Because Of Love

He slowly shook his head. “That’s the thing. Sex doesn’t fix it, otherwise you would have walked in on a whole lot more.” He exhaled heavily, taking a step back, “I tried that countless times before I came here.”

Talia wasn’t quite sure what to say or do. This was a side of him she had never seen. In fact, she was sure he had never shown anyone this version of him. The mask was completely off and he looked lost, frustrated and tired. Was he at the edge of his rope? Why had he chosen to reach out to her?

“How do you feel?” she asked concerned, her foot sliding forward, wanting to go to him.

He ran a hand through his hair with a heavy sigh, disheveling it and it was like the action stripped him of the last layer of control he had clearly been holding onto tight with both hands. He looked utterly and completely worn out.

“Exhausted, annoyed, antsy, depleted.”

He sounded like it. He also sounded like something else…

“Depressed?” she added cautiously.

He snorted a harsh humorless laugh and said, “I don’t have time to be depressed.”

Concerned, she allowed herself to take those steps to be closer to him. “How are you sleeping?”

He looked down at her with deep solemn eyes. After a long pause he added, “I don’t.”

Despite how perfect he may look, Talia realized that mask hid a lot more, probably more than he realized or intended. She was sure there was something very wrong with this man.

“How about we don’t work for now. Let’s order pizza and watch a movie.”

“What?”

She chuckled at how shocked he looked and sounded. She moved around him, placed the proposal on his desk and turned back around in time to find him watching her with a puzzled look that made her laugh hard.

“I’ll go get my laptop as I order pizza. Any movie you would like to watch in particular?” she asked as she made her way to the door.

“I don’t know.”

She stopped and turned to him. “What do you mean?”

He shrugged those big shoulders of his and said, “I don’t exactly spend my time watching movies.”

“Or living at all,” she said under her breath. Just as he was about to ask her what she’d said, she quickly added, “Give me three minutes. In the meantime, make yourself comfortable on the couch.”

When she came back to his office, pizza ordered and laptop in hand, she came to a stop at the door and watched him, seated on the three-seater couch adjacent to his desk. He was slouched in it, moving his head side to side and rubbing the back of his neck with a wince or two. Dark bags hung under his almost bloodshot eyes and the days fuzz had come in on his chin and on top of his lip. His skin had lost that rich olive she liked so much and looked pale and discolored. He looked like something the cat dragged in. He looked like he needed to be in a coma to get the rest he needed.

He groaned tiredly then opened his eyes. Talia jolted then and began to walk into the room with a smile on her face. She had a feeling he would not take any kind of pity well.

“Pizza will be here in ten. Until then, take a shower and relax a little.”

“Shower?” his lips pulled up in a tired smile. “Nothing to do with Becky?”

The smile died on her lips and an annoyed brow went up. “Two for one.”

He laughed, quietly shaking his head. He pushed off the couch like an old man with a crinkly back and headed for the bathroom. Talia took the space next to where he had occupied earlier and turned on her laptop. Bringing up Netflix, she searched for a movie that would put a child to sleep. She was going to bore this insomniac to slumberland. As she searched, she remembered his earlier admission in confused wonder.

“Who doesn’t watch movies?” she wondered aloud with a slight shake of her head.

Ten minutes later, her phone buzzed with a delivery notification. Talia spared the closed bathroom door one look, listening to the running shower water for a minute before she stood from the couch and headed for the elevator. She went down to the ground floor reception area to pick up the pizza, saying a quick hello to the night guard. Since she started working late – thanks to DeLuca – she’d become friends with the night security guard. Just in case something happened he would care enough to come up to her floor to warn her the nights she was there late. A few images of the Korean Netflix drama Sweet Home popped into her mind and a chill went down her back. Maybe she was the one who needed to watch less movies.

Back in the elevator with a hot pizza in her hand, Talia suddenly remembered she’d never asked him what kind of toppings he wanted. What if he was allergic to cheese?

“No way, he’s Italian!” she said aloud to herself. But that was worse. Being Italian, what if the pizza didn’t match up to standard? “Forget it. I love the Mexicano pizza. If he doesn’t… well too bad. He’ll have to eat it anyway.”

The elevator dinged on her floor and she came out, walking slowly to hopefully give him time to get out of the shower and dressed. The way they’d left things last time had been awkward enough, she didn’t need a repeat.

“DeLuca,” she called out from the door, refusing to walk in on him wet and naked, again. The image of him the first time they met popped into her head making her whimper with unmet desires. She groaned at the butterfly attack in her belly, turning her back to the room. He didn’t need to be jumped. He needed some long overdue rest.

Sex, has been known to put people to sleep – no! “Talia…” she warned herself.

“Do you need to use the bathroom?”

Talia jumped with a gasp, quickly turning around. DeLuca stood by the desk, a towel held up to his wet hair with one hand. He hadn’t bothered to shave but he at least looked like he belonged to the living. He wore slacks and a black button down shirt. They were so casual that they made her question something.

“You’re shifting from one foot to another like you need to go.”Nôvel(D)ra/ma.Org exclusive © material.

Ow, if only that was it. “DeLuca, do you sleep in your office?” she asked, changing the subject.

He lowered the hand that held the towel and confessed, “Sometimes.”

She walked into the room. “That’s not good for you.”

“It’s Rafe.”

Huh? “What?”

“Call me Rafe, not DeLuca, not Rafael. Rafe,” he said, slowly approaching her with the smooth movements of a wildcat.

Talia swallowed hard as she watched him, his wet hair spread out over his forehead, shiny black and magnifying the intensity in his eyes. That shower hadn’t just refreshed him, clearly.

She swallowed hard, cleared her throat and asked, “Why?”

“Because it’s my name.”

“You call me McKenna,” she rebutted, the air around her thickening, the butterflies in her belly fluttering around in a spooked craze.

“Only at the office,” he returned, slow, hard.

“We are at the office,” her voice was shamelessly shaky.

“We are alone, Talia,” he said clearly, determined.

That was a loaded comment if she’d ever heard one. She already felt faint from the way he said her name, she didn’t need him coming any closer. If he touched her… hell, she was in trouble.

Her hands tightened around the hot pizza box held in front of her. Good, a barrier between them, for now at least. She let that burn remind her of her original intention. Put Raf – DeLuca, put DeLuca to sleep without being under him.

“Let’s watch that movie.”