Chapter One
The pain struck as soon as Haley James opened her eyes and her hand quickly moved to press against her forehead in an attempt to alleviate the pressure she felt there. Looking up at the unfamiliar ceiling had her frowning and gently turning her head to one side, what she saw made her breath catch in her throat. Her free hand slowly lifted the sheet covering her and what she had already guessed to be the case was confirmed for her: she was completely naked underneath it.
Biting her lip, memories of last night suddenly played through her mind like a movie. Raising her head off the pillow slightly, she noticed her clothes lying scattered on the floor and turning to look at the pillow next to her again, she made a decision as to what she thought was the best thing to do.
As quietly as she could, she drew the sheet back and climbed out of the bed before quickly bending down and retrieving her clothing. Holding her dress up against her body, she swiftly made her way towards the en suite bathroom where she got dressed and splashed her face with cold water before running her fingers through her hair, trying her best to make herself look somewhat presentable. Anything else could wait until she was back in the privacy of her own room.
Once she was done, she exited the bathroom and tried to make as little noise as possible as she tiptoed across the carpeted floor, retrieving her shoes together with her purse along the way. Before leaving, she glanced back at her bed partner who was still, thankfully, still fast asleep. God, what had she done, she thought to herself as she turned the door handle and made her escape.
Unfortunately, her own room was just next door when she would have preferred it to have been on a different floor entirely. Removing the key card from her purse, Haley inserted it into the lock and as soon as she had the door open, she stepped inside and locked it behind her.
For a long moment, she stood with her back against the door while she took some long, deep breaths. She couldn’t believe she had slept with him. What the hell had she been thinking? Well obviously, she hadn’t been thinking otherwise it wouldn’t have happened, she mentally berated herself. The pounding in her head brought home the fact that alcohol had clearly played a part in last night’s activities and she swore to herself that she would never let another drop pass her lips while, at the same time, knowing that was pretty unlikely.
Right now, all she knew was that she needed to get out of there and so, walking further into the room, she grabbed her overnight bag from on top of the closet and began throwing in her clothes followed by the toiletries she had brought with her. Thank God the conference had ended last night and she was due to be leaving today anyway. Things would have been even worse otherwise.
Once she was all packed, she realized that she hadn’t yet had a shower and she debated whether to have one now or wait until she was back at her apartment. Finally, she decided to have a very quick shower now and save washing her hair until she was back home. She just hoped that he wouldn’t wake up and come looking for her.
Twenty minutes later, Haley was checked out of her hotel room and was climbing into a cab. She felt bad for just leaving but at least she had left a note for him at the reception desk explaining that she had gone back to Tree Hill. The long cab ride home wouldn’t be cheap but there was no way she could ride back in the same car with him, not after what had taken place between them last night. Surely he would understand that.
* * * * *
Nathan Scott was fuming as he drove home. He couldn’t believe she had just left like that, left without even a single word to him. Okay, so she’d left a note with reception telling him there was an emergency she had to take care of back home. Yeah right. A likely story. Did she honestly expect him to believe that after what had happened between them last night? If she did, then she wasn’t as smart as he and everyone else took her for.
Stopping at a set of traffic lights on red, he picked up his bottle of water from the cup holder in front of him and took a long drink. His head was pounding despite the two Alka Seltzer tabs he’d taken before leaving the hotel and all he wanted to do was go back to bed. Tapping his fingers on the steering wheel, he impatiently waited for the lights to turn green which they did a minute or so later. Thankfully there was hardly any traffic with it still being early on a Saturday morning and so it looked like he would be arriving home sooner than he’d originally anticipated.
He couldn’t help wondering how much of a head start Haley had had and he wished that he had woken up when she did. Now the situation was going to be a million times worse than it might have been had she stayed. She obviously regretted what had happened and that thought alone left a sour taste in his mouth.
For the past two years that Haley James had been working for him as his personal assistant he'd had a crush on her but had never done anything about it. They had a good working relationship and the last thing he wanted to do was ruin it. Plus, there was the fact that he couldn’t be sure if what he felt was reciprocated.
The last couple of months those feelings for Nathan had been growing to the point where he could hardly look at her without wanting to kiss her. There were several times when they needed to work late into the evening and so they were the only two left in the office and, for him at least, the tension seemed so thick you could cut it with a knife. As he’d sat at his desk trying to get his work done, he would imagine what it would be like to kiss her full lips, to touch her skin which he was sure would be as soft as the finest silk but the most vivid vision was of him taking her on his desk and hearing her moan his name over and over again; her legs tightly wrapped around his waist while her fingernails passionately clawed his back.
