Heart of Stone - Book 1: Fighting Fate

Aubree sighed with relief when the clock on her computer finally showed four-thirty. Quitting time, she hummed to herself as her fingers clicked away at her keyboard to finish the section she had been working on before closing the file and shutting the machine down.

As she pushed away from her desk on her sleek black leather chair, Leslie, her neighboring coworker and guide for the week, popped her head over the wall of her cubicle.

“So? How’d it go today?”

Aubree shrugged but gave her a small, confident smile. “So far, so good.”

“That’s good. You’ll have everything down in no time,” she said before she disappeared behind the wall.

A minute later, she was walking up behind Aubree with her purse hanging on her shoulder and her car keys in hand. Brushing her pin-straight warm brown hair streaked with red and gold highlights over her shoulder, the thirty-year-old flashed Aubree a genuine, award-winning smile.

“The first day is always the hardest, but I hope you feel right at home soon,” she said.

“I’m sure I will,” Aubree responded.

Straightening her blouse under her new black blazer, she got to her feet and pushed her chair in. Pulling her purse over her shoulder, she followed Leslie down the hallway of cubicles to the elevators. A small gathering of employees was already accumulating as they waited for one of the four elevators to come and take them down from the tenth floor.

Leslie chatted away with her as they waited. Silence fell when they all crammed into an elevator.

While Aubree got off at the ground floor, Leslie continued down to the underground parking garage.

Smiling at the receptionist at the front desk, Aubree gave her a small wave as she walked to the front glass doors, her three-inch heels clicking lightly on the marble floor. The lobby was a wide-open space with minimal, yet modern, furnishings in neutral tones of beiges and warm mahogany browns, while the building itself was constructed of glass and steel frames. Aubree could see everything outside in the busy downtown streets as she walked across the lobby. Cars lined the street outside, waiting for the light to change from red to green.

All she had to do was walk out the front doors, turn left, go around the corner of the building, and wait for her bus.

She was fine taking the bus. It only took half an hour, maybe ten or fifteen minutes longer than if she had driven her own car, but being in an office downtown meant limited parking spaces for employees. She’d have to wait a bit before a space became available for her. Until then, she had to take the bus.

As soon as she stepped outside though, she felt that strange sensation that she hadn’t felt in a week.

Her head whipped around and her eyes widened when she saw Stone sitting there on a motorcycle, leaning forward with his elbows on the handlebars, watching her. He looked like a model right out of a magazine.

He was dressed in jeans and a leather jacket, his blond hair falling down and brushing against his broad shoulders. Faint stubble lightly shadowed his jawline as his piercing blue eyes locked onto hers.

Freezing in her tracks, she stared back at him as her heart rate spiked.

Why was he here? Was he stalking her again, or did something happen?

Oh my god, what if something happened to Gwen? That thought drove her forward, her heels clacking away on the pavement as she jogged up to him.

Leaning back in his seat on the motorcycle, his eyebrows arched up at her quick approach.

“Is everything alright?” she asked, her eyes searching his deep cool blues for any sign or trace that something was wrong.

Instead, what she found was confusion and a sudden intensity that burned up from the pit of her stomach and making her pounding heart skip a beat. Her fingers itched to reach out and run through his blond hair, draw him close, and press her tingling lips to his.

She blinked, breaking free from the sudden desire that coursed through her, and was left feeling hot, nervous, and bewildered.

The corner of his lips twitched, breaking the serious expression on his face. “Fine. Why do you ask?” His voice was as deep and husky as always.

Flustered, she looked away, her hair falling in her face an in attempt to conceal her humiliation. Why did she jump to conclusions and ask such a question? “Just checking. Why are you here?”

That was the million-dollar question.

Peering through her lowered lashes, she saw his Adam’s apple bob up and down. “I was in the neighborhood and you happened to step out that door as I was getting ready to leave.”

Bullshit.

Squaring her jaw, she narrowed her eyes at him as she raised her chin so she could look him straight in the eyes. Taking a step closer to him, she said, “Really? You didn’t look like you were getting ready to leave. Looked to me like you were waiting for something—or someone.”

