Devil’s in the Details (10 page)

I went to open my mouth to deliver some dry, firm questions if she was a family member of a student, or if she had questions about enrollment since I spotted the corner of Ensign Peters letterhead in her front pocket, when Alex started talking.

"I know that it's probably crazy to come to your office, you will probably think I am crazy, but I had to find you, Commander Bancroft." My rank came out of her mouth with awkwardness.

I held up my hand and smile softly, "You can call me Victoria."

She nodded, swallowing hard and looking down at her hands, "My name is Alex Ivers and I know it was you who took me to the hospital after my incident. I really." Alex paused, looking up to make direct eye contact, "I really had to find you and thank you for helping me that night." The poor woman was so nervous I could almost see her heart pound under her clothes.

I smiled tightly, looking at my pen holder and not those soulful blue eyes, "You don't need to thank me, Alex. I did what I did, because you needed the help."

Alex nodded, "I know, but I really appreciate you doing that. People rarely ever want to get involved these days, let alone help me. I don't have many friends in the city, really only one and a bunch of coworkers, but no one who would go out of their way like you did." Alex looked at the ceiling. I could see in her eyes and body language that she was lonely and it might have been one of the reasons why she was so driven to find me. She sighed, "I can't believe I’m sitting here. Sitting in front of a woman I don't even know. I never do things like this."

I could hear the tears rising in her voice. "Alex, it's fine."

I looked up at the clock, about to mumble how I was about to start class and should go. I was beginning to feel uncomfortable with what my heart and my head wanted me to do as this woman sat across from me. My head wanted to treat her coldly and send her on her way to never be heard from, while my heart begged me to stand up, go to her and hug her like she clearly needed. Hold her and tell her that I couldn't stop thinking about her from the moment she looked in my eyes in the car. That having her here in my office, gave me something I never thought about, but now ached for as she looked at me embarrassed for being this bold.

Alex shook her head, "Can I be honest?" She wiped at her eyes before a tear slipped free. I nodded once, giving her the go ahead to continue. "Victoria, I searched you out because for some crazy reason I had to find you. I had to find you because there's something driving me to find you. To thank you in person and tell you that I can't stop thinking about..." Alex suddenly stopped her words. Shaking her head again, she struggled to stand up from the chair, "Never mind, this was crazy." I stood up and walked over to help her, but she waved me off when I went to reach for her, smiling weakly. "I got it."

Alex tugged at her jacket, "I should go, my friend is probably worried about me." She went to turn back towards the door, but stopped, looking back up at me with cloudy eyes, "Thank you for helping me, Victoria." She smiled and picked up her cane.

It only took two painful steps before the words rolled out of my mouth faster than I could stop them. “Alex, wait.” Her unfinished sentence drove me to do something. Only because it was the same thing I was struggling with. Thinking about her constantly.

Alex looked over her shoulder as I reached for my business card. Scribbling my cell phone number on the back in red pen, I handed it over to her. "If you need someone to talk to, a friend, or you need anything. Please call me." It was my turn to swallow hard. My gut was shaking its head at me while my heart was giving me a high five.

Alex's face lightened, a small half smiled formed as she turned back to me, reaching for the card. Her fingertips brushed across mine and sent shivers down my spine. Our eyes connected again in a long silent moment, so many things said that betrayed my stone cold demeanor and her nervous one. There was something brewing between us, something mutual and something that was beginning to scare me about the way it felt.

Scared me how much I liked the way it felt.

Alex held the card in her two fingers before looking down over my number. She quickly tilted her head back up to look at me, "Can I borrow your pen?" The air around us eased away from the tension that hung heavily in the air from the first word she spoke.

I held it out to her, watching her, confused, as she slowly took the battered red pen from my hand. Alex wrote a number beneath mine and handed both the pen and card back to me, "That's my number. I have already been the crazy one, so I’m going to leave you my number. You can call me if you want to talk, Victoria." She turned to walk back towards the door.

I looked at her confused, "You don't want my number?" I was taken aback. No one ever refused my phone number, my personal cell phone number, when it was given to them. Suitor or not. I knew the way men and women looked at me enough to know that my phone number was coveted by many. It suddenly felt like the tables were turned on me and I had inadvertently given Alex the upper hand.

Alex turned back to me with a small smirk on her face, "I'd rather you have mine." She then tapped the side of her temple, "Plus, I kind of have a photographic memory." Her smirked turned into a knowing grin, "Have a nice afternoon, Victoria."

I stood there in awe as Alex walked out of my office, looking down at the red digits written in the curvy handwriting from her loft. Alex was certainly unlike anyone I had ever met and I wanted nothing more than to get to know her. Regardless if it meant playing with the proverbial fire that was the foundation of my life.

"Daydreaming Professor?" Dani's voice shattered the silence I let slip in around me.

I shot my head up, tucking the card in my pocket before scowling at the redhead swaggering into my office. "What do you want?" I half growled it, turning away from her to hide my flushed cheeks by staring out the office window.

I felt Dani stop to stand next to me, "I came here for two things. First, to irritate you, which I can see I have succeeded in doing." She held out the thick dark blue envelope, "And second, the old man has a job for you. You leave tonight for Toronto, details are in the package. Call me when you land." Dani glanced at the side of my head, "That wasn't the brunette from the other night I saw hobbling towards the elevators, was it?"

