by Unknown
“Oh, you mean the silent one; I think her name is Regina. She doesn’t talk to anybody except for those she feels comfortable with. Extremely shy, I mean so shy that even if a guy says hello to her, she breaks out in a sweat. Why are you asking?”
Collin only smiled and said, “I think I’ve found the one.”
“Really, you think she’s the one who’s going to win it for you this year?”
“I think so. She’s been so uneasy around me the past couple of days now that I’ve noticed her, I find it really intriguing. I’ve never had a woman react that way, not even the last few I had taken to the party. So, this one is going to be a refreshing escapade my friend and I’m going to enjoy every bit of it.”
The party in question was something of a tradition the top executives had been doing for a number of years. The objective was to get a date with one of the homeliest or shyest women in their office. Wine and dine her, take full advantage of her if possible, to the point of the girl more than likely falling in love. Before the party, each man would invite their woman to basically be paraded around to the rest of the executives so they could figure out who won the bet. The prize—all-expenses paid week-long vacation to wherever they wanted to go.
“I can’t wait to see the guys’ faces when you bring her to the party,” John told him with a chuckle.
* * * *
“My God, that was a close call,” Regina mumbled before breathing a sigh of relief. She had never felt so scared in her life as when he started talking with her. She needed to overcome this fear of being around men. But of course that was easier said than done for Regina Talbot. Right now she needed to concentrate on giving everybody their mail and pick up whatever needed to go out for the day.
After collecting her last bunch of packages, Regina waited for the elevator and recognized the guy from earlier in his office talking on the phone. She had to admit he was handsome, too handsome to be with someone like her. Looking above the elevator doors, she noticed the light was off and when she pressed the button again, it wasn’t staying lit. “What the hell?”
She went over to Nancy’s desk. “Hey Nancy, can I use the phone? I think something is wrong with the elevator again.”
“Sure Regina. I thought they would’ve at least fixed it during the weekend, you know two folks got stuck in there and it took them about four hours to get them out,” Nancy told her with a smile.
Regina started to laugh because she had already heard the story about a guy named Tom from the ninth floor and a woman name Melinda. When they finally got the thing operating, they were literally naked and sweaty on the floor of that elevator. “Maxine told me that it was pretty steamy in there.” Regina laughed until she heard the guy on the line and started to talk, but the conversation almost ended up being a big argument instead.
“This is great, now I have to take the freight elevator and I hate taking that thing, it always smells like garbage,” Regina whined as she hung up the phone with the guy.
“Don’t tell me you’re going to take the mail down those steps.”
Regina smiled at the concerned look on Nancy’s face. “It’s not like I haven’t done it before. When the elevator broke down the last time I was all the way up on the fifteenth floor. It was quite a workout let me tell you. At least now I only have a few boxes and some envelopes.”
“Well, why don’t you let me help you then?” asked a voice from behind. Regina didn’t want to look behind her and as luck would have it she didn’t have to. “Hold my calls for me Nancy while I help…” He looked at her as if waiting for her to say her name.
“Regina.”
“Regina with the mail here, I’ll be back in a little bit. I’ll take the boxes while you get the letters.” Regina got a hold of the letters and envelopes as he grabbed two boxes from the cart and they made their way toward the door that led to the stairway.
All right Gina, this is the test, you’ve got to remain calm and just head on down the steps with this man and once you get to the mailroom, thank him for the help.
“So you’re Regina, huh?” he asked, starting down the stairway.
“Yes.”
“I’m Collin by the way.”
“I already know who you are. I do leave you your mail.” Regina heard him chuckle at her joke.
“Yeah, I completely forgot about that. You know we never finished our conversation in the elevator. You left so quickly once the doors opened. I swear you looked like you were running a hundred yard dash or something.”
This time it was Regina who started laughing. “I’m sorry but I had to laugh because what you said was too funny.”
“No need to apologize, you have a cute laugh by the way,” Collin said with a smile. She stopped to look up at him wondering what he was getting at with that comment and continued down. “I didn’t mean to make you uncomfortable, I’ll stop.” And he did just that as they finally made it down to the mailroom.
Regina wanted to die laughing seeing the shocked look on Linda’s face as Collin stood there with some boxes in his hands.
“Don’t tell me the elevator broke down again?” Linda asked and they nodded their heads. “Well this is just great, did Jerry say how long it was going to be before they fix it?”
“Probably not for another hour or so, but knowing him, he’ll probably start after lunchtime.” Regina turned and got caught in those flashing green eyes. Now that they were so close to each other, she could really get a good look at Collin. He was a very handsome man with an amazing smile, she thought, but then Linda coughed and brought her back to reality. “I want to thank you for helping me by the way, you honestly didn’t have to.”
“Anything to help out a lady in distress, I don’t mean to be forward with you by asking this, but would you like to have lunch with me this afternoon?” Collin asked her.
“Can I think about that, please?”
Collin smiled. “I’ll be waiting for your answer then.”
He walked away, leaving Regina breathless and holding onto the side of the table. Linda came over to her giggling.
