"A Rose By Any Other Name"

By: Rena Cresten

Chapter 6

Disclaimer: Don't own it. Never will. And if I can barely pay my phone bill, I certainly can't pay anyone who sues me. So please don't … thanks!

Author's Notes: I am so very sorry that I have been gone for soooo long. It was very bad of me. And now that I have more time, and a few friends who ask me at least once a week where my next chapter is, I should be writing more. You can all shout hooray! And now the story really gets moving!

Have you ever had the feeling that Fate hates you? Or that you are the biggest joke at the moment in Fate's plan? Well, then maybe you should have been there when Andrew caught up with me a few days later. I've never seen him speechless before. Nor have I seen him, quite literally, fall out of his chair from laughter. But both seemed to be the case on Monday when he paid my office a lunchtime visit.

It was no consolation that Mina appeared to be quite happy to see him. Nor that he seemed likewise as happy. Oh no, that day had been ruined from the moment I had opened my door to the deliverymen. The morning had been spent watching my obviously very adept secretary take charge of the new computer system I had ordered. And while it was little more than utter embarrassment, I sat as still as possible while she tried to explain the inner workings to me.

I suppose it was the blank look meant to hide her real feelings that told me just how incompetent I really was. So I had her explain the utmost basics to me, what I would need that day without help, and quickly got out of her hair before she could give me another blank and ego-devastating look.

It was shortly thereafter that Andrew graced my office with his flamboyant presence. I had the odd feeling he was trying to vie for the Most Beautiful Man Award. Of course, the perfectly pressed blue button down shirt, that was oddly the exact same color as the socks he wore, didn't dissuade me. Don't ask me why I noticed his socks, probably trying to focus on the ground so that I could ignore him. If it hadn't been for the blinding shine on his shoes I might have pulled it off. Or it might have had something to do with his friendly, if painful, thump on the back and his fabulously comforting greeting.

"You didn't tell me you wanted to bag the untouchable Ms. Kingsly!" And he seemed so sure about himself too. How could someone be so wrong and still think they were so right? Of course, I ignored the little voice in my head that reminded me that I had in fact wanted just that a few times over the past weekend. That little voice would meet an untimely death soon anyway.

When I tried to dissuade him of the idea he grew utterly silent. I explained her horrible behavior, the treatment of her nephew, the absolutely foul words that seemed to continuously flow out of her lovely mouth. It was shortly after that little admonition that he decided to fall out of his chair laughing. Of course, looking back I suppose I can understand why he would find that funny. I did have this odd habit of complimenting her in the middle of a tirade. If it hadn't been my own habit, or concerning her, I suppose I would find it funny too.

Oh, and do you know what the cherry on the top was?

That's right. The devil herself.

She came storming into the waiting room and, after threatening my dear Amy and lovely Mina with horrible bodily harm, she tore open the dividing door and entered the rear of the office. Now, normally I would kindly remind people that this area was for patients only and lead them back out into the waiting room. But I had this sinking feeling I wouldn't be quite so lucky with the raging Ms. Kingsly.

I want it on the record that I did begin this encounter with a welcoming smile and a gentle tone of voice. Where it went from there was not my fault. Okay, I just wanted that clear.

"Why Ms. Kingsly. What a pleasant surprise. How can I help you?" If the death glare she was giving me hadn't put cracks in my happy veneer the barely concealed chuckle behind me certainly did. Note to self, kill best friend if I live through this.

"I want to talk to you." She paused to pointedly glare at Andy before continuing. "Alone."

Now I know what your thinking. Not the same thing I was. Okay, so we probably are on the same page. Because it was hardly my fault the little flip my stomach did when she said that. It was completely the fault of the itty bitty skirt she was wearing with that business suit. Or the fact her hair wound in that tight bun made me think of nothing but taking it down.

Okay, now where did I put the staple gun from earlier?

"Very well Ms. Kingsly. I haven't a lot of time, I have a two o'clock appointment. So if you would follow me." I lead her towards my office, along the way violently shoving my grinning friend off of his chair. But from the moment I closed the door I almost wished for my annoying friend tied to my leg instead of the fuming female that suddenly turned on me, metaphorical claws extended.

"I want to make one thing perfectly clear before I continue …" I had the odd impulse to admonish her for the rude tone. But I admit, it probably had more to do with the image of spanking her the same way parents do to a child. Obviously, she had no wish to join in my merry little fantasy. That was blinding obvious when she stuck her slender little finger out at me and paced at me like a lioness going in for the kill. I could feel the gulp coming long before my throat actually started working. "… I don't like you. I have never liked you. And any and all contact we may have in the future will be less joyful than a hostile take over. Have I made myself clear?"

