Chapter 6

Zoe did not know how it happened but suddenly she was running down the hallway towards the elevator. She had never felt so physically torn before. She was torn between succumbing to her aching desire for him and the regret she felt from how far she had already let it go. She was torn between wanting and dignity. So when he whispered softly in her ear the very words that had melted her the night before, she bolted.

She pushed past him and ran at full speed through the front door. She did not stop until she hit the elevator button. She pressed the button until the bell rang and the door opened. Her heart was pounding in her chest and her head was spinning as she got in the elevator. She turned to lean on the back wall and waited for the doors to close.

She could see him, standing in the hallway, eyes locked on her and for once his face gave some indication of what he was thinking. As their eyes met she could see confusion in his. She sighed in relief as the doors closed and the image of him was gone.

This could ruin her. Yet again she had let him drive her to a place that could ruin her professional life, her career. Not that she had a passion for property management, but it was a steady job that provided her with a nice place to live and enough money to support her art. She caught her breath in the ride down the elevator and tried to shake his eyes from her memory.

25 flights later and the elevator bell rang as the doors opened to the lobby. There stood graceful, gorgeous Maria talking coolly on the phone. She beamed her gorgeous smile to Zoe and mouthed the words “I’ll be right in.” As Zoe feebly smiled back and walked into the Main Office, where once again Cheryl was ready to pounce.

“What did she say?” Cheryl looked as though she was on the verge of a nervous breakdown as she ran up to Zoe and begged for an answer.

“I think he is going to take it. His assistant said she would be right in to do all the paperwork.” Zoe turned to the safety of her desk, hoping to hide in paperwork to avoid any more conversation with Cheryl about David Moore. She froze at the site of the most elaborate bouquet of two-dozen pink roses on her desk.

“Zoe!” Cheryl squealed with delight, “I could kiss you! You have no idea how huge this will be for us!” Cheryl was right, she did not understand all the fuss surrounded David Moore renting the penthouse. Their property had two Penthouse apartments and one had been rented for years, the other had just been made available three days ago and the phone had been ringing off the hook since then with clients demanding to see it. What was so important about David Moore renting this apartment? Wasn’t he just another rich 30-something with too much time and money on his hands? To Zoe, the clientele here were all the same; overly rich, overly arrogant, and too young to have earned the money themselves. But at that moment her mind was no longer on the pretentious clientele, it was on the mystery of the pink roses.

As Zoe walked slowly to her seat behind her desk she stared at the roses in bewilderment. As she sat down, she looked to Cheryl for answers.

“Oh! The roses! You, my dear, have been keeping secrets!” Zoe panicked, of course she had been keeping secrets. How could she tell her boss about the way David had held her steady over him, making her ache for him more and more as he slowly brought her down thrusting himself deep inside her. Steady, slow, and deep, making every part of her pulse with pleasure.

And there he was, walking in the office with Maria, looking as cold and stone faced as ever. Cheryl did not see them enter and continued; “I did not know you were going to the opening of V tonight. And who, exactly, is Matt Allen? Why am I only hearing about him now?”

Zoe was not sure if she should be relieved that Cheryl knew nothing about her and David or mortified that Cheryl was airing her personal business in front of David and Maria. Her only option was to take control of the situation; she turned to Maria and David, “Ready to start the paperwork?” Maria smiled sweetly but David glared at her, his usually cold face now burning with anger. He whispered something to Maria as she nodded in understanding.

“I have to be going, Maria will take care of things from here. Thank you.” David stated briskly and walked out of the office. Maria sat down in front of Zoe’s desk and beamed her soft gorgeous smile, “Let’s get David all moved in, shall we?”