Best Laid Plans

Ch 3 - Breakfast

Helen woke up late for work. She dressed in a hurry and barely took the time to put on any makeup. She rushed down the stairs because she didn't want to wait for the elevator. On her way down the last flight of stairs to the garage, she heard a snap and felt herself starting to fall. She managed to grab the stair rail in time to catch herself. "Oh hell, what else can go wrong?" she asked loudly, her voice ringing through the stairwell. She sat down on the steps and pulled off her wounded shoe. She picked up the wayward heal and attempted to reattach it to the shoe, but the injury appeared to be permanent. She slipped off her other shoe and started back up the stairs toward her apartment.

When she arrived back at her apartment, she noticed the blinking light on her answering machine. She walked over and hit the play button and then began to search her closet for another pair of high-heeled shoes. Buried inside her crate of shoes, she managed to find another black pair of heels and slipped them on. Realizing that she had not been paying attention to the message and that the voice was somewhat unfamiliar, she hit the replay button and sat down to listen.

"Hello, is this the same Helen Parker that I met in the laundry room last night?" the message began. "If it is, please call 555-RYAN and let's discuss breakfast. If this isn't, then I am really sorry that I called you so early. Please accept my sincere apology. Thank you and goodbye."

Helen quickly picked up the phone and dialed the number, "Please tell me that you didn't call every Helen Parker in the book," she blurted out when the voice at the other end said "Hello?"

"Of course not!" Ryan calmly replied, "I just wanted to be sure that you would call right away."

"Well, it worked," she said in a calmer voice. "Now what was that you said about breakfast?"

"I'd like you to come over to my apartment and eat it."

Helen couldn't help smiling at that remark. She stifled the urge to reply, "Eat what?" Instead she answered, "Which apartment is yours?” even though she knew exactly which one was his.

She changed out of her suit and pulled on a thin cotton shell and a short denim skirt. She felt a certain rush getting ready to meet Ryan for breakfast. She picked up her phone and dialed her office number. She checked through her voicemail messages and then called her boss's extension.

"Hello, Joshua Radford."

"Josh, listen, I won't be in today. Our boy just called and asked me to meet him in his apartment for breakfast." Helen could hardly contain her excitement.

"I thought that you blew it last night and would have to start over?" he responded.

"So, did I, but I guess I was wrong, wasn't I?" she said as she pulled on a pair of pink heels that matched her sweater. "Can't talk for long or I'll be late. I'll call back later and let you know how things went."

Helen hung up the phone and rushed out the door for the elevator. She decided again that the stairs would be faster, but this time she removed her shoes. She bounded up the two flights of stairs and down the hall. The door opened while she was busy putting her shoes back on. She straightened herself up and smiled at Ryan as he grabbed her elbow to steady her.

"Glad you could make it," he said as he led her into his apartment.

Ryan's apartment was immaculate. "I must remember to ask him who cleans his place," Helen thought as Ryan dragged her across his shining wooden floors to his dining table. He left her long enough to pull out a chair for her and practically forced her to sit down. The place setting was simple and inexpensive, but sparkling clean; Helen wondered if he had just bought them.

Ryan poured out two cups of coffee and two glasses of orange juice and then disappeared momentarily into the kitchen. He reappeared carrying a frying pan and a spatula. "I hope you like omelets!" he announced as he placed one on each plate.

Helen was in heaven at that moment; the orange juice was freshly squeezed, the coffee wasn't burnt and the omelet was the most incredible one she had ever had. "Where did you get the idea for a ham and pineapple omelet?" she found herself asking.

"Pizza" was his brief reply. Helen decided that she really didn't need to know what pizza had to do with her omelet. She had never met a man who could cook before. Thinking about his skill as a chef made Helen blush with embarrassment as she remembered how poor were her own cooking skills.

Helen's blush brought a smile to Ryan's face and Helen only felt more embarrassed. She tried to curtail her blushing by forcing a smile, but it didn't work. Ryan reached across the table and, touching her cheek gently, said "You are beautiful when you blush." His remark only led to further blushing on Helen's part. Ryan laughed, "Do you blush in bed?"

Helen took offense at his rude question and started to rise from her chair.

"I'm sorry," Ryan protested, "Please don't go."

Helen glared in his direction. Her reasons for being there had been forgotten. She had succumbed to the charms of a man so unlike any she had ever known. And in one careless moment, he had become all of them. She didn't know whether to go or stay. Ryan continued his apology, "I invited you here to apologize for last night and here I go ruining what was a nice breakfast. I've never dated anyone as beautiful as you before."

"Dated?" Helen asked, "Did you say 'dated'?"

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to imply that this was a date."

"No, that's okay," Helen had never thought that having breakfast with a man could be considered to be a "date". For Helen, having breakfast with a man was usually how a date ended and, most of the time, Room Service and not her date prepared breakfast. Jason had barely been able to manage toast and instant coffee the last time that they had spent the night together.

