Soon it would be to hard to stay away and once that happens it would complicate everything. It can't continue any longer, he knew that now.
" well.. anyway , It's getting late.. I should get back home" I said, tired of having to lie.
" so should I.. but hey, even if you have a guy in mind, we should go out and flirt one day. Just out and party !" she answered
" you are still such a child "
"oh yes ! Please ! one night stands are waiting on us ! "
" you know I'm not that girl! Been there done that, never again!" I said.
" oh come on, you had bad luck. How would you know that the guy was your boss ?" she said innocent.
"I had to quit the job after that !" I said with a laughter.
" no, you didn't have to.. you just decided you didn't want a work affair!"
" work and private is 2 separate things ! " I said firmly and as soon as those words were out of my mouth I realize what I just said. I turned around and saw Zac looking me in my eyes, confirming he had heard what I said. I couldn't help but laugh about the ironic situation.
"okay find. No one-night-stands.. just flirt , okay ?"
" yes" I said and smiled at my best friend.
"okay, just text me when you want to go out." She said and gave me a hug.
"I will. " I said with a giggle and hugged her back.
With that I left and walked out of Starbucks and over into the crowd. Zac slowly walked closer and closer and when we reach the elevator he was ,somehow, next to me. It really was weird how he could just turn up by my side without looking like a stalker!
"did you have much to talk about ?" He said while pushing the elevator button. The doors opened immediately and we both stepped into the elevator, standing in it alone.
"How much did you hear?" I said and stood right up in his face so I would see if he lied.
"what ?" he said, acting clueless.
"You heard me when I said "work and private are separate things" so how much did you really hear? " I said with my arms crossed over my chest.
Damn it! He never thought of that... if he heard that then it was no surprise that he had heard the rest.
"I wasn't trying to listen..." he said a bit ashamed. He hated to intrude on people!
"I'm not upset with you, I'm just asking how much you heard.." I said and took a step back.
"Enough to know that Sam is a little right..."
" so you did hear that part.."
" yes.." He said with a slight nod.
"not awkward at all" I said while facing the other way. I really wanted to just smash my head against the hard wall but I stopped myself when I felt one hand on my arm who turned me around again.
"You have no reason to say that.. because everything you said could just as easily come from my mouth.. " he said and couldn't hold back a tiny smile.
"now you lost me..." I said confused, not understanding what he was admitting to.
" I am saying that you were not the only one on that plane that wanted to kiss a stranger." he said with a chukle.
I couldn't answer him. I was just speechless. So it wasn't only me ? He had also wanted to kiss me. The thing between us is just as strong to him as it is to me. We didn't even notice it until now but we were standing very close , almost as close as in the airplane.
"but like you said.. it's not a good idea" he said but couldn't make his body back away.
" I agree.." I said but did the complete opposite and leaned in. and to my surprise so did he.
" I am serious.."
" so am I.."
we both were kept leaning in and we have never been so close as now...I could hear his heartbeat and his heavy breathing. I could smell his perfume. I could almost touch his lips with mine. I could...
And then the elevator stopped and we had reached our floor.. We looked at the elevators doors and then at each others.. a quiet moment followed and then Zac walked out the elevator like nothing had happened. I was to shocked to even question anything so I just followed. What had just happened?
We walked towards the car and got in. Zac grabbed the his handradio.
" I'm bringing the rose back to the castle. I repeat, the rose is returning to castle." he said strict and then just looked at the road.
Awkwardness filled the car and I refused to have it that way. Emotions like ours were natural therefor there shouldn't me awkwardness. I made a attempt to get a conversation going.
"I want to know why you call me a rose? And -" I said but got interrupted.
"we can't do what we just did."
" we didn't do anything" I said and knew that he was talking about the almost kiss.
"and what if the elevator hadn't opened?" he said , rolling his eyes.
"You were the one who leaned in first ! How can you blame it on me?" I said , feeling a bit upset.
