Unlucky in Love ( Lucky #1) (4 page)

He just looked down at her with those dark eyes and a slight frown on his lips. “I’ve answered your question, now it’s your turn.”

She shook her head. “You’ve avoided my question.” She moved to get up to go find Paul to get more information.

“No, I told you. I work here.” He held out his hand. “Aiden Scott.”

She looked at his hand and wondered why she didn’t believe or trust the man. “Kristen Collins.”

His eyebrows shot up as he asked, “Interior designer?”

She nodded and crossed her arms over her chest, avoiding shaking his hand. She watched him drop his arm to his side.

“Well, Miss Collins, you’re sitting in my new office.” He motioned. “And I’d like to get back to work.”

She balked. “They gave you the big office?”

He looked around. “Big? It’s the same size as Steven’s and Paul’s.”

“You’re calling them by their first names.” No one called their bosses by their first names, except her, since she’d known them her entire life.

He nodded. “Friends of the family.” His eyebrows went up, no doubt waiting for more questions.

Gathering her lunch, she moved to get out of the chair, only to have the thing slide too fast and bump into the table behind her. Her skirt caught under the wheel and she heard a loud rip.

Closing her eyes, she cringed. “There goes my new skirt.” She should have known better than to wear a flowing skirt after hearing the high-wind warning that morning on the news.

She thought she heard a chuckle, but when she looked up at the man, his eyes were on her skirt. Looking down, she saw that not only had it torn, but it had torn down the entire front seam. Half of her thigh was now exposed.

“Ruined,” she surmised. “That will teach me to splurge.” She stood up and continued to look down at her skirt. It was a shame; she had really liked the soft material. And the color had matched her eyes perfectly. Maybe she could sew it back together. What was she thinking? The last time she’d tried to sew anything, she’d ended up with so many holes in her thumb that she’d given up trying. “Well, it was nice to meet you.” She glanced up at him, but when she noticed that his eyes were still on her skirt, she grabbed up her lunch and rushed out.

Now she would have to either find some other place to eat lunch every day or—she cringed again—eat at her own desk. Which never worked since everyone could find her and she would end up working through the half hour.

The second she sat back down at her desk, Roger walked up and handed her another assignment.

She sighed and set her bowl of noodles aside, knowing they would be cold before she could get back to them.

She made a mental note to ask Paul what was up with the new guy. Aiden Scott. Why did that name sound so familiar to her?

She shook her head clear and tried to concentrate on her work.

Just before five, her coworker Carla walked over and handed her an envelope. “Here’s your ticket for this week.” Kristen was in a weekly lotto pool. Some weeks it was scratch tickets, others state lotto tickets. She knew she didn’t have a chance of winning, but she’d signed up the month she’d been hired at R&S and hadn’t had the heart to tell Carla she no longer had the good luck to win anything.

“Thanks.” Kristen stuffed the envelope in her jacket pocket.

“Did you see Mr. Dreamy?” Carla patted the spot over her heart and rolled her eyes as she sat on the edge of Kristen’s desk.

“Hmm?” She turned and glanced at the woman. She was tall, skinny, and looked like she’d stepped off the cover of a magazine. Her beauty was one of the main reasons she’d been hired, according to the rumors that were spreading around the office.

“You know, Mr. Hunk in the empty office.” She motioned toward the corner office. “Don’t tell me you haven’t noticed him,” Carla whispered.

“No, I mean, yeah, I talked to him.”

“You talked to him?” She gasped a little.

“Sure.” She rested back and crossed her arms over her chest, mentally telling herself she needed a few more padded bras.

“About what?” Carla leaned closer and Kristen was assaulted with an accidental view of the woman’s perfect breasts as her shirt flopped open a little.

Kristen blinked and avoided the flawless cleavage in her face.

“He said he works here.” She averted her eyes and looked over to where Aiden’s office was.

“That’s it?”

“Um, and his name is Aiden Scott.” Her mind spun again, trying to figure out where she’d heard his name. Just the thought of his dark eyes watching her had her skin warming.

“Hmm.” Carla leaned back and Kristen was thankful when her shirt fell back into place. “Aiden. Such a sexy name.”

