Earthbound Angels Part 1: The Heartthrob Fallen Celestial Stories Collection (3 page)

As Hollianne passed the front desk, the
concierge beckoned her over. He smiled at her and handed her a
keycard.

"You'll need this to open the penthouse floor,"
he explained. "We were told to keep an eye out for you."

"Oh, um, thank you very much."

That should be a good sign, right?

He was not afraid that people knew she was
coming up. If something should happen...The thought occurred to her
that he had paid the concierge to pay no attention. Surely no one
would be so...

Now, don't even think about it. That puts the
energy out there. It won't happen if you don't think about it!

Yeah, right. I didn't think that accident
wouldn't happen to Adam, but it did.

Ah, so now she was talking to herself.

She attributed her rambling thoughts to a hungry
stomach, and she knew she had to hurry. She walked slowly to the
elevators and took one that opened empty before her as if it had
been arranged.

She noticed the letters
PH
engraved on a little door and beside it, a small
slot where she was able to slide her keycard. The door opened and
she pushed the button to reach the penthouse. When the elevator
stopped, the doors opened instantly onto a foyer. The man standing
there waiting to greet her took her breath away.

"Ms. Talbot, I presume," he said, smiling and
holding out his hand to assist her from the elevator.

Slowly, as if in a dream, she lifted her hand
for him to take, never taking her eyes from his face. All her
reservations, her caution and trepidation, vanished like the smoke
of a snuffed candle.

He had the most amazing neon-blue eyes she had
ever seen. They were warm and friendly, but they also held a
glimpse of wisdom; ancient and self-assured. His hair was
jet-black, cut short but falling in a natural wave that didn't need
maintenance. He was approximately 6'3" and built so that she would
feel safe going down a dark alley at night with him -- strong and
able to handle himself, but at the same time, neither vain nor
oppressive.

She couldn't imagine that someone like him would
hurt her, but at the same time, neither could she explain why she
felt utterly safe just being in his presence. He wore a pair of
black dress slacks and an open-necked dark purple shirt with no
tie, revealing his tanned upper chest. He looked perfectly human,
yet perfectly divine.

She imagined that if she ever saw an angel, it
would look like him. He was, in short, the most beautiful man she
had ever set eyes on. And weren't angels purported to be this
beautiful?

"Is there something wrong, Ms. Talbot?" Erick
asked, still holding onto her hand.

"Oh no, no!" Hollianne felt her face heating up
as if on fire. "I'm, um, just so amazed at how beautiful this place
is."

She transferred her eyes to her surroundings,
though not really able to take anything in. Erick laughed. Oh, it
was a beautiful, caressing sound!

"Come in, please. Let me show you around."

Thus began one of the most remarkable nights of
her life.

Erick showed her around the suite with an easy
and unassuming confidence, relaxed and respectful, as if he were
expecting nothing more to come of the evening than pleasant
conversation. And why would he expect anything other than that?
They had only just met. If either of them expected any more than
chatting, it would cheapen the evening as well as their beginning
connection. They sat down at a table in front of the huge
floor-to-ceiling window that offered an amazing view of the city, a
constellation of thousands of lights like a black plain festooned
with multi-coloured stars.

The table was full of covered dishes that, when
uncovered by a suave and efficient waiter, offered a feast unlike
anything Hollianne had ever experienced -- course after course of
delicate, mouthwatering cuisine accompanied by Petrus and
Romanee-Conti, a single bottle of which would cost more than her
weekly food budget.

It was over this dinner that Erick delivered
what Hollianne could only call a dream job proposal.

After outlining what he would like to see
accomplished with his book, he started to talk money.

"Now, given that there's a number of different
areas I want to reflect on, we'd be looking at eight to ten
chapters, so what I would like to see is a finished book of at
least 350 pages, no less. It can, of course, exceed that number if
needed, at which time we would renegotiate the terms of
payment."

He was very serious, she observed, just like a
real businessman would behave in an important business deal.

So how could there be any doubt that this offer,
whatever really lay behind it, could be dishonest?

"For now, though," Erick continued, "I would
like to offer you $100,000 for a 350 page book." He paused for just
long enough to let the figure sink in, dropping it into the
conversation as casually as if he were discussing the weather.
"Half of that will be paid upon the signing of the contract, and
the other half upon completion of the book. You will be awarded
royalties from the book sales in the amount of 45 percent. Are
those terms acceptable to you?"

Hollianne couldn't speak. All the arguments
inside her head ceased.

All the voices inside there were just as
speechless, like a garrulous audience struck dumb by the highest C
ever uttered by a human voice, sitting there stunned and blinking
in the silent darkness of the auditorium.

The thing that was truly astounding to her was
his offer of 45 percent. That never happened in any book deal! So
either this man was much unschooled in business negotiations which
she highly doubted, or he simply had money to burn and didn't need
to make a lot of money off of this book. There was also the chance
that he wasn't sure of how well the book would be received and
wanted her to gain some money from it even if it wasn't a lot.
Well, whatever he was thinking, she wasn't about to turn down a
deal like this if he was seriously offering it to her.

Finally, seeing that his face gave no hint that
he was anything but serious, she was able to conceal her shock as
she sipped her wine, gatheringher thoughts and thought of an excuse
for not responding instantly.

In her mind, Hollianne had already accepted the
deal and was thinking of just how drastically it could change her
life. It would go a long way towards helping her get back on her
feet; that was for sure. This kind of money might just help her to
put Adam's shocking death in the past as much as anyone could ever
move on from something of that magnitude. She could finally plan
her life from this moment on and escape the prison in which she had
existed since the night the police turned up at her home with life
altering news. So, yes, there was no doubt that she would be
accepting Mr. Angell's very, very generous offer.

