BLUE ICE (ICE SERIES) (8 page)

              ‘Where?’

              ‘You can find it in my trash can.’

              I could see the anger on her face, she wanted to bitch-slap me, I could feel it. But I was the boss, her boss, so she would remain as cool as her anger let her. ‘Why did you throw it away?’

              ‘After the fourth spelling mistake I decided it was not worthy. Nothing better than a fresh start, Jenny.’

              ‘But I have to deliver it today.’ Her whining voice was even more annoying.

              ‘Yes, you better get going because I need it on my desk by 2.’

              I winked at Mrs. Cherry as Jenny started with one of her epic tantrums. That brief was awful, but it was even worse learning that she was bothering Mrs. Cherry. Content with myself I started working. The campaign was consuming our life and I didn’t want to allow any spare time to “see” that face again. I lost the notion of time until a knock on the door interrupted me.

              ‘Ms. Bianchi, you have a delivery.’ Sweet Mrs. Cherry seemed excited.

              A man in dark blue clothes entered my office with a big, adorable, pink peony bouquet. It was being carried in a white, round vase with a pink ribbon tied in a big bow. Perfect. There was no way he could know it, but even though I was not crazy about flowers, peonies had always being my favorite.

              ‘Could you sign here, ma’am?’

              ‘Sure, thank you.’

              Mrs. Cherry looked at me with a suspicious look on her face, but remained professional. ‘And Ms. Bianchi, Mr. Witter is waiting for you in his office.’

              ‘Thank you, Mrs. Cherry.’

              I took the card on the flowers with me on my walk to John’s office. My dear sweet boss seemed to be more into gossip than me and that was a little too much. Just before knocking on the door I read the card:

             KATHERINE, I AM SORRY, BUT I AM NOT TAKING THOSE WORDS BACK.

              DYLAN A. BERKELEY

              Asshole
. I entered the office and smiled to my boss, getting my cool back. ‘Hey John, do you want to check the campaign?’ I smiled innocently at him, pretty aware of what he wanted.

              ‘Oh no, beautiful, I want to know how yesterday’s lunch was.’

              ‘Ha ha, I knew it. Boring, crazy, he’s stupid. I ran even before I ate.’

              His face had a look of concern. ‘Kiddo, I know you can look after yourself but please let me call him, I hate him bothering you.’

              ‘Not necessary, he’s out, so there’s no reason for him to bother me again. So shall I check his file? I want to add some notes from what I investigated yesterday during lunch.’

              ‘You investigated him yesterday?’ He relaxed and smiled at me. ‘Oh kiddo, you’re a smart cookie, go ahead.’

              As Berkeley had said, there was nothing on those files; not that this was a good research. Jenny apparently just printed Wikipedia’s info, as lazy as she is, it was a big effort for her. Harvard, 28 years, parents killed in a helicopter accident, inherited at 18, polo champion, polo retirement after an injury, boarding school, no close relatives, and not a single woman in his life. Also, the really professional Jenny printed every picture where she thought he looked cute, some alone, some in polo matches, some at parties, rarely accompanied, but always by different blonde women. By the end of my reading I had just added one note: ASSHOLE!

             
Chapter 7

              I never thanked him for the flowers, I never talked to him, he never tried to reach me. Two weeks passed in a blink. The whole agency was going crazy, the new campaign presentation was a couple of days away and we were working like idiots. I love to work like that! My job had always been something to be proud of, and I loved being occupied and expecting to have a big product at the end.

              Of course destiny hated me, so the presentation got set the same day of Michelle’s birthday. I hated to go clubbing, but I loved Chelle and I would kill for her, so a couple of hours dancing weren’t that bad. I learned from my boss that Blue Eyes was back to Chicago, so I was safe.

              Just one day before the presentation I got food poisoning, so I took as many medications as I could so I could go with my boss to our meeting with the client. There was no way I would leave my place for Jenny. Finally, on Friday we made our presentation. We were congratulated for the fantastic campaign we had done. Even with my med cocktail I was ready to celebrate with Chelle.