Leaning his arms on the handlebars of the bike again, he lowered his gaze as he ran his thumb over his bottom lip. She watched the sweeping movement, sucking air into her lungs and holding it until he stopped. His eyes trailed up her slender figure before meeting her hazel ones.

Seriously? He did not just do that.

Rolling her eyes, she flicked her long, wavy, golden brown locks over her shoulder in annoyance. “Don’t be an animal,” she grumbled, not at all surprised that he avoided her confrontational statement.

His lips pulled back in a smirk, making her heart skip once more. She wanted to look away but wouldn’t dare let him have the upper hand in this.

“Actually,” he said, “I was appraising your wardrobe. It makes you look more mature and sophisticated.”

Unable to tell if he was lying or being honest then, she decided to give him the benefit of the doubt. “Thank you,” she said, looking down at her sleek black pencil skirt.

She relaxed a bit then. The tension slipped from her shoulders, but she still hesitated from the pull his eyes had on hers. She hated how nervous he made her feel. She couldn’t figure him out. There were times he seemed genuinely concerned, while other times he was hostile. What was his deal?

“So,” he drawled, “if I’m an animal for appreciating your business attire, what does that make you a few moments ago?”

Her eyes flashed up in horror at his remark. He saw that?

Dismayed, her cheeks burned and she tried to think of an excuse but came up blank.

“You wish,” she fired back.

His grin pulled up even further, his eyes dancing before he looked away from her and flicked to the empty seat behind him.

Oh, hell no.

She took a step back when his eyes met hers again and he cocked his head toward the seat. “Hop on. I’ll give you a ride home.”

She took another step back, swallowing hard. There was no way she’d get on that death trap with him. No freaking way.

“Are you trying to kidnap me? Is that why you’re stalking me?”

It was his turn for his eyes to widen before he quickly composed himself, but she caught what she thought was fear underneath his cool exterior.

Working his jaw, he avoided her gaze by looking to the left of her face. “My warning still applies.”

Scowling, she folded her arms across her chest. “Your warning? The one where you slammed me against a brick wall and ordered me to leave town because my life was in danger, but you wouldn’t say why? That warning? Seriously? We’re back to that, are we?”

“You’re still here, aren’t you?” he said, his tone controlled and emotionless. “So, it still applies.”

Huffing, Aubree threw her hands up in exasperation. “I’m still alive! See? I don’t need a babysitter to watch over me from the boogieman!”

He ground his teeth before he climbed off the motorcycle and took a step toward her. “The way I see it, you have three—no, two—options,” he said, his voice grave as his eyes bore into hers. “One, you leave.”

The tone of his voice made Aubree swallow as she looked up into his face as he took another step toward her.

“Two,” he continued, “I’ll make you leave.”

She raised an eyebrow as he towered over her from two feet away, waiting for him to finish. When he lowered his gaze, she inhaled and exhaled slowly, her heart pounding in anticipation. “Since I don’t see either of those happening, what’s my third option that you were so quick to withdraw?”

He closed his eyes, his nostrils flaring as he exhaled. When his eyes met hers again, her breath hitched in her throat and her stomach fluttered with butterflies. His eyes held her hostage, drawing her in, and pulling her toward him. He stepped toward her, closing the last bit of distance between them until only an inch remained.

She wanted to pull away, to break free of the hold he seemed to have on her, but couldn’t.

Tucking back a strand of her hair, his fingertips grazed her ear, sparking an electrical current that made her spine tingle. The shivers continued to travel throughout her body as his fingers trailed across her jaw and stopping at her chin, where he gently pinched it between his index finger and thumb.

Tilting her face up toward his, her eyes grew large as he lowered his head so that his eyes were a few inches away from hers. He looked down at her lips before his deep blues locked onto her hazels. His voice was low, a husky whisper that rumbled in his throat.

“Then you leave me no alternative. I will make you mine.”