“P..penthouse?” I stammered in confusion.
How had we suddenly gone from getting me a checkup for my injuries to a visit to a penthouse?
His Penthouse.
I swallowed, just what kind of a checkup was he planning?
Who just brings a random stranger they just almost ran over to their home?
And who is stupid enough to get in a car with a stranger who almost ran over them and then also come home with them? Me obviously, I was the idiot.
I took a deep breath when he opened the door on my side.
“Get out slowly, I’ll help you,” He started to give me a hand.
Shrugging him off, I asked him “I’m not getting out, why are we here?”
“Well, you didn’t want to go to the hospital…correct me if I’m wrong?” He tilted his head.
I nodded. Now I was confused and he was looking at me as if the answer should be obvious.
He sighed, “I’m going to call my personal physician for you so he can give you a checkup.”
Oh that should have made sense to me, because obviously I lived in a world where people had personal physicians on speed-dial. Right.
“No, no. Believe me, I’m alright. I just need an icepack and some aspirin; you don’t need to call your doctor for me.”
“Just get out of the car Seline.” I started when he said my name as if he’d been saying it forever instead of the first time. His tone was very serious and shiver went through my body when he said my name like that. There was an “or else” at the end of his command.
I wondered what he would do if I said no.
I just shook my head, “Can you just take me back to the campus? Or better yet, I can catch a cab home.”
I started to get up and got out of the car, my intention to walk straight out of the car park and out of this building and out of this man’s life.
He scared me shitless and not for the usual reasons.
I wobbled a little as I got to my feet, wincing as I felt all the aches and pains now.
“Suit yourself,” He said and the suddenly I was up in the air again, in his arms again.
“Not again,” I groaned, “Why do you keep doing this? Is it one of your hobbies? Picking up random women?”
“It only seems to come about around you,” He replied and proceeded to walk casually up to the elevator with me up in his arms.
“Caveman attitude, people solve problems by talking these days,” I was just arguing for the sake of it now. I was enjoying the ride too much.
“We really need to learn from cavemen, they had it right when dealing with stubborn females and anyway, it doesn’t bother me much, I’m old fashioned like that”
My mouth dropped open at that. The audacity.
“I could scream,” I threatened.
He looked around us and lifted his eyebrows emphasizing that no one was around to help me, “Yeah and you can tell them what a gentleman I am, helping out a girl who should’ve known better than to throw herself in front of my car.”
The elevator dinged, saving me from a reply. Not that I had any. He was right about the accident part.
“You can put me down now, you must be getting tired.” I told him, “I can’t escape from an elevator.”
He just smirked at me.
What was that supposed to mean?
The elevator opened onto a foyer which led to only one door ahead of us. Wow, he owned the entire floor? How many floors up were we?
He finally put me down near the door and unlocked it.
Opening the door wide and supporting me with one arm, he gestured me inside, “Make yourself at home.”
Woah, the place was massive and something right out of a magazine.
The house was open floor plan and looked so amazingly perfect, I was sure it had been designed by some hot shot interior design company.
The floor was white oak and looked so clean that I was sure my shoes would scuff it even though I knew I hadn’t stepped in any dirt. The entire place looked unreal. We were in the lounge and Damien Flynn was switching on the lights making the place look bigger and even more impressive.
As if that could even happen.
I would have run back the way we had come had it not been for my injured leg. So I just stood there staring like an idiot that had never even imagined anything like this even in her dreams.
The windows wrapped around the whole area with floor to ceiling windows which must feature a great view of the city, I thought. My hand fidgeted as I thought about just opening all the curtains.
The lounge opened into a kitchen that looked about as untouched as the rest of the house.
Did anyone even live here? I wondered.
“No, it’s only me most of the time and then the staff has a schedule.” I flushed when I realized I’d spoken aloud.
He came back to me after he’d discarded his suit jacket and was left wearing a light grey dress shirt. It emphasized his eyes and did amazing things to his chest.
He held me up and slowly walked me over to the sectional situation in front of what seemed like a fireplace. Did it actually work? I’d never actually seen a fireplace before. I mean who in this age had one in their home?
And then he looked me over for a bit and just left me.
Damien Flynn had disappeared leaving me on my own stuck on a sofa in a penthouse, God knew how many floors up, without a workable phone and unable to get up and run away.
Great.
