Fallen for You (13 page)

He put his arms down and let her pass. She found her purse and got her keys out as she bolted for the door. He tracked behind her. He reached out for her hand, again trying to convince her to stay. “You have every right to be pissed at me. I wasn’t thinking about your feelings when I got information out of Natalie. I just wanted to know everything about you. I needed to know about the guy that let you get away. I needed to know if you still had feelings for him and that’s why you haven’t been with anyone else. I know I messed up, but you have completely beguiled me. I was thoughtless and desperate. All I want is a chance to be with you.”

She pulled her hand away from his. She opened the door. “Good night, counselor. I hope that your information keeps you warm at night.” Her words sounded harsh, even to her. She made her way to the elevator, pushed the button and waited.

He walked over to her. “Don’t blame Natalie. She really thought that you had told me about David. She didn’t intentionally betray your confidence. She’s a good friend to you.”

“I’ll keep that in mind when I talk to her.” The elevator doors opened and she got on. She pushed a button and then the door closed. The last thing she saw was Neil’s hurt face. He looked like he’d been punched in the gut.

She got to the bottom floor, relieved to have escaped. Her mind was reeling with all of the events of the evening. She had spent the evening with this gorgeous, sexy man who clearly wanted her. She had shared herself with him, and had mind-blowing sex. Sex like she had never experienced before. Now she had walked out on him because of David, her lost love. She was so confused. She needed to talk to Charlie. Charlie would help her see things clearly.

***

Kate made her way up the stairs to her apartment quickly with her purse in one hand and her work clothes in the other. Roger’s door was open. Now she had to converse with him. He was such a nosy bastard. Why couldn’t he just leave her alone? She was in no mood to answers his imposing questions.

“Hey Kate, you’re getting home late. Did you go out with friends tonight?” He could see that she was wearing a sexy white dress that showed off her curvy shape.

“Yeah, Roger. I went out with friends,” she said, putting the key in her door. She wasn’t in the mood to be engaging. Before he could ask her anything further she dismissed him. “Good night, Roger. Have a good evening. Say hi to Rose for me.” With that, she closed the door behind her.

***

Roger stood there for a moment appraising the situation. Her hair was really a mess and she looked upset. She must have been with someone. A man. Did she fuck him? Her hair looked like it. He was furious as he went back into his apartment. This wasn’t part of his plan. He was supposed to be the one fucking her.
Damn it. How could she do this to him?
One way or another, he would get his way eventually. He always did. He may have to punish her for cheating on him like this.

***

Mitch and Charlie were wrapped in each other’s arms on the sofa, watching a movie. They both looked surprised as Kate closed the door behind her. Mitch paused the movie and Charlie got the lights. “You’re home early. What happened? I didn’t expect to see you before we went to bed,” Charlie said, seeing that Kate’s make-up was streaked.

“You’ve been crying. Do you want me to go over there and kick his ass?” Mitch asked.

She let out a heavy sigh like she had carried a boulder up the stairs and all of her strength was gone. “No,” she said, shaking her head. She sat down and told them the whole story of her evening with Neil. Almost every detail.

“Oh, Kate, I know that you are upset, but is it really so bad that he knows about David? You were going to have to tell him eventually,” Charlie said.

“I know.” She let out another sigh. “I just wasn’t ready to discuss my past with him yet.”

“The question now is what do you want?” Mitch asked. “It sounds like he is really into you. You obviously have some feelings for him, or you wouldn’t have slept with him.”

“You both make good points. I was just so overwhelmed by the sex and him bringing up David. I reacted. I couldn’t help myself.”

Kate’s phone lit up with a text from Neil.

Neil Statton: r u ok? r u home? respond or I will come look for u.

What? Is he crazy?.

Kate Simmons: i’m fine. at home.

Then Kate turned her phone off. She didn’t want any more correspondence between them tonight. Charlie looked at her with her eyebrows raised.

“That was Neil checking up on me to make sure that I got home all right,” she said, rolling her eyes. “I have a lot to think about.”

