by Dawn Tamayo
CHAPTER FIVE
Jake pulled up in his white Lamborghini with the convertible top down. Sunglasses covered his blue eyes and Victoria wondered if he really needed them since the sun was beginning to set. She looked across the open top of his Lamborghini and saw Jake dressed casually in blue denim jeans and a navy blue Ralph Lauren short sleeved polo shirt – yesterday she had thought he couldn’t get any more gorgeous, but right now he was even surpassing that!
Jake looked relaxed with his arm slung casually across the back of the passenger’s seat as he looked up at Victoria standing on the pavement outside her hotel.
“So what are you trying to do? Impress or annoy someone tonight?” Victoria joked as she motioned to his car.
“Neither, I just thought you would get a better view of Miami if we were in my convertible.” Jake flashed his irresistible smile and Victoria laughed as she slid inside his car onto the cream leather seat next to him. “But be honest, you are just a little bit impressed aren’t you?” He said with a cheeky grin as he pulled out into the traffic.
“Well maybe just a little.” She teased – of course she was impressed, she felt like a million dollars! Victoria smiled as she too put her sunglasses on, protecting her eyes from the glare of the red sunset and relaxed against the soft leather seat enjoying the evening’s warm breeze against her face.
Jake smiled – Victoria was wearing another little dress again, and the soft dark blue material rose up revealing a few inches of lightly tanned thigh.
“So where are we going?”
“For a drive and then we can eat. What do you want to eat?”
“I don’t mind.” She didn’t care – she had a feeling she would enjoy it wherever Jake took her.
“Okay how about we keep it simple tonight, we’ve both got an early morning and a full day tomorrow - I wasn’t kidding when I said I was bringing you over at one of our busiest times.”
“No problem.” Victoria said as she looked at the art-deco style buildings as they drove past thinking she could get used to this!
The sky turned dark as they passed through district after district whilst Jake talked about each little area as they went. Victoria could now understand why most people drove everywhere rather than walking – everything was so spread out. Their idea of “just around the corner” was a five minute drive up the road which was probably a few miles away. In her book “just around the corner” was exactly that, just around the corner and a few minutes walk away.
“Do you recognise the area now?” Jake broke into Victoria’s thoughts.
“Oh yes, it’s Hollywood beach. My hotel is just down the road back there.” She realised they had driven in a circle and doubled back to near her hotel.
“Good, so watch where I am driving now, we’re going to pass Creative Technology Holding’s offices in a minute so it’s a good idea if you know where you are going. Then I am taking you to see a fantastic new landmark just being constructed near here.”
Victoria nodded as she took note of the turns at the traffic lights and before she knew it Jake stopped outside a huge glass building with the most amazing entranceway of two huge escalators lit up with bright white lights leading up to the first floor entrance like a set a stairs leading up to heaven.
“These are our offices. My office is on the top floor and marketing is on the seventh floor. I’ve had an office on the seventh floor put aside for you to work out of, but to be honest you’ll be out and about most of the time. Jenny heads up my marketing team and I’ll introduce you to her tomorrow morning first thing.”
“Jenny. Seventh floor. Okay, got it.” She said taking a mental note.
Then as quick as Jake had pulled up outside the building and slipped into work mode he was out of it again and pulled the white Lamborghini back into the traffic. “Okay, so enough of that, time to eat I think.”
That sounded like a good idea to Victoria, she was hungry and as nice as it was driving through the colourful streets at night with Jake she was beginning to feel too comfortable with him. She wondered if he was like this with everyone because she was finding it hard to keep a grasp on the fact that he was her boss and not just some great guy who was showing her his home city. She kept repeating her now new mantra over and over again in her head, “Professionalism Victoria. Be professional.”
Jake turned at the Hallendale Beach sign and pulled into a huge car park, stopping in the middle and put his Lamborghini into park. He turned the headlights on to full beam and Victoria gasped not quite believing what she saw. Right in front of the car was the hugest statue she had ever seen - one leg of a giant Pegasus was raised up and trampling on the enormous dragon under its foot. Spotlights streamed up from the ground below illuminating every curve on the statue - the sight was breath-taking. Victoria was mesmerised and opened the car door to step out and walk closer to the imposing statue. She had always loved Trafalgar Square in London with Nelson’s Column and the huge lions, and she had been impressed by the huge statues and fountains in Rome, but none of them could even begin to compare to the size of this incredible statue.
Jake put the car back into drive and pulled into a parking spot. He stepped out and walked over to stand next to Victoria.
