Between The Sheets - Complete Collection
Read Between The Sheets - Complete Collection Online
Authors: Mia Cardine
Copyright © 2014 by Mia Cardine
This book is a work of fiction. The names, characters, places and incidents are products of the writer’s imagination or have been used fictitiously and are not to be constructed as real. Any resemblance to persons, living or dead, actual events, locales or organizations is entirely coincidental.
All rights reserved.
No part of this book may be reproduced, scanned, or distributed in any manner whatsoever without written permission from the author except in the case of brief quotation embodied in critical articles and reviews.
Table of Contents
One year ago…
Seven years. Brandi Rafferty could scarcely believe it: She and Nick, together, cohabitating for seven years today, and she had planned an intimate celebration. The last couple of years, they’d often discussed taking the next step in their relationship. Well, tonight she intended to propose to him.
Brandi arranged candles around the living room she and Nick had so much fun decorating. Soft, mellow jazz played in the background and, along with dimmed lighting, enhanced the intimacy of the romantic scene she staged. Creamy rose petals stood out in sharp relief against the luxurious, dark chocolate carpeting. A bottle of their favorite wine chilled in an ice bucket set near the stone fireplace, where she laid a mauve faux fur rug. Vanilla and lavender scents filled their home.
She gazed around, scrutinizing the room as a whole to make sure she didn’t miss a thing. Satisfied, Brandi glanced at her watch then hurried through the master bedroom to the adjoining bathroom, dropped her robe and sank into the foaming milk and honey bath she had prepared earlier. Almost an hour later, she emerged relaxed and ready to slip on the shimmery pearl halter gown, which was trimmed in lace. It dipped low between her breasts and left her back bare to just above her behind. A long front slit left one leg to the top of her thigh open to view. She went to the spa earlier in the day to get her hair and nails done. Ruby red lip stain and smoky eyes with long lashes completed the look she was going for: Sultry and ready for a night of loving.
Brandi checked the time again. Her man would be home in half an hour, just enough time for her to complete dinner. In the kitchen, she retrieved the bowl holding the marinating steaks. The shrimp kabobs were seasoned and ready to place onto the covered grill once the steaks were ready. Rice pilaf, stir-fried veggies, and multi-grain dinner rolls completed the entrée, needing only to be warmed for a brief time in the microwave. For dessert, she made his favorite: Homemade carrot cake with cream cheese icing.
Thinking she may have heard a car pull in to their driveway, Brandi rushed to the window. Yes! He was finally here. She hurried to the living room and arranged herself in a semi-reclining pose on her side, her long legs – Nick’s favorite part of her body – stretched out, one on top of the other, showing a substantial amount of smooth, tanned skin.
The sound of the door opening reached her. Brandi arched her back, thrusting out her breasts. Her heartbeat quickened with each step he made, twin jolts of anticipation and excitement lighting a fire in her blood.
His steps halted. Brandi held her breath. By now, he would have seen the candles and the dimmed lighting. Silence. He didn’t move, just remained where he was. A frown settled between her brows as the silence lengthened.
“Nick?”
An impatient sigh preceded his entrance into the living room. He wasn’t smiling. His gaze skimmed her body and the room, lingering nowhere. This wasn’t the Nick she knew. Something was wrong.
Nick shook his head. “Huh? You should’ve talked to me before you made these plans.”
“I…it was a surprise.”
“You can’t possibly be that clueless, Bee.” His words were like poisoned darts tearing through her body. “You had to have noticed there’s something wrong with this picture, with us.”
“No.” She shook her head, adamant, even as she struggled to understand what was going on. “We’ve both been working hard the last few months so, yes, we’ve been too exhausted to enjoy one another but that’s all.”
Nick shook his head. Without another word, he went to the coat closet, pulled out two large suitcases and slung a duffle bag across his back. Brandi stared, eyes wide, unable to believe what she was seeing.
“What are you doing?”
Another exasperated sigh. “You’re an intelligent woman, Bee. What do you think I’m doing? This isn’t working for me anymore.”
