Designed for Love (2 page)

     
“I…I-um,
it’s good to see you, too.” She stared at his face. With no glasses blocking
his features, he was captivating. Laboring to breathe as if someone had
ciphered out her oxygen, she stepped back, causing him to drop his hand. “You
look great. Really good.”

A
devastating smile played across his lips.

     
His
body, scent, those eyes, and a dangerous smile. She needed to get out of there,
quickly. “I really, need to be going…”

Turning,
she rushed from the store.

     
“Wait,”
he called, easily matching his long strides to hers as he continued to talk. “I
can’t believe you’re back in
Charlotte
.
Are you visiting, or do you live here? Is your place close?”

     
The
faster she moved, the quicker his questions shot at her. Bursting out of the
automatic doors, Chelsi glanced at him from the side. “Yeah, sorta.”

     
“Sort
of? When did you get back?” He grabbed her arm again when they were in the
front of the store, restraining her.

     
Had
he been keeping tabs on her? Probably not. Most likely he was asking because
the last time they’d seen each other, she was headed to
New York City
to design school. “I’ve been
here for a while. Have you been here since leaving college?”

“N…o…o.”
His thumb caressed her elbow.

     
That
simple touch caused a flame to radiate up her arm and to her nipples, and they
tightened in response. The urge to cross her arm over her chest and hide them
or to press her hands against them to quell the sensation was overpowering. In
all her fantasies of seeing him again, she had always imagined that her
attraction to him would be the same as when they were teenagers, but it wasn’t.
This. Whatever
this
was, it was more
powerful. Way more powerful.

     
“Look
I’d like to catch up. Maybe have dinner?” His hand slipped down from her elbow
to her hand, holding it.

     
Oh,
God. Did she really want to “catch up”? Discover how he was doing? Maybe find
out that he had a wife and children? Her chest tightened, causing her fingertips
to tingle. All of a sudden she felt cold standing outside in the summer heat.

     
“Mr.
Poindexter, we really need to leave now, or you’ll miss your flight.” A man
spoke from a distance behind them.

     
Chelsi
looked around Vincent’s broad shoulders and discovered just how oblivious she became
to everything else around her when he was near. Behind him, closer to the other
door of the grocery store, but still within sight, was a pearl white stretch
limo.

     
“One
minute, Thomas.” Vincent called out without even looking at the man. “How about
that dinner, Chelsi?”

     
She
stared at him again.
What kind of man was
he to ride in a limo to the store?
Oh, God. This was a pity request. If he
was rolling around the world with a driver and a vehicle that ten people could
fit in comfortably, there was nothing he could want from her. Especially
dressed as she was in her current ensemble. Shaking her head, Chelsi reminded
herself that she was on deadline. She did not have time to play catch up. She
was trying for what could possibly be the contract of the year.

     
At
that moment, her alarm on her cell phone rang. Pulling her hand out of his, she
dug into the back pocket of her worn cut-offs and looked at it.

     
Conference Call in 15 mins
, flashed on
the screen of her handheld. She pushed the button to turn the obnoxious beeping
off.

“I’m
sorry; I need to go.” She stepped back.

     
Vincent
followed her step, keeping them close. “Chelsi, when can—”

     
“This
isn’t a good time.” Holding one hand up to ward off his advancement, she clenched
her fist around her two recycle bags in her other hand and shuffled back. “Nice
to see you again.”

“Chelsi!”

     
Giving
him one last look, she turned and rushed to her car, praying that he wasn’t watching
her backend. It was a long way from the shape it was in when she was on the
drill and dance team in high school.

     
Getting
to her car, she activated the automatic unlock, slipped in behind the wheel,
and started the engine in one motion. Driving away, she allowed herself one
last look at him through her rearview mirror. He still stood at the tail end of
his limo, staring in her retreating direction.

     
“Just
focus on the contract, Chelsi,” she chided herself. “This is no time to try to reclaim
a lost relationship.” She and Vincent were history. In the past.

     
Things
had really switched between them. Not that she wasn’t doing well for herself. She
was second designer for a man who was moving to the top of fashion with a
steady pace, and she was fastened to his coat tails. Yup, things were different
now. Vincent dressed and rode like a man who had people reaching for his coat
tails. He’d become a sexy, successful business man. Long gone was the poor
geeky teenage boy.

     
She
chuckled to herself. The chance to have gone to their class reunion and seen
how all the jocks, cheerleaders, and wannabes talked about him now would have
been priceless. But that opportunity was two years ago, and she’d missed it.
Apparently, Vincent hadn’t shown up either, because her best friend Becky would
have told her that.

     
Hell,
why would he have to go and try to get false approval from people who wanted to
make his life miserable for four years? The only reason he’d escaped their
ribbing in the last year was because he was dating her.

