For reference and those who don’t remember Zorro and Rafael is the same person. Rafael is Zorro’s Christian or birth name while Zorro is his street name. He keeps the two separated to keep at least one proportion of his life private and out of the street.
Chapter Eight
Selene wasn’t sure what she was going to do about Adrian. She didn’t want to complicate her life more and she could tell just by looking at him that he would want more from her over time and she’d probably be foolish enough to give into him. Then again she had thought it would be foolish to be friends with Zorro but it hadn’t been so. Instead he had made her feel better than any man in her life ever had. He had stood by her and patiently waited. He didn’t demand anything of her. He teased her, flirted with her, kissed her and made her over all feel things for him that she was quite sure she wasn’t ready for yet. She hadn’t been in a relationship in five years and she hadn’t been sexually active even longer. Zorro tempted her but Adrian just overwhelmed her body with sexual tension. She couldn’t escape the arousal that went through her body when he was around her. She couldn’t explain it either but it was there and it made her very aware of herself as a female.
She was realizing that she would never be able to be just friends with a man like him and he wouldn’t be able to handle being friends with her. The sexual tension between them was extreme. It may have seemed judgmental and fleeting of her but she was well aware of the pros and cons of being friends with him. They would more than likely end up being friends with benefits.
“I don’t think us—“
He took a deep breath and looked at her with a slight look of pain on his face. “Selene,” he breathed. “Cara mia, I need you to at least give me a chance. Find out what kind of man I am and then if you don’t like me then you can push me away. I promise I’m not a bad person.”
He moved as close as he could to her and then lifted her chin and looked at her with a look of intense longing. “Look, cara mia, I know you may not believe me when I say this but I would never do anything to intentionally hurt you and I’d like to prove that to you.”
She looked down conflicted and came to a decision. They wouldn’t be friends but it didn’t mean they couldn’t be associates. She’d make sure he understood that. They could be associates and see where it went from there. She knew she’d probably regret it later on but she felt compelled to at least give him this small chance at seeing a slightly different side of her. He was the polar opposite of Rafael/Zorro and she knew it. Zorro would never rile up her senses the way that he could. One glance from her sent her body into chaos. He was already affecting just by being how close he was. She couldn’t deny the tingles that went down her spine with the smoldering intense look in his eyes. He was looking at her with a hint of vulnerability and intense sexuality.
“Fine but we’re not friends. We’re associates. Nothing more, nothing less,” she said.
A grin broke out on his face and he pulled her into an unexpected hug. His arms wrapped around her waist tightly and she was crushed against his hard hot frame. A flare of desire went down her spine as she was engulfed in the scent of him. She could feel the spiraling heat moving from her upper body down to her inner core. She bit back a moan at the feel of his hard muscles against her frame. She closed her eyes in pleasure.
“Cara mia,” he breathed into her hair, moving her closer.
She looked up opening her eyes and she was bombarded by the emotions that she saw in his eyes in that. Relief, lust, adoration and various other emotions that she couldn’t identify shone through his eyes as he stared down at her. For a second she was frozen in place as he looked down at her. His head started to slow lower towards hers and she watched captivated as he slowly licked lips and moved his head closer and closer to hers. In that moment she didn’t sense anything other than the affect that he was having her senses and the look in his eyes. She was almost hypnotized by the slow movements he made. She waited anticipating the feel of his mouth against hers.
Just when his lips were less than a few inches from hers the sound of a car driving by brought her to her senses and she pulled back from him. She brought one hand to her mouth and looked at him aware of what she had almost done. She groaned inwardly. She had almost given him a kiss. What the hell had she been thinking? She had nearly let the one man that she had a strong instinct not to let get too close to her get close physically. What the hell was wrong with her? She liked Rafael. He was safe and she knew it. He’d be patient he wouldn’t use sexual tension and get that intense look in brown eyes when he looked at her. He wouldn’t tempt her to give into her inner desires. He’d be the gentleman in the situation and wait for her to make the first move and she liked that about him. She liked the comfortableness that she had with Rafael. He made her feel like a woman but kept a sense of congeniality and genuineness around her. There wasn’t that pressured feeling or rushed sexual tension.
“I have to go,” she said rushing to the door and scrambling for her keys.
He chuckled and stepped forward steadying her hands and plucking the keys from the top of her purse. She blushed and he grinned widely. “One more thing before I go, cara mia,” he said.
She looked at him with an arched eyebrow and wondered what it was that he could possibly want from her. She wasn’t going to kiss him. She could just imagine how that would end. She’d end up with her arms around his neck and mostly likely her legs wrapped around her waist. Hell they’d probably give the whole neighborhood something to talk about. She went to snatch the keys from him but he held them up and shook his head with a grin.
