Daddy, Don't Hurt Me

Rating Mature by this chapter, you should know why.

Author's Note: So, I started summer courses this week. Blech. Nothing like taking history online over the summer. Or how about Master Lifetime Learning Skills? I think some of my universities requirements for graduating are absolutely ridiculous. Yes, system I want to pay 600 dollars for a class that tells me how to take proper notes. By the time I am 22, don't you think I have it down on how to take notes? Yes, random rant.

Don't worry I will have another chapter of Consequences soon. We want Darien to Grovel, okay so I do. Still working out kinks on how Chapter Eight is going to go down. I put that story in a word document all together the other day, and I couldn't believe it! 84 pages. Wow. I am proud of myself. Okay, but that is not what this is about.

I am really liking where this story is going so far. I was dreaming plots the other night. This must be what writing does to you. Consequences and Daddy, Don't Hurt me were rolling together. It was fantastic!

And here's my thanks. Thanks to LBricker88, m1ssp1ggy, sabina21, Light'by'day, sasumiofjp, and Lady Shakona for reviewing! I hope you guys enjoy this chapter. It's all Darien. I really love him no matter how he's written. :)

Chapter Two: Playboy

Darien Hughes couldn't take his eyes off the luscious blonde sitting at the other end of the long conference table. Seated at the head, he had a full view of everyone, well the few people that were there as early as he was and she happened to be one of them.

Today she had decided to tease him with letting her straight cornflower yellow hair cascade down her back. Strands escaped the rest, falling over her pert, grey, halter covered breasts. Appreciative of the roundness, he returned to his favorite part of the woman diligently reading the manuscript in front of her. Her luscious, blonde hair.

Even he had to admit it, he had a thing for blondes, and her hair was long enough to get lost in for hours.

"Darien…" Not looking up from the papers, her voice came out in annoyance.

He had her attention now. He wasn't quiet about his roaming eyes. "Yes, Mina."

She huffed and rolled her eyes, "I know I'm attractive and all, but you are really starting to get on my nerves with your staring. It's not happening."

Shifting in his chair, he leaned over the table and laced his fingers together. "Oh, but my friend, it already has."

Setting down the papers, her sharp blue eyes shot him an infuriated glance. "Once. And that was far too many times playboy."

A crude smile curved on his handsome, devilish lips barely meeting his playful eyes. "You keep telling yourself that Mina, but I know you thoroughly enjoyed that night. But, I'll let you get back to work. More people should be arriving for our meeting."

"I should thank you, but that would be wasting my breath." She fanned her hand in a shooing gesture and began to read again.

Mina Stewart was certainly a vixen. An easy lay in his mind. She was just upset that he couldn't give her more than a good night. Nonetheless, she was easy to look at, and it didn't help that she wore clothing that usually plunged down her neckline and barely covered her favorite part of her body. As he was about to begin teasing her again, more of their coworkers arrived.

Lita Kelley walked in and sat down in the chair next to Mina. They began to chat, obviously happy about their conversation. Now Lita was another gorgeous woman Darien enjoyed looking at. She had the body of an athlete, at 5'8'' she loomed over her short coworker, who stood only at a measley 5'1''. Instead of his preferred blonde, she had wavy copper-tinted brown locks that normally were slung up in a loose pony that fell down to the middle of her back. In her feminine dark brown female suit, she gave an air of confidence.

With her runner's body, she had been a wonderful conquest for Darien. Too bad she never fell for his bait, like Mina. Mina, at the moment had been the only woman working on their new project that fell for his charm. And boy did he have charm.

Standing at a solid 6'2'', Darien gave off that masculine protector aura. He had broad shoulders and a muscular build. He couldn't lie, he loved to lift after a long day editing. Always, he kept his face clean of any hair and women fawned over how soft his face was for a man. Definition of pretty boy was Darien Hughes.

Besides his never-ending body and libido, women swooned over his jet-black hair that was just long enough that it fell sexily into his eyes. But his real asset was all in his eyes. Their crystal-like blue that were as clear as day mesmerized his victims.