“I guess.” Kristen had thought the same thing when she’d heard it, but she kept trying to deny it to herself. She didn’t like dark-haired men with sexy brown eyes that were too hard to read.

“I can’t believe you didn’t swoon when he talked to you.”

She chuckled. “No, but I almost choked.”

Carla looked at her in question.

“He surprised me while I was eating lunch.” She nodded to her still-full bowl of noodles. “I almost choked on my noodles, but he slapped my back until I could breathe again.”

“I would have died.” Carla sighed. “A man like him, saving my life.” She sighed again, louder this time.

Kristen almost rolled her eyes. Aiden had
not
saved her life. “I guess Aiden Scott just isn’t my type,” she said, hoping that Carla would get the hint. Then she heard someone clear his throat.

When she glanced over, she could feel her face turn beet red. She froze, locking onto his dark brown eyes.

Carla chose that moment to rush from her cubicle as fast as her long legs would carry her.

“That’s a shame. Just what is your type?” He leaned on the half wall of her cubicle like he wasn’t going anywhere soon.

She swallowed and prayed that her face wasn’t as red as it felt.

“I’m sure I don’t know what you’re talking about.” She tried to turn back toward her computer, but he rested his hand on her armrest to keep her facing him.

“You just told that woman that I’m not your type.”

“Carla,” she corrected and watched him nod.

“You just told Carla that I’m not your type. I’d like to know what your type consists of.” His smile grew and she noticed that his eyes were a lighter shade of brown than she had thought.

She shrugged, keeping her eyes locked with his. “Well, if my track record stands, my next boyfriend will either be a terrorist or an international jewel thief.”

He blinked a few times and then laughed, and for the first time in her twenty-three years, she found herself attracted to a dark-haired, brown-eyed man. She was completely thrown off.

CHAPTER FOUR

Aiden couldn’t explain why he was drawn to the beauty. He’d overheard her tell the blonde that he wasn’t her type. Well, the same could be said for him.

Actually, the busty blonde who had quickly vacated Kristen’s cubicle was more of his type. She looked almost exactly like his last three girlfriends.

But his eyes had locked on the honey-haired, green-eyed beauty with the sexy legs. He glanced down and noticed that her skirt had fallen open so he could see her exposed thigh. His mouth went dry just looking at it, looking at her.

“Paul tells me that I’ll be working with you on the Market Place job.” He leaned in a little, making sure to keep his hand on her chair.

He watched her dark eyebrows go up slowly in question.

“Paul and Steven want me to go out on a couple jobs. You know, to get my feet wet.”

She nodded slightly, but he could tell there were a million questions running around in her head.

“Go ahead, check my story.” He smiled, liking the fact that she didn’t take everything at face value.

Since meeting her at lunch, he’d spent the last three hours looking at her personnel file, along with everything she’d ever done for the business. He was more than impressed. He was totally turned on.

Not only did the woman seem to know her job, but her work was neat, tidy, and she was extremely talented. Not to mention sexy as hell.

He mentally shook his head and watched as she shoved a mass of those curls behind her ear. She was wearing long silver earrings with small little balls at the ends. She wore several different rings on her long fingers and he had a sudden urge to put those digits one by one into his mouth and suck until . . .

“There’s no need. I spoke with Paul myself.” When she used Paul’s first name, he looked at her in question.

“Using his first name?” he asked and saw the irritation cross her eyes.

“I grew up living near him.” She tried to turn her chair away from him, but he held it still as he smiled down at her.

“Did you go to school with his son, Jeff?”

She nodded, and this time it was she that looked at him in question. “You?”

He shook his head and left it at that.

He grinned when irritation crossed her eyes, turning them a deeper green.

“Interesting,” he mumbled.

“What is?” She crossed her arms over her chest, causing her breasts to push up a bit more out of her shirt. His eyes zeroed in on the move. “Your eyes.” He looked back at those green globes and watched them darken even more.

She sighed. “Mr. Scott, if you don’t mind, I have three more hours of work ahead of me.” She glanced down at his hand.

“Let me know when you plan on going out to the Market Place job again. I’ll tag along.”

