The Deal

by Sarah J. Brooks

  Liz appreciated Ricardo’s light-hearted sense of humor. She was glad things didn’t seem awkward today and she felt much better about going to work after seeing Ricardo and his happy face.

  “I’m ready. Let’s do this,” Liz said as they headed into work.

  When they arrived at work, Liz went to the copy room to pick up their work they had left there for the weekend.

  Ricardo headed up to their office. But when he got there he was surprised by a man dressed in a tailored suit standing in front of their office.

  “Can I help you?” Ricardo said as he looked at the man who seemed to be an executive that they had not met before. Well, at least he looked like one in the expensive suit he was wearing.

  “Yes. I’m looking for Elizabeth.” Harrison said as he reached his hand out to shake Ricardo’s hand.

  Ricardo shook Harrison’s hand and looked at him in wonder. Who was this guy and why did he want Liz?

  “She’ll be right up. She is at the print shop,” Ricardo said. “Is there something I can help you with?”

  “No. I’ll wait for Liz.”

  Ricardo opened the office and let Harrison in.

  “Do you know Liz?” Ricardo asked.

  “Yes,” Harrison said. Not offering any more information.

  When Liz got to her office, she couldn’t believe what she saw. There was Harrison sitting at the desk talking to Ricardo.

  “What are you doing here?” She exclaimed.

  “Oh just thought my girl might be working too hard.” Harrison stood up just as Liz came barreling toward him and almost knocked him onto the ground as she hugged him.

  “I missed you.” She said. Then realized Ricardo was staring at them.

  “I missed you too babe.”

  “Ricardo, this is Harrison. Harrison this is my partner on the project.” Liz said.

  The two men shook hands again.

  Ricardo was surprised at how old Liz’s boyfriend was. He had to be close to forty. But again, he seemed pretty rich and Ricardo knew how well a rich guy could get whatever he wanted. He decided it wasn’t all that surprising that Liz was dating this guy.

  “Nice to meet you,” Harrison said.

  “You too. This is some hard worker you have here.”

  Ricardo pointed to Liz.

  “I’m so happy you’re here Harrison!” Liz couldn’t hold back her excitement.

  She hugged Harrison again.

  “Well, I know you are busy. So I just wanted to stop by and ask you on a date.”

  “Sure thing,” Liz said as she smiled from ear to ear.

  “How about I swim back by here at six o’clock?” Harrison moved toward the door as he started to leave.

  “Yeah, six o’clock sounds good,” Liz said as she looked over at Ricardo, who shook his head yes.

  “It’s a date. I’ll see you then my lady,” Harrison said.

  He reached down and grabbed Liz’s hand and pulled it up to his. Kissed it and then turned to leave the office.

  “Well, that was pretty fairytale-ish,” Ricardo said as he went back to his desk and sat down.

  “Yeah, I’m still in shock.” Liz looked at her desk and then back to Ricardo.

  What had just happened? Harrison had just flown across the world and surprised her at her work. She wasn’t even sure how he had found out where she was working at. Well, she certainly didn’t feel insecure about their relationship anymore.

  The rest of the work day flew by. Liz worked fast and hard to make sure she would be done with everything she needed to be done with by six o’clock.

  Ricardo was polite and the awkwardness between them was totally gone now. He seemed perfectly fine with Liz having a boyfriend and totally respected her boundaries. He even teased her a bit about how fast she could work when there was the promise of a date at the end of her day.

  “Perhaps we should keep your man here in town until the project is done. You work pretty damn fast with him as motivation,” Ricardo joked.

  “I’m so excited he’s here. I was worried about this new secretary he has. It was stupid really.”

  “Oh is she a hot young thing?”

  “I’m not sure. But she sounded like it. She is just filling in for Martha but still made me nervous when I couldn’t get a hold of him.”

  “Well, obviously nothing to worry about. A guy who is banging is secretary doesn’t go out of his way to fly around the world to see his girlfriend.”

