Chapter 1
-October 2014-
T
here I was, standing in the corridor of the church with my father, waiting for my cue to proceed down the aisle. My legs were shaking, my stupid shoes were causing me to have a slow and painful death, and I was sweating bullets.
I hate sweating. This girl does not do sweating. Oh, did I mention I hate weddings? I just hate the whole fucking process: picking the venue, the food, the cake, the napkins. Seriously, who gives a shit about what color and material the napkins are? You’re just going to wipe your grubby hands on them.
The only thing that I was excited about was marrying the man of my dreams…Henry Daniels. He was everything I could have hoped for. He was kind, proper, gentle, sweet and, well…wealthy. But that was just an added bonus.
He was in great shape. He wasn’t ripped, like a body builder, but he had some great tone and hard edges that I found most sexy. His hair was the perfect shade of brown with a tousled, “just fucked” look to it.
And his eyes…I could gaze into them forever. They mesmerized me because they were the color of sparkly emeralds. They always sucked me in with their captivating quality. I remember the first time that I locked eyes with him.
-October 2012-
I had just gotten fired from another job, my car had a flat tire, and I was downtown, which wasn’t exactly where I wanted to have car troubles. It wasn’t the seediest area, but there were always handfuls of freaks and weirdoes around. It looked like the typical man rescues the woman who had car troubles, but that was not the case for us.
I was standing on the sidewalk in complete frustration next to my ass-crap of a car. It was getting late, and it was getting nipplely outside. I was so not in the mood to take a cab, ride a bus, or hoof it home.
I was digging through my bag for my phone, cussing at myself the whole time because I just had to have that trendy, gargantuan hobo bag. I spent almost an entire paycheck on it. Sometimes I think a rhino would have gotten lost in that stupid bag.
I couldn’t find my phone so I stomped my foot like a two-year-old and grumbled. Then I had the brilliant idea to dump my purse out on the sidewalk and sift through its entire contents. Just as I dumped it, someone squatted down in front of me. I looked up and nearly drooled.
He had this amazing smile. So warm and sweet. Those eyes drew me in, like a moth to a flame.
My tongue was tied when he asked if I needed help. I had a few thoughts run through my head, but nothing that was appropriate to say to someone you have known for a mere two seconds. Instead, I said, “Well, yeah, Captain Obvious.” I thumbed toward my flat tire.
After I saw his startled look, I apologized. I was so flustered and so stressed out. This god-like man took my hand and we both stood up. I was taken aback because his hand was icy cold.
He said, “Shamefully, I have no idea how to change a tire.” I looked at his hand in a curious way. He let go of mine and tucked his hands in his pockets, looking away with embarrassment. “I can’t believe I just admitted that to someone, especially a woman.”
At first, I was a bit thunderstruck by his statement, but then I giggled. I mean, really, what man doesn’t know how to change a tire? Apparently, the Adonis that stood before me. He must have been far too busy looking sexy to learn silly car stuff.
Then it occurred to me that he made me giggle. There haven’t been too many guys that have made me do that. Definitely no one as divine as the man standing before me, who was admitting to an embarrassing fault. There was just something about him, but I couldn’t put my finger on it.
Then he offered his cell phone, for which I was grateful because mine was MIA. I couldn’t get ahold of my father, and my brother wasn’t any help, as usual. He was on yet another date with another girl, whom he insisted was “the one”. Phone or no phone, I was fucking screwed. After I hung up with my brother, I wanted to chuck the phone, but then I locked eyes with him again. I tentatively handed it back.
“Uh, I suppose I should introduce myself. I’m Henry. Henry Daniels.” He held out his hand. I took it and he still felt chilled, even though his hands had been in his pockets for the past several minutes. But the warmth of his smile made me smile back.
“Elaina. Elaina Cooper,” I said in a business-like manner. I didn’t want to let on that I was melting on the inside, and the “I want to fuck this man” light was flashing in my head with atomic power. However, the childish giggle may have said it all.
“Pleasure to meet you, Elaina. Ahh…” He jammed his hand in his hair. “Since you are having a hard time trying to find someone to help you, let’s go grab a cup of coffee, get warmed up, and we can call for some help…if you promise you won’t throw my phone.” He must have noticed that, but I wasn’t going to make any promises that I couldn’t keep.