“I’ll keep you posted. Until then, you can study up on my drawings. They’re under the folder—”

“I’ve seen them,” he broke in, earning another irritated look from her.

“Fine,” she said, and then she turned around and started typing on her keyboard.

He walked back to his office and closed down the machine for the day. On his way out, he stopped and talked to both Steven and Paul. Paul presented him with a set of keys and the code to get into the building after hours.

“The building security has your information and shouldn’t bother you if you need to work at night.” He motioned. “Sometimes Darren is here, running backups or fixing downed machines. Just let him know if you need anything.”

He nodded. “Damn, I might have to steal that man from you.” He thought about his own team and knew there was room for improvement. “Our own IT crews leave at five sharp and we’re lucky to get anything done during business hours.”

“Absorb us and he’s all yours.” He laughed and slapped him on the back.

“I guess that’s as good a motivation as any.” When he walked out, he glanced over and saw the top of Kristen’s head at her desk and wondered how long she worked.

She’d mentioned that she had a few more hours ahead of her.

He had a few hours of his own work piled up at his office. He knew it was going to mean some serious overtime if he was going to get his work for both his company and R&S done. But he was up for the challenge.

When he got to his office, after riding the bus down Sixteenth Street, he couldn’t help but notice the differences between the two buildings.

He’d purchased the old stone place four years ago and had spent a year renovating it. There was state-of-the-art everything, yet he’d made sure to keep the classic charms of the older building. The stone and brick walls that ran through the place made it feel like a second home to him.

All the larger offices were on the second floor, where most of the designers and developers worked. On the main level were the meeting rooms, file storage, and all of the servers and computer equipment. There was also a small lunch area and break room for the staff.

The place was plenty big enough for double the number of employees that were currently housed in it. He was beginning to see that his plan was feasible. Leaning back in his chair, he let his mind wander to the staff at R&S. He kept finding it harder to avoid having Kristen’s image pop into his mind as he worked. He kept playing over their first meeting and caught himself chuckling several times instead of working. Shaking his head clear, he tried harder to stay focused on the task at hand.

Around seven that night, he shut down his computer and hopped on the bus back to his condo. As he rode the elevator up to the twenty-fifth floor, he thought about Kristen once more and wondered if she was still sitting in her tiny cubicle. If her skirt was still showing that sexy leg. He sighed and remembered how her legs had looked.

Maybe he needed to get out a little more. After all, in the last six months he’d been so busy with jobs that he hadn’t taken any time for himself.

All he needed was a hot date.

But every time he thought about calling one of the women from his past, a green-eyed, honey-haired beauty with damn sexy legs kept popping up in his head.

Kristen pulled her jacket around herself tightly and wished more than anything that she hadn’t missed the earlier train. When she’d left her apartment, the sun had been out and it actually looked like the weather was going to contradict the weatherman by staying sunny and warm.

But she’d spent so much time enjoying her short walk to the train station that she’d missed the early train. By the time the next one pulled up, the sky had darkened and the wind had kicked in, making her wish she’d grabbed her heavier jacket.

She glanced at her watch. How was it that on days she needed to get to the office early, she was always late? She tucked her hands into her coat and felt the envelope Carla had given her two days ago.

Might as well see what she had.

Pulling out the ticket, she dug out a coin from her purse and started scratching.

One triple seven, two triple seven. She took a deep breath and, even though she’d done it a million times, silently wished for the third triple seven. Not that she would win big bucks, just ten thousand dollars. But triple sevens was better than no sevens. She sighed and wondered how long she could avoid clearing off the last spot.

She glanced up and noticed that she was one stop from her own, and without looking, cleared the last spot. She avoided peering down at it until the train began to slow. When she did, she gasped and then stopped herself from crinkling up the card.

Triple sevens. She’d hit the jackpot of ten thousand dollars. Ten thousand dollars! She quickly grabbed her bag and purse and rushed out the open doors.

By the time she sat down at her desk, she was completely and utterly winded. She knew her hair must have looked a mess, and she probably had a wild and crazy look on her face, but she didn’t care.

She quickly snatched up her phone and punched Amy’s number.

“Guess what?” she squealed and then glanced around as everyone in her office looked her way.

