A Simple Love

Chapter 1 (Edited)

Her anxiety grew with each step she took toward the waiting black door. She had never done any work for a celebrity before. She didn't even know who it was. Her boss had just handed her the project plan and said "don't get star-struck. This is an important new client so no crazy fan stuff." She opened the folder and all she had was an address and a phone number but no client name. Odd. The name was always included in the plan. What was she supposed to say? 'Hello, it's nice to meet you...sorry, I don't know your name.' She sighed. Grabbed the folder and put it in her portfolio.

She stood looking at the door for a few seconds before smoothing her hand over her curly hair and running her tongue over her teeth. Then, taking a deep breath, she knocked. Who could it be? Al Pacino? Robert DeNiro? Maybe Sting! She was a little excited but kept herself in check. Music was leaking through the door but then there was silence. When the door opened, there stood a man with dark hair down to his shoulders wearing a black tee shirt, worn black jeans, barefoot, and the most incredible blue eyes she'd ever seen. Caught off guard, her mind went blank. Even though she had no idea who this man was, what she did know was he was, well, wow!

Taking a deep breath she stuck out her hand. "Hi, I'm Annie Morgan from Michael Faltz Interior Design." He shook it gently and smiled. "Yeah, yeah, hey, nice to meet you. I'm Norman Reedus. Come in, come in." He kept a hold of her hand as she stepped through the doorway into a very large open living room with big floor-to-ceiling windows and perfect hardwood floors. Very nice, she thought, what could he possibly want to be done?

"It's very nice to meet you, Mr. Reedus." He laughed lightly. "My Dad is Mr. Reedus, call me Norman." She tilted her head. That name sounded familiar. He was a celebrity, she knew that much but she didn't know who he was so there was no need to worry about being star-struck. "It's nice to meet you Norman." She said flashing a big smile at him. When he saw that smile he had an absolute 'wow' moment. Smiling back, he touched his fingers to his chin smoothing the hair down a few times. She was incredibly attractive with long dark curly hair, big green eyes framed by long dark lashes, and a cute sprinkling of light freckles over her sun-kissed skin. "You have a great place, love all the light." His eyes traveled up the curve of her hip to her chest and he grinned. "Hey, you must be uncomfortable in those shoes. If you wanna take them off go ahead." She paused a moment. Maybe it was his way of telling her he didn't want his floors scratched. Nodding, she pulled off her shoes. Now she was barefoot too. "Where would you like me to..." He grabbed the shoes and tossed them on the sofa. "Better?" She nodded.

"Come on, I'll make us some coffee." "Oh no, I'm not supposed to..." He turned his head towards her. "You're not supposed to drink coffee at a client's house?" She nodded slightly but followed him to his kitchen anyway. Grabbing the bag of coffee he whispered "I won't tell anyone." Smiling, he started scooping out the coffee. "Do you even drink coffee? I shoulda asked first." Annie nodded. "I love coffee, thank you." He moved a cushioned bar stool over towards her with his foot. "Have a seat." She eased herself down and her skirt rose up just above mid-thigh. Norman's eyes were drawn to her legs immediately and she noticed. "We really should go over your project plan." He pushed his hair back with his hand. "Yeah, yeah, yeah, over coffee, is that cool with you?" He rubbed his hands together like he was cold "Sure, that's fine." Pulling a remote from his pocket and aiming it at his stereo, rock music started pouring from the speakers. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw him bouncing a little to the music as he leaned into the refrigerator. She smiled watching him, he was so charming and friendly. She expected some snooty celeb who had a maid or butler or something. "Cream, milk?" "Cream please." "sugar or...uh...well, sugar? I don't have any of that diet shit." "Sugar is fine." She smiled again and he stopped in his tracks. "What?" she asked. "You have a great smile," he said bluntly. Her cheeks turned red and he laughed. "You're cute! Why ya' blushin'?" She didn't know what to say so she shrugged. He pushed a mug in front of her and poured some of the delicious-smelling coffee. She added some cream, and a little sugar and took a sip. "Oh my! This is great coffee." He jerked his head to one side to get the hair out of his eyes. "Mmm, yeah, a fan sent it to me. Sent a bunch of different kinds but I like this one the best." Fans. Now she really didn't know what to say. How did she respond to the word 'fan?' She nodded once and looked down at her coffee. Leaning on the counter, he put one of his hands over hers and she looked up at him. His eyes caught hers and she got butterflies in her stomach. His eyes were the most amazing shade of blue she had ever seen. There was something about them but she couldn't think while he was looking at her. "I'm gonna take a guess and say you don't know who I am?" She hung her head slightly. "No, I'm sorry. All my boss said was that this was a project for a celebrity." He nodded and took another drink of coffee, not taking his hand off hers. "Cool. I'm glad." Now she was full of curiosity.