Playing With Fire (Sweet Redemption) (3 page)

“I didn’t even realize there were 24-hour lock services,” she said as she quickly and easily found one.

Eric just looked at her from her couch.

True to his word, he stayed there as she waited for the locksmith.

He accepted her offer of water, but mostly sat silently watching her as she fumbled around trying to find something to do, a way to calm her nerves.

She had had at least three cups of water by now and had smelled and molested several roses.

She had no intention of removing the flowers until they were all wilting—the arrangements were too beautiful, even if from a slime-ball.

The silence frayed her nerves further.

“You know, you have some nerve...” she began.

“Janet, guys like him—he wasn’t kidding. That’s not the last time he’s gonna try. You think you’re safe around him, but think about how many women must have thought that before something dire occurred. I’m just looking out for you...partner.”

Once again, Janet was shamed.

“I know you have no reason to trust me yet,” he continued, “but for now, just do. I promise you I’m out of here once the locks are done, and I won’t be taking off with a key.”

Janet all of a sudden felt emotional.

She mumbled: “excuse me, restroom” before taking off.

He was just trying to be nice to her—why was she always on the verge of being bitchy? Was she just a bitch after all?

As she leaned against the bathroom door, she took a breath and ran over the day again and concluded it had simply been unusually eventful and taxing on her emotions. From the shock and fear of David’s incessant attempts at contact, to showing up uninvited in her home, to the fear of another kind—meeting a hunk she was supposed to work with for the next few months and somehow keep her three-month vow of abstinence. Then there was the momentary feeling of isolation after Liz left the reception, the almost-fight with her best friend over her own love life problems.

She took another breath and exited the bathroom, amazed that she had been so emotionally distracted, she had left a stranger alone in part of her house.

Eric appeared to have calmly stay put, still in the same place she’d left him.

She appreciated him not snooping—not that she had anything embarrassing around—only her college graduation photo was in plain sight since she had gotten rid of all the photos of her and David. Other than that, there was a photo of her and her dad in the kitchen.

The photos of her mom she kept close to her, in her bedroom. And sometimes, when she felt emotionally vulnerable like she did now, she held a photo of her as she worked through her feelings.

She figured she’d be doing that after Eric left tonight.

“Thanks again for...” She was interrupted by a knock on the door.

The locksmith most likely, but she looked through the peephole to make sure.

Eric got up and came closer to the door.

She let the locksmith in, and for a moment thought Eric would take over the transaction, but he simply greeted the locksmith, then inclined his head toward her as he said:

“I’m just the bodyguard,” with a slight smile.

Janet took over from there.

True to his word, once the locksmith was done and had left, she saw Eric preparing to leave and felt her heart drop a little.

He came right up to her, grabbed her hands and kissed her on the cheek.

“You take care of yourself Janet, I’ll see you on Monday,” he said as he opened the door, and his eyes lingered on her just a little too long for her to feel sturdy. Then he turned around and left.

Suddenly Janet was wondering how she’d make it through the rest of the weekend without seeing his face.

CHAPTER TWO: NIGHT REVELATIONS

How did this happen?
Janet thought as she tossed and turned, unable to sleep.

She had loved being with David, loved him as a person, but with the knowledge and humiliation of his affair, everything she felt for him nearly immediately disappeared, replaced by hurt and anger, then later, disgust and disdain.

The two of them had been growing apart for a while, she realized; despite saying ‘yes’ to his marriage proposal, she kept putting off any wedding planning, refusing to acknowledge to herself that she didn’t really want to go through it. From somewhere inside, she knew it wasn’t right.

But now, almost as quickly as she had disentangled herself from David, she was enraptured with Eric, although she knew the swiftness of it wasn’t the odd part—people got instantaneous crushes all the time. But so soon after a serious, three-year relationship?

Was Eric just a rebound guy? A matter of convenience? A way to work through whatever lingering emotions she had left?

“Mommy, I wish you were here,” she said out loud in a strained whisper, her voice constrained by tears held back.

Then she could hold them back no more.

Take it easy baby
, she imagined her mom saying.
One day at a time
.

Janet was unsure exactly why she was crying, but she figured it had to be a simple release from a long, hard day.

Then she realized what else was making her break down, and it wasn’t just loneliness.

She felt vulnerable again. In trouble. Like someone had snatched all her shields away.

She had been able to keep herself safe, guarded for a long time with David, and the emotional distance she maintained helped her bounce back from his betrayal.

Since she didn’t really want him, his infidelity ultimately didn’t matter. The time spent on guys before him—their transgressions and sins against her didn’t really matter either; she never cared enough about keeping any of them.

But just like that Eric snuck in, unannounced, unassuming, and he carried with him a force more than capable of breaking down her carefully built fortress.

She found herself longing to look into the oceans of his eyes, eyes that not only held humor but kindness and caring—she’d seen them all pass through in one night.

Eric was the ultimate in dangerous—almost physical perfection, yet he didn’t seem like a jerk or a man-whore or some other type of asshole she’d never seriously give the time of day, no matter what they looked like.

Of course the best players always seem that way,
she thought, but she knew she was forming a lie to herself. She found it true generally, but didn’t think it applicable to him.

She was horrified that her common sense was being overrode by her emotions, that Eric had the ability to melt her with one look and she couldn’t even hide it.

