“It’s okay if I just keep this coffee, right?” he asked, and she nodded.
“Of course,” she said. “Of course.”
“Thanks,” Matthew said before he walked away leaving her taking long deep breaths
She sat back down just as Travis walked in, a wide grin on his lips. She did not know why, but her heart was beating so fast and hard. But she knew that for some reason, Matthew Leander had gotten her heart racing and he was the first man who had done that for her in a long time. A long, long time.
“So, lunch, huh?” Travis asked, and she raised an eyebrow over the other.
“You listened in on a meeting with a client?”
“Hey, it’s a small office and the walls are not exactly thick,” he said.
She walked to her desk and sat down, her heart still racing. She looked at Travis, who still had a wide grin on his face. She could almost tell what he was thinking, and she did not really feel the need to hear it. Not at that particular moment…or ever. But what she did not know at the time was that what she was feeling at that moment, whatever it was that’s she really couldn’t name, was actually a two-way thing because Matthew was feeling the same way as he made his way back to his place.
*****
When Matthew walked back into his place, he felt a whole lot better about himself. He sent a quick text to Al thanking him for the referral. It was not just business that interested him as far as Big Ideas was concerned, it was also the face behind the company. He made his way to the living room and switched on his computer. He leaned back on the couch just as Yolanda walked in.
“You are back already?” she asked, and he nodded.
“My meeting was pretty short.”
“You look better than you did yesterday and earlier this morning,” Yolanda pointed out. “What exactly happened in this so called ‘business’ meeting?” she asked, putting up finger quotes.
“And what are those finger quotes supposed to mean?” he asked, and Yolanda shrugged.
“Well, you have never come back home in such a good mood after a business meeting. You are always so…how do you say…wound up so tight and everything,” she pointed out matter of factly. “So, I know that everything went really well at the meeting. And maybe it was a little more than just business?”
He looked up at her and shook his head.
“I don’t have anything to hide, Yolanda,” he pointed out. “I just had a good business meeting and I am back.”
Yolanda raised an eyebrow over the other.
“You know I have known you for a long time, yes?”
Matthew shrugged and nodded.
“Yes,” he said. “What does that have to do with anything?”
She smiled at him.
“Mucho querido. Mucho,” she said, sitting down next to him. “I have a feeling that you were meeting a woman. A nice looking one from the way you look right now.”
“Yolanda, I look exactly the same.”
She shrugged and shook her head.
“Actually, you were a little grumpy when you left this morning. And I am guessing it is because of that bruja Missy.”
A smile played on Matthew’s lips.
“Bruja means witch, right?” he asked, and Yolanda nodded. “That’s a little mean, don’t you think?”
“Well, I say it like I see it and I said it the very first time I saw her,” she started as she shook her head. “There was something about her not quite right. Maybe it was the way she talked or the way she walked…but I generally did not like her.”
“Well, you have to tolerate her, Yolanda. I work very closely with her.”
“And I wish you didn’t,” she said a little too honestly. “That woman…I am sorry, but I will never feel comfortable around her. And it is not like you can ever give me the go ahead to give her some poisoned cheese.”
“Yolanda! We have talked about this,” Matthew said, shaking his head.
“Believe me, I know of this untraceable thing…my cousin’s friend in Sinaloa can make it happen. It will look like she had a heart attack or something.”
“Really?” he asked. “Untraceable? For a healthy woman weighing a hundred and twenty pounds to suddenly drop dead because of a heart attack?” He shook his head. “That has to be one of your worst ideas yet, and by the way, I am not looking to get anyone whacked.”
She shrugged.
“I am just saying,” she said.
Matthew shook his head and rubbed his temple.
“You know, sometimes I listen to you talk and I wonder why I don’t sleep with a firearm under my pillow,” he said, and she shrugged.
“I like you. You are like my son, so you are good,” she said, and he smiled.
“That’s a relief.”
“Can I get you something to eat before I go?” she asked. “I was thinking of rushing off to the grocery store.”
He shook his head.
“I’m fine. I just want to catch up with some work.”
“Okay, querido,” she said smiling. “I will see you later.”
“Later, Yolanda.”
He leaned back in his chair and looked at his computer screen as Yolanda hummed her way to the front door.
He was not very sure why he always trusted Yolanda with preparing his meals even though there was so much psychopathy in her. Sometimes, he wanted to think that it was all talk. That she did not have all these ‘connections’ she claimed to have, but he found that he slept better when he didn’t think about it. All he cared about was that Yolanda was one of the best housekeepers he had ever had and he trusted her enough to keep his house safe when he was away.
“Why are all the women in my life bat shit crazy?” he wondered as he sat there. “One of those women is just downright weird and I love but also fear her. And the other one is just a mistake I wish I never made.”
