Running From Fate (16 page)

“Nonsense.”  She patted Mira on the shoulder in a motherly gesture.
“Y
ou just have a seat and I’ll fix it
for you.”
She
walked
over to the cart and lifted the carafe.
“How do you like your
coffee
?”

“One sugar and a drop of cream please.”

“You know you aren’t actually late,” Mary expl
ained. 
“As I’m sure you noticed
no one is here yet.”
She swept a
bangled
arm out, encompassing the whole room.
“The creative team doesn’t come in until 8:30 on Monday morning.
Since it doesn’t hurt anything and makes them happy, Mr. Kelly allows it.
As long
as you do a good job for him, he can be quite accommodating.”

Mira hid a smile behind the Styrofoam cup that Mary handed her.
It would be nice if
he
was
that
malleable and accommodating to her wishes.  As it was she wasn’t even sure he was even mildly attracted to her
.
The door opened and she mentally prepared herself, expecting to see James.
Four strangers walked in, two women and two men, and she
deflated
.

A small, vibrant woman with spiky black hair walked up to
her and held out a ringed hand. 
“I’m Amy,” she said
forthrightly.  “And t
his is Amanda.”
S
he pointed to a tall, auburn haired woman standing behind her.
“This is Stephen
.”
He was a
slightl
y
pudgy middle-
aged man
with a trimmed mustache and
slicked black hair.
“And
last but not least, Barry Sims, creative director extraordinaire and warden for this motley crew.
”

“I’m not that bad,” Barry said
with a smile
.
He reached out and shook Mira’s hand firmly
. 
“
I have been privileged to see some of your work and w
e’re
very
glad to have you here.
If you want to bring your coffee,
I have some paperwork for you to fill o
ut,” he continued.  “And then
we can get started. 
There a
re two more members of our team, Julie and Matt, who will be in later,” he added as he walked past the workspaces.

Mira followed
him
into an office at the back of the long room.
He
r new boss
looked more like a retired football player or a military man
with his muscular build, close-cropped black hair and commanding aura, b
ut he seemed to be a pleasant sort.

It had been three days since Mira had started working at
EcoSpace and she had yet to
talk to
James. 
If it weren’t for the fact that other employees had both seen him and apparently conversed with him, she would think that he was just a product of her overheated imagination.
For some reason he seemed to be avoiding her.
If she needed to talk to him
,
he was busy.
If she entered a room, he was just leaving.
It was getting damn frustrating.
At this rate they would never develop any sort of relationship
,
even a working one
.

That would all end today, Mira vowed, as she drove up to the office at the ungodly hour of 6:00 a.m.
It was so early that she had to get the night watchman to let her in.
Walking into the
studio and hearing her footsteps echo throughout the empty room
was a little creepy
, but
,
she
told herself staunchly, she
would feel better once she turned on some lights and put on the coffee.

An hour and a half later
she was sitting
at her table with her third cup of coffee
next to her
right elbow.
She was working on a design for a
n upscale community
that would be built
at the base of the
Blue Ridge Mountains.
The area was breathtakingly beautiful and it was a
prime real estate
, but the company wanted the
place to include a full golf course and clubhouse as well as designer homes.
In addition, they wanted it to l
ook like it had s
prung from the soil ready
-
made and
they also wanted
the construction to do
as little damage as possible done to the natural environment.
It was an interesting task, but
a frustrating one.  Right now
it was g
iving her a headache. 
She laid down her pencil and rubbed her neck, trying to ease some of the tension that resided there.

“John mentioned that he had let an employee into the building early this morning, but I was expecting to see Barry
. 
He
likes to get an early start.
What are you doing here, Mira?”

The question was vaguely accusatory.

Startled, Mira jumped
up and
swung around to face the doorway.
She had been so caught up in her work that she h
adn’t even heard the door open. 
So much for a good impression.
She would become the epitome of smooth sophistication,
she vowed,
just as soon as she could get her heart to slow down.

“No answer?”
  James stifled a chuckle. 
She looked like
a startled doe trapped in t
he glare of oncoming headlights
—
her eyes wide and frightened.
He had been carefully avoiding her since she had started work, hoping his original fascination would fade, but it hadn’t.  Obviously, it hadn’t been long enough so he should turn around and leave.  She wasn’t answering, though, and
he was starting to get concerned. 
“Are you ok?” he asked, keeping his voice as gentle as possible.
She looked ready to bolt at any moment.

“Fine, I’m fine,” Mira replied.
Her voice was still a little
thready
so she took a couple of deep breaths and tried to calm down.
“It’s just, um
... 
I didn’t hear you come in.
You scared me.”

James moved away from the doorway and
stepped
slowly into the room.
When he had walked past
earlier
and seen Mira, hard at work with a little frown between her eyes and her hair already mussed, he hadn’t intended to stop.
His decision to hire her had been based on excellent qualifications and, even then, he almost hadn’t because of the reaction that he had to her.
She could possibly threaten all of his hard-won control.
He had vowed then to stay far away from her.
Something about her posture, however, had hinted at some underlying vulnerability and, despite his intentions, he found himself being drawn
forward
.

The air seemed to heat as James came toward her and Mira picked up a piece of
discarded
paper to fan herself.
She checked the telling motion just in tim
e and quickly set it back down. 
He’s just a man like any other, she sternly
told herself, nothing special.  Yeah
right,
her mind taunted,
and the moon was just another big whee
l of cheese. 
She smiled
briefly at the silly thought
.
 
Who was she trying to kid?
He wasn’t normal in any way
. 
She
had been in love with James Kelly
since childhood.
But t
his man, she cautioned herself as her heartbeat picked up, wasn’t the same.  She didn’t
know this hard, distant,
person
that he had become so only time would tell if he was still worthy of that love.

“What is it that you are working on so intently?”
James leaned over her shoulder to study her drawing.
Her lines were smooth and flowing and the sketch evoked a s
ense of peaceful tranquility. 
He turned his head slightly with some idea of
complimenting her work
, but her scent distracted him.
She didn’t smell like any of the woman he knew with their strong perfumes masking any natural scent.
She smelled like herself, a combination of baby powder, lilac scented soap, and some underlying fragrance that he couldn’t define, but that stirred his senses.
  He leaned forward and sniffed surreptitiously.

He was standing way to
o
close
and
it was getting difficult to
breathe
,
Mira’s brain shouted frantically. 
All
she
could think about
, though,
was how near
this mouth was to her neck.
All he had to do was step forward and they would be touching.
The
notion
sent tingles shooting throughout her body
.
He had asked some kind of question
, she realized distantly, but for the life of her
she couldn’t remember what it was.

The front door shut and they could hear the sound of foo
tsteps coming down the hallway. 
James jumped back
mere
seconds before Barry Sims walked into the room.

“Good morning folks,” Barry said in
a
loud, jocular voice.
He strode across the room, swinging a briefcase at his side, and stopped next to James.
“We don’t usually see you in this part of the building, boss.
Is
there
something we can do for you?”