Darien

Chapter 4

No sooner had Rose stepped through her door when she heard a slight knock. She groaned and wondered if she could pretend she wasn’t there. She had had a long day and she was not in the mood for company. She looked at the door and then realized she had already flicked on the switch. Whoever it was definitely knew she was home. She tossed her bag on the sofa and kicked her shoes off and shoved them behind the door. She rubbed her hand across her face as if to wipe away some of her tiredness and threw the door open. He was about to knock again, but when she did so, he withdrew his hand.

“I was beginning to think you weren’t going to let me in. I have been waiting for you,” he said.

Her heart skipped within her as she stood there staring at him. “Waiting? I didn’t see you.” She folded her arms and leaned against the door frame.

“How does that mean that I wasn’t waiting?” he asked.

She just stood there staring at him, not knowing what to say. His presence was so compelling it kept pulling her in like a magnet; she felt incapable of pulling her eyes away from him and almost got lost in hypnosis had he not spoken.

“So, am I invited inside?” he asked.

“Oh, yes, sure, come on in,” she said, stumbling over the words. “Pardon my manners.”

He walked into her home for the second time, only now stopping to admire its interior. “Wow. Your home is lovely. I think I will ask you to make over mine,” he complimented her.

Rose blushed. “Thank you, but I am sure it isn’t that bad.”

“I will leave you to decide that on your own,” he hinted. “So, where shall we go tonight?” he asked her.

Rose stepped a little closer to him now. “Going? We are going somewhere?” she asked.

“Aren’t we?”

“Not that I am aware of. I didn’t even know I would be seeing you tonight. I just got home from a long day and all I want to do is shower and sleep.”

“Hmmm. Rain check then?” he asked.

“Rain check,” she confirmed.

He got up and stood directly in front of her now, his breath warming her skin. His eyes bore into hers and threatened madness, until she peeled them away and stared at the ground instead. He used his index finger and lifted her face by the chin. He lowered his head and brushed her cheek with his cold lips. He felt her tremble under his touch and smiled at the thought of having her bare skin warming his ivory covering.

Rose walked him to the door and watched as he got in his Porsche and drove off. Then she fell back against the door and placed her hand on her chest. She was sure her heart would shut down momentarily for it could not be normal to be breathing this rapidly. She took her shoes from behind the door and glided to her room, unaware that her feet were barely touching the ground. She drifted further to the bathroom and automated her way though her shower. His spell seemed to be getting stronger by the minute and even lasted longer each time she saw him. She suddenly felt a prisoner of the feelings she harbored for him, but she had no inclination to let it stop. She felt intoxicated and heady and slammed down on the bed with a dead weight. She fell asleep instantly, dreaming of brighter days and longer nights when he would be around.

And he was around a lot. Almost every night that she got home he walked in right behind her. If she weren’t so smitten, she would think differently of it, but she looked forward to it. He took her out to dine and she always marveled at his selection of food. As slender as his frame was, he ate red meat a lot and he always complimented it with red wine. She preferred white wine, but she indulged most times for his benefit and sometimes depending on what she ordered. She caught him a few times staring at her as if he could see under her skin, but she was never able to read his face. Talk about poker face-he beat all others.

He would take her to fancy restaurants, dinner theater, operas and even carriage riding in the park, but soon one thing became painfully obvious. She never saw him in the daytime. She didn’t know much about him, if anything at all. She knew he was doing well in IT and that he was a majority stockholder in his company and that he had two partners. She knew he liked red wine, red meat and good music, but that was all she knew. She had grown infatuated with a man she knew nothing about. For all she knew, he could be hiding a family somewhere.

“What do you say about lunch tomorrow?” she asked him one night.

“Lunch? We have never done lunch before,” he said.

“I know, and I also don’t know what you look like in the daytime.”

He grew silent for a minute. He knew he couldn’t just shoot down her idea of lunch, even if she was only testing him for whatever reason, so he said what was expected of him. “Sure, why not? How’s your schedule looking for tomorrow?” he asked.

Rose was shocked that he was willing to come to lunch. She didn’t know what she had lined up for tomorrow off the top of her head. “I am not sure as yet. It was an impulsive question,” she admitted.

“Well, let me know,” he offered and flashed her one of his most seductive smiles. They spent the rest of the night star gazing and by the time he took her home, she was falling over.

The following day, at about ten in the morning, she got a message from Darien that he would have to cancel lunch because he was called into an impromptu meeting. She was disappointed, but she was not unreasonable either. Being the head of his company, these things were bound to happen. She didn’t think anything of it, until it happened for the fourth consecutive time. This time he had a trip out of town which amounted to her not seeing him for two days. She was not accusing him of anything. Well, maybe she was, but this was beginning to look suspicious. He had pretended that he wanted to see her for lunch and for every time that they arranged something he would make something up. She was sure now that must be what he was doing. She confronted him about it one night when he came over.