Warning; This erotica has a lot of build-up, character development, and is an emotional roller-coaster based loosely on my own life. It contains themes and such that could be triggering to victims of physical and emotional trauma, and the sex is not til the end. Reader discretion advised. Hopefully, the wait is worth the ride.
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PROLOGUE
"Of all the fucking luck," Lani cursed loudly. Not that anyone could hear her, high up on Grouse Mountain, hiking a small trail.
The very unladylike curse was due to the pissing downpour that seemed to spring up from nowhere, and her Jeep was a good 45 minutes back down the hill. She was already drenched, her flannel shirt clinging to her body like a wrinkled second skin. She muttered curses under her breath, as if suddenly shy of being overhead. Then she remembered how alone she was and screamed a loud angry "FUCK!!!" straight up into the sky as she jogged onto a side trail that lead into the think pine wood that covered Grouse, hoping to find some shelter from the flooding showers. As she found a tree to hide under, she had little to do but think.
As she pulled an extra shirt out of her pack to try to keep warm, she thought back over her life, trying to figure out where she lost control of everything...
*** Eight Months Ago ***
Lani was a beautiful honey brown brunette, in very good shape from daily gym visits, a modest five feet three, with a c cup bosom. Sadly she also had a severe type A personality. She found herself with a heart condition at only 26, the result of a hugely OCD work ethic. In her young life, in just the three years since graduated UBC with a Masters in accounting, she had risen through the ranks of her firm to a very high-paying position, peer respect, and a corner office.
Until she terrified her secretary and all the girls on her floor by collapsing outside the boardroom after a meeting to land a very lucrative client, in the grip of the youngest aged heart attack her firm had ever seen. An ambulance was called as her boss and her secretary sat with her, both very panicked. As the EMTS arrived, they both rode with her. Her boss, Gerald Briggs, tried his best to stay calm as he called Lani's mother, who was out of province on business. Her secretary, Gina, squeezed Lani's hand as she drifted in and out of consciousness.
Gerald and Gina could do little else but wait as Lani was in surgery. They hadn't spoken often, as he usually only dealt with the higher ups on staff in his own department, but Gina knew why he'd come here, or at least she thought she did.
He caught her her staring at his wedding band, and broke the tense silence with a laugh.
"No Miss Graves," he said suddenly, "I'm not having an affair with her."
"Oh Mister Briggs I didn't think-" she stammered.
"Yes you did," he smiled. "Everyone does. I suppose it's flattering. It bothers Allana but since she works so damned hard she at least knows no one thinks she only got promoted on her back."
"But then," Gina asked, "Why are you here if she's not your Mistress?"
"She's become like a daughter to me," he replied quite matter-of-factly.
He told Gina about the day Lani and he had become close. It was after a late board meeting. He had never really discussed his loss of eight years ago with his staff, but that night had been the fifth anniversary of the car crash that took his wife and daughter, and as Lani was packing up folders, she turned to bid him goodnight and found herself hugged.
Her first instinct was to scream sexual harassment until she heard him crying. She gently pushed him out of the hug and led him to a chair, bringing him water. He composed himself, though he still cried quietly. He apologized to her for his outburst, and explain to her about his loss. He had told her he was depressed that day to begin with, and she reminded him so much of Cheryl, his bright beautiful daughter who was killed at only fifteen.
He then said he would understand if she wanted to find other employment after his outburst, but she instead just hugged him and told him about her father. He'd had colon cancer, and died only three days before her graduation from UBC.
Over the past three years they had became very close. He transferred her to his partner's department to avoid conflict of interest because he just wanted to spoil her. Because of this, everyone knew her promotions were earned. Besides, no one doubted it anyway, no one else busted their ass like Lani did.
And all that ass-busting soon had her laying on a hospital bed with a stitched up incision on her chest, barely able to move, with her substitute father figure trembling at the foot of her bed. Gina stayed long enough to see that she was okay and left to fill in her co-workers, who by now had filled up the waiting room in concern.
Gerald sat quietly, tears in his eyes. He squeezed Lani's hand gently, not moving from her side. After an hour he felt her fingers weakly squeeze back, and he looked up. Her eyes were open, just barely, and she tried to move but couldn't.
"You're in the hospital Allana," he said calmly, though his eyes were still wet. "A private room at St. Paul's. You had a heart attack. The surgeon said your coronary artery temporarily contracted and went into a severe spasm, mostly likely due to the horrible overstressing of your heart. They operated and conducted a bypass. The surgeon said that artery is too damaged, they had to bypass it.... at 26 you just had a goddamn bypass to save your life..."
He broke down then, crying, seated at the foot of her bed. She wanted to hug him, feeling guilty that the man who'd filled the emptiness her father's death left, sat weeping because of her. But as weak as she was, all she could do was watch him cry.
"I can't Allana," He choked out. "I can't. Not again. I let you in, I love you like I fathered you myself. I can't go through that pain again."
"I'm... sorry," she whispered hoarsely, her throat dry from the morphine. He fed her a few ice chips, tenderly, with fatherly concern.
"I know you are," he said, composing himself. "But you're so driven. I've warned you, the company physician has warned you. Your mother has warned you. Even your staff has tried to warn you. I mean my god Allana! A healthy twenty-six year old woman should not EVER be having a bypass operation. You were this close to being a corpse!"
Lani just nodded and cried. She knew she overworked herself. Filling her life with work dulled the ache. It kept her from dwelling on her first great hurt.
She'd only fallen in love once, in high school. With the captainess of the cheerleading squad. Or so she thought. After months of build-up, stolen kisses in equipment closets and library rows, hings went to hell at prom, as pictures of her kissing a girl were plastered on the gym wall in a slide show, which the chaperones didn't get turned off near fast enough.
The girl and her boyfriend were expelled in grad year for perpetuating such a stunt didn't ease the ache. So like all hurt teenagers with a broken heart, Lani had sworn to never love again.
Well, that was the official story anyway.
Eight years later she'd succeeded in keeping that promise, and her method of doing so had nearly killed her.
Mister Briggs squeezed her hand.
"Allana," he said sternly, "at the company physician's express medical order, seconded by the surgeon who cut you open, and agreed upon by every single person in my employ, I'm putting you on one year of paid medical leave. You are not to set foot in the office until next March. You're going to learn how to relax, maybe even catch your breath every so often. I want you going to cozy relaxing restaurants. You're to go the movies AT LEAST twice per month. You will eat no less than one tub of ice cream every weekend watching no less than 4 hours of mindless TV."
She tried to lift her head to protest, but he stopped her, just as her mother arrived. Betty Lenton was irritated to say the least, and very afraid of what she almost lost. The still-attractive 45 year old blond greeted her beau with a hug, having been dating Gerald for little under a year. Then she took the chair beside Lani's head, opposite Gerald. She squeezed Lani's hand, just as the combination of exhaustion and pain medication put Lani back into unconsciousness.
