Charmed by the CEO

CHAPTER 2-1

CHAPTER 2“YOU HAVE GOT TO be kidding me.” Erin screeched. She was at her wit’s end. She seriously couldn’t be this unlucky. Never in her life had anything like this happened before. She didn’t know whether to laugh, cry or both. At this point, she was ready to scream and do both.

“It’s not as bad as it looks.” Her superintendent stated. Erin looked at him in disbelief then at what was left of her apartment. Most of the walls were dripping wet, and clumps were floating in the room. Floating! Her chair was saturated. There were about four inches of water on the floor. How was this not as bad as it looked? Mr. Shitaki needed to get his eyes reexamined if he didn’t think this was that bad.

“How did this even happen?” Erin still couldn’t believe that it did. Anything that could go wrong had gone wrong today. All she wanted to do was have a glass of wine and soak in her bath. Now she was homeless.

Mr. Shitaki rubbed his balding head as he surveyed the damage. “A water line busted in the apartment above you. It caused your apartment and the one below to flood.”

Thank you, Captain Obvious. Like she couldn’t figure that one out on her own. “How long until it’s fixed?”

“Well, now that’s the problem.” Of course, there was a problem. Why would this day go any other way? “I’ll have to call insurance, and they’ll need to clear everything out of here. I think I’ll need about three weeks.”

Three weeks! Was he kidding? She couldn’t live in a hotel for three weeks. She was cursed. That was all there was to it.

“Don’t worry, Miss. Andrews. We’ll have your apartment fixed good as new in a jiffy. Do you need a recommendation for a hotel nearby?” Erin thought quickly about her options. She didn’t want to stay in a hotel for the next couple weeks. She had some money saved up sure, but she wouldn’t get much sleep. She couldn’t stand sleeping on a hotel bed. Who knew how many people had slept on those beds before? And they were so hard and uncomfortable. The only plausible option was Lillian. She lived in one of the nicest buildings in the area. There was a front desk security guard. A swimming pool. It even had a gym. And the best part, a spare bed that hundreds of people hadn’t slept on before.

“No, thank you, Mr. Shitaki. I have a friend I can stay with. Just please let me know as soon as possible when everything is ready.” Erin felt deflated. She was so ready for this day to end it wasn’t even funny.

“Sure sure.” He nodded and waddled away.

Erin wadded into her apartment and tried not to think about all the furniture and valuable family things destroyed or floating around the room. Not that she had much. She basically fled Portland and rented a tiny U-Haul that her car could pull and shoved as much into it as she could. She made it to her bedroom closet and breathed a sigh of relief when there wasn’t much visible damage. She grabbed a suitcase and saw a little water in it but didn’t think there was enough to cause too much harm. She wasn’t that far away from Lillian’s. Erin stuffed as many clothes and toiletries as she could. She snatched a few family mementos and her laptop and fled. She called Lillian as she was leaving the building. God bless Lillian, she answered on the first ring.

“Change your mind about those drinks?” Lillian teased.

Erin swallowed back a fresh wave of tears. She didn’t think she could take anything else happening tonight. “Erin, sweetie, what’s wrong?” Lillian’s tone immediately changed from carefree to concerned. Erin hated putting her in this position, but she didn’t have anyone else she could call. Everyone she knew was back home in Oregon.

Erin took a deep calming breath before speaking. “My apartment flooded.”

“What?” Lillian was confused. “What do you mean your apartment flooded?”

“I came home, and Mr. Shitaki was in front of my door waving me off saying that the apartment above me I guess had a pipe burst and flooded my apartment and the one below me.” She still couldn’t believe it. This must be penance for dating Brad and moving to San Francisco.

“Geez, Erin, you just can’t catch a break today, can you? You’re heading straight here, right? Because you know I won’t take no for an answer.” Erin didn’t even have to ask, Lillian knew her so well.

“Yeah, I’m heading your way now. I should be there in less than 5 minutes.”

“I’ll wait for you downstairs. Our security guard takes his duties a little too serious sometimes.”

Erin couldn’t help but chuckle. “Well, what’s not to take seriously about duties, Lil?”

Lillian almost spit out her sip of wine. “Erin Josephine Andrews, did you seriously just make a joke? Who are you and what have you done to my best friend?” granted it wasn’t the funniest joke, but Erin was trying. It was something at least.

“Don’t get too crazy; it just popped in my head. Let’s not start going to comedy clubs or anything.” Erin rolled her eyes. She joked and had fun. Sometimes. Though at the moment, she couldn’t remember the last time she had done either.

“No promises. Alright, I’m hanging up and getting in the elevator. I’ll see you in a minute.”

Lillian set her glass down and headed towards the elevators. She knew Erin should be there any minute and it would take the elevators a while to get down from the forty-second floor. Though the building had sixty floors, the top floor was occupied by the penthouse. It was where Mr. Mysterious lived. She moved in only a few years ago once she started making the big bucks as a top PR. She had come from nothing and wanted to make a name for herself. She had achieved much since dropping out of school and fleeing to San Francisco when she was sixteen. She got her G.E.D. and worked her butt off to be the best PR in the business. After four years she landed her biggest client and started earning a real paycheck. To celebrate she bought her condo. When she moved in Mr. Mysterious was already living there, and she only rode in the elevator with him a handful of times. They never talked, only the neighborly hello. What she could see of him though was jaw-dropping. Short black hair, pale blue eyes, and him in a suit was panty dropping. Once she saw him coming back from a run and never before had she been jealous of sweat. He wore black short shorts and a red t-shirt that clung to his body like a second skin. It left little to the imagination what was under the shirt. Unfortunately, he never said more than a polite hello to everyone and hurried away. He rarely even made eye contact. He either thought he was better than the other people in the building or just really shy. But you didn’t look like that and be shy.

