Picking Up The Pieces (Last book to 'Keeping Secrets' and 'Broken')

Chapter 2.

"Danielle.." He whispers in my ear. I keep my body still, hoping he'd just let me sleep. "Oh, Danielle.." He whispers again, running his index finger up and down my spine. His fingers trace down my naked back, sending chills through my body. "Come on, baby." He quickly throws the cover to the edge of the bed, exposing my naked body. 

"Ugh, I'm cold!" I groan. "Please cover me back up." I whine. I keep my face pressed into the pillows. 

"No." He protests. "In case you've forgotten, we have work to attend to in an hour. I made breakfast and the longer you lay here, the faster your food is going to get cold." I ignore him fully and take advantage of my being naked. 

"Oh, come on." I roll over, giving him the perfect view of my front. "We can just skip today.. maybe watch tons of movies, have tons of sex, ya know.." His eyes examine my body and he smirks. 

"You know we can't do that. Especially when we've got new business to take care off." He leans down and presses his lips to mine. "But, I promise that when you get home, we'll have sex for hours and hours. I'll cook dinner and you can roam around the house in that sexy lingerie you have." His hand rubs down my thigh and I almost gasp for air. 

"O-okay." I stutter as his hand continues to trail up and down my thigh. He smacks me playfully and begins to walk our of the bedroom. "Hey.." I call to him. He swiftly turns around and my heart stops. He's such a gorgeous man. He's so loving and caring. Always making me laugh and smile without even doing anything. "I love you." I smile widely. 

"I love you too, baby." He smiles back and exits the room.

*

"Goodmorning, Ms. Harris." Gillian greets me with a smile and a coffee. 

"Goodmorning, Gillian." I smile back. 

"Mr. Reedus is in the conference room waiting for you and Mr. Sawyer.." She gives me a apologetic smile and I shrug. "He arrived very early this morning and I couldn't just let him sit in the waiting room until you and Mr. Sawyer arrived. Not be mean that you two come in at later times, but-"

"Its okay, Gillian." A small laugh escapes my lips. "Thank you." I smile and send her on her way. 

I make my way through that halls, dreading the meeting with Norman. I thought I would be able to work with him, but now I'm having second thoughts. What if he tries something? What if he said something out of line? He wouldn't dare. He and Ryan are good friends now and he knows what Ryan can do. He knows what Ryan is capable of. 

As I enter the room, both Ryan and Norman stand to their feet. Norman keeps his eyes locked on the table and Ryan's eyes lock with mine. My eyes meet a little brunette's. She looks taller, very skinny, brown eyes, and gorgeous white teeth. I notice the very bit diamond on her finger and an uneasy feeling hits my stomach. 

"Goodmorning." I manage to get out. 

"Goodmorning." They all say in unison. 

"Ryan, may I have a word with you out in the hallway?" I chew on my lower lip and Norman shuffles in his seat. "Now, please." I rush my words and Ryan quickly jumps from his seat. 

"Yes, sorry." He follows out behind me. We walk a little ways from the room and I finally stop and turn to him. 

"I can't do this." I say bluntly. "I can't work with him. I know that this is a good thing for you and for us and for the company, but Ryan, I can't work with him and pretend that those things never happened. I can't pretend that he didn't hurt me that way he did." Ryan's eyes turn soft and he pulls me into his warm embrace. 

"Danielle, my lovely, amazing, gorgeous, woman.." He kisses me softly. "I'll talk to him." 

"Thank you." I kiss his cheek. "I don't have to go back in there, do I? Can't I just go to my office?" He gives me an apologetic smile and shakes his head. 

"No, baby, you can go to your office. I'll try to talk to them.." He kisses my forehead and sends me on my way. 

Thank god, I don't have to go back in there. Or write that stupid book with him. Although, I am curious to what its about, and why he needs me? I write books by myself all of the time. So, why do I need to accompany him while he write this one?

I reach my office and take a seat at my computer. A couple of junk E-mails and a few asking for a meeting with myself and Ryan about making the company larger. I quickly delete some and reply to others. 

"Ms. Harris?" Gillian's head pops through the door frame with a worried expression clear on her face. "Um.. Mr. Reedus has asked to speak to you.. privately.." I swallow hard. Can he seriously be anymore annoying? 

"Send him in.." I whisper. She gives a quick nod and exits the room. 

As he enters my office, i can't help but stare. He's larger, more muscular. He's obviously been working out. He glows now, he seems more alive. His eyes are brighter and I can say the same about his smile. He's wearing nice jeans, aren't too tight, but aren't too baggy either. A light blue button down with a dark grey vest. He looks.. really good... I shake my head quickly, erasing those thoughts. 

"Hello, Danielle." He gives a slight smile but doesn't dare to make eye contact. 

"You can look me in the eye, you know." He swallows hard and shakes his head. "Well, since my boyfriend is your boss, I'm going to tell you. Look me in the eye when you talk to me.. please." He chews on the inside of his lip and raises his head. 

"Hello, Danielle.." He says again. 

"Hi, Norman." I give the best fake smile I can. "What can I-"

"Why don't you want to work with me?" He interupts my question and I'm stunned. "I thought we were over this." His eyes fall from mine and we're back to not making eye contact. 

"I.. we.." I can't find the words to say. I don't have any. I'm lost.

"I fixed myself, Danielle. I fixed me and I found someone else. You did the same. So why the hell can't we just fucking work together?" I'm shocked at how much anger came out with those few words. 

"I.. I don't really know what to say.." I stutter. "I just.. why do you need me to work with you? Why can't you have Kathrine or someone else help you?" He finally makes eye contact once again and the look he's giving is tearing my heart into a million little pieces.

"Because this isn't just any book, Danielle. Its about us, what we were." 

~

Sorry I took so long to update. I've been in Pensacola AND I MET JOSEPH SOMERS-MORALES AND I SERIOUSLY CAN'T EVEN. Sorry, but yeah I've been in Pensacola with my mom and the bestfriend for a couple of days seeing SoMo and just having a girls weekend so I wans't really able to write. But, now that I'm home, I will update regularly. I love you!

:)