Tears welled. Brandi was powerless to stop them, but they only seemed to anger him.
“Don’t try that shit on me. It’s beneath you. A strong woman, you’ve always said, won’t pull that kind of manipulative crap. Have some dignity, for goodness sake.”
Without another word, Nick walked out the door and out of her life.
___
Monday morning arrived at last. After spending the weekend in a ratty old robe that had belonged to her deceased father, a steady stream of tears clogging her throat and flowing from her eyes, going through box after box of tissues, wracking sobs that made breathing a challenge, Brandi was more than ready for something else to occupy her mind. Still, questions refused to go away.
What had she missed?
How had she not known that Nick was no longer feeling the same for her as she did for him?
What had she done to deserve the callous and cruel way he ended things between them?
She’d given Nick everything. Not at first, but when years one, two, and three passed with things hot and heavy between them, she let down her guard and received him into her heart. That wasn’t an easy thing for her to do.
How the hell did I not see this coming?
Tears threatened at the futile questions, her heart shredding in her chest. Again. No, continually. She wouldn’t wish this agonizing, searing, excruciating hurt on her worse enemy.
Makeup managed to partially conceal her puffy eyes and reddened nose. Brandi refused to face her employees looking as devastated as she felt. Selecting her most flattering yet work appropriate dress, the navy sheath that fell to just above her knees and the matching hip length jacket, she slipped it over silk stockings with care, her movements controlled and deliberate. Peep-toe heels, pearl drop earrings and the matching heart-shaped necklace completed her ensemble. She brushed her chin length bob and left it free to help conceal what make-up couldn’t fully cover. Lifting her chin, she drew her purse strap over her shoulder, grasped her laptop case and walked out the door, locking it behind her. She paused, staring at the lock.
Right. The locks would have to be changed.
But what if Nick realizes how much he loves me and returns?
On the heels of that thought came his parting words:“Have some dignity, for goodness sake.”
Fresh waves of pain seared her heart. He wasn’t coming back. She had to change the lock because the very act would show her heart that she and Nick were well and truly over.
___
Present day, one year later…
Brandi entered the building to her suite of offices, the first to arrive, as usual, determined to ignore what this day meant for her. As the date approached, Nick’s parting words resounded in her mind over and over again, threatening to derail her hard-won recovery from the vicious heartache he dealt her.
Inside her office, she closed the door, breathing deep to fight the tears burning her eyes. She wasn’t ready to talk to people yet, needing time, time in her own business and the accomplishments she’d achieved to remind her who she was. Not some weak-willed, broken woman she almost became the weekend he left her.
She was Brandi Rafferty who had graduated summa cum laude with her MBA from the Booth School of Business at the University of Chicago. She interned with the top advertising agency in Chicago. Now, at 28, she’d made a name for herself and her agency, even though The Rafferty Group was a relative newcomer within the specialization of digital marketing, as well as traditional marketing channels.
Take that, Nick Everett. You didn’t destroy me. I survived. Hell, I’ve thrived.
Brandi straightened her shoulders, lifted her chin and welcomed the anger pulsing through her veins. That anger helped her through the first six months after the break-up. Even now, whenever the pain returned, her anger helped drive it back behind the vault where she shoved it. Nick could go to hell, for all she cared. She refused to let him bring her down, make her feel less than the woman she knew herself to be. She was even twice the man he was to have chosen such a cowardly way to end their relationship.
So no more tears, Brandi!
A light knock on her door interrupted her train of thought. After a quick glance in the mirror she kept in her drawer, Brandi answered, “Come in.”
Her personal assistant, Antonia Chavez, entered. “Good morning, Brandi, the new hire, Shai Montroie, is here.”
“Send her in and call down to HR to let them know she’ll be down in about half an hour to complete the paperwork.”
“Will do.”
Leaving the door ajar, Antonia motioned and a full-figured woman with curly hair held back from her face by a headband that matched the earth tones in her pantsuit entered, smiling wide.
“Good morning, Ms. Rafferty.”