When I found my head bobbing up and down like some stupid puppet I stopped it immediately. It wasn't respectable to look like the doctor version of a bobble head toy.

"May I ask then, why you are here?" I marked a tiny point on my side when I got the words out in a calm voice. And another little tab when I saw her falter. But I'll be darned if she didn't smile at me. Or at least that semblance of a smile that is a little too chilly to be welcomed.

"I'm here to make you a deal. A business proposition if you will." And while a little part of me kind of died inside that all she wanted with me was business, the other parts were jumping for joy that she wanted me at all. Traitors.

"All right. Just what are you proposing?" She calmed herself a moment, much like a bird smoothing its feathers. Then slid herself closer to me in a way that she must have known emphasized the tiny little black skirt she was wearing. And for a brief moment all I could focus on was just how long and pale her legs were below all that black satin.

"I want you …" My eyes shot up to her face just in time to see the predatory gleam before it was covered in a seductive light that turned her lovely sky blue eyes into a stormy and mysterious ocean. And I knew, before she had even finished her sentence, two things. The first was that I was dead meat. The second was that it didn't really matter what she wanted from me, I would give it to her in the blink of an eye. "… to date me."

Okay, hold the phone here. Was that my over active imagination talking? Or did she just make all my dreams come true? If I wasn't a man, I think I would faint.

"Excuse me?" Here's hoping she missed that embarrassing squeak that just exited my mouth. Though by the dark smile I'm receiving with those perfect white teeth, I doubt that.

"I want you to date me. You and I will go to every big function I have, and the few you might have as well. We will hold hands, smile, and kiss if the occasion calls for it. And for your trouble … I will give you anything you want. Anything." Now I must admit I was intrigued by her offer. Okay, enough crap. I was so blown away by all of this that for the longest moment I thought my brain had forever shut down. If it had its own face it might be drooling and making idiot sounds. Wait, maybe that was my face. Deciding to grab my dignity back I pulled myself up to my full height and raised my finger to her. The mimicked position was not lost on me.

"Now see here! What makes you think I'm just going to let you come in here and walk all over me, making obscene suggestions-" Then she kissed the tip of my outstretched finger and for a second, I completely lost my train of thought. And though I fought to regain my intelligence she took my momentary lapse and used it against me. Plastering herself along my body and running her fingers up into my hair I once more forgot why this was a bad idea. Forgot about anything but wrapping my arms around her and pulling her closer. Forgot until I leaned down to kiss her once more, suddenly unable to think let alone forget anything. Nothing existed except this beautiful vixen I held in my arms. The universe coalesced into a set of warm red lips, until I forgot if I was even breathing anymore.

The first moan I heard rumbling through her lips set off something that had been buried inside of me for nearly five years. And for the first time in what must have been my whole life, I was engulfed in mind numbing lust. The kind no one can see their way out of. The kind that makes you back a total stranger up against a wall and slide your hands where they really shouldn't go.

And I would have probably done some horrible things to Ms. Kingly if Andrew hadn't chosen that exact moment to throw open the door and rush in to save me from whatever horror the pounding on the wall had been. He of course was in for a surprise when all he found was a pair of half dressed people and a tornado of knocked over papers.

And while he was once more falling over laughing, I was forced to yet again think. And I quickly came to the realization that I was in the most compromising position of my life. And to make it all worse … all I wanted was to attack her again. Ms. Kingsly remedied that thought quite quickly when she expertly replaced her clothes and pulled a compact out of some jacket pocket I had not seen. It was rather discomforting to know she could so easily pull herself back together when I was still raging around like a bull inside.

When she replaced the compact she gave me what must have passed for a warm smile. Sliding up against me again she gave me a quick peck on the cheek.

"Now Darling, I'll have my secretary call you and give you the details for Saturday." When she kissed my cheek again I had the sinking feel that I had just signed myself up for the wildest ride of my life. And I must admit, it was terrifying.

"Now Ms. Kingsly …" She laughed at me. The witch actually laughed at me. And try as I might I couldn't keep the hint of a smile from tugging at my lips.

"Serena. I think we've passed those kinds of formalities. Don't you Darien?" She leaned up again and brushed her lips across mine briefly. And as I watched her sway across the floor of my office, I forgot to wonder just where she had learned my name.

I was a little troubled though when she gave Andrew, my best friend, a cold look and brushed past him as though he were some lower life form. The smile he had turned on her faded from his face, replaced by a deep frown. But before he could even open his mouth to reprimand me I sank into the chair behind my desk, slipping my head into my hands in defeat.

"What have I done?"