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Now, though, she could no longer avoid the fact that she was ill. Her boss had gone to lunch, so Crystal sent her an e-mail explaining the situation before getting rather shakily to her feet. She quickly grabbed the edge of her desk until the room stopped spi
She was relieved when the elevator doors opened as soon as she hit the down button. The next few moments passed in something of a daze, and she had no idea that she’d actually made it to the sidewalk outside Danvers until she was blinded by the bright sunlight. As her eyes blinked quickly to adjust, her stomach rolled alarmingly. She was so focused on the realization that she was going to be sick before she got home, she hadn’t even noticed someone standing beside her until a hand touched her arm.
“Are you okay?”
Crystal jumped in shock, then whirled around to see Mark DeSanto looking down at her with concern-filled eyes. Please, no. Fate wouldn’t be so evil as to place the man she’d stalked and lusted after for months in her path today of all days.
Using the last reserves of her strength, she pushed her shoulders back and gave him a bright smile. “I’m fine,” she replied in a voice that sounded weak, even to her own ears. He gave her a skeptical look, and then the unthinkable happened. Her body went into a full revolt, and almost in slow motion, she threw up on a pair of shoes that had likely cost more than her Volkswagen Beetle. Words of apology flashed across her mind, but before she could give voice to them, her world dimmed and then turned black. As consciousness slipped away, all she could think was that she’d met the man of her dreams face-to-face, and she wasn’t going to live long enough to do a damn thing about it.
* * *
Mark DeSanto stood in shock as he held the limp body of the woman who had just moments before ruined his favorite pair of Tom Ford shoes. He wasn’t a vain man, but he knew the effect that he had on most women. Hell, he’d had more than a few swoon at his feet, but the whole throwing-up thing was completely new. Now he held a stranger in his arms, with no idea what to do with her. It wasn’t as if he could just lay her on one of the nearby benches for someone else to find—could he? No, he discounted that option, regardless of how appealing it sounded.
When he’d seen her staggering, he should have turned the other way and left her to be someone else’s problem. But, as if drawn by some unseen force, he had found himself reaching out and touching her arm, wanting to see the face that belonged to the enticing body, even though he usually preferred tall blondes or redheads.
The woman he’d followed through the doors of Danvers, though, was one he’d caught glimpses of in the hallways and lobby of the office many times in recent months. For some reason, he’d never gotten a good look at her face. He’d recognize her ass anywhere, because that body part was usually facing him as she walked in the opposite direction. She was petite, but she had curves in all of the right places. Today her long brown hair hung in loose waves, which stopped just inches from her delectable backside. She was wearing a black skirt, which reached her knees, but the slit in the middle had shown shapely thighs as she walked. When she had lifted a small arm, rubbing her neck, the top she wore had edged up, and Mark was surprised to see a tattoo on her lower back. Yeah, completely not his type, but damn did he want to see her face.
She seemed to be everywhere he was lately, and he was ready to meet his mystery woman so that he could move on. Anything beyond that was doubtful. He didn’t like to muddy the waters where he worked—that wasn’t to say he’d never made an exception, but he tried not to.
When she’d jerked around to face him, he’d felt a jolt of electricity shoot through his body. He wasn’t a man given to romantic foolishness, but there had been songs written to describe women like her. Wide eyes that looked almost violet in color. Plump pink lips that made a man’s cock sit up and take notice, and the kind of flawless peaches-and-cream complexion that some women tried to achieve through thousands of dollars’ worth of cosmetics purchases.
He had still been gaping at her as she assured him that she was fine before she further shocked him by vomiting and promptly passing out. She had been seconds away from her beautiful face meeting the unforgiving concrete when he’d caught her. As he stood with her light weight in his arms, a black Bentley sedan pulled to the curb. His driver, De
“I’m almost afraid to ask what you did to that girl, but if I’m going to become some kind of accessory, then I guess I need to know,” De
Mark shook his head helplessly. “I have no idea. She was weaving as she walked. Then she got sick and fainted.”
De
“How the hell am I supposed to know?” Mark snapped. “I didn’t smell any alcohol, and it’s barely midday. Also she just left Danvers, so it seems unlikely.”
“Then we need to get a doctor. She obviously has something wrong with her,” De
Rolling his eyes, Mark said, “You think? Open the car door so I can get her inside.” De
De
“Oh, for God’s sake, De
Suddenly, the violet eyes that had captivated him earlier were looking at him with something close to awe. He was too stu
He was chuckling at her words, when it hit him. She’d called him by name. His angel wasn’t deliriously asking for sex from a stranger. She wanted him. He had no idea who she was, but for the first time in a very long while, he was interested in knowing more.