Don't Fall in Love with Me

He was gorgeous. Never in her wildest dreams would Scarlett have imagined the slightly over weight Brayden could become such a hunk. He must have hit an odd growth spurt after high school because he had grown a good height over her head. He’d become tall and lean, sophisticated and sexy in his business suit. His rounded cheeks had disappeared revealing a well defined jaw line sprinkled with short stubbles. His dark auburn hair was spiked up a little in the front and he looked the part of a supermodel.

Seven years had changed him a lot, but Scarlett still recognized his eyes. They were about the only things that were familiar to her. His baby blue eyes that always made her feel like she was being pulled off the ground and lifted into the sky. Those eyes were the reason that she agreed to go out with him years ago.
They say eyes are the windows to a person’s soul and Scarlett had always wanted to crawl through Brayden’s eyes, to learn more about him, and see why his smile was so mesmerizing.

Right now he wasn’t smiling though, he was frowning. “So you’re saying your boyfriend took all your money and ditched?”

“Ex-boyfriend,” Scarlett corrected with a glare. “Wait till I find him and he gets a piece of me. I mean, I knew he was a con artist but I didn’t think he’d con me! What a scum.”

Brayden’s eyes went wide. “You mean you knew he was a fucking con artist and you still went out with him?”

“Well of course I knew he was a con artist. I mean, Jesus, I was learning The Art from him.” Scarlett rolled her eyes and smirked. “I went out with a locksmith once. He was a locksmith by day, burglar by night, like Batman.” She sighed and her smile was quickly replaced by a frown. “He robbed me too.”

“Well, no fucking duh! Mature. And that’s nothing like Batman! Just what the hell were you thinking?” He angrily paced back and forth in front of her, waving his arms around like he’d completely lost it. “So now not only are you broke and stuck in Vegas, you don’t even have a place to stay tonight! Right?” Well, his lousy temper hadn’t seemed to change much.

Scarlett remembered their first date. They had gone to a park and she had somehow ended up showing him how to play chess, but Brayden couldn’t win a single game against her so he got pissed off and yelled, “Chess is for the mentally retarded!” They were in the middle of a chess tournament for the elderly though, so it didn't come as a surprise when one passionate player started to chase Brayden around in a circle trying to beat him with his cane.

The date was a plain and average one, and it wasn’t until after dinner when he took her to the beach to watch the sunset that sparks ignited. They were sitting on some cement ledges watching the sun fade when she murmured, “It’s so beautiful.”

“Yeah, beautiful,” he had replied and then turned to smile at her. “You are, that is.” Then he stood up. “Wait. I want to show you something. Close your eyes.”

It took him a couple of minutes and when he was done, she opened her eyes and saw him standing on the sand with a message on the ground for her. Slowly she read it to herself in a soft whisper, “I heart you...” An arrow pointed up at the red horizon above them. “...Scarlett.” It was cheesy but nonetheless it made her smile. No one else had ever done anything so simple yet thoughtful for her before. It didn’t take much for her to be convinced that Brayden was different, the sort of guy she’d been waiting for all her life.

When the date was over, Brayden took her home before the 10 o’clock deadline just like he had promised her mom earlier. When he kissed her goodnight, it had been a gentle kiss on the forehead, followed by kisses down the bridge of her nose and finally to the skin that separated her nose and her lips.

Scarlett knew the next spot his lips would land on and her heart thumped madly inside her chest as she slowly closed her eyes and lifted her body towards him for the firework’s finale. Instead, her lips met with his finger and Brayden whispered “goodnight, I’ll call you” in her ear before running off, leaving her trembling for more.

Scarlett spent the next few days waiting for him to call but he didn’t, and she didn’t bump into him at school either. Two hours into her morning classes on Wednesday, her 17th birthday, the principle came for her and broke the news to her: both her parents had died earlier that day on a flight back home. The plane’s engine had failed mid lift off and came crashing down with her parent’s lives.

Scarlett stopped going to school after that. She just lingered at home and waited for Brayden to call her because he said he would, because she needed him to. But he never called. The next thing she knew she was being taken into government custody and then put into a foster home far, far away because she had no relatives that could take her in.

The first date she had had with Brayden was the last date they had, and also the last time she saw him. Even now, thinking back, all of it left a bitter aftertaste in her mouth. Life moved on after that and Scarlett slowly learned to depend on nobody but herself. So standing in front of the man she once fell in love with, she didn’t feel anything. She hadn’t needed him back then. She didn’t need him now.

So when Brayden asked her if she wanted to stay over at his hotel room for the night, she declined. Hotel room? Ha! Screw the sympathy, the only thing he wanted was sex...

“You don’t have to look at me like that Scarlett,” Brayden said with a raised eyebrow. “It’s a suite. There’s more than one room.”

Great. He didn’t even want to sleep with her. He hadn’t want to kiss her all those years ago when they were teenagers and now as adults, he didn’t want to have sex with her! What’s wrong with this man? “It’s fine Brayden. I don’t need a place to stay tonight. Unlike you, I have to walk around and find another job tonight. You know, since you fired me and all.”

