Mister Romantic

by Alice Cooper

  “I can do this, I’ll be fine.” She said as she got out of her car and went into the office. Her breathing was fast and she was nervous. She knew it was all because she was worried about this strange attraction between them.

  Chapter 2

  Rico Zess looked at his clock it was now 9:15 and his new head of security was late. He had gone out of his way to have Sally find Lalena Swan after meeting her at a cancer event. She had been lovely; he had felt seduced by her, even though she hadn’t done a thing to him. All she had done was blush at his comment, and it had made him feel challenged to get her.

  He was angry when she walked in at 9:30. “I thought you would take this position seriously, maybe I made a mistake.”

  Lalena looked at him and apologized profusely. “I’m really sorry. I know it sounds lame but I didn’t know what to wear.”

  Rico laughed, he couldn’t help it, and her face was so beautiful and enticing. “I guess I’ll let you go this time, but please punctuality is important.” He said.

  “Yes I’m really sorry it won’t happen again.” She stated. In her mind she was cussing Jake and the sex they had right before she left.

  “Sally will fill you in on all your duties. I have several meetings this morning, but they are here. So it will be best if you simply sit out there with her and learn.” He stated.

  “Yes sir.” Lalena got up to leave the office.

  “By the way I like the outfit. It looks really nice on you. But I’d like to see a bit more cleavage tomorrow.” Rico said as she left the office.

  He saw her hesitate but she didn’t turn around and say anything. He smiled at her back, and laughed. Rico needed to focus on something besides her now though. The fact that she was going to be around him all day long could be a good or a bad thing.

  Rico knew she was a huge distraction right now, but once he slept with her that would end. He wasn’t the kind who sought out any kind of commitment. In fact he was scared of being tied down to one female. That was why the list that Sally had was shuffled around all the time.

  Then there was another part of him that screamed to not get involved with her. She was his protector now, and if he made her upset, she wouldn’t do her job well. He swore under his breath, in trying to do something that would lead to sex with her, he had planned incorrectly.

  “I have to avoid her, I know it now. Shit what kind of bullshit is this?” He cussed himself. Really though he knew he had no one to blame but himself. The sexual attraction he had for her had to be controlled though.

  “Sally show Ms. Swan everything she needs to know. Send in Mr. Jones when he gets here too.” He said over his intercom.

  He would try to avoid Lalena in close quarters as much as he could. Rico wasn’t happy about this the pull to her was quite strong. However, it was also something that was dangerous to him. It would not only distract him, but her, and she was supposed to be guarding him.

  Even though this was clear in his mind, he didn’t know if it would be possible for him or not. He was really attracted to her, and honestly flirting was just part of his character. Rico couldn’t think of a single beautiful female he hadn’t flirted with in the past. So how was he going to accomplish it now with Lalena Swan? He had no clue and would have to take it a day at a time.

  Chapter 3

  Lalena heard him compliment her outfit as she walked out the door. She smiled and felt a flash of pride that he thought it looked nice. But when he told her he wanted to see more cleavage the next day, she had to keep walking. The truth was she wanted to turn to him and walk back over to him and undress right there.

  Instead she had kept moving, shocked by her thoughts. It wasn’t like she hadn’t just had sex with Jake and should be satisfied. In fact, she was very satisfied. But Rico Zess just brought out an animal side of her that she had no clue existed.

  She tried to focus on what Sally was explaining to her.

  “So here are a list of the threatening emails that he’s received and what we know so far. We have a list of suspects that was given to us by the police. But honestly, they haven’t put much effort into locating the person or people who are responsible for the threats. There are a few extra that we’ve added to the list that were skipped over by them as well. The file is pretty thick so it may take you some time to read. If you want I can put you up in the office in back.” Sally said.

  “Sure, I’ll look through these and see what I can learn.” Lalena picked up part of the stack and followed Sally, who had grabbed the other part of the stack. “Wow, there’s a lot of them here. I wouldn’t have thought so, with the press he receives it seems like so many people love him.” She added.

  “Well you’d be shocked by how many people he also pisses off!” Sally laughed.

  “Yeah I guess it’s more than I realized. How does he piss them off though, really I haven’t heard many of his policies that should make many upset. The crackdown on crime I guess could be met with resistance, in the wrong groups.” Lalena commented.

  “Yes from those groups and well honestly from a few jealous boyfriends of girls. He doesn’t always get the girls who aren’t attached.” Sally begun. When she saw the look on Lalena’s face she hurried up and explained though. “The girls will approach him and say they are single, he doesn’t check, why would he. After they go out he finds out differently when a man approaches him and confronts him about it. We used to have those problems quite often, but now I try and check out most of the females he takes out first. So far we’ve only missed one lady and it was because she had broken up with her boyfriend. Shortly after the date though they reconciled and he had to hear all about her date with the great mayor. He didn’t take too kindly to it, needless to say.” Sally explained.

  Lalena couldn’t help but laugh. “I guess that can happen when you’re a playboy and you date all kinds of women. Has he ever thought of settling down at all? I mean it would end several issues with possible boyfriends or even husbands.” She asked.

