Part 1: No Regrets(Divine Creek Ranch 2)(2)

Her head pounded painfully, and she whimpered as she tried to

get her feet back under her. In the two seconds it took for this scene to play out, she imagined she looked utterly graceless and then heard movement behind her. Large warm hands caught her in a strong grasp right before she slid off the desk, grasping her precious laptop in her arms.

“Whoa, angel!” Eli Wolf said as he caught her around the waist,

keeping her and her laptop from hitting the floor. She’d never felt like a bigger klutz in her whole life, and he, of course, never looked more gorgeous.

“Oh, damn.” She released her laptop when he took it from her and put her hands to her temples and whimpered again. Eli turned her to him and leaned down to look in her red-hot face.

“Rachel, are you okay?”

She looked up into his luminous gray eyes, which were filled with concern. Falling forward on her purse and laptop case had knocked



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Heather Rainier

the wind from her, and she felt a little nauseated on top of her pain and embarrassment.

He brushed her hair from her face and directed her to sit in one of the chairs in front of her desk. “Sit and catch your breath. What were you doing?”

She pointed to the open desk drawer. “I was reaching for my

Tylenol. I’ve had a headache all day and what just happened didn’t help it any. I’m sorry you saw me…like that.” She envisioned her ass stuck up in the air with her feet flying out from under her, Lucille Ball-style, while she flopped around, and cringed again.

Want to get away?

He stepped around her desk and found the Tylenol in the open

drawer and brought the bottle of water that had rolled to the edge of her desk in her clumsy scramble. As he stepped back over to her, she noticed a bouquet of vivid orange roses lying on the floor.

He noticed where she was looking and lifted the bouquet from the floor. “I brought you flowers,” he said as he placed them in her hands.

Rachel took a few seconds to enjoy their fragrance, noticing that a single bright red rose was nestled in the center of the bouquet. He hadn’t picked these up at the grocery store. These roses had come from Merritt’s Florist, judging by the tissue paper that bore the florist’s logo they were wrapped in.

“Thank you, Eli. They’re beautiful. What are you up to?” she

asked as she laid the roses in her lap. She opened the bottle of Tylenol, and he handed her the water.

“I came by to see if you had plans for this evening. I’d like to take you to dinner.” He hesitated and looked down for a second as if he were bracing himself. “If you’d like to, that is.”

I can’t do this, I can’t do this, I can’t do this—

She heard Bernice speaking to another employee in the hallway.

She didn’t know if Bernice would return to her desk behind the

reception counter and knew she could not turn him down within the hearing of her coworker.

“Let me get my things and I’ll walk out with you, okay?” she

asked softly. She hadn’t told him yes, but the happy smile that lit his face made her heart do another flip-flop .

Oh, yes I can, oh, yes I can, oh, yes I can!

She contemplated the slippery slope she was on as she lifted her purse from the desk. He watched her carefully, as if making sure she



Her Gentle Giant, Part 1: No Regrets

11

was all right to get up from the chair, and lifted the laptop case strap to his shoulder. Her head throbbed, and she wanted that bubble bath something fierce, but she found that she also wanted to say yes to this knight in shining armor. If she let him, she knew he could charm her socks off. Heck, he could charm her panties off, for that matter.

“I’ll go tell my boss good night.”

He smiled in understanding. “I’ll wait for you in the lobby.”

Carrying the roses and her purse, she followed the hallway down

to the end and stopped in her boss’s open doorway. Another man sat conversing with Thorne, but Thorne looked up and grinned when he saw her. “Headed out for the evening?” he asked as he glanced at the roses she held. Her cheeks warmed a little, and she nodded.

“Did you get the e-mail I sent you?” she asked.

Thorne nodded. “Yes, and I saw the discrepancies you were

telling me about. I can’t go into detail about it, but I appreciate your diligence in getting to the bottom of the matter. I knew I made a good move when I hired you, Rachel. Good work. Enjoy your evening.”

His smile was broad, and he glanced at the roses with speculation in his eyes.

“Good night, sir—sorry! Good night, Thorne.” She did it again.

He rolled his eyes and propped his cowboy boots up on the corner of his big oak desk.

“G’night, Rachel. Have a good evening.”