Not that they were victims. They thoroughly enjoyed his playboy antics. And playboy was who Darien was. He made women his conquests and they flocked willingly to his handsome face and rock hard body. Too bad no woman ever kept his attention longer than getting them to the bed.

Once they hit the sack with him, he tossed them aside like they were garbage. He rarely repeated his encounters with women. It gave them the wrong impression.

The last thing he ever wanted to give them was the wrong impression. He wasn't the relationship type. Not that he had anything against relationships. He just found most women a bore, sans their sexual experience.

Now, because of his playboy antics, he had to head up the new division at Moonie Press and he was not thrilled. Besides him, there were only two other men working on the line, and unlike him, they volunteered.

Speaking of volunteers, Darien looked up to see his friend Andrew Michaels walk in and smile his perfect row of teeth to the ladies at the end of the table. After asking them how their morning was going, he sauntered over to his seat beside Darien. At least the men stuck together.

"Good morning Dare." Andrew smiled. Playboy number two.

Okay, so not so much. Andrew had been around the block, but he tried to at least somewhat maintain good terms with women. He'd even had dates - with the same woman - more than once. If Darien was night, Andrew was day.

With his sandy blonde hair and boyish features, Andrew gave a sense of the boy-next-door look. The two friends complimented one another. Darien was ruthless, cocky, arrogant and opinionated. Andrew, however, was easy-going. A nice boy.

Well, you know what they say about nice boys. They finish last. At least between Darien and Andrew. Of course when you had walking sex on a stick, like Darien, his sex appeal radiating off him like a drug, what man stood a chance?

"Hey." Darien finally replied to his friend, after leaving his reverie of how amazing he was. Not that Darien was all bad. He just, well he thought highly of himself.

His cockiness was probably another reason women didn't stick around. Even if he would open up to one, which he wouldn't, they wouldn't stick around long. No one seemed to match his humor.

"So, this is the first day of this new project, eh?" Andrew nudged him in the arm. He knew how annoyed Darien was at having to work on the new line Moonie Press wanted out. It was their new money crop.

Times like these made Darien wish he hated books.

Times like these made Darien wish he wasn't good at his job.

Times like these made him stop mid-thought as a new, gorgeous blonde walked in with that sweet bluenette Amy.

The woman who walked in, nervous-looking, smiled and giggled at a comment made by Amy and looked around the room at the others sitting around the table. Biting her lip, and playing with her fingers, she grabbed the chair next to Amy and sat down. She pushed a fallen strand of hair back behind her ear and smiled at the women across from her.

It was times like these he wished that Amy liked to sit closer to him, and not the ex-fanclub of his, Lita and Mina.

None of that mattered though, he would introduce himself to the new blonde girl. Something about her continued to fascinate him as she sweetly, and quietly talked to the people around her. The way her face lit up with that dazzling smile of hers.

Darien's new conquest just arrived.

"Her name is Serena." Andrew said to his friend, knowingly. Darien unlocked his gaze from the woman and looked at his friend in unspoken question. Andrew sighed with knowing. Darien wouldn't give up until he told him all he knew.

"Her best friend from college is Amy. She just received her Master's and wanted to move closer to Amy. She coaxed Greg into hiring her." Darien looked at him as if he wanted him to elaborate more. Andrew put up his hands in defeat. "Dude, that's all I know."

Darien nodded, "Well, I suppose I will have to find out." He looked back at the blonde. "She sure is a fine specimen."

Shaking his head in amusement at Darien's antics, Andrew pulled out his notepad and pen, getting ready to take whatever notes he needed to. "You are something else, man. This one looks too sweet to even give you the time of the day."

"We'll see, Andrew." He got his notes and did a head count. He stood and adjusted the black tie that was immaculately placed over his deep powder blue button-up dress shirt.

"Hello everyone. Welcome to those who I don't know yet." His eyes connected with her bright blue orbs. If ever there was a woman with as deep and clear blue eyes, he had never seen one. Regaining his composure he continued with his speech. "As most of you know, this is a new line that Moonie Press has decided to make it their number one marketing scheme this year. I am going to be the head honcho here for this..." He paused, trying to control his grimace. "For this line of Romance novels..." The last two words came off his tongue as if he were trying to spit the disgusting words out.

