Don't Forget Me (2 page)

Mr. Brooks

S
tella woke up
the next morning and stretched her whole body luxuriously. Still half asleep, she hugged her pillow then swung her legs over the side of the bed and ran her fingers through her hair, still living in her dreams of Jason, so real and intimate they left her glowing inside.

Then, tugging on the brown dress lying discarded by the bed, and a pair of matching boots, she fixed her make-up, picked up her bag and lecture notes, struggled into her gray coat and hurried out of the house.

She was in good time as she arrived at Commonwealth Avenue, accompanied by the pressing rhythm of the final chorus of
Gives You Hell
by
The All-American Rejects
. She maneuvered her car into the parking lot and walked over to the COM, the College of Communications at 640 Comm. Ave, heading straight for the Public Relations room, where she was surprised to see their lecturer, Shirley Owens, practically spellbound as she spoke to a man with his back turned, his face shielded from Stella.

She slipped into the seat next to Jamie Keats, a cute, dark-haired girl she’d met only recently but who she’d clicked with immediately, totally at ease with Jamie’s friendly, outgoing personality.

“Hi, Jamie!” Stella said, dumping her bag on the floor and her notebook on the desk.

“Hey, Stella. So how was it yesterday? Ton of people at the bar?”

“Yeah, and one in particular, but it wasn’t the game he came for,” she said, peering at the man by the lectern, trying to get a better look. Wow, his resemblance to Donn was uncanny! The shoulders, the hair, brown flecked with blond, his stance… She was almost sure it was Donn, but no, she thought, your mind is playing tricks on you…

“No, it can’t be him!” She blushed, staring at him.

“Stella, what are you on about? ‘Him’ who?” Jamie was confused.

“Who is that man with Professor Owens?” He was wearing an elegant blue suit; she caught a glimpse of a white linen shirt peeking out from the collar.

“That’s Dr. Brooks, the charming, handsome, successful entrepreneur… ergo, Mr. Highly Desirable,” she responded, a wicked grin on her face. “The rest of the class just hasn’t shut up about him for a whole ten minutes, ever since he walked in and almost caused a swoon epidemic. All they can do is rack their silly brains to come up with a ploy to attract his attention… And, look, haven’t you noticed how all the cutest girls have deserted the back row to sit at the front. Unheard of!” Jamie commented ironically, a pinch of malice in her tone.

“But what’s he doing
here
?” Even more puzzled, Stella was going crazy trying to figure out if it really was the man she had met the night before.

“Well, apparently, BU’s spent years practically begging him to give a series of lectures and now he’s finally agreed, saying he wanted to start with our PR class… It certainly does it for me, no problem!” she said excitedly, with a smile.

Stella was wondering if it was indeed Donn standing there, and, more importantly, if he would recognize her… If he did, would he keep his cool, remain detached and formal in keeping with his role of guest BU lecturer, her being a student? And all that… The thought swam round and round her mind like a goldfish.

As Donn and Professor Owens finished talking, he turned around to face the class packed with students, and he slowly, deliberately scanned the room, his eyes finding hers, registering her face near the back of the classroom without missing a beat. Then, as his glance caught her on the way back, he saw her face light up with pleasure and surprise, the smile that softened her mouth as they looked at each other, both reliving the previous night, the soft warm lighting of the bar and the charge that crackled between them.

But then he seemed to wake up, alerted by the coy looks and flattering smiles the girls in the room were giving him, their shameless innuendo droning in the background. Professor Owens cleared her throat and began by introducing the day’s guest: “Ok, students, you’ll be pleased to hear you won’t be receiving a lecture from me today,” she quipped. “Instead you will have our honored guest lecturer, Dr. Donn Brooks. He is head of Brooks Financial Enterprise, one of the leading companies in our country, and CEO of Council Capital Holding, one of America’s most competitive companies in the security sector, and he’ll be giving you his valuable insights. Please give Mr. Brooks a warm welcome everyone, and, er, carry on; just pretend I’m not here.” Professor Owens started to clap enthusiastically, joined by the rest of the class, the applause going on for what seemed an embarrassingly long time.