  “Rico settle down! I don’t think he has it in him honestly. I’ve never seen him date a girl for more than a week in the past. Yes we grew up together, so I’ve seen him as a playboy his whole life. One girl tried to get him to settle down and he dropped her like a hot potato. Hell he doesn’t even go out with any of his present “dates” more than two times. He doesn’t want any of them to get the wrong idea.” Sally stated.

  “I guess it takes a different kind of person to be like that. Personally I would love to get married one day and settle down. Maybe I’ll even have a couple of kids, a boy and a girl. That would be nice. But I can’t imagine dating numerous people and never being serious with any of them.” Lalena commented.

  “I don’t know it’s just the way he’s always been honestly. He was a little cad when we were little too! I remember on Valentine’s Day when he was 12 years old he set up a date with two different girls for a school dance. Most people would have had two made girls on their arm that night once they found out. Not Rico, he had them both eating from the palm of his hand in no time. They danced all night long, all three of them. Ever since that day I knew he would never settle down.” Sally laughed at the memory.

  Lalena looked at Sally dumbfounded. “He actually had a date with two 12 year old girls and they were okay with that? His charisma is amazing really. I can’t imagine that I would ever be okay with something like that.” She admitted.

  “Me either honestly. But somehow Rico has this pull when it comes to the fairer sex. They just eat out of his palm all the time. I have to tell you sometimes I’m amazed.” Sally shook her head in admiration.

  “So why did he pick me to be head of security?” Lalena asked the girl.

  Sally looked at her for a moment. “Well honestly I’m not sure, I asked him about that. My guess is that he is attracted to you, and perhaps he will try and woe you to sleep with him. Take my advice though, he may say all kinds of frilly words, don’t believe them. You seem like a really nice person and I don’t want to see you get
hurt. Rico will chew you up and spit you out if you let him.” Sally stated.

  “Hmm, was it really a good idea for me to take this job?” She asked more to herself than Sally.

  “I don’t know, it’s a good bump in pay I can tell you that. However, you will have to deal with Mr. Playboy, Rico Suave. So in the long run the decision of whether it was a good choice or not will be yours. Personally, I love making money so I would have taken it just for that. Since he’s a cousin of mine though I know there is no chance of romance. That makes my job simple honestly. Could you imagine him with a secretary who wasn’t related to him? How would she react the first time she had to call another girl to be his date, when she’d been it before? It wouldn’t be a pretty scene at all.” Sally said.

  “I feel so overwhelmed honestly. I appreciate you telling me everything you have. He does have some sort of charisma really. I don’t know something about him is attractive. More than just his looks too. I can’t quite put my finger on it.” Lalena said.

  “So tell me what happened last night at the event? He didn’t tell me completely. He just said he whispered something to you and laughed at your reaction.” Sally queried.

  Lalena turned bright red at the question. Sally laughed at her reaction. “You did the same thing last night didn’t you?” She asked.

  “Yes actually I did maybe a bit more red then now though. I’d rather not say what he whispered though.” Lalena stalled.

  “It’s fine I can imagine what he said, remember I grew up around him, I’ve heard it all.” Sally laughed. “If you need anything just pick up the phone and hit the button.” She said and left Lalena alone in the office.

  Lalena sat there thinking about everything that Sally had said to her. She knew she should stay away from Rico, hell she should probably walk out right now and go back to her old position. It wasn’t even the money that held her here; it was her attraction to Rico.

  She knew she should feel bad too. After all her and Jake had hooked back up and were semi-serious with one another now. She really shouldn’t be thinking of another male in a sexual way right now. But no matter how much she tried she couldn’t get Rico Zess out of her mind.

  Refocusing on the task in front of her she began reading the copies of threatening emails that were in the stacks of files she had received. Soon she was digesting the information and formulating possible motives for each of the people on the list. She made a new list of people and placed them in the order she felt was more cohesive. From the top of the list, where she put on people who had the most problem with the mayor. To the bottom of the list, the people who she thought would most likely be no problem.

  The morning flew by and soon Sally was sticking her head in the door. “Hey you want to go to the restaurant next door for lunch?” She asked Lalena.

  “Is it already lunchtime? Wow, the morning has flown by.” She looked at her watch and saw it was actually almost 1 in the afternoon. “Sure that sounds good.” Lalena got up and grabbed her purse and followed Sally out the door.

  “You got lost in the paper work this morning didn’t you?” Sally asked.

  “I hadn’t even realized that it was this late. The time just flew by.” She admitted.

  “So did you find anything that might help find where the threats are coming from?” Sally questioned.

  “I made a list based on what I felt the motives might be for each of the people, and how serious the threat might be. I think there might be a few people who are too obvious though as well on the list. People who have more to lose than anything if they were to get caught up in this type of thing.” Lalena explained.

  “Good, I hope we can keep him safe. It’s been escalating lately. At first I really thought it was a jealous husband of one of the girls.” Sally stated.

  “I don’t think any of the boyfriends or husbands are that serious of a threat. Which one did you think it was though, perhaps I’ll look at him again?” Lalena queried.

