by Romes, Jan
On the way to her desk, Stella passed Corinne and inserted a cup into her eager hand. Alex wheeled his chair into the aisle way and she handed him one as well.
His sexy-violets widened. “How’d you know?”
Stella regarded him with a careful smile. “Who doesn’t need coffee on a Monday?”
“So true. I should know better than to stay up so late when I have to work the next day,” he offered.
“Same here.” She’d had a great night with Mr. Right and lay awake reliving each moment instead of sleeping. And now, she was in dire need of a nap.
Alex lifted his dark, bushy brows like he was waiting for more information.
Stella decided the only thing he was getting was coffee.
In an unprecedented move, Alex and his chair followed Stella to her cubicle. “Hogging the creamers?”
Stella jiggled with laughter. “Apparently I am. You can have them all since I take mine black.” She handed him a fistful of little containers. During the exchange, skin met skin and warmth raced up her arm. The effect made her eyes jet to his and found him staring. The warmth turned into profound spikes of heat. Their gazes fused, causing her to tremble. She swallowed hard. That kind of power was mystifying. She wondered if this happened to every woman Alex encountered or if his spell was random.
She took a much needed sip of coffee.
Alex took a drink too. “Ahhh.” He smacked his lips. “Thank you very much.”
“No problem.”
The sound of high-heels clicking toward them made Alex utter a low growl. “Tell me it’s not her.” They looked down the hall simultaneously. “Damn. It is,” he grumbled and tried to roll his chair into Stella’s cubicle. “Hide me.”
Stella laughed freely. “Where would I put you?”
Alex’s blue eyes shimmered with mischief. “There needs to be escape-hatches installed around this place.” His eyes quickly turned a murky shade of violet when Belinda congested the area with her presence.
Belinda smiled like she couldn’t get enough of Alex. When she looked at Stella it was a poison-tipped frown all the way. Red fingernails adorned with flecks of silver ran across Alex’s shoulders. “Hi, Alex,” she purred.
Alex shrugged from the unsolicited contact, and Stella thought about Francis’s cat-in-heat comment.
“Do you need something,” he asked.
Belinda ignored the question with one of her own. “Are you having coffee?”
Alex looked at the cup in his hand. “I think we are.”
Belinda tunneled her gaze to include Alex only. “I need to talk to you.”
“What about?”
Haughty brown eyes glanced at Stella. “If I wanted it to be a group conversation, I would’ve said so.”
For the love of Pete, this was not seventh-grade. Stella bit her bottom lip to keep from biting Belinda with the surly thought.
“Do you mind if I steal him for a few minutes?”
Alex didn’t belong to Stella and never would. He was being friendly or was bored to death and wanted company. “That’s up to him.”
Alex shuttered his eyes at Stella as though she was handing him over to the enemy. He followed up with a pearly-white grin and lifted his foam cup. “I owe you one.”
The man had absolutely no idea the effect he had on women. He tossed that grin around like it was candy and those sexy eyes promised nothing but pleasure.
Stella watched them leave over the edge of her cup.
Alex turned around; his eyes sparkling with silent laughter. Belinda looked back too, her eyes glistening with silent meanness.
* * * *
Belinda perched on the edge of Alex’s desk and began to ramble about having tickets for the Bengals’ game on Sunday. He couldn’t hang with the blah, blah, blah. His thoughts were situated twenty feet away. Those few minutes with Stella had been incredible. And they seemed to be on the same wave-length, at least where Belinda was concerned.
Belinda leaned toward him with a spicy smile. “So you’ll pick me up at ten?”
Alex creased his forehead so tight he could feel the lines. “What?”
“The game. Hellooo. Weren’t you listening?”
Of course not. His subconscious pieced together enough words to realize what she wanted. He was a huge Bengals fan; in no way would he taint the sport by going with Belinda to see them. “Sorry, I can’t go.”
Belinda messed with his tie and swept her lashes slowly across her eyes. “I have a proposition for you.”
