Chapter 4

4

ADAZE

A daze Banks was never one to let things keep her down. Within a few hours of getting home from her accident, she pulled out her laptop to try and get some work done. Literally all she did was wash the sea water from her skin and get to work. You didn't become a self-made billionaire, owner of multiple companies, and the CEO of a multinational corporation by sitting around.

After all, how could she just sit around after something like that?

No, all that would do is leave her to stew on the situation. That wouldn't do anyone any good, so since she was unexpectedly home, she might as well try and make herself productive for a few hours.

She couldn't have been working for more than an hour or two when a notification popped up on her screen. It was a message from Diana, her (slightly overbearing) personal assistant. Not that Adaze would have it any other way.

After all, someone needed to force their way into her house and make sure she wasn't so focused on her work she accidentally starved to death or dehydrated at her desk. Diana had been with her for years, and in so many ways, she was the closest thing Adaze had to family—as sad as that might be. Hence why she was the only other person trusted with a key to her penthouse.

Sighing, she pulled up the message.

What are you doing online today? You said you were going out on the water. Don ' t tell me you brought your laptop on your yacht.

She rolled her eyes. Once she was done with the document she was working on, she typed up a quick reply.

Had a little mishap on the boat. Ended up coming home early so I figured I might as well get something done.

She should have known better than to think that would be the end of it. She had just gotten another project pulled up and was really starting to get into her work when her cell phone rang.

She thought about ignoring it, but knowing Diana, she would just show up here if she did. With a sigh, she answered the phone.

"Hello?"

"What do you mean there was a mishap ? Are you alright?" her panicked voice blared through the small speaker.

Adaze winced. "I'm fine, don't worry. I just hit some rough water." She frowned for a moment as a thought came to her. "But we are going to need to call the insurance and file a claim at some point. Can you take care of that or do I need to do it?"

"What happened? How bad is the damage? If it's nothing serious I can probably handle it, but if it's anything major, they're probably going to want to talk to you."

"Well, that's kind of hard to say. I didn't get the best look before it sank."

"It WHAT ?!"

Adaze winced, pulling the phone away from her ear. "Yeah, it kind of sank, but I'm fine. Besides, I've been meaning to get a new one."

"What happened?"

She sighed. "I don't want to talk about it. I'm fine and I just want to get some work done before bed."

"It sounds like you should be taking it easy."

She let out a half laugh. "Come on, Di, you should know me better than to expect that. When have I ever taken it easy? Remember when I got my gallbladder taken out?"

"How could I forget? You were working in the recovery room while waiting to be released. It wasn't funny then and it definitely isn't funny now, Adaze. You could have died. Do you want me to come over?"

"No." Her frown deepened. "I'm just fine on my own. You don't need to worry about me. I'm going to do a little bit of work then go to sleep. I'll see you bright and early tomorrow with my usual coffee order."

"Adaze—"

"I said I'm fine," she said, cutting her off. Adaze couldn't handle sympathy or Diana trying to make her talk about her feelings. She didn't need that. She needed a distraction. "Really, now let me get some work done, yeah?"

Diana let out a long sigh. "Alright, fine. I'll drop it for now… But promise me you'll call if you need anything."

"If it'll make you feel better, sure."

"I guess that's as good as I'm going to get," she sighed. "I'll see you first thing tomorrow, maybe a little earlier than usual."

"That's fine, just don't forget the coffee." Adaze smiled at the familiar banter.

"Yeah yeah. When have I ever?"

"You're the best, Di. See you in the morning."

They got off the phone and Adaze tried to turn her attention back to her work, but before she put her phone down, she couldn't help herself. She checked for missed calls and texts but there was nothing from Leilani Silva, the hot firefighter, and she felt disappointed.

She shook her head.

It was fine.

Nothing to be disappointed over.

She was just some woman who she met. Yeah, she was super fit, muscly, with incredible hair and big brown eyes you could lose yourself in. She also seemed so bubbly and brave, but so what?

Maybe she raced in to save her regardless of the danger like it was nothing, but that didn't mean anything.

She should just push it from her head and get on with her life.

But no matter how much she tried, she couldn't get the younger woman and her bright smile out of her mind. Something about this firefighter and her muscles dripping wet from the ocean after saving Adaze's life—she couldn't get the image out of her head.

There was something about Leilani Silva—young, brave, and she had been completely unfazed by Adaze. Not intimidated by her. And that was unusual to say the least.

After almost an hour of not getting anything done, she flopped back on the sofa with a sigh. Maybe a shower would help clear her head.

Then she glanced at the clock. It was well after eleven.

Maybe it was time to just call today a loss and go to bed. Adaze hated going to sleep when she didn't feel like she'd accomplished enough, but at this point there didn't seem to be a way around it.

She slammed her laptop shut with a bit more force than necessary before pushing to her feet. She walked through her pristine open concept apartment.

She liked to call it minimalist, but the truth was the place was almost bare. Adaze wasn't in the habit of inviting people over, and she was usually so busy with work she couldn't care less about the decor.

