The Dirty Dozen: Damsel Edition

by Kay Maree

  “So, Duncan,” she started, giving him a bright smile in the mirror.

  “Yes, Mia?” he replied, raising an eyebrow in question.

  “Now that I’m 21, and I’m a responsible adult…” she continued.

  “Yes, Mia?”

  “And since Mum and Dad are going away on holiday next week…” She paused for a moment before continuing. “Do you think you’ll finally be able to teach me to drive now?”

  “Oh, Mia, why would you want to do that?” Gina cut in quickly. “Duncan love driving you wherever you need to go.”

  “Yes, I do, Mrs. Salvatore,” Duncan answered dutifully.

  “Mum, it’s 2020 for heaven’s sake, not the 1950s, women drive these days, you know.” They’d had this same conversation many times over the last few years and her parents had always found ways to dissuade her until now.

  “But Mia,” her mother continued, placing a hand on Mia’s thigh. “You’re not one of those women who have to do mundane things like driving through the hideous traffic in town or toiling away at a draining job, working to help someone else make their fortune. You’re Antonio Salvatore’s daughter and you’re meant for a much better life than that.”

  “Mum, I’m not talking about getting a job.” Mia was horrified at the very thought of having to turn up to a job every day. “But it would be nice to have a little red convertible so I could take myself to tennis or golf, don’t you think?” She’d long ago learned to play to her mother’s visual nature. If her mother could see it in her mind’s eye, she had a better chance of getting what she wanted.

  “I’m sure your father would upgrade your car again if you’d prefer Duncan o drive you in a convertible.” Mia saw Duncan wink at her through the mirror.

  “That’s not what I’m talking about, Mum. I don’t want to be driven around in a boat like some movie star left over from the 60s. I want to drive myself around on a sunny day, in a sexy little two-door Duncan’s driving, of course.” She looked up and saw he was smirking.

  “None taken, Mia,” he answered with the tell-tale hint of a laugh just below his words They’d spoken about Mia’s desire to drive many times, but although Duncan had agreed to teach her, he wasn’t convinced she’d win her father over.

  “I’m not sure about it, Mia,” Gina replied after thinking for a few moments. “I guess we can talk to your father about the idea after our holiday.”

  “Why not before you leave?” Mia worked up her best pout. “I mean, it’s going to take a while for me to get my licence… and for us to find the right car.” This time it was Duncan who rolled is eyes in the mirror. He knew exactly which car she had her eye on because they’d been driving by car dealerships for months.

  “Yes, of course, you’re right, dear. I’m sure it is a very difficult skill to learn.” Gina patted Mia’s thigh. “And Daddy would want to make sure you had the perfect car.”

  “Naturally,” Mia answered with a smile spreading over her face. “Only the best for a Salvatore, after all.”

  “Yes, that’s what your father has always said.”

  Only Mia and Duncan knew that she had recently gained her learner’s permit and had narrowed down her choice of cars to either a Mercedes SL-Class or an Audi S3. She could see herself in both, but given her father’s penchant for all things Mercedes she was pretty sure which one he would lean towards. She was also sure that her other would take her part if her father needed convincing at all.

  By the time Mia was sitting at the basin in her favourite fair salon, waiting for the shampoo girl to begin massaging the floral-scented products into her hair, she’d shifted her thoughts to much more pressing matters. The way she wanted her hair styled and her make up applied, to be exact. She had a photograph of her trying on her black sequinned dress saved on her mobile phone, along with some other shots from the internet, so she could ensure the stylists knew precisely what look they were trying to achieve. She was determined to outshine every other woman this evening and be the epitome of class and glamour. Tonight, her ‘Great Gatsby’ themed party was going to outdo the original Gatsby’s, whoever they were.

  *****

  As Mia made her way along the fairy light lit path just as the twilight sky started to blacken into night, she could see how beautifully the garden and marquee decorations had come together. She could also sense the mood of the guests as she approached the open doorway of the marquee. There was a tinkling of glasses to be heard, along with the hum of voices engaged in conversations, accented by ripples of quiet laughter, which indicated that people were beginning to mingle and enjoy themselves. But there was also an air of anticipation as they awaited her arrival, which was perfect because she intended to make quite an entrance. As arranged, Mia had sent the band leader a text as she was about to exit the house, so he had been watching for her to get close to the doorway. Just as she did, the music stopped and he stood up to the microphone.

  “Ladies and gentlemen, if I could have your attention please.” He paused for a few moments, waiting for a hush to fall over the guests. “On behalf of your hosts, Mr. Antonio Salvatore and his beautiful wife, Gina, I would like to welcome you to what promises to be a magical even as we join with them to celebrate the twenty-first birthday of their daughter, the gorgeous Mia.” There was a short burst of ill-timed applause before he continued and her parents made their way to the front of the bandstand. “If you could all cast your attention to the entrance of this stunning venue, I would ask you to now welcome the lady of the night… Miss Mia Salvatore.”

