Love & Lies

by Michelle Iannarelli

“You’re right, I am an asshole, a big one.”

  “So what are you going to do about it?”

  “I don’t know.”

  ALEX SPENT MORE TIME with Lisa and Linda sight-seeing than she did working. She didn’t mind as it turned out that she barely had to see Miguel. After the girls sobered up, they weren’t so bad to be around. Tonight, however, she was going to a dinner party with Miguel…alone. It was Miles’ turn to babysit the girls.

  Alex got all dressed and ready and had ten minutes to spare so she decided to call Dane. She had spoken to him once already today but she kind of missed him.

  “Hello.”

  “Hey, Dane.”

  “Alex, hi.”

  “What are you up to?”

  “I’m having soup.”

  “Wish you were having me.”

  “I do too.”

  “So, how is your soup?”

  “It’s ok. How’s London?”

  “I have to go to a dinner with Miguel in a few minutes.”

  “And…you’d rather have root canal?”

  “I think I’m just tired and want to be home.”

  “I hope it’s because you miss me?”

  “I do.”

  “Good because I miss you.”

  There was a knock at Alex’s door. “Car service.”

  Alex covered the phone and yelled, “I will be right out.”

  “Dane, I have to run.”

  “Have a good night.”

  “I will call you tomorrow.”

  Alex hung up, tossed her phone in her purse and headed out the door.

  Miguel was in the limo waiting for Alex. He was a nervous wreck. He hadn’t been alone with her since they had words in his office that led to her resignation.

  The driver opened the door and Alex climbed in. Miguel just stared at her. “You look beautiful.” Before he could stop himself the words left his mouth.

  As nice as it was to have Miguel compliment her, it hurt to know that he could tell her she was beautiful but he couldn’t allow himself to have any sort of a relationship with her.

  “Thank you.”

  “I know things have been strained between us lately. I want to apologize for my behavior.”

  “There’s no reason to apologize.” Alex turned her head and looked out the window. She needed to distract herself.

  “Alex, I know we met under unusual circumstances but I don’t regret anything that happened.”

  Alex was feeling embarrassed. She couldn’t believe he was bringing up the fact that he had sex with her by accident…again.

  “No need to discuss the past, we can’t change it.”

  “No, but if I can make you forgive me, would you reconsider your resignation?”

  “Make me?”

  “I, I didn’t mean it to sound like that.”

  “Look, we have this dinner tonight, then tomorrow we go home and in about six weeks I will be gone.”

  Yeah, gone, that’s what Miguel was beginning to fear.

  Miles and the girls went to an outdoor carnival. He spent the first half of the night annoyed that he had to hang out with Miguel’s escorts but as the night went on he started to enjoy himself.

  “Miles, how about you win Lisa and I one of those sweet teddy bears, like you?”

  Miles blushed and then smiled. “Sure.”

  Miles paid the vendor and on his first try he shot the bullseye and won Lisa a teddy bear.

  “This is fun, thank you, Miles.” Lisa grabbed her bear and then grabbed Miles and kissed him. It wasn’t a peck on the cheek, she dove right in for his tongue. Miles began to kiss her back and then Linda smacked his ass and pulled him back to reality.

  “Whoa.”

  “I just wanted to show my appreciation.”

  “You’re welcome would have worked.”

  “My turn.” Linda stood next to Miles as he shot the bullseye again on the first shot.

  “That is some eye you have. I sometimes don’t have any winners and you managed two in a row. I bet you can’t do that a third time?”

  Miles looked up at the vendor and smiled. “The ladies each have a prize; we don’t need a third.”

  “I wouldn’t mind having another.” Lisa batted her eyes at Miles.

  “Hey, if he wins I want that cute purple bear.” Linda again smacked Miles’ ass.

  “Sorry Sir, but clearly if I win once more, these two are going to brawl.”

  “How about, if you win I will give each one of them another prize? Two for one!”

  “Please, Miles!”

  “Yes, please, Miles!”