Meanwhile, despite having everyone’s eyes trained on him, Donn’s were riveted solely on Stella, their bottomless depths sucking her in helplessly, the ardor burning in Donn’s eyes inflaming her body and soul, the teacher’s voice fading to a faint hum in the background.

She tried to avert her gaze but was stopped by a knife-like wrench. Conscious of the icy shivers tingling up and down her spine, the clench in her stomach that left her breathless, she gave in to the soft tremors that uncoiled from deep in her belly, doing nothing to stop them flicker like flames through the rest of her body in a sensation of pure pleasure that made her shudder imperceptibly. Donn smiled mysteriously, his penetrating gaze remaining focused on Stella.

Her classmates, agog at the high-octane looks exchanged between the two of them, were throwing questioning glances at each other, wondering what the hell was going on. Professor Owens was still standing at Donn’s side and couldn’t see what was happening, but now decided a little prompting was in order.

“Dr. Brooks, please go ahead…” said Professor Owens, suddenly uncomfortably aware of the situation, silently urging Donn to stop locking gazes with Stella and start the lesson. She looked at him, embarrassed, then went purposefully to sit down in front, next to a couple of students.

Donn, completely oblivious to all this, saw only Stella, while the pretty girls at the front, who’d lost all shred of decency with their salacious remarks and shameless vying for his attention, didn’t so much as blip on his radar. Unable to resist the carnal desire she aroused in him a second more, Donn nearly lost it completely. Feeling as if he was about to explode in an outburst of passion, his body moved of its own accord toward her but then, seeing her eyes cloud with embarrassment, nervousness and bewilderment, he got a grip on himself, shot her a slight smile and ducked his head. He stood firm at the front of the class.

“Mr. Brooks?” a dumbfounded Professor Owens urged again, finally shattering Stella’s reverie as it suddenly dawned on her how they must’ve looked to the lecturer, not to mention to the rest of the class.

Donn decided to get the lesson over with. Only then did Stella come plummeting back down to the real world. Sensing the awkward silence hanging heavy in the air and the eyes of every student trained on her, she felt good but also uneasy. She didn’t like being in the spotlight like this. But it was a remarkable, unprecedented moment that none of them would ever forget, one that completely changed their perception of her.

Donn tried one last time to catch her eye but saw the deep embarrassment she felt and tried to avoid upsetting her further.

“Stella, Mr. Brooks seems crazy about you. Look, he’s undressing you with his eyes!” Jamie exclaimed.

“Undressing me? Don’t be ridiculous!” Stella raised her eyebrows, never tearing her eyes from the deep blue, penetrating gaze of the man.

“Do you know him?” Jamie asked, bubbling over with curiosity.

“Yeah, I met him last night…” she said, hearing his voice taper off as if he wanted to home in on what she was saying to her friend.

“You kidding me? Looks more like you guys’ve known each for
ever
to me! And up close and personal too!” her friend smiled.

“Jamie, we just chatted! I served him a Scotch, neat, then Vuk arrived. He and Vuk actually knew each other! By the way, where is Vuk?”

“No idea. He should be here by now… Maybe he slept in. Anyway, I don’t even want to know what you and Mr Brooks got up to last night…” she whispered as she saw Donn glance away with a slight smile on his face, like he’d overheard her. She thought, how weird…

“But that’s the whole point, absolutely nothing happened!” She lowered her eyes, but when she raised them, she saw that Donn was still staring at her with those intense, impertinent eyes of his. She bit her lip and shot him a stern, reproachful look.

“Huh, whatever. That’s what you say, but he’s clearly smitten with you, Stella,” Jamie continued, before she too found herself drowning in his gaze, enveloped by his caressing voice.

