Between Hearts: A Romance Anthology

by Alexander, Erica

  “Hi, can I help you?”

  “Just stretching our legs, we are in business class,” Ben answered.

  “Oh, I was just about to start our beverage service would you like some orange juice?”

  “Sure,” they replied in unison and waited the few seconds it took the flight attendant to pour them each a glass. The pair walked back to business class and made one more trip back to the galley to dispose their plastic glasses and thank the economy flight attendant. They returned to their seats and a few minutes later a hot breakfast was served. Cassie asked for an orange juice refill three times knowing that she was irritating the flight attendant who had given Ben the dirty look for laughing at her preflight routine.

  After breakfast was finished, Ben started to ask Cassie questions to get to know her better. He discovered that she had her MBA in Marketing and worked for the Cerise Cosmetic Company. Cassie told him that her favorite part of the job was naming all the cosmetics and sitting on the panel that decided which colors would make it into the seasonal campaigns. Ben was pleased to hear that she was in London for business approximately every five weeks.“Is your schedule fixed or do you have any control over it?”

  “I usually fly in on Sundays on this day flight and leave Friday afternoon. I could change my return to Sunday night if I still like you on Thursday.”

  “That sounds fair.”

  “I think I only answered half your question. My visits to London are fixed. What about yours?”

  “I’m a senior partner so I have wiggle room plus I can take extra days off whenever. As long as Evan and I don’t overlap each other by more than a week. He’s in Paris right now and won’t be back for ten days.” Ben wondered if he should tell Cassie a detail he left out but decided it would make him look like he was seeking approval. “Cassie, I feel a real connection between us. Is it love at first sight? No, but I may have a small case of lust at first sight. I know I’ve met a new friend.”

  “We do have awesome chemistry. Can our first date be breakfast tomorrow?”

  “Sure, if you will let me pay for it.”

  “My company will be happy not to have that added expense.”

  “I find it ironic that you work for a cosmetic company, and you have no makeup on.”

  “You’ll see some in the morning. I only wear moisturizer on flights and lip balm which I ate off at the airport.”

  “Your lips were soft and supple.”

  “Thank you, I’m feeling parched right now. I think a tea is in order.” Cassie rang for the flight attendant who plastered on a fake smile. “You called?”

  “Yes, I’d like a cup of English Breakfast tea and a glass of water. Ben?”

  “Some water and a can of ginger ale for me.”

  “I’ll be back shortly.”

  “She really doesn’t like us. Do you think she saw me doing the safety demonstration?” Cassie asked.

  “She glared at me, I think you are guilty by association. We better check our drinks before we sip them,” Ben teased.

  Ben and Cassie continued to talk about everything and nothing at all. The longer they chatted, the more comfortable Cassie became about wanting to show off her lingerie to Ben on Wednesday night. She no longer felt like they were rushing into something and knew Ben would not be a one night stand. She agreed with him that they would become great and fast friends. Cassie was taking a short nap on his shoulder until the plane began its descent into Heathrow.

  Ben insisted on pulling her carry-on suitcase right out to the queue for cabs. He helped her into a black cab and then joined her.“Ben?”

  “First, stop is the Savoy, and the lady will need a receipt. I’m out in Chelsie.”

  “Yes, sir.”

  “Ben!”

  “Cassie you can barely keep your eyes open. I make a better pillow than the door frame or window. Now make yourself comfortable and hush.”

  “If I wasn’t so tired, I’d give you hell for hushing me,” Cassie replied before making him lift his right arm and snuggling into his chest. She fought to stay awake for a few minutes, but her mini nap on the flight was too short and sleep claimed her almost instantly. Ben enjoyed watching her eyelashes flutter and the slow and steady rise of her chest as she slept. He studied the planes of her face, her high cheekbones, and cute button nose. Ben spotted an inch long scar on her chin and wondered what had caused it.

  The cab stopped, and Ben paid the fare and tucked the receipt into his pocket before gently waking up his sleeping beauty. “We’ve arrived at your castle, Princess Cassandra.”

