by Alexis Gold
By the end of the week, it had been six days and there was no word from him. Liam had texted her twice to ask if she had heard from him, and she’d had to tell him no. She asked Liam if Alexander had said anything about her around the office and he had had to tell her no. Alexander hadn’t said one word to him about her.
Mia sank into the thick cushion of her sofa with a glass of Merlot, watching the sun sink lower over New Jersey. She sipped her wine and felt grateful that she was able to live like she did, in the city that never sleeps. Her phone rang and she reached over and picked it up, answering it without much more than a glance at it. It was a number she didn’t know.
“Hello?” she said casually.
“Hi, Mia? This is Alexander Daniels.” His voice was that same deep soft voice that had drifted over her shoulder in the office. Everything in her tightened sharply and she sat up spilled a few drops of wine on the table before her as she moved to set her glass down hurriedly.
Her heart jumpstarted and she tried to draw in a shaky breath to steady herself as she answered in as calm a voice as she could muster.
“Oh yes! Hello Alexander. How nice to hear from you. How are you doing?” she sat up straight and took another deep breath, trying to convince herself that the best thing to do was to relax.
“I’m fine, thank you, and how are you doing?” he returned pleasantly.
She was slightly miffed that he didn’t sound at all nervous. She felt that he should at least have the decency to sound a little nervous. He was as calm as a still water.
“I’m good,” she rushed out swiftly. “I’m… just…. here drinking some wine. In my apartment….” She fumbled through her response and clenched her eyes and her hands tightly, wondering when she had lost her super cool ability to speak to men.
No man made her uncomfortable or nervous. It was always the opposite with her; she was the one making them freeze up and forget how to speak and think and move, but here was one man who seemed to make her feel like a school girl on the first day.
She took another breath and tried to recover quickly, changing the subject. “How are things going over at the office? Have you been able to move ahead with any of the plans and changes?” she asked hopefully.
There was a tired sigh in his voice. “It’s coming along slowly. I wish there was more that I could do to speed it up, but unfortunately, there isn’t. Thank you for asking.” He paused and sounded thoughtful.
“I’m calling because there’s an event that I need to go to next week; there’s not really any way out of it for me, although I wish there was. It’s a formal event, a dinner. I thought you might like to come with me as my guest.”
Excitement raced through her and she held back every bit of it, as she forced her voice to sound calm and collected. “Oh, that sounds like it would be a really nice evening with you. I’d be glad to join you. Thank you so much for thinking of me.” She smiled as she spoke, knowing that he would be able to hear it through the phone.
What he didn’t hear was her jumping up from the sofa and bouncing on the balls of her feet just a little as the excitement that she held in grew exponentially. She stopped bouncing and stood still, laying her hand on her heart and feeling it pound inside of her.
“Well that’s wonderful. Thank you, I appreciate it. I have your email here on your business card, so I’ll email the details to you. Mia…” he paused and she held her breath as her eyes grew wide and everything in her seemed to be right on the edge of a cliff.
“Yes?” she answered a little more breathlessly than she had intended to.
“I’m really glad that you’re able to come with me. I think it will be a fun night for both of us,” he told her quietly. She could see his brown eyes, his dark hair, and that smile of his in her mind.
“I’m sure that we will. I’m looking forward to it,” she said a little more easily.
He bade her good night and she hung up the phone and squealed loudly, holding the cell tightly in her hands as she looked up at the ceiling in utter joy, a grin gracing her face. He was going out with her. He had finally called her after six long days. She was going to have the night of her life with him, and then she was going to go to Rome, and everything was finally going the way that she wanted it to.
For a moment, she considered texting Liam to tell him, but then as she was pulling up his name on her phone, she bit her lip and shook her head once, just a little, turning the phone off. She wanted to tell him, but she thought she would wait until she saw the friends at cocktails the next afternoon at Carly’s. Then she could share her good news with all of them, and they could celebrate together, and start preparing to buy her airplane ticket to Italy.
***
The next afternoon, she was the first one at Carly’s, and when the others walked in, she could hardly contain herself. Liam took one look at her face and mouthed silently to her, “He called?” and she nodded subtly and grinned at him, and he grinned back and clapped his hands once in excitement.
Liam, Eva, and Maddie sat with her and ordered their drinks. The moment their waiter left, she looked at all of them and let out a little squeal as she announced happily, “I have news on the Mr. Big project!”
Every one of them was interested, and Liam held up his hand with a wink and a smile and said calmly, “Before you let them in on your update, we need to catch them up on what happened at the office.”
She tipped her head to the side a little and smirked some, lowering her lashes for a moment and then looking at him in acquiescence. “I know. You’re right. They do need to know that part first.”
Liam winked at her and then looked at Ava and Maddie who were watching him expectantly.
“So!” he began, moving his hand through the air as if he was setting the scene. “I took Mia to work with me so she could meet Alexander Daniels… aka Mr. Big.”
His eyes wide and sparkling with delight, he shared a grin with Mia and continued, “Well, to begin with, Mia looked absolutely stunning in this almost eggshell cream colored sweater dress.” He leaned forward as if he was sharing a secret with them, “…just stunning. It hugged her like a lover and when I introduced her to Alexander, he definitely noticed.”