“It’s quite something isn’t it?” He said standing a foot further away from her than he would have liked, but right now his whole body was tingling with temptation to slip his arm around Victoria’s shoulders and pull her in tightly against him so they could savour the sight together, not just standing next to each other. There was no one else around, just the two of them. Most of the other cars were parked in a car park closer to the Gulfstream Park itself, and for now there was just the distant sound of cars from the freeway and the faint sound of laughter as it carried across on the evening breeze whilst they stood there. Jake looked at Victoria, he couldn’t believe how easy it felt to be with her - to be himself and just sit and chat about everything and anything, not talking to someone to persuade them to come in with him on his latest business venture, or to plug his latest product, or even talk about himself because someone was asking him questions! And he didn’t feel like he had to watch what he said in case it ended up in the newspaper the next morning or something was misconstrued. No, he had spent the last hour or so just talking to Victoria about Miami, its people and culture, the growing Latino population and its influence on the food and music, and about him - about what he, Jake, liked. But that constant electrifying chemistry between them, the feeling he had been trying to ignore ever since he first met her, along with the temptation to touch her when he knew he shouldn’t, was practically killing him inside. He had gone into this knowing he would have to put up with it because he felt that chemistry the minute he met Victoria in Gloucester, but even so the last twenty four hours had taken him by surprise - even after enjoying their dinner in London he still hadn’t expected to feel so comfortable and at ease in Victoria’s company. And that made it all that much harder to keep his promise to himself, and her – to be purely professional and nothing else.
“It is amazing!”
“It will be even better when they finish it.” He said motioning to the construction work still going on around the Pegasus and dragon. “I’m guessing they will be painting it different colours, but it looks good the way it is now I think.”
“It’s beautiful.” Victoria said turning to Jake with eyes wide taking in every detail of the enormous statue. “Can I walk around it? See it from the other side?”
“Yeah sure, we can go around the whole thing.” Jake pushed a button and the car roof instantly closed and locked. “Let’s take a walk around and get some dinner here then.” He motioned to the bright lights of the Gulfstream Park behind them.
She nodded and followed Jake, admiring the huge statue as they walked around the base of it together.
After the delicious food at the Brazilian-American steakhouse inside the Gulfstream Park Victoria and Jake took a stroll through the brightly lit streets. They walked along the
perfectly clean white pavements and Victoria marvelled at the huge new white art-deco inspired buildings with their sweeping arches and pillars. She loved the shops - they all looked so enticing, but expensive.
“Here, let’s go through here and you can see where the race horses get paraded to the public before they race.” Jake said as he took Victoria’s arm and guided her through a large archway opening out into a big open-air arena.
“Wow!” Victoria said as her eyes went straight to the huge water fountain lit with pink and bright multi-coloured lights in the middle of a mini track. The water sprayed high into the sky and the lights reflected rainbows through it.
“Yeah I like this too. In the daytime they bring the horses here for you to see so you can decide who you want to place your bets on to win before they take them onto the track to race.”
Victoria looked away from the rainbow coloured fountain to the seating area around the outside of the building and then followed Jake through another large archway into an open-air race track brightly lit under the dark night sky.
Jake pointed out the lake in the middle of the vast race track and Victoria craned to see the other side of the track. Then he turned around and pointed to a building positioned right behind the main shopping village where they had just walked through, “And that’s where I live.”
Victoria looked at what looked like a huge hotel and back to Jake again. “You live there?”
“Yes, for now. I’m having a house built on the beachfront but until it’s ready I’ve bought a place here and it suits me fine.”
“A house on the beach? Wow, I imagine that will be lovely when it’s done.”
“I hope so, but I’m in no hurry. I haven’t really decided what I want to do with the interior yet and everything the designer shows me just seems to be so impersonal – artistic but impersonal. Who knows, maybe one day I will find the right woman to help me put the finishing touches to it and then it will be ready.”
Victoria laughed, “I’m sure you don’t have any problems with finding the ladies Jake.”
Jake nodded towards the way they came in and they walked back through the archway, “Finding women is not the problem Vicky. Finding the right one is not so easy.” He looked at her and smiled, god she was beautiful and he really thought she had no idea just how beautiful she was.
“Yes I think I can vouch for that, and even when you think you have found the right one then there are still no guarantees.” She swallowed hard as she breathed in the warm but fresh night air.
“Is that an opening line for us to talk about it?” Jake asked cautiously, he had been wondering all day what happened with Victoria and her fiancé.
“Nope!” She said as she walked a little faster. “I should get going.”
“Wait just a minute longer, I was saving the best till last.”
“There’s more?”
Jake nodded and led Victoria through a few more archways and then she found herself in a small open air arena surrounded by restaurants, bars and coffee shops as the sound of a live band grew louder.
“You want to dance?” Jake asked pointing to the dance floor in front of the stage where the band played a song by the Gypsy King.
Victoria laughed, she wasn’t sure how to dance to this sort of music as she watched the women being twisted and turned around by their partners, but then again how hard could it be? She put the strap of her bag over her head and across her body and followed Jake onto the dance floor.