  “Five more minutes,” she mumbled causing both Ben and the cabbie to chuckle.

  “I’ll give the girl her five more minutes, just let me pull over and out of the way.”

  “Thank you. Would you mind driving her to work in the morning? She needs to leave here at nine thirty.”

  “I’ll give you my card. I’ll wait for you, she might need help in the lift. I can picture her falling asleep against the wall.”

  “Thank you again. I didn’t think about that.”

  Twenty minutes later, Cassie was standing at her hotel door smiling sleepily at Ben. He had brought her luggage in for her, and she set a wake-up call. “Good night, Ben, see you in the morning.”

  “May I kiss you goodnight?”

  “Of course.”

  Ben leaned in and left a teasing kiss on her lips. “Sweet dreams, my sweet,” he said before turning around and heading to the bank of elevators.

  Chapter Two

  Cassie closed the door behind Ben and smiled. She was grateful that he left after he set her luggage down and reminded her to place a wake-up call. Cassie had only a vague idea of how she even made it from Heathrow to the Savoy. She kicked her shoes off and climbed straight into bed falling asleep moments later. When the phone started ringing, she groaned and picked it up.

  “Good morning Miss Devane, this is your 6:10 wake up call.”

  “I hate you, Trevor. Could you please send up some coffee immediately?”

  “I’d be happy to do that and don’t worry I won’t hold this against you. Mornings suck.”

  “Mornings and jet lag are lethal. Thank you.”

  “You are welcome, Miss Devane. Your coffee should be there in 15 minutes.”

  Cassie took a quick shower and had just slipped on a robe when there was a knock on the door. After fixing her coffee and downing the first cup, she prepared a second and sipped on it as she dressed. Late spring in London was one of her favorite times even though an umbrella was a mandatory accessory. She wore a knee length rose pencil skirt and paired it with a lighter scoop neck silk top and pink and white leather pumps. She packed everything she needed for her work day then grabbed her blush pink Coach purse and headed downstairs to see the concierge before meeting Ben.

  “Good morning Miss Devane, you are up earlier than usual. I spoke to the manager of Agent Provocateur, and I’ll have your order here and waiting in your room by 5:30PM.”

  “Thank you, that would be just perfect. Trevor, I don’t know what I’d do without you.”

  “I like being indispensable, keeps me employed.”

  Cassie laughed, “Sorry about being so bitchy this morning. What did you think of my selection?”

  Trevor chuckled, “Classy while flirting with naughty.”

  “Exactly what I was going for. Can I bring you anything from Melba?”

  “I’m fine, Miss Devane.”

  “Let me rephrase that I’m buying you something so state your preference.”

  “A salted caramel or peach melba éclair.”

  “Done. I’ll drop it off on my way back.”

  Cassie didn’t see Ben when she entered Melba so she went straight up to the counter and ordered both éclairs to be boxed up for Trevor. She felt a knuckle slide down her spine. Cassie smiled but did not turn around. “Good morning, Benedict.”

  “Hello Cassandra, you couldn’t wait to have a nosh?”

  “These are a gift for Trevor, the
concierge. He always takes such excellent care of me.”

  “I see, you look like an award-winning rose this morning. What would you like?” Ben asked.

  “Aww thank you, I’ll have raisin scones with clotted cream and strawberry jam plus a dark chocolate pain au chocolate with English Breakfast tea. Milk and sugar, please. What are you going to get?”

  “A notebook so I don’t screw your order up,” he teased. “I’m going to get a butter croissant and an orange, passion fruit éclair with a coffee. Why don’t you go find us a table?”

  Cassie sat down at a table just outside the door and tapped her finger’s against the box of éclairs while she waited. Ben came out with her order before going back to pick up his own. Once settled, they both smiled at each other and Ben watched her break the scone and slather it in clotted cream and jam. He beamed at her moan of approval.

  “I must admit I love how you appreciate your food. Would you consider yourself a foodie?” Ben inquired.

