Our First Embrace

She’s your employee, Alex. You’re not going down that road again! You know what happened the last time.

“Good night.” He abruptly turned to leave. “See you in the morning.”

“Bright and early,” she promised. “Thanks for the ride.”

“You’re welcome.” He walked away before he succumbed to the overwhelming need to stay.

* * *

Nicole slowly walked to the elevator and entered. When she glanced up, Alexander was standing near the doorway, watching her. Her breath arrested at the look in his eyes—a look needing no definition or interpretation with words. Thankfully the doors closed, shutting him out of her view but not out of her mind.

“He’s your boss, Nicole,” she forcefully reminded herself again. “That’s all he’ll ever be.”

Yes, that’s what she repeatedly told herself, but she couldn’t beat back the nagging voice and feeling inside of her that challenged that assertion. Why, oh, why did she have to have these inappropriate feelings for Alexander?

Oh, Lord, she was in big trouble, and she had no earthly idea of how she was going to get out of it.

* * *

Bright and early the next morning, after a somewhat restless night spent thinking about her worrisome attraction to Alexander, Nicole arrived at work at 7:00 a.m., and by 8:00, she had already downed five cups of coffee. Her excessive beverage intake necessitated a few trips to the ladies’ room. On her way back to her desk, she passed by Alexander’s slightly ajar door and quickly recognized Alexander and Victor’s voices.

She had every intention of walking on by, but her feet became glued to the spot when her name was mentioned. She knew she shouldn’t eavesdrop, but curiosity to hear what they were saying about her kept her rooted in place. Unfortunately, when she heard Alex question her commitment after he had told her last night he didn’t regret hiring her, any semblance of common sense flew straight out the window.

Without thinking, Nicole pushed open Alexander’s door the rest of the way and walked inside, glancing from one startled brother to the other. Her defiant eyes immediately landed on Alexander’s displeased ones.

“When gossiping about someone,” she sweetly began, “it’s prudent to make certain your door is closed to minimize the risk of being overheard.”

“Yes.” Alex folded his muscular arms over his broad chest. “It’s also wise to account for snoops.”

“I wasn’t snooping.” At Alexander’s skeptical stare she continued, “I was simply passing by and heard my name. Naturally, I was curious.”

“Naturally,” Alex sarcastically agreed.

“Nicole, I apologize...” Victor began.

“Don’t worry about it, Victor.” Nicole gave him a slight smile before returning angry eyes to his brother.

“So it’s safe to assume your anger is reserved for me alone.” Alex bristled. It exasperated him to no end that she didn’t seem the least bit miffed at Victor, who had also been discussing her. “Is that right?”

“You know what they say about assuming, don’t you?” Nicole softly asked, her anger dissipating instantaneously.

“You know what they say about curiosity and the cat, don’t you?” Alex shot back without answering her question.

“Yes, I do,” she pleasantly assured him. “But do you know that after curiosity killed the cat, satisfaction brought it back?”

Victor chuckled, Alex snarled and Nicole smiled triumphantly at getting the last word before leaving them alone and closing the door behind her with a decisive click.

* * *

“Damn, she’s something,” Victor approved, and Alex silently agreed. “That’ll teach you to complain about your employees publicly.”

“Yeah, I was complaining all to myself, wasn’t I?” Alex frowned at Victor.

“I was merely being a sounding board so you wouldn’t take your foul mood out on your staff,” Victor informed.

“You’re such a humanitarian,” Alex sarcastically rejoined.

“What can I say?” Victor shrugged. “I do what I can.”

“Get out of here, Vic.” Alex sighed, reclining against his desk. “You’ve caused me enough trouble for one day.”

“Me? Trouble?” Victor pointed to himself. “Surely you jest.”

“No, I don’t,” Alex said. “You’re nothing but bad news.”

“My dear brother, you know your life would be so boring without me.”

“Oh, how I’d like to test that theory.” Despite his black mood, Alex cracked a smile.

“No, you wouldn’t.” Victor confidently grinned and opened the door. “Later, bro.”

“Hey.” Alex halted his brother’s exit. “What do they say about assuming?”

“You’re kidding, right?” At his brother’s blank stare, Victor laughed heartily before explaining, “When you assume you make an ass out of u and me. Get it?”

“Ah, I see.” Alex smirked at his brother, who gave him a mock salute before exiting. Well, she had told him off without raising that sweet little sexy voice of hers, hadn’t she?

He glanced at his closed door, and his smirk transformed into a slight smile as he replayed the confrontation with Nicole. Today she was dressed in a red dress with a matching duster jacket and red pumps. She looked wonderful and smelled even better—like lavender. He had fought down an insane urge to bury his nose in her neck and inhale deeply. What the...? His smile quickly slid into a deep frown. Oh, Lord, what am I doing reminiscing over how she looked and smelled?

She had barged into his office uninvited, so he should be angry; however, he was intrigued instead—which was surprising and intensely disquieting. Nicole Carter had that effect on him. The question was, what was he going to do about it?