"But these novels aren't just any run of the mill novels, because that would be impossible in the ever so inventive world of the hero and heroine." He smiled inwardly at his quip. How was he ever going to do this project and take it seriously? "Nope, Moonie Press did a lot of research of what our female audience wants. It seems no one else on the market right now offers a line of romantic comedies. Apparently the topic of romance itself isn't funny enough."

With everyone jotting down notes, he pulled up a slide of the main topics the company wanted.

"As you can see, the company wants witty, fun, and sassy to be at the core of these new heroines. Moonie Press wants not just a woman, but a fresh one. She has to be one who stands on her own two feet, looking, but not looking for love. Throw out that trash about damsels. No longer do they exist in this line.

"These women aren't in realization that they need rescuing. The man that comes in may not be the most romantic guy in the world. Our reader wants real. Figaro, or whatever his name was, is out. Our men need to compliment the lady in ways she never saw coming.

"That means as we go through this garble of manuscripts authors have sent us, we have to look for these qualities." He put his hands down on the table as he looked out over the faces of his coworkers. "As most of you in here are women, it shouldn't be a problem for you enjoying these novels we will be editing, accepting or rejecting."

"Now, Moonie Press has been working on trying to develop this line for awhile, and let me tell you, we have plenty of junk to look through to find those gems. So you will see in the back of the room the stacks." Behind the table he pointed to the huge stacks of paper that looked overflowing. "We will be working to find the best twenty novels for the launch, and go from there. Now ladies, us men may have a lot to learn from you, and vice versa. If I have to read these, make sure they are the best romance novels you have ever read, because I personally don't want to be reading garbage for this line."

They all finished their notes and one by one went to the stack, fulfilling dreams of aspiring writers, or dashing them in an instant. Hours of flipping pages seemed to go by, every so often they would share a piece of information they found ridiculous or humorous. At around noon, Darien excused them all for a lunch break. Wanting to introduce himself to the new blonde, he followed her into the lounge where he watched as she meticulously poured herself a cup of coffee.

With quick strides he walked up behind her and cleared his throat in announcement. Jumping in fear, her hands lost their grip on the mug and the piping hot coffee flew from its container straight onto Darien's abdomen.

"God Damn! That's hot!" He screamed out in pain. Serena quivered and braced herself in between him and the white counter. Her eyes grew wide and as she shook, looking at his angry face, she quickly bowed her head in shame.

The next words out of her mouth stunned him. "Please, don't hurt me." She stood pained, waiting as if he would attack her.

He grabbed a towel from the counter, and began to try and wipe the brown mess off his shirt. "Hurt you? Why would I do that. It's just coffee."

It took her a moment to calm down and reassess the situation. Once she breathed normal again, he watched as she looked at the bitter smelling stain she just caused. Hastily, she grabbed another paper towel and tried cleaning up the mess.

"I'm so sorry. I'm just really nervous in new places." She gave up at her feeble attempt to dry off his shirt. "I think I ruined your shirt."

He looked down at the mess. "No biggie. I'll just take it to the cleaners. I came over to introduce myself, seeing as how you are working on the project I am heading. The name is Darien."

He held out his hand in introduction. Staring at his hand, a small ounce of fear still lingering in her eyes, she hesitated before grabbing his hand in a light handshake. He couldn't help notice how frail her tiny hand was in his big one. As fast as she could, she shot her hand behind her and replied to him. "Serena Connor. I'm new here. Amy got me the job. She's my roommate." She nervously stuttered. "Not that you need to know my whole life story. I am going to just shut up and go now. Nice to meet you, Darien."

Standing in a stupor, Darien gazed at the peculiar girl now walking out of the lounge, her empty coffee mug sitting on the wet counter. If he didn't know any better, he would have to say that he scared her off. But that notion was impossible, because Darien didn't scare women off.

He was a charmer.

No, there was something about that girl though, and he was determined to find out.

End Chapter Two

Oh man, is he in over his head or what?

Heh Heh is all I want to say to him and his little playboy manners.

So, am I going to have to beg for reviews? I'm above it...

Maybe.

Maybe I might beg...

Please?