Step Darkly Read online

  Turning off the office light, I walk down the hall to the sound of two distinct voices. Emilia must still have Rosalyn over.

  As I knock on her door, I hear a sudden stop in movement and voices in the room followed by a pause.

  “Um, come in.” Emilia calls out and I open the door to find the two friends sitting together on the bed with various pieces of clothing draped around the room.

  “It looks like you both had fun.” I state as I curiously glance over her items for any signs of more revealing pieces.

  “We did. Thank you so much for dinner.” Rosalyn stands as she speaks and I get the feeling she understands it’s time to go as she continues, “I need to get home. Work tomorrow.” She shrugs knowingly.

  “You’re welcome, Rosalyn. I’m glad you enjoyed yourselves.” I answer.

  “And thank you for the dinner invitation. I’ll see you on Wednesday, um… Mr…” At her hesitation, I suddenly realize her concern for etiquette.

  “Joshua. Outside of work, it’s Joshua.” I confirm as I notice her smile return as she grabs her jacket.

  Swinging her purse over her shoulder, she knocks one of Emilia’s small bags off the dresser and I lean over to help her pick up the contents when my fingers touch the soft fabric, drawing my attention to the little item I’m now holding.

  I hear a deep gasp from the bed as Emilia jumps up and walks toward me and I suddenly feel more awake then I have all day.

  “Oops. Sorry, Ems.” Rosalyn laughs nervously as she continues, “I know my way out. I’ll see you tomorrow.” Both women wave as she leaves the room, shutting the door behind her.

  The hasty retreat of her friend makes me think I missed some parts of their conversation tonight and I can’t help but run my fingers over the silky piece of clothing, mesmerized by the way my skin glides effortlessly across it. I want to hold it up so I can get a full view of what it is but I know Emilia is about to try to take it back.

  “I’ll just…” She starts as she reaches out and grabs a part dangling over my fist. As she tugs, I hold firm, gauging her reaction.

  Her gaze, focused on the clothing, shoots up to meet mine and I sense panic behind her wide eyes and I can’t stop the grin from spreading across my face.

  “What have we here?” My question sounds more forward than I would have liked it to. I know I’ll scare her off if I come on too strong, and I’m right.

  “It’s just… I saw it when I was getting some things to sleep in and I liked it. It wasn’t necessary. I’ll pay you back when the allowance comes through.” She answers as she tugs once more in a second failed attempt to retrieve her item.

  “No need.” I respond and loosen my hold so she can take the item back. “What is it?” I ask, trying my best to sound ignorant. I know exactly what it is, I just can’t see it in its entirety… yet.

  The lace and straps along the top are a dead giveaway for a nightgown and, judging by the lack of fabric, I would say it is short. I can’t decide if it is blue or green, but I know it is see through and the light in the room shimmers off of it.

  “Oh, um… it’s just a thing to sleep in.” She stutters out.

  I’ve decided I enjoy Emilia like this. She’s lost in my questions and she’s not analyzing our conversation. Her brain isn’t shutting her heart down. I know because I’m still standing in her room.

  “Show it to me.” I drop my voice lower as I stay where I stand. It’s not lost on me that she hasn’t stepped away from me yet.

  Lowering her attention to the material in her hands, I hear her breathing deepen. If only she’d let me take control of her here like she allowed it at her school.

  I feel my cock harden at the thought of telling her what to do and my own breathing has almost come to a complete stop as I wait for her decision.

  As if the war in her head has come to a conclusion, she gives herself a little shrug and opens the fabric, holding it in front of her sheepishly and I notice she’s no longer making eye contact.

  The lingerie looks fluid in her hands and I instantly find myself fighting the urge to tell her to put it on.

  “I um… thought maybe Kyle…” Her words sound empty to me and I wonder for a moment if she believes herself.

  But she’s right. As much as I want to see her body fill out this little thing then remove it from her, the circumstances need to be different.

  “Shame.” I whisper out.

  “P-pardon?” I know she heard me, she’s just looking for more to go on and I decide to answer.

  “I said it’s a shame that something so…” As I speak, I reach out to run my fingers over the fabric and I notice her lips part as she takes in every word as I continue, “... inviting will be wasted on someone who may not appreciate everything it offers.”

  The space in the room around us feels unmeasurable as everything fades away. Continuing to play with the material she’s holding, I enjoy the silence between us. This is the side to Emilia I want to explore.

  My sanity comes close to crumbling to dust as I watch her tongue jut out and lick along her lips as her eyes focus on mine, but I maintain my resolve.

  I won’t take what’s mine while she’s attached to someone else even if I don’t believe for a second he is the right choice for her.

  I expect more from Emilia. She needs to make the decision to leave Kyle and come to me on her own and now is not the time.

  As much as I want to continue nudging Emilia in my direction, I need to back off a bit. The close proximity and doe-eyed look on her face is becoming torturous.

  “It’s getting late.” I offer and she blinks a few times at my words before straightening in her place.

  I know I had her. For a moment, I had her here with me. Her brain checked out and I had the real her. I keep my face frozen in its expression but on the inside, I want to smile.

