From where she approached, Katie could see Nick's tall frame leaning against the body of his Rolls Royce. A million and one thoughts ran through her curious mind as she came closer, wondering why on earth Nicholas Smith was parked in front of her home at this time of the day. As soon as she was within range, he threw her something. Taken off guard, the only reason she had caught it was because she had fast reflexes, plus she'd used both her hands. They were the keys to his car.Katie was about to ask what was going on, when he spoke. "There are some places I need to get to today, and my chauffeur called in sick." He said. Katherine was bewildered. Was this bugger actually suggesting that she work as his chauffeur on her birthday, today of all days?! Never! Katie wanted to yell at him. To give him a slap right in the face, and pull his hair out from the roots. But she couldn't find the strength within herself to do such. "Hey, Nick, now's not a very good time." She found herself a
Katherine Cooper approached Nicholas Smith with maddening fury. She walked right up to him until they were staring eyeball to eyeball, their noses almost touching. He'd remained rigid on the spot he stood all the while, waiting for her. Not that she had expected him to flinch or take a step backwards, anyway."I just said, that you will not be taking up to an hour with whatever shit you gotta do in there, before you get your ass down here, so I can drive your sorry ass home!" She glowered, poking his rock hard wall of a chest with her finger. At that moment his lips hardened into a firm line, his expression darkening. Katie didn't care."Now, this is what is going to happen." She said, taking another step forward. Any more and she'd be walking right into him. "I give you ten minutes, Nicholas Smith!" Katie said, punctuating each word of his name with a poke. "Ten minutes no later." She reemphasized. Nick remained silent, a smirk tickling the corners of his lips. 'Ah, there she wa
Another well fulfilled day at Cole Corp had ended, and Katie couldn't have felt more elated. It was as though she'd received this…more bubbly, more optimistic, ten times more energetic version of herself recently. Or should she rather say- the day she'd had her birthday. Nearly everyone on the sixth floor had left, or was packing up to do so. That left her and Nick alone. It'd been days since they last worked on the policy together at the apartment,so Kate was not so sure what to do after shutting down her system that evening. Throwing a glance at him, Katie realized Nick was still as busy as ever on his system, his fingers typing with a speed she considered impressive for humans. Walking over to his office space, she leaned over the cubicle wall. "I know." Nick growled before she could let out a breath. "Why don't you wait for me in the car outside? I'll be down in a jiffy so we can proceed to the apartment." He added, his eyes still glued to his system. "Oh." Katie exclaimed. "O
Kate pulled out the old leather bag full of uncle John's handy tools from the drawer in the basement with a huff. Now that the wiring of her house was finally back on track again - thanks to Nicholas Smith once more, she had decided that the next repairs to be made to her beloved old house from her renovating list, was the plumbing. Recently, she'd had a lot on her mind with formulating the policy every evening after work with Nick, so her plans for renovation of home sweet home had been pushed off to the farthest part of her mind. Not since this morning, though. When she'd nearly been cooked alive in her tub with the water that ran down her pipes after she'd turned the faucet for a cold bath. That was the end of procrastination for her. She'd decided it right there and then that today would be the day she'd roll up her sleeves and get to work. All by herself. Katie couldn't lie, she was no plumber. In fact, she'd never even done anything related to fixing a leaky pipe before. But
In a moment Nick rose to his feet, stretching his tall frame to its usual height. "I-Is that it?" Katie asked, bewildered. ''My pipes are fixed?" "Yup." He replied. "Just like that?" "One hundred percent good as new." He answered, a taunting edge to his tone. Kate gasped in glee. Moving closer to the sink, she turned the faucets, and everything was working great to her delight! A smile found its way up her face. "Thanks for helping me with the plumbing, Nick." She lilted, her gratitude overwhelming her. "Believe me, I'm not doing this for you at all." He returned, smirking when her expression transformed, her eyes narrowing. "Infact," He continued, his tone aloof. "I'm doing this more for myself than for you. The sooner we get your problem fixed, the sooner we can get back to completing our work concerning the policy." Katie cast him a glowering look. Seriously, where did this rude jerk even get the nerve?! "Where to now, Katie?" He probed, ignoring her expression. Katherin
The horrendous flames were back again, but this time, much worse. The smoke that covered everything and everywhere was so dense it could as well have been black fog. Somewhere amidst the nightmarish destruction unfolding all around him, Nicholas Smith could make out the agonizing cries of Anna in pain, and another sweet sickening smell swirled with the acrid smoke encircling all around him.The smell of cooked human flesh! "Anna!" He screamed in terror, fighting for control over his paralyzed limbs amidst the dreadfulness devouring him whole. "Anna!" He yelled again, crawling towards the horrendous sound of her screams, which seemed to be death throes now. But then a deafening blast sounded, and an orangey-yellow fireball burst upwards and outwards from nowhere, cutting through the solid wall of smoke and stink and swallowing him into oblivion.**Nick jerked up from the chair on which he sat, letting out a strangled cry. The smoke, the heat, and much worse. . . The insufferable pai
A dull tap sounded as Katherine Cooper dropped something atop Nicholas Smith's table. He grudgingly tore his eyes away from his system to glance at it. All the blood in his body jumped back to his heart at once. This was the capsule of suppressants he'd been looking for all weekend! Eventually, he'd given up searching, concluding that he'd misplaced it somewhere perhaps, but now, somehow, Kate had gotten hold of it. That could only mean one thing. He'd forgotten it at her house in his haste to leave, the day he'd helped out with her plumbing. Nick turned his gaze back to his system, reluctant to look up at her lest she catch a glimpse of the shaken look on his face. "What is that?" He quizzed, his tone wintry. "I don't know, you're supposed to be the one who tells me." Kate stated, arms across her chest. "I found this at my house the day you came over. It isn't mine, definitely, plus, I haven't had anyone over in ages, so it has to be -" "It's not mine!" He sharply cut in. "Of c
One week later. . .Katie swung the panel doors open, and all eyes in the room turned on her as she walked in. Where was Nick? Slightly Clearing her throat, she slowly began to pick her way past the tangle of bodies present in the hall for the meeting that had been called all of a sudden. She was making her way to the front so she could have a better view of the stage when Christy Wagner rushed towards her dramatically. "Congratulations, Katie!" She said, giving Katherine a warm hug. Kate was bewildered. First of all, Christy was in the accounting department so they barely ever saw eye to eye, and secondly, even when they saw, the relationship between them was a little more than official. She wondered how Christy had gotten to know that something great enough to be congratulated about, had happened to her. But that wasn't what was bothering her most. What exactly was the incident, and how was it that Christy had come to know before her? "I knew that even if everyone else had fail