Disclaimer: I don't own them except for the kids!

The Perfect Temptation, Part 7

Angelina didn't think her eyes could go that wide. The back of them began to burn since she had ceased blinking. Her mouth went dry. Her eyes went to the slender hand touching his face and the one covering it. Their faces were so close and there was also that look in his clear aquamarine eyes when he had been looking down into the upturned face of the pretty looking brunette. She felt her stomach clench because she knew exactly whom the woman was and what she had meant to him. She opened her mouth to say speak, but no words came out.

Damien looked at Angelina with the same wide-eyed expression. He blinked, almost missing the emotion he saw flicker in her silvery eyes. He had been so entranced by the warmth of Claudia's hand on his face and the entreating look in her eyes, that he hadn't heard the door open. He had heard her gasp though and the abruptness in which she stopped it. He could feel the softness and the smoothness of the skin under his palm. He hadn't realized that he had reached for it. It fell away, slowly down to his side. He took a step back and blinked again. He could feel pressure building up behind his eyes as his migraine began to strengthen. "Angelina," he wheezed.

Her eyes bounced back to his after she had scrutinized the woman next to him. There was confusion now written in them. His voice sounded unnatural to her ears. She closed her eyes and shook her head, but didn't say anything. She turned on her heel and quietly left the office, shutting the door behind her with a soft click. There was roaring in her ears as blood rushed through. Her heart felt like it stopped beating and her breathing sounded incredibly loud to her ears. She glanced over at Jeanette, who passed her a weak and sympathetic smile. She closed her eyes again, willing whatever pain she was beginning to feel. With a shaky breath and a mantra in her head, telling her not to cry, she hurriedly left the office without a word.

The clicking of the door closing made him jump. He stared at the polished wood, still in shock by the look that had passed over her features. The way that her coppery hair had spilled over her back as she turned replayed itself in slow motion in the back of his eyes.

Claudia looked towards the door and back at him. She had been momentarily surprised when she felt his handclasp over her own, but she was even more surprised by the kind of reaction he was having to the woman that had just left his office. She didn't understand what was going on and why he was looking so distressed. The young redhead had looked much the same way. "Damien, who was she?"

He snapped his eyes back to her deep blue ones. Damien shook himself out of his stupor. He raked his teeth over his lower lip. "Angelina, my assistant," he replied in a faint voice. Guilt rose up inside of him. He couldn't even begin to explain why, but he wanted desperately to go after Angelina and tell her it wasn't what it looked like. The thought was so foreign to him since he had imagined thousands of ways to tell her off since the day he met her. "She's uh…the daughter of an old friend of the family…" he said as he rubbed the heels of his hands in his eyes. Intense pounding was beginning to start behind his eyes as the migraine continued to build.

"I see," she said as she watched his aquamarine eyes cast another look at the door. "And what does she mean to you?"

He cast another look at her. "Huh?"

"That girl. Angelina."

"What about her?"

"Does she mean something to you?"

Her question stunned him. He didn't know how to answer that because even he wasn't sure. There were times he felt like strangling Angelina within an inch of her life, telling her off, or kissing her mindless. And most times it was a combination of all of them. When she had confronted him about what he felt, he denied it, but it was true. He did feel something for her, but he didn't know what it was or how he actually began to feel something towards the very irritating, but very intriguing redhead. "She's just my assistant," he said, feeling it expedient to not answer the question in a direct manner.

Claudia arched a finely shaped brow at him. "And that's all?"

"Yes, she's just a daughter of a family friend, who's visiting for awhile. She's like a sister," Damien replied, knowing it was a lie since the feelings he had felt towards Angelina were anything but brotherly.

"Then why did she look so upset?"

"Umm…I couldn't really tell you. It could be any number of things I suppose."

"Does she have a crush on you or something?"