“Okay, he’s more than into you,” Mitch said. “He wouldn’t be texting you right now if all he wanted was sex. He sounds like a stand-up kind of guy. If you want my two cents, I think you need to give him another chance. It sounds like he stumbled upon the info from Natalie. I don’t think he was grilling her to find out about your past.”

“You might be right, Mitch. I’ll talk to Nat at work tomorrow. We open together. Thanks for the good advice. I need to sleep on this. Good night, you two.”

She got up from the love seat and headed to her room.

“Good night. Sleep well,” Charlie called out after her.

Kate went into her bathroom. She washed her face, brushed her teeth, and flossed. She was exhausted. She took a Tylenol PM and went to her room. She stripped down, not even taking the time to hang up her clothes. She just threw them on her chair. She laid her head on the pillow and thought about how incredible the evening had been until David came up. She couldn’t get the image of Neil’s powerful body looming over hers out of her mind. He was so sexy. And sweet, considerate, and attentive. He was also controlling and confident. She liked how he had taken control of her body. He was very skilled in the sex department. Everything about him was very appealing to her. She drifted off to sleep contemplating his qualities. Things would look better in the morning. They always did.

***

Neil sat on his sofa thinking about his evening with Kate. How could he have been so stupid? Bringing up David was a horrible move.
He just wanted everything to be perfect between them. The sex was amazing. He wanted her to know that he was sensitive to her feelings.
He put his head back and stared at the ceiling. All he could picture was Kate’s face etched with despair as the elevator doors closed. Was she still in love with this old boyfriend? What kind of a hold did he have on her? Would she be able to let him go and move on? These were all questions that he wanted answered. Now he had to ask for another chance. How many chances would she give him? How many did he deserve?

***

It was 2 a.m. when Roger slinked into Kate’s room. He had his flashlight and he scanned her bedroom. He saw her clothes draped over her chair. He found her panties and brought them to his nose, inhaling deeply. Her scent was intoxicating and he immediately felt a pull in his groin. He was both aroused and angry. She had fucked another man tonight. Her panties had all the tell-tale signs. How could she do this to him? Didn’t she understand that he had a plan for them to be together? He had everything in place to get rid of Rose. One way or another. It was going to be up to Rose whether or not she lived to talk about their break-up. Why was she screwing everything up? He was going to have to come up with a plan for this fucker who was trying to steal his woman.

She seemed dead to the world. Roger gently pulled her covers down, this time to her knees.
Oh, she’s so hot.
He licked his lips. He swelled more in his pants. He hovered above her and wanted to lick her breasts to make her nipples erect, but he knew that would wake her. As if she could subconsciously feel him near her, she stirred. He backed away rapidly, turned off the flashlight and slipped into the closet. Kate mumbled something that he couldn’t hear. Then she turned on the light and looked around her bedroom. She pulled the covers back up, covering herself. Roger peered out through the crack in the closet door. She got up to go to the bathroom. He could see her entire form in the light from the lamp. She had a body to die for. A body he was willing to kill for.

She returned from the bathroom and looked around her room again. She had the feeling that she wasn’t alone, but she saw nothing. Roger stayed hidden in her closet. She turned off the light and lay on her side, facing the bedroom door. He hoped that she would go back to sleep quickly. Within minutes he could hear that her breathing had deepened. God, she was delicious. He was going to have to find a way to slip her a special cocktail so that he could do more than just explore her breasts. He wanted to explore every inch of her tight body. He would get to fuck her very soon.
He slipped her panties in his pocket and slinked out of her bedroom.

Chapter 12

The alarm went off, annoying Kate to no end. She hit the clock and turned it off. She was in the middle of a dream that she didn’t want to end. She rolled over and dozed for a while, her dream coming back into focus. She was in a meadow with thick fog on one side and translucent sunlight on the other. It was like the meadow was split in half and she was trapped in between the two sides. She heard David calling her, but she couldn’t see him through the thick fog. His voice reverberated through her body. In the clearing, with sunbeams dancing off the dew, Neil was calling her name. His beautiful face was shining in the sun. His arms were outstretched to her. She stood between the meadow’s sunlight and deep fog. She was torn. She wanted to find David, but even in her dream state she knew that was impossible. He called to her again, saying that he loved her, but she had to let him go. He was telling her it was time. Time to move on. She suddenly sat up in bed. She felt dazed by her dream, but she also felt that her subconscious was trying to tell her something. The same thing that everyone had been telling her. Time to get a clue.