She recognized it immediately—her willingness to leave her fortress for him, to throw caution to the wind, and go with whatever wave he rode on no matter where it left her. She wanted to know what it was like to be wrapped up in his firm arms, against his broad chest.

He seemed like a protector, and as tough as she imagined she presented herself, she needed protecting, needed someone to show her the kind of caring he had showed her tonight.

She also felt insane—attributing so much to such little interaction, and the fact that she had clearly lost her ability to reason properly when it came to him made her devastated about losing her control after all.

If he knew his power—and she had no doubt that he did—she would be putty in his hands.

It was only a matter of time.

Whenever he decided to pounce, she was finished.

***

Eric felt the familiar beginnings of guilt crawl through him, increasing its size and the path it cut like a snowball rolling down a hill.

He had felt such guilt before: in the years following being the only survivor in the car crash with his parents, in leading on a girl he knew he’d never love in his college years and ultimately breaking her heart, and in the aftermath of his cousin’s death, when he felt he didn’t do enough to save her.

Now, the radiant smile of the beauty he had been assigned to work with sent guilt raging through him once again with a vengeance.

He hadn’t done anything wrong just yet, but he had agreed to—he had made a deal with a devil.

Come on Rick, it’s not wrong,
he tried to convince himself. But wasn’t it? Agreeing to woo and marry Leonard Cooper’s daughter for the sake of a merger with zero regard for the obviously frightened woman adorably putting on a show of strength? A woman who had the look of longing—for who knew what all—in her lovely brown eyes?

After all, Janet had no idea that she was training her replacement, that his uncle George had formulated a plan to get a firmer grip in Cooper Investment Inc. by having the two of them infiltrate. And that it was all approved by her father.

But then again, there was no need for her to find out.

Maybe things wouldn’t work out between them anyway, and she’d find a way to be happier eventually. They’d at least part with sweet memories.

The thought of them parting made him sad.

He looked forward to making those memories every time her curvy silhouette was in his vision.

Her body seemed the way God intended—modest chest, small waist and a round behind underneath her tailored skirts. She had shapely calves and he wondered how she got them—was she a runner? Did she play sports for fun like volleyball? Tennis? Did she dance? Or did she just have a personal trainer work her body into that mouth-watering shape?

Eric wanted her from the moment he laid eyes on her in person.

He had seen photos of her and thought she was pretty, but her photos did her no justice. They certainly didn’t capture the fire that burned in her eyes or the glowing flawlessness of her skin. They didn’t quite put together in 2D the angles and curves of her face, her shoulders, the way she carried herself. They didn’t quite capture her barely suppressed feisty spirit. The pictures did not bring out in him the desire he felt for her when she was live in the flesh, within reach.

He was hopelessly sexually attracted to her and felt tortured by it because of the other side of her that her photos
did
manage to capture somewhat—she was delicate. Soft, and sensual in her movements and in her smile. He sensed a part of her she wanted to give but held onto with shaking hands.

She reminded him of a flower, a feminine mystery he wanted to solve. He didn’t mind risking the thorns to get to the rose; after all, he saw a lot more than he could have imagined when he stepped into that elevator—far more than even his co-conspirators could have planned. And he knew what he felt went far beyond sexual attraction.

“Is it you?” he almost asked when he saw her, but wasn’t sure she would recognize him and understand what he was talking about, and he liked seeing her struck face and easy embarrassment from what was obviously strong attraction on her part.

Eric recognized her immediately when he saw her, beyond being the live version of a girl shown to him in a photo for a plan—he just didn’t expect their first encounter to be in the tight quarters of an elevator, warmth emanating from her due to her embarrassment.

He recognized the look on a woman trying to hide her attraction—the way she couldn’t look at him, practically blushing. The way her eyes kept betraying her attempt to pretend he wasn’t there affecting her—glancing at a safe part of him every now and then quickly and furtively—his shoe, his pant leg—the ludicrousness of her focus on elevator buttons, as if some fascinating message were written on them.

He knew she was attracted to him, but wondered if she felt the magnitude of what he felt in his attraction to her.

She wasn’t just the one he was supposed to make fall in love with him for the sake of business anymore—there, in that elevator, every part of him screamed at him that she was
the one
.

He had to do everything in his power to control himself, to stop himself from taking her in his arms and kissing her, and she was too busy in her own whirlwind to notice his struggle.

He grinned to himself. Uncle George and Mr. Cooper had no idea what stellar matchmakers they had turned out to be.

Despite worrying that she was only attracted to him sexually, he couldn’t wait to get started on her.

He had had his doubts before—since the proposition they had haunted him—but the moment he saw Janet Cooper in that elevator, all doubt evaporated, and he knew he would make a deal with the devil himself all over again if he had to.

Now he looked forward to his assignment one hundred per cent and was glad he had no need to use his acting skills besides pretending he wasn’t as physically affected by her as she seemed to be by him.

He wanted to kiss his uncle for coming up with his scheme. Who knew if he would have met Janet otherwise? And if they were destined to meet anyway, who knew how much farther in the future?

Eric felt simultaneous joy and sadness at his mission—joy for having been sent to her, sadness for the day she might find out he was sent to her for a particular purpose.

He wanted her, and was willing to do what his uncle asked happily, but he didn’t want her to get hurt in the process, nor did he want to get hurt by her.

Still, he was glad they’d been brought together now—he was ready for it. For her. For all that whatever they had would bring.