  “Ok.”

  Miles handed the man more money, which he intended on being reimbursed for every penny of since Miguel sent him to escort sit. He barely looked at the target and boom bullseye.

  “Well, I’ll be damned! Who are you? You one of those military snipers or something?”

  Miles grabbed the bears and winked at the man, “Or something.” Then they headed over to the cotton candy.

  Linda sat stuffing blue cotton candy in her mouth and looking at her tongue and laughing that it looked as if she ate a Smurf, while Lisa slowly ate her pink cotton candy and made eyes at Miles. Miles just sipped on a beer.

  “Miles, I wonder how you would look with my cotton candy allover that hot body of yours?” Lisa winked.

  “Well, I think you are going to have to keep wondering.”

  “Boo hoo!”

  “Now, now, you are Miguel’s escorts.”

  “Then why did he go off to that party and leave Lisa and I with you?”

  “It was business and Alex knows her business.”

  “Yeah, that’s right she’s a Cash For Oral girl.”

  Miles spit out his beer. “What?”

  “She said she was a CFO.”

  Miles blinked a few times, shook his head and then downed the rest of his beer.

  The dinner party was coming to an end. Alex just wanted to get away from Miguel. Being with him all night, watching his mouth, those plump lips moving when he spoke was driving her crazy. His voice, his scent…hell everything about him was making her body tingle with desire. She took another sip of her wine.

  Miguel tried so hard not to look at Alex. He wanted to drag her to the nearest closet and ravish her. Not just for sex, but he wanted to be close to her.

  “Excuse me Mr. Cruz, would it be possible to take a few shots for tomorrow’s paper?”

  Miguel looked up and a tiny little blonde was standing there with a press tag on holding a camera.

  “Sure.”

  “Wonderful, come right over here. Oh and bring your date.”

  Miguel looked at Alex. Then he leaned close to her ear so he could whisper, “As much as I’d like to, I promise not to bite.”

  Alex felt her panties dampen. Just the thought of Miguel biting her combined with his sexy whisper. She was so flustered.

  Miguel got up and extended his hand to Alex. She didn’t take his hand but she did get up and follow him over for a photo.

  “Closer, closer, now Mr. Cruz, wrap your arm around her waist and then look at me and smile!”

  Miguel enjoyed holding Alex, even if it was for only a moment.

  “Thank you so much, Mr. Cruz. Have a wonderful evening.” The reporter walked away.

  “Thank you, Alex.”

  “Just doing my job.” Alex walked back over to her seat.

  On the way back to the hotel Miles’ phone kept pinging and dinging. Finally, he pulled it out to see what the hell was going on.

  “What the hell?”

  “I told you he would be mad.”

  “Linda, shut up.”

  “How many pictures of me did you post here?”

  “Not as many there as I did on Twitter.”

  “And how are you tagging me if we’re not…”

  “Simple, when you took off your jacket before, I grabbed your phone and I friended me. Smart right?”

  Miles clenched his teeth, balled his fists
and then saw Lisa’s smile fade. “My phone was locked.”

  “I know but because we had eaten pizza fritta there was dust and some oil on your screen, so I was able to trace your unlock pattern. I’m not as dumb as I look you know!”

  Miles inhaled. He wanted to explode but damn…he had to give her credit for that one. Miles shook his head. Note to self: No pizza fritta when on a mission.

  “I must say that was definitely not ethical but I’m impressed.”

  “Thanks.” Lisa smiled.

  “It certainly has been an interesting evening, ladies.” Miles walked alongside the two as he carried four very large teddy bears with them.

  Miguel walked Alex back to her hotel room. Alex swiped her card and turned the handle on the door to walk in. Miguel was so close that she could feel his body heat radiating off of him. She needed a drink and a cold shower.

  “Good night.”

  “Alex, can I have a moment?”

  Alex turned around and walked back out the door. She wasn’t allowing him inside her room.

