Revealing the Diane Collier Erotic Romance Collection (11 page)

Brought out of her daydream by a small commotion nearby, she peered over her partition to see what was going on.
A man was standing near the photocopier, talking to her Andrea.
He was glancing around the office with a frown on his face, apparently very unhappy about something.
This was not what was causing the commotion however.
It was the fact that he could be a double for Robert Downy Junior.

He was gorgeous!

The female hormones in the room tripled as most of her co-workers suddenly became aware of him and went into mating mode.
Sally sighed and sat back down.
There was no point in looking because he’d never even notice her.
Not that she was unattractive.
She’d been told by many people that she was, in fact, quite pretty.
One memorable date had even pointed out to her that if she simply skipped dessert she could even attain the slim body that he just knew she dreamed about.
The date had ended soon after that.
There was no dessert offered.

Yes, she was a little plump, but far from over weight.
She had curves, dammit.
She
liked
not being skinny.
She had a narrow waist, curvy hips and very nice breasts.
Heads turned when she walked past, if only to admire her rear.

No, Sally thought to herself, he was just not the kind of man that would be interested in her.
He was beautiful, standing there looking all powerful in his dark suit and white shirt.
The red tie screamed confidence and power all the way across the room.

Unable to resist what may very well be her last look at him, she pushed her chair back again to peer over the partition at him.
As she stood, the chair hooked on a bump in the carpet tile and her knees buckled sending her forward onto her desk.
Coffee quickly coated the desk and flowed over her keyboard and mouse.
Her favorite mug rolled onto the floor, breaking into many pieces, sending a sharp shard into the arch of her foot.

“Ouch!” The sharp pain startled her and as she looked down the little trickle of blood caught her eye.
She quickly forgot about the coffee stain on the front of her skirt and the computer equipment she’d just destroyed and focused on the thin line of red that was sliding down her foot into her strappy shoe.
Blood!
She couldn’t stand it.
Her head felt like it was spinning and the sudden dizzy spell sent her tipping backwards onto her chair.

As she landed on her backside on the chair, it dislodged from the little bump on the mat and rolled backwards into the passageway, straight into
him
.

Through a haze, she looked up at him, unable to speak for fear of being ill.
Behind him, Sally could see Andrea glaring at her, gesturing wildly and she was still helpless to move.
Her head felt woozy and she had a sharp pain in her foot.
And she felt quite sick.

People were speaking, clamoring around her, wanting to see what the fuss was about and someone else was shooing them all back to their desk.
Sally heard the man, as if from a mile away, asking her if she was okay and she shook her head to say no.
She managed to lean forward enough to grab her waste paper bin and to her extreme embarrassment was sick.

The upside was that she no longer felt dizzy or faint.
The downside was that she was sitting holding a bucket that smelled bad while the most beautiful man she’d ever seen knelt at her feet.
She glanced up at him through her eyelashes and grimaced.

“Much better thanks,” she replied to his earlier question, taking a deep breath to fortify herself.
He was examining her foot, to see how bad the injury was and turned to Andrea and demanded to know where the first aid kit was.
When Andrea, who wasn’t exactly Boss Of The Year, stammered and looked around the room, unable to answer, the man got to his feet and turned to her.

He spoke so quietly that not even Sally could hear, but Andrea’s response was instant.
Her spine stiffened and she walked quickly to find some paper towels.
Several minutes later, Sally was still sitting in her chair with her foot propped on his bended knee feeling like Cinderella.
He’d dabbed and examined the small wound for remaining glass and had smiled ruefully up at her when he’d recommended seeing a doctor about cleaning and possibly one small stitch.

“No.
Thank you but no.
I don’t do stitches.
As you can see, I don’t do the whole blood thing either.
This will be fine.
I’ll get some sticking plasters and antiseptic and do it at lunch time.
I’ll be fine, really I will.
You’ve been marvelous.
So very helpful.
Much appreciated, I can assure you.
No doctor.
No stitches.”

She wondered if she sounded as hysterical as she felt at that moment.

“Geeze, you’ve gone pale again.
Are you planning to faint or get sick again?”
He looked genuinely concerned.
He looked relieved when she shook her head and gently pressed the paper towel against her foot again.
Why was he still holding her foot, she thought to herself.
Also, who the hell was he?
He was speaking to Andrea again. Sally saw Andrea nodding in agreement, clearly very concerned about this man’s opinion and suggestions.

Andrea smiled at her coldly.

“Well, it seems that you’ll be leaving for the day.
Do get better soon.”
Her voice was dripping with sarcasm and meanness as she picked up Sally’s handbag and put it in her hands.

“I am?” Sally asked, more confused than ever.

“Yes you are,” replied her new friend.
“I’m taking you to have this looked at,” he sounded like he wasn’t taking any arguments about it either.
Then his voice changed, became kinder.
“I’ll make sure they don’t hurt you.”
She felt like a small child.

He helped her to her feet.
“Are you able to walk properly?”