That question had him at a loss. What Angelina felt for him, he was certain it was more than some crush. A lot more. The look he saw cross her eyes told him that much. "I don't know. I haven't really seen her since she was a little girl in pigtails. The Maxwell boys were closer to her than I ever was."

A slight smile crossed her lips as she walked towards him. She stood directly in front of him. "I guess I should be glad for not having any competition. She's very pretty."

"Who?" Damien asked, caught off guard by her first remark.

"Angelina. A lusty sort of beauty that guys can't seem to ignore. I don't think you've ignored that fact," Claudia pointed out as she looked up at him.

"I've noticed that she's attractive, yes. I would have to be blind not to, but she's not my type," he said as he struggled not to get lost in her eyes.

"Am I more your type?"

"…Yes…I suppose you could say that…" he stuttered as a blush crept up his cheeks from the delighted smile that touched her lips. He took a step back.

She noticed. She thought it was cute the way soft color flooded his face. Claudia knew she had a very strong effect on him or else he wouldn't be trying to get away from her. She had loved him a great deal, but she wanted him all to herself and the fact that he was the eldest heir to the vast Winner Empire made it harder for him to concentrate solely on her. She liked the lavish attention he would give her when he wasn't thinking of the business, but it didn't stay that way for long. She wanted it all the time. She needed him to focus on her and nothing else. "Damien, what would you say if I were to kiss you right now?"

He took several more steps back until he hit the edge of his desk. "I don't know. It wouldn't be wise to tell you the truth," he said, feeling his face grow hotter. Part of him wanted to kiss her again and feel her moist supple lips conform and part against his. But the other part of him was telling him he should go after Angelina. "Could I get back to you on that?"

Claudia smirked this time from his question. "Why Damien, don't you want me to?"

His knuckles turned white as they clenched the edge of his desk. She was standing between him and the door. He would hate to admit it, but he was weak when it came to her. Part of him was still in love with her despite the fact that she had hurt him so much.

When he didn't answer she walked towards him until she was standing in front of him. "I've missed you kissing me. It won't take but a second and it will be just like old times."

Damien closed his eyes. One second was a second too long. If he kissed her, he would lose to that part of him that wanted to so desperately. He had to make a choice between kissing her and going after Angelina. What was more important to him? A war was being waged within him.

When he still did not answer, she decided to take matters into her own hands. She slid her hands across his jaw, cradling his face between her hands as she stood on her toes. "It won't take but a second, I promise," she breathed.

Her lips were so close; his own were aching just to feel them.

"WHOA!"

Damien snapped his eyes open to the sound of the voice. They locked with the cobalt ones of Jonathon Maxwell. "J…Jonathon," he sputtered, as he slid out of Claudia's hold on him. "What brings you here?"

Jonathon arched a brow. "I came by to see if Vaughn had that order done. He said he would fax it to me, but it seems like your brother is having other problems when I saw him leave the office with an ice pack on his nose and some hellish looking bruises under both his eyes. I'm guessing his nose met with someone's fist. So, I came to see you instead." His eyes darted over towards Claudia. "Hello, Claudia. It's been awhile," he said, smiling. It didn't reach his eyes.

"Nice to see you too, Jonathon. Congratulations on your marriage to Leigh," she replied with a small smile of her own. Those intense cobalt eyes of his always unnerved her. She felt like he was reading her thoughts, but it hadn't stopped her from thinking he was one of the most handsome guys she laid eyes on. She looked back at Damien, who had moved to a safer distance. She sighed. "I should be going. I'll see you later, Damien," she said as she met his eyes as she picked up her purse. She continued to gaze into the aquamarine until she passed Jonathon, who was watching her closely. She looked away as she closed the door behind her. She let out a frustrated snort. "Damn," she muttered as she left the office.

Jonathon turned back to look at Damien. "All right, now that she's gone, could you tell me what I walked in on?"

"I honestly couldn't tell you," Damien moaned as he slid back into his chair, rubbing his temples with his index fingers. The migraine was almost at full strength. His eardrums felt like bursting from the pressure. "I don't know, I don't know," he moaned again.

