Fall into my Heart (The Subzero Series, #1) Read online

  Fall Into My Heart

  Subzero Series Book One

  By Rebecca Elise

  Fall into my Heart

  Subzero Series Book One

  Rebecca Elise

  Published by Rebecca Elise

  Copyright © 2013 Rebecca Elise

  Cover by RE Publishing

  Cover Photo by Roman Barelko

  This novel is a work of fiction. Any resemblance to people either living or deceased is purely coincidental. Names, places and characters are figments of the author’s imagination. The author holds all rights to this work. It is illegal to reproduce this novel without written expressed consent from the author herself.

  All Rights Reserved

  Thank you for downloading this free ebook. Although this is a free book, it still remains the copyrighted property of the author, and may not be reproduced, copied and distributed for commercial or noncommercial purposes.. Thank you for your support.

  Table of Contents

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Chapter Thirteen

  Chapter Fourteen

  Chapter Fifteen

  Chapter Sixteen

  Epilogue

  Acknowledgments

  About the Author

  Chapter One

  I still can’t believe I am doing this. I must have lost my mind. I have never been a fly by the seat of your pants kind of girl. I have always been so responsible and levelheaded. But that was the old me. The new me is crazy and unpredictable.....I hope. My name is Chloe Carver and up until last Tuesday I was a publicist’s assistant for the New York branch of Drayton McGuire’s P.R. firm. In three days, I will officially step into my new position as a publicist for the firm’s branch in London.

  This new spontaneous life of mine started about three months ago. I got off from work early enough to catch my actor fiancé, Connor Scott, in bed with one of the actresses from his current play. Connor told me it was an accident. You know, they accidently decided to go back to our apartment, accidently went into our bedroom and accidently fell into our bed, where all of their clothes accidently fell off. Ugh. Of all the girls he could have cheated on me with, I can’t believe it was with Carina Bishop. Carina had mile long legs that never seemed to end, shiny blonde hair, emerald green eyes and a perfect year round golden tan. At 5 feet tall, 110 lbs with shoulder length brown hair and brown eyes, I felt like a squat little oaf compared to her.

  Anyway, after that I felt like I needed a little change. So I went into my bosses office, told her I was interested in the position open at the London office, and here I am.

  “Excuse me miss, we’re here.”

  The taxi driver pulled me out of my dazed state as he came to a stop in front of my new home. I handed him what I hoped was the right amount of money and took a deep breath as I stepped out of his cab.

  Well here’s to the start of my new life. I grabbed the handle of my black rolling suitcase, turned around and walked smack into a guy with an electric blue Mohawk.

  “Oh geez.....I’m so sorry.” I stammered.

  “It’s okay beautiful, happens all the time.” Blue Mohawk said. He turned to his friends and said, “See I told you I am a chick magnet. The ladies are just drawn to me.”

  I fought the urge to roll my eyes as I glanced over at Mohawks friends. They were cute.....REALLY cute. They were all wearing the same khaki colored cargo pants and t-shirts with the word Subzero on them, which made me wonder if they were some sort of a standard issued uniform. One of the guys was really tall, 6’5 easy, with a bright red crew cut and green eyes. The guy next to him was average height, average weight, with a blonde buzz cut and brown eyes. Next to him was a guy with spiky jet black hair and the most gorgeous pair of sapphire blue eyes I had ever seen. Mr. Gorgeous Blue Eyes cocked his head to the side and flashed me a crooked smile. Realizing I just got caught staring at him, I quickly looked away and felt my cheeks grow warm as they blushed bright red.

  “Ummmm.....Are you okay?” Blue Mohawk asked.

  I glanced at him and did what any sophisticated girl in my position would do.....I muttered something that even I didn’t understand and I took off. As I walked through the door into my condo building, I swear I heard the four of them laughing.