This ought to be good, he thought derisively, while crossing his arms to block further access to his tie. “What is it?”
Brown eyes shimmered with secrecy and she worked closer to his ear. “It wouldn’t be just you and I. There would be six of us.” She lowered her voice. “All women.”
Alex drew back and fixed a bead of are-you-kidding on Belinda. “No. And hell no.” The offer wasn’t just ridiculous, it was flat out stupid. “Not happening.”
Belinda relocated her attention to her fingernails. She held her hand out to inspect them. Pushed back the cuticles. And hit him with the rest of the deal. “A hotel on the riverfront. A little wine. Six women. Need I say more?” She tendered a telling smile.
He’d met some forward women but this one took the prize. Alex was shocked; although he shouldn’t be since Belinda didn’t pretend to be anything but a hussy. “I’m not going to a Bengals game or anywhere else with you and your friends. I keep my work life and personal life separate. And that’s the way it’s going to stay.”
“Hypocrite,” she muttered without raising her voice.
Alex expected a rebuttal, but not that one.
“You were lovey-dovey a minute ago with Stella.”
“We were having a cup of coffee.”
Belinda’s laugh was filled with accusation. “You didn’t get to the top of the food chain by being a blockhead, Alex. You and I both know that a cup of coffee is setting the stage for sex.”
Where’s a tranquilizer gun when you need it?
* * * *
Stella removed her glasses, leaned back in her chair and let her eyes drift shut. The bulk of the day had been non-stop phone calls. Maggie was still out of the office and the place was in chaos.
Gah!
She needed a bubble-bath or a ten minute nap to disconnect from the bedlam.
A rich, smooth voice spoke softly next to her ear. “Wake up, Matson.”
Stella smiled but kept her eyes closed. “I’m not sleeping. I’m resting my eyes.”
“How do you explain the snoring?”
Her eyes popped open. Without thinking, she stuck out her tongue. Argh. Professional business women – especially those wanting the Assistant Vice President of Advertising position – didn’t stick out their tongue.
“Ah. Ah. Ah.” Alex shook his finger. “I wouldn’t do that unless you’re prepared to…” A strange look raced across his expression, followed by a full grin.
Stella giggled with embarrassment.
Alex inclined his head toward the conference room. “Let’s go.”
“Huh?”
“Don’t you read your emails?”
“Apparently I missed one?” Stella minimized the design program and clicked into her email account to find a memo from Maggie. ‘Christmas party meeting in the conference room at three-thirty’. “Good thing you stopped by, or I might still be …” She was tempted to say snoring. “…resting.”
“Come on, Matson.” Alex latched onto her forearm and tugged her from the chair. Stella laughed, but inside, nothing of the sort. Ripples of exhilaration raced up her arms and skittered to all other body parts.
She grabbed her glasses and walked with Alex down the narrow hall, careful to keep a few inches between them. She’d almost liquefied when he touched her for five seconds. If he did it again he’d be sopping her up off the floor.
“Tell me about your Christmas parties. What kinds of things do you do?”
Stella tried to mobilize some
control over her thoughts. “We keep it casual. Last year we did supper together and went bowling afterwards. The year before we had a carry-in meal, played games and were home by ten.”
“Ever go dancing?”
The question produced images of chest against chest. Heartbeat against heartbeat. Warm, sweet breath on her neck. Stella closed her hands at her side, opened them and closed them again. “No dancing.”
“Maybe we should suggest it.”
“Sure, why not?” It was hard to keep a confident façade when everything about this man robbed her of calm. She was pleased it only took a minute to get to the conference room.
Corrine motioned them to two empty seats next to her. “About time you got here.” She raised her eyebrows mischievously.
Stella chuckled.
Maggie dashed in, yanked off her coat and scarf and huffed for air like she’d run up twenty-six flights of stairs. “Okay, people, listen up. We should’ve had this done a couple of months ago. My fault. So now we have a small time-frame to sort it all out and make it happen. Let’s hear your suggestions.”
Maggie pointed to Corrine.
