A/N: This chapter is shorter than the first one, but I wanted to end it where I did. These two are so much fun to write. I hope you enjoy reading them!
52 reviews for the first chapter? You all are amazing. Thank you. I hope this story continues to catch your interest.
When her breathing had finally calmed down and her legs felt sturdy, she smoothed out her dress, took a deep breath, and made her way towards the door. She had no idea what to expect once she left the bathroom. Would he have waited around for her after all? She honestly did not want to see him, or that ridiculously sexy smile of his. Life would have been so much easier had he been ugly.
Once outside, she stopped momentarily and scanned across the restaurant until she landed on their table. He was nowhere to be seen. Good. She needed time to compose herself and create some sort of "anti-attraction" serum so she would not melt in his presence anymore. That had been embarrassing. She was always so calm and collected in the presence of others.
With her head held high, she walked across the room and towards the host to collect her jacket. The young man immediately went to retrieve it, though Elena's eyebrows raised in confusion when she saw him return. "That's not my jacket" Elena informed him.
"I'm sorry Ma'am. But the gentlemen you were here with took your jacket and asked that I give his to you" he said with a somewhat worried look on his face. "He said you would understand" he added, hoping that this woman would not rip his head off right there. Because she looked mighty irritated.
And she was. Elena felt her cheeks turn red as she snatched the jacket from his hands and made her way out the door. "That damn, son of a …" she began to mutter. She stopped abruptly once outside, feeling the cold air hit her, even through the material of her dress. The temperature had dropped significantly since she had been inside.
She looked his jacket over and came to the conclusion that he probably didn't have lice or any other kind of bugs that she could get. She quickly shrugged his jacket on and watched as it fell down to her knees, being slightly too large for her. She held the jacket closed as she began to walk briskly towards her car. God, the jacket smelled exactly like what she remembered from her very intimate contact with him earlier in the bathroom.
Elena shoved her hands in the pockets of his jacket and felt her fingers brush against something. She pulled out a business card. Salvatore Coffee Inc. with Stefan's name and credentials spelled out in shiny gold letters on the front. She turned it over and saw that he had scribbled something on the back. "If you would like to exchange our jackets back, you know where to find me" Elena read aloud. A phone number, a cell number she thought, was listed underneath with the words "Call me, maybe?" under that.
Great. Now she was going to have that damn song stuck in her head all night.
If she didn't return his jacket, it would indicate that she was giving up and that he had won. She couldn't let that happen. She would return his jacket and give him a piece of her mind.
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
Elena left work early the next day, successfully avoiding Gregory all day. She really did not want to go into detail about how she had gotten nothing out of Stefan the night before. She also wanted to catch Stefan before he left work, having no intention of calling his cell phone and meeting up someplace else with him.
She pushed through the main doors of Salvatore Coffee Inc. and after seeing no one at the reception desk, she continued on her way down the hall and through another set of doors. The place was practically dead inside. The only sign of life was an elderly woman sitting at a desk up ahead. The woman smiled when she saw Elena approach. "How may I help you Dear?" she asked, adjusting her glasses.
Elena's intent to be as rude and as stern as possible quickly faded in the presence of this woman. "I umm …" she said, forgetting her words all of a sudden. "I'm here to see Mr. Stefan Salvatore" she said, much more quietly than she had intended.
The woman, Betty, Elena had come to realize was her name, smiled at her. And not a friendly polite smile, but more of a beaming excited smile. "Oh yes, come come" she said, moving around the desk and ushering Elena to the room across the walkway. She opened the door without knocking, something that would never happen at Elena's company. Stefan was on the phone looking serious, but as soon as he saw Elena standing in front of him, he smiled knowingly and dismissed the person on the other end of the line. "This lovely girl is here to see you" Betty informed, still smiling.
"Thank you Betty" Stefan said, standing from his chair. He took note of his jacket in her arms. Betty let herself out of his office and shut the door to give them privacy.