" I'm not blaming you... but we can't be in those situations anymore. " he said with all his focus at the road.
"How do you know I even wanted to kiss you ?" I said, immature. He burst out a laugh and turned to me.
" are you serious ? ''I have never felt that urge to kiss a stranger so much.'' who said that ?"
" Thank you so much for the privacy!" I said , failing to sound angry.
" You just said that you weren't upset with that !" he defend himself.
" I am now ! " I said while blushing.
" You are unbelievable!" he said and laughed at me.
"and you annoy me ! " I said trying to sound determined but Zac just laughed at me. Apparently he found the situation incredibly ironic..
Later
The grass around the house was greener than ever and the sun lightened up the house and made it look like a castle compared to their neighbors. The neighbors must hate us...
Zac drove through the gate and parked at the back: I was just about to step out of the car when he grabbed my arm.
"before you go, do you agree with me ?" he said.
" You over heard my entire conversation with Ashley. You know I have wanted to kiss you ever since I first met you. And you just admit that so have you.. and now you're asking me if I'm okay with ignoring everything just because someone wrote it down in a rule book ?"
When I talked he removed his hand from my arm and just stared at me. He just looked at me..
" No I am not okay with that... But I will respect that rule book of yours if it means so much to you. You said that this had become to personal.. do you really think anything will change? I trust you for one reason and that is because you stayed true to me.. If you stop with that then I don't know if I will trust you with my life." I said
" I promise you that I will never lie or act like a robot around you, I'm just saying that I will not allow myself near you in any way. And it would help if you kept your bikini on in front of me..." he said while giving me a serious look . A useless warning since I found that situation extremely funny.
" yea, hilarious !" he said sarcastic and I just kept laughing.
I shut the car door behind me and stepped out of the car and into the house but before I walked up the stairs I turned to him with a flirtatious look.
" I can't control myself very well, but if you didn't look than we wouldn't have a problem." I said and couldn't keep away a childish grin. I took a few steps up the stairs and felt his eyes on me.
"stop looking at my ass, that's a start! " I said with a even bigger smirk and winked at him.
Zac looked nervously around before giving me a firm and slightly angry look. I gave him my cutest smile and a small giggle escaped my lips and that was all it took to turn that frown into a smile. I walked up to stairs and in the corner of my eye I saw how Zac shook his head in disbelief but with a smile. That sexy smile made me feel like a girly teenager again. I continued walking up and opened my door to my bedroom only to freeze and scream in shock.
In my room stood 3 strange men. One was already half way out my window and the other 2 turned to me surprised. I looked them straight in their eyes and they seemed just as shocked to see me as I was to see them. I slammed the door and stumbled backwards.
Zac had run up the stairs with his gun prepared and put his arm around my waist protectively.
"What happened?" he asked , and I have never seen him with such a serious and kind of dead look.
" 3 men... in my room..." That was all I could make out before the cry in my throat made it impossible to talk.
" Sam, what's your position?" Zac asked into his headset.
" Second floor." I heard Sam answer. Zac nodded to himself and told Sam to stay there and meet me.
"go downstairs." he said , trying to sound calm.
I did as I was told and the last thing I saw of Zac before he was out of my sight was that he pulled up his gun and kicked my door open. When I came down Sam took my hand to keep me steady and then stood in front of me while pointing his gun towards the stairs. He was fully concentrated on the stairs and sounds from upstairs but he managed to ask me if I was okay. I just nodded and figured he'd see it from the corner of his eye or something.
"where is the kids?" I said , remembering they were in the house.
" they are okay, in the kitchen with their bodyguards." he said.
Just when my heart started beating in normal paste the house was full of the sound of a gun being fired.
"ZAC! " I yelled and everything just turned black. I just ran up the stairs without hesitating.
" DON'T GO UP! " I heard Sam yell but I didn't care.
