Cruel Fate

Chapter 17: Unexpected Twist

Copyright 2015 © Rosesareforever

Cruel Fate

Chapter 17

Unexpected Twist

The door of Amelia's office stood ajar as she finished organizing the files in the filing cabinet in the corner of the room. She'd clearly been in a hurry the last time she put everything away because the cabinet was a mess. While everything was usually in alphabetical order, she'd made a few mistakes and changed the location of important folders. No wonder Benjamin had sounded less than happy when he emailed her that morning and asked her to clean up the mess she'd made. It was far from her usual perfect work. Those sleepless nights of worrying about her mixed up feelings clearly had affected her demeanor, an excuse she couldn't use to explain her lack of concentration to her boss. She would have to suck it up and make sure she didn't repeat the mistake in the near future.

Every night for the past week, she'd been wide awake as she laid in bed at night, her thoughts all over the place. Sleep simply wouldn't come. She blamed it all on the man who's ocean eyes she was forced to stare at every day. She just couldn't stop thinking about Benjamin, about how wonderful a father he turned out to be and how much she wanted to have someone to talk to about her son. Of course her thoughts strayed farther than... it would've been so much easier if his parenting skills were all she thought about. No, the few times she did fall asleep, her dreams were filled with the images of a naked Benjamin, his muscled chest pressed firmly against her as he drove his cock inside of her over and over again. She woke up sweating every time, her body primed and ready to be devoured.

Guilt ate at her conscious. She shouldn't think about him like that. It was wrong on so many levels. He was her boss, and the history between them was horrendous. She was the woman who's virginity he took, then left pregnant and alone. He was the man that she'd betrayed by not telling him the truth about their son. A relationship between them would never be possible and Amelia wasn't the kind of woman that could live with a casual fling. It just wasn't who she was. It was all or nothing.

As Amelia stood up and returned to her desk, she noticed movement in the corner of her eye and turned her head to find out what was going on. A tall man with onyx hair, the same color as Benjamin's but longer, stood in the opening of the door, his dimples showing as he grinned her way. "Amelia," he greeted with a wink.

The man was just as cocky and confident as his older brother, even more if possible. "Ethan," she returned, smiling when he strolled into her office. Both Hardman men were so much alike. They were both tall with hypnotizing eyes, a muscled body to be jealous of and they wore suits like it was their second nature. No wonder the female population of Chicago lusted after them. They were the best eye candy out there.

"You're looking pretty as always, darling. No wonder my brother gets his panties in a twist every time he's around you," Ethan said, his flirty smile coming into play. The man was a charmer and simply couldn't resist teasing her.

Amelia blushed like a high school virgin and quickly turned her face away to hide the evidence. It was completely mortifying how easily she flushed when a man said something nice to her. The only person she had no problem looking in the eye seemed to be Benjamin.

"Don't tell me you don't get compliments like that every day, sweetheart. Men must be blind not to notice you," Ethan went on, clearly amused by her embarrassment.

"There's no need to flatter me," she told him, ignoring the new burst of heat rising to her cheeks. Amelia had never known the joy of flirting. She'd been a pregnant eighteen year old and later on a young mother. It scared guys away. There had never been a time that she could enjoy being young. Her life became her son. Amelia would never regret having Landon, but she did admit that it had messed with her youth. She'd missed out on a lot.