by Alexis Gold
He tipped his head as he leaned forward and reached his hand toward her chair, resting his fingers on the arm of it. “That’s not a big deal. I have plenty of money. I’ll get it done soon.” The tips of his fingers closed around the arm of her chair and he pulled it toward him, drawing her nearer to him.
“Besides… it keeps you coming back in here to see me. I like that. In fact, I’d like to see you outside of this office very soon.” He winked at her and nodded his head slightly.
She didn’t even blink. “Mr. Carter, you’ve delayed these changes long enough that you’re over three hundred thousand dollars short on the interest you could have made. That’s over a quarter of a million dollars, and that’s nothing but wasteful.” She leveled her gaze at him.
Most of the wealthy men she worked with were smart and careful investors. Some of them were much more careless and were often unconcerned with what their money was doing for them or not doing for them. They were concerned with immediate pleasures, with showing off, with pretending that money was no object in order to impress others or to impress her, and she was never impressed by wasteful stupidity.
Will Carter was a handsome man. He had a strong face and deep-set brown eyes. His skin was darker than hers was, but not by much. He wore his hair short and his business suits sharp and a little on the contemporary side, much like his office décor; everything about him was cool and polished. She knew about most of his finances, and she knew he had money to burn, but not so much that he could reasonably justify burning off more than a quarter of a million dollars in less than six weeks.
She had given him sound financial advice and he hadn’t followed it. He was too busy checking her out and flirting with her constantly to focus too intently on all the valuable advice she gave him. It disgusted her deep inside, though she never showed it, and he never would have guessed it.
“Well, wasteful or not, we’ll make it back, won’t we?” he asked smoothly, leaning in close to her, giving her his most charming smile. “You and I… we can make… all kinds of things happen, can’t we?” he looked at her lips again, suggestively.
Mia looked straight at him and with her left hand, she closed the financial folder. He blinked and looked at the file for a moment and then looked up at her with a grin of anticipation.
“You ready to make some things happen?” he asked, confidence dripping from his lascivious smile at her.
She stood up and turned to walk away from him. “Yes, I’m going back to my office, and the next time I have a look at that file, I hope I see you’ve made the changes I've suggested for you to make. Show some follow through, Mr. Carter. Don’t waste my time and yours.”
He stood up swiftly and took a few steps after her. “Wait! I… uh… I wanted to ask you to come to dinner with me tonight!” he seemed as if he was grasping for possibilities.
“I don’t date clients, Mr. Carter,” she reminded him for the umpteenth time as she turned to walk to the door of the office. He caught up to her and reached his arm out over her shoulder as he looked down at her and lowered his voice.
“What if I hire someone else to do my financial consulting for me, and then you could come out with me anytime you want to?” he breathed huskily, staring at her eyes and her mouth.
“I don’t date former clients, Mr. Carter. You’d just be losing the one person who has done the most for your financial portfolio.” She didn’t bother to give him the small, curt smile she saved for moments like that.
He was not to be deterred. Instead, he leaned closer and lifted his other hand to her shoulder, running his fingertips slowly down the sleeve of her blouse to her elbow. “You know better than most how well off I am, Mia, and you know that I could do a lot for you. I could be so good to you, if you’d let me. We could have a good time, and I could spoil you and take you out… buy you things…” he leaned even closer, pausing inches from her face. “I could treat you so good that you forget other men even exist.”
“I’m not interested in you on a personal level,” she said pointedly. She had wanted to avoid being blunt with him, but it seemed as though there was no other way that he was going to take a hint and back off of her.
He didn’t take the hint. “Yeah, but… if you give it a chance, you could be interested. You just don’t know how good it would be with me yet, that’s all. Give me a chance to show you how much you’d like it. You could be… so special to me.” He moved to kiss her and she ducked beneath his arm and he launched himself forward too far, too fast, and hit his face on the door.
“Goodbye, Mr. Carter,” she said coolly as he pushed back from the door and his hands went to his face. She reached for the doorknob and yanked it open, giving him an icy glance over her shoulder as she walked out and headed for the elevator.
There was nothing that men like him could do to impress her, though many had tried before him, and she was confident that many after him would try as well. She stepped into the elevator and as she turned, the doors slid closed and she could see him staring after her.
Mia glanced at herself in the mirror on the back wall of the elevator. She gave herself a critical review and decided she did look good, so she couldn’t blame him for being interested, but she was irritated he kept trying to change her mind even after she told him she wasn’t interested. Some men found that to be a challenge, and they didn’t listen. It was those men that annoyed her the most.
She glanced at her watch. She was right on time. She would be meeting her friends at their favorite restaurant after her meeting, and she couldn’t wait to dish on the latest tycoon to be turned down.
Mia had the doorman hail a cab for her, and as it cruised down the street, she gazed out of the window and took in the beautiful spring evening. The shifting season had changed the look of her beloved Manhattan from the cold grey of winter into brilliant colorful hues of new life everywhere around her, and she loved soaking it all in.