I snatched the blue envelope from her hands, "Mind your own business, Dani." I moved to drop the envelope in my briefcase when I heard her firm tone.

"I would if you didn't make it my business by being careless." Dani moved to the edge of the desk where Alex's cane had just sat, "I don't care if you want to fulfill some perverse superhero fantasy, Victoria, but be fucking careful. You know what happens when people find out about the old man’s plumbers." She raised an eyebrow at me until I closed my eyes.

"I do, Dani."

She smiled at me, "Good. Like I said, I don't care, and to be honest you look like you could use a good lay." Dani turned to leave, "Oh, by the way, you do make that uniform look good. It’s a shame you don't wear it more often, Professor." She waggled her fingers at me in an exaggerated goodbye, "Call me later, Professor."

I groaned and flopped down in my chair as the door clicked shut.

I leaned forward, covering my face with my hands. I had gotten involved, breaking my number one rule, but I was strangely glad I did as much as I regretted it. The way my heart pounded when Alex was near, told me the stupid decision I made that night to save her was the best one I had made in a very long time.

Now, I only hoped it wouldn't cost me everything I had.

Chapter 4

Walking out of the admissions building I couldn't wipe the smile off my face, or hold back the nervous laughter. I couldn't believe that I had just done what I did. I must be borderline crazy.

I shuffled towards the bench under a tree, sliding over the white wooden slates to sit as comfortable as I could. I shook my head still laughing to myself. I had just done the ballsiest thing I had ever done in my life. Waltzed into a complete stranger's office, spoke my mind and gave her my phone number like we were in a seedy bar on a Saturday night.

I leaned back against the bench, staring up at the long branches of the oak tree. It was full of new green leaves, providing me with plenty of shade. Giving Victoria my phone number was a last thought, a totally crazy and spontaneous move. It came over me as I saw the look in her eyes as we shared the intense awkward moment of silence right before she handed me her business card.

It was her eyes again. The warmth radiating from them. They melted away her attempts to hold a cold, tough exterior. I knew she was hoping I would get discouraged and run away, like I wanted to the second I sat in the chair in her office. The woman was very stoic, very practiced in her demeanor, and mysterious. Then to top it all off, she looked beyond amazing in that stiff and perfectly tailored khaki uniform that fit her better than any glove could.

Victoria was more beautiful than I had remembered from the night of my attack. She had the long pale blonde hair pulled up and away from her face, as the military demanded of all women. It didn't help in keeping me focused on thanking her and talking to her. Instead it forced me to scan over the hard angles and soft edges of her face. I could easily see the traces of a smile that could cover her entire face if provoked properly.

The longer I looked over the fine details of her face, studying her, the more I began to feel my body heat up. Letting my brain drift to idle thoughts of what she would look like first thing in the morning before she put herself together for work. What her laugh would sound like and what I could do to draw them out of her. All of it was pure, idle, silly thoughts that could be played off as an instant attraction born out of loneliness, or the simple fact she was there to help me when so many others would have stepped over me. Maybe it was so much more that I couldn't quite explain in the handful of minutes Victoria and I shared making terribly awkward small talk.

I sighed hard, dropping my eyes from the tree branches to look across the large campus stretched out before me. I knew that no matter how hard I tried to talk myself out of the crazy idea, I did indeed have a connection with this woman. There was a hard reality and truth, when I would find her eyes looking directly in mine, there was a connection and chemistry there. That feeling made it harder to not be drawn back to stare in her grey eyes, and pick apart the way she made me feel. The way Victoria looked at me, was as if I held some sort of secret she had been searching for a very long time.

I moved my cane to rest against the side of the bench, taking in a deep breath of the afternoon air. The chemistry that hung thickly in the air between the blonde and I grew exponentially from the moment she helped guide me to the chair. Her hand shaking as it gently fell to my arm. I could also easily see Victoria's struggle to not directly right at me. The small beads of sweat forming at her temple before she hastily wiped them away. Then there was the way the pulse in her neck throbbed, cluing me in that her heart was racing just as fast as mine.

And then came the moment where we stood face to face. A pocket of silence dropping between us like an anvil, and as I looked in her soft grey eyes for the fiftieth time in that office, I felt my heart skip one beat. One single beat before it felt like it stopped then started again when she looked away.

That alone was something my heart had never done in my entire lifetime. Never for another, but it did for this incredibly beautiful, kind woman. There was something about her that kept her firmly in my thoughts and driven me to act a little crazier than I normally would. That's why I took the chance. Writing my number down and throwing the ball in her court. I thought it would backfire until I saw the astonished look in her face that I was refusing to take her phone number.

As I walked out of the office, I knew I would be hearing from the blonde sooner than we both thought, or wanted.

Stacy appeared out of the corner of my eye, shopping bags filling both hands, "Alex! You should have called me. You look flushed and tired." She plopped down next to me, setting the bags on the ground between her feet. "Did you get what you came here for?" Stacy had a sarcastic tone as she nudged me with her shoulder, mumbling about not knowing I was a history buff.