"Does the reason I saw Angelina speeding out of the parking lot in a way that would put my sister to shame, have anything to do with Claudia being here?"

Damien twitched and didn't say anything.

"I'll take that as a yes," Jonathon sighed as he sat down in the chair in front of his friend's desk. He continued to stare at the blond. "Migraine bad?" he asked, knowing how bad they could get.

"You have no idea," Damien replied as he lifted his eyes to Jonathon's. "It feels like my head's going to explode. Why of all days did I have to get one today?"

Jonathon shrugged. "You should tell me, since it looks like it's tied to Claudia and Angie."

"She walked in. We weren't doing anything, but she was touching me and I was probably looking like a lovesick fool, and Angelina saw that," Damien explained.

Jonathon's brow arched again. "You never cease to surprise me. Claudia ripped out your heart the worst way imaginable and yet you would be willing to kiss her anyway. Miles, Dominic, and I used to debate on the exact reason she picked you. It was either she wanted your money or she just wanted in your pants. We finally agreed on the latter since she comes from a family with really old money and she wouldn't need yours. And we all found out that you did fool around with her," he said as he pointed a finger at him, "So we were right."

Damien's face flooded with heat. "Claudia was not like that," he snapped.

"Oh come on, Damien, don't be stupid! She had you pegged since our sophomore year. She may look like a refined lady, but she had an agenda when it came to you getting into bed with her. I heard her whispering about it in the math class that I shared with her," Jonathon pointed out with exasperation.

"I didn't even date her until our senior year!"

"Well she was planning on it since our sophomore year! She's as calculating and scheming as they come. I should know, I dated girls like her, but she took the cake. I never liked her and I think I intimidated her because I knew what she was up to."

"You're too jaded about women."

"And you're too naïve."

"I am not naïve!"

"You are. You hardly dated anyone as much as the three of us tried to get you to. You would always, calmly push those glasses of yours back on your nose, and say no, you were too busy and girls weren't that important to you. You've always been that way."

Damien scowled from Jonathon's observations. "I'm in no mood for this."

"I can see that too. You look like hell."

"You talk too much and you don't exercise tact."

"More tact than my dear older brother, who tends to put his foot in his mouth, which has recently put him in the dog house with his wife for insulting her sister. But I'm the one with tact, which you should be glad that I possess. I could've said that Claudia was a slut, hiding under that polished ladylike veneer and that you deserve much better then her. I could also say you shouldn't be a wimp and let her walk all over you."

Damien's scowl grew deeper. "You're being a pain in the ass."

"It's my job, considering what Angelina saw, made her more than upset. And I suggest to you, is to go after her," Jonathon said with some warning in his tone. "That girl is close enough to be family to me, so it's my job to look out for her. So, I want you to talk to her before I make whatever happened to your brother look like a nothing once I get through with you. I don't want to have to beat the daylights out of you for upsetting her when she obviously likes you as much as she does. You should be flattered that a girl wants you just for you and nothing else."

"She wants sex from me, that's all that she wants."

Jonathon frowned. "I don't think so. I know her a lot better than you do."

"So, you condone the way she throws herself at me?"

"She feels like it's the only way she can. She's not what she seems, believe me. There's a lot about her that you don't know."

"And what would that be?"

"That Howard and her mother have been divorced since she was ten. She lived in the shadow of her mother until she turned eighteen and went to live with him full time. Her mother is an extraordinarily beautiful woman, and being the less than perfect looking adolescent daughter of a former beauty queen, does things to you as a young girl especially. You should ask her the rest. There's a lot more to her than meets the eye. She's had a rough time and I don't want to see her hurt. Chris and David would say the same thing," Jonathon explained as he stood up and braced his hands on the edge of the desk. "And you should definitely get Claudia out of your life quick, before I do it for you and I'm not half as nice as you are."

