The Perfection of Love (7 page)

“Dana, this is Dr. Greenwood who will be working with you on the research project for the next few months.”  The guy sitting in MY chair swung round and damn he was sexy as fuck.  I mean sexy as in I was seriously considering dragging Greenwood onto my desk with Colin still in my office and showing him how us Brits like to deal with a man.  That would be a big consideration noting the fact that I hadn’t had sex in the best part of three years.  Me and my rampant rabbit were best buddies. He was easily six foot two, with jet black hair and the most gorgeous hazel eyes.  Chiseled.  That was the one word that I’d use for him.  Everything was chiseled, his nose, his cheeks, his chin and I bet his abs and his south pole were chiseled as well.  Oh, fuck. I’ve been up in my head again.  Greenwood was standing in front of me with his hand out waiting for me to shake it.  Even Colin was looking at me like I’d potentially lost the plot.  I regained my composure and shook his hand.  He held onto mine for a second longer than was necessary and smirked.  The fucker knew I’d been checking him out.  Dickwad.  No need to look so fucking smug about it.  I’m a female.  A female that hasn’t had sex in a long time.  You, my dear, are nothing special.

“Dana, I just want to go over some paperwork with Deacon.  Could you collect him from my office in about an hour and take today to show him around the university before you begin your work?  As you’ve got one of our larger offices I thought the two of you could share while Deacon is here.  I’ll have a desk brought down.”

Colin the little git practically ran out my office before I could shoot him daggers that might actually kill him.  He knew I hated people in my space, so he knew he was dicing with his life with the stunt he’d just pulled.

“See you later, Miss. Daniels.” Came a voice that purred past my ear. I wanted to find Greenwood’s accent annoying but I couldn’t.  DAMMIT!!!

Once the dickhead duo had left.  I locked my office and stormed out to go find myself a well-deserved cappuccino.  I found two of my colleagues, Wendy and Samantha, who had become my friends over the years I had been at the university, already there. Wendy worked on reception and Samantha was one of the law tutors.

“Please tell me you saw that too-hot-to-fuck research partner of yours in your office just now?”

“Wendy, has anyone told you that your mouth is just a little on the wrong side of vulgar?”  Samantha looked at Wendy like she had food on the side of her face.  A picture of disgust until you saw the corners of her mouth twitch because well, Wendy was funny a hell.

“He is not my ‘partner’ he is someone who is assisting the university with our research project.  The project that I am heading. Not him. Not co-with him.  And just to get things clear from the get go. He. Is. A. Knob Jockey!!!”

“Damn.  The pretty ones are always batting for the wrong team.  Maybe I can convert him back to the land of pussy.”  This time Samantha choked on her coffee at Wendy’s outlandish statement.  God, the two of them reminded me of Saz and Mills so much.  Saz had become a writer and was currently throwing herself into her new book.  She said it was akin to method acting.  She was writing some romance novel about a farmer and his milk maid or some shit like that and had therefore convinced some poor farmer up north to give her a job for a few months while she “studied the way of the land” her words not mine.  I had an inkling that things were not going the way she’d planned because every time I spoke to her she sounded tense.  Saz did not do tense.  There were several references to shagging sheep and something about if her hand goes up another cows ass she’s going to kill someone.  Most of the time the calls cut out as she had poor signal and I felt sorry for whoever was going to get the brunt of her anger.  Mills in my opinion had wasted her super model good looks and become a day nursery manager.  She had made sure it was in an exclusive private day nursery so she was earning top dollar though.  I loved Jacob with all my heart I really did but it wasn’t long after having him that I was dying to escape for a few hours.  There’s only so much cooing and baby talk I can take.  Mills seemed to thrive in it though.  I saw her mainly on weekends as by the time she got home from work she was no good to talk to anyone.  Poor cow.  It’s self-inflicted so I only feel partially sorry for her.

“He’s not gay.  He’s just an ass.  You know that over-confident I-know-I’m-sexy and I-know-you-think-I’m-sexy kind of douchebag that just pisses me the hell off.  I’m going to kill him before the week is done I promise you.”

“Well you better make nice until the research project is finished because at the very least Colin is going to want that piece of work finished and word in the corridors is that he’s hoping to convince Deacon to do some more research work and possibly do some guest lectures.  He’s got big plans for that guy and he won’t take kindly to anyone messing it up.”  Samantha sat back with a resigned look on her face.  She was usually quiet which always led to people divulging information around her if not directly to her.  Basically she was whom you went to, to tap for intel on anything going on in the university.  “Plus I’ll bet my stash of chocolate cake that he’ll want Deacon at the annual university ball to schmooze with investors and donors.  Deacon is not going anywhere.”

Great!  I finished off my coffee with the girls and made my way, at a snails pace, to Colin’s office and braced myself for a day filled of Dr. Deacon Dickwad Douchebag Greenwood.

As I approached Colin’s office I heard laughter coming from inside.  I knew Colin’s laugh and for once his piggy wiggy chuckle wasn’t bothering me.  It was the deep bass filled sexy smooth rumble that was pissing me off and yes because I found it deeply arousing.  Damn him.  I quietly knocked, secretly hoping that they wouldn’t hear me and then I could go back to my office to work and say that I knocked but they didn’t answer and then it wouldn’t be my fault that Deacon lost his day tour with me round the university.  Only problem is that Colin had an open office policy so if you knocked and he didn’t answer you could just walk in to check whether he was busy. Friendly bastard.

The laughing quieted down and then the door opened.