Donn felt powerless to stop the carnal intensity showing in his eyes as he looked at Stella, but realizing he was making things even more awkward for her, he finally tore his eyes away, collected himself and brought the lecture to a close. As students and teacher alike burst wildly into applause, the two-hour lecture over, Stella grabbed her things as soon as he stopped speaking. Unable to resist him a minute more, she had to get the hell out of there. Dazed and confused, she jumped from her seat and fled to the door, determined to lose him before he pinned her down again, this time physically.

Donn’s eyes had never once left her though and, seeing her head straight for the door, he hastily thanked Professor Owens and chased after her. Thinking he’d catch her in the hallway, he pushed past the students streaming out of the classroom door, searching for her frantically. Then, as hope deserted him, he finally glimpsed her bewildered figure try to melt into the crowd of anonymous shadows. Impatiently pushing aside the few people that still separated them, he caught up with her, gently clasped the side of her neck and pressed his body tight against hers. Her body trembled, electrified as she recognized his velvety, practiced touch.

“What a pleasure it is to see you again, Miss Whitely?” Donn murmured, trailing his hand down the inside of her bare arm, caressing her fingers, spinning her around passionately toward him.

Stella felt her heart beat furiously to breakpoint.

“Mr. Brooks,” she managed to mumble, gobsmacked, unable to pronounce any other words. The man smiled, seeming to be shrouded even more in mystery.

“So last night I was Donn, now I’m Mr. Brooks? Does this magnificent institution bring out the formal side of you, or are you just trying to create some distance between us?” he asked in a low, hoarse voice, a serious expression emanating from his handsome face. His Blackberry started to vibrate in his jacket pocket and, without even looking to see who it was, he touched a button to silence it.

“So it really is you… The famous Mr. Brooks, the name on everyone’s lips. I guess that’s why you didn’t want to tell me your last name yesterday…” She felt helpless, at a loss for how to stop the sensations that ripped through her body.

“And spoil your surprise this morning?” Donn asked. She fascinated him completely, but he was suddenly hit by the force of her embarrassed look as they stood there in front of everyone, making him want to sink to his knees and beg her forgiveness for being the cause of her inner strife.

“Your whole body is tense, Miss Whitely.”

He brushed his fingers down her cheek, bringing them to rest on her chin. His thumb ran over her lip while some of the more curious students hung back to watch the scene unfold, incredulous.

His BlackBerry began to hum again, and he threw a rapid glance at the display. He narrowed his eyes for a second, his mouth almost forming a frown.

“Brooks.” He nodded his head at her to signal for her to wait for him.

“What’s their offer?”

“Don’t accept.”

“The deadline is closing in.”

“Email me the charts and tell Mayers to call me.”

“No, this afternoon.”

“Leave the negotiating table now!”

“We’ll send them our new proposal tomorrow.”

He hung up and turned the phone off. He turned slowly to look at Stella, flushed and on tenterhooks.

“It seems like time is money for you, Mr. Brooks. I’m sure you’re a very busy man. Just what do you want from me? Where is all this going?” she murmured falteringly, unable to mask the note of confusion in her voice.

“To a place where time has no constraints, where the word ‘eternity’ means just what it says. The question is, Miss Whitely, where are you willing to go with me?”

He paused before concluding, “I’ll see you later…” There was a hint of a smile on his lips as he walked off.

Stella was glued to the spot, watching him glide effortless down the corridor, no coherent words forming in her mind.

A few second later, Vuk appeared at her side, Jamie having spilled the beans about what had happened during the lecture. He could barely contain the rage welling inside of him.

“Stella, … are you ok?” he asked, beside himself, his arms reaching for her in a protective embrace.

“Yeah, Vuk, sure, what’s up, why are you so upset?” she replied, rather flustered.

“I’m upset because I just bumped into Mr. Brooks in the corridor and, well, I need to know what he wanted from you, Stella. You must tell me, it’s important.” She felt his strong hands slide up her outer thighs, his thumb coming to rest on her hips.