As the coldness sunk in, I turned and went in search of my bus stop. There was nothing I wanted more than to get home, into my jammies, and into bed. Surprisingly I wasn't even hungry. Not cooking wouldn't be an issue since my mother rarely ate with me anyway. I stared out the window as the barren landscape blurred into dirty snow and houses. The roads were clearer than the day before nothing was left but muddy slush. The mall parking lot was also fuller. You can't keep people from spending their money for too long. I pulled out of the parking lot and headed south on fifty-one. Half an hour till home.

I managed to get into the house and in the shower before mom even realized I'd gotten home.

"Elysse? Are you eating?" she called up to my room.

"No, mom. I'm not hungry. I'm just going to go to bed."

I waited to hear some sort of a response from her. She was silent as usual.

"My day was awesome, mom," I muttered, sinking into the soft mattress on my bed and quickly falling asleep.

Morning came much too quickly. My alarm clock blared some ridiculously upbeat song. Groaning, I reached out from under my mountain of blankets and smacked the alarm. As silence descended on the room, I closed my eyes and rolled over. Six a.m. was just too early to be awake, and eight a.m. was too early to have to deal with office shit. I pulled the blankets down so I could see out. My windows were covered in a fresh layer of frost, and it just screamed cold. I wanted the long winter to be over.

I crawled out of bed and began to get ready. I had been debating with myself all night whether I was going to tell Connor about the crazy girl stalker tendencies or not.

***

Blanche was already at the office when I got there. I took a deep breath and groaned. She glared as I walked through the front doors. I sighed heavily and decided to just dish out what I had to give her a taste of her own medicine. Maybe not nearly as horrendous as her, but a nice splash of sarcasm never did anyone any harm.

"Good morning," I muttered, walking past the desk to the oak doors behind her.

"Whatever," she grumbled.

"Who pissed in your Wheaties this morning, sunshine?"

She just glared at me from beneath tarantula eyelashes.

"Glad to see you woke up on the right side of the bed today. I thought you might be cranky."

"You don't need to talk," she said while thumbing through a magazine.

"Don't work too hard," I said as the heavy door slid shut.

Workplace drama always irritated me, especially when it was unwarranted. I contemplated again, for half a second, telling Connor about it, but realized I didn't really care. If she wanted to be a crazy stalker, that was on her, and he seemed to be able to take care of himself. The only thing that was bound to really suffer was his private life, which I had absolutely no business worrying about. He wasn't my boyfriend. We simply had lunch once. My heart sped up as I thought about us sitting there. I wished so badly to wrap my arms around his neck and muss up his hair. I bit my lip and paused at the door to my little office. Glancing over my shoulder, I stole a quick peek at Connor's door. It was shut but the lights were on. He was there. A small smile crept across my lips. I had something to look forward to at work, a forbidden temptation I could hungrily stare at.

I could take him coffee and say hi, but you are not trying to come off as a bat shit crazy woman. You are not another Blanche.

I shook my head and went inside. All of the paperwork was there plus some. It looked like it had reproduced overnight. I groaned and slumped into my chair. I spun toward the windows and stared out. I couldn't get him out of my mind now. I hated having someone tell me who I could and could not talk to. Blanche's plan on keeping me from talking to or thinking about Connor backfired. He encompassed my thoughts now. In fact, I think I wanted to be around him even more now. He was so very intoxicating. The man didn't seem real. Biting my lip I reluctantly opted for getting to work.

I stared at the mound of papers still sitting in the in-box. Sighing heavily I scowled into the mirror that hung opposite my desk. I ran my fingers through my hair. What curls stayed after I left the house were completely gone. The hair was straight and lifeless as ever. Maybe it was the light, but I looked so unhealthy. My skin was so pasty and pale. Northeastern winters weren't known for their sunny days, just the cloudy and snowy ones. The warm, golden tan from summer had long faded and in its place was translucent-looking skin. My blue eyes seemed to have an icier color to them. I pinched lightly at my cheeks trying to create some poor excuse for color.

As I kept watch on my reflection, my office door opened slightly.

"Knock, knock," an amazingly soothing voice said.

I spun in my chair, staring in shocked amazement. Connor walked in. His unbelievable beauty lit up my boring office. Now that his head wasn't buried in papers, and we weren't sitting in the dimly lit Primanti's I could really see him. He was tall, wearing brown pants, and a white button-down shirt that stretched just right over his muscular torso. His chocolate brown hair was feathered back, which he had a habit of running his fingers through, a lot. His beautiful blue eyes were soft and looked to be full of questions. My heart pounded and the butterflies in my stomach fluttered. I bit my lip lightly; horribly naughty thoughts raced through my mind. Thoughts that were wildly inappropriate for work. Thoughts that no woman should think about a man she had met just a few days before.

