Ten Minutes: A Short and Hot Romance

by Megan West

  Alyssa’s attention, however, was focused on the man walking towards the table. At first she thought he knew Aiden, but when his eyes remained on her and he didn’t stop heading in her direction after Aiden left the table, she realized he was going to her. She felt her stomach twist and her cheeks run hot as gulped nervously. She had no idea why she suddenly felt so rattled, but when the man sat at the table only one chair away from her, she felt her heart beat a bit faster.

  “Good evening,” he said in a deep timbre that sent a shiver straight down her spine. He wasn’t smiling, but he didn’t look stern either.

  “Good evening,” Alyssa said with a weak smile. Her mouth felt dry. Her eyes traced over his face rather intently as she took in every detail.

  He had a full head of silky smooth light brown hair, swept back in a natural looking manner. His skin was a lovely bronze that made his bright blue eyes pop even more. As he had walked over she noticed he was tall, but now that he was closer she noticed his strong broad shoulders. She tried to smile, but quickly stopped out of concern that it looked awkward and forced.

  “I know you’re not her alone,” he said in a low voice so that even she could barely hear him. She suspected that was his intention and she found it partly attractive and partly irritating.

  “But are you alone?” he asked with a heavy, meaningful tone.

  Alyssa knew exactly what he meant. He wanted to know if she was with Aiden, together as a romantic couple. She wanted to answer truthfully, but she also didn’t know him or the reasons he was asking. As she continued to carefully look at his face, she had the distinct sensation she already knew him even if they had never met.

  That doesn’t even make any sense, she thought.

  But no matter what she couldn’t shake the feeling.

  “I, uh, I’m not his girlfriend.” She looked at him, waiting for confirmation that she hadn’t misunderstood his question and potentially made an ass of herself. The man smiled in what looked like satisfaction. Her heart started to beat faster once again.

  “Great.” He said pointedly as he held out his hand. “My name is Philip Walton. And to whom do I have the pleasure to be meeting at this moment?”

  Alyssa felt like she had just slammed into a wall. Philip Walton. Now she understood why he looked so familiar. She felt even more nervous than before and was truly terrified of doing or saying anything embarrassing.

  “Alyssa McConnell,” she said slowly. It was on purpose; she felt if she tried to speak quickly or even at a normal pace she would end up stuttering and saying something completely nonsensical. She saw the man’s eyes flick to the side and he straightened up right away.

  “Alyssa,” he repeated in the same low tone as before. “I’d love to have dinner with you sometime,” he told her. Her breath caught in her throat almost sending her in a coughing fit.

  He handed her his business card and politely excused himself. She watched as he exited the ballroom and realized only then he was leaving the gala. Right at that moment she felt a heavy hand land on her shoulder.

  “Sorry about that.” It was Aiden. His voice sounded almost grating in comparison to Philip’s. Alyssa was silently thankful he hadn’t been around to ruin her encounter with Philip Walton. She looked up at Aiden and gave him a fake, tight-lipped smile. She stood up and told him she had started feeling a bit unwell and wanted to go home.

  “I’m sorry. I’m just really not feeling up for this.”

  “I understand.” Aiden said as he held out his arm so he could walk her to the front where her driver would pick her up, only now it would be to take her back home.

  Alyssa thanked Aiden and stepped into the car, leaning her head back and staring up at the ceiling. As the car sped down the highway and she neared her home, it felt as if the enchantment was ending.

  Chapter Three

  “Just go on the date,” Jessica sighed. She turned back around to run her fingers through her shiny brown hair, now at cute shoulder length, before turning back to face Alyssa. She grinned. “Cute, right?” Jessica did a playful little flip of her hair before chuckling at her own silliness. She walked over to Alyssa and patted her hand. “Really though, that do you have to lose? Just go and have a good time!”

  “It just doesn't make sense,” Alyssa sighed. She was still hesitant in accepting Philip’s invitation to dine with him. She thought it was odd that out of all the women at the gala he had set his sights on her. She had only been there because her boss was a special guest due to his latest project.

  She didn’t belong there and felt it more and more every minute she stayed there. More than that, she didn’t even know how she should dress for the date if she were to accept it. Even her gown for the gala had been a rental.

  Jessica sighed dramatically and made a show of rolling her eyes.

  “You're always so full of doubt and then you complain your life is dull. Take some risks, Alyssa, and you'll see your life will be a lot more exciting. I'm not going to keep insisting. If you don't want to go, then shoot him down.” Jessica looked at Alyssa before turning on her heel and walking out of the bedroom.

  Alyssa exhaled and looked up at the ceiling as if she would find the perfect answer written up there, but it was just as white and plain as always. She hopped off the dresser to follow Jessica into the living room. Her friend was right. She needed to make a choice and move on. Talking about it endlessly wouldn’t change the fact that she either had to say yes or no.