The man came back after what seemed ages and holding a first aid box.Was he a doctor? He could have been...but then, was he going to check me out himself?“Are you… a doctor?” I asked him.“No,” he sat down next to me, “but I’ve called one and he’s on his way.”“So what are you doing with that?”He bent down in front of me, which should have been impossible because he was wearing dress pants. But he did and the pants stretched alarmingly across his thighs making me more than ever conscious of him. This was insane because never before had I ever focused on a man like this. I was getting hot under the collar now. I started fidgeting under his scrutiny.“We should clean up your wound so it doesn’t get infected,” He looked at me then for a long minute, the man was making me wish I had worn jeans or something. In my scraped knee and this dress, I was feeling lik
We were drenched, both of us and lying on the floor of the shower cubicle.My eyes were tightly close because I didn’t want to face him. Face Mr. Damien Flynn.I suddenly realized I was lying on top of him, my body so intimately nestled into his that we could’ve been one person.I opened my eyes, certain my face must be a picture of embarrassment.Oh God, oh God, Oh God, I chanted in my head.I took a breath and lifted my head from where it was resting on his chest and peeked up at him.He was looking straight at me, his face totally unreadable and my heart started beating in double time.He must be able to feel it, I thought, maybe he’ll think it’s because of the fall.He tilted his head slightly and then, holy shit, I could feel his hand moving from my waist, down my butt and onto my bare thigh. Then he raised one of his legs a little so it was almost like I was riding his thigh.The thought tur
We were so close I could see the flecks in his grey eyes. All I wanted to do was fit my mouth to his, it was more than a compulsion, I felt obsessed by his lips.By the way his thumb felt on my lips, I wondered if he was feeling the same things I was.Was it possible?My body felt out of control, I could even hear a ringing in my head.Wait a sec…He dislodged me a little and started patting his pockets searching for something.Oh, it wasn’t in my brain, it was his phone ringing.Damn I was out of it.I tried to get up off him to give him some space but he stopped me with one hand while he shook his head and picked up the call with one hand.I couldn’t concentrate on his conversation with the person on the other end.I was looking at his arm, the one holding the phone to his ear, one of his cufflinks had come undone leaving his arm with drops of water clinging to it.Without realizing wha
I quickly changed into the sweats and realized he’d been right, they really were too big for me. I was folding up the bottoms of the sweatpants into some way where they would fit me at least a little better when there was a knock on the bedroom door and Damien came in. He stopped just inside the door and stared at me. I quickly looked at myself… Was I wearing the hoodie backwards? What was wrong? He slowly walked over, an expression on his face I couldn’t read. “Am I wearing it wrong?” I was confused. “On the contrary, you’re wearing it just right. I would say perfect even.” He came over to me then and gently taking each one of my hands in his, folded the sleeve up to my wrists. “You know I’ve never really worn this pair of sweats before, I thought it just wasn’t my color” He said casually. “Why did you buy it then?” I asked “I didn’t.. It was sent to me.” “Oh, I’ll get it back to y
I was speechless with shock, so much that I couldn’t even get my breath back enough to say goodbye to the handsome doctor. Just what in the hell was this man thinking? I couldn’t even comprehend the amount of things that had been wrong in that statement he had uttered to the doctor. First the words themselves.. What did it mean that I was staying here the entire week? How was that in any way, reality or fantasy even possible? His reality, probably my forbidden fantasy but I didn’t want to go into that. I was embarrassed of my own behavior. I didn’t know him, he didn’t know me. We didn’t know each other. And the way he had said it, so casually to the good doctor. As if.. As if.. My imagination led on from there.. As if I lived here regularly, as if being here was a common thing. As if I belonged in this home, as if I belonged in his bed, as if I belonged in his life. As if we were lovers and had been for
He smiled, he knew he’d won the war so he could afford to be generous, “I will be taking the guest room but if for some reason you don’t like my room, we can shift you over to the guestroom. Do you want to walk or be carried?”I knew when I was in over my head and this was one of those situations. He had effectively trapped me by giving me a choice, because he knew I wouldn’t want to be carried anywhere.Not because I didn’t like it but precisely because my traitor body liked it too damn much.I let out a breath, “No this room is fine with me if it’s okay with you, giving up your room, your bed.”“So what do you propose? That I give up my room but not my bed? How?” There was a gleam in his eyes. Was he suggesting that I was suggesting that we share a bed? Yikes!“I’m not proposing anything Mr. Flynn,” I said defensively. I’d called him that on purpose, I wante
Did nothing ruffle the man? Was he always this calm and put together? Did he feel anything at all when he looked at me or was I just one of his charity cases?Maybe he did this kind of a thing often, pick up random people off the street and help those in need.Rich people did need a hobby too right? Maybe he was a philanthropist..And just how much free time did he have that he was always around. How did he support this ostentatious lifestyle?Oh God, I thought. What if he wasn’t a businessman at all? What if he was something more sinister?What if he did something illegal? A drug dealer? Mafia boss? Smuggler?Oh Lord, what had I gotten myself into? I was panicking now and Damien was looking at me with a curious expression. Maybe he could sense my anxiety because he didn’t say anything or offer to help me. He just stared at me.I would have to find out somehow. Maybe I could look around his room, but that couldn’t be
I let out the breath I was holding as a huge load fell off my shoulders. Now I just had to prepare for the minefield of question that Maria would bring with her tomorrow. I hated how I knew some of the questions and yet I was ignoring them because I didn’t have an answer myself and I was scared of what I would find if I looked too close at my own feelings.For now, it was enough that I’d told Maria, I’d deal with the rest when the time came.I kept the cell phone on the nightstand and looked up to find Damien lounging in the doorway looking like he had been there a while. I bit my lip and wondered just how much he’d heard.I tried to decipher his expression but I couldn’t make out anything. I was being paranoid, he couldn’t have heard anything.“Thanks for charging my phone, I talked to my friends.” He didn’t need to know I’d only talked to one friend. The only one who was like a sister to me.