Someone to Love Me.

Chapter Two

Chapter Two





              Clive was already in his office when Catherine walked through the door, which was unusual because she was generally the first to get there.  Usually at least fifteen minutes earlier than him so that she could have the coffee perking ready for when he arrived.  She could hear him talking to someone but she didn’t recognise the voice.  She would have remembered if she’d heard it before because there was something about it that struck a chord with her senses.  It was rich and resonant and surely it was an American accent that she was picking up.  In all probability someone from Head office she thought. 
       
Unbuttoning the jacket of her suit she took it off and hung it on the coat hook, made sure that her white blouse was tucked in squarely and then brushed an imaginary speck of dust from her short skirt.  The mini was the only concession she made to fashion and in any case she had the legs so why shouldn’t she show them off?
       
Rather than disturb Clive and his visitor she put a filter and fresh coffee into the percolator, topped up the water and switched the machine on.  By the time she’d settled at her desk and logged on to her computer the aroma of fresh perked coffee was beginning to fill the room.  She had plenty of work to be getting on with and of course she was used to using her own initiative so she thought it better to leave Clive and his visitor to carry on with whatever was occupying them.  If Clive needed her for anything then he only had to pick up the phone and she’d be there.  They had a comfortable working relationship.  He was an excellent boss to work for, disciplined but fair.  She worked hard and she was well rewarded. In fact she thoroughly loved her job.  Little did she know how drastically things were about to change!
       
Her phone rang and she leaned across to pick it up.  It was Clive of course.  “Good morning Catherine, do you mind rustling up two coffees please, one black, no sugar and the usual for me and bring them through.  There’s someone I’d like you to meet.”
       
Looks like I’m going to become acquainted with Mr. America she thought.  Pouring two cups of coffee, she placed them on a tray and headed for Clive’s office.  Holding the tray with one hand she reached for the doorknob to open the door. 
       
Too late!  Someone had beaten Catherine to it and the door swung open from the inside.  With nothing to hold onto she stumbled and fell forward.  As if in slow motion, the coffee took to the air in a liquid arc.  Catherine tumbled gracelessly towards the floor and landed on her knees, face to whatever with a pair of what appeared to be, black leather cowboy boots.  Cowboy boots?  Yes, cowboy boots and they were dripping with the spilled coffee.
       
Embarrassment at her loss of dignity overcame Catherine and she felt the heat rise as she gradually turned a deep shade of pink.  Before she could utter a word she was grabbed by the arms and unceremoniously yanked to her feet.  As she ascended she managed to take in a dark suit, possibly, no make that probably Armani, a pale blue silk shirt and a darker blue tie.  Oh my good God!  Someone wake me up!
       
She leaned backwards to take a better look and an exhilarating heat coursed through her veins before pulsing its way down to the pit of her stomach.  Catherine didn’t stop to analyse her feelings, she just knew that if ever she even remotely decided that she needed a man in her life, this one couldn’t fail to fit the bill!
       
He was gorgeous, absolutely and superbly gorgeous. At least six feet two inches tall, with longer than average, slightly curly dark hair that brushed his suit collar.  His skin was bronzed and Catherine wondered if it was an all over tan.  For goodness sake, stop this, she told herself as she gazed into stunning, chocolate brown eyes that seemed to look into her soul and find her wanting. His mouth was sexy, sensual and certainly looked very kissable. Well – I’m sure it would be if he ever got around to giving a demonstration of its powers! she thought.  He was heart-stoppingly handsome with a powerfully moulded body.  His broad shoulders tapered down to narrow hips and she was sure that, underneath his suit, all the right muscles were located in exactly the right places!
         
“I’m terribly sorry,” Catherine apologised as she rushed to get some tissues to soak up the coffee.  The embarrassment once again caused her to flush a bright shade of crimson.  “Leave it alone before you do any more damage.”  His tone stopped her dead.  ‘Oh boy,’ she thought, ‘Mr Congeniality.  It was his damn fault she was on the floor in the first place!
       