“What? What’s wrong?” Amy sounded panicked.

Kristen laughed, then leaned closer to the phone and whispered, “Nothing. For once, something wonderful has happened.”

“What?” She heard excitement in her friend’s voice.

“I won. I won the lottery.”

“What?” This time it was Amy’s voice that rose.

“I won the scratch off. Ten thousand dollars.” She closed her eyes as she sent her chair spinning a little.

“Congratulations,” a deep voice said from behind her.

She gasped and almost dropped the phone.

“Who is that?” Amy asked, still sounding excited.

“Uh, got to go. Call you later.” She hung up the phone quickly.

“Sounds like a celebration is in order. What do you say to lunch?” Aiden leaned on her desk.

“Um.” She glanced around and noticed that everyone within hearing distance was staring, waiting for her answer.

“I’d love to see the winning ticket.” His dark eyebrows shot up.

She nodded, not really paying attention, then reached inside her coat pocket and came up short. Frantically, she searched the other pocket. Then she rushed over and dumped out her purse.

“Problem?” He frowned down at her as she felt herself start to hyperventilate.

“No, it was . . . I put it . . .” She mentally retraced her steps. “I left it on the train.” It came out as a whisper.

“You left the winning ticket? On the train?” He blinked a few times.

“That witch,” she growled under her breath.

“Who? Someone on the train? Did they steal it from you?” He looked instantly concerned and he took her shoulders gently.

She shook her head. She felt tears build up behind her eyes, so she sat back down in her chair as she rested her head on her desk.

“No, the one that cursed me,” she burst out, not wanting to go into all the details.

“I guess I’m not following you.”

She turned and glared at him. “You wouldn’t understand.”

“I’d like to. How about that lunch? You can tell me all about it.”

“I’m not in the mood. Besides, I have a meeting,” she lied. She felt like resting her head on her desk all day and crying.

“Well, maybe a rain check. Sorry about the ticket.” He stood up and walked away. When she glanced around the room this time, everyone around her looked away quickly. It was probably clear that she wasn’t in the mood to talk. She was thankful that they chose to ignore her.

Picking up her purse, she shoved everything back into it and took her cell phone out to the back balcony, the only place on the floor where the reception was good. The balcony was where the smokers usually went during break, but she was thankful it was empty at the moment. She called Amy and told her the story as she fought back the tears.

“I’m sorry, sweetie.” Her friend sounded really sorry. “I just don’t know what to say. I wish I was there to give you a big hug.”

She nodded and felt a tear slide down her face. “It’s stupid. It’s not like I didn’t expect something like this to happen, not after how things have been going for me.” She rested on the railing and looked out over the traffic below.

“Would you stop? Self-pity is so unbecoming.”

She sighed. “You’re right. I’d better get back inside.” She’d forgotten to wear her jacket outside and her arms and hands were freezing.

“Try to have a good day, despite its beginnings.”

“Thank you for talking me off the proverbial ledge.”

“Anytime.”

She made her way back to her desk, past all her coworkers, who glanced at her with concern. When she got to her desk, she turned and said clearly, “Yes, I left my winning ticket on the train. I’d like to move past this and have a good day anyway. Who knows? Maybe some poor single mother who is on food stamps picked it up and can now pay her rent and feed her kids.” She smiled and nodded as several people glanced her way. She turned and sat down and kept telling herself that story for the next three hours.

The rest of the morning was a blur. At noon, she took her small break for lunch and heated up her noodles. She went to go to her usual lunch spot and then frowned and sidetracked to the small conference area instead. There was a full wall of windows that overlooked the office, so it wasn’t really private, but at least no one bothered her while she ate.

When she walked back to her desk, there was a small basket of her favorite cookies sitting on her chair.

Pulling out the note, she read:

You may have lost your ticket, but you’ll never lose me. —A

Tears threatened her eyes again, so she shoved a whole cookie in her mouth to combat them.

“Must be some good cookies.” Aiden’s voice sounded right behind her.

She gasped with surprise, only to have the cookie lodge in her throat. She coughed and spewed chunks of cookie from her mouth and he slapped at her back and apologized.