  Liz felt better after talking to Ricardo. She even felt silly for thinking something would be going on with Harrison and his secretary. Liz had only been gone a little over a week. He wouldn’t forget about her that quickly. Plus, Liz had been so busy with her work it was Harrison who was probably worried.

  At six o’clock on the dot, Liz was standing outside the building waiting for Harrison. She couldn’t wait to kiss him and touch him. She had missed him horribly.

  Harrison jumped out of the car and ran around to open up the door for Liz.

  “Your charity my lady.”

  Liz grabbed him and pulled him close to her.

  “I missed you,” she said.

  They kissed and Liz felt home again. His body pressed up against her. His lips touching hers. Liz knew everything would be fine now that she had Harrison’s arms around her again. She had a hard time letting go so he could get back in the car.

  “Babe, we have plenty of time together. Let’s go check out this restaurant.”

  “Alright. If I must let go,” Liz smiled.

  “You’ll love this restaurant. It’s right in my hotel and supposedly has some amazing seafood.”

  Harrison had some a pretty strong investigative team that had found where Liz was working, but he had not been able to figure out which hotel she was at. He finally decided on the best five-star hotel in Sydney.

  “I can’t wait.”

  “By the way, I missed you too,” Harrison said as they drove off toward his hotel.

  Chapter 8

  At dinner, Harrison couldn’t stop kissing Liz. He had missed her just as much as she had missed him. He couldn’t concentrate on his work and finally decided he could work just as well in Australia as he could at home. It wasn’t like he met with many clients anymore. Most of his time was spent running the business end of things.

  “So tell me about this guy you’re working with.”

  “Well, his name is Ricardo.”

  “Ricardo?” Harrison laughed.

  “What?”

  “He sounds like some Latin singer,” Harrison kept laughing.

  Liz could tell Harrison was a little jealous. Ricardo was pretty handsome, in that Latin lover sort of way. But Liz was head over heels in love with Harrison. Plus, Harrison was much more Liz’s type. She liked his talk, dark and handsome thing he had going on.

  “He’s been with the company for over five years. A real top player.” Liz continued on, ignoring Harrisons comment.

  “So he’s your boss?” Harrison questioned.

  “Not really. We are working on the project together. But he is in charge of it.”

  “That’s cool. He’s not getting frisky with you is he?”

  Liz smiled and tried not to give away the truth. She wasn’t about to tell Harrison that she and Ricardo had kissed. Harrison wouldn’t feel comfortable at all with Liz staying and working alone with him.

  “Yeah, he’s cool. I think he’s gay or something,” Liz lied.

  “Hmm, I didn’t get a gay vibe from him.”

  “Well I don’t know, but certainly keeps to himself.”

  Liz and Harrison enjoyed their dinner and when dessert came Harrison couldn’t help but let his hands wander up Liz’s legs.

  She froze and looked around as Harrison moved his fingers higher and higher.

  “We should go up to my room,” Harrison suggested.

  “Yes. I think that would be a great idea.”

  Harrison m
otioned for the check from the waitress and went back to playing with Liz’s thigh. He was happy he had decided to sit next to her instead of across from her. It made playing with her so much easier.

  “I’d like to have you for dessert,” Harrison said as he started kissing Liz on the neck.

  His fingers rubbing up against her as he moved his lips up and down her neck.

  “Mr. Wellington. Mr. Wellington.” A cute young woman came walking swiftly across the restaurant.

  Liz looked at her and instantly knew who she must be.

  “Yes. Sarah.” Harrison said as he quickly stopped kissing Liz.

  “You have a call from the Boston office. They say it’s an emergency.”

  “Alright.”

  Harrison grabbed the phone from Sarah and walked away from the table to talk.

  “Hi, I’m Liz,” Liz said as she stood up to shake the woman’s hand.

  “Yes. Oh Yes. I know. It’s a pleasure to meet you.” Sarah said as she barely made eye contact with Liz.