"I honestly didn't think you were going to show" he said, walking around his desk and leaning against the front of it. Damn him and his perfectly pressed black slacks, shiny black shoes, and green button down shirt with the sleeves rolled up past his wrists.
"You stole my jacket" she said accusingly, tossing his on the nearby chair. "I've come to retrieve it and have no interest in doing any more than that" she said matter of factly.
Stefan smiled. "Oh really?" he asked, quite amused. "Your eyes are betraying you, Elena" he said, tilting his head slightly to look at her. "By the looks of it, you want to do more than just give me my jacket back" he said, almost laughing at the way her eyes had inadvertently scanned over his body more than once. He wanted to do more to her too. His sexual attraction towards this woman was overbearing and quite honestly, if he didn't find a way to relieve it, well … he would be rather miserable until he did.
Her eyes snapped back up to his upon hearing this. "No" she said, clipping her answer. "I am here to get my jacket and that is all" she informed.
Stefan smiled again. "I want to take you to dinner" he said, changing the subject on her. "It's the least I can do for running out on you last night" he said, the smile still playing on his lips.
His eyes burned into hers, but she did not look away. She wouldn't give him the satisfaction. "No" she answered sternly. "My jacket, Mr. Salvatore" she said, straightening up her posture.
"Alright then" he said, pushing himself away from his desk. "It's in my car. Would you like to accompany me to get it?" he offered.
"No, I will wait here" she said. She didn't trust herself to be alone with him for that long.
"Suit yourself" he shrugged, grabbing his car keys. He walked towards her, but she didn't move. He stopped as soon as he reached her and saw that her eyes were glued to the wall in front of her. "You look beautiful, by the way" he said quietly to her. It wasn't seductive. It was a compliment. As hard as she wanted to hate it, she couldn't help but like it. But the nice feeling didn't last long. "The things I want to do with you, Miss Gilbert" he said breathlessly into her ear. Every part of her body tensed when those words hit her ear, whether she wanted them to or not. Stefan smirked and let his left hand slowly glide from her shoulder down to her wrist. Her skin was smooth. That did unspeakable things to him. "I'll be right back" he said in a more composed tone.
Elena let out the breath she had been holding when she heard the door shut. Slowly, she turned around and saw that he was gone. That Betty lady was on the phone, not paying her any attention. This was perfect timing to snoop around his office and see if she could find anything.
Slowly, she scanned his shelves, looking for folders with company information. But all she saw were books. Mostly having to do with computer software. Elena made her way around his desk, finding his computer to be on, but his screen locked. "Damnit" she muttered, taking another look to make sure the receptionist was still busy. She was. In fact, she now had her back turned towards Elena. Elena tapped her fingers on his desk out of frustration. Stefan would be back soon and there was no way she would be able to guess his password. That computer probably held everything she needed. And if Stefan was anything like her as a CFO, he probably had the information on his computer at home because he brought work home so often.
Elena made work on going through his drawers, but they were empty except for blank notepads, pens, and various business cards. The drawers that had all the good stuff were of course locked. Elena gave up on trying to pry them open and instead made her way to the far side of his office to another set of bookshelves that looked far more interesting. These held file folders.
Just as she was about to reach for them, she felt a hand grab around her wrist and another hand push firmly against her stomach, effectively pushing her to pin her against the shelf itself. Elena gasped, bracing herself for the impact that was surely to come when she hit the shelf. But it never came. As forceful as he had been, she barely felt herself bump against the shelf. Hell, she hadn't even heard him come back into the room. She felt her breathing increase as she waited for him to say something or do anything more.
He wasn't angry. Actually, he would have been disappointed to find out that she hadn't taken advantage of being alone in his office. That's why he had locked his computer after all. "Why Miss Gilbert" he said, his voice full of interest. "Find anything good?" he asked, continuing to hold her there against the shelf.