For the first time since she moved in, she found herself worrying what someone else would think of her space.

She shook the thought from her head. What was she thinking? Odds are Leilani Silva would never end up here anyways. It's not like it would really matter.

The rest of the night, she couldn't get Leilani out of her mind. The curl of her lips and her neat white teeth when she smiled.

The outline of her nipples in her wet shirt… mmmmm.

It had been a while since Adaze had had sex and she enjoyed the sexy thought of fucking the hot young firefighter flitting through her mind. Imagining the sweet taste of her. Imagining her strong firefighter arms fucking her. Mmmm.

The next morning when Diana arrived, Adaze was still daydreaming casually about wild sex with hot young firefighters.

She was sitting on the sofa, staring at her laptop and trying to focus when Diana came in, coffees in hand. Her small round face was pinched in a tense smile, short blond hair messy from the wind.

"Hey, how are you doing today?" she asked, voice a bit higher than usual.

Adaze frowned, glancing at the clock. She was also almost two hours earlier than usual. She must be really worried. "I already told you, I'm fine," Adaze assured her, accepting her iced Irish cream coffee before turning back to her work.

"You don't seem fine, which isn't surprising. You've been through a lot."

"It wasn't a huge deal. Don't make a thing of it." Adaze refused to look up from her laptop. She would show her just how fine she was.

"Don't make a huge deal? Adaze, you could have died!"

"At least if I had, I wouldn't need to have this conversation."

"That isn't funny!"

She couldn't help but smirk. "It's a little funny."

Diana shook her head. "I'm going to assume this is just the trauma talking and give you some space. Do you want me to set up an emergency session with your therapist? I'm sure she'd be willing to see you given the circumstances."

"If I needed you to, I'd have said."

Diana shrank back and guilt crashed over Adaze. Diana was just about the only person she had close to her. She never meant to upset her. She just… Adaze was just a frosty person and that was that. You didn't get success on the level she had it in the business world by being nice. Diana knew that better than anyone.

She sighed. "Sorry, I just—look, I'm fine. I just don't want to talk about it, okay?"

"Yeah, fine. I'll drop it, for now."

"Thank you. Now, can we try and get some work done?"

"Yeah, of course."

Adaze turned her eyes back to her laptop and hoped Diana wouldn't comment on how little work she was actually getting done.

For a few hours, there was peace. She was finally starting to get into her spreadsheet groove when her swirling thoughts were interrupted by her phone ringing. She pulled it out to see an unfamiliar number. Maybe the executive from Seal Corp. about the merger. Frowning, she answered.

"Adaze Banks," she snapped.

Diana's eyes snapped to her. "Who is it?" she whispered.

Adaze stood up, turning away from her.

"Hey, Adaze!" Leilani's chipper voice came through the phone and Adaze couldn't help but almost smile.

Hello Hot Fire Girl. Yes please.

"I'm glad you picked up! I didn't think about it until I was already calling, that I had your number but you didn't have mine. Well, I guess you do now."

"Yeah, I do." She couldn't help the smile that made its way onto her face, but she kept her voice as cool as ice.

There was a pause while she waited for her to say something. Finally, Leilani continued speaking.

"Anyway, I was wondering if you wanted to have dinner sometime this week."

"Dinner?" As soon as the words left her lips, Diana hopped to her feet, moving so she could see her face.

Adaze frowned, trying to get out of her line of sight but it was no use. After a few seconds, she had to give up and reply to Leilani. "Sure, why not?"

Diana's jaw dropped. "Dinner? With who?" she mouthed.

Adaze rolled her eyes, turning away again.

"Really?" Adaze couldn't believe she sounded any level of surprised. "Great! How's this Friday? Say around six?"

She swallowed. "Yeah, I could do that. Sounds good."

"Perfect! I can come pick you up or we can meet up at the restaurant, whatever you're more comfortable with."

She thought for a moment then said, "You can pick me up."

Diana sputtered in shock.

"Perfect! I've got to get back to work, but I'll see you then?"

"Yeah, sounds good. Have fun saving lives."

Leilani chuckled, and the sound of her laugh was beautiful. "Oh, I sure will. See you Friday."

They hung up, and Adaze returned to her laptop without a word. She did her best not to make eye contact with Diana. It didn't make a difference though, because she still asked, "So who was that?"

"Just someone I met yesterday."

"Yeah," she grinned. "And how did the two of you meet?"

Adaze groaned. "Please don't make a thing of this."

"I'm not making a thing. When have I ever made anything a thing. I'm just happy for you. You deserve it."

"I said not to make it a thing," Adaze muttered, face flushing.

"But it is a thing. I mean, this is the first time you've dated since?—"

"Diana," Adaze cut her off. "Can we not talk about this?"

"Right, sorry. I'll drop it."

"Thank you!"

That lasted all of five minutes before she asked, "So what are you going to wear?"

Adaze groaned, falling back against the sofa.