CH. 4: THE CURVES FALL IN PLACE — REBEKAH

Rebekah moved her body in rhythm, humming a song with nothing but a towel over her body.

She held the two dresses, one in each hand and posed before the mirror. The red gown in her left hand had been a Christmas gift she had gotten for herself two years ago, and it still fit.

It was a red turtle necked gown with tiny pearls all around the neck that barely reached her knees. It was a simple gown. No, not simple, classy. Or hot? Yes, hot, that’s the word.

The last time she had worn this gown, to Norton’s end of year Christmas ball, she had turned lots of heads. She could only assume that she didn’t look as plain as she normally looked on regular days.

Maybe if she had found the courage to go with a date, he could have told her if she looked nice or not. Or maybe she had worn it all wrong. Or did she just lack what it takes to rock the gown?

The second gown was not as hot as the first.

A black cotton gown that hugged her slightly the last time she had worn it. It wasn’t beautiful per se, unless one would count plain Rebekah in a black gown as particularly beautiful.

She switched poses. She had to look her best to work today. She totally had to.

‘For Brown, right?’ Her mind teased her.

No. She was her own woman. She needed to look good today because she had to. For her, not for any annoying British gentleman that made her feel like jumping on his body whenever he was near her…

Urgh!

She knew she absolutely had to get her head straight starting today. Biology or not, she had this under control.

Her boss seemed to have other ideas up his sleeve. Ever since father’s death, she had not had any romantic male relations of any sort. Before then, nothing had been any different anyway. Her phone rang.

The name that flashed on the screen was enough to make her flush for a second and quickly recover.

Breathe, Rebekah. Breathe.

“Good morning, milady” his all too familiar baritone caressed her eardrums.

“Evening, Brown.” She responded. She reminded herself to sound as formal as she could. Keep the relationship in the office. That was best.

“Would you mind if I come pick you to work today, right?”

My night was fine, thank you!

“Pick me up? And why would you want to do that?”

“I'd take that as a no, then”

He gives up this easy?

“It's not.”

“So, it’s a yes?”

“It’s a question.”

“Just felt like it was only fair since you treated me to a special coffee breakfast yesterday.”

“Oh, how thoughtful of you”

Did she just say that?

“You see, milady, we Brits take gratitude a tad too seriously. Especially when it is from a very comely young lady”

Did he just compliment her?

“Save your flattery, Brown. They would get you nowhere.”

“You really do think that I am making advances towards you, right milady?”

“Are you not?”

“No”

His words hit her like a heavy truck speeding down a sloppy highway.

“Don’t get me wrong, I find you really attractive, milady. So attractive I feel… my point is you’re beautiful.”

Yeah. Did he really think his earlier comments had hurt her that bad?

“Um, milady?”

“Yes, Brown…”

She had softened up. This wasn’t what she expected.

“Mind if I take you to lunch, milady?”

Someone really needed to tell this guy to slow down. He had barely known her. But then again, wasn’t that the more reason she should go on a date with him?

“You do know that I’m your boss, right?”

“Oh, I don’t mean like a date date”

“See you at work, Brown. And don’t be late.”

He had arrived long before she eventually did.

“Good morning milady”

He tried to wrestle his eyes from her legs peeking so beautifully from her black gown. His body loved this feeling, yet his brain screamed caution.

She ticked off something that even his werewolf senses couldn’t place.

“Morning Brown”

She sounded even more formal than she had yesterday, but he didn’t mind; she had addressed him with a shortened form of his name.

“And how was your night?”

He hoped he wasn’t going over the edge already. He knew he had gone a little over the edge yesterday night when he had asked her on a date.

A coffee outing, not exactly a date date. Maybe she was not the kind of girl to care for dates.

“My night was wonderful, thank you”

“I must say, milady, you look exquisitely lovely this morning”

“Save the flattery, Brown”

She was already at her table now. He distracted himself by arranging the stacks of papers on his table, again.

“Flattery? It’ll be flattery if I were to say you were the proverbial ‘apple of my eyes’ or as your, our boss would say, you’re the mademoiselle la beau”

“Oh” She hoped her cheek wasn’t as flushed as she felt them to be. What’s with him and his way with words? She must admit, she really was interested now.