Jake held out his hand and Victoria took it as she stepped inside so his other hand rested gently on the back of her waist. Slowly at first Jake moved to the beat of the music. Victoria knew he could have moved faster but as they moved to every other beat she felt herself get into step with him and they moved smoothly together. With her high-heels on she was only a couple of inches shorter than Jake and she couldn’t avoid looking into his enchanting blue eyes as he watched her intently whilst they moved together. For a moment it felt like there was nothing and no one around them, just the two of them moving together and she could have sworn Jake had pulled her in closer now as their two bodies moved up against each other, and she felt the warmth of his legs through his jeans press up against her hers. Victoria could hardly breathe as she lost herself in Jake’s arms, and his eyes. Electricity pulsated between them and eventually she realised they weren’t dancing anymore, they were standing perfectly still in the middle of the dance floor as couples danced their way around them.
When Jake saw something flash in Victoria’s eyes he too realised they weren’t dancing anymore, and he stepped back releasing Victoria from his arms and cleared his throat. He wasn’t sure when they stopped dancing, but he was sure that whatever this moment was between them had to stop. He looked across Victoria’s head to the bars behind her as he ran his hand through his hair. “Would you like a drink?” He wasn’t sure what else to do or say.
“A coffee would be good.” She said as she tried to understand what had just happened.
“Not a cocktail?” Jake smiled remembering her sexy dance moves from last night.
Victoria blushed and playfully hit Jake on his arm glad that whatever the moment was, along with the incredibly intense look in Jake’s eyes, had gone. “Let’s not mention that shall we? I guess I drank a couple too many, but it was fun.”
“Oh yes it definitely was.” He teased and loved to see her blush.
“Jake!” She was sure she remembered everything from last night and apart from a few drunken dance moves she was sure she hadn’t thrown herself at anyone or stripped down to her underwear and danced on a table. “I didn’t do anything too embarrassing did I?”
“Not at all, in fact you were perfectly sweet.”
Sweet? Ugh Victoria wrinkled up her nose - she couldn’t think of anything worse than being called sweet! Sexy, now that was good. A smart cookie, yes she would take that too. But sweet? Great, she felt frumpy now! She supposed she couldn’t blame Jake for thinking her sweet in her pretty little sun dresses even if they did still show her toned legs off to perfection. It hadn’t taken Victoria long to see how the people in Miami loved to show off their bodies, something they didn’t do so much back in London – she supposed it was a mixture of the Latino culture influence and the beautifully hot weather. The men flashed their muscles whenever possible, and Victoria wasn’t complaining because there were some seriously good looking guys around, and the women showed off their curvy assets with figure-hugging clothes and preferably as little of them as possible! No, Victoria decided her wardrobe needed to change, she wasn’t in London now, she was in Miami, and it was hot here in more ways than one! ‘Just wait until tomorrow Mr Jake Cumberland, and we will see who looks so sweet’ she thought - she could be just as sexy as the rest of them and Jake was about to see that for himself.
“Okay, coffee it is then.” Jake said as they headed to the coffee house
Victoria looked at her watch, it was getting late. “Actually, can I have mine to go? I think it’s time I head back now.”
Jake looked at his watch and even though Victoria was probably right he didn’t want her to leave, not yet. “Are you sure? I’ll drive you back to your hotel after we drink it.”
“No thanks, anyway you’re already home. I’ll grab a cab.”
“No way, I’ll drive you.”
“Jake. Take no for an answer for once will you? I’ll grab a cab. Okay?” Victoria said as she skimmed down the ridiculously long list of coffees on offer. After that amazing moment of chemistry on the dance floor between them, the last place Victoria thought she should be was alone in the confined space of an incredibly sexy car with him.
Jake nodded.
Victoria woke up early and ate breakfast before she took her time getting dressed, putting on a pair of figure-hugging black trousers which moulded themselves to her curvy hips all the way down her legs to her ankles. Her bright red high heels matched her red strappy vest top which was hidden under the new thin black jacket she bought yesterday
on her shopping trip – she zipped the little jacket up so just the tiniest hint of red teased where the ‘v’ of her ample cleavage threatened to edge its way out of her jacket.
Victoria looked at herself in the mirror. Her hair was pulled up high on her head in a ponytail and swayed as she walked. She looked smart and professional, but boy did she look sexy, and she smiled pleased with herself - her jacket and trousers hugged to her like a second skin and there was no way Jake was going to call her sweet today! Victoria stepped away from the mirror and then stopped. Smiling to herself she reached into her jewellery pouch and pulled out a small pair of gold drop earrings and slipped them through the small holes in her ears. She moved her head and watched how the earrings swayed below her earlobes when she moved and she smiled. That was it, she was ready to go now.
Victoria looked up at the huge escalators leading up to the building’s glass front doors. She swallowed hard realising how dry her mouth was and took a drink from her water bottle. She was nervous, but she was excited too. She put her right foot on the first step of the escalator and felt it pull her upwards as she focused on her destination in front of her. This was day one of the rest of her life. If she got this right she would be the account manager in London for one of the largest and most prestigious accounts. She felt the butterflies well up inside her stomach as she stepped off the escalator, through the big glass doors, and out of the already hot air into the air conditioned reception.