* * *

As Nicole slowly made her way to her workstation, she chewed on her lower lip worriedly. What in the world had possessed her to do such a stupid thing like confronting her boss like that? Even though his door had been ajar, he had been in the privacy of his office talking to his brother, and she should have just walked on by.

She wasn’t impulsive, and now was no time to change her ways; she usually weighed everything she said and did very carefully. You’re sleep deprived. That’s why you acted so unwisely, she told herself to feel better, but it wasn’t working. She sat down at her desk and sighed heavily.

She was used to order and normalcy in her life. Since moving to Paris, her equilibrium had been constantly in flux—due primarily to her volatile boss and her disturbing attraction to him. She didn’t know where she stood with Alexander from one second to the next. She had thought after last night that they were starting to get along, but after overhearing him complaining about her this morning, she wasn’t sure anymore.

She wanted Alexander’s respect and maybe even his admiration. They had gotten off on the wrong foot, and the little scene she had just caused probably hadn’t helped things. She half expected him to barge out of his office, tell her off in front of everyone and order her out of his company, but thankfully, he didn’t. Apparently she was still employed at her dream job—for the time being anyway.

Resting her chin on her hands, she silently reprimanded her unruly tongue, which had caused her far too much trouble so early in the morning.

* * *

The next time Nicole saw Alexander was in the late morning. He was walking around the designers’ workstations peering over shoulders, making suggestions and giving out compliments when he deemed warranted. After their confrontation this morning, she held her breath, praying he would bypass her. Of course, he didn’t.

He reached her station and sat down beside her. She had removed her jacket, leaving her arms bare. When he slid his chair close to hers, the sleeve of his jacket brushed against her bare flesh, sending tremors through her.

“Settling in?”

“Yes.” She managed a slight smile. “Monique is great.”

“She is,” he agreed. “You seem startled. Why?”

“You know why,” she softly accused.

“You’re right. I do.” He paused before adding, “I apologize for talking about you behind your back. I shouldn’t have done that.”

Her eyes widened. “You’re apologizing to me?”

“Yes, I am. Do you accept my apology?”

He had completely flabbergasted her. Where was the anger and outrage she expected from him? This man was truly hard to figure out; she never knew what he was going to say or do next.

“Of course I do. Thank you.” She magnanimously added, “I’m sorry for barging into your office.”

“It’s already forgotten.” He waved her apology away. “You may have figured out that I can be very demanding, Nicole.”

“Yes, I had noticed that,” Nicole quickly agreed around a smile.

“Right.” Humor lit up his gorgeous eyes. “I’m going to be hard on you, but I promise to give you a fair shot.”

“I can’t ask for anything more than that.”

“Truce?” He offered his hand.

“Truce.” She placed her hand in his momentarily, but that was long enough for needles of awareness to shoot through her. “I’m looking forward to working here, Alexander.”

“And work you will,” he assured before standing and leaving her staring after him.

Seconds later, Monique walked out of her office to perch on the edge of Nicole’s desk. “Hey, girl.”

“Hey.” Nicole tore her attention from Alexander’s retreating back and focused on her colleague.

“You and the boss looked rather cozy.”

“He was just showing me something.”

“Really?” Monique grinned. “Do tell, what?”

“Something about work,” Nicole said with a shake of her head.

“Oh, okay.” Nicole raised an eyebrow at her skeptical tone. “You’re starting to like him, aren’t you?”

“He’s—” Nicole paused, unsure of how to finish that sentence. Finally, she ended, “—very complicated.”

“Truly,” Monique agreed.

“I never know what he’s going to do or say.” Nicole glanced around to make sure he wasn’t within earshot. “He’s so...temperamental.”

“He definitely is. I think it’s the artist in him. He’s also very fair.”

“I hope so.”

“Trust me, he is.” Monique couldn’t resist adding, “You’ll find that out soon enough.”

“Here’s the sketch you asked me to revise.”

“Nice subject change.” Monique took the sketch from her and studied it. “Very good. I like it a lot.”

“I’m glad.”

“You’ve got talent, girl. I see why the boss hired you.”

Nicole placed a hand on her hip in fake outrage. “Did you ever doubt it?”

“Never.” Monique smiled. “Work me up two variations of this sketch—one with a longer skirt and the other with a different top.”

“I’m on it.” Nicole flipped to a clean page in her draft book. “When do you need them?”

“How does tomorrow around noon sound?”

“Perfect.”

“Great. I’ll let you get back to work.” Monique stood. “If you have any questions, holler.”

“Will do,” Nicole agreed, reaching for her charcoal pencil and bending her head to study the sketch on her desk.

Her hand froze in midair as the hair on the back of her neck stood on end. She felt rather than saw Alexander’s eyes on her. Slowly glancing up, she found him standing across the room at Crystal’s desk. He was nodding as though listening to something she was saying, but his eyes were glued on Nicole. She returned his intense stare for a few seconds before lowering her eyes back to her sketch, pretending interest in her design when she was really wondering what that look was all about.

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