  “So you came with Harrison? Interesting.” Liz did not think it was interesting.

  In fact, Liz was about to totally freak out on Harrison. The only thing keeping her together was the fact that they were in a restaurant.

  “Thanks, Sarah. I think it’s handled now.” Harrison said as he handed Sarah the phone back.

  “Okay. I’ll see you in the morning. Nice to meet you, Liz.” Sarah said as she turned and headed back out of the restaurant.

  Liz just sat there waiting for Harrison to say something. Anything. But he went back to eating dessert and grabbed the bill to pay it.

  He turned to Liz and let his hand slip back up her thigh before she stopped it.

  “I don’t think so,” Liz said curtly.

  “What?”

  “Really? What? Are you kidding me?” Liz stood up and was getting ready to leave when Harrison grabbed her arm and pulled her back into her seat.

  “She is just filling in for Martha while she spends a couple weeks with her daughter helping with the new baby.”

  “Why on earth did you bring her here if you were coming to surprise me?”

  Liz could feel the anger as it bellowed up inside of her. She didn’t want to be one of those women who freaked out on her man. But she seriously couldn’t understand why Harrison would need this temporary secretary to come with him to see her.

  “I have a lot of work to do and I needed the help. She offered to come.”

  “Oh, I bet she did,” Liz said with a smirk.

  “Liz, babe. It’s not like that.”

  “Whatever, I’m not in the mood anymore. I’m going to get a cab and go back to my hotel.”

  “It’s not like you were honest with me. You conveniently forgot to tell me you had a Latin stud as your co-worker.”

  “I’m not going to argue with you.” Liz refused to let her anger get out of control. She didn’t want to be a crazy jealous woman and she could feel herself getting overwhelmed with angry.

  The last thing she wanted was for Harrison to see her getting angry if he really wasn’t doing anything with his secretary. Liz knew the smart decision would be to leave and cool off, then talk to Harrison tomorrow.

  Chapter 9

  At work the next day, Liz couldn’t stop thinking about the secretary that Harrison had brought with him. Her mind wandered back to that trip she had taken with Harrison and all the naughtiness that had happened in her hotel room.

  She tried to think reasonably about the situation, but she just kept coming back to the way that Sarah girl had looked at her. That girl was after Harrison and Liz could feel it. Whether Harrison knew it or not, Sarah wanted to sleep with him.

  “You alright?” Ricardo asked as he saw Liz staring off into space.

  “No. I’m kind of not.”

  “What’s up? Boyfriend troubles?” Ricardo pulled his chair to the side of his desk so he faced Liz.

  “No, not really. Well, sort of. I don’t know.”

  “Well, I happen to be a really good listener.”

  “He brought his secretary.”

  Ricardo over dramatically pushed back his chair and held his hands up to his face in shock.

  “Oh no, he didn’t,” Ricardo said with a funny accent.

  “It’s not funny. She’s really pretty.”

  “Well, it is odd that he would bring her. But he seems like a busy guy. Do you think he might actually need an assistant?”

  Liz sat and thought for a moment. The other part of her trip she had taken with Harrison when she was his secretary was that he had been extremely busy. So busy that they worked solidly for a whole week and only messed around when the week was over.

  “Yeah, I guess. He does run two huge law firms.”

  “Well, maybe he really needed an assistant. Try not to jump the gun. Don’t go crazy girlfriend on him until he gives you a reason.”

  “Thanks. I feel better already.”

  Liz really did feel better. Ricardo had a point. That Sarah girl was just a girl. She didn’t mean what Liz did to Harrison. He had flown around the world just to come spend time with her. She couldn’t let her insecurities get to her.

  “Why don’t you leave early and go hang out with him? I got this covered.”

  Liz grabbed her phone and text Harrison to see if he wanted to pick her up.

  “I’ll see when he is free. Let’s finish this section here.”

  Liz and Ricardo finished a whole section of their project and Harrison hadn’t responded back to her. Ricardo could see the worry on Liz’s face.