  She saw Jessica playing on her phone when she walked into the living room. Just as she was about to open up her mouth to bring up the Philip debate again she decided against it. Alyssa could already tell her friend was getting annoyed, so she thought it best to just let it go. She sat next to Jessica and pulled out her own phone but realized there wasn’t really anything she wanted to check. She sighed.

  “I have to go,” Jessica said suddenly as she stood up and snatched her bag from the coffee table. Alyssa peered at her.

  “Okay,” she said sounding and looking confused. It was strange that Jessica had just suddenly decided to leave, but Alyssa wasn’t going to question her about it.

  She watched as Jessica walked out the door and then leaned her head back against the couch.

  “Philip,” she mumbled. She thought that if she was debating it so much maybe a part of her was at least curious to have dinner with him. After all, it wasn’t every day she had a social call with an extremely wealthy and well-known man. She was curious to know how he carried himself and to see how he was treated by others.

  She was certain few people went about life the way he did, but it wasn’t something she had every witnessed on a personal level. She wondered if they would talk enough over dinner for her to get to know the side of Philip that was never portrayed by newspaper and magazine interviews. He wasn’t exactly a celebrity, but his name was quite well known.

  She unlocked her cell phone and stared at her screen before opening up her contacts. There was his number, stored but not labeled. She tapped on it and pressed the phone to her ear to hear the ringing until his deep voice came on the other end.

  “Hello?” Alyssa curled her fingers inward as she felt her heart race. Calling him was a lot more nerve wracking than she would have imagined.

  “Philip,” she said in an unsteady voice, “This is Alyssa. Alyssa McConnell, we met at-”

  “The gala. Yes, of course I remember. I did ask you out to dinner so one would hope I would recall who you are.”

  Alyssa felt like she had been slapped in the face. He was so forward. She hadn’t expected him to bluntly state his proposition, if he brought it up at all. The way he said things came so easily that it threw her off. She had never spoken to anybody who spoke with such ease, no matter the subject.

  “Right,” she muttered with an awkward chuckle.

  “What can I do for you, Alyssa?”

  She heard background noise that sounded as if he were standing outside or walking down a busy street. Something inside her res
isted the urge to tell him, but she had made the call and so it was time to decided. She didn’t want to chicken out no matter how fast her pulse was at that moment. She was just glad to already be sitting down.

  “I was calling you to, uh, well,” she paused and took a deep breath. She felt so silly sputtering and stalling. “I would like to accept your dinner invitation.”

  Philip chuckled and Alyssa felt her cheeks grow hot in embarrassment. Thank god she was on the phone. It had been hard enough for her to actually call him and accept without having him laugh at her.

  “You make it sound so formal, Alyssa. This isn’t a business dinner, you know.”

  She calmed down a bit and realized she had indeed made it sound like a business formal event when, in reality, he had essentially asked her out on a date. At least she had assumed it was a date. She felt panic well up inside her once again so she started to rush the conversation.

  She forced a chuckle and responded, “Right. We can schedule it later, then?”

  “Why later if I have you on the phone right now?”

  Alyssa clamped her mouth shut and puffed out her cheeks. He had a point. She just wanted to hastily get off the phone since she was being nonsensical.

  “Right,” she said, but didn’t say anything more, not even giving an indication of when would be a good night to get together for dinner.

  “Are you available Wednesday evening?”

  She could tell he was carefully prodding her in the right direction. It was as if he could sense how much trouble she was having just speaking to him and was finding a way to steer the conversation without being pushy. Gentle guidance in conversation was practically an art form and she catalogued it in her mind as something she liked about him. That was a good start. Then she thought about the actual question he had asked.

  “Yes,” she said slowly.

  “Are you sure?” he asked quickly.

  Even from a one syllable word he noticed how unsure she felt. Most people didn’t pay that much attention, even if an entire speech was prepared. Alyssa wondered if he was always so perceptive or if it was just part of his game he played with woman.

  Because her suspicion had not died down and she knew it wouldn’t even after having dinner with him. She would be wondering for a while why he liked her enough to actually ask her out to dinner. She started to feel the panic well up again, only this time she managed to fight it off a little.

  “Yes, I’m sure.”

  “Great,” he shot back. She could picture him smiling on the other end of the phone. She remembered the way his smile looked when they met at the gala and she was thankful, yet again, that she was already sitting, she was sure her knees would have felt quite wobbly if she hadn’t been.

  They agreed on deciding a time and place closer to Wednesday and he bid her a good night before ending the call. Alyssa sat on her catch staring at her phone in the palm of her hand until the screen faded to black after a few minutes had passed. She had really just accepted a date with Philip Walton, a well-known billionaire belonging to the socioeconomic elite. That was when the panic hit her even harder than before. She hurriedly called Jessica only to have her call forwarded to voicemail.