As soon as Lillian made it to the lobby and the doors opened, she saw Erin talking to Simon, the security guard. Erin looked like a half-drowned rat. Her suitcase was dripping on the marble floor, and her coat was soaking wet. She could see tears in Erin’s pantyhose and light brown stains on the front of her dress, though she tried to hide it with her coat. Lillian suddenly felt like the world’s worst friend. She should have been more insistent that Erin came over. Lillian knew the move here would he hard on Erin, but she didn’t think this hard. Neither person noticed her approach they were so busy arguing. “I’m sorry, miss, but you are not on the approved list of guests to see Miss. Guthrie. You’ll have to come back tomorrow.”

“Look, Simon, I’ve had a really crappy day. I just got off the phone with her, and she said she’ll be down any second. Could you just maybe call her?” Erin was striving for patience, but with everything that had happened to her today, she was out of patience.

Simon looked insulted at the suggestion of calling a resident. “I would never disturb a resident here. If your friend as you say is coming down, then you’ll just have to wait.” He eyed her up and down taking in her disheveled appearance. “Perhaps outside. You are getting the lobby floor wet.”

Erin’s eyes snapped fire, and she opened her mouth ready to breathe fire when Lillian hastened to her side. “It’s okay, Simon. Miss. Andrews is my guest, and I will handle all the necessary paperwork tomorrow.”

Simon seemed placated but barely. “This is highly irregular, Miss. Guthrie.”

“Her apartment flooded tonight, Simon and she turned to a friend. I’ll take care of everything in the morning.”

Simon finally relented and nodded. “Very well, Miss. Guthrie. I’ll have someone bring down a mop and clean the floors. Don’t want anyone taking a spill.” He mumbled and made a call to housekeeping.

Erin couldn’t believe it. He wouldn’t call a resident and disturb them, but he was okay with calling housekeeping to mop up the floor? What an ass.

Lillian grabbed Erin and half dragged her to the elevator before Erin could muster up a retort.

“What an-” Erin started to complain, but Lillian cut her off.

“Erin, I get you’ve had a rough day but please don’t start in on the security guard. He takes duty very serious.” She couldn’t help but tease.

Erin set her bag down in the elevator and started chuckling. She didn’t think she would ever look at Simon again without thinking duty. Erin’s laughter died when she saw Lillian staring out into the lobby at something. Her brows crinkled, and she turned her head and gasped. If she had still been holding her suitcase, she might have dropped it. Standing at the entrance of the elevator holding the door open could only be described as a god. Compared to her five foot eight height he had to be six and a half feet tall, he had short black hair and the most beautiful blue eyes she had ever seen. She took him in from head to toe. He was wearing a dark blue suit with a red tie. Erin suddenly had a fantasy about stripping him out of that suit and find out what was underneath. Her fantasy was cut short when he cleared his throat. Erin ducked her head to hide the blush. How embarrassing to be caught ogling the poor man. What he must think of her. He tried clearing his throat again, and Erin looked up at him. He looked her in the eye then down at something next to her leg. He did it twice before Erin looked down at her bag taking up the rest of the room in the elevator. Dork. She apologized and picked up her bag and held it in front of her. The man smiled at her and stepped in. Erin found herself staring at him again and held her breath as he leaned closer to her. What was he doing? Was a sexy god going to just try and kiss a perfect stranger in the elevator? The guy reached in front of her. And keyed in a code on the panel before straightening. Erin pressed closer to Lillian to give the guy more room. She looked at Lillian and mouthed “oh my god.” She didn’t know whether it was because he was so good looking or that she was such a dork.

“Hi, Mr. O’Connell,” Lillian said to break up the silence. Erin stared straight ahead willing the elevator to get them to their floor already.

“Good evening, Miss. Guthrie.” His voice was deep and hypnotic. It sent shivers down Erin’s spine.

The elevator went back to silence, and Erin found herself rocking back and forth. This was the longest elevator ride of her life.

“Who is your friend?” His voice startled her.

Lillian was almost speechless that Mr. Mysterious said something other than hello. Maybe it was a great idea, after all, bringing Erin here. “Erin Andrews meet Jason O’Connell.” Erin turned to shake his hand, but the sudden movement caused her to lose her grip on her suitcase and drop it on the poor man’s foot. Jason hopped up and down on his good foot and bit back every known curse he knew. The woman was a menace. Despite her appearance, she was breathtaking. He normally preferred brunettes, but her blonde tresses begged to be grabbed. Her pale skin longed to be caressed. He could smell a trace of coconut on her, and it made his mouth water. He had never had that kind of reaction to a woman before. He was used to women coming on to him, but this woman seemed different. She was not immune to his good looks and yet she maintained as much distance as she could from him. Having her wet suitcase dropped on his foot killed his growing erection in record time. He was quickly reminded why he typically kept to himself.