She looked at her clock. “Oh, no!” she said, jumping out of bed and rushing to take a shower. Her thoughts immediately landed on Neil. Everything he had done to her the night before came rushing back, causing her to clench deep down. She might have been upset with him, but damn if she didn’t want him fiercely.

She got out of the shower and dressed quickly. She zipped through the kitchen, making toast and throwing a frozen meal into her lunch bag along with an apple. She smeared almond butter on her toast and ran out the door. She would have to put her make-up on at work before the store opened. She had managed to put on foundation and powder before she left the bathroom. She would just make it to work on time. It was Sunday and she worked ten to five. Sundays were quick and easy. It was always busy, so the day flew by virtually without notice. She loved working Sundays. Plus, getting off at five gave her plenty of time to have an evening.

Her drive to work was easy. There was no traffic to speak of. Now she could focus on Neil. She had promised herself when she and Charlie moved in together she was going to have a life again. Well, life was messy. It was time to take a risk. She had been playing it safe ever since she had lost David. She met guys on a regular basis. She just wouldn’t give anyone a chance. Not until Neil. He was relentless, and
wouldn’t take “no” for an answer. There was something very alluring about that. About him. She knew he wanted her. There was no guessing, no games. She decided she would get Nat’s version of the story and then determine if she was going to give Neil yet another chance.

Kate got to work with only a minute to spare, punching in at 9:59. She hadn’t turned on her cell phone yet. She wasn’t ready to deal with any messages from Neil, or worse, no messages from him. What if he decided she wasn’t worth the trouble? She couldn’t imagine anything worse than that in this moment.

She made her way into the children’s department. Racks of clothes were waiting for a home on the sales floor. She and Nat would have to rework the front pad to make room for new merchandise. Nat came bouncing in from the back, excited to hear about her date.

“How did your date go last night?” she said, her excitement barely containable. Kate proceeded to tell Natalie everything that happened as they put out the new clothes. A look of despair spread across Natalie’s face when Kate got to the part about David.

“Oh, my goodness! I thought that he already knew about David. It didn’t occur to me that I was betraying your trust. He just seemed to know. I’m so sorry, Kate. Please forgive me.”

Natalie’s eyes filled with tears. Kate wrapped her arms around her friend.

“Of course, I forgive you. You have been there for me through so much. You are a dear, wonderful friend and this isn’t your fault,” she said, pulling Natalie close. They hugged for a moment. Kate realized that Neil had said the same thing to her. Natalie thought she had told him. This said a lot about his character. He wanted to protect her relationship with Natalie more than he wanted to defend himself. Her decision was made. She would give Neil Statton another chance.

***

It was 5 p.m. The day had evaporated rapidly. They had been so busy that Kate scarcely had time to take a lunch break. She took 15 minutes to eat and then returned to work. Her phone was in her purse and had been locked up in security all day. She hadn’t turned it on to check messages during her short lunch break. The fear of having no messages from Neil had overtaken her and she didn’t want to spend the afternoon broken-hearted. She and Natalie punched out and proceeded down the back stairwell. They were both glad that the day was over.

“What a crazy day,” Natalie said. “I can’t remember being that busy in September.”

“I know. I love busy days like this. But it is exhausting,” Kate said.

“Are you going to call him?”

Kate took her phone out of her purse and turned it on. She had seven messages. Relief spread across her body. She read the latest text from Neil.

Neil Statton: any chance for another chance?

She smiled. She was relieved. He was still pursuing her. Reading his text sent a warm feeling over her, causing her heart to feel lighter.

“Yeah, I’m going to call him.” She dialed his number and got voice mail. She was disappointed, but got ready to leave a message. “Hi, Neil, this is Kate. The answer to your question is ‘Yes.’ I’m going to give you another chance. Call me.” She hit the end button.

“I’m so relieved that I haven’t blown things for you” Natalie said.

“Oh, Nat, you’re such a good friend. You could never blow things for me.”