  There was a moment of silence as everyone turned in her direction. In that moment, she could clearly see the love and pride on her parents’ faces as they watched her prepare to make her entrance. With a beaming smile stretching wide over her face, Mia took her first steps inside the marquee as the guests broke into rapturous applause.

  As Mia wove her way between the groupings of clapping guests, she was aware that some of the women, young and old, were regarding her with jealousy, which she had expected, and that most of the men, young and old, were eyeing her with a degree of hunger in their eyes. While she had wanted to make an impact, some of the looks from her father’s counterparts were almost predatory… that wasn’t what she’d expected.

  Her friends stopped her along the way, giving her hugs and kisses as they wished her a happy birthday and admired her dress. Those moments helped to ground her in the moment and gave her opportunities to look into the crowd and notice people she wouldn’t have otherwise seen. Like the handsome man standing by one of the large potted palms and regarding over the rim of his drink. He didn’t appear to be old enough to fit in with her father’s business group, neither did he appear young enough to fit into the prospective husband group, and the fact that he was unfamiliar made him even more mysterious. Each time she stopped to speak to someone, she looked back to where she’d seen him. Each time she did she met his eyes which were smouldering in her direction. Somehow during the course of the evening, she’d have to find out who this man was and how he’d come to be at her birthday party.

  Chapter Two

  As Colton sat nursing a scotch, he ran his thumb along his lower lip. This night had turned out so differently to what he’s expected when his father had thrust the invitation into his hand and asked him to go in his place. Colt’s first thought was that he was being punished in some way. He couldn’t think of any other reason why Thurston Webb would ask his thirty-two-year-old playboy son to attend the twenty-first birthday part of a business contact’s daughter. However, after he saw Mia Salvatore preparing to enter her party a short time ago, he was pleased he’d given in to his father’s request.

  She was undeniably a beautiful young woman, who carried herself with a self-assured poise, but when Colton caught her eyes, he was sure she wasn’t just another rich heiress.

  He’d been determined to make contact with the Salvatore’s early in the evening, pass on his parents’ greetings and apologies, spend some time l
urking around the fringes, then leave as soon as he got a chance. Although, each time his eyes met Mia’s during her entrance, he found himself revising how long he thought he’d stay. By the time she reached her parents, he’d decided that he’d rather like to meet the young Miss Salvatore.

  After an exquisite dinner, a couple more scotches, and some nothing conversations with a few men he recognised from business meetings he’d been attending with his father, Colton moved around the room and waited for a chance to approach Mia. Several times during the night he’d found her watching him when he’d looked in her direction, so he was sure she’d at least speak to him when he found the right moment… Then he found it…

  Mia had just wandered away from a small group of older women and was headed toward the bar by herself. Even a few hours into the party, she still looked just as stunning as she had when she’d walked in. With her back to the crowd, Colton watched as her shoulders relaxed and knew it was time to make a new friend.

  “Are you enjoying your evening, Miss Salvatore?” Colton asked as he stepped up behind Mia. He watched as he eyes lifted slowly until she was looking directly at the large mirror behind the bar and into his eyes.

  “You,” she said as she turned to face him.

  “Yes, it’s me.” His face broke into a wide smile as he answered. “Happy birthday, Mia.”

  “Thank you…” She paused for a few moments as she searched his face. “I’m afraid you have me at a disadvantage, Mr. …” She let her words hand between them. “Should I know your name?”

  “Colton… Colton Webb.” He held out his hand in greeting and was pleased when she only hesitated for a moment before placing her hand in his.

  “Hi there, Colton Webb.” She looked at him carefully. “Now… although I’m usually pretty good at remembering people and connections, I can’t quite place you, even though you seem sort of familiar.”

  Colton carefully kept holding her hand as he chuckled lightly. “You’re probably thinking of my father, Thurston Webb, he’s been doing business with your father’s company, on and off, for a long time now. I’ve actually come in his place tonight because he and my mother are on one of those river cruises in Europe. You know, the ones where you visit a different castle each day?”

  “Sounds fascinating,” Mia answered, a little disinterested.

  “Well, that should keep them occupied for a couple weeks, In the meantime, I get to attend all their important engagements on their behalf. Which is how I happened to be here tonight.”

  “So, Colton Webb, are you here alone tonight, or is there a Mrs. Webb waiting somewhere for you to return with a drink?”

  “Oh no, the only Mrs. Webb in our family is my mother. I haven’t found anyone I want to make that sort of commitment to yet.”

  “I’d say that you’re very lucky that your parents aren’t dragging you to all these sorts of events and parading you in front of everyone. I’m sure you’d be snapped up in no time then.” Mia’s tone had taken on a slightly sarcastic edge.

  “Don’t worry, they tried that for a couple years, but they got tired of being disappointed each time they got their hopes up and I couldn’t force myself to ask the girl out, let alone make polite conversation with them.” They both laughed for a moment, then realised they were still holding hands.

  “So, are we forcing ourselves to make polite conversation now?” Mia looked into his eyes as she spoke.

  “Actually, I think this is way better than just polite conversation and nobody seems to be forcing us.”

  “Apart from when you sort of held my hand hostage there for a while.” Mia burst our laughing at that comment and Colton joined in.

