Chapter Two
“Excuse me. Can I talk to you for a few minutes,” a rich voice asked cutting through her thoughts as Nicey made her way towards her parked car.
Gasping, she spun around and stared up into the bluest eyes she had ever seen in her life.
The man behind her was absolutely gorgeous.
She couldn’t help but to look away from his eyes to get a better look at his body.
His massive shoulders filled out the black coat he was wearing and it stopped right past his knees.
He looked very powerful, with his wide chest and muscular build.
Nicey dragged her eyes away from his physique back to his face. The set of his chin suggested a hidden stubborn streak while his lips were firm and sensual. They made her wonder if he was a good kisser. Would he know how to use those lips on her?
She slowly continued her appraisal of him and realized that his blond hair was a stark contrast to his naturally tanned skin. There was no doubt about it even in a crowd of men, his presence was stand out and make the others fall into the background.
“Do I know you,” she asked taking a step back closer to her car. What in the hell was wrong with her staring at a stranger like that? She didn’t get an immediate sense of danger begin in his presence but a woman never knew nowadays.
“No, you don’t,” he smiled displaying a roll of perfect white teeth, “and that’s why I stopped you.”
Now she was starting to get a little uncomfortable, but she wasn’t about to let it show. “I’m not following you and I don’t have time to talk. I really need to get going.” Nicey flipped opened her purse and dug out her car keys.
“Wait. I’m not trying to scare you. Let me start over,” the man exclaimed shoving his hands into the pocket of his coat.
“Listen, it’s getting colder out here and I left my jacket inside the car,” Nicey stated as she unlocked her car and quickly got inside locking it behind her. She didn’t give the guy a chance to say another word as she pulled out of the parking slot and headed for the exit.
* * * *
Spencer stood there in disbelief as his mystery woman practically turned her Lexus on one wheel trying to get away from him.
Shit, he wasn’t trying to scare the hell out of her, but he had approached her in a creepy way.
She stared at him like she found him attractive, which was wonderful because he sure was attracted to her, but that wasn’t doing him any good.
He still didn’t know her name; however, he had a way of finding out.
He could barely keep the smug smile off his face.
For once in his life it felt good to be him.
Turning on his heel he rushed back to his car, got inside and then picked up his cell phone off the passenger seat. He punched two on his speed dial and waited. It wouldn’t be long now before he found out all he had to about the vision that just ran away from him.
“How was the party,” the voice answered the second the phone was picked up. “Did you get any phone numbers that you want to pass over to me?”
His mouth kicked up into a smile at the sound of his best friend’s voice, “You know that I can’t stand those things. I told you to go in my place. Cindy wouldn’t have cared since she dumped me for Dexter anyway. If she wasn’t my sister I would have disowned her years ago.”
“But you can’t so you’re stuck with her,” the masculine voice guffawed.
“Ben, you keep reminding me of that don’t you,” Spencer chuckled.
“I sure do. Now what’s this call about? You seldom call me when I am at work,” Ben Forster stated.
“I need your help in tracking down a woman I met in the parking garage at the hotel,” he answered.
Spencer couldn’t get his mystery woman’s dark beauty out of his mind. When they met again he wasn’t going to let her get away from him so quickly. Not until she at least agreed to have dinner or a drink with him.
“What happened? Did she do something?” Ben questioned like the cop he was.
“No, she isn’t a criminal, at least I don’t think she he,” Spencer replied. “I only want her know her name and maybe her place of employment.”
“Please don’t tell me you trying to get a date with her,” Ben laughed. “Go back upstairs and ask one of those hot actresses out. You know with your looks they will say yes.”
He wasn’t going to tell Ben about the deal he made with Cindy about how he could get a date without any help from her. He had found the woman he wanted to date and now he needed Ben’s help in finding her.
“I’m not interested in an actress. I want my mystery woman. Will you help me or not?”
“Don’t get an attitude or you won’t get my help at all,” Ben tossed back.
“Sorry man, but I want to know who she is and right now you’re the only person that can help me as late as it is,” Spencer apologized.
“It’s over,” Ben said. “Tell me what you have and I’ll see what I can pull up on this sexy mystery woman of yours.”
“How do you know she’s sexy,” Spencer asked silently agreeing with his friend. “She has to have something going for her or you wouldn’t be calling me at ten thirty at night trying to find her,” Ben chuckled. “Are you going to give me the information?” He asked again.
“Yeah, it’s her license plate. I glanced at it before she drove away from me. ABW- 127,” he stated rattling off the information. “I’ll wait while you look it up.”
While he relaxed in his car Spencer thought of different ways he was going to approach her again without scaring her off next time. She was a breath of fresh air from the usual types that circled him.
First, she hadn’t recognized him and second she looked like perfection in that dress. The suggestion of curves beneath it had he dreaming about running his hands over them and learning what she liked.
Whoa, he was getting way head of himself. He first had to get a date with her and then move things on from there, but he wasn’t about to let her run away without at least securing one date.