As they climbed the stairs to the parking deck, she saw Neil leaning against her car. He looked so good in the black slacks and white shirt that showed off his broad shoulders and highlighted his golden skin.

“Looks like you have a date tonight,” Natalie said with a wink. She squeezed Kate’s hand and moved toward her own car. “I’ll see you on Tuesday.”

Kate didn’t even respond. Her eyes were locked on the handsome man waiting for her. Her pace quickened as she approached him. Flashes of Neil’s head between her legs flooded her mind. She became flush. She wanted him and she found it sexy as hell that he was waiting for her. She stopped inches away from him, pressing her body against his.

“What are you doing here?” she said, smiling up at him and breathing in his scent.

“You didn’t answer any of my messages, so I thought I would make my plea in person. I’m so sorry…” she put her finger to his lips to stop him from talking.

“I spoke with Nat about it this morning. She didn’t realize that you didn’t know, just like you said. I can understand that it would be easy for something to be shared and you not know how to react. I know that you are curious. I want to tell you more about myself.”

Then she reached up on her tip-toes and lightly kissed him. Her light kiss turned into a ravenous one as Neil grabbed onto her head and invaded her mouth. He seized her and she let him. It felt so good to kiss him. She put her hands around his neck and pressed her body into his. He had taken her breath away with his passion. He slowed and began trailing kisses over her face and down her neck.

“I’m really glad you’re here. Have you been waiting long?” she asked.

“No,” he said. “But even if I had, you’re worth waiting for. I became worried when I didn’t hear back from you today.”

“I’m sorry. I turned my phone off last night and just turned it back on again a few seconds ago. I left you a message.”

“I know. I heard it as I saw you coming up the stairs,” he said, putting his hands on her hips to keep her body connected to his. She could feel his erection against her stomach. “I realized that I had left my phone in the car when I heard it ringing. I just missed you.” He looked into her eyes and planted another soft kiss on her lips. His kiss turned more fervent, his mouth suddenly engulfing hers again. He invaded her and his tongue made sweeping strokes over hers. His kiss slowed and he gently bit her lower lip. Then his mouth released hers. “Are you hungry? I made reservations for us at George’s.”

“Yes, I am,” she said, letting her body melt into his. She was really hungry for him.

“Good. I’m parked right next to you. I’ll drive and bring you back to your car later.”

Kate loved that he was a take-charge kind of man. She was content to have him make the decisions. He took her by the hand and led her to his car. He opened her door and she climbed in. It had a new-car smell that she loved so much. He closed the door as she buckled her seatbelt. Somehow, everything felt right with the world. She was going to dinner with a handsome, articulate man who wanted her. More importantly, she wanted him. It was scary, but she was willing to take a chance on finding happiness again in her life.

Neil pulled out of the parking lot and headed toward the freeway. “So, how was your day?”

“We were insanely busy, so it went by quickly. I love busy days. It helps out since I cut my hours back to go to school full time.”

“Oh, well that’s good.”

“How was your day?”

“I had an 8 o’clock tee time with my dad. After golfing, we had lunch with my mom. I took the liberty of telling my mom about you. I had already talked to my dad on the course. They both want to meet you.”

“Wow, so you were pretty confident that I would forgive you, huh?”

“Like I have said before, I am accustomed to getting what I want. Plus, I argue my point for a living. I figured if I could get you in closed quarters then I would have a chance to convince you to at least have dinner with me so I could state my case.”

“Tell me, counselor, how would it have gone if I hadn’t let you off the hook?” she asked playfully, placing her hand on his thigh.

“After apologizing I would have pulled out the stops by kissing you passionately, reminding you of last night, the first of what I hope will be many nights together. I would have told you that meeting you has changed me. You have made me want more.”

He picked up her hand and kissed it.

“That would have worked, counselor,” she said, her smile widening. “You have changed things for me, too. I feel safe enough to be real with you. That’s huge for me. I’m only my real self for a select few.”

As she finished her sentence, they pulled up in front of George’s. Kate had never eaten there before. It was an expensive restaurant in La Jolla. She had never been able to afford the dining experience of George’s. The valet opened her door and held out his hand to help her out of the car. He greeted Neil, calling him Mr. Statton. Obviously, Neil was a regular.