     
Then
it had all ended. Brief images of a beautiful summer filled with laughter and
love flashed in her mind as she drove. At eighteen, they spent their final
summer of youth by her pool, at amusement parks, museums, and on
Lake
Norman
.
The two of them had discovered physical love in each other’s arms. Then the
days of freedom had ended. They both had known it would.

     
They
were headed off to college in two different directions, him to the University
of Iowa and her to New York University. It was over. They had ended as friends,
making no promises to each other. Together they had decided it would be best to
end it, focus on school and their chosen careers.

And
he hadn’t called.

     
For
the first two years, she hadn’t changed the number to the cell phone her
parents had gotten her as a graduation present. Not expecting him to call but
hoping he would.

     
And
he hadn’t called. Feeling wet heat rolling down her face, Chelsi realized she
was crying. She hadn’t cried since her second week in college when she’d been
rushed to the emergency room with severe stomach pains. She’d miscarried a baby
she didn’t even know she’d been pregnant with.

     
She
waved to the guard as he opened the gates of the community where she lived.
Pulling up into her designated parking spot, she turned the car off and sat
there.

     
The
memory of that fateful night flooded back into her mind, and the agony of the
experience rested in her heart as fresh as it did then. She’d wanted to call
him. She remembered clutching the phone in her hand and wanting to hear his
voice. Tell him what happened, what they’d created that summer and lost.

     
But
she had no number for him. Nothing but his parent’s home and the tumultuous
relationship he had with them kept her from ringing their phone in the middle
of the night, begging for some way to reach him.

     
Instead,
she’d called Becky. Becky had come from
Penn
State
and had stayed with her the following weekend.

     
A
jazz melody filled the car, and it took Chelsi a moment to realize it was her
phone ringing.

     
“Do
you plan to grace us with your presence, Chelsi?” Peter Densa, her boss and
head designer of Densa Fashions spoke before she could say hello.

     
Oh,
God. She was late.

     
“Peter,
I’m getting set up now.” Scrambling around, she grabbed her two bags from the
passenger seat and jogged to her door and unlocked it. “Sorry, I was hungry so
I ran—”

     
“Starvation
creates better designs.” He cut her off, giving her the line he used when
anyone said they were taking a food break. Even as an ex-runway model, Peter
was still fit. All of his workers knew he ate healthy but rarely skipped meals,
even if it was just a pack of natural trail mix.

     
She
laughed as she deposited her bags on the counter because her table was covered.
“I could die from it, too. Then how would you get my magnificent creations I’d
suffered for?” She wiggled the wireless mouse beside her computer to get it out
of sleep mode. “They’d be here scattered around my corpse.”

     
“Trust
me. I’d find a way to get in there for them. You just make sure you’re wearing
that nasty little crushed silk gold dress when you go down,” he admonished her.

     
She
logged into the site. Her image popped up as she joined the other members of
the four man team, and she said, “So this outfit won’t do, Peter?” She executed
a sexy pouty and opened her eyes wide to appear innocent as she played with the
loose strands of her hair.

     
“Hell
no!” Peter reeled back on his screen as if struck.

     
“Good
Lord, you look awful.” Manuel added as his gaze scrolled around the top right
screen on her monitor as if he were trying to calculate all of her fashion faux
pas.

     
“I
can see why you have to be creative at home alone,
ma chérie
.”
Pierre
’s French accent played around his
words as he shook his head in the bottom left of her screen.

She
laughed at all their comments.

     
“I
would not be caught dead in that outfit and alive…” Peter’s voice trailed away
and so did her humor.

     
She
had been caught in it—by a man from her past.

Chapter Two

     
Vin
stared down at the information in the notes section of his cell phone. He’d
entered it almost a week ago and had been battling with himself on what he
should do with it. Part of him believed it would be best just to delete the information
from his phone. He couldn’t go back in time. A larger part of him urged him to
call Zeth, his best friend, a forensic specialist who worked for the police
department.

     
Zeth
could take the information Vin had and give him what he really wanted—a phone
number for Chelsi Halifax.

     
Chelsi
hadn’t really confirmed she had moved back to Charlotte, but the license plate
on the car she drove away in had North Carolina tags. He’d keyed the information
into his phone as soon as he was seated in the limo: I-337446.

     
The
combination was so ingrained in his head from looking at it since he’d seen her
at the store, he had it memorized and only pulled it up on his phone as a
formality.

     
It
had been a shock to see her that day. Even unkempt she’d been a beautiful sight
to him. A welcome vision. Her face was uninhibited by make-up, leaving her
beautiful reddish brown skin looking soft and supple. She looked as innocent
and sweet as she did the day he’d seen her in their ninth grade English class.
That first year she’d worn her hair in a high ponytail, no bangs or curls. That
was when he’d fallen in love with her.

