Aftershock Read Free Page A

the
world. A cold dose of reality swept through her as she remembered their last
encounter when she had practically tried to kill him with a freaking umbrella.
What the hell could she possibly say to him now?
     “I’m s—sorry,” she stuttered
out. “I didn’t mean to try and kill you last week. It was my umbrella’s fault.
Or the wind. Or, well…”
    Shit, was she mentally
handicapped or what?
    A slow smile spread across his
perfect face as the elevator began to move. Dear god, she didn’t think it was
possible for him to get any better looking, but his smile made her heart race
like it wanted to jump right out of her chest to give itself to him.
    Behave!
    Suddenly, a rumbling sound
started, surprising her into tearing her gaze away from his. She looked around,
franticly hoping that she was imagining what was happening as the elevator
began to shake, jostling them. A startled gasp escaped her lips as her dream
man suddenly wrapped his muscular arms around her, sheltering her smaller frame
as the earthquake rocked their world and the ominous groaning of metal filled
the air.
    Oh god, I am going to end up
killing him!  
    Fuck it, she officially quit.
    Even nature seemed to be working
against her. As least it couldn’t get any worse now, she thought then cursed as
the lights went out.

***
    Chapter Three
     
    Grayson Taggart Steele, or Tag as
his family and close friends called him, had first watched the raven haired
beauty walk into the building across the street from his new office almost two months
ago. Since that first day, his fascination with her had grown into a hunger he
had never felt the likes of before.
    Compared to his six foot two she was
a petite little thing, but she had a woman’s curvy figure. It was a body that
had haunted his dreams to the point that his hands actually ached to touch her
smooth skin while she trembled beneath him. As a strong man who was very aware
of his own strength he couldn’t stand women that were built like toothpicks. It
made him afraid he would snap them in two.
    No, even though she was petite, his
sweet girl had a body made for loving.
    From the window of his office he
would glance down at the streets below just to catch a glimpse of her exquisite
body moving gracefully down the street. By some lucky coincidence, he
discovered that his office was on the same level as the floor his dream girl
worked on. Sure, he was the CEO of his company and everyone expected him to
have his office on the top floor, but he didn’t play by other people’s rules.
    Never had and never would.
    He did have an office on the top
floor of the high-rise, but that was mostly for show. It wasn’t where he worked
on a daily basis. The truth was he hated heights and preferred to have his
office on a much lower floor, where he could look out the window without
wanting to close his eyes and pray.
    He hadn’t known where his dream
girl worked when he had chosen to put his office on the seventh floor. Seven
was just his lucky number, and that was why he had chosen it. And lucky it had
been. So, what if he happened to have a telescope in his office? He’d had it in
there before he even knew she had existed. But that didn’t stop him from using
it once he knew she was there. When he needed a break from work he began to
watch for signs of her during the day, looking forward to seeing her face.
    And watching her day by day just made
him want to see more.
    Up close and very personal. 
    She was almost always alone,
unless she was with her one friend. At first he had assumed that the man had
been more than her friend, until he saw him kissing another man in front of
their office. Tag had watched his dream girl join the two men. It had relieved
him greatly when she had hugged them like brothers before the three of them
walked down the street together to a local bar down the street.
      Watching as her co-workers left
for lunch or after work, she was never with them.  It made him wonder, about
her life,