In Strong Hands by Jade Iris/CreativeNative (mobi reader android txt) 📖

Prologue

I remember when I first saw him.
He was in the elevator with me when I was going up to my floor.
As he was coming in, he gave me one of those nods of acknowledgement. I smiled and looked away.
The elevator seemed to take forever to get to the 36th floor, and I was beginning to feel a little antsy.
I tried sneaking a glance at him...
Tattoos covered both his sleek, caramel arms, but in a sexy way not a scary way. And his dark hair was cut down to the scalp but slightly spiked at the front, with a little cutting design at the side. He had a strong, chiseled jaw... muscular arms... and oh man... did he look hot in that light blue, button-down collar shirt....
It was then that I could smell his delicious cologne....
Oh God....
His voice nearly startled me to death.
"Are you alright?"
"Huh? Yeah, I'm fine." I tried to hide my nervousness and smile.
"You look like you were hypnotized or something."
Yes... hypnotized by your gorgeousness...
"Oh no, I was just thinking about something."
That's when my second ego, the much braver one, took over.
"I'm Mikaela, by the way."
"Randy..."
"Are you on vacation?" I asked twirling my hair.
"Nah. I'm just visiting some family."
"Oh. Why aren't you staying with them?"
"Big family, not so big on the space. What about you?"
And then my ego left the building...
I shrugged. "I'm not sure..."
He smiled. "You're at a hotel in California but you don't know why?"
"I... I guess so..."
I hoped he didn't see me blushing.
"Where are your parents?"
"My parents?"
"You seem kinda young to be in a hotel by yourself."
I almost cried. "I'm eighteen."
He nodded. "Okay."
I sighed to myself. Chloe was right - I did look a little young for my age.
"I do not." I tried to defend myself.
"Boo, don't take it as an insult. You're super cute. I'd totally date you if you were a guy."
That made me feel a bit better.
Finally, I heard the familiar ding if the elevator and exhaled in relief. When the doors opened, we both stepped out at the same time. This surprised me. I didn't know he was staying on the same floor as I was.
I secretly smiled to myself.
"Same floor, huh?"
I looked up at him.
"Yeah, I guess so."
"Which room?"
"15."
He laughed... a sexy, deep laugh...
"What?" I asked him. "Which room do you have?"
"16..."
"Oh." I blushed.
We walked silently down he hall.
......
I could still smell the strong scent of his cologne....
.... I felt like melting into his arms or something.
As soon as I faced the golden door with the white "15" I took out my key.
At least, I tried to - but I dropped it. I was reaching down to pick it up when he got it first. He handed it to me.
"Thanks."
I opened my door and set down all of my bags.
Before I closed it, Randy said with a smile, "See you around. Mikaela."
Then he winked at me.
It took all my power to smile casually and close my door, before sliding down the back of the wall, onto the ground and falling into some sort of deep, sensational dream....