     
For
years he’d kept his emotions a secret and never would have dreamed of acting on
them until she’d kissed him on the last day of school their eleventh grade
year. A simple brush on the lips thanking him for helping her pass math.

     
At
that moment, an electric spark had zapped his lips and sent a current of desire
straight to his cock. He fumbled through a “you’re welcome”, as she blushed,
giggled then walked away, only once looking back at him with luminous light
brown eyes. Something in her gaze told him, she’d felt the charge, too. Too
baffled, he’d stood there as she headed to the student parking lot to her car.
Once he got out of his daze, he trundled his long awkward body to the bus lane.
The difference and the gap between their lives had been huge.

     
That
didn’t stop him from masturbating all summer long with nothing but thoughts of
that brief kiss to fuel his lust. Neither did it hold him back from executing
the impossible. Zeth had even told him not to do it, that it was teenage social
suicide. As someone most people called nerd or geek, he was already an outcast.
He’d thought, planned, and worked all summer towards one goal—asking Chelsi
Halifax out.

     
A
week before the homecoming dance of their senior year, he’d heard she hadn’t
decided who she was going to go with. Everyone assumed she’d pick Chris Riley,
the captain of the basketball team. Vincent recalled that day like it was
yesterday. It was Tuesday, and he’d caught her in the computer lab doing
research for her marketing class and had bitten the bullet and asked her.

     
He’d
expected everything from her laughing in his face to just a flat out no. Hell,
she would have been within her right as the head of the drill and dance team.
At their school, they were more popular than the cheerleaders. Chelsi was
number one school pick for homecoming queen. All odds were on her going with Chris,
the favored to win king.

     
Instead,
she had paused only for a moment then broke out in a shy smile and said yes.
She’d picked up a piece of computer paper and written her number in large bold
digits across it then handed it to him and told him to call her. Their relationship
had begun and lasted through the teasing and ridicule he’d gotten from the
jocks. But Chelsi had been his, and nothing else had mattered.

     
Two
weeks after graduation, they’d told their parents they were going to spend the
day at the amusement park. Instead they’d driven the opposite direction and gotten
a hotel in
Winston-Salem
and had made love. At eighteen, it had been the first time for both of them.

     
Vin
recalled how they’d learned together that summer. In between the actual
cultural places they visited, they read and surfed the internet on sexual techniques.
All of the applicable knowledge had been enough to fill a teacup, but they
hadn’t cared as long as they were together, because it would end soon.

     
He
had always been a practical guy, someone who planned and drafted his odds of
success before attempting anything. Dating Chelsi had been completely against
all his calculations of what could happen, but his attraction for her had won
over his rational mind. However, he’d known as each day of that summer passed
that long distance relationships in college rarely worked. Someone always ended
up getting hurt.

     
Neither
of them knew what would happen after college. Chelsi dreamed of going to
Italy
and working with high fashion designers. His dreams had all been about
business. Making something of himself.

     
Leaning
back in his office, he glanced at all the high end furnishings. Frames holding
his various degrees and certificates, proof that he had made it. He shifted his
gaze to his desk where a dual monitor screen sat. Stock reports, future
business ventures, and ideas jotted down on sheets of paper littered the
polished wood. There was one thing missing among all of it—family photos. He’d
succeeded at everything he’d ever dreamed of except one—Chelsi.

     
Over
the years he’d dated and slept with his share of women. Success had a way of
making a man desirable. The fact that he’d grown into his body and had Lasik
surgery didn’t hurt, either.

     
Lydia,
a lawyer friend of his, had been the last woman he dated two years go. Everyone
had expected them to marry, but it hadn’t worked out. When he’d made a business
proposition to her instead of a heartfelt engagement, she gracefully turned him
down. Telling him that as much as she cared about him, she knew he didn’t love
her. She’d been right. He’d given his heart and soul to one girl over a decade
ago, and he’d never gotten it back.

     
Chelsi
had changed, too. Memories of her in her baggy apparel came before him. She was
still lovely but in a more mature fashion. Her body had filled out. He could
tell from the swell of her breasts under her shirt and the sway of her full ass
as she’d walked away. Run away was more like it.

     
He
frowned. It still bothered him days later. Why hadn’t she wanted to have dinner
with him? It was possible that after all these years some guy had swept her off
her feet and married her. Did she have kids? By her appearance in the middle of
the afternoon on a weekday, it was very possible she was a stay at home mother.