Mia giggled and her cheeks grew warm. Liam kept going. “I’ll let her tell you the rest, but I’m going to say that I was so proud of our girl. Mark my words; she’s going to win that ticket to Rome, you wait and see.”
She laughed and reached for his hand, bringing it to her lips and kissing the back of it softly before letting it go. Mia looked at Maddie and Ava. “Well, to begin with, he really does look like the guy on the show. So much! It’s incredible! I tried not to stare when I went in, but it’s seriously so uncanny. You wouldn’t believe it. Anyway, I was a little nervous—”
Ava stared at her and cut her off. “You were nervous? You’re never nervous. You have more courage than all of us! How could you ever be nervous?” She looked astounded.
Mia raised her eyebrows and shrugged. “I have no idea. It’s true that I’m never nervous, but this time I was. Maybe it’s because the three of you put me up to it and it wasn’t my idea or someone I was already going after. Maybe it’s more pressure? I don’t know. What I know is, I was a little nervous.”
Liam patted her hand. “Well, it didn’t show honey, you were as cool as a cucumber.” He looked at her proudly.
She winked at him. “Thanks, Liam.” Turning back to Ava and Maddie, she took a breath. “Well, he seemed a little cool too, and it didn’t help the way that I was already feeling. He was really friendly, don’t get me wrong, but he was definitely cool. So I met him in Liam’s office and then Liam and I went to work down the hall, and a little while later I hear this gorgeous voice over my shoulder and I turn around and it’s Alexander. We talked a little bit and then I asked him to go to dinner with me and he turned me down. He said that he was really busy with his new office and he had a lot to do to get the building ready and the office up and going, and he just didn’t have time, but
he was really nice about it.”
Maddie frowned and narrowed her eyes and Ava pouted and looked at Mia with sincere disappointment. Mia gave them a sly grin.
“So he went back to his office and before I left, I went to see him and thank him for buying all of us lunch, and when I did, I slipped him my business card and told him to call me. He put my card in his pocket and I left.” She paused a moment as they all looked at her expectantly.
“Did he call you?” Ava asked excitedly, clasping her fingers together tightly.
Mia grinned. “He did,” she answered. She didn’t mention that she had to wait six days for him to call. “He asked me to go with him to a formal event. It’s a dinner. I have a feeling that I’ll definitely be able to win this challenge after that event.”
She left it at that, and her three friends looked at her with thrilled anticipation. By being invited to the dinner with him, she had been given a chance to make him want to spend the night with her, and she was going to do her best to make sure that Alexander Daniels wanted her so much that he couldn’t tell her no. He would be her lover that night, if she had anything to say about it. She would come back to her friends with the information they wanted, and she would have that hot ticket to Rome in her hands in no time.
Chapter3
The day of the dinner, Mia took half the afternoon off from work getting ready for it. She went to the salon and had her hair colored and styled, she had a manicure and pedicure done, she was waxed, peeled, and massaged. She had everything done that could be done, and when she walked out of the building, she looked beautiful.
She had bought a new formal dress for the occasion. It was satin in burnt orange; it made her dark skin glow and she felt that the rich fiery color of it was a subtle invitation to what was beneath the material. It was strapless with a sweetheart neckline that offered a generous view of her deep cleavage, as well as the soft smooth curves of her breasts. From there it tapered closely to her waist, gathered as it descended, hugging her body closely. It was form-fitting over the curve of her hips and there was a thigh-high slit in the dress over one leg that gave more than a glimpse of her long, toned leg. Paired with sparkling fire opals in her necklace and earrings, she gave herself one last spray of perfume before she nodded her head at the finished reflection of herself in the mirror.
Mia had asked Alexander to pick her up so that he would know where she lived and would be more comfortable going back to her place with her at the end of the night. She was just giving herself a last turn before the mirror when she heard her front bell ring and everything in her stopped and her breath caught in her lungs.
She glanced in surprise at the clock and frowned slightly. He was fifteen minutes early. She was relieved that she had taken the extra time that day to be ready for their date. Mia closed her eyes a moment as she stood before her front door, taking in a deep slow breath before she reached for the handle and opened it to see him standing there.
He was in a black tuxedo with a black tie, and a white shirt with black buttons down the front of it. In one arm, he held a bouquet of white roses, long stemmed, with a thick white ribbon tied around them. His hair was styled, perfectly in place. He gave her a smile and a nod when she looked up at him. Everything in her stopped again at that moment. It was rare that any man took her breath away, but Alexander Daniels, standing in her doorway looking like a James Bond hero, was riveting to her, and it was all she could do not to show it.
“Hello! Come in!” she said with an airy smile, stepping back so he could enter her apartment.
He stepped in and handed the flowers to her. “For you,” he said as he placed them in her hands. “You look breathtaking,” he said as his eyes met hers and she lowered her eyelashes a little and smiled up at him coyly.
“Thank you. The flowers are very sweet, and I appreciate the compliment. You look dashing and debonair in your tux.” She gave him a light wink and then went to the kitchen to put the roses into a vase of water. “I’ll just be a minute,” she said as she disappeared through the kitchen doorway.