Clive must have decided that she needed rescuing because he stepped forward and putting his arm round Catherine’s shoulder began to introduce her to the visitor.  Mr America was having none of it.  “Hold it a minute Clive,” he growled, “let me find the men's room and get this yuck off of my boots before it stains.”  And with that he strode off through Catherine’s office presumably heading for the rest rooms.
       
Catherine glanced at Clive.  “Did he really say off of my boot’s?” she asked with a nervous giggle.  “He’s wearing cowboy boots for God’s sake.  Clive, are you going to tell me who he is?”  Clive looked at her with what she could only describe as a sheepish smile.  “He’s your new boss,” he said and Catherine visibly paled as her heart sank like a lead weight, into her shoes.  “Oh no,” she cried, a look of dismay clouding her eyes.  “When did all this happen?  I didn’t think that you were ready for retirement just yet?”
         
“Neither did I,” Clice replied, “but there are a lot of new things happening in the Company and so I decided that the time had come to jump ship and enjoy some time with my family.  New ideas require new blood.  Let youth have a chance.”
       
Well, she couldn’t blame him for that could she but he might have given her inkling of what he intended doing instead of letting her find out in this way.  “I haven’t made a good first impression have I?” she asked ruefully but Clive just smiled.  “Don’t worry, you’ll be OK” he said confidently but Catherine wasn’t too sure about that!
       
She’d mopped up the spilled coffee and re-filled the cups by the time Mr America returned from the men’s-room.  He stood watching her, his bulk filling the doorway to Clive’s office.  Clive made a harrumphing sound and began the introductions again.  “Catherine, I’d like you to meet Luke Bennett.  He’s going to be running this end of things for a while until my replacement is ready to take over. You’ll be working with him for the foreseeable future”.  Catherine’s antennae went into overdrive.
’Bennett as in Bennett’s?’ she wondered praying that the floor would open up and swallow her whole before she could knock another nail into her coffin!  “I know you‘ll work as well for him in the future as you have for me in the past,” Clive continued.  “The work will be much the same as it is now although I dare say Luke will have one or two new ideas that he’ll want to put into practice,”
       
‘Sure!  Like getting rid of me’ flashed through Catherine’s mind.  Mr. America pushed himself away from the doorpost he was leaning against and stepped towards her as she offered him her hand.  He enveloped it in his and squeezed, a touch too firmly for Catherine liking.  She tried not to flinch as he crushed her fingers. 
       
“Miss Ford” he said, still not smiling, “I sure hope things are goin’ to get better as we go along, and by the way I prefer my coffee inside me not down me.  If you remember that then I’m sure we’ll get along just fine.”
       
’ Sarcastic devil, I know where I’d like to put it, she pulled her hand from his grasp.    “I’ll make a note of that sir” she replied and once again turned a vivid shade of red.  Spinning on her heel she strode haughtily out of Clive’s office.  Let them come to her when they were ready; she needed a little time to pull herself together. She couldn’t remember ever feeling this hot and bothered before.
         
“Men”, she grumbled, “Why can’t they all be like Clive then they wouldn’t be a problem?”  ’Hold on a minute, why on earth should this one be a problem?’   All she had to do was continue to do her job as well for Mr. America as she had for Clive and there shouldn’t be any problems.  ‘No problems,  who was she trying to kid? They’d already started.’
       
When he’d tried to fracture her fingers with his handshake Catherine felt an electric shock that crackled like white heat where their hands touched. It sizzled its way up her arm and then burnt straight down to the very core of her.  She experienced an extraordinary fluttering deep inside her body which filled her with an inexplicable sense of longing. 
       
In the years since James she’d dated colleagues for a trip to the theatre, a music concert or maybe a meal.  None had succeeded in or was ever likely to tempt her anywhere near a bed and although some remained friends, not one of them had ever had the power to make her want any more than that.  She was probably the only twenty-eight year old virgin in Britain.  ’In Britain?  Make that the world!’
       
