Robyn Michaels’ Weblog

Drawing the Line Between Love and Hate

by

Robyn Michaels

© All Rights Reserved

 

            He had to be the most infuriating man I’d ever met in my life. Arrogant, self-important, egotistical bastard got on my last nerve from the first day he joined the firm.

            I’m a drafting assistant for a large architectural firm downtown. The Architect I was assigned to had retired just a few weeks earlier, so when Samuel Rivers, III, joined the firm, guess who got to work with him…yeah, you got it in one, me.

I’ve worked for Robinson & Thomas Architectural for five years and love my job. I started in the secretarial pool but quickly moved up to drafting assistant when Mr. Robinson discovered my natural drafting talents. For the last three years, I’ve worked with Mr. Robinson’s uncle Bob, a serious but pleasant man who decided to retire after a health scare forced him to reevaluate his priorities.

Samuel, do not call him Sam, thank you very much, was the most promising applicant for the vacant position and was hired on the spot. I was sitting at my drafting station when Mr. Thomas entered the office with Samuel in tow.  Introductions were made. The look in Samuel’s eyes immediately registered in my mind as conceited.

“Elena, please catch Samuel up to speed on the Cooper plans.  He’ll be handling that one from now on, as well as the Long project and the Simons Academy addition.” Mr. Thomas shook Samuel’s hand, “Welcome to the firm, son.”

“Thank you, sir.”

Mr. Thomas left me alone with assuredly the best looking man I’d laid eyes on in a long time. In most situations, I would have been nervous, but not in my office. I’m good at my job and, over the last few years, have gained a lot of confidence while working with Bob. Now, if I’d seen Samuel out in a bar, I’d have definitely given him a second look. His stylishly cut coal black hair, vivid blue eyes, cleft chin and dimpled left cheek were the stuff of dreams, wet dreams that is. Unfortunately, I didn’t meet him in a bar, but at the office.

“Bob kept all his drawing in the file drawers filed by the client’s last name.” I stood and walked toward the far side of the room where the larger drafting station was positioned in front of the wall of glass overlooking the city. “Before he retired, he wrote out notes on each job and placed them with the appropriate drawings.” 

I turned to see if he had followed me to his new desk but he was still standing in the center of the room, glaring at me.

“I think I can figure out where everything is Ms. Reid. I’ve been an Architect for a number of years now and there aren’t many places that drawings could be placed.”

“Please call me Elena.  If we’re going to be working together, I don’t think we have to be quite so formal.” I smiled at him, trying to quell my dislike for the handsome asshole who I was going to have to work with for who knows how long. “May I call you Sam?”

“No. My name isn’t Sam. It’s Samuel.” He looked thoughtful for a moment, curtly nodded once, “I guess that would be acceptable.”

Of all the high-handed, supercilious, pugnacious…

I plastered a strained smile on my face before replying, “Alright, Samuel it is.”

That was our first exchange of pleasantries as co-workers.

 

Over the next month, our working relationship could be described as cool at best, strained at worst. I tried, really I did, to be as pleasant as possible to Samuel. It didn’t help in the least that the longer I worked with him, the less I was sure whether I wanted to punch him or rip his clothes off.  Mostly, I wanted to punch him. Knock him on his tight, sexy ass.

He’s unquestionably one of the most talented Architects to ever work at the firm. It’s just too bad he knows it. After he solved one particularly challenging aspect of the Simons Academy floor plans, I made it a point to compliment him on the innovative solution he had come up with regarding the eco-friendly waste disposal facility on the school grounds. When he smiled, it lit up those gorgeous blue eyes and I felt a rush of arousal slam into me when I spied the deep dimple in his left cheek. As quickly as it appeared, however, the smile dissolved into his normal stoic expression and he mumbled a polite ‘Thank you’ before returning his attention to the drawing on his table.

During that first month, I often felt like I was being watched and chalked it up to nerves since I never caught Samuel looking my way.  Each evening I drove home ranting to myself about one comment or another that the egotistical ass had made during the day. Unfortunately, each night my dreams were filled with erotic images of that same ass, naked as the day he was born, laid out on my bed and ready to fill me up with his steel-hard cock. I awoke every morning on the verge of orgasm, arousal thrumming through my veins and none of my toys were satisfying the need building inside me. It was getting to the point that I couldn’t look at the man without a gush of liquid soaking my panties and making me want to do things to him that I had no business wanting to do.  The fact that I wanted him so much made me hate him that much more. I was beginning to lose my mind.

