Burned by Passion(18)

“Kira. This is Blake,” she heard his deep, cultured voice say and at once her heart tripped over itself. Damn the way he made her feel. Around him she never knew if she was coming or going and just the sound of his voice had her belly in knots. Was she going crazy or just stupid?

“What...what do you want?” Kira asked and then cursed inwardly at the way the words came out no higher than a squeak.

“I want – need to see you. Please,” he said, and a ‘no’ instantly sprang to her lips but he continued before she could voice it. “Just to talk sweetheart, I promise. Could you meet me for lunch today somewhere? Or better still, dinner?”

“No!” Kira said shakily, thrown by his endearment and the stirring tone of his voice especially when he said ‘please’ and made it sound like the most sinfully titillating word ever. Fighting down a shiver of awareness, she finally barked out, “I’m busy. And please don’t call me again.”

With that she replaced the receiver. She was shaking so hard; she couldn’t go on with her work. She actually began to feel a little sick. All weekend she’d felt cheap and tainted by what she’d done and even though she knew she was only being irrational she couldn’t help it. To make matters worse was the fact that she had to show up at work today even when she knew she wasn’t ready to face the outside world yet and certainly wasn’t ready to function at work in any capacity.


Suddenly Kira decided she was done; she had to leave work or she’d erupt into tears in front of everybody.

Trying to conceal her distress, Kira went to her boss’ office and knocked. At his call for her to enter she drew open the door.

“Yes, Kira?” Mr. Carter said kindly when she walked in. There was something in his eyes she didn’t understand at that moment. “What’s the matter; is anything wrong?” he asked in concern when she stayed silent.

“No...not really,” she eventually let out haltingly. “I just came to say I wasn’t feeling too well and I’d...well, I was hoping I could be allowed to go home early. I feel a terrible migraine coming on and I was hoping to be able to head it off before it gets worse.”

“I understand,” Bretton Carter said and she had an uncanny feeling he probably did. But how, she wondered hazily. Her guilty conscience must be playing tricks on her she decided.

“Go on home Kira and try to get some rest. I’ll find someone else to see to whatever needs to be done today. Don’t worry about coming in tomorrow if you’re still not feeling better.”

Kira looked troubled and would have said something, but Bretton added firmly, “Go. It’ll be fine. You need a break and it’s perfectly okay with me.”

Kira drew in a shuddering breath. “Thank you, Mr. Carter.” Quelling the inexplicable need to burst into tears, Kira turned to leave until his gentle tone stopped her at the door.

“And thank you, Kira, for helping out at the party. I apologize that you had to go through the whole thing. Unfortunately it was a disaster, but try to put it behind you, hmm?”

Kira stared back at him for a moment, wondering what disaster he could be referring to. The ruined party, or her deflowering by his son? Once again she couldn’t help but wonder how much he knew or what he’d figured out about what happened. Why did that eat at her as much as everything else?

She felt too tired to probe him though so she nodded and quietly left the office.





***

Blake replaced the receiver, feeling a burst of frustration. He’d called Kira at work and tried to figure out how to get to see her, but she’d hung up on him.

Swearing underneath his breath, he rose from the corner of the bed and went to stare out over the gardens with the bright late morning sun glowing over the greenery. He’d had a lot on his mind since the party and he certainly couldn’t stop thinking about what happened just two days ago.

It was the morning after the party and he’d been awakened by the phone on his bedside chest beeping insistently. He picked it up to find it was his dad who abruptly told him to meet him in the library. Mildly curious, Blake told his father he’d be right down as soon as he showered and dressed.

They hadn’t spoken since their faceoff at the party. And once he was ready Blake let himself into the library which doubled up as his father’s study. He strove to keep his expression blank when he found his father seated behind the very desk he and Kira had...

He shook the tingling images off and wondered absent-mindedly why his father wanted him there.

“Take a seat, Blake,” his father said in a grim voice. Blake’s brows tilted but he silently complied, trying to read his father’s expression. Now what?

“In case you’re wondering,” Bretton began, “I didn’t ask you here to berate you for ruining what should’ve been a perfect evening for everyone. Neither are you here to be asked to apologize for your rudeness, especially to me. I realize I probably deserved it. I’ve always had issues with control and I realize that I probably had it coming, after saying what I did. So this isn’t about any of that. No; what I want to find out is exactly what you were up to after you left the dining room last night.”

Blake paused, concealing his surprise at the turn of conversation. What the hell was his father getting at? “I don’t know what you mean,” he said evasively, and looked up as his father got to his feet, his face a hard mask as he moved from behind the desk.