No-one, not even James had ever stirred her senses with just one touch, in the way that this man just had.  ‘Oh get real,  It’s the way he’s been sprung on you with no prior warning.  You’ve worked hard to get where you are, you are not going to let Mr. America with his good looks, stimulating touch and those damned cowboy boots upset the apple cart.’   She turned to her computer and began to type furiously.
       
Five minutes later her phone rang again and Clive’s voice came over the line asking her to come through to his office.  Grabbing her notepad she took a deep breath and tapping politely on his door, walked in.  Mr America (she was going to have to stop thinking of him as that before she  ended up saying it out loud) was perched on the corner of Clive’s desk and she couldn’t help but notice how the material of his trousers pulled tight across his thighs. 
       
‘Absolutely no shortage of muscle there,’ crossed her mind and blushing at the way her thoughts were going she turned towards Clive.  “Come and take a seat” he said indicating the leather couch to the left of his desk.  Catherine lowered herself into it as gracefully as she could while trying to keep her skirt from skimming up.  Why today of all days had she chosen to wear one of her shorter ones?  She knew that in the same way that she’d been sizing up Mr America’s muscular thighs as she entered Clive’s office, he was now taking a damn good look at hers!  ‘Lord,  please let me rub this day out and start afresh,’ she prayed. 
       
Clive began by explaining what would be expected of her before going on to tell her that he would be leaving in just over two weeks time.  She could tell by his voice that he was looking forward to his retirement.  He and his wife had been invited to Dallas where Head office was situated and Bennett’s were paying all the expenses as a retirement gift.  She had to be pleased for Clive but Catherine also felt as though she had been caught up in a whirlwind.  In less than one hour everything that she was comfortable with was changing and there was not a thing she could do about it.
       
“Do you have a passport Miss Ford?”  Luke asked out of the blue, his smooth, honeyed voice drawing her thoughts back to the present.  “Yes” she replied giving him a look that implied ‘although I don’t know what it’s got to do with you.’   She’d needed one when she had attended finishing school in Switzerland and had only recently renewed it just in case she found the time to take a holiday abroad.
       
Luke studied her, those brown eyes seeming to strip away her defences and find her wanting.  “I expect to travel now and again and I’ll need you to come with me as my assistant.  Is that a problem, do you have commitments that will prevent you from travelling with me?”

‘Oh boy, things were definitely getting worse!’   “No sir, no ties.  I’ve got no one to please but myself”.
       
“Good, then I think we’ve finished here for the time being.  Clive – if you’re ready would you take me on a tour of the building so that I can get acquainted with the rest of our staff?  He stood and headed for the door followed by a bemused Clive. 
       
Catherine’s jaw visibly dropped.  She had been dismissed without a thank-you; kiss my backside or anything else.  If her mother could have read her mind at that moment she would have wondered why on earth so much money had been wasted on Catherine’s education.  This was all she needed, another male with attitude!  It was apparent that he had the same disposition when it came to women as her father and James.  Was it any wonder she had little time for the male of the species!

                                                  ********
       
Luke took a deep breath as he surveyed Catherine.  From where he was standing, with coffee dribbling all over his five hundred-dollar, hand tooled, black leather boots, he was getting a great view of her nicely rounded backside.  ‘What was it with women these days?  Did they have to wear those darned stupid spike heel shoes?  No wonder they had trouble staying upright!  But, he had to admit, they certainly made her legs look good. 
         
Bending to help Catherine to her feet Luke couldn’t help but notice her hair.  Fastened up in one of them fancy combs, it smelled of tangy lemon shampoo.  A rich shade of auburn, it had definite reddish tints where the sun, streaming through the window, caught it.  He had no trouble picturing her with it loose, fanning out across his pillow and when she turned her face up to him he found himself drowning in two of the greenest eyes he had ever seen.  And that mouth, with its perfect cupid’s bow crowning a full bottom lip, it had to be the most kissable he’d come across in a long while. ‘Damn, she looked good enough to eat.’ 
       