“Dana, right on time.  I’m late for a meeting so I’m going to leave Deacon in your capable hands.  I think the two of you should spend today getting Deacon familiar with the university grounds, faculties and facilities and tomorrow you can begin your research work.”  Colin turned to Deacon clearly put out at having to leave his newest bestest buddy.  They shook hands and then Colin took off leaving me with my newest bestest enemy.

“So where is our little tour going to start?”  Deacon was beaming.  The turd knew I didn’t want to do this so what does he do….flashes his pearly whites at me and tries to give me the panty melting smile that I bet always works for him.  You know what bub, I’m on to you and it is not going to work.  So I compose myself, pull my shoulders back, tilt my chin and decide I’m going to accept this challenge and take it head on.  Deacon’s sexy ass that has just walked in front of me so I get a better view will not sway me.  I will not picture myself hanging from his arm which I can tell is ripped by the way the material of his jacket clings to his biceps and I most certainly will not imagine ravishing those pert lips that I swear he just licked because he saw me looking at them.  Who am I kidding?  I’m resilient, he will not be touching my body and that’s a given fact, but I am so mentally screwed.

“I don’t think we’ll be able to cover all of the university’s grounds in a day as Colin suggested so what we will do is cover the faculties in the first day, the facilities on the second and the rest of the week we can start to put some structure to the research project and take it from there.”  It was my turn to walk in front of Deacon and I could have sworn I heard him suck in breath.  Bam. Take that prick.  It was times like this I was very grateful for the ass that God had given me.  Jacob hadn’t messed up my body, one of the few reasons to be thankful for having him so young.  I was wearing a black, high waisted pencil skirt that showed off my ass to perfection with a tight white vest that emphasized my toned arms and back.  I’d completed the look with some serious black courts.  I liked to go for the sexy secretary look on some days just to spice up my tutorials.  Yes it amused me to watch the lads in my class try to focus on what I was saying and not whether I had ENS (Erect Nipple Syndrome).

Everywhere we walked students and lecturers alike walked with their mouths open as they passed Deacon, or they literally stopped what they were doing and stared.  He’s good looking I’ll give him that but really, they were being silly now and taking it a little too far.

“Why don’t you like me Dana?  Have I done something to offend you?”

You’re breathing!  “No, not all, Deacon.  I don’t know you to not like you or to have been offended by you.”  I quickly changed the subject.  “This here is the Built Environment faculty.  I very much doubt you will need to know this part of the university but if you do, here it is.”

“I may not be a psychology major league such as yourself, but I know when someone is trying to change the subject.  Poorly, I might add.  I’m not here to tread on anyone’s toes.  This research project is a really good opportunity for me.  I do plastic surgery all day everyday for a variety of reasons and I’d like my practice to be able to help the people that we treat mentally as well as what we do physically.  Call it an aftercare service.  I care about the people I treat and some of them come in for the wrong reasons and they’re not happy afterwards no matter how well their surgery has gone.”

I was looking at him now.  Seriously looking.  In this moment I couldn’t find an insulting word to call him because he looked like he’d gone off into one of his own memories and whatever he was seeing was distressing him.  I had the urge to hold his hand or put my palm to his cheek but we were in a public place and I’d only met this man a few hours ago.  So I did what I did best.  I carried on the conversation and tried not to acknowledge the awkward silence between us.

“I’m not a psychology major league.  I’m just a tutor here and someone who occasionally heads up research.  And you have a good reason for wanting to do this project.”  I continued walking wringing my hands because I’d left my bag in my office and didn’t have it to fiddle with.

“You started university only a few months after giving birth to a healthy baby boy, which might I add you did in the middle of your A levels and still managed to pass with all As.  You graduated in three years and then completed your masters.  This research project is the last part to your thesis for your PhD which you will complete next year.  Several of your research papers have been taken up by other professors for them to do further research into your hypotheses.  Every module you have taken since you started university has been completed with a 90% plus pass rate.  You’re not just a psychology major leaguer; you’re a walking fountain of knowledge.  Oh and very beautiful to top it off.  Smart and beautiful.  A deadly combination.”

I didn’t know which part to respond to first.  I looked at him blankly.  It was either that or sputter because there were no sentences to form.  How the fuck did he know so much about my academic career?  I’d been impressed before I realized that was creepy as fuck that he knew so much about me.  It’s not like I’ve got my own page on Wikipedia for him to know all of that.  And then he said I was beautiful which was sweet.  Well it was before he said it was a deadly combination and kind of said it with a somber tone.  Someone burned this guy.  Not my problem.  We needed to get this work done fast so I could get him away from me.  No good can come from this.  But first I had to ask him the most important question.

“How do you know so much about me?”

He returned to his playful and cock sure self.  “Colin talks. A lot.  He’s very proud of you considering you completed your bachelors and masters at this university.  You’re like his own little masterpiece although I’m pretty sure he didn’t teach you an ounce of what you know.”

He turned away from me then and continued to walk down the corridor.  We walked in silence for a short while before conversation resumed.  This time I put a bit more effort into what I was telling him and began to ask him some questions.  Deacon was an only child.  His parents lived in New York but he’d moved to LA to study and then eventually set up his own practice.  A lot of his clients were women desperate to cling on to their husbands as they got older but there were some who were young girls who thought they had to change everything about themselves to get a shot at being famous.  It all sounded like a sad story that many were living.

“So what made you study psychology?”

“Interesting question.  I originally wanted to study International Business Management but when that was no longer an option, I had to pick a new career path.  I have three older sisters and we are all so different. I threatened one of my sisters that I was going to study psychology and get into her tiny brain and unravel her like a ball of wool.”  I laughed to myself at the memory.  “Well, she said that actually it wasn’t a bad idea.  I’d be able to do something that helps others and maybe help myself along the way.”