“Good evening, Jim. How’s business tonight?” Neil asked, throwing Jim the keys.

“A little bit slow so far, but it’s still early.” Jim took the car to park it. Neil held out his hand to her. She took it eagerly. Their fingers interlocked.

“I hope you like this place,” he said, looking at her with one thing in mind.

“I’ve never eaten here before, but I have heard the food is delicious.”

“It is, but not anywhere near as delicious as you,” he said, raising her hand to kiss it. She felt a jolt between her legs as she heard his words. She blushed. He was pretty scrumptious himself.

They walked up to the hostess. She seemed extremely happy to see Neil.

“Good evening, Mr. Statton,” she said, grinning from ear to ear.

“Good evening. I have a reservation, but we’re a little early.

“That’s not a problem. We have a table ready for you, Mr. Statton,” she said, her eyes fixed on his. Kate wasn’t too happy to see the hostess staring at Neil, her eyes cascading over his body. But he was a beautiful specimen so she really couldn’t blame her.

They followed the hostess out to the patio. The view of the ocean was breathtaking. She heard the waves crashing on the beach below. The trees were swaying in the breeze as if the wind was serenading them. The air was crisp with a hint of saltiness. Neil pulled out Kate’s chair for her. Then he sat across from her. The hostess handed them their menus. Neil ordered a bottle of Riesling and some crab cakes. The hostess walked off to put in their order.

“It looks like you have an admirer,” she said, mock jealousy in her voice.

“I have that effect on women,” he said, sporting his sexy panty-dropping grin.

“Wow, and you are so humble, too. How do you handle all of the admiration?” she asked sarcastically, shaking her head.

“It’s a challenge, but somebody has to do it.”

They both laughed.

“So, what’s your favorite dish on the menu?”

“There’s too many tasty treats to have one favorite. But you have to start with the pear and arugula salad. It’s the best. We’ll end with the chocolate cake for dessert, but I thought we could take that back to my place. After last night, the only way I can eat dessert now is off of your luscious body. You have ruined me forever.” His salacious smile made her squirm in her seat. She flushed as her mind recounted him licking cheesecake off her body.

“Mm,” she moaned softly. “Last night was the best dessert I have ever had. I especially enjoyed how you served it to me.”

“Me too, my beauty.”

Their waiter walked up with their wine. Kate’s eyes were locked on Neil’s. She didn’t realize right away that their waiter was Mark from school.

“Good evening, Mr. Statton,” Mark said, nodding and smiling. Then he turned to greet Kate. He didn’t say anything at first. “Miss,” he said coldly. Mark’s smile turned to a flat line.

“Good evening, Mark,” Neil said.

Kate was at a loss for words, so she just nodded back at Mark, mentally recalling their interaction on Thursday. So much had happened since then and Mark hadn’t called her like he said. Why was she feeling so uncomfortable? She wasn’t cheating on him. He wasn’t her boyfriend. Nothing had happened between them.

“How are you doing this evening?” Mark asked Neil as he opened the bottle of wine and began pouring.

“I’m wonderful. It’s a beautiful night. I’m here with my beautiful woman. What could be better?” Neil said proudly.

Mark gave a curt smile and a nod. He turned his gaze to Kate, his glare like daggers slashing at her heart
.
She could tell he was angry, but there was nothing she could do about it. Neil didn’t seem to notice as he took a sip of wine.

“Is the wine to your satisfaction, sir?” Mark asked.

“Yes, everything is beyond my satisfaction,” he replied, looking across the table at Kate. She gave a slight smile back at him. She couldn’t help but feel awkward.

“Very good, sir. The crab cakes should be out momentarily. Are you ready to order?”

Neil looked at Kate with raised eyebrows. “Sweetheart, do you know what you want?”

Mark’s jaw dropped.

“Yes, I’ll have the pear salad and the halibut,” she said, handing her menu to Mark.

“And for you, sir?”

“I’ll have the pear salad too and the filet mignon.”

Neil lifted his menu and Mark took it.