He took a long deep breath as he leaned back and thought about Natasha Bailey, the woman he’d met to do his redesign. A smile played on his lips. She seemed to be a normal woman. One who did not look like the kind to put him through the kind of shit Missy had though the latter had only been in his life for a short time. He did not know what it was about Natasha that got him feeling the way he did. She was beautiful and ever so perfectly plain. Nothing like the women he met in his travels who were almost always a perfect size zero. But he had never fancied the catalogue girls anyway. He was always more interested in the “girl next door” kind of woman. After all, he was also not the catalogue kind of male. He was different as well. He was the average American. The kind with a little meat on his bones and he was comfortable with that. But unfortunately for him, the wrong kind of women always seemed to be after him for the wrong kind of reasons: his status. His travel blog had grown a little more popular than he anticipated, and with the popularity came a whole lot of advertisers and with it, more money than he thought possible when he first started Matt the Nomad.
Perhaps that was why he was so intrigued with Natasha. She was so perfect.
Innocent.
Polite.
Hardworking.
Everything he had always wanted in a woman.
And maybe that was why he had gone to the office instead of simply checking out her website as he would usually have done. Perhaps it was his subconscious at work without him knowing.
He smiled again when he thought of the lunch plans they had made the following day. He could not wait to see her again because little did she know, their meeting the following day had nothing to do with her work and everything to do with getting to know her since he had already decided on hiring her. And he was already considering bringing her on board not only as a designer but also as a woman he would be seeing more often. In more ways than one.
Chapter 4
Natasha hated the fact that Travis had eavesdropped on her meeting with Matthew. Somehow, the innocent business meeting had somehow evolved to something more…in Travis’ mind. As far as he was concerned, the lunch she had agreed to was not just lun
ch, and the more he insisted, the more she wanted to tape his mouth shut.
“Do you even have any idea who Matthew Leander is?” Travis had asked when Matthew left the office.
“Yes. He is my new client,” she pointed out matter of factly.
“Well, yes, but he is also the Mark Zuckerberg of travel blogs,” Travis said persistently.
Natasha shrugged.
“So, he is a big deal. Big whoop.”
“You should be giving him a whole lot of more whoop if you knew just who your new client is,” Travis pressed, and Natasha shook her head.
“I already told you I know who my new client is. Matthew Leander.”
Travis looked at her and shook his head.
“Well, considering who this Matthew Leander is and also considering that he is going to be meeting you at The Waterfront Marble Arch, I think you should probably consider buying something nice to wear tomorrow,” he said, and she rolled her eyes.
“It’s a business lunch, Travis,” she said. “And there is absolutely nothing wrong with my clothes. They cover my nakedness and that’s all that matters.”
She looked at Travis, who had an eyebrow raised over the other, giving him a warning look that was saying a lot. He raised a finger as if he was about to make a point, and she shook her head.
“Don’t even,” she said, shutting him down.
But even though she had convinced herself that this was nothing but a business lunch, she kept on wondering why she was so nervous. Why she had let Travis get into her head. She was suddenly finding herself wondering what she was going to wear to lunch and if she looked good enough to even be going to a fine restaurant like The Waterfront Marble Arch. It had been the same thought running through her head ever since Matthew left the office. All night and all morning too, and by the time she was getting out of the bathroom, she was still not settled on an outfit just yet. And she did not understand what it was that got her so nervous when it came to Matthew. She was suddenly scared to go for the meeting. Mostly because she was afraid she liked Matthew a little more than she was supposed to.
“Damn it, Natasha,” she scolded herself as she pulled on a black dress top over her bra. “He is just a client. And that’s it. No more.”
But it was like the more she was trying to convince herself that there was nothing more between her and Matthew, the more she felt the need to look perfect for him. She was trying to calm herself down by taking long deep breaths as she stood in front of the mirror. She bit her lower lip and exhaled loudly.
Could it be that she had feelings for someone else for the first time in four years?
She did not know what she was experiencing, but whatever it was, she was not so sure how she felt about it. She pulled her hair up into a curly puff and gently applied some lip balm on her lips before she took a step back and looked at herself again. She was in a pair of light green pants and a loose fitting black dress top, one of many she had. She had paired the look with a pair of ankle wedge heel boots, and for a moment, she heard Travis’ voice in her head. She did not look good enough, but even that was not going to make her change out of what she had on. This was what she wore almost daily and she loved it. It was comfortable for her and that was all she ever wanted anyway. She grabbed her bag and walked towards the front door before she put on her coat. She took another long deep breath as she held the door knob. She had been nervous all day, but she was suddenly wondering if she could go through with the whole lunch. She closed her eyes and took a long deep breath again before she made her way out of the apartment. The only way to do this, she thought, was to do it.
*****
Matthew was still trying to figure out what it was about Natasha that made his heart beat a little faster as he waited for her to get to the hotel. He had not really met anyone who made him feel like that. Not in a long time. He could not help but wonder if it was that fact that pushed him into Missy’s arms in the first place. Maybe it was…maybe it was just that he had not had time to just be social. Have a social life that did not involve Matt the Nomad.
He was still deep in thought when he looked up to see Natasha walking towards him. A smile played on his lips as he got up.