Corrine was an attention-getter from the word go. She stood up and used a make believe microphone. “Ahem. Let’s go for sushi and take in a play.”
“I love sushi” echoed from all the women, except Maggie. The men booed. Maggie put her finger in her mouth and pretended to gag.
Corrine threw up her hands in exasperation. “You wouldn’t know good food if it hit you in the mouth.”
Stella jiggled with noiseless mirth when Corrine said “Asses” under her breath.
The next suggestion involved a bus trip to an Indiana Pacers basketball game. An immediate thumbs-down from the women. The men, however, crowed like they’d won. Maggie set everyone straight. “No sushi or stadium hot dogs and beer. Come on, folks. Give me something I can work with.”
Alex nudged Stella with his foot. Their eyes met and Stella fended off a laugh by putting a hand to her mouth.
Maggie continued to go around the room and finally it was Stella’s turn.
“How about going to the Conservatory and Botanical Gardens? I hear it’s beautiful at Christmastime.”
If there was a gong it would’ve been hit twenty times. Stella shrugged. “Or not.”
“Alexxx.” Maggie drew his name out like a thick, slow pour of molasses. Alex’s eyes widened, along with a few others. “Give me what you have,” she said.
Maggie put her hands on her hips at the muffled snickers.
Alex looked up and down the conference table. “What do you think about going somewhere to dance?”
A chain of “oh’s” and “ah’s” ricocheted around the room. A few guys high-fived. Stella responded with a muted groan.
“Sounds like we have a winner,” Maggie said joyfully.
Belinda exercised her vocal chords in her usual loud manner. “I get the first dance, Alex.”
Maggie issued Belinda a squinty-eyed look of criticism. Or was it a territorial look?
Stella slid a peripheral glance at Corrine who was doing the same to her.
“A show of hands please.” Everyone put their hands in the air, including Stella. Not putting a hand up would draw questions she wasn’t prepared to answer. And it was too late to add a stipulation – no slow dancing.
Maggie looked pleased. “Excellent. Alex and I have a meeting on Wednesday. We’ll address the details of the party and send you an email. Dig out your dancing shoes, people.”
* * * *
For the last half hour, he’d been going over two conversations in his head – the one with Jett and the one with Belinda. He’d gone from a semi-great mood to being downright pissy. The two women who rode with him in the elevator picked up on his testy disposition and scooted to one side.
Jett was fast becoming a pain in his ass. Belinda had been one since he arrived in the department. The jury was still out on Maggie. She behaved like she was sweet on him yet not. She kept asking about Marc Thompson.
And then there was Stella. She was an expressive creature who laughed easily, turned pink without much provocation and fascinated him more than she should. When she looked serious, he wanted to find out what was lurking behind those green eyes. Since having coffee with her today, he felt a special tug in her direction. Actually, she’d been doing a slow pull for days. But when they sat side by side in the meeting he’d wanted to touch her. Her perfume messed him. And for some reason, he kept picturing her in those stilettos. The day she wore them she wobbled so much she could’ve easily broken an ankle. He chuckled. Stella was an intelligent, green-eyed, curly-haired…sexy…klutz.
The information made him stop in the middle of parking garage. When it came to business, he believed in walking a straight line. Do the right thing and your ass wouldn’t be on the chopping block. That was one reason he was so put off by Belinda; well, that and he hated pushy women. With Stella, he wanted to throw the rule book out the window. He wanted to get to know her outside of the office.
On the way to his parking space, he spotted Jett Morgan and Maggie engaged in conversation by his car. “Dammit.”
Jett waved. “There you are.”
Alex gnashed his teeth together. He was not ready to give Jett an answer to the bomb he’d dropped the other night. “Jett. Maggie.” He pressed his key-fob.
Maggie looped an arm through his. “Jett’s buying supper.”
* * * *
A lengthy yawn filled the phone line.
“Did I wake you?” Stella asked.