After ordering room service and having a delicious chicken salad, I called Chloe.
"Hey, Boo!!" she greeted me. "How's California?"
"It's great."
"Did you see any hot guys yet?"
I thought of Randy...
"I sure did. I even met one in the elevator."
"Oooh, in the elevator.... What's his name?"
"Randy."
"Mmmm, Rrrandy. Sexy name. What does he look like?"
"Well," I said, closing my eyes and thinking back to when I saw him in the elevator. "He has caramel-colored skin.... tattoos on both arms...."
"Tattoos? God, that's so hot."
"Are you gonna let me finish?"
"Yeah, yeah go on, sorry."
"Anyway...."
When I told Chloe everything that happened and that he was staying in the room across from me, she was ecstatic.
"Oh my God! You are so freakin' lucky! I would so love to be in your shoes right now. So why don't you go over there?"
"Go over where?"
"To his room, silly!"
"Why on earth would I do that?"
"So you can talk to him. And then you can kiss him."
"Chloe, are you on drugs or something? He doesn't like me."
"What? Really? From what you told me, i.e. the wink he gave you, I thought he liked you."
"He's not even my age."
"How old is he?"
"I dunno, maybe in his late twenties?"
"Cool, you're dating an older guy!"
"We're not dating! We hardly know each other."
"And that's exactly why you should go over there..."
I tried to think of an argument.... but I couldn't.
"I can't just go over there and say, 'hey Randy, I know you're older but you did wink at me so would you like to talk about some random stuff and then maybe we could makeout afterwards?'
Chloe burst out laughing. "You're funny as hell Mickey."
I laughed too.
"But seriously, you really should talk to him. Whether it's just a friendly "Hello" or a bold "What are you up to?" if you really like him, then you are entitled to a little conversation."
"... Yeah, I guess you're right. But what am I supposed to say when I see him, again?"
"Just say something cool like hey, I remember you. It's Rodney, right?"
"His name is Randy, Chloe."
"Exactly."
"But what if he has a girlfriend?"
"You said he winked at you, didn't he? And I'm pretty sure his girlfriend wouldn't be as young and adorable as you."
"Aww, thanks Clo. I love you."
"Love you too, Mickey-Boo."
"I'll call you later."
"Bye!"
After hanging up, I decided to check out a new shopping mall (that I saw on this website I subscribed to) called Korman's Devine. I heard that it had a lot of expensive brands for cheaper prices. I thought I'd get something nice for Chloe too. She's such an awesome friend.
I went inside the bedroom with my suitcases and picked out what I knew would catch Randy's eye (even if I was probably going to see him for 10 seconds or less): light-washed, destructed denim "Booty shorts" as Chloe called them, and one of those really short tops where you have to tie it at the front. Then I used some hair spray and wrapped my hair into a smooth ponytail, leaving a few strands out around my face. And then some lip gloss, some mascara, some blush...
After putting on all my makeup, I took out a pair of sparkly slippers and put them on.
I smiled down at my beautiful pedicure. What would I do without Chloe....?
I changed handbags, rubbed some lotion on myself, and sprayed on the perfume Play by Justin Timberlake.
With my hand on the doorknob, I took a deep breath... held it...
.... and opened the door.
I didn't see him.... so I exhaled and turned to lock my door. That's when I heard his open....
My heart almost jumped out of my chest but I tried to remain cool. When I turned back around, I realized that remaining cool around Randy was going to be extremely hard.
He had changed just like I had and was wearing another collar shirt - this time it was black and the sleeves were rolled up a little more.
I smiled at him. "Hi."
He smiled back and nodded at me.
(Oh God, take me now.....)
Then the braver ego of mine said it's hello as well...
"I like your shirt."
"I like yours too."
.....I fainted inside....
We walked down the hall and Randy pressed the button on the elevator panel as we waited.
Thankfully, we didn't have to wait long and when we went inside of it, we weren't alone. But that's when the elevator stopped on floor 19 and a bunch of people came in.
And before I knew it, I was being pressed up against Randy with hardly any space between us.
I tried to keep my heart rate under control, but it wasn't working. I could feel his hard, chiseled body behind me and his cologne was intoxicating ....
The only thing keeping me from fainting was the thought of him feeling the same way about my perfume and body.
I unzipped my purse and took out my cellphone in order to distract myself from the situation.
As I was opening my Internet browser, I felt a hand brush past my butt. I thought it was him, but what Randy said after that, proved to me that it wasn't.
"What the hell do you think you're doing?"
I turned around to see a guilty-faced Hispanic man in a suit. Randy glared at him as the man nervously asked a middle-aged woman to switch places with him.
I looked at Randy. "He touched me?"
"Yeah. Perverted bastard."
I blushed for the the thousandth time that day.
I couldn't believe he got upset about another man touching me... I mean, hell yeah it got me a little upset, but he made me feel so... protected... somehow....
Though I can't say I wasn't relieved when the elevator doors opened up to the lobby and we all piled out of that claustrophobic area.
Randy exhaled. "I couldn't breathe in there."
"Me neither."
"Think I'll fill out one of those Hotel Rating Surveys and put, 'needs bigger elevators' in the complaint box."
I laughed. "Yeah, right next to 'please remove horny, old, perverted men with suits and guilty faces.'"
We kept laughing with each other until we got outside. He walked me to my car.
"But seriously.... I understand why he would do something like that..."
I stopped at my silver Mercedes and looked up at him. "Why?"
He leaned over to me.... blinded my senses with his cologne... and whispered his answer in my ear.
......
Now, if there was a particular shade of red that was the highest possible amount in the art of blushing, I was in fact that shade of red...
Randy just smiled and walked away.... I watched him unlock the door to a black Ford Mustang GT.
Then he drove away.
I stood there... with this huge smile on my face..
Why?
Because I think he liked me....


Korman's Devine was a great little boutique. It had these cute designer totes and jeans that were twice the price at the other stores. I found this cool graphic tee that would be absolutely perfect for Chloe. It said: Eyes up, dude. Wait no, never mind. And there was a two-for-one sale, so I got one for myself. (I contemplated about whether or not to buy this other shirt. It said Wow, You're so Hot it's Like Looking in the Mirror. I ended up getting it. Just so a certain someone could see it on me...)

After leaving Korman's, I checked out another store that was in the same plaza - Dezire. It had so many sexy outfits, like this skimpy plaid skirt with fishnet tights (that I bought) and this black see-through tank top (that I also bought.)
I found myself buying some clothes that I wouldn't normally buy, all because of a...
very.... very.... very.... extremely.... hot person...
who I oh-so-desparately wanted to impress.
When I