I didn't listen. You would think that a FBI agent would be able to catch up with me but apparently I was faster than I thought. At least in stairs. I ran quickly towards my room and didn't hesitate for a second. When I ran into my room I could barely breathe. It took a few seconds before my eyes could adjust to the room but when that happened I found Zac by the window aiming his gun outside,
" Dammit! Gate, 3 men coming from the inside. South wall ! I repeat, 3 men towards south wall" he yelled into the headset.
I couldn't move. I looked around in my room and nothing was the same. It was completely torn apart. They had changed everything. All the drawers where cleaned out and everything in it was on the floor. Even the bed was moved and looked like if they had lift it and tried to tear it apart. The mirror was broken and paintings were thrown on the ground. It was a complete mess and then I saw that my computer was missing from my desk. My computer? Why would they take my computer? How did they get in ? And why only my room ? What did they look for ? What did they want from me?
The image of those 2 men looking straight at me was framed in my mind. They had looked surprised but not worried. They had just looked at me as if I interrupted something but was ready to kill me any second. That reminded me of something: why hadn't they pointed any weapon at me? I obviously surprised them . Isn't it almost a reflex to aim a weapon at the person that interrupt a crime?
" WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING ? I TOLD YOU TO GO DOWNSTAIRS!" Zac yelled right in my face . I looked in his eyes but I still didn't really see him. Everything was blurry and unclear. Tears ran slowly down my cheek as I tried to make sense of what just had happened.
"If you hear a gunshot , you run! Or hide or something. You NEVER run towards the gunshot! " Zac kept yelling, lecturing me.
"Zac... calm down" Sam said , who now stood calmly leaning at the door.
"what if they were the one firing the shots ? SHE COULD HAVE GOTTEN KILLED ! " Zac said , faced to Sam. Did Sam not see the danger in this?
" Zac! She's shaking... " Sam said and nodded towards me.
Shaking ? I looked down on my hands and was surprised. Yes, I was shaking and not so little either. My hands vibrated and tears started dropping from my eyes down at my hands. While staring at my hands I felt the room spinning. Zac places his hands on my arms and held me steady.
" Vanessa...do you hear me ?" he said and I could hear on his voice that he had calmed down. I tried to nod but my neck wouldn't twist an inch.
" You are safe... They are gone.. you are safe..." Zac said repeatedly and his face expression had changed dramaticly from rage to concern.
When I felt his hand on me all my bones in my body disappeared and I fell into his arms. To my relief he didn't push me away. Instead he tighten his grip around me and let me cry in his arms. I stood there for a long time and just cried and shook and Zac kept whispering comforting words against my ear.
At first I thought I would stand there for hours but I started to calm down and just stood there sobbing, still holding a firm grip around Zac's safe body.
"are you ok ?" he said and pulled away a little to see my face.
" no..." I answered, shaking my head.
"can I get you anything ?" he asked and I could hear by the tone of his voice that he didn't really know what to do.
" no... I … I think I want to sleep.. but in the living room."
Zac just obeyed. He walked me down the stairs and I waited in the living room while he prepared the couch for me. He did it fast and kept glancing at me to make sure I was okay. When he was done I sat down on the couch and started taking big breaths to calm my heart rate down. Zac went down on his knees in front of me and placed his hands on my knees.
" If you want me to stay , I will.."
"I'm fine.." I said. I didn't want him to get into any trouble.
"okay... Sam will be out in the hall until 1 a clock and then he will change with a agent named Frank.. but I'll make sure to be up when you wake up. get some sleep... and if you want to contact me you'll have this from now on. " he said and handed me a small little thing. It looked like one of those toys that Bella has, called "tamaguchi?" or something. A small black little box with one button on it.
"If you push that button my ear set will beep like crazy and I'll be wide awake in a second." he explained and put it in my hands.
I looked down on it and then up on his. A small and weak smile appeared on my lips.
Zac did the same. And then he did something he knew was wrong but he didn't want to stop himself. Before he got up from his knees he leaned in and placed a kiss on my forehead and whispered:
" just push the button.. I won't let anything happen to you" and with that he left.