Pale brows drew in over his aquamarine eyes, despite that it made his head throb even more. He knew that Jonathon meant what he said. He adored women and messing with any of the ones that they were both raised with, was tantamount to a death sentence. "What am I supposed to tell her when I don't even know what's going on?"

"You know what's going on. Claudia is playing you like a yo-yo and deep down you know that's exactly what she's doing. Don't let your past feelings for her ruin whatever you have with Angie."

"There's nothing going on between Angelina and myself."

Jonathon snorted and rolled his eyes. "Yeah, right. You always were the king of denial. There's definitely something going on between you and Angie. If I can see it, so can everyone else around you."

Damien turned his head away from the penetrating cobalt eyes and looked out of the window towards the water. He knew Jonathon was right. If he could see it, so could everyone else. And in no way did he want to incur the wrath of the three Maxwell brothers by hurting someone they considered family. "I don't even know what to say."

"The truth. Tell her the truth and from experience, she will attempt to cover it up and brush it off like it's ok. Don't believe it for a second. She hides behind that "bad girl" image even more effectively than my sister does."

Damien couldn't help but snort softly. He rubbed his head again as it throbbed some more. He let out a sigh. "I'll go see if I can find her."

Jonathon smiled. "Good," he said as he turned. He looked back over his shoulder at his friend. "Tell your brother not to worry about those papers. I'll get them tomorrow since it looks like he's having a bad day." He left the office, whistling, and hoping his words would have the desired effect.

Damien rested his head on the edge of his desk. "How am I suppose to tell her anything when I have absolutely no idea where she'd go?"

******************************************************************************

Angelina climbed up over the edge of the rocks, ignoring the fact that they were scratching her palms and the soles of her feet. Waves crashed nearby, spraying her with salty water. This was the same place she knew Jonathon to come to when he was upset. The water splattered against her legs and the hem of her skirt, drying to a salty stickiness as the sun slowly dried them. Similar tracks had formed down the smoothness of her cheeks despite her best efforts to hold them back. She sat down on the topmost rock and closed her eyes. All she could see was that gorgeous brunette with her hands on him, and the way that he was looking at her.

"So that was Claudia. She was sure pretty," she whispered as she stared out at the water. "No wonder he'd prefer her. So polished, so refined looking, so ladylike…so like my mother…" she sniffed as she held back even more tears. "And so unlike me. Is there honestly something wrong with me?" she asked as she leaned forwards and looking into a puddle of water left by the waves. It mirrored her face as well as the cerulean blue sky above her. She turned her face and studied every angle. A frown crossed her lips. "No wonder he would prefer her over me. Coloring is all wrong, eyes too different, hair to bright…not one ladylike thing about me…no wonder he would think that I was some…whatever…" she trailed off, splashing her hand into the pool and breaking up her reflection.

The wind tugged at her hair. She tugged out the pin that held in away from her face and let it fall freely about her. The pale lavender floral skirt fluttered about her thighs as she propped her chin up on her knees. She shivered slightly even though the day was already warm. She rubbed her hands up and down her bare arms, having left the matching lavender cardigan on the seat of Hilde's SUV. The somewhat revealing lavender tank conformed to her figure as the fine mist from the waves coated her with moisture. "Maybe Randy was right in saying that I shouldn't go after him. She did say that he preferred willowy brunettes with manners. But I like him too much and I've invested too much time in him to give up…but he's still in love with her. I can see it. It's so plain to see and it leaves me nowhere. Maybe what my mother said was right; maybe all I am good for is being a genius like my father and that no one will find me attractive because I didn't inherit my mother's magnificence. How can I compete with the radiant ex girlfriend that he still loves?" she whispered again as a tear slid down her cheek, only to be lost with the beads of water, already coating her face.

A/N: Miserable, yes? I know, and you probably want to beat me with whatever you have handy. But don't worry, more will be coming soon. XOXO!!