Saving Stella Read Free

No man
had ever incited those kinds of thoughts from me. Pull it together Stella,
business, books, numbers, right focus time.
    Clearing my throat I took a step
back from him. It must have been the close proximity messing with my head.
    “So, now that we have that
sorted, perhaps we can get down to business? You have some books you’d like me
to take a look at?”
    “What? Oh, yea books. Here.”
    He shoved his brief case towards
me. I stood there looking at him like he was crazy. What was he doing?
    “Oh sorry, umm, I’m still trying
to wrap my head around the you not being Sloan thing. My bad.”
    “It’s okay, would you like to
take a seat and maybe you can tell me what it is exactly you would like me to
do for you.”

 
    Brayden
    What I’d like her to do for me? I
don’t think she wanted an honest answer to that question. I had a feeling she
wouldn’t be too keen on stripping off that constrictive pant suit so I could
get a good look at her. All of her.
    Shit, my palms were starting to
sweat. I was acting like a teenage boy with a crush. Fumbling with my words,
acting like a pre-pubescent dick. I had to remove the image of her standing
naked before me from my mind or I wouldn’t be making a whole lot of sense
anytime soon.
    After id pulled myself together
enough to form coherent sentences, I showed her the work id already done with
my books, she seemed impressed. We went over what she would need to take over
from here and after I agreed to bring her what she needed tomorrow I decided it
was time to man up and ask this chic out.
    “So, Stella. How about you come
get a drink with me tonight? Let me make up for being such an ass when I
arrived this afternoon.”
    She seemed to be mulling it over.
Good sign.
    “There’s no need to make anything
up to me Mr Brooks. Sloan obviously thought it would be funny to surprise you.
She has a strange sense of humour.”
    “Please, call me Brayden or Bray
if you prefer. I’d still like to take you out. Get to know you a bit better.”
    “Thank you for the offer,
Brayden, but I really shouldn’t. I don’t like to mix business with my personal
life.”
    I liked the way my name sounded
coming from her lips.
    “We won’t be mixing the two. I
promise we won’t talk shop at all.”
    I couldn’t help but smirk when
her cheeks flushed, she mustn’t be used to being pushed. That’s fine with me, I
like to push, and I’d like to push her, all night long… Oh Yea.
    “Come on Stella, what have you
got to lose? Come, live a little. We can go somewhere quiet if you prefer?”
    “I don’t make a habit of going
out with men I barely know.”
    “Well Sloan knows me, that’s as
good as knowing me yourself, right?”
    “Not exactly. As you can see,
Sloan and I live in completely different worlds. I doubt I’d be comfortable
socializing with some of the people she knows.”
    I pretended to be insulted by
what she was saying.
    “Well, all you had to say was you
didn’t think you would enjoy my company and I would have left it alone. Sorry I
make you uncomfortable Stella. I’ll drop those documents you need in to your
receptionist tomorrow.”
    I stood to leave, hoping like
hell she’d take the bait.
    She didn’t. I felt like an ass. I
left her office and made my way to the elevator. Once inside, I banged my head
on the wall. IDIOT! I should have known trying to bait her like that wouldn’t
work. She’s not feisty like Sloan. She’s soft, quiet, reserved almost. Shit, I
probably just upset her. ASS!
    I’ll redeem myself tomorrow. The
thought of upsetting her wasn’t sitting well with me.

 
    Stella
    Well, that was unexpected. I sat on
my couch with my feet tucked under my backside, sipping my glass of wine
wondering what had happened this afternoon. Had Brayden really asked me out?
Surely it was just because he felt bad about our initial introduction? He had
said as much. But he continued to ask even though I assured him he had nothing
to feel bad about. I think