“Oh my God, I can’t believe that Collin Noonan came down here and not only that, he asked you to lunch. Oh Regina you got to go, if you don’t I’ll never let you forget about it, ever,” Linda demanded as Regina attempted to compose herself.
“Why in the hell would he want to take me out to lunch?”
“Who cares? You just got asked out to lunch and knowing him, he’ll probably pay for everything. Plus he’s Collin Noonan. Of all the men in this building, you have one of the most eligible choices asking you out. You don’t have to think about it girlfriend, go for it while the getting is good,” Linda told her before she went back to work.
Regina started to sort out some mail while she tried to come to grips with the idea of going out on her first lunch date with Collin Noonan.
As the time slowly approached noon, her stomach churned. She knew Collin was going to want an answer but the thought of saying yes or no to him scared her half to death. The phone rang and she jumped as Patrick answered, “Hello mailroom? Yes, hold on a second. Regina, it’s for you.”
Lord it’s him. She grabbed the phone and took a deep breath before starting to talk. “Hello?”
“Hi there, it’s Collin. I was calling to see if you have finished thinking about going to lunch with me. Do you still want to go? I’ve already made reservations?” To her disappointment, Regina now knew she had to go through with him.
“Well, I was supposed to go with my friend Maxine, but I guess we could probably have lunch another time. I don’t want to ruin the reservations you’ve made on my behalf.”
“Good, I’m glad that you accepted my invite. I’m heading to the parking garage, would you like to meet me?”
“All right, goodbye.” With that, Regina hung up the phone and saw Linda take a big gulp. She could tell Linda was nervous as hell, even though she appeared calm.
“You’ll be just fine Gina, just enjoy your free lunch today,
you deserve a nice looking man taking you out.” Linda smiled as Regina went into her locker and grabbed her purse.
“Wish me luck,” Regina said with a small smile walking toward the door as Linda gave her thumbs up. She waited at the parking lot knowing it would be a while before he came down because he had to use the freight elevator. Soon she saw the door open but a group of people came out, as some of them looked her way she lowered her eyes from their stares while they continued on. Once she felt comfortable again, she saw him standing there looking around for her.
When he noticed her, he walked over and said, “Are you ready?”
Nodding her head, Regina followed him to a black Mercedes Benz. Very gentlemanly, he opened the door for her and held it while she got in, then walked over to his side and slid in. “I hope you like where we’re going, it’s one of my favorite places.” They headed out onto the street, to where she didn’t know but was excited to find out. It didn’t take them long to get to the restaurant and when she saw where they were, Regina was completely shocked that he brought her here of all places.
“Bagwell’s for lunch? You brought me to Bagwell’s for lunch of all the places in town.” Regina asked as the valet opened the door and extended his hand to her.
After handing the young man his keys, Collin walked over and smiled at her. As he walked her toward the front door someone opened it for them. When they got inside, Collin smiled as he saw the hostess at her podium. “Hello Mr. Noonan, I have your table ready.”
Regina couldn’t believe how beautiful this place was. She’d read articles in the paper about the dances and fundraisers they held here, but seeing the pictures was nothing like actually seeing it live and in color. Collin pulled out a chair for her, which made her blush at the offering as she sat down, and he scooted her toward the table.
“Thank you,” she told him ever so softly. As he sat down, the hostess gave them their lunch menus.
“You’re most welcome. Order anything you like, it’s all on me,” Collin assured her with a wink and a smile.
Looking over the menu, her eyes bugged out as she saw the prices of each item. “Are you sure you can afford this, I mean the prices here are insane.”
Collin chuckled at her. “You don’t get the chance to have someone wine and dine you often huh?”
Regina felt her throat tighten up a bit at his comment.
“I’m sorry Regina; I didn’t mean to say it like that.”
“Oh that’s okay, I shouldn’t have let it get to me. I know you were only joking, but no, I don’t get asked out to lunch unless my friend Maxine offers. Other than that, I tend to keep to myself.” Giving him a reassuring half smile, she was putting up a front so he would think she was all right.
“How about this, from now on we’ll go out and have lunch together. I don’t normally go out to lunch unless it’s for business. But other than that, I stay in my office most of the time and have Nancy bring me something or I order in. Besides, it would be nice to spend lunch with a lovely lady everyday instead of alone in my office.”
“Are you serious?” Regina asked as a waiter brought them some water with lemon to drink.
“Very serious and we don’t have to come here, we can go wherever you like to eat. What do you say about that my dear?”
The smile he gave her honestly made her want to melt. She could stare at his face all day.
“I don’t know Collin.”
“Why don’t we do it like this, if you don’t want to keep having lunch with me after this, then we can stop and you can go back to your old routine?”
“It’s just that I eat with my friend basically every day and I wouldn’t want her to be put off by the fact that I’ve dropped her for you.” She didn’t want to hurt Maxine’s feelings, especially after all she had done for her over the years.
“But what about what you want my dear, like you said, you don’t get asked out to lunch very often so why not enjoy having it with me?”