  “I wouldn’t go so far as to blog about food but I’m always quick to recommend places I like. I’m half decent in the kitchen, but I also eat out or order in. I’m more of a connoisseur than a foodie. How about you?”

  “I would put myself in the same boat. Would you like to try my éclair?”

  “No thanks, I’ve tried it before, and it was yummy.”

  They chatted about their schedule in more detail than they had on the plane and Ben said he was disappointed to hear that the UK division of Cerise always took her out to dinner after her first round of meetings. Cassie suggested meeting for drinks at the hotel so she could retire for the evening when she was sleepy.

  “Cassie, you asked me for five more minutes in the cab. I think you will want your bed more than you’ll want to gawp at my mug after a long day of work. How about we stick to our plan to do breakfast again tomorrow?”

  “That’s probably the better idea, but I wanted to see you again. I’m going to try to get out of dinner. I’ll call you while I’m on lunch. You can take me to your favorite pub.”

  “I like the sound of that. Do you remember last night at all?”

  “Not really, you brought my luggage to the room and reminded me to get a wake-up call, but I’m sort of hazy about getting from Heathrow to my room.”

  “You used me as your pillow at my insistence and were out in minutes. You had an excellent cabbie last night. He pulled off to the side to give you five more minutes and went off the meter. I have his card and took the liberty of booking him to get you to work today. His name is Albert.”

  “Thank you. How should I contact you about dinner? Do you prefer your cell or office number?”

  “Cell.”

  “Trying to hide me from your assistant?” Cassie teased.

  Ben rolled his eyes and laughed, “Yes Abbey is madly in love with me and won’t let me speak to other women. If I’m on the phone, and my cell starts to dance on my desk, I’ll know it’s you.”

  “So tell me, Ben, what are you designing at the moment?”

  “Right now, I’m working on building a series of Victorian townhomes on the edge of a former grand estate.”

  “Wow, I find that fascinating. I must confess that I always pictured myself living in a rambling old estate with a staff to cater to me.

  “Ah, that explains your infinity for the Savoy, and you are a huge Downton Abbey fan.

  “Yes I am,” she gave him a mischievous grin, telling him,”Sherlock is one of my favorite shows when they actually air. Benedict and Martin are too busy to shoot a season. It irritates me to have to wait until 2017 to see new episodes.”

  “I must admit I’ve seen several episodes and thought the quality of the production was excellent, but I never have a date with my telly.”

  After admitting how much she used her PVR, Cassie changed the topic to holidays, and before they knew it, Ben was walking her over to the concierge desk and accompanying her up to her room to grab her things for work.

  “Cassie, I’m in no rush to get to work this morning. May I ride with you to work? Then I’ll have Albert take me to my office.”

  “Ben, why do I get the distinct feeling that you will be going way out of your way to do that?”

  “Don’t worry about that. Just in case I don’t get to see you tonight I’d like to spend more time with you.”

  “OK, it would be nice to have company.”

  Ben laughed when she leaned her head against his shoulder and kept a conversation rolling with her eyes closed. “Is it wicked of me to wish that my co-workers would let me blow them off so I can have dinner with you? I’ll be disappointed if I don’t get to see you tonight. There is so much we don’t know about each other. We’ve barely scratched the surface. I want to know more about the TV shows you do watch. All I know about is Sherlock and football. Did you ever watch The West Wing?”

  “I own the entire seven seasons DVD set. You mentioned on the plane that you like the Bond movies. Do you like the spy genre?”

  “I love spy movies, and I should warn you now how much I love The West Wing. I can quote entire sections of dialogue.”

  “Like Sam’s 10,000 airplanes speech?”

  Cassie raised her head from his shoulder and spontaneously kissed the side of his face exclaiming, “Yes! Who was you favorite Bond?”

  “Roger Moore though I did like Pierce Bronson a lot.”

  “I loved Pierce as Bond, but Sean Connery was the original and the best.”

  “We can agree to disagree on that. Damn, we are on your street.”