  “What is…”

  Before Alex could finish her sentence, Miguel had silenced her with his mouth. Alex and Miguel kissed for quite a bit before a passerby yelled out, “Get a room!”

  Alex pulled away, swiped her card and was inside her room with the door closed at warp speed.

  Miguel knocked. “Alex, we need to talk.”

  Alex didn’t believe that. She knew if she opened that door, they would have sex, meaningless sex that would end up being spoken about as a mistake. She couldn’t handle that again.

  “Good night, Mr. Cruz.”

  Miguel’s face fell. He felt defeated as he walked to his room.

  ALMOST TWO WEEKS HAD passed since they returned from London. Alex made sure she was never alone with Miguel, not so much as she was afraid that he would kiss her again but that she may do something foolish.

  “Alex, I know we had planned to attend the Foundation Dinner together but…”

  “You want to take someone else.”

  “Yes, I mean no. I would have liked to have taken you but my sister called and she asked me if I would be her date.”

  “That’s fine. Now I don’t have to buy a dress and try to look all pretty.”

  “As an employee you still need to attend and as for looking pretty, I think you…always look pretty.”

  Miles could hear Miguel talking even though he was on the phone. Maybe there was still hope for him and Alex.

  “Is that all you needed to discuss with me?”

  “We are down to the last three candidates for your position. Are you sure there isn’t anything I can do to talk you into staying?”

  Alex stood there for a moment thinking to herself…why did her dream job have to come along with this man? “Me leaving is for the best.”

  Miguel gritted his teeth, then he stood in front of Alex so she had to look at him.

  “The best for who? Not my company because you are the best CFO we’ve ever had. Certainly not for me, because…well because I will miss you, Alex. There, now you know.” Miguel turned around so that Alex couldn’t see his face. He was really struggling with his feelings.

  Miles couldn’t believe his ears. He got up and walked out so that Alex and Miguel could be alone.

  Alex was trying to process what Miguel said. He said he would miss her? Was she wrong about him? Maybe he was just bad with words and she was overreacting all this time?

  “I will miss you too.”

  Miguel couldn’t handle hearing that. Instantly, he felt hurt that he had bared his soul, well as far as he was concerned and she was leaving him anyway. He turned around and looked at Alex.

  “See this is exactly why I don’t trust anyone or allow myself to care about them because they just hurt me and leave. Get out, Alex. Pack up your office and get the hell out. NOW!”

  When Alex saw the look of emotion on Miguel’s face her heart broke but then when he got angry and started yelling she realized how much he did care, but at that point, it was too late. The damage was done. All hope of him trusting or loving her was gone. Alex got as far as the door and she turned around and took one last look at Miguel, “Goodbye, Miguel.”

  Miles saw Alex power walking to her office and he knew it was bad. Whatever transpired after he left was not good. He decided to follow Alex and see what happened. He knew Miguel needed time to calm down and knowing Miguel, he probably would tell Miles that he didn’t want to discuss it anyway.

  “Alex, wait up.”

  Alex slowed down but she didn’t stop walking, she continued on to her office. Once inside she waited for Miles to enter and slammed the door shut.

  “Miles, I, I’m so sorry. I hurt him.”

  “You? Hurt him?”

  “He told me he would miss me, when I replied that I would miss him too, he exploded in hurt and anger. He could never love me now.”

  Miles grabbed Alex and hugged her.

  “Give him some time to calm down. Migs is…”

  “No, you should have seen him Miles.”

  “Alex, I did see him. I’ve watched him change these last few months since you’ve been here. You’ve awoken a part of him that has been dead and buried because he never allowed himself to love anyone.”

  “Miles, I know you mean well but I saw the look on his face.”

  Alex pulled away and started tossing her personal belongings into her briefcase.

  “So you’re just leaving?”

  “He fired me, he yelled at me and told me to get out.”

  “Shit.”

  “Go to him. Take care of him, Miles.”

  “Who’s going to take care of you?”

  “I have Ryan and Faith. I’ll be ok.”

  Alex hugged Miles one last time.