He had just given her the most unexpected
blessing, and here, she was still dumbstruck. She must seem so
gauche and awkward to him, whereas deals like this must be
perfectly normal to him.

She finally managed to speak; or rather, she
heard a voice speaking in a detached and professional tone, and was
surprised to find that it was her own.

"Well, Mr. Angell, I have to say that those
terms sound exceedingly fair. I have no issues with any of what
you've said so far."

God, the understatement of the year!

She wanted to laugh. It was crazy, completely
inexplicable, but if it was a dream; it showed no signs of
ending.

"Excellent then!"

Erick flashed his dazzling smile again, and she
tensed involuntarily, sensing that something was coming.

"There's one more condition that I have, and I
hope that it won't change your mind."

No, it wouldn't, whatever it is. A
meteor falling on Earth would not change my mind.
It would be considered the
highest rate of crazy to change her mind! But, nevertheless, she
felt that this was to be the crucial point; the one he had been
leading up to all along.

"As I like to work at various hours throughout
the day and night, I'm going to need you close by at all times.
You'll be on call, so to speak."

She stared at him, confused.

"To that end, I will need you to take up
residence in your own private suite within my home. It's a large
estate with live-in help, so you needn't worry about any
improprieties." He dropped the word so casually that not even a
more suspicious mind than hers could have detected anything behind
it. "You could look at it as one of the perks while you're writing
my biography."

That was it? She would just have to change her
plans to accommodate his and that was it? Hollianne had not
expected this, but she made up her mind instantly.

Even though she'd be able to pay Jackson and
keep her townhouse, she also knew it was time to move away from her
memories of Adam, especially given the latest of them, which tended
to cast a long and grim shadow on the other times they had shared.
Though she had clung to the happier times of the past with him,
those memories had unavoidably dragged her down. She knew it was
time to break free of the past, both good and bad, so that she
could make her own way unburdened by it. She needed this
opportunity.

It was almost too good to be true. She couldn't
help but wonder if there wasn't some hidden agenda somewhere.

"Mr. Angell," she finally said, "I have to ask
you something. Are you an angel that just dropped to Earth?"

At first Erick was stunned at the question. She
had startled him for the first time this evening. This was also one
of the very few occasions during his sojourn here on Earth that he
was genuinely unable to form a response, thinking for a brief
instant, however ridiculous it seemed, that somehow she had managed
to discover his secret and that somehow that meant the end of
everything...

There's no way she could know that!

But just as he was forming an answer to the
question, or trying to, Hollianne spoke again with a giggle.

"The reason I say that is because you have
offered me a job that is absolutely perfect for me."

"Oh, is that so?" he replied innocently, while
inwardly allowing a feeling of relief to flow through him.

She nodded. "I'm in a transitional period in my
life and this couldn't have come at a better time. I'm happy to
accept your job and all of the terms that you've outlined here
tonight. So, when would you like me to start?"

Knowing that things couldn't be moving along
more perfectly, Erick dazzled her once more with his high wattage
smile.

They agreed that she would be packed and ready
to move into his home by tomorrow evening.

He offered to send someone to help her pack and
move out but she declined, saying that she tended to dislike
strangers handling her things.

"That sounds pretty bad, doesn't it," she said,
a little embarrassed. "I just... it's something I've had since I
was a kid. Something about changing nannies. I don't remember much;
just that I loved this nanny, but she died. Since then, I can't
bear anyone else touching my things."

"What about your mother?" he asked, looking very
curious.

"She died when I was a baby," she answered
awkwardly. "My father was a very busy man so without a mother, I
was raised by nannies." She found herself staring out at the view,
or at least the part which did not show his reflection, because it
was much easier. For some reason, she could not lie to him. She
could not make up a story that was less painful or embarrassing to
tell than the real one. "And then he died when I was sixteen, and
my stepmother got everything. I was left only with the money I
inherited from my mom. It was deposited in a tight trust fund that
she couldn't touch. I have lived independently since then."

She tried to summarize her life as succinctly as
possible. There were so many things left unsaid, and she normally
didn't divulge her life to somebody else. This was a very private
part of her life that she guarded from everyone. Of course, she had
told Adam all about it but to open up to a stranger was unheard of,
especially to a stranger who had just offered her a dream job. Now
it occurred to her to glance at his face to see how he was taking
this little bit of her life story. She was relieved to find that
his face held nothing but an understanding expression. There was no
pity there nor was there any type of judgment. Allowing herself to
return to her former feeling of comfort with this man, she smiled a
bit wryly. "I guess you just got a bit more than you bargained
for," she said.

"Oh please don't feel that way!" Erick replied
quickly. "If I had not been interested, I would not have asked. I
do feel bad that you had to live what must have been a rather
difficult life. I assure you that things are well on their way to
improving dramatically for you."

She wondered again how this man could make her
open up so easily. Well, she certainly had not met anyone like him,
she thought. That must be it. He had this effect on her, and she
would guess that it must be how he affected other people, too. He
would not be this wealthy without this rich of an influence.

Hollianne quickly completed their goodbyes
before he could ask further personal questions that she would feel
bound to answer. In her current mood, her defenses weakened by
Erick's direct and uncomplicated manner and the wine, of which she
had unknowingly consumed three glasses; she might have started
talking about her past love life, and that wouldn't have ended
happily.

Having concluded the meeting, Erick walked
Hollianne to the elevator.

"Thank you so much for this opportunity, Mr.
Angell," she said as she shook his hand. "And also for such an
amazing meal."