His blood ran hot through his veins before heading south to pool in a particular region just below his belt.  ‘Hold on there!  No way was he going down this avenue again.’ He’d had two so-called serious relationships in his life and both of them had ended badly.  He’d been fool enough to think that they were with him for himself and not for whom he was or what he happened to have.  Wrong, both times!  When he’d finally come to his senses and realised that his money was the main attraction, he’d brought an end to each liaison as well as the notion of marriage and happy ever after. Now, unfortunately, he tended to tar all women with the same brush.
       
His parents had provided a good, solid background for him while he was growing up and even while he was building Bennett’s up to the multi-national company that it was today, his father had  still had time for the ‘father and son’ things in life.  Luke had been brought up in a home filled with love and he wanted the same things in his life.  If it wasn’t to be then he surely wasn’t going to settle for second best.  By the age of thirty-six and with his values jaded by reality he’d given over looking for the right woman and had thrown himself into his work and a round of easy relationships. 
       
If he used the women in his life then what the hell, he was doing no more to them than they had done to him.  He made no promises and he let them know from the start that he wasn’t going to be there for the long term.  He could always be seen with an attractive female clinging to his arm and he sure as hell had no problem getting them into his bed but that was as far as he was prepared to go with them.  If they wanted more, then tough!
       
As Catherine stumbled over her apology he said the first thing that came into his head and then made for the men’s room.  He wiped his boots off and returned to lean against the doorjamb between Catherine and Clive’s office.  She’d finished mopping up the mess and had re-filled the coffee cups.  When Clive began the introductions Luke noticed her surprise at the mention of his name.  ‘Was she another one seeing dollar signs?’
       
He stepped forward to shake her hand and as their fingers touched a jolt of electricity shot all the way up his arm and down to his belly causing his gut to tighten.  If he squeezed her hand a little too hard, it wasn’t intentional.  He then made matters worse by coming out with a stupid remark about where he preferred his coffee, which made her blush, again.  As she turned on her heels and exited the office Luke raised a sardonic eyebrow and turned to Clive.  “That sure was a quick departure.”

         
Clive was beginning to have doubts about Catherine working for Luke Bennett.  In all the years he’d known her, Clive had never seen her blush as many times as she had in the past hour.  Nothing usually fazed her; she took things in her stride and could hold her own with the best of them.  Where men were concerned she always seemed able to put them in their place with a glacial look or a scathing remark. He hoped that she was going to be able to cope with working for Luke Bennett.
       
Luke and Clive went on to discuss the effects of the changeover and the journey that Clive and his wife were about to make to Dallas until Clive decided it was time to call Catherine back in.  He dialled her extension, asked her to come through and when she walked into the office, motioned for her to take a seat. 
       
As Luke watched from where he was perched on the edge of Clive’s desk he noticed that she still had a slight flush about her.  Mind you, he was heating up a bit himself as she tried to lower herself onto the sofa.  Although she did her best to hold it down, that short skirt she was wearing rode up her legs a way, giving him a tasty glimpse of silk stocking and just an itty bit of creamy thigh.  His blood ran hot again!  Clive was busy explaining the situation to her.  Luke’s mind was busy stripping her naked!
       
He continued to watch Catherine as Clive went into more detail about how the changes would affect her.  The fact that Clive was telling her things wouldn’t change too much from the way they were now didn’t seem to help.  She looked dismayed and disheartened!  “Do you have a passport Miss Ford” Luke asked out of the blue.  She replied in the affirmative but he knew her eyes were saying, ‘but what’s it got to do with you?’
       
“Good” he said, “I reckon on having to travel some and as my P.A. I’ll need you to accompany me.” ’Where the hell did I dredge that one up from’   He could get all the assistance he wanted at any of the branches he visited.  He didn’t need to take her with him.  “Does that cause you a problem?”    “No sir, no ties” she replied.
       
‘Slow down Luke or before you know it you’ll be up to your eyes in bull.’   “Good, then I think we’re about through here for now” he said and turning to Clive he asked for a preliminary tour of the staff, then headed out of the door before he ended up putting both boots in his mouth.