              I thought the orange Loubis I gave her would be enough, but apparently she wanted more. She asked me to wear a light pink sequin mini, tiny, I-am-a-whore, skirt. Since I was wearing something that short, I went for a long sleeved dark pink shirt and leopard heels. I looked like a cheap escort, but she seemed to be really happy, so I got into the part and let my hair down. We were meeting everyone at the club, the name was lost to me since the beginning.

              The medicine had me almost asleep, but I would be there just for two hours, and then, when Michelle would be fully wasted I would leave her with her other friends; that was the night’s plan. We arrived at the hippest place in town, apparently all the supermodels went there, so we were lucky to have had a reservation. We didn’t even have to wait in the line but Chelle had slept with half the town so maybe the manager was one of the loves of her life.

              The music was super loud, the place ultra dark and our friends uber drunk when we arrived. Michelle was happy and I was even more so. I asked for a bottle of water and kept an eye on it the whole time. My friends tend to try to get me drunk. We danced and laughed and Chelle flirted with every man in the club.

              Suddenly, a familiar face appeared from the crowd; Marc was here. He slapped Michelle’s butt from behind and then grabbed her in a big embrace. ‘Happy birthday, baby!’

              ‘You made iiiiitttt!’

Pleeeease, please, please.

              Just a couple of steps behind, there was Spence and my worst nightmare was becoming true. With black jeans, a white button down shirt and a pair of gorgeous blue eyes, there this bastard was. They were introduced to all our friends, but I just turned around. Being cool and dismissive, that was the plan.

              ‘Katherine.’

              ‘Hey Dylan.’

              Before he could speak again, Spence came and hugged me as if he had known me forever. He made me smile, he’s such a nice simple guy so I could only laugh at his enthusiasm.

              ‘Oh, the beautiful Katie! You look stunning!’

              ‘Spence, I can still steal you from your soon to be wife, so stop this before I try.’

              We both laughed. Not that asshole, he just stared. I was going for cool and relaxed Katherine and Spence was going to help me.

              ‘Katherine, what do you want to drink.’

              I shoved my bottle towards him. ‘I am fine, I still have water, thank you Dylan.’

              Every time I said his name he made that stupid smirk. After greeting everyone, he went with the guys to the bar, so Michelle, the girls and I went straight to the dance floor. We danced while the three of them watched us closely. We were having fun but I started feeling sick again so I went to the table to take my meds. The guys were together so I was safe from Mr. Asshole.

              When I looked up, I saw Marc and Spence dancing with the girls. No Blue Eyes in sight.

              ‘What are you doing Katherine?’ His hot voice was just behind me.

              ‘Getting a pill.’ I focused on my medication.

              ‘Late night for the pill isn’t it?’ Of course, he was fully aware of that pill.

              ‘I got sick yesterday, that kind of pill.’

              ‘What happened?’ He seemed concerned and got closer to me.

              ‘Nothing, just food poisoning.’

              ‘You’re feeling alright?’ This was a different man, this man seemed to be kind. He was probably stoned.

              ‘Just a little dizzy, I’ll be fine once this works.’

              ‘How’s John?’

              ‘Great, we presented the campaign today.’

              ‘Weren’t you sick?’

              ‘Yes, so?’

              ‘You went to work?’

              ‘Yeah, I haven’t had a sick day at the office in my life. Why would I start on the best campaign?’

              By the mercy of God the song Michelle liked to think of as “our song” started to play. She was pulling me to the dance floor before I could even notice it. We both danced like crazy 14 year old girls, no shame, no regrets. Of course C dances a little too much like a stripper for a 14 year old, but we were having the time of our lives and the guys were surrounding us. When the song ended the whole group kept dancing and playing. Blue Eyes was there, not really dancing but observing; I couldn’t care less.

              Out of nowhere the music changed, no other than John fucking Mayer. I don’t know why but my whole life I’ve thought about his music as “let’s fuck music”. I don’t even think he’s sexy, but his voice and the music were too much for me. He could be singing about global warming and I would think the song was about desire, sex and lust. His effect on me was that bad.