  Stepping into the elevator, I pressed the button for the third floor and leaned back against the cool stainless steel walls and closed my eyes. Way to make a first impression you big dope, I thought. I shook my head at my own absurdity as the elevator pinged. I stepped out and quickly moved towards the glossy black door labeled 3C. I closed the door behind me and as I turned around, I caught my reflection in a mirror hanging on the wall.

  “You are such a spastic tart.” I told myself.

  I let go of the handle of my suitcase and walked down the hall and into the living room. Sitting down on the oversized beige couch, I looked around the room in a daze. This was the first time in my life I had moved a significant distance from home and I wasn’t sure what to do with myself. Drayton McGuire furnished my apartment so I didn’t have any decorating to do. Not yet anyway. I mean their decorator did a nice job, but it’s kind of.....well.....if I am being honest it’s quite.....boring. It’s boring. Everything is neutral tones, which is okay but if I ended up staying here long term I will have to put a little bit of my personality in this place. I didn’t feel like unpacking. I needed groceries but after my flight I didn’t think I had the energy to find a grocery store and actually shop for anything.

  I curled up on the couch and pulled out my cell phone. Hmmm.....it should be about 11:00 in New York. I punched in my sister’s phone number and she answered after two rings.

  “Chloe! How’s London?” She asked enthusiastically without even saying hello.

  “Oh my goodness Abby, you won’t believe what happened to me” I said.

  I told Abby about my embarrassing run in with Blue Mohawk and his friends. She apparently thought it was as comical as they did.

  “It’s so not funny,” I groaned, “What if they live here? What if I see them again? They probably think I am an idiot. The girl who gets all mumbley and runs away! Who does that anyway?”

  “Well don’t worry about it. I’ll be out in a few weeks to visit. We can do some damage control then.” She laughed.

  “Thanks Abby. I’ll talk to you later.” I said and we both disconnected.

  Damage control....I’m hoping there won’t be any need for damage control seeing as I honestly don’t plan on running into Ole Blue and his buddies anytime soon. I bet none of them live here anyway so I am probably worrying over nothing.

  All of the sudden I realized I still felt disgusting from spending so much time on an airplane and decided what I needed was a nice, warm shower. Reluctantly I pulled myself up off of the couch and I walked towards my bedroom, grabbing my suitcase along the way. I wheeled my suitcase next to my bed, opened it up and grabbed my bag of toiletries.

  I started to feel the stress of my day slip away as I entered the bathroom. The walls were painted a very subtle shade of green. I ran my fingertips along the white marble countertop and looked around. There was a standup shower next to the toilet and across from that was.....oh my god a garden tub! I couldn’t help but smile as I looked at the garden tub. I absolutely love garden tubs and could already picture myself here reading a trashy magazine and sipping a glass of wine after a long da
y at the office.

  I glanced into the mirror and quickly remember why I came in here. Why is it celebrities are photographed getting off of planes and they look absolutely fabulous, yet I get off the plane and I look like I haven’t seen a hairbrush or a shower in years? I turned on the water and began to undress slowly, tossing my clothes aside. I stepped into the shower as the bathroom started to fill up with steam.

  After my shower, I put on my pajamas and rummaged around my carryon bag to see if I had anything left over from my flight to eat. I found a pumpkin pie granola bar, a baggie filled halfway with baked wheat crackers and a pack of mini blueberry muffins. Score! Dinner is served! I haven’t eaten dinner like this since I was in college, but since I have no food and no idea what is around here, this will have to do.

  After dinner, I turned on my laptop and played a couple rounds of solitaire until I could barely keep my eyes open. I managed to shuffle half asleep into my bedroom. Without turning on the light, I felt around for my bed. Finding it almost immediately, I crawled in and fell fast asleep.

  ~*~

  So far my first official full day in London was getting off to a better start. After I woke up, I unpacked my clothes and found directions to a grocery store. Before I left, I looked out the window to make sure my new friends weren’t hanging around outside. Luck was on my side as they were nowhere to be seen. Looks like I won’t be embarrassing myself today.