“And what would the great Brown say if he were to flatter me”

Was that a flush in her cheek? He relaxed in his seat and fixed his eyes on her, as always, not losing his smile.

“If I were to flatter you, I would liken your smile to the rush of a gentle breeze on a fine summer day, rustling through my entire being, my heart, like butterflies, flutter and dance in unrivalled ecstasy”

“Not bad, Brown”

She smiled. She seemed to be enjoying this. He decided to make his voice deeper and continued.

“But then I wouldn’t stop there, I would whisper how your legs peek from underneath your gown like…”

“Brown!”

Uh Oh.

“Apologies, milady”

He had crossed the limit again. Maybe he should just keep everything professional. But even he knew that would be nearly impossible.

She silently prayed he didn’t notice her heavily flushed cheeks. Does God answer these sorts of prayers? He is love, right? Brown’s deep baritone reverberated through her body, not minding her reddened response. She didn’t want him to stop, but then, she didn’t want to give in too easily.

Was she even planning on giving in?

“This is a business environment, let’s keep it that way”

She knew she was lying to herself.

She stretched her hand instinctively towards her father’s picture on the table. It wasn’t there.

“Where is it?”

“Where is what?”

“The picture. My father. It was here on the table.”

“You mean shattered here on the table, right?”

“Where is it? I’m sure I didn’t take it out of here yesterday.”

“I have no idea, but I did hear JJ mention something about secretaries leaving shattered pieces of glass lying about”

“That pudgy little man!”

Rebekah was livid. How dare he come into her office and touch anything?

“If I had known it was that important, then maybe… He said the boss asked him to go through every office on the floor and make every possible hardware replacement”

“Without my permission? Fuck the boss!”

She stood up, unable to rein her anger any longer. She eased herself from her seat, muttering inaudible curses as she stormed towards the door.

“Slow down milady” Brown said.

“What is it, Brown” She was fuming. A tear threatened to run down her cheek.

“Check your drawer, milady”

“Don’t play with me Brown”

Barely a full day into the job and he was already making her feel a plethora of things - so much for having a hot technical secretary. She strolled to the table and peeked in the top drawer. It was the only one of her drawers that didn’t have a lock.

“Did you touch my things, Brown?”

He did not reply. His smirk alone unsettled her. She pulled it open the wardrobe glaring at Brown before peering inside the wardrobe.

Brown watched her eyes glisten with tears.

He had always suspected that the picture meant this much to her. He had taken it home the night before and had decided to give it a makeover.

“Thank you, thank you”

She cradled the picture, now framed in a handcrafted, wooden frame, so tight as though it would fly off if she let it go for a second. He felt like cradling her in his own arms and caressing her with soothing words.

There was a knock on the door.

“Come in”

The door swung open and a little lady walked in immediately startled by Brown’s presence. Rebekah bent her head and tried to wipe her eyes.

“And you are…?” Brown asked, noticing the way she eyed him suspiciously.

“Christy Norman, from the second floor.”

“Okay, Christy. State your business”

He just wasn’t comfortable with the way the lady looked at him.

“Is she okay?” she asked, looking at Rebekah who was still sobbing quietly over her picture.

“She’s fine’ Brown replied.

“Are you okay, Miss Rebekah?”

Rebekah nodded.

Brown smiled to control his growing anger. This lady must think he was some serial killer or something.

“Um, Mr. Rawlings asked me to inform one Mr. Brown Burton to report to his office”

“Burton”

“Okay”

“You’re welcome”

“He also said I should tell you that the claw is in the coop”

Brown balled his fists and nodded. Christy wasted no time in excusing herself.

“I guess I’d just go ahead to uh... Jeff’s office”

Rebekah nodded, still facing down. Brown got to the door before realizing he had no idea where the boss’s office was.

“Could you point me in the direction of Jeff’s office?”

“Top floor.”

“Office number?”

“None.”

“Okay milady.”

“Brown?”

Her eyes finally left the picture in her hand.

“Yes, milady.”

“How about that lunch?”

He smiled. She had no idea what she was signing up for.