I apologize for not posting yesterday. Had an emergency and was gone the majority of the day. By the time I got home it was too late to post.
Can you guess the genre?
Copyright © 2012 by Serenity King
Hint: The title is in the text
Unedited
Ava sat behind her desk—the contents of her case file were in messy disarray atop her desk. A sharp knock at her door startled her—she jumped, the file she was reading slipped from her fingers and onto Ava’s already chaotic desk.
“Ben,” she breathed, placing one hand over her rapidly beating heart.
“I didn’t mean to startle you. I’m leaving. It’s getting pretty late. You should wrap it up and get out of here,” he said.
Ben, the senior partner and founder of the firm was always looking out for his people. He was usually the first one in the office, and the last to leave—which meant it was pretty late if he was leaving.
“Wha…what time is it?” She asked.
“It’s after 10 o’clock. Pack up. I will walk you to your car. We are the only ones left in the building. Even the security guard has left.”
“No go ahead. It will take me a few minutes to fix this mess,” she smiled up at him.
Ben flashed her that famous killer-watt smile of his—her heart skipped a beat.
“No. I don’t think so. We will walk out together. Do what you have to do. I have an engagement tonight,” he said patiently.
“Go ahead…”
“Ms. Meeks, let’s go,” he barked.
Uh oh, I guess his patience has run out. Ben’s tone alone left no room for argument. It was his stance and the twitching of his left eye that had Ava throwing papers haphazardly into the folder.
“See that wasn’t so bad, now was it?” He smiled, held her office door open, waited for her to go before him, and then followed closing the door after him.
“Ah no,” she said walking down the carpeted hall toward the elevator with him on her heels.
“What’s kept you here so late?” He asked.
“I was just going over a case file and time got away from,” she responded.
The elevator dinged. He waited for her to get in first, and then followed. He pressed the ground floor button that led to the parking garage.
A thought occurred to her. What was he doing on the second floor anyway? His office was on the top floor.
“What were you doing on the second floor?” She asked, frowning up at him, and then quickly realized her error.
Shit. Open mouth insert foot.
“Hmm. It’s my building. I am the founder and senior partner. I can go where I please,” he smiled.
Good he wasn’t angry. A great person to work for still she’d heard about his temper. She’d spoken out of turn. The honorable thing to do would be to apologize. It would be. She wouldn’t. He still hadn’t answered her question.
The elevator dinged at the ground floor level—the doors quietly opened, and they got out.
Ava noticed that there were about half a dozen cars in the large parking garage. She spotted the brake lights of two cars parked next to each—a sign that they were leaving too.
“Which one’s yours?” She heard him ask.
“I’m over there,” she said pointing to her convertible a few rows down in front of the stone wall.
“The car fits you,” he said.
Ava wasn’t touching that one. She’d already put her foot in her mouth once tonight. “I am ok now. No need to walk me a few paces when your car is right here. You can see me from here,” she murmured.
“Indulge me,” he said taking her by the elbow and walking towards her car.
She had just clicked the alarm to unlock her door when the sound of screeching tires caught both of their attention. There was a loud pop, and then the sound of shattering glass.
Before she knew what was happening, Ben dragged her between the wall and the car, and pushed her to the ground—his large body covered hers.
“Stay down,” he whispered huskily.
Hell you didn’t have to tell her twice. She was a shivering mess. Ava didn’t have to be a rocket scientist to know that a shot had been fired.
What the hell.
“OhmyGod! I think that was a gunshot,” she heard a woman say in the distance.
“It was,” a male voice said. “Call the cops.”
The sound of screeching tires again filled the parking garage. This time the sound came from the opposite direction…then nothing.
Ava’s body shook uncontrollably.
“I think whoever it was is gone now,” Ben whispered in her hair.
“I…think…so…too,” her voice trembled. Was somebody shooting at her? Why? She didn’t have any enemies that she knew of. So the person had to have been shooting at Ben.
“Who’s after you,” they both said simultaneously.