  “Oh. Yes, it is.” She clutches the fabric to her as she turns and picks up the bag her lingerie fell out of then turns back to face me. “I’ll see you at breakfast?”

  The fact her last sentence was a question is not lost on me and I nod and smile as I reach out for the door handle.

  “Um, Joshua?” I pause at her words and turn to give her my attention and she continues, “Thank you for helping me get something to wear for the funeral… and for dinner. I left your card by your keys in the front hall.”

  “You’re welcome, Emilia. Have a good sleep.” We exchange a smile at my goodnight.

  As I walk to my own room, visions of Emilia holding out her nightie in front of me taunt me to turn around and give in to my needs, but I keep moving farther away from her room.

  It’s all a matter of time now, and I can be a patient man if it means finally getting what is mine.

  27

  Emilia

  My first couple of days at my dad’s company seemed to go by quickly. I spent most of my time learning my key contacts and my new responsibilities and I haven’t run into Sean or any of his buddies from high school yet but I think it’s just a matter of time.

  Joshua spent most of Tuesday out of the office and I spent the day learning his secretary’s responsibilities so I could cover for her when she had to run an errand or take some personal time like she is right now.

  When Joshua returned from his last meeting, he asked if I was up to speed enough to handle Faye’s work while she ran some errands for him. The truth is, I was better than up to speed and I was excited to show him what I could do so I jumped at the chance to handle the main area on my own.

  Swivelling the chair out, I sat down and pulled myself into her desk. Faye is the definition of organized. As she taught me what I needed to know today, she took her own notes along with me so I had two detailed instructions to go on.

  Opening Joshua’s calendar, I scanned the rest of his day for visitors and to my disappointment, it would be just me, sitting alone.

  “You look a little lonely.” I snap my head up to see Noah walking toward my desk with a folder of papers. “Is Mr. Darkly avai
lable?”

  I glance at the phone on my desk, then answer. “It looks like he’s on a call. I can message him to tell him you’re here if it’s important.”

  “It is important this time, unfortunately.” He offers me a sorry smile as he taps his file and I open the message app on Faye’s computer to tell Joshua, Noah is here to see him and it’s urgent.

  The response comes back almost immediately.

  “He says to wait for a few minutes. He’s just wrapping up a business call.” I respond to Noah and he pulls up a chair and sits in front of me.

  “Thanks. You don’t mind if I hang here with you for a bit, do you?” He asks as he flashes me a little wink and I offer a flattered smile back.

  “I don’t mind.” I answer, then pause. I don’t know what else to say.

  Thankfully, Noah fills the silence for me.

  “So tell me, how are your first couple of days?” He asks.

  “They’ve been a little dry, but I’m learning a lot.” I answer as he nods and continues to speak.

  “It must be difficult to be uprooted back here when you were in the middle of your school year.”

  “It wasn’t easy, but it hasn’t been too hard. Now that Kyle is moving out to be with me, I won’t feel too alone here.” I offer back and he leans back in his seat, considering his next words.

  “Right.” His pause feels awkward as he continues. “Look, if you need anything or someone to talk to about anything, I want to let you know I’m here for you. I know you don’t know me well, but I want to see you and Joshua succeed.” My breath catches in my throat at his words.

  Does he know everything?

  “What do you mean?” I ask, silently praying it isn’t what I think it is.

  Taking a moment too long to respond, he quietly watches me before finally settling my curiosity. “The company. I want to see you both successful together as the owners or Connor Realty. I think if you have patience and give some things time, you’ll find your… arrangement will benefit you both, together.” As Noah answers, I feel like he is only partially speaking about my dad’s company.

  “Oh. Thank you. I appreciate that.” I answer as I hear the click in the phone telling me Joshua is calling through.

  “Tell Noah to come in. Thank you.”

  At his name, Noah stands and slides his chair back to its original position. Nodding with a smile, he turns to the door to let himself into Joshua’s office, closing the door behind him and leaving me alone to my thoughts once again.

  I took the downtime to go through some details for our company dinner. Winners of the staff awards were still not finalized, but the details of the event were already decided. The dinner and ceremony will be held at The Plaza, where Kyle is currently staying. They have a wonderful catering and event planning team there.

  Checking out the rough seating arrangements, I notice some eraser marks around the table I am sitting at. It looks like revisions have been made since my father’s passing and I am sitting in the seat my father was going to sit in. Beside my name is a +1 with a question mark and I notice Joshua has the same beside his name as well.

  Taking a pencil, I erase my own question mark and write in Kyle’s name beside my own, then close the file and leave it for Faye. That took all of five minutes out of my time and I return to silently looking around for something to do.

  As the hour dragged on, nostalgia got the better of me and I searched through my dad’s calendar to see what he would have been doing now. It looks like he scheduled this hour each day so he could to catch up on emails and his own paperwork.

  My heart begins to feel heavy as I look to the ceiling, imagining him still sitting upstairs in one of the offices. So near yet so far away. Just as I feel the sting of some fresh tears, I hear a throat clear in front of my desk.

  “I’m sorry, I was just -” I try to stammer out a greeting, but the woman hovering over me cuts me off.