He did have a point, Regina thought, how many times was she ever going to get the chance to be asked out by a handsome man? How many times had she been the one left out of doing things?
Maxine would just have to get over it because now it was her turn to have some fun.
“All right, I’ll have lunch with you Collin,” Regina said with a small smile.
“Good. Now, I do suggest the Cesar salad. You can get it with grilled chicken. It’s pretty good here.”
After they ate, they decided to share a piece of chocolate cake for dessert. Collin asked her question after question about herself the entire time. “So what do you like to do when you’re not working?”
“I sometimes hangout with my friend Maxine, but sometimes I like to be by myself, take my MP3 player, and go for a walk in the park. Either that or I’ll pack myself a little snack and if I get tired, I sit under this tree that I like and watch the world go by. It doesn’t take much to please me, though I do have fun doing it.” She was full, she thought, as she set her fork down on the plate.
“That sounds nice. I wouldn’t mind going for a walk myself one of these days. That’s if I can fit it into my schedule,” Collin told her and she laughed at his comment. “I hope you don’t mind me asking you all of these questions but there is one more I have to ask you,” he said as he raised his hand to get the waiter’s attention.
“Sure what do you want to ask?”
“Was everything all right with your meal this afternoon?” the waiter, whose name was Don, asked them.
“Everything was perfect and I would like the check please,” Collin requested, and with that the waiter was off once more toward the back. “What I wanted to ask is has a man ever done something like this for you?”
Everything had been going fine, Regina thought, until he brought up that particular subject. Why he would ask her that, she wondered to herself. Quickly taking a sip of her water, Regina told him bluntly, “No, none of the guys I’ve talked with or met have ever done anything this nice for me. So you’re the first and probably only one who will. Can we please head back; my lunch break is almost up.”
Don came back with his receipt and Collin paid him. Regina walked toward the front of the restaurant, too embarrassed to see if he followed or not. She stood there waiting next to the valet booth while he gave the young man his ticket. Regina knew that she shouldn’t have let such things get to her, but she couldn’t help it at times especially when she felt as if she was put into a corner by someone. Fiddling with the tassel on her purse, she prayed that the guy would hurry so she could get back into the comfort of the mail room. When the car finally came and they drove off, Collin didn’t say another word to her throughout the ride back. In a way she thought it was a blessing at first but it wasn’t until they made it back to the parking garage when she heard him say. “Please don’t be cross with me Regina. I didn’t mean to be so blunt with you; all I wanted to do was be friendly.”
“It’s not your fault Collin, it’s mine. I’m not used to men asking me out anywhere. I’m generally a loner. Just please bear with me as far as how I might react toward you at times. This is all pretty much new to me, you know.” Regina was shocked as he put his hand on hers causing a wave of sensations to go through her body. Her heart started racing as she bit her lower lip.
“If I ever make you uncomfortable Gina, you let me know and I’ll stop,” Collin told her, staring at her intently. They smiled at one another for a moment before getting out of his car. As they made their way inside they said their goodbyes and she went back to the mailroom.
After work, Regina waited for Maxine to come out and before she could have the chance to say anything about her lunch date, Maxine chimed in, “I cannot believe you had a lunch date with Collin Noonan!” Regina couldn’t help but giggle getting into the car. “So how was it? How did he look? Where you freaking out or what because honestly if that man had asked me out I would have been totally freaking out.”
“First off, who told you?” Regina questioned
her with a cocked brow.
“Patrick because I came down to the mailroom to tell you I was having lunch with some clients. So go on and don’t leave out anything because I want to hear it all,” Maxine said with a giddy laugh that made Regina giggle even more.
“Well to answer your questions, it was really nice. We went to Bagwell’s, which was amazing in itself. He looked so hot and handsome Max. I swear I almost wanted to die. He smiled at me the entire time we were together. I kept thinking to myself that this must be some kind of a dream or something because I know I couldn’t be living through this in real life but I honestly was Max, I was having lunch with a very handsome man in a fine restaurant. I had the grilled chicken Cesar salad that he recommended and we shared a piece of chocolate cake. But he kept asking me all these questions though, which really freaked me out. I think even though I know he was just being nice to me Max, I let everything he said get to me but he told me that if he ever made me uncomfortable with his questioning, he wanted me to tell him.” They stopped over at the grocery store.
“Well at least he understands what not to say, which is good. I honestly can’t believe how lucky you got today. Do you know how lucky you got today, Regina? Women would give their first born son to have any interaction with Collin Noonan,” Maxine said while they started for the doors.
Regina just shook it off as they walked toward the produce. She could understand why most women would swoon over Collin, after all she did.
“So will you be having lunch with me tomorrow? I found this cute café near the square.”
“Um, no, I’m actually having lunch with Collin again tomorrow and the next day and the day after that and so on.” Regina smirked as Maxine started laughing.
When she got home to her apartment with her groceries, she was shocked to see a note on her door. After putting her things inside, she read the note.
Please come to the leasing office, you have something here.
Locking the door once more, she headed straight to the office and met up with Mrs. Townsend, who was as old as she was nosy.