  Thank goodness!

  I found the grocery store without a problem. I hated going to the grocery store and it’s even worse when you don’t know where anything is. I finally managed to fill up my cart with enough food two weeks, which isn’t hard to do when you live by yourself, and a gorgeous bouquet of lilies. All girls should get flowers, even if they bought them for themselves, right?

  It was gorgeous outside so even though I took the bus to get there, I decided to walk back to my condo. It wasn’t very far and, despite the fact that I was now toting eight sort of light grocery bags, I actually enjoyed my walk. That was, until I walked into my building and saw the “Out of Order” sign hanging on the elevator doors. I sighed and started my walk up the three flights of stairs. I was almost to the top when I tripped on a step and groceries went flying.

  “Do you need a hand?” A velvety smooth voice called from behind me.

  I turned around and there was Mr. Gorgeous Blue Eyes walking up the steps with a smirk on his face.

  “Ummm.....No. I got it. Thank you though.” I said.

  “Yeah it looks like it,” He said as he bent down and picked up my carton of toffee bar ice cream. “I should probably warn you that the lift is constantly on the fritz.”

  “The what?” I asked.

  He let out a laugh and sucked in his lower lip to try and suppress it. “The elevator.”

  He helped me put my groceries back in my bags. I felt like I should say something, but I couldn’t think of anything to say. He looked up and smiled and I realized that I was staring at him again. It was hard not to. He looked kinda hot in his tan corduroy pants and blue polo style shirt, and his face..... Wow didn’t seem like quite enough to describe him.

  “What number are you?” He asked as he grabbed a couple of my bags.

  “Ummm 3C.....Thank you.”

  “No problem. I’m Jackson by the way, but pretty much everyone calls me Jack.”

  “I’m Chloe.”

  We walked the rest of the way up to my condo in silence. When we got to my door I turned to him. “Thanks I can get it from here.”

  “You’re welcome. It was nice meeting you Chloe. I hope to see you around sometime.” Jack smiled as he set my bags down next to my door.

  I watched him turn around and expected him to head towards the stairs. To my surprise, Jack walked over to the door directly across from mine.

  “You live here too?” I asked.

  “Yes.”

  “You live in that condo right there?”

  “Yes.” He said with a laugh. He turned around and flashed me a smile before disappearing behind the door.

  Did I really just ask him that? I mean he said he lived here and it was quite obvious which condo he lived in, considering the fact I watched him unlock the door. I’m pretty sure he thinks I am some sort of a raging mental case. That’s what I would think if I were him. Well this ought to be interesting.

  I picked up my bags and carried them into the kitchen. After I put my food away, I pulled a vase down from on top of a shelf. I filled it with water and arranged my slightly bent lilies the best I could. I carried the vase into the living room, set it down on the coffee table, and sat down on my couch. I picked my laptop up from the floor, turned it on and clicked on the icon for my email. Junk mail, junk mail, junk mail, do I need to enlarge my what? Oh look! There’s an email from Noelle!

  Chloe,

  So I really wish you were here! I had an insane lapse of judgment the night of your going away party. You’re going to think I’ve gone crazy, which maybe I have. I’ll call you in a few days when I can bring myself to discuss it. I miss you!!!

  XOXO,

  Noelle

  P.S. The insane lapse of judgments name is Nick. Please don’t hate me!

  Oh no! This isn’t going to be good! Nick is my idiot of a brother. He likes fast cars, faster girls, and doing as little amount of work as possible. Nick is two years older than I am and is apparently trying to see just how long he can mooch off of our parents, which will probably be forever. Don’t get me wrong I love my brother and he is a great guy. He’s just a tad lazy, totally commitment phobic and has long since played out the college student card.

  For a minute I thought I needed to stop this before Noelle gets hurt, but we have been friends since we were five. She knows what my brother is like. I don’t want to be mean, but I am so not getting involved, especially not from another continent.

