The Unlikely Fiance

Chapter 3

CLARISSA HATED the substitution. Madeline had never been sick before, why now? She bet it was just another excuse for her to go and get more Botox around her already Botox-bloated face. As it was, the woman could hardly make any other expression on her face than a surprised one all the time. She had been addicted to cosmetic surgery since her mother introduced it to her when she was sixteen.

Clarissa wrestled with the paint brushes and paint cans out of her car and started to make her way towards the school. She had an interesting project for the children to do and it was so abrupt so she decided to bring her own material from home. She still had about twenty minutes to put everything up before school started. Smartly dressed little boys and girls played in the garden of the school. She had to appreciate the privileges that these children had. Some of the things not even she knew about until she started working there. Indeed money was what made the world go around (at least for these children).

She was going down a slope across the parking lot when she noticed the silver two seater Porsche 918 Spyder that was parked there with a tall and elegant man standing outside, one hand leaning casually on the roof of the car while the other holding a small boy's hand. Clarissa took a sharp breath when she recognized the boy as Christian Renoir which meant that man could only be....but no, it wasn't his father.

Clarissa's mouth fell open and she found herself pulled away from her former direction towards Nicholas Renoir. He looked casual and different but still mouthwatering. At full-length he was a well built man and his height made Clarissa's legs feel rubbery with being impressed. Mr. Creepy Strange Man didn't have the creepy strange car today nor was it tinted. He didn't wear the undertaker-black beautiful suit but was in a khaki pair of pants that fitted sexily around his strong legs. He had a white crisp shirt that was visible under the V-neck pale blue cardigan that he wore. He wore his shades as usual and his black hair tousled in the wind calling her to caress the locks to see if they were as silky soft as they appeared to be. It must have been casual Tuesday at his work place, Clarissa mused.

The man oozed of sex, arrogance and power. He was the kind of man that had a woman's thighs quiver in anticipation just by the mere sight of him. Clarissa found that she could not look anywhere else other than at him until Christian broke the spell.

"Good morning, Miss Langston!" He greeted her cheerfully. "Uncle Nicholas brought me to school on time today!"

"That's thoughtful of him." She murmured then felt the heel of her black pumps hit a loose rock and she staggered to the side sending the brushes and the paints flying across the parking lot. Luckily she didn't make acquaintance with the ground but still her face managed to turn beet-red. Nicholas' mouth twitched as it did yesterday. So, he found her almost-humiliation amusing? Ooh, now her hate for him was personal. "And without the creepy tinted car, that's progress."

His eyebrow arched up as he bent down and retrieved the scattered stuff. "I didn't want to scare the teachers into thinking I'm abducting my own nephew."

Now, that's a thought. What other intelligent thought was swimming in that beautiful head of his? She wondered as she helped him collect some brushes from the ground.

Awww, Creepy Strange Man was actually a gentleman. Clarissa mentally stuck a gold star in front of his name. Nine more stars on his name and he would move up from the hell-no-list to the maybe-list.

"I like this car better." Clarissa blurted then put her hand over her mouth.

That won her a grin that made her brain shutdown for a moment. She heard the little voices in her powerhouse try to revive it and during that time, she was hot and cold and very sensitive in areas that were hibernating, as Pam had put it.