Brandi smiled back, surprising herself. There was just something so infectious about her, she couldn’t help but return her grin.
“Hello, Shai, and please call me Brandi. Are you ready to get to work?”
“Yes, I am, thank you.”
“Come in and have a seat,” Brandi replied, waving toward the chairs stationed in front of her desk. “You too, Antonia.”
Once the women were seated, Brandi clasped her hands together, forearms on the desk.
“When we’re finished here, Shai, Antonia will show you to Personnel so you can complete all required paperwork. But, before you do that, I want to introduce you to the team at our standard Monday morning meeting, which starts in,” she glanced at her watch, “just under ten minutes. In the meantime, Antonia, please show Shai to her office so she can get settled in before the meeting.”
As the women rose to leave, Brandi also stood and offered her hand to Shai. “Welcome to The Rafferty Group.”
Alone again, the ache returned full force as the memory of Nick and his heartless words echoed in her mind. Brandi gasped, pressing a fist to the ache she couldn’t assuage. Breathing deep, she shoved the pain back into the vault in her mind and slammed the door shut.
Standing, she picked up her tablet, determined to remain in control, and left for her meeting.
The morning passed quickly. Before she knew it, Antonia knocked on her door and announced that it was time for her to leave for her luncheon appointment with the agency’s newest client.
“Thanks.” Brandi slipped her tablet and a notepad into her purse. “Did you call a taxi for me?”
“Of course. It’ll be here any moment.”
Brandi nodded her thanks as she passed her assistant, flashing a brief smile. “Hold down the fort for me.”
“Always do,”quipped Antonia with an answering grin. The taxi had arrived by the time she emerged from the building.
Appetizing smells emanated from Chad’s Bar and Grill. Brandi’s stomach rumbled and she realized she hadn’t eaten all day. Truth be told, she didn’t have an appetite now. She gave her name to the host and followed him to a table in front of the floor-to-ceiling windows. The décor reminded her of Friday’s, dark wood and hardwood floors, but with an urban flavor. After he left with her beverage order, she opened the menu. Before she could study it, the arrival of two men forestalled her. One she recognized as Geoffrey Rasmussen.
Her heart rate quickened as it always did whenever she saw him, an attraction she didn’t want to feel, especially today.
Geoffrey stood at the chair across from her. His eyes stared into hers intently, like he was trying to see all her secrets.
Brandi focused on the man with him and waited while Geoffrey introduced him.
“Paul Strom, may I present Ms. Brandi Rafferty of The Rafferty Group Ad Agency. Ms. Rafferty, the architect who designed the unique building you see out there, Mr. Paul Strom.”
Paul’s eyes lit with interest as he offered his hand. “Please call me Paul. It’s a pleasure to meet you, Ms. Rafferty.”
Geoffrey stilled at the man’s undisguised response to this woman. Eyes narrowed, he zoomed in on the man, his watchful gaze moving from Paul to Brandi. In the two months since he met Ms. Brandi Rafferty, a sense of possessiveness toward her grew within him that took him unawares. No other woman had ever so affected him. Yet from the moment their eyes met – those incredible piercing gray eyes of hers – he found himself well and truly hooked. He saw the same desire he felt mirrored in her eyes when she looked at him, yet she would have him believe she felt nothing. No matter. Given time and much patience on his part he would convince her otherwise. This was no mere conceit. He knew what he wanted and resolved to get that which was important to him, allowing nothing and no one to preempt him. It was his way.
A reserved smile curved her lips. “It’s nice to put a face to the name, Paul, and you may call me Brandi.”
“May I bring you gentlemen a beverage?” the waiter asked as he placed an iced tea in front of Brandi.
Geoffrey inclined his head for Paul to answer first.
With an obvious reluctance that set Geoffrey’s teeth on edge, Paul tore his eyes away from Brandi. “A Sam Adams, please.”
“A glass of your finest merlot,” Geoffrey said when the man turned to him. After he left, he asked, “Might I suggest we wait until we have ordered our entrees before commencing the meeting?”