When she returned, he was standing before her shelves, looking at the photographs that she had there. “Are these your family?” he asked interestedly as he looked at all of them.
She walked up beside him and raised her hand toward them as she spoke. “This one is my sister, those are her children, and those are my parents. These are my best friends.”
“There’s Liam.” He smiled at her and she smiled back and nodded.
“That’s him. We’ve been friends for a long time. I wouldn’t trade him for the world,” she said with a happy and wistful gaze at his image smiling back at her.
Alexander nodded and gazed at her face for a moment. “Those are the friends to keep. There’s no doubt about that.”
He turned and began to walk toward the door. “Do you have friends like that?” she asked curiously, walking behind him. She stopped at the closet and pulled her coat out and he took it from her hands immediately and helped her into it.
“I do. I have some friends from college that I will always keep, and I have a younger brother who I’m quite close with.” He reached for the door and held it open for her. “Shall we?” he asked with an inviting smile, and she nodded and followed him out.
They rode in a stretched black limousine to the event, which was held at a towering and luxurious hotel downtown in the city. When they walked into the hotel, several people stopped Alexander along the way and shook his hand or clapped him on the shoulder. Several ladies eyed him and smiled at him and though he smiled back at them, he did not give them the same sort of smile in return, and Mia watched him closely.
It was like he was a royal coming home to his own castle and everyone wanted to greet him, to shake his hand, to catch his eye, or hear him speak to them as he passed. He seemed like the big man on campus, and Mia laughed silently to herself, big in the societal way as well. She wondered whether the rumor about his body was true, and she thought with a heated blush about the end of the night when she would find out. He turned to her just then and her breath caught. She panicked that he would be able to see through her and know what she had been thinking.
They were standing in a lavishly appointed ballroom where several tables were set up for dinner, with a stage facing the room and a dance floor off to one side. There were six bars set up around the room, and he indicated the one nearest them.
“Would you like a drink?” he asked, leaning closer to her so she could hear him well in the hum of conversation that surrounded them.
As he neared her, she could smell his cologne and it made her close her eyes and breathe him in, losing herself for a moment in the scent. It was subtle and yet wrapped itself around her, making her want to be closer to him to smell it on his skin.
“Mia?” he asked in a soft voice, looking at her curiously.
She blinked and smiled. “I’m sorry… yes. I’d love a glass of wine thank you. Riesling if they have it, Chardonnay if they don’t.”
He nodded and gave her a wink back, and she felt butterflies in her stomach come to life and begin to move around as he left her. She watched him as he walked away, until he reached the bar, and then she turned and gazed around the room. There were massive centerpieces on all of the tables, all the finest crystal and china were laid out, and there were musicians playing classical music from the corner of the room. There were swags of sheer white material hung about the room and colored lights set into them and against them made them glow in varying hues.
Hanging from the ceiling was a massive chandelier that glittered and sparkled in the dim lights around it. She was admiring all of it when she felt a hand on her shoulder and heard a familiar voice in her ear. She turned with a start and found herself looking at Will Carter, standing there close to her in a tuxedo.
“Well, what a lucky surprise! How are you, Mia?” he asked with a grin as his hand moved from her shoulder to the bare skin on her back.
She turned just enough that she could ste
p back and be just out of reach, removing his hand from her without obviously pulling away.
“I’m fine, thank you, Will; how are you doing?” she asked with a polite nod and a small smile.
“Well, I’m much better now. I thought this was going to be a long boring night that I would have to sit through, but now that I see you’re here, things are definitely looking like they could get a lot more… exciting…” he hinted heavily. His eyes traveled slowly over her body and found their way finally back up to her face.
“You are so hot in that dress,” he said casually, making no effort to hide his lascivious appreciation.
She blinked at him. She supposed that it was good that she had gotten the compliment, but considering what it meant and from whom it came, she wished that she could have ignored it. “Thanks,” she said simply. She felt her stomach tighten and she wondered where Alexander was, but just as Will was about to say something else to her, leaning in and wrapping his arm around her shoulder, she saw his eyes look behind her instead of at her, and he looked up in surprise.
Alexander came up directly behind Mia and wrapped his arm around her, placing his hand on her waist. “Mia, my dear, I didn’t know you knew Will.”
Will blinked and his mouth fell open slightly as he looked from Alexander to Mia, and then back to Alexander. “Oh… I uh… I guess I didn’t realize that you were here with anyone, Mia,” he fumbled and let go of her, stepping backward a pace. He frowned slightly and looked at Alexander.
“How’d you get her to say yes to you? I can’t ever get her to agree to see me outside of work,” Will said with a shake of his head and an almost sarcastic laugh.
Alexander watched him and spoke with a firm yet congenial voice. “I’m just very lucky, I suppose. She has excellent taste in men,” he added, giving Will a subtle nod, and Will nodded back and smiled until he worked out in his mind that it wasn’t a compliment. He was not one of the men that Mia had chosen, and Alexander was; her taste excluded him. He frowned slightly and lifted his glass to his mouth for a drink.