Unfortunately, instead of talking to her and letting her know how he felt, he took the opposite approach and started getting short and snippy with her. If she was a few minutes late back from lunch, which was very rare, he would berate her for it. When he’d hear her on the phone talking to her friends, he would interrupt her and tell her she wasn’t getting paid to arrange her social life and he would stand there until she had ended the call. He had known it would only be a matter of time before things came to a head and last night had been it.
It hadn’t been totally necessary for Haley to accompany him on this conference but he had managed to get his boss, Dan Roe, to agree to her assisting him on the trip and when he had put the request to her, he had seen the skeptical look in her eyes. It wouldn’t have been the first time she had gone with him to one of these events but the last one she had attended had been when he had been due to make a presentation and so had needed her assistance. This time, the conference had only been for a couple of days and no presentation was being made. However, he had told her that Dan had insisted she go with him to take notes and that if she had a problem with it she should take it up with him, something he knew she wouldn’t do.
The first night they were at the hotel he had invited her to have dinner with him but she had politely declined his offer. Last night though he had insisted, telling her it was his way of apologizing for acting like an ass the past couple of months and he had been relieved when she had accepted.
Dinner had been a success. The wine flowed which helped loosen them both up and they began to really talk, sharing more personal details about themselves. Nathan found himself even more attracted to the pretty young woman, especially given the midnight blue halter-necked dress she was wearing which made her look even sexier, and, not ready for their night to come to an end, he had invited her to the hotel’s lounge where they had a few more drinks. It was just after midnight when they rode up in the elevator to head back to their respective rooms and it was in the elevator that he kissed her for the first time.
He didn’t know what caused him to suddenly do it but it just felt right. He had caught her watching him from where she stood opposite him and without thinking about it, he had quickly moved forward and covered her mouth with his. There was a split-second where he really thought she would push him away but she hadn’t. Instead, her arms had come up around his neck as she pulled him in closer to where she was leaning against one of the elevator car’s metal walls. One of his arms wrapped around her waist while his free hand cupped her cheek in his palm as the kiss grew in intensity. If the elevator hadn’t suddenly dinged to announce it’s arrival at their floor, he was sure they would have ended up going even further.
Nathan had been able to tell from the way Haley had blushed that she was embarrassed about what had just occurred and he figured that nothing else would be happening. They had to pass his room first to get to hers and he'd had every intention of walking her to her room and then going back to his own... alone. Staring at everything but each other, their eyes had finally met and without either of them saying another word, they moved closer together and shared another sizzling kiss.
His hands had fumbled in his pants pocket looking for his key card and finally finding it, he reluctantly broke the kiss so he could open the door. He let her enter first and he saw her hesitate for a very brief moment before she crossed the threshold. The large bed had seemed to dominate the room and both of them had stood staring at it.
He remembered starting to say that maybe they shouldn’t do this but she had quietened him by placing her forefinger over his lips. The next thing he knew she was once again kissing him, her small hands placed either side of his head holding him still. His own hands stroked her bare shoulders and upper arms before slipping down to wrap around her waist and pulling her even closer into his body. He knew she could feel he was hard, the tiny gasp she released confirmed it, and he moaned into her mouth when she began to rub up against him.
Just the gentle touch of her hands on his face and then his neck had sent his temperature soaring and while they had both been under the influence of alcohol, he knew he had been completely lucid during the entire encounter. He didn’t think he would ever forget the passion that she had demonstrated and even thinking about it now was making him hard. In the office she acted pretty prim and proper at times but last night she had shown him a completely different side to her character and he had loved it.
One night wouldn’t be enough for him and he knew he would have his work cut out for him in convincing her of that fact. Something people always said about him was that he was persistent and he hoped that that little particular trait would serve him well in this instance.
As he drove along, he wondered when he should start putting his plan into motion. A part of him thought that leaving things until they saw each other at work on Monday might be the wrong thing to do because if he left it until then she would have all weekend to stew over the matter and if she regretted what happened between them already, then it didn’t look good for when he’d see her next week.
In that moment, he decided to stop by her apartment as soon as he was back in Tree Hill. The sooner they talked about this the better.