“Are you trying to say something to me?” He asked narrowing his eyes. “Fine, it’s done. I’ll buy you a one way ticket back to New York tomorrow morning.”

“Unnecessary,” she said getting off the soft bed. “Thank you though. It was nice seeing you again. I should probably...” she sighed dramatically, “... go find another job.”

Brayden glared at Scarlett as she walked out the door. She was definitely trying to say something to him. She was completely pissed off that he had fired her. She was exactly like his freaking grandmother, trying to manipulate him with every twist and turn, though he wasn’t going to soften up on this one. To hell would he allow her to strip in front of a man, unless of course, the man was him.

He followed her out the door and down the hallway. “Are you following me?” She asked turning her head back.

“Sweetheart please,” he replied. “I own this building.”

Obviously he was following her. He had to make sure she was going to be okay, that she was going to get back to New York safely. Brayden had no intentions of wanting anything else from her. Things were already too messy.

His long legs quickly caught up to her short ones that by the next time she turned around to rightfully accuse him of following her he could see the sparkles in her eyes clearly. Brayden loved those eyes. They always had the ability to melt and soften every part of him... except that part. That part always hardened.

Brayden pivoted her away from the elevator when they reached it and picked her up. They were only steps away from entering his private headquarters and he wasn’t going to lose her now. He threw her over his shoulder and managed to carry the screaming and kicking girl into his room before she gave him a big bite on the side of his ribs. He roughly sat her down on his coffee table and sat down on the couch facing her. “Scarlett, let’s talk about this.”

“There’s nothing to talk about,” she said crossing her arms and legs. She got up suddenly and Brayden thought she was going to stomp out but instead she wiggled a bit and sat back down.

“I can help you Scarlett. If it’s money that you need...”

“I don’t need your money!” She screamed, her face red, and he suddenly realized how much of an ass he sounded like. She stood up, wiggled again before sitting down.

“I didn’t mean for it to sound that way,” he mumbled. Scarlett whined, stood up and tugged at something on her behind that was obviously bothering her before sitting down. Brayden ignored it and kept talking. “I only want to help...” She stood up, wiggled again. “...help you with your... Oh for fucks sake Scarlett! Just rip it off!” He screamed when she stood up again.

With a quick jerk, Brayden pulled Scarlett into his arms and then quickly bent her over in a spanking position. “No, Brayden don’t be so rough.” Her body hung over his legs giving him complete control over her. “Don’t. Please be gentle.”

“I can’t,” he growled. “Scarlett, I can’t hold back anymore.”

“Nooo, don’t!”

“Baby I can make you feel so good after I get it off,” he breathed.

“No, Brayden, no.” Scarlett felt his hand tightening on her behind and whimpered on his thigh. “If you’re too rough, you’ll... Ahhhhh! Brayden!!!”

“It’s... It’s... ripping!” There was a loud ripping sound, followed by Brayden’s laughing. “Oops. I ripped too much off.”

Scarlett turned her head around and saw the huge piece of fabric he was holding in his hand. Not only did Brayden ripped the bunny tail off the fabric, he’d rip all the material surrounding it and now her underwear was in plain sight.

Brayden stared at Scarlett’s underwear in disbelief. No matter how he tried to fit it in, it didn’t. Playboy bunny costume, skyscraper leather boots... He was expecting something sexy, something lacy underneath but Scarlett was wearing a pair of childish, white underwear with a picture of a bunny holding a bear’s hand on the back. He burst into laughter. It was such a silly looking pair of underwear.

Tears filled her eyes immediately as she took off for the bathroom. Brayden followed her. It was so like Scarlett to get so worked up because of a tiny fashion faux pas. He knocked lightly on the bathroom door, trying not to laugh. “So since you have nothing else to change in, I guess you’re staying here tonight huh?”

“I hate you!” She cried. “I hate you! I hate you! I hate you!”

“Scarlett, it’s nothing to cry over. It’s cute. I honestly think your underwear is cute.”

“You do?” She asked, sniffing. “I only wore it because the client had an animal fetish and I thought he’d like it.”

“I know,” he said, covering his mouth so she couldn’t hear his muffled chuckles. “Look, why don’t I lend you one of my shirts. Then I’ll get someone to get your clothes from the nightclub so you can change out of that outfit.”

“Okay,” she quietly murmured. “Tell them to be careful. All my stuff is jammed into my backstage locker.”

“Sure.” Brayden came back a second later and hung one of his long sleeve shirts on the doorknob outside. “Scarlett, my shirt is outside. I’m going to call the nightclub now.” The next time Brayden came around, his shirt was gone but Scarlett was still locked inside his bathroom. He shrugged it off, wondering why she was so cold towards him.

15 minutes later, a knock came at the door. Brayden answered it thinking it was someone bringing Scarlett’s clothes, but instead, clothed in Chanel, stood his grandmother. “What are you doing here?” He asked.

She frowned. “Is that how you greet your grandmother?”

“Well, no... It’s just shouldn’t you be at home?”

“No, my plane just landed when I last spoke to you,” she admitted. “I have great news Brayden. You know that girl I was talking to you about on the phone? I asked her if she’d marry you and she agreed! You all are going to be married!"

What?