“Here you are,” the hostess who had escorted her to his table said with a smile.
“Thank you,” she said as she took off her coat.
“Let me get that for you,” the hostess said as she took Natasha’s coat.
“You can put it down here next to mine,” Matthew pointed out, and the hostess nodded. “And would you come back with a bottle of Pinot Grigio?” He looked at Natasha. “Is that okay with you or would you rather have something else? Maybe red wine?”
She shook her head.
“Pinot Grigio sounds great.”
“Good. Then a Pinot Grigio it is then,” he said.
“Of course. I’ll have a waitress attend to you,” the hostess said before she walked away, leaving Matthew and Natasha standing there looking at each other.
“Hey,” he said as he looked at her. Natasha shrugged.
“Hey.”
He took a step forward and pulled a chair for her.
“Oh, wow…thanks,” Natasha said before she sat down.
He walked back to his side of the table and sat down, looking at her brown eyes across the table.
“I’m sorry…I was running late and somehow I did not carry my phone with me so I could not give you a heads up,” she started, and he shrugged.
“Well, you’re here now. That’s all that matters,” he said. “Besides, you are only, what?” He looked at his phone. “Ten minutes late? It’s no big deal.”
“Well, I don’t like to keep my clients waiting,” Natasha said, and he nodded.
“That’s an admirable principle.”
“Well, I at least remembered to bring my laptop, so yay!” she said, smiling as she pulled out her computer and powered it on. “I propose we just get started right away. Wouldn’t you agree?”
He nodded. “That is why I took a private table.”
She quickly entered her password and bit her lower lip before she turned her laptop so he could see the screen.
“So, I looked at the existing website and I get what you are talking about and why you need a new site while maintaining the simplicity of operating the mobile app that you mentioned. So, I worked with the colors you already had…the grey background was a little dark, so I worked with a grainy ash grey background and got photos of some of the best-rated destinations of the last six months.”
“I like the slide show,” Matthew said, and Natasha nodded.
“Just a taste of what is in the website.”
“The colors too,” he said. “I like them.”
She looked up at him and raised an eyebrow.
“Really?” she asked. “I had some other thoughts…you know if these all seemed a little too bright.”
He shook his head.
“I really like it,” he said again. “It is inviting but the use of minimal colors is…intense to say the least.”
She bit her lower lip and shrugged.
“Now, I am not so sure if I should show you the other proposals.”
He smiled.
“I like this one because it is almost what I have in mind for the app.”
She leaned back in her chair and took a long deep breath.
“Just wondering,” she started. “Who exactly is working on the app?”
He shook his head.
“Why? Do you want in on that too?” he asked, and she shrugged again.
“Well, I wouldn’t say no to more work.”
Matthew took a long deep breath.
“I had a friend of mine take care of it…well, he offered, and at the time, I was not so concerned about it, so I just agreed.”
“Have you seen the work so far?” she asked, and he nodded.
“Yeah, it should be going live by next month. The app is actually what gave me the idea to redesign my website. I mean, I have been lookin
g at a few more travel blogs and most of them look a whole lot better than Matt the Nomad,” he said.
“Are you sure you are not just being hard on yourself?” she asked, and Matt shook his head.
“No, I am not. I am just being real.”
“Maybe a little too real?” she asked, and he shook his head again.
“Well, let me put it like this, at the beginning of the year, Matt the Nomad was one of the top rated travel blogs. I mean, it was one of the first ten of several hundred thousand results in a simple Google search, but lately I have to scroll down to find my website when I Google ‘Best Travel Blogs,’ something I never had to do before.”
“Ouch,” Natasha said, smiling, and he nodded.
“Tell me about it.”
She looked at her screen and took a long deep breath.
“I should at least send you a few more samples. Just so you can get an idea of what they are like.”
Matthew was shaking his head.
“I usually like going with my gut feeling, and right now my gut is telling me that this is it,” he said. “And it is not a coincidence that one of the websites you were working on somehow looks like the upcoming app.”
She looked at him and shrugged.
“Then I guess we are done then,” she said. “All I have to do right now is give you your quote, which I should have probably printed out,” she added as she looked up from her screen.
“Why don’t you just show it to me?” he asked, and she nodded.
“Okay,” she said as she turned her laptop again so that he could look at the breakdown.
“Wait, is this it?” Matthew asked, and she nodded.
“That’s all I need to break even,” she said and he shook his head.
“Are you in business just to break even or do you want to grow it?” he asked, and Natasha shook her head.
“Honestly, I love what I do, and like I said, I don’t like to overprice people.”
“There is a difference between overpricing and undervaluing your talent,” he said. “And this figure right here is you undervaluing yourself. Big time,” he added just as the waiter walked up to their table with a bottle of Pinot Grigio and two glasses. Matthew shut down the computer and pushed it to her side of the table as the waiter opened the bottle of wine. “Tell you what,” he started as she put the laptop in her bag. “I am going to pay you market price for this work.”
Her Older Alpha Page 17