 

It was the second week of August, Samuel’s sixth week on the job, when things finally broke. The weather had been horribly hot that summer and being cooped up in an office with a man I both desired and hated didn’t make life any easier for me.

We were working late finishing up the Cooper plans, the last ones in the office that Friday night. I was working on the final electrical plans and Samuel was putting the finishing touches on the floor plans, making last minute changes that the client had requested earlier that day.  It was heading toward seven o’clock when he spoke up.

“Are you hungry?”

He startled me with an actual personal question.

I chuckled, “Actually, now that you mention it, I am.”

“Since we’re going to be here for a while, why don’t you order some take-out for dinner?”

We decided on pizza since there was a locally owned pizzeria just down the street from our building.  He paid the delivery guy out of petty cash and we decided to eat in the break room so as to avoid getting sauce on any of the drawings.

After literally wolfing down a couple of slices, Samuel leaned back in his chair and took a drink of his soda, all the while watching me eat. His scrutiny was beginning to make me nervous since it was causing all those naughty fantasies to run through my mind.

“What?” I finally had to ask, laying down my half-eaten slice. “Do I have something on my face? Sauce? Cheese? What?”  I lifted my can of soda and took a sip.

“No, nothing like that.” He tilted his head to the side, staring at me with an intensity that made me want to squirm in my seat. Liquid flooded my panties when he ran his tongue across his lower lip. “I’m just trying to figure out what it is about you.”

“Huh? What it is about me?” I shook my head in confusion. “I don’t understand.”

“Well, I can’t stop thinking about you.”

If he had said he’d hired a hit man to bump me off, I don’t think he could have surprised me any more than he did with that simple statement.

“I know you can’t stand me and I don’t say that I blame you. I’m not the easiest person to get along with according to my parents.”  He took another drink before setting his can on the table. “Since that first day in the office, you’ve had me off kilter. Half the time I don’t know if I’m coming or going.”

Stunned beyond words, I simply sat there staring at this man who looked like my co-worker but certainly didn’t sound like him.

“I’ve been a jerk and I’m sorry for treating you so badly.” He shot me a half-hearted, bone-melting grin and took a deep breath before continuing. “In all honesty, I don’t know how to act around you. I think that’s why I’m always so, I don’t know, hard to get along with.” He shrugged. “The firm has a policy discouraging fraternization between employees but I swear that’s all I can think of when we’re in the same room together.”

I watched him lean forward in his chair, his gaze never leaving my face.

“I-I don’t know what to say.” I inhaled, faintly smelling his cologne mixed with the aroma of the pizza. “To be honest, I’m not sure what I think of you Samuel.”

“Sam. I think I’d like for you to call me Sam, Elena.”

“Okay, Sam, I think you’re a brilliant Architect. Talented, intelligent, handsome…” My voice trailed off as I realized what had just slipped out.

His eyes brightened immediately and his mega-watt smile nearly knocked me on my ass.

“Handsome, huh?”

“As if you don’t know that already.”

“Well, I didn’t know you thought so.”  His dimple flashed again, making me want to kiss it before moving on to his plump lips. He stood and grabbed my hand in his much larger ones and pulled me up from my chair and firmly against his hard body. “So, where do we go from here?”

“I have no idea.” I could feel his erection pressing into my stomach, causing my core to clench in need. “Where do you want this to go?”

“I know exactly where.” His expression was decidedly wicked as he lowered his face toward mine and whispered, “My bed.”

He pressed his lips to mine, firmly, possessively. He urged my mouth open and plundered its depths, tasting and teasing every inch of it. His tongue tangled with mine, tempting me to follow it back and taste him in return. I couldn’t get enough of the heady flavor that was more than just the sum of what we’d eaten. It was masculine and uniquely Sam and I had to have more.

He pulled back, looked deep in my eyes. “What do you think about working Saturday?”

“Huh?” Confusion rolled over me.

“I think the Cooper plans can wait until tomorrow because I don’t think I can.” He pressed a quick kiss to my sudden smile. “I want you in my bed right this minute.”

“Yeah, I think I’d like that.”

 

Since that night six months ago, I won’t say that Sam hasn’t ever gotten on my nerves. But I will admit that when he does, he makes up for it in a most delicious way.  I’ve always heard there’s a fine line between love and hate. Yeah, you know I think there is and I’m awfully glad to be on the side of love.