  I closed my laptop and walked into my bedroom. Tomorrow was my first day at the office and I had no idea what to wear. I opened up my walk in closet and just stared into it. I walked over to my black suit and touched the sleeve of the jacket. I wanted to make a good impression, but I didn’t want to look like a total bore. I pulled out a couple of outfits but I wasn’t thrilled with the way anything looked. Normally I would just go out and buy a new outfit, but I wasn’t sure where the mall was. I sighed as I stared at my hopeless wardrobe. I finally settled on tan dress slacks, a white cashmere sweater, and tan heels.

  Feeling confident in my wardrobe choice, I started to walk back into the living room. I stopped in the hallway and glanced at the front door. Curiosity got the best of me and I walked over to the door and glanced through the peep hole. The hallway was empty. I felt slightly ridiculous. I didn’t even know why I was looking for him. I mean what was I going to do if I saw him? I had no intentions of talking to him. I looked at myself in the hall mirror and rolled my eyes. “You are such a dork.” I muttered to myself.

  I walked into my living room and glanced at the clock. I groaned when I realized it was only 4:30. I need to make some friends around here or bribe someone to move over here with me. All of the sudden there was some sort of a commotion going on outside. Walking over to peek out the balcony I saw Jack sitting in the back of a shiny black pickup truck strumming a guitar while blue Mohawk was beating his hands on the top of the truck like it was a drum. It’s too bad I was so bound and determined to avoid them. If I didn’t feel like I did something to embarrass myself when I saw these guys, they seemed like they’d actually be fun to hang out with.

  My cell phone rang and I answered it without looking away from the scene outside.

  “Chloe Carver”

  “Hi Chloe! How are you?” I immediately recognized the voice as Alexis, my old boss from DM New York.

  “I’m good, How are you?

  “I miss you already! Are you ready for you first day tomorrow?”

  “As ready as I’m gonna be.” I said as I walked away from the balcony and started pacing back and forth.

 
“Meet any cute guys yet?” She asked with a giggle.

  “Oh I guess you could say I’ve run into a couple guys.” I said with a light laugh.

  I heard someone saying something on her end of the phone.

  “Uh huh okay. OKAY! Sorry Chloe I gotta run but good look tomorrow!”

  Alexis disconnected before I had a chance to say goodbye. That’s how phone calls always were with her. She had a bunch of big named clients and it seemed like there was always a crisis with someone. She had a habit of making phone calls when she had the least amount of time to actually talk to anyone.

  I tossed my cell phone aside and glanced at the wall clock again. 5:10.....perfect time to start dinner. I walked into the kitchen, pulled a plate out of the cabinet and set it on the counter. I opened up the refrigerator and pulled out a tomato, mayo and 2 slices of 12 grain bread. I began slicing up tomato and made myself a tomato sandwich. I poured some sour cream and onion chips on my plate, grabbed a bottle of water and went back into the living room.

  I sunk down into my comfy couch and turned on the television. After flipping through all of the channels at least a half dozen times, I finally settled on some cheesy reality dating show. I can never understand what on earth would possess people to go on these shows. Are you really that desperate that you have to fight over some schmuck with twenty other women in front of millions of people?

  After finishing my sandwich, I popped in one of my favorite movies into my DVD player and curled up underneath a nice warm fleece blanket. Sometime during the movie, I drifted off to sleep. I woke up around midnight, long enough to drag myself to bed. My head barely hit the pillow and I was out.

  Chapter Two

  I woke up at 4 am, all of the sudden nervous about my first day at work. After lying in bed for about 2 hours, I finally decided I couldn’t lie there any longer. I pulled myself out of bed and stood there for a minute trying to decide if I should eat or get dressed first.

  As if on cue my stomach growled.....definitely eat first. I padded into the kitchen and made myself a bagel with butter and apricot jelly. I went to take the first bite and ended up with a huge glob of jelly on my pajama top. That was graceful. Glad I decided to eat first.