“Yes,” she answered, annoyed.
Just who was this man who was taking control of her and forcing her to go places she didn’t want to go?
As he helped her to the elevator, gently holding her elbow and guiding her as if she were infirm, Sally couldn’t help but enjoy the moment.
She was getting glares from all directions as her co-workers clearly thought she’d staged the whole thing.
As if she could!
Not even with months of planning could she have pulled that off, she thought.
But how well did it work out?

Not only did he look delectable, he smelled fantastic too, she thought to herself.
It was impossible not to smell him considering that he was still holding on to her and they were confined in the elevator.

“Excuse me,” she said turning to him.
“I don’t mean to appear rude, but just who are you and where are you taking me?”
Polite to the end, her mom would be proud.

“Oh, I’m so sorry.”
He sounded genuinely contrite.
“I’m Tony.
I thought it best to get your foot checked out by a doctor so I’m taking you to the closest emergency room.”
They both glanced down at her foot.
It didn’t look as bad as he’d made it seem.

“Maybe the emergency room is a bit extreme?” Sally wondered out loud.

“Maybe a bit.
But I’d still like you to get it looked at.
I know you expressed some concerns earlier.”
They’d reached the underground parking and he was guiding her towards a sleek black car.
He pressed his key and the car beeped.
Tony helped her into the car and closed the door.
As he got into the driver’s seat, her turned to her.
“How about we compromise.
I’ll take you to your family doctor instead of the E.R. and I’ll stay with you and make sure he doesn’t hurt you.”

Sally sighed at the inevitable.
He wasn’t giving up.
There wasn’t a chance in hell that she was letting him take her to the family doctor.
The doctor
was
family.
Her father.
No way, no how was she going in there with this stranger.
She knew it would only take moments after the visit for her mother to hear every detail from her father and it wouldn’t be long before she’d get the phone call.

She wanted to avoid that phone call at any cost.

“The hospital is close by.
Just take me to the E.R.”
Sounding less than grateful, she folded her arms across her chest and winced at a painful twinge in her foot.
“Bossy,” she mumbled under her breath.
There was small snort from the driver’s side of the car.

Forms filled in and waiting, Sally sat beside Tony in the waiting room in silence.
Before long her name was called and he stood up with her.

“Where are you going?” she asked in an urgent whisper.

“I’m coming with you, remember?
I promised not to leave you.”
He flashed her a grin that made her knees weak and walked beside her, holding her elbow gently as she limped forward.
When she was perched on the exam table and she’d taken off her shoe, he held it for her, hooking the strap over a finger.

“So, remind me again Tony, what is it exactly that you were doing at the lovely offices of Fincor this morning?
I know you don’t work there, I think I’d have remembered seeing you around.”
Another grin from him.
It occurred to her then that she’d been in his company for about an hour or so and this was the first time she’d thought to find this out.

“I’m the new financial manager for the Fincor group.”
Her gasp was loud in the room.
“Yes, technically I’m your boss.
I’m Andrea’s boss too,” he said with a wry smile.

“So…” A thought suddenly occurred to her.
“You’re here to make sure I’m okay?”

“That’s right.”
He nodded and swung her shoe slowly from the end of his finger.

“Right.”
She was brusque now, the previous friendly banter forgotten.
He’d come along to make sure she wasn’t going to take more time off than necessary, or drain the company medical aid (which she didn’t belong to anyway) or try and sue them for a work related injury.
“Well, you can leave now.
I’m fine, as you can see.
Fincor needn’t worry, I will be back at work tomorrow and my insurance will cover this.
Your money is safe.”
She looked away feeling embarrassed.
How stupid of her to think he could be there because he was concerned about
her
.
He was there to protect his stupid company money.

“Ah.
Like that is it?”
He raised an eyebrow as he looked at her.
“I think I’ll just wait and see, decide for myself.”

The doctor came in then and they fell silent.

“So, let’s see what you’ve done to yourself,” he said to Sally, helping her to lift her foot to the table.
As gentle as he was, she had to look away and was gripping the table tightly with both hands.
As the doctor cleaned the area with something stinging, she felt tears spring to her eyes.
It hurt, dammit!
This is why she stayed away from doctors!
“My dear,” the doctor was speaking to her again. “I’m happy to tell you that it’s not very serious.
I’m going to clean it out properly and make sure there’s nothing left in that little hole you made.
Then I’ll close it with tape, it will leave less of a scar on your pretty foot, and one quick tetanus injection and you’re done.”

All Sally heard was
injection
.
She felt her palms begin to sweat and her heart started racing.
The sound of her blood was roaring in her ears and she let out a small whimper.
Tony
was instantly next to her.

“Look at me,” he was saying.
“Look at me, Sally.
It will be fine.
It will be over quickly.
I’m here to take care of you remember.” His voice was soothing as he tried to calm her.
She hated needles.
The thought of someone jabbing something sharp into her flesh made her ill. Sally stared into his eyes.

Chocolate, she thought.
His eyes are the color of dark chocolate.
He was standing so close to her that she could see each individual eyelash that framed his eyes.
The smile that was supposed to reassure her only served to make him more attractive and for a moment she forgot what she was supposed to be unhappy about.
It felt like a rainbow had exploded in the room.
The sudden pain in her foot brought her crashing back to reality