  “I saw what you were just doing. Really, Joshua needs to hire better staff. His last secretary… what was her name? Faith? She was always so rude to me. I’m glad he replaced her, but you don’t seem much better.” The woman snaps at me as she flips her blonde hair and looks around as if she owns the place and I get the impression only one of us in the room knows she doesn’t.

  “You mean Faye? She’s running an errand. I’m filling in for her. I don’t recall seeing anything in Mr. Darkly’s schedule for a visitor this afternoon. You are?” I plaster my best smile across my face and wait for her answer.

  Looking at me as though I have two heads, she feigns shock that I, someone who has never met her before, doesn’t know who she is.

  “Well then, I guess Faye didn’t tell you everything, did she? Very well. I’m Tawny Davenfield. Joshua will want to see me.” Her confidence is starts to creep under my skin and my patience is beginning to waver.

  “And why will he want to see you?” I ask one last time, hoping to get an idea of who I’m dealing with before I send this lady packing.

  “I’m Joshua’s fiancé.”

  28

  Joshua

  Noah wastes no time dropping his file on my desk as he pulls out a seat to get comfortable.

  “Is this everything you have on Kyle Hollis?” I ask as I slide the file around to face me.

  “No. There’s nothing about Kyle Hollis in there?” Noah answers.

  “What?” I ask incredulously. I’ve waited for two days for more information about the guy and I still have nothing.

  “I found nothing on Kyle Hollis, because Kyle Hollis doesn’t exist.” Noah leans back in his seat and continues, “This is everything I have on Kyle Gershaw.”

  As the realization that Kyle is using a fake name sinks in, I slowly open the file to the first piece of paper contained inside. Staring back at me is an older looking version of the man who is pretending to be Emilia’s support.

  Impatience flows through me like a speedboat and I grab the paper to try to look at the next one underneath as Noah’s hand blocks my attempt.

  “Before, you read this, I need you to promise me we will talk about all of this. You won’t make any rash decisions and you won’t show it to Emilia yet.” I feel my anger surge at my friend’s request.

  “Why? She needs to know if something is wrong. If he’s hurting her, I’ll tear him apart.” I bark back, my urge to protect her immediately rising to my surface.

  Pulling the file back to his possession, Noah speaks slowly, his concern for Emilia is evident and it alerts me to my own impulsiveness. “Joshua, I’ve seen everything in this file, remember? It’s not good but you need to think solely about Emilia right now. This is a really bad time for her. Her father’s funeral is in two days and Emilia has lost everything right now. You look at her and see a strong woman, but even she can only take so much.” Leaning back and tapping on the folder, he continues, “The information in this file will anger you but it will devastate her fragile state regardless of how she feels about him. You don’t want to be the one who does that to her. Just promise me when you are done looking through everything we will sit here and talk about it until we figure something out.” Noah finishes then sits still, clutching the file and waiting for my response.

  “After I read the file, we will talk about it. If Emilia is in danger though, I reserve the right to handle things how I see fit.” I slide my own little demand in there and wait.

  Noah nods, accepting my own terms and slides the file back to me.

  I hastily open the file a second time and read over the first page, scanning over Kyle’s real driver’s license issued three states over from his fake one. It turns out he is my age, five years older than Emilia. He looks older with his beard from the photo staring back at me.

  As I turn each page, Noah gives me the compressed version.

  “At first I was getting nowhere. I checked all of the psychology classes at Emilia’s university and he wasn’t listed anywhere. Then I expanded my search to all of the class records over the last three ye
ars. I still got nothing.” As he speaks, his voice picks up in speed and I think he’s missed his calling. He would make a great detective. “So, I called a guy I know.”

  “You know a guy?” I ask and I’m almost more interested in Noah’s story than I am in the file now.

  “Shut up. I know a guy.” He answers with a chuckle. “Anyway, he has access to software that will run photos against DMV databases that are connected to the program and it was just pure luck that Arizona was one of the connected databases and out popped his real identification. After that, I was able to pull up all of this information.”

  Noah opens his mouth to continue, then closes it for a moment and I turn more pages looking through his history.

  I know I hoped to find something on this guy, but my heart sinks with every page I turn. Emilia was nothing more than a target. Prior complaints from other universities and a couple other fake names listed in the reports show a history of settling in at a large university and choosing victims. Usually women of wealthy backgrounds to pursue. The large campuses make it easier for him to blend in and lie about a major without being discovered quickly. Anyone can walk in off the street and sit in on some of the lectures. He then cons his way in and lives off of their dime for as long as he can.

  “The guy’s a gold digger.” I say to myself and Noah mumbles his agreement.

  “It looks like he chose the psychology major because Emilia’s roommate was taking psychology. He wouldn’t be able to get too close to Emilia’s own classes because she’d figure it out. He must have thought he hit the jackpot when her father passed away.” Noah offers and I feel my blood heat up in my face.

  “Fine.” I say closing the file folder.

  “Fine?” Noah echoes.

  “Yes. Fine. I’ve read everything and Emilia’s life isn’t in danger. I can’t say as much for Kyle but I agreed we would talk about it first… so talk.” I answer and Noah reaches across the desk to take back his file and it’s my turn to claim it. This file isn’t leaving my office.