Being that close to him brought back the evening she shared with him in the bathroom. This time though, her body wasn't betraying her as much. Probably because it was still in fight-flight mode do to being snuck up on. Elena surprised him with a small smile. "Unfortunately, you arrived back much sooner than I had anticipated" she said, leaning her head back against the shelf.
Damnit. She was cute as hell in her admission to trying to screw him over by snooping through his office. He stepped closer to her so his lips were mere centimeters from her right ear. He could feel her heartbeat pick up. Hell, maybe that was his heart beating rapidly against his chest. "I appreciate your honesty" he whispered into her ear. "But you're never going to get your hands on what you really want" he added, slowly letting go of her wrist and placing his hands lightly on her hips. "I, however, already have my hands on what I really want" he whispered.
Elena felt his lips press lightly against the side of her neck and as soon as he pulled away, her skin was left burning. And she liked it. A lot. Screw the whole trying to find information to take his company out. All she wanted right then was a hot and steamy one nightstand with the man in front of her. She didn't hesitate to place her hands flat against his chest. It was a smart move because feeling her touch him broke some of his confidence in having control over the situation. He had thoughts flash through his mind of just giving her the damn company if she promised to have hot passionate sex with him every night for the rest of their lives. Elena rocked forward on her tippy toes so she could do the same and talk into his ear, much like he had done to her. "If you really want me, Mr. Salvatore" she said, letting her perfectly manicured nails scrape against the fabric of his shirt. She then grabbed the bottom of his ear with her teeth, gently enough to not hurt him but roughly enough to get a reaction out of him. She smiled when she heard him groan and she let go of his ear. "You're going to have to try harder than that" she finished, pushing on his chest firmly so he stepped back. Elena retrieved her jacket from his desk and made her way to the door. She turned around and saw that he was facing her and there was a little more color in his features now.
"Try harder for what?" he asked. She could still hear the catch in his breath. "To get information out of you or to sleep with you?" he clarified.
Elena shrugged her shoulders slightly and tilted her head slightly. "Both" she said, smiling at him. "Have a good evening, Mr. Salvatore" she said before disappearing out of his office, feeling much more confident in her dealing with him this time around.
Stefan's eyes followed her until he could no longer see her. "Damn her" he said, though a gigantic smirk was already appearing on his face. Maybe, just maybe, he had finally met his match.
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
Elena quickly locked her front door behind her and stripped off her jacket and kicked off her boots as she made her way to her bedroom. She grabbed a pair of her silky pajamas and went straight for the bathroom, determined to wash away the evening she had had with Stefan.
Once inside the bathroom, she quickly looked into the mirror, craning her neck slightly to see where his lips had touched her. There was no mark, and it was stupid to think there would be seeing as how his lips had only lightly touched her briefly. But why did her skin right there still feel like it was on fire? And why the hell did she want him to put it out by kissing her there again?
She stepped back from the mirror and tugged her dress over her head, followed by her stockings and undergarments being tossed to the floor as well. Elena turned the warm water on and waited until steam filled the room before stepping into the shower. The warm water soothed her, finally giving her some relief. She let the water run over her as she looked down at the wrist he had been gripping when he had caught her in his office. There wasn't a mark there either, though, his intention had never been to hurt her. Even if she didn't know him, there was something about him that told her he wouldn't hurt her. He was safe physically. Emotionally, she wasn't so sure. She wouldn't give him the chance to figure her out emotionally.
Elena finished up her shower and dressed, ready for bed. She checked her phone and saw that Gregory hadn't called her. No surprise.
Falling back into her pillows on her king size bed, she stared up at her ceiling, feeling alone and at a loss for what to do. Stefan was proving harder to get information out of than she had initially thought. She had no plan of action and that didn't sit well with her. She always, always had a plan of action. So what was it about Stefan Salvatore that threw her so off course?
A/N: I'm starting to think Elena isn't so happy in her current relationship.