  “Well, if he’s busy. Why don’t you come out with the rest of us after work? We are going to a Mexican restaurant. Won’t that be fun a Mexican restaurant in Australia?” Ricardo laughed and laughed.

  Just then, Liz got a text back from Harrison that read:

  “How about you come to my room at 10pm? I’m finishing some stuff. Room 1009.”

  Liz just looked at the text.

  “What did it say?” Ricardo wonders as he looked at the sad face Liz had.

  “He said he can’t meet up until ten o’clock.”

  “Well, then you’ll have plenty of time to come out for drinks with the rest of us.”

  Liz loved how upbeat and positive Ricardo was all the time. His sense of humor really did help bring the seriousness of Liz’s thoughts back down to reality.

  “Yep, I guess I’ll just come out with you guys for a bit.”

  Liz felt a little overwhelmed by the group of people that all showed up for drinks. She didn’t know how Ricardo had made friends with so many people in the short week they had been there. He really was good at socializing.

  Liz quickly downed a drink to calm her social anxiety. As much as she liked people, she didn’t like all these new people all at once.

  Soon she was on her third drink and feeling quite numb as she began socializing more with everyone. It was neat to meet some of the people from their new office. She talked to one woman who worked in the mail room and had a fascinating story about how she had started at the company.

  “I accidently got hired here.” The woman joked.

  “How could that possibly happen?” Liz asked as she tried to contemplate the circumstances which could have someone being accidently hired.

  “Well I meant to apply to their competitor but accidently sent my resume here. When they called me for an interview, I told them about the silly mishap. They hired me. I’m pretty sure they didn’t think I would take the job. But I fooled them.” The woman giggled and snorted as she laughed.

  Liz could tell she was drunk because she caught herself snorting as she laughed just as hard as the woman.

  It felt good to finally let loose and relax after the last few days in Sydney. Liz grabbed another drink and before she knew it she could feel the room spinning. Her efforts to numb out the stress had worked perfectly. But now she could hardly stand.

  “You
alright?” Ricardo said as he wrapped his arm around her waist.

  “I’m sure I am, but I don’t know.” Liz stammered as she tried to talk.

  “I think I should get you back to your room. Where’s your purse?” Ricardo looked around the area where Liz was at and couldn’t find the white bag he had seen her bring in with her.

  Liz wasn’t in any shape to help with the search. She just sat there looking ahead and trying her best not to totally pass out.

  “Well, I can’t find it. I told the bartender what it looked like and gave him my number. Let’s just get you out of here for now.”

  Liz just shook her head yes because she couldn’t open her mouth to talk. She felt like it was hard enough just to sit without falling over, talking was not something she was about to try.

  Ricardo grabbed her around the waist and helped Liz stand up. He guided her out to the front of the building where they grabbed a cab to head back to the hotel.

  Chapter 10

  Liz woke up in the morning and could barely open her eyes. She held her hands over her eyes as she tried to look around and get her bearings.

  She sat straight up in bed as she looked next to her and saw Ricardo lying in the bed with her. Liz looked around and realized she was in his room.

  Oh no. How did she let this happen? Liz looked down and noticed she was still in her work clothes. That was promising, she thought. Perhaps nothing had happened between them?

  Liz got up and looked around the room quietly to find her purse. She went into the bathroom and used the toilet real quick and looked in there. She couldn’t find it anywhere. Liz didn’t want Ricardo to wake up, but she really needed to call Harrison.

  In the fog of daylight, she remembered that she was supposed to have met up with him last night. He had to be worried sick about her. Liz continued looking through the piles of things Ricardo had all over his hotel room.

  She couldn’t find it anywhere.

  Liz decided the best thing to do would be to just go over to Harrison’s hotel.

  Liz quietly opened the hotel room door and snuck out before Ricardo could wake up. She went down to the lobby to get a key to her room so she could take a quick shower and grab some money for a cab to get over to Harrison’s hotel.