming about a future she couldn’t have wasn’t doing herself any favors. She slipped her hand free and waved for a cab.

Once in the taxi, she decided to talk to him to keep his mind off the ride. “I really appreciate you playing along with me, with Brad and Jeana. I know it’s petty to want them to think I’m with someone new but it makes me feel better.”

“I am glad to help. I know very well the desire to make your betrayers see they did not best you.” His grip on the edge of the seat loosened a little.

“Well, still. Thanks.” Their knees were touching and even though they’d just been holding hands, the contact seemed more intimate somehow.

“It is I who owe you thanks for the meal. You are kind to pay for all these things for me.” He shook his head, his jaw tightening as he looked out the window. “You should not have to provide for me.”

“I don’t mind. I can afford it.” Especially now that she wasn’t marrying Brad.

“It is not a matter of what you can and cannot afford. A man should have his own means. Thanks to Freya, I have nothing to pay you back with.”

She furrowed her brow. “You mean you usually come with money?”

“Aye, and clothes. Freya sent me the way she did because she is determined to break me. I know if I give in to her, the world would be mine for the asking.”

“So why don’t you?”

“Bedding Freya does not serve my purpose. Besides, she offers little sport. Finding a willing bedmate has never been difficult for me. Why should I choose one just because she demands it?” He sucked in a breath and glanced at her. “I did not mean—”

She shrugged. His words stung. She felt guilty for making him feel like an object. She twisted her purse strap around her finger. “You’re probably right. I bet there are very few women that would turn you down. My uncle is the same way. I’m sorry if I overstepped my bounds.”

He let go of the seat entirely and scooped her hand into his. “I was not referring to you, only Freya. You have done nothing but make me feel welcome in your home and in your life. Do not be hurt by my words, fair eyes.”

“I can imagine how hard it must be for you, adjusting to strange surroundings with nothing of your own.”

His eyes sparkled with his smile. He pressed a kiss to the back of her hand. “I have never had such a charge as you, Calleigh lass. You are as kind-hearted as you are beautiful.”

She tried to control the rising heat in her cheeks. “You said Dagny was the most beautiful woman you had ever seen, and that you thought she was the goddess, so Freya must be beautiful too.” She hesitated, unsure she wanted an answer to her next question. “Do you really think I’m beautiful? Or are you trying to make me feel better?”

He shook his head, his smile fading as his expression became serious. “Dagny’s beauty did not sit in her bones the way yours does. When I tell you you are beautiful, I mean it. Your beauty shines from within as though your heart is filled with stars. You have the kind of beauty that does not fade with age, the kind of beauty that draws a man home no matter the distance.”

Gently, he released her hand and put his own on his heart. “My word is my bond. It is all I have.”

In awed silence, she sat staring at the man across from her. No one had ever said such wonderful, poetic things to her. If only they had come from a man she could actually hold onto for the rest of her life.

“Thanks.”
Great, Cal. Is that the most pathetic answer you could come up with? The man tells you your heart is filled with stars and your best response is “thanks”? No wonder you’re single.

She cleared her throat. “I mean, that’s the nicest thing anyone’s ever said to me. Maybe you weren’t trying to make me feel better, but you did.”
Boy, did you.

When they arrived at her uncle’s studio, he was back from lunch and meeting with clients. Past the reception desk and into the studio, she saw two men dressed in European motorcycle racing jackets and dark jeans looking through her uncle’s thick portfolios. They nodded and pointed as they deliberated in a mix of heavily-accented English and what sounded like German.

Seamus saw her too. He smiled and held up his finger to indicate he’d just be a moment longer.

The first man peered through thick black rimmed glasses at one of the pictures. “Ja, est goot, but more rugged face.”

Her uncle flipped the page. “Like this?”

The second man ran a hand over his shaved head. His English was better. “Too pretty. Ve need a man the men vill vant to be and the women vill vant to do.”

Seamus grinned. “Maybe I should let ya hire me.”

The men laughed with him. The one in glasses waggled his finger. “Zo funny, you are.

“I’m sure I can find a model to suit this campaign. Let me make some calls, set up a few ‘go sees’ and get some models in here for you guys to look at.” Seamus pushed the intercom on his desk. “Leona, come here, love.”

A vision of Goth loveliness, Leona emerged moments later from the dark room behind Alrik and Calleigh. The girl’s cartoon-red hair was parted down the middle and clipped back in two black heart-shaped barrettes. She grinned at Calleigh and gave Alrik the once over before tugging at her purple fishnet stockings. “Hey, Cal! Who’s the dude?”

The Germans turned to look in Leona’s direction. Mr. Shaved Head pointed at Alrik. “Zis one is very goot! Why do you not show us pictures of him?”

“Uh yes, why…” Seamus tapped a finger on his chin.

Calleigh could almost see the neon dollar sign lighting up over her uncle’s head. She shook her head no. She would not permit anyone else to make Alrik feel like an object.