  “It was a pleasure working with you, Miles.”

  “I’ll see you again. Trust me.”

  “Why, are you going to finally call Faith and explain?”

  “I will, I promise.”

  Alex pulled away and walked back to her desk and Miles left to go check on his friend.

  Miles was trying to think of something to start off a conversation with Miguel that had nothing to do with business or Alex. He decided to use Eden and the fact that he overheard she was attending the Foundation Dinner.

  “Sorry, I had to run out before.”

  Miguel didn’t look up. He grumbled, “Whatever.”

  “So I heard you say that Eden is coming home for the Foundation Dinner.”

  “Yes.”

  “You know if she needs a date I could take her and then you could still go with…”

  “DON’T EVEN SAY HER NAME!”

  Miles rolled his eyes. This was bad, really bad.

  “Do you want to…”

  “No.”

  “Ok, how about we get out of here and get your mind off of things.”

  “I have work to do.”

  “Migs.”

  “I said, I have work to do.”

  “Fine! You know where to find me if you need…”

  “I won’t need…”

  “No…because you don’t need anything or anyone. You’re human, just like the rest of us. We take chances, we get hurt but sometimes we find someone that makes it all worth it. You know she’s worth it.”

  Miles walked out. He knew Miguel was either going to have an obnoxious answer or he would just ignore him completely.

  Alex arrived home to find Faith sitting on her steps.

  “What are you doing here?”

  “I heard the need in your voice. So here I am.”

  “Need?”

  “Yup, for your bestie, a bottle of wine, a meatball pizza and some cheesecake.”

  “I love you, Faith.”

  “I love you too. Now let’s eat.”

  Alex followed Faith up the stairs.

  “Miles said he was going to call you.”

  “He called, apologized and explained his situation. Why is it that all the great gu
ys are taken, gay or your brother?”

  “My brother?”

  “I always had a bit of a crush on him but since we were together that night, well I think about him…a lot. More than I’d like to admit.”

  “Oh Jesus. Faith, I’m sorry. I don’t think Ryan will ever settle down with the same woman…and be faithful.”

  “Maybe we can be friends with benefits.”

  “Faith Marie!”

  “What? He has a great benefit package.” Faith burst out laughing.

  Alex stuck out her tongue and screeched, “Eww, yuck!”

  “Ok, ok, I won’t mention it again.”

  “I’m scarred for life now!”

  “You are such a drama queen.”

  “Maybe.” Alex laughed.

  “Well who cares as long as you’re laughing.”

  “Thanks.”

  “No problem. I’m sure I can come up with more priceless information to share.” Faith smiled.

  “Thank you but no thank you!” Alex bit into her pizza.

  Faith very much enjoyed watching Alex look horrified.

  THE LAST FEW WEEKS had been hard on Alex. She hadn’t even started to look for a new job. She thought about maybe moving and starting over. Faith, however, had been trying to make her feel guilty about leaving. Alex didn’t know what to do, all she knew was that she wasn’t happy. She had a few dates with Dane and she had a great time but like Allan, she knew he wasn’t the one for her.

  “Sis, are you home?”

  “I’m in my room.”

  Ryan came bursting through Alex’s bedroom door. He had a huge smile on his face and a bottle of champagne in his hand. “I made partner.”

  Alex screamed, “Oh my God!” She ran across the room and jumped up and down as she hugged her brother.

  “I know; I still can’t believe it.”

  “Ryan, I am so proud of you.”

  “Thanks, Sis.”

  Alex stepped back and grabbed Ryan’s hand and pulled him into the kitchen and grabbed two glasses while he opened the champagne.

  “So tell me everything.”

  “I honestly thought I was getting called in because I was going to get fired. It came so out of the blue.”

  “I am so happy for you. You’ve worked so hard.”

  “You’re next.”

  “Next?”

  “Yeah, your dream. You’re next.”

  “I don’t even know what I want anymore.”

  “Maybe you know what you want but you haven’t figured out how to get it?”