  “Raymond Stock, that’s the one. He had just gotten a divorce from his wife when she met the mayor, or they met. The mayor had taken a shine to her quickly and asked her out. I asked her about her husband, who was now her ex. She swore there was nothing between them anymore and that he had moved on. Well the thing was it wasn’t Raymond who had moved on but her. He was still clinging to the hope of reconciliation. Once he saw the paper and noticed his ex-wife in the picture with the mayor, he came to the office. He actually had a gun on him, and he even pulled it out. He never did point it directly at Rico, but he waved it around. He shouted about how Rico had ruined any chance of him ever getting his wife back. Said how she could ever go back to a poor man like him when Rico would only wow her with money.” Sally told Lalena.

  “What happened?” Lalena asked she hadn’t heard anything at the station about it.

  “Rico sat him down and talked to him, got him to calm down. He told him that he didn’t know that Raymond was still hoping to reconcile and that he would never see the woman again.” Sally said.

  “Did he really not see her again?” She asked.

  “He didn’t see her again. I mean he is a playboy and all, but he does have some ethics. He will not cheat on a girl, because he never makes a promise. He also will not be the participation in a cheating relationship. I love Rico dearly and I must say I was shocked at this myself. But he’s always tried to make sure that he’s honest with all the women he dates.” Sally stated.

  Lalena wasn’t sure what to say, she was shocked that he had ethics too. She would expect that he would simply sleep with anyone, no matter what. “I’m surprised too. The papers always just talk about how many different girls he has, and they make it seem like he’s, well a bad person. They show him in a good light too. But you know as well as I do that the older generation of people think Rico is a male slut to put it bluntly.” Lalena commented. “We all know that sluts usually don’t have ethics, so I guess I just always thought he was the same way.” She added the shock apparent on her face.

  “Me too honestly. He kind of calmed down after taking the two girls to the dance. He would never invite more than one female at a time. I guess he realized that he could have really hurt the girl’s feelings had he not been so smooth!” Sally laughed.

  “I still can’t believe he did that either. That kind of person would be the type you would expect to break up all kinds of marriages!” Lalena stated.

  “Exactly how I thought too. So when he really had me start checking the backgrounds of females he meant I didn’t do such a great job. That was when this woman slipped through. I don’t know what led up to his request. He has never told me. Just one day he walked in to the office and said, hey I met this woman I want to take her out. So I said what’s the big deal, you’ve taken several out before. He told me no to check to make sure she wasn’t dating someone or had a husband. I did a quick check, saw the divorce on file and thought it was good. He almost fired me after that day.” Sally stated.

  “Wow, it had to be odd though, for him to come to you and say check the background. You don’t know why he suddenly did it?” She questioned.

  “No I think it might have had something to do with this one girl. She had just broken up with her boyfriend and went out with Rico. He called her a few days after they had gone out the first time and she had gotten back with her boyfriend. Or that was what she said. The boyfriend told him that they had never split up, that his woman was just a freaking slut. At the time he had laughed about it when he told me. But it was right after that he asked me to check out his next date.” Sally explained.

  “Interesting, I learned something that I don’t think many people know about our mayor today.” Lalena commented.

  “Honey don’t get me wrong though, I would still caution you to run if he hits on you. He’s not going to be the kind to sweep you up and carry you off into the sunset. No he’s more the kind who will sleep with you, maybe a few times, if you’re someone he really likes. But after that he’ll throw you to the side. With the
position you have, it would be a good idea to get involved with him. The only reason I’m telling you this is because I know Rico. He sees you as beautiful and perhaps even a challenge. So he’ll flirt with you, he won’t be able to help it. I don’t care if you flirt back with him, just don’t sleep with him if you can help it. I know he is something else when it comes to talking women into something they may not be sure about. But I can tell by looking at you that you find him attractive too. Just be careful okay? I don’t want you to get hurt, I like you.” Sally said.

  “I know it’s not a good idea. I’m not going to lie to you, yes I find him very attractive. I’m pulled to him in some way. But I know that nothing should happen between us. I plan to not let anything happen. However, some ideas on how to combat him when he makes my knees feel weak would be nice.” Lalena stated.

  Sally laughed. “You’re not the first one who said something about their knees being weak when he’s around. I don’t know how you can combat it, but if I figure something out I’ll tell you!”

  “I’m sure I won’t be the last one.” Lalena laughed.

  The two talked a bit more as they ate lunch. It was really nice, Lalena felt like she knew a bit more about the mayor, and knew she should continue to be cautious. However, she was nervous too; Sally had stated she was positive the mayor would hit on her.

  As they were busy talking about something else Lalena saw Rico walk into the restaurant. He headed directly to their table.

  “Why didn’t you tell me you were coming here?” He asked Sally. He barely looked at Lalena.

  “I’m sorry I figured you would go out with Mr. Jones after the meeting.” Sally stated.

  “Well I didn’t go out.” Rico commented.

  He seemed really uptight and on edge. Lalena wondered if he had gotten another threat or something.

  “You’re more than welcome to join us if you want.” Lalena offered.