              As the song started everyone took a partner. It was the “romantic” moment at the club, also known as an excuse to grab each others’ ass, and everyone was wasted by now so a scene from “Dirty Dancing” was a good description for the dance floor. A couple of strong, big hands were at my hips, the weird energy shock was there too.

              ‘Please dance with me.’ Blue Eyes whispered into my ear and I just nodded, too tired and too high on medication to fight. The music went slow, and sexy, and dirty. I could feel his firm chest behind me and his stone sculpted abs on my back. He smelled divine and I was hopeless by then. I had already danced with him, but this was different. This was no sweet Tony Bennett being a gentleman, it was the slutty, sexy John Mayer, being flirty. Blue Eyes was a good dancer, too good. His hips moved with amazing rhythm and this was too much. I was heated, but not with anger, with something more.

              Thank God Mayer’s songs last a full ten minutes. I wanted to extend this proximity as much as I could. With all the heat there I started sweating so I moved all my hair to one side, leaving my neck free. In a second, just as quick as I moved my hair, I felt it. His lips were on my neck and my knees were giving way. That was my alarm,
show time baby
! But instead of making a big scene I just moved away from his grip.

              ‘And here we go again, just back off jerk, it’s not happening.’ My voice was low and the look on my face was cold. He couldn’t affect me.
He’s affecting your breath, your heart beat and your legs baby.
He can’t affect me, I repeated to myself.

              That was it, it was time to leave. I felt dizzy again and a little sick, so I took my clutch and went straight to the ladies’ room. Then the party started; my whole world began to revolve and not in a good way. My stomach decided I needed to lose a couple of pounds in ten minutes. I threw up in a way that reminded me of a scene from “The Exorcist“. I wanted to cry, to faint and to run home. At some point someone entered the wash room calling my name. It was Michelle. Apparently the whole thing took me more than twenty minutes and she was really worried.

              ‘I don’t feel fine, Chelle.’

              She helped me up and after washing my face and hands, we returned to our table. I needed to go home, but I remained sitting until I felt stable again. I just needed to wait for Michelle to come back to the table so I could let her know I was leaving and then I would be reunited with my bed.

             
Chapter 8

              That was a long, hazy night and my dreams were disturbed by the presence of light. I didn’t want to wake up that early on a Saturday, but apparently I forgot to close the blinds. I noticed I felt better, finally, after a couple of days of hell. I opened my eyes really slowly, but I nearly had a heart attack when I noticed I didn’t know where I was. A big beautiful room, all in white and chocolate brown, a big bed, and the biggest windows you could imagine for a house. I couldn’t believe it, after years of being overly cautious, here I was, in an unknown place and surely someone had taken me here.

              Half of my clothes were on, everything but my sequin skirt and my shoes. I turned around to look for my clutch and my phone, but they weren’t there and I could hear the water running behind a door, the bathroom, I thought. When the water stopped, I was in complete shock,
Oh please, don’t let him be a coyote, or a fat guy, or a weird guy, or an old guy!
I could remember every little detail of my life but this was a huge detail and I had no idea what was happening.

              Again fortune played with me in the worst way. I asked that the person behind that door wasn’t anyone under my appearance expectations, but I never went further. The door opened slowly and I saw him, Blue Eyes, passing a towel over his wet hair.
I had fucked Mr. Asshole and I didn’t see his abs!!!!

              ‘Good morning, Katherine.’

              ‘Where am I?’ My voice was small, I was terribly ashamed.

              Not interrupting his daily routine, Blue Eyes answered matter of factly. ‘My apartment, how are you feeling?’

              ‘Why am I in your apartment?’ I wanted to be angry, but I was confused and my body was weaker than usual.

              ‘You don’t remember?’

              Oh God! He wants me to remember, I wish I’d remember his hip bones too!

              ‘Would you tell me what happened please?’