  “I’d argue that you were just as equally responsible for that hostage situation, Miss Salvatore.” They laughed some more.

  “At least we were able to negotiate a peaceful solution then.”

  “Don’t be so sure about that. I’m considering reopening the negotiations in a few moments by asking you to dance.” Colton regarded her carefully for a moment before continuing. “What do you think, Mia? Would you like to dance with me?” He held out a hand, hoping that she would accept.

  “You know what? I think I’d like that very much,” Mia answered as she laid her hand in his once again and allowed him to lead her out onto the dancefloor.

  As they began moving together in a seemingly effortless glide, Colton was vaguely aware of a hushed ripple making its way around the large space. On any other night, with any other young woman, knowing that all that attention was focused on him would have made him excruciatingly uncomfortable, but something about being in such close proximity with Mia seemed to block out all the prying eyes and thinly veiled comments. It was as though they had retreated into their own world the moment he’d taken her in his arms. In the past, when faced with dancing with one of the sparkling young women, he’d either run a mile or found a way to end the torture as the first song was ending. Tonight, however, he was already wondering how long he could prolong this experience beyond just a dance.

  While they danced, they talked, strangely comfortable considering they had just met. They talked about the work he and his father did and how they occasionally partnered with her father every few years to sponsor a renovation project for one of the homeless shelters in the region. Colton thought it odd that Mia was unaware of her father’s philanthropic activities, but figured that Antonio hadn’t shared much about his business in general with her. Colton filed that information away and hope to one day encourage Mia to become more aware of what her father did to earn the money which kept her happy.

  When the band stopped playing to take a break, Colton couldn’t have told you how many songs they’d danced their way through. This was something new for him and he determined then to see Mia again and see where they could take things.

  Shortly after one o’clock, when he was driving himself home, Colton reflected on an evening that might not have happened if his other hadn’t talked his dad into that spur of the moment trip to Europe for their thirty-fifth wedding anniversary. He’d had to make sure to thank her when they got home next week. In the meantime, he had a dinner date with Mia on Wednesday to look forward to. For the first time in a long time, he’d found a woman he wanted to sped some time getting to know, and that was not what he’d been expecting when he’d left home earlier in the night.

  Chapter Three

  Waking up on the morning after her party, Mia’s head was filled with questions… and so was her message bank. She should have known Meredith and Phoebe would be into overdrive after she spent the second half of the evening totally obsessed with Colton Webb. As far as they knew he was a complete stranger. A stunning, tall, dark, and handsome one, but a stranger nonetheless, and they’d had a rule about strangers for years. Come to think about it, Mia was sure she’d written that particular rule herself. Oh well, as they say in the classics – rules were meant to be broken, or bent, or at least twisted, depending on what you wanted and how badly you wanted it.

  Scrolling through her phone, there were at least a dozen text messages from both her best friends, as well as a collection of voicemails from when they’d tried to call her as well. If she’d remembered to put her phone off silent before she went to bed, she wouldn’t have gotten any peace by to looks of these lists. It seemed as though they had lots of questions which Mia didn’t have answers for at this point, and she wasn’t ready to get into a long discussion with them until she knew the answers to her own questions either. She sent them both a quick message saying that she’d just woken up and seen their texts, but she was heading back to bed and would call them later in the day. This seemed to appease their appetite for gossip as they replied with hopes that she’d feel better soon.

  It had only been a little white lie, but it bought her a large chunk of uninterrupted time to think over how her evening had turned out. She started in her bathroom, enjoying the ritual of cleansing away the makeup from the night before, then shampooi
ng and conditioning her long brown hair, but soaking in a deep bath filled with bubbles gave her body the stillness her mind needed to process through all the thoughts fighting for her attention.

  She remembered how confident she’d felt as she approached the doorway leading into the marquee, knowing that she looked amazing and would outshine everyone else in the room. She remembered the moment when the bandleader had announced her arrival and all the guests had turned to watch her make her entrance, their faces and hushed comments confirming what she already knew to be true. Then she remembered the moment she spotted Colton between the other guests. Something in his eyes had her almost stumbling, and she never stumbled, then she hadn’t been able to stop herself from looking for him each time she moved around the room or when she was sitting at her table during dinner. Each time their eyes met, something that felt like a spark set off in the pit of her stomach. She’d never felt anything like that with any young man she’d flirted with in the past, but she would have sworn she wasn’t flirting then either.

  She hadn’t spotted him for over half an hour before he stepped up behind her at the bar. Even though he seemed vaguely familiar, she couldn’t remember seeing him or meeting him at any of the other parties she’d attended with her family over the last few years. Looking at him in the mirror behind the bar, seeing him standing behind her, it looked as if they were together, like a couple, and she was surprised that the thought didn’t bother her at the time. Even more surprising, the thought didn’t bother her now either. The way they’d easily fallen into a conversation had fascinated her even more that the conversation itself. She’d never found it particularly easy to chat with men on her own, especially if they were more than a couple years older than her. Everything about Colton was different to what she was used to, but everything about him might just be everything she needed.