“Her name is Nicey Johnson and she works at a place downtown called Pamper Me, Ben said coming back on the phone. “I’m not giving you any more of her other personal information than that. You have to work to get the rest.”
Smiling, Spencer stuck the information to his memory. He wasn’t worried he loved a challenge. “Thanks man for doing this. What do I owe you?”
“I’ll take an IOU for now and cash it in later,” Ben replied. “Spencer, I need to go. I see my boss coming and there’s no telling what he wants. Call me later on in the week and let me know how it turned out with Nicey.”
“Sure will,” he answered before his friend hung up.
Spencer couldn’t believe his good luck. He knew what his mystery woman’s name was now and the rest was left up to him. Starting his car he left and thought about how he was going to make his first of many visits to Pamper Me memorable for Nicey.
* * * *
The warm morning sun shined down on Nicey as she unlocked the door to her business going inside she flipped on the lights and then turned over the open sign on the front door.
Inside she walked past the answering machine and pushed the play button as she strolled towards the coffee marker in the back.
She wasn’t her usual perky self until she got her caffeine fix early in the morning.
She listened as Sarah, her assistant, told her she would be late because she had to drive her husband to work.
After getting the coffee started Nicey grabbed the stack of mail off of Sarah’s desk and made her way to her office in the very back of the building. On the way there she adjusted a picture of the first couple that she made a match for and then went inside her work space.
The office space that she lived in for better part of the day touched both sides of her personality.
It contained a part of her creative side and then her more logical side was expressed in the area too.
A laminated L-shaped desk was towards the right side of the room in front of the window.
Most of her friends and clients told her that it was a gallery apartment with its white walls and desk.
A taupe carpet covered the floor showing off her personality.
She knew that they would be surprised if they found of most of her stuff in her was flea market finds, gifts from satisfied customers and only a few items held any nostalgia for her.
Nicey tossed her purse into the chair by the side of her desk and then cracked open the window. Today was supposed to be the last of the warmest days of the year because the mornings started to stay cold like the nights were getting.
Just thinking about last night brought back memories of the hunk that stopped her in the parking garage.
Why didn’t she stay and find out what he wanted?
Because he could have been the next Jack the Ripper or next mask murder for all she knew.
She knew it wasn’t right to stop for the spilt second that she did, but it couldn’t he helped.
He had been a fine looking man, but she wasn’t looking for anyone in her life despite what Erika might think.
She was very happy with helping other people find their soul mates and take credit from the background. She wasn’t going looking for Mister Right because when it was time for him to be in her life he would show up.
With the mail still in her hand, Nicey took a seat behind her desk and started to sort through it. Most of it was people returning her forms back for Pamper Me, two were wedding invitations, and the rest of could be divided between junk mail and bills.
As she shoved the mail into the right slots in the container in her desk her mind wandered back to the man from last night.
Why was someone as good-looking as him hiding out like that?
Had he been waiting from a woman and she caught him off guard?
Instead of going straight home last night she had drove around town with thoughts of him on her mind.
Finally after wasting forty-five minutes of gas that she couldn’t afford she made her way home and went to bed.
Nicey wished that a good night sleep would have removed the stranger from her mind, but it hadn’t. In fact last night he visited her in her dreams and it was the best night of her life. She lost count of how long it had been since she had been with a man.
Drumming her fingers against the desktop, she thought back to her last dull as a doorknob relationship and Roger came to mind.
She got caught up in the passion of dating a famous athlete only to be let down by his constant cheating and lies.
Boy, she was very happy that she surprised him at home and caught him in bed with his housekeeper.
Who knew he had a thing for older women?
After Roger she just got totally involved with getting Pamper Me, a household name and she was well on her way there. It didn’t matter that she had to make a few sacrifices along the way. It was well worth it every time she got invited to a wedding or a baby shower for the couples she got together.
“Sorry that I’m late.” Sarah said coming into the room dragging her away from her thoughts.
“Don’t worry about it,” Nicey stated with a wave of her hand. “How is your husband doing? I haven’t seen Paul for a very long time.”
“He’s wonderful and still treats me fantastic,” Sarah grinned sitting down on a stool by her desk. “Why don’t you come over for dinner tomorrow night? I think he wants you to meet one of his friends from work.”
“You know that I don’t date fire fighters,” she answered.
“Nicey, I’ll never understand you and all of your rules about men in uniforms,” Sarah sighed getting up. “You’re missing out on some good-looking men out there.”
“I hear that a lot, but I can’t help who I am,” she replied turning on her computer.
“Shawn has other friends, so I’ll ask him to fix up you with a different guy,” Sarah commented on her way out the door.
“Don’t you dare,” she yelled after her business partner, but it was too late Sarah was gone.
Why couldn’t anyone believe that she was happy being single? She had a full plate with running Pamper Me six days a week. Most men didn’t like a career woman and she wasn’t about to stop to please any man no matter how good-looking he may be.
Not even that tasty man from last night, her mind thought as she reached for the updated forms she had get entered into the computer for the printers by tomorrow.