“Just one little request,” he said silkily his voice crawling down her spine and wrapping itself around her body.
She shifted her weight to one leg in hopes that it would shake her out of the stupor of desire that she seemed to be in. “What do you want?” she replied cautiously.
He smiled. “For you to just once say my name,” he said watching her every move.
She looked at him. Was he serious? He was holding her keys hostage just to hear her say his name? If he’d asked her she would have most likely said—Nah who was she kidding she wouldn’t have said his name before. She still wasn’t sure about this association of theirs. She wasn’t sure about anything with him right in this moment and she wasn’t sure she liked that. She didn’t know him or what he was like and taking the time to get to know a person was a risk in itself. There were an abundance of possibilities and risks of getting hurt by other people, people who could hurt her the way that she had been hurt by Andrew, Deidre, Carrie and her father.
There were lots of risks in life and she didn’t like taking them but here she was agreeing to give Adrian a chance. She had given Zorro a chance at the same time and she knew that she could possibly pay for that but in the month or so that she had gotten to know him she grew to count on his visits to the bar. The time that they spent together over the past few weeks had meant a lot to her and she genuinely was growing to trust him. Her instincts were telling her that she could trust him that he wouldn’t hurt but she wasn’t sure. With each passing day he proved to her that he wasn’t the typical guy and often checked her about making assumptions. It was refreshing but sometimes it stung but she knew it was her own fault for making the assumptions to begin with. She also knew that she couldn’t keep blaming every man she encountered for the actions of her father and Andrew. She had to learn to distinguish them but it didn’t mean that it would be easy or that she’d allow herself to ever be vulnerable to a man again because she wouldn’t.
The feeling of helplessness, dependability, desperation and trapped would never be her again. She would never allow another man to so easily break her and tear down her walls. She would do her best to never leave her heart so vulnerable and open because people just stomped all over it. She would never throw her emotions out there in the open again. She could still vividly remember the pain that Andrew had brought to her that first time she had admitted to loving him. It had been the beginning of her nightmare.
She had been sitting on the bed wearing one of his shirts with her legs tucked under her as she watched him work quietly behind the desk. One strand of his blonde hair had rakishly been hanging above his eye and the look of absolute annoyance on his face as he tried to push it out the way had been both adorable and amusing. She had giggled and watched in amazement as he had sat there and went over tons of paperwork for a client. As an attorney on the rise and the son of America’s favorite politician he was under a lot of pressure and she did her best to relieve that tension and stress whenever he made it back to their apartment. She watched as he shoved one hand through his hair and with the other used a pen to mark down notes as he read over a case file.
She didn’t always know what his case were about but sometimes he told her and asked her for an opinion on hypothetical situations considering that he wasn’t supposed to discuss the case with anyone outside of the appointed members of his law team. It was his one of his many cases that he took alone. Sometimes he took the bigger cases with as much as three other attorneys. Those weeks were stressful for him and she felt bad for him. On those weeks he was away for long periods of time and when he was home he usually came back exhausted. She would cook him dinner, run him bath water and give him massages, if he wanted to make love to her than she let him.
“Angel do you think you can make me a cup of coffee?” he asked looking over at her with a slight smile.
As his piercing emerald green eyes ran over her body, she smiled and stood slowly and seductive. She wanted to distract him but she knew it wasn’t likely to happen. Andrew was serious about his cases and she didn’t blame him for that. He still made time for her and cared for her.
“Coming right up,” she said giddily grinning.
She walked out the room and down the stairs into the kitchen. She grabbed the coffee machine filled the glass pitcher with water and placed the coffee in a filter and let the coffee do its work. As she stood waiting her thoughts flew back to Andrew and she couldn’t help but smile as she thought of everything that he had done for her. She thought about the way he made her feel and she couldn’t help the undeniable joy that filled her chest as she realized she loved him. She couldn’t imagine if he wasn’t in her life.
When the coffee finished she poured him a cup and added in the cream and sugar just the way he liked it. Half cream and half sugar, she knew this off the top of her head. She felt like she was an encyclopedia of information when it came to Andrew. She knew all his favorite TV shows, his favorite candy and foods. She knew his secrets. He was open with her about a lot of things and she loved it about him. She loved the way he laughed, his smile and the sparkle of his green. Walking backing up the stairs with the coffee she quietly padded over to him on silent feet and sat the glass cup on his desk away from his work. Leaning down she kissed his cheek and wrapped her arms around his chest from behind. A smile crossed her lips as she stayed like that. He continued working and she stood there watching him. He reached over for his coffee and with the other hand lifted one her hands to his mouth kissing her fingers individually.
“Are you almost finished?” she asked.