  Cassie looked at her watch hoping she could ask Albert to circle the block, but she only had minutes to get upstairs. “Working for a living sucks. I want to continue this conversation.”

  Ben didn’t want to let go of her once Albert pulled in front of her office tower. He gave her a tender kiss and slid out to open the cab door for her. Cassie gave him one last kiss.

  “I’ll try my best to get out of dinner.”

  “Promise?”

  “I promise.”

  Ben watched Cassie enter the building then got back into the cab and told Albert where his office was.

  “Your lady friend’s American?”

  “Yes.”

  “How long have you been dating?”

  “We met on the flight here.”

  Albert looked shocked. “I thought you would say about a year. The two of you have a wonderful chemistry. Don’t let her escape, young man.”

  “I don’t plan on it.”

  “A good woman is hard to find and even harder to keep.”

  “Are you married Albert?”

  “Forty years this September and let me tell you the secret to a happy life is a happy wife. She is never wrong, even when it’s blatantly obvious. Just shut your mush and compliment her.”

  Ben laughed and filed the information away for future use. Once he arrived at his office, his assistant Abbey was waiting. “You’re late, boss.”

  “I realize that, Abbey. If a Cassandra or Cassie calls for me, please transfer the call immediately.”

  It took Ben twice as long, as usual, to go over everything he missed while he was in New York. Had Cassie mentioned skipping supper yet? He finally forced himself to do some work until Evan called him from Paris to bounce some ideas around for the boutique they were hired to create. Ben was doodling Cassie’s name on the notepad instead of making notes and listening attentively. His cell started to vibrate in place and Ben cut his partner off mid-sentence and put him on hold. His face lit up when he saw Cassie’s name.

  “Hello Miss Devane, how may I assist you?”

  “Hello Benedict, can you meet me in the Savoy lobby at seven?”

  “Would you stop calling me that!”

  “Sorry, but I like it. I’ve got to go, they’re taking me to lunch instead of dinner. See you at seven.”

  Ben suddenly remembered Evan was still on the other line and picked up. “Sorry mate but a beautiful girl always trumps you.”

  “You m
et a girl? How? You never go anywhere.”

  “On the flight coming home, Cassie gave me her aisle seat.”

  “One of us?”

  “No, an American. She works for Cerise.”

  “Did you tell her that we designed her building?”

  “No, but I was thinking about asking her if she liked it. Now do you have any more ideas or should I transfer you to Abbey to write them all down?”

  “Didn’t you take notes?”

  “Abbey can’t read my writing,” Ben lied as he looked down at what he had actually created. Cassie’s name in a few scripts, flowers, cherries, tubes of lipstick and a few hearts covered his notebook.

  “Some days I wonder why the hell I hired you.”

  “You didn’t, I hired you. I’m transferring you to Abbey now.”

  Ben got rid of Evan and suddenly remembered something from their game of twenty questions and had an idea for his Saturday date with Cassie that he was confident he’d get. He stopped his actual work to focus all his attention on their date. An hour later the arrangements were made, and Ben sent Abbey to get them both lunch. The rest of the day dragged. Even Abbey noticed how distracted he was and asked if he was feeling ill.

  Cassie traded her skirt for jeans and put her hair up in a ponytail before freshening up her makeup and changing to a darker rose lipstick that she had called Trouble. She felt a surge of pride every time she put on a product that she had named, or a color she had fought to make available to the general public. Her ever-expanding job description at Cerise, with its increasing artistic control, and New York were the main reasons she loved her job. Cassie overheard two co-workers speculating that Cassie would be made Vice President and transferred to London if their VP didn’t start paying more attention to daily operations. Cassie’s response was to shudder. The last thing she wanted was a promotion and transfer. London was a beautiful place to visit, but even Ben’s presence couldn’t entice her to live there. She left her suite and smiled at Ben, who was talking to a distinguished-looking gentlemen in a very expensive suit.

  “Good evening Benedict.”

  “Miss Devane, I am going to put you over my lap and spank you if you don’t stop calling me that!”