Ryan cleared away the omelet plates and returned with two clean ones and a basket full of warm lemon-poppy seed muffins. He also refilled their coffee cups and offered her a choice of butter or cream cheese for her muffin. "I never dated a man who could cook, until now that is!" Helen smiled at Ryan.

"I didn't bake the muffins, but I did manage everything else!" Ryan bragged as he tore open one of the muffins. Helen carefully tore apart her own muffin and popped a small piece of it into her mouth. She watched Ryan as he carefully buttered a small piece and popped it into his own mouth.

Helen deliberately over-buttered a piece of muffin and seductively licked the extra butter off before eating that piece. Ryan buttered half a muffin and licked the butter off before taking a bite out of it. Helen took some cream cheese to a muffin and licked a small heart into the muffin half. She passed it to Ryan and watched him draw an arrow through the heart with the tip of his tongue before passing it back to her. This little game was starting to get to Helen as she noticed her nipples getting hard.

Ryan reached his hand across the table and took hold of Helen's hand as she reached for the last of the muffins. He stood up and pulled her out of her seat. Reaching for her neck with his other hand he pulled her close to him and kissed her. Helen's nipples hurt from her reaction to his deep lingering kiss. She was caught by surprise and stared at him with the look of a deer caught in the headlights of an oncoming car.

"Listen," he said, "I really have to get going now. I don't want to be late for work." He pulled her to the door of his apartment as he continued to explain, "I really enjoyed having you for breakfast, and I think that we should do this again sometime, but I think that you had better get going to wherever it is that you go during the day. I'll call you sometime, if I don't see you at the mall or the laundry room." He practically pushed her out the door as he finished his last sentence.

Helen stood outside his door for a moment, confused by what had just happened. She started down the hall towards the elevator thinking about the kiss she had just been given and the "bum's rush" that had followed it. She began to suspect that Ryan wasn't as naive as she had thought him to be. It had never occurred to her that even "nerds" had lives, although Ryan wasn't your stereotypical nerd.

She punched the elevator call button and waited for the car to arrive. She stepped through the doors as they opened only to be followed by Ryan. Helen stepped to the back of the car as he punched the buttons for her floor and the lobby. He turned towards her and grinned at her, his eyes betraying a certain mischievous nature. She looked into those deep blue eyes and saw what must have been his "inner child" peeking through. "That must be what makes him such a good designer," she thought.

When the door opened for her floor, she stepped forward to exit the car. Ryan blocked her exit with his arm and said, "You have to pay a toll." Before she could ask him what he meant, he grabbed her neck and kissed her with the same passion as the earlier kiss. He then stepped clear of the door and motioned for her to exit. Helen stepped out of the car and started down the hall to her apartment.

Helen's phone was ringing when she entered her apartment. She walked over and picked it up. "Hello?" she said.

"Helen, it's me," the voice stated.

"What do you want?" she barked at the voice on the other end.

"To talk," her father answered.

"I don't have time to talk now. I'm late for work," she lied.

"Helen, I'm sorry. I should never have left you or your mother. I'm sorry that I hurt you like that," he blurted out, hoping that she was somehow still listening.

Helen was shocked by his revelation. She had never expected an apology from her father. He had always said to her that she should never apologize for anything. She had taken the lesson to heart and it had made it easier for her to do what she did. "Don't apologize. Don't look back." Those words had stayed with her as she launched her career as a corporate spy. She had helped her company steal designs from the best creative minds in the industry. And now, the man responsible for her career choice was backing down on his word.

"Helen, are you there?" he asked.

"Yes, Dad, I'm still here," she answered quietly.

"Your mother and I would like it if you could join us for dinner tonight. It would really mean a lot to her if we could spend some time together. Can you come tonight?"

Helen took a moment to think about his invitation. She needed time to "regroup" after Ryan's breakfast and really didn't want to be available to him tonight. Jason was out of town and unavailable as an excuse. "Sure, I can come. What time?" she responded.

"Around six?" he tentatively suggested.

"Six will be fine. See you then," she said just before hanging up.

Helen went to her closet and pulled on a pair of black leather boots and a black linen blazer. She grabbed her coat, purse and keys and headed out the door. She took the stairs down to the garage and walked to her car, unaware of the man following her.

Helen opened her car door and tossed her purse into the passenger seat. She pulled on her winter coat and sat down at the wheel. As she put her key into the ignition, she lost control and started crying. She found herself praying for an excuse not to go to her mother's house for dinner.

After a few minutes, she regained her composure and backed out of her space, setting off for her "office" at the mall. Helen could not risk Ryan discovering her real employer's identity, so she had set up a "dummy" business at the mall where she "worked". She had spent several months setting things up for her "accidental" meeting with Ryan Dalton. She had stalked him for days, learning his routine and other personal details of his life. Her greatest fear had been that he would not like women, a fact that would have left her at a decided disadvantage.