He nodded his head. “Just a few more jotted notes and I believe the bastard will be going down tomorrow,” he said grinning.
She smiled. “Good,” she said and moved to go back over to the bed but he sat the coffee down on the desk and wrapped her arms back around him.
“You smell so good,” he said with a smile.
She smiled and rested her chin on his head. “I love you, Andrew,” she said softly.
“I love you too, angel,” he said standing up and lifting her into his arms.
“What about your paper work?” she asked.
“It can wait a few more hours,” he replied leaning down and kissing her senselessly.
She smiled into the kiss and wrapped her arms around his neck tightly. As he deepened the kiss and move them to the bed, she opened her eyes and watched the emotions flickering through his eyes.
She should have known that night that everything wasn’t as it seemed but she had been too caught up in Andrew. She had unknowingly gave him the go to do what he wanted. Once she uttered those four words she had gave him the idea that she would never leave him and he had took an 180 degree turn which left her reeling in shock and hurt. She pushed Andrew to the back of her man and looked at the man before her. He was astonishingly sexy and he seemed to genuinely want her but was there anything else that he wanted other than her? Why was it that he had the undeniable ability to bring her sex starved body to life?
“So if I grant your request you’ll leave and give me my keys?” she asked.
He nodded with a slight grin.
“Alright, Adrian—“
“Just my name,” he said.
She sighed. “Adrian,” she said unaware that it came out sounding breathlessly.
He grinned handed her the keys and turning on his heel walked down the stairs of the porch. “I’ll see you later, cara mia,” he said giving her look over her shoulder.
She couldn’t explain why she suddenly got the idea that she had just unwittingly gave him the opening he needed for something. She sighed and looked down at her keys and unlocked the door going into the house.
Later on that night she warily walked into the bar and looked around noting the quietness of the bar. It wasn’t usual. The strippers were usually being loud from their dressing rooms on the other end of the bar. They paraded around half naked and took turns making sure the pole was usable to them for the night. There weren’t any strippers around and she didn’t hear any of them. Curious she walked further into bar and headed to Joe’s office. Opening the door she looked around and was shocked to see Joe’s head on the desk buried in his arms. She looked at him with concern. Joe never slept on the job, yet alone passed out with alcohol sitting in a bottle right next to it. Something was wrong.
“Joe?” she called hesitantly.
She heard a grunt in response and walked over to the desk and smacked him on the neck to get his attention. He shot up and looked at her with bloodshot eyes.
“Damn, Selene you scared the shit out of me,” he said rubbing his eyes and looking at the clock. “Oh shit ten minutes to open.”
“Yes it is and I’ve got yet to see a single stripper or early patron waiting at the door for entrance,” she retorted.
He sighed. “Well that’s because some rich politician came in here earlier waving money around and asked me to shut the bar down for one night so that he could get the opportunity to speak to you alone. He should be here any minute and I need to be going.”
She looked at him and took a deep breath. She had no doubt about who the politician was. However, she had reasonable doubts about the credibility of this being positive. Andrew was slick bastard and he told her that he wasn’t finished with her. Well she was finished with him and she was pissed that he tossed money at the strippers and Joe to get what he wanted.
“How much did he offer?” she asked calmly.
“Ten grand,” he said.
She blinked. “You make more than that in a night.”
“You misunderstand me,” he said. “Ten grand per worker that doesn’t work tonight.”
She blinked. Now she knew Andrew was definitely up to something. She wasn’t sure what but she wasn’t going to stick around and wait to find out either. It could be nothing good.
“Well I’ll just be going,” she said.
“Come on Selene, the deals off if you don’t stick around,” he said. “I’ve already shut the bar down and I’d lose a lot of money.”
She sighed. “What do I get out of this?” she asked angrily. “Or did you just think that I was going to go along with it? You don’t know anything about my past, Joe. I know politician’s and their kind and nothing positive ever comes from it.”
He sighed. “You’re right I’m sorry. It never crossed my mind.”
“I’ll do it but think of it as a business deal,” she said. “I want thirty percent of whatever you make.”
“Deal,” he said walking over to her.
She sighed and walked out of the office. As soon as she stepped into the bar she saw Andrew. He watched her silently from a bar stool, his gaze moving appreciatively over her body before moving back up to her face. She scowled and glared at him. She couldn’t believe Joe had set this shit up without her permission. She would’ve done almost anything to avoid this but she couldn’t let business sales get down at the bar. It would be a pay cut for them all and she didn’t need that. She just wished that Joe would have said something to her. They could have worked out something else. She sighed again as Joe walked past her and then Andrew and then out of the bar.
As the door closed in the silence of the bar, Andrew stood with a predatory grin and headed towards her.
What do you guys think of this chapter?