Stop it! He's just a guy. Just a guy so ridiculously gorgeous he makes you want to leap across your desk and just do things you'd never tried before to him.

"Hi, Connor. Is there something I can help you with?" I smiled at him, thankful he couldn't read my mind.

"No, I wanted to give this to you." He placed a hot mug on my desk.

"You got me coffee?"

"Yeah, I didn't know how busy you were and it is early so I figured you may want some morning juice to help you wake up."

"Thanks." I blushed.

"I guess I'll see you around the office then?"

He started to walk out, but I had to stop him. "You can stay if you want."

"I can?"

"I mean if you aren't too busy. I enjoy company."

"Sure." Hhe sat across from me and sipped from his own mug. "I'm sorry about yesterday."

"Sorry about what?"

"Bringing up your dad," he said.

"Oh, don't worry about it. I tend to overreact about it sometimes. No harm, no foul."

"Do you mind if I ask what happened to him?"

"Well, I can only tell as much as I know," I replied.

"What does that mean?" Connor asked.

"My dad split before I was born."

"Ah, I see."

"Yeah. My mom told me he went out one night for work and just never came home. They never found him, his belongings, nothing. It was like he just vanished off the face of the Earth."

"That's crazy."

"I know. I think he just didn't want to be a dad. My pregnant mom must have freaked him out."

"Do you think he's dead?"

"I don't know. Either dead or in some faraway land I guess," I answered.

"A faraway land?"

"Europe or Asia. Some literally, far away land." I laughed.

There was a fire in the pit of my belly that burned red hot. Try as I might, I couldn't tear my eyes away from Connor. He was so incredibly alluring, from the perfect lines of his face to the softness of his lips. My mouth went dry as my eyes lingered on the perfect curve of his bottom lip, I longed for him to press his mouth to mine. I wanted him to explore my mouth with his tongue. I wanted his hands to touch my body. It was amazing how this man had captured me so completely in such a short amount of time. I knew nothing about him, yet I wanted him. I craved him. It was so strange.

I frowned, trying to focus my attention back to work or at least to something more than Connor. As I sat there, trying to think of some vague resemblance of a conversation, I couldn't help but notice a slight smile crossing his lips. His eyes appeared to be trained on me. A small part of me hoped he was thinking some wicked thought. I knew I was.

"What do you like to do in your spare time?" I asked, trying to break the increasing silence.

"I hunt."

"You hunt?"

"Yes," he responded. "You seem shocked."

"I am," I confessed.

"Why?"

"You don't strike me as the hunting type."

"Sometimes there are things that need taken care of."

"What does that mean?"

"Not everything belongs in this world, Elysse."

"That's an odd way to view hunting," I wasn't sure if I should be concerned, disgusted, or intrigued by his answer.

"Perhaps."

"What do you hunt?"

"Whatever needs hunted."

"What does that mean?" I furrowed my brows and stared at him from over the top of my mug before taking another long sip.

"If there is an abundance of something out there, I hunt it."

"Oh, so a surplus of deer you help get rid of them?"

"Something like that."

"Okay." How odd.

He sat there staring at me with such an intense curiosity that I could feel my heartbeat speeding up and my cheeks flush yet again. What a way to spend a morning at work, and if this keeps up with Connor, I won't need to buy blush ever again. I could feel the muscles in my stomach clench, and my throat went dry. The work atmosphere became increasingly unhealthy for me. He drove women crazy. Literally.

"Do you enjoy reading?" he asked suddenly.

"I'm sorry, what?"

"I was curious, with your last name being Grimm, do you favor fairy tales?" he asked.

"Not particularly. I read other things. My mom likes them though. That's all she does, all day."

"All day?"

"Yeah, she sits at her desk and reads fairy tale after fairy tale. Sometimes I think she would rather live in one than be here."

"Any in particular?" He seemed persistent about the reading.

"No, just whatever she finds online or in bookstores. Why are you so interested in my mother's reading habits?"

"I'm not. I suppose just curious about you. I should probably get back to work." He leaned forward and squeezed my hand.

An intense rush surged through my body. His hands were so warm and soft.

"Okay," I whispered.

"We'll have lunch together again tomorrow. There is an amazing restaurant a few blocks away I'd love to take you to."

I simply nodded and watched as he walked out of my office. His black slacks hugged tightly at his waist and accentuated the well-toned behind beneath.

Oh that ass.