     
The
thought of seeing Chelsi pregnant with a baby made his gut clench. When they had
dated, they didn’t spend a lot of time talking about marriage and raising a
family. They only spoke of their love and mutual career goals. If she had found
happiness with someone else, he should be excited for her, not have the desire
to rip a guy’s head off for even touching her. His life hadn’t been celibate so
he had no place to judge her, but jealousy still bled through his body like
acid, burning him up everywhere it touched.

     
He
knew she’d felt the spark arc between them. He’d noted the distinct points of
her nipples when he’d touched her, proof she wasn’t immune. Even through all of
her clothing he’d seen how those dark tips looked tight with arousal. His mouth
became moist just thinking about how they felt along his tongue. His cock
hardened and pressed against the back of his zipper. What would it be like to
make love to her now knowing a lot more than he had when he was eighteen and
fumbling around nervously?

     
Staring
back at the plate combination again, he told himself for the umpteenth time he
had no right to seek her number out and call her. If she was married, he would
cause strife. It was best to leave her alone.

     
“Boss,
all parties have arrived and are set up in the board room. They are ready when
you are.” Mike, his personal assistant, came through the intercom, shaking Vin
out of his reflections.

“Give
me a few minutes. I’ll be right along.”

     
“Yes,
sir.” The intercom light on his desk phone went away, telling him that Mike had
disconnected the communication link.

     
Vin
picked up the folder for his new business. Creating a chain of stores designed
for pregnant women and infants. This was probably to blame for all his thoughts
of wondering how Chelsi would look pregnant.

     
Rising,
he picked up his cell phone with all intentions of erasing the plate then
stopped. Without giving it further thought, he reached over and picked up his
desk phone, dialing a familiar number.

     
“Mecklenburg
County Forensics Department. Miller.” The rough but chipper voice came through
the line.

“Zeth,
I need a favor.”

     
“Vin,
my man, how’s it hangin’? What’s up?” They’d been friends for so long, Vin
didn’t need to tell Zeth it was him on the phone, and the reverse was true.

     
“I
need you to run a plate for me and give me contact information for the person.”
Vin didn’t allow himself to weigh the probabilities of his decision.

     
Zeth’s
voice lowered a little. “If I go down for something illegal, you better have a
position for me at that damn corporate empire of yours.”

     
Chuckling,
Vin said, “You got it.” It was a frequent joke between them. Vin rarely called
his friend for help unless his HR department was getting a delay on someone’s
background check.

“Give
it to me.”

     
Rattling
off the number, Vin wait a moment for Zeth to repeat it.

“It
isn’t for the president, is it?”

“No.”

     
“Right.
You probably have that fucking number on speed dial anyway,” Zeth bit back.

Not
answering, Vin laughed.

     
“Is
a couple of hours okay? I’m at the tail end of my part of an investigation, and
if I don’t get it done soon, it will be my ass.”

     
“Perfect.
I’ve got a meeting now and two following that so that’ll work,” Vin confirmed.

“Great.”

     
They
ended the call, and Vin walked out of his office. Mike was no longer at his
desk, and Vin knew his assistant would already be in the boardroom, ready and
waiting to take notes. Wasting no more time than it took to get down the hall and
give a brief nod to the six pregnant women sitting in chairs outside the
conference room, Vin grabbed the brass knob of the solid oak door and entered
the room, feeling like shit for asking his friend to pull her number. But he
wanted to see her again.

* * * *

     
“I’ll
start off talking about our concept for the designs and then you can handle the
showing and the PowerPoint on the other items in the catalogue. I’ll close with
other tie in ideas.” Peter leaned in and whispered in her ear.

     
She
didn’t know why he was telling her this again. They’d already rehearsed how
they would handle the meeting two times yesterday. However, she could understand
his nervousness. Getting this contract would be a big deal for them. They
weren’t sure how many other designers were in the running for the contract
owned by Point Corporation, a multifaceted company that had connections in
diverse businesses around the country. It was a fully American product
business, and the CEO, the man everyone only referred to as the boss, was a
leader in his time.

     
Apparently,
he’d decided to sit in on this meeting, and that’s who they were all waiting
for.

“Thank
you, everyone, for your patience.”

     
Chelsi
hadn’t even heard the heavy silent door open, but the voice that spoke struck
her like an arrow, piercing her heart, making her turn instantly and pray.
Dear Lord, give me the strength not to fall
through the floor.

     
Vincent
strolled into the room, wearing a smoke gray suit and burgundy tie, like he
owned the place. And apparently he did.

     
She
knew the moment Vincent recognized her sitting two seats away from him on the
other side of Peter, because his blue eyes darkened with amazement. Chelsi was just
as shocked at seeing him, but she was relieved she no longer had to worry about
his last image of her being in ratty cut-offs and a faded t-shirt.