Trish yawned deeper. “I did some shopping after work and got really cold going in and out of the stores at Easton. When I got home I made the mistake of climbing into my pajamas and drinking a cup of tea. It relaxed me too much, I fell asleep.
“So the shopping was good?”
“There’s no such thing as bad shopping.”
“Lots of sales?”
Trish snorted into the phone. “You’re not a fan of shopping. So what’s on your mind?”
“Nothing.”
“When you lead with questions I know you could care less about, there’s something going on. Save us time and get to the good stuff.”
“What do you think about taking an excursion from Ft. Myers to Key West? Hypothetically.”
Trish hooted with triumph. “I’m in. When do we leave?”
“Relax, Trish. I was just wondering what you thought about it. Maybe we could go sometime.”
“I know you, Stella. You wouldn’t have mentioned it unless you wanted to go. And you called me so I’d talk you into it.”
Maybe that was it. Maybe she wanted Trish to make the decision. “It’s a couple of weeks away, so there’s not enough time to get ready.”
“What’s to get ready? Throw your swimsuit and some shorts in a bag and let’s go.”
“I don’t know these people, Trish.”
“These people? What people?”
Stella cleared her throat. “From the chat room.”
“The chat room?” Trish was quiet for a second as though she was sifting through the information.
“They have an annual Meet and Greet. This year they’re going to Key West.”
“Again, I’m in,” Trish spouted. “When is it?”
“The catamaran is chartered to leave on the twenty-sixth and pick us back up on New Year’s Day.”
“Is Mr. Right going?” There was a peculiar nuance to Trish’s voice.
“He mentioned it. I think his decision hinges on mine.”
“Then it’s a yes,” Trish whooped with delight.
“It’s a maybe. I promised him a decision by Thursday.”
“Are we still on for dinner and a movie tomorrow night?”
“We are.”
“Great. I’ll meet you at six, and by six-fifteen I’ll have you talked into going. Before you hang up, how’s it going with tall, dark, and handsome?”
“Who knows? I gave him a cup of coffee and suddenly we’re frien
ds.” She let a pessimistic thought take over. It would’ve been impolite of him to take the coffee and then ignore her. So his friendlier-than-normal behavior was probably his way of showing gratitude.
“Tell me everything. Now.”
“So bossy.”
“That’s why you love me.”
“Yeah, that’s it.” Stella laughed and fell into a tedious accounting of her day, which left Trish cracking up. “What’s so funny?”
“You have all the characters for a soap opera: Alex the hunk, Belinda the barracuda, and Maggie your less-than-trustworthy boss. From my vantage point, I see a whole lot of trouble brewing.”
“Ya think?”
Chapter Nine
Stella hummed her way into the office. The second she woke up she made the decision to go to Key West and emailed Mr. Right with the news. The pressure was off. Now she could kick back and wait for December twenty-sixth.
Corrine stood with her arms crossed scowling in the direction of Maggie’s office.
Stella sidled next to her. “What’s wrong?”
“From the moment she came in, she’s been heavy-footing it all over the place and dropping the f-bomb. There was a loud thud too, like she threw something.”
Stella winced. When Maggie was ticked she was as subtle as a Clydesdale in a closet. She looked over her shoulder at the office door. It wasn’t too late to make a trip to the cafeteria where she could deal with a pot of coffee instead of a Clydesdale. “Maybe she finally pushed Melvin to the floor. She’s been threatening to do it for months. I better check it out.”
Corrine shook her head. “You’re a glutton for punishment, woman.”
“I know. Terrible affliction.” Stella squared her shoulders. “Wish me luck.”
“If you’re not out in fifteen minutes, I’m calling 9-1-1.”
Stella rapped lightly on the glass of Maggie’s door. Maggie’s head snapped up from a stack of manila folders she was going through. She jerked her head to motion Stella in.
“Good morning, Maggie,” Stella said as though she had no clue her boss was being a Clydesdale. Melvin was still in one piece. But there was a black mark on the beige wall behind Maggie’s chair that wasn’t there yesterday.