  “No dammit!” she whined before calling her again. It wasn’t until the third call that Jessica actually answered.

  “Is everything okay?” she asked. Alyssa could tell her friend had stepped out of wherever she was to take the call. She started to feel guilty about interrupting her when it wasn’t really a pressing or time sensitive matter.

  “Um,” Alyssa responded before letting out a long breath. “Yes, sorry. I shouldn’t have interrupted you like that.”

  “Well, you did, so now you tell me why you were calling like crazy,” Jessica told her bluntly. Alyssa knew her friend well enough to know she was probably a bit annoyed. “Did he ask you on a date?”

  “Yea.”

  Jessica sighed. “This is really why you’re calling me?” She was definitely annoyed and Alyssa couldn’t blame her.

  “I accepted,” she said in a hurry so her friend wouldn’t think she was still debating back and forth like she had been earlier. She wanted Jessica to know she was now confused on what exactly she had agreed to. She wanted the panic that had bubbled up inside her to go away.

  “You did?” Jessica sounded genuinely shocked.

  “Yes,” Alyssa replied. “But now I don't know if he asked me out on a date or just, I don't know, dinner.”

  Jessica laughed. It was a bit mocking, but it didn’t bother Alyssa. In fact, that was something she would have expected from her. “Of course he’s asking you on a date, woman. There's no doubt in my mind about that.”

  Alyssa wanted to ask how and why she was so sure. She wanted Jessica to explain the logic to her and even give her evidence based off something Philip might have said or done, but she knew it was unreasonable.

  She had already taken away enough of Jessica’s time and had gotten her answer. She needed to let it go. Not everything needed to be answered, at least not right away.

  “Okay,” she responded before ending the call with a sigh. She knew she shouldn’t need the constant reassurance from her friend, but the whole thing sent her emotions whirling inside her. She was nervous, excited, and scared; all bundled up into one giant emotion.

  Whatever was to happen, she knew it would be interesting.

  Chapter Four

  Alyssa walked into her bedroom and went straight for her closet. As she looked through her clothes she knew it was pointless. She wouldn’t find anything in there that she thought was good enough to go on a date with a billionaire.

  She found herself wishing they had already decided on a place so she could look it up and figure out what sort of outfit she needed to wear. As she closed her closet door and sat down at the edge of her bed she wondered briefly if she was placing too much emphasis on what to wear. He had met her at the gala and might have assumed she was wealthy. Then again, she wondered if he would be the type to judge her for not being wealthy and owning the kind of clothing she wore at the gala.

  There was really nothing in her closet she wanted to or felt comfortable wearing for her first date with a man like him. She slumped down on her bed and pouted as she wished she could invite Jessica over. But she was also aware it would have been selfish and imprudent to call her friend, yet again. Then on top of that, to ask her to dump whatever she was doing to run to her aid would be more than annoying to her friend.

  Maybe she was getting ahead of herself or placing too much emphasis on the clothing. Maybe it didn’t need to matter all that much.

  Alyssa flopped back on the bed and stared at her ceiling. It was as plain and as white as ever. Just like before. There was no perfect answer written across it.

  This was something she needed to figure it on her own. After all, the key was for her to treat this date like she would any other. But every time she thought about who she was going on a date with, she found it impossible. It seemed unfathomable that she would be meeting with the Philip Walton, so how was she supposed to treat it like any other date? If she was nervous before any date how could she not be in a near panic for this one? Now that Jessica had indeed confirmed it was a date she was going on, Alyssa felt her stomach knot into a jumbled mess whenever she thought too much on the implications of that word. Date.

  It Monday afternoon when Alyssa felt her phone vibrate on her desk, but she was too busy to look at who was calling, much less was she able to actually answer the call. It wasn’t until she was packing up and getting ready to leave the office that she saw a new voice message from none other than Philip.

  Her stomach squeezed and she felt the panic shoot straight up her throat. As Wednesday night approached she got more and more anxious. And now that he was calling her it all suddenly felt a bit too real despite how incredibly surreal it all was.

  Alyssa lifted her phone to her ear, her hand trembling slightly. She shut her eyes and took a few deep breaths. She hated that she g
ot that nervous about the date even just by thinking about it. She hated the effect this all had on her since it wasn’t in her nature to behave that way.

  “He’s not above me just because he has money,” she had told Jessica in the morning before leaving to work. She couldn’t stand the fact that she was behaving as if Philip were above her because of his status. Alyssa was a woman with a lot of self-worth and self-confidence, but something about Philip shook all that up and rocked her at her core.