Drake walked behind her, enjoying the view as she walked swiftly away from him. He grabbed his keys from the table where he’d tossed them when they’d first arrived, following her into the elevator.
She looked up at him, startled by his presence in the small confines of the elevator’s cab. “What are you doing?” she demanded, moving away, putting as much space between them as possible although it wasn’t much. It might be a relatively big elevator, but he was a relatively huge man and just his shoulders took up a lot of space. She wasn’t used to men ignoring her statements and it irritated her that he was the first.
“I’m going to drive you home.”
He said that as if it were obvious, as if she hadn’t just told him that she would take a cab home. Her anger welled up to almost choke her. “You know, I much preferred you when…” she started to say that she preferred him when he was in a hospital bed not giving out orders to her but stopped herself just in time.
He was instantly alert, his sharp eyes taking in the quick blush that stained her beautiful skin. “You much preferred me when…?” he prompted. His eyes narrowed as he looked down into her startled expression. “Have we met before?”
She shook her head and lowered her eyes. Taking the offensive, she turned to face the doors. “I hope that I’m not that unmemorable. If we’d met before, perhaps you were too drunk to remember me.” She knew it was a lame comeback, especially since he’d only had one glass of wine the whole time they’d been having dinner. Even while he was cooking, he was very careful. Darn it! Another mark in his favor!
She couldn’t let him see her eyes though. The lie of omission still made her feel guilty. Her father had lied all the time, kept secrets from everyone. She didn’t want to be like him and struggled to keep her silence. It was all for the greater good, she told herself.
Is that what her father had told himself, she wondered? Had he justified his cruelty by saying that he was providing someone a job? Or he was making a home for his children?
No! Her father had been a self-centered bastard. She might not have done enough, or anything, to take him down, but she wasn’t like him. She wasn’t dishonest or cruel. She was keeping her identity from Drake only to keep him from remembering a horrible time in his life.
Well, and to make sure he didn’t fire her.
She sighed. That was where she was selfish, she thought with resignation. She was protecting herself from his memories and retribution.
Another mark in his favor, she thought. She looked at him out of the corner of her eye as they descended in the elevator. She didn’t know for sure, but Drake didn’t seem like the kind of man who would shy away from the truth.
He might not ever be able to be her fantasy man, but after knowing a conscious Drake Harrison for only one day, he was definitely starting to have several good points in his favor.
Not that she was counting them up or anything. Besides, he had several bad points as well.
The elevator doors opened up at that moment and she gritted her teeth when she realized that he had taken them down to the garage level. If she’d been more on her game instead of letting him taunt her, she would have noticed that he’d pressed the garage button instead of the lobby button. She could have gotten a cab if she’d thought to press the lobby instead of the garage. Now she’d have to argue with him to go back up, a losing proposition she suspected, or allow him to drive her home.
And it would figure that the man would have the closest parking space! “I really don’t want to put you out,” she said, taking a deep breath. “Those are the stairs to the lobby. I’ll just call a cab from there and will head home.” She took two steps in that direction, her whole body tense to see if he would allow her the freedom to get home on her own.
Obviously, she should have known better. Her day simply wasn’t turning out very well.
He took hold of her upper arm and steered her right back in the direction of his car. Within moments, she was sitting in the seat and watching him walk around. She shook her head with embarrassment and frustration when she realized that she was staring at his ever-so-nice butt. Couldn’t she just leave the poor guy alone? And couldn’t he leave her alone?
She wondered what it would be like if she’d met him for the first time today. Would she be just as irritated by his demeanor? Would she become angered by his arrogance?
Yes, she thought as he slipped into the car beside her. There was just something about this man that irked her. She didn’t like the way she felt all quivery and hot when he got close to her and that had nothing to do with her fear of him realizing that her father was the man who had ordered his death.
The man just wasn’t her type, she thought as she stared out the window while he backed out of the parking space.
They drove in silence for several minutes before Sierra realized that he was heading for Washington Park. She lived in Washington Park! “How do you know where I live?” she asked, straightening in her seat.
He glanced over at her quickly. “I find you fascinating, Sierra. So I read your personnel file.” With a lascivious leer he said, “When you decide that you’re finished running away from me, I can be at your house in less than ten minutes.” He laughed softly, the deep, grumbling sound made her heart flutter with awareness. “And you told me where you lived earlier today.”
She hated the heat that flushed through her with his assurance. She didn’t like him, she got irritated with everything he said and she definitely didn’t want him rushing over to her place. “I don’t know what is so interesting about me. I’m just an ordinary female.” She turned to stare back out of the windshield. “I put my slacks on the same way everyone else does in the morning.”
She could actually feel his smile without turning to look at him. “I don’t believe you. Let me watch you put your slacks on tomorrow morning,” he said with another one of those sexy laughs.
She wished she was one of those people who had a pithy comeback for whatever was said. But she was more math oriented and the humor bone had been forgotten when God made her. So she sat in the ultra-luxurious seat, fuming at his wit. She sighed with relief when he turned down the street where her apartment was. “I don’t think I like just anyone being able to read my personnel file. Those records are for management. They’re supposed to be private.”