The taxi dropped her in front of Carly’s, an upscale restaurant and bar on 5th Avenue, where she and her best friends loved to meet regularly to share cocktails, dinner, and gossip. She walked in the front door and the maître d’ looked up and smiled at her. She smiled back at him.
“Good evening Miss James.” He greeted her with a nod.
“Hello Henry!” she answered back with a genuine smile.
He was pristine as always in his black suit with a white kerchief and a red rose in his lapel. The top of his bald head shone in the soft light, and the white hair around his temples was combed back neatly.
“Your friends are here already,” he said lightly as he walked her back to their usual table.
She rounded the corner, taking in the familiar, dark red carpet and fabric used for the furniture and draperies, the mahogany wood, and all the brass fixtures and chandeliers. It had rich, comfortable feel to it, and she and her friends had been going there for the ambiance, the food, and the cocktails, for a long time. Her gaze shifted from the décor to their usual table and three people looked up and smiled widely when they saw her, standing up to greet her with hugs and kisses on her cheeks as she reached them.
Ava Kennedy was of a medium height, five foot too tall to be short and too short to be tall. She had light blonde hair that was styled most often in a soft wave to her shoulders. She looked a great deal like Marilyn Monroe, with her pretty eyes and sweet smile, but her hourglass figure was the thing that tied it all together and made people do a double take when they saw her. She loved to hear how much she looked like the beautiful icon, and Mia often thought that she patterned herself after Marilyn just a bit more because of it.
Ava kissed her and hugged her and then stepped back to her seat as the other woman at the table, Madeline Riley, reached her arms around Mia. Madeline was as different from Ava and Mia as she could be. She was tall and slender, with long red hair to the middle of her back. She had blue eyes and fair skin. Her smile was wide and her nose was rounded and sprinkled with freckles, which she had stopped trying to hide. She looked like
a runway model; lean with soft curves, and it was often a slight envy of Ava’s that Maddie didn’t have to wear a bra at all if she didn’t want to, and her figure still looked impeccable.
Maddie was glamorously sexy in a silver screen sort of way, and she had a brilliant mind that she almost never let her lovers see. It was a hobby of the small group of friends to enjoy watching men hit on Maddie, thinking that she had no intelligence because of the way she looked, only to find out that she had a double doctorate later on, if she ever let them get that far.
Mia kissed her back and then grinned happily at Liam, who was waiting for the ladies to sit before he wrapped his arms around her. Liam Isaacson was tall and slender, and looked like the other half of a matching set when standing beside Maddie. He had dark hair that was always perfectly combed, a vast array of designer suits tailored for him, and gentle green eyes that looked on his three lady friends with pure love, but none of them more so than Mia. They had said privately more than once that if they were both still single at forty-five, they would marry each other and forego love for friendship. Liam was gay, though not openly flamboyant, and he had yet to find the love of his life, just like the other three women.
“Darling, you look absolutely delectable. How are you doing?” he asked with his soft tone, giving her a light airy kiss on the cheek and a warm hug.
She sighed and let out the stress of the day. She was among her tribe, and it was where she loved to be. Mia could relax fully with them, talk with them about everything, and be herself with no inhibitions or cares.
“I’m good now,” she said with a sigh of ease as she sank into her chair and waved at the waiter for a glass of wine.
“You weren’t before you got here?” Liam asked, raising one brow at her.
She rolled her eyes and shrugged. “Well, it wasn’t great. I had a meeting with one of my clients, Will Carter. He’s got a lot of money and not a lot of brains. He’s always more interested in what he can do with me rather than what I can do with his money to make him more of it. His priorities are completely out of whack.”
Ava giggled and grinned. “He sounds fun. What does he look like?”
Mia turned to her. “He’s tall, dark, and handsome. He’s into spending money on women and enjoying them in his bed. He isn’t overly bright, and he doesn’t know it, and he doesn’t see anything wrong with who and how he is.”
Ava cocked an eyebrow. “Really? Hmm. Did you sleep with him?”
“No,” Mia said, smiling at the waiter in thanks for the glass of wine that he handed her before he vanished. She tipped it back and closed her eyes, savoring the Merlot that slid over her tongue like dark red velvet.
“Are you going to?” Ava asked, looking innocently at her friend.
Mia’s eyes lifted to look into Ava’s. She set her glass of wine down. “No, I’m not.”
“Would you mind if I do?” Ava asked, tucking her chin and grinning wickedly, but just a little.
Mia shook her head and smiled back, pulling her phone out of her bag. “Not at all honey, here’s his number. Call him. He’d love to take you to bed and spoil you a bit.” She set her phone down and Ava copied Will Carter’s contact information out of Mia’s phone.
“How did I meet him?” she asked curiously as she typed.
Mia narrowed her eyes thoughtfully. “Let’s see… We will say that you met him at the Foster’s yacht party. He was pretty well hammered at that one, at least from what I heard, so he wouldn’t know if he had met you or not, or given you his number.”
Ava mumbled quietly as she typed on her phone. “Foster’s yacht party. When was that?”
“Two weeks ago.” Mia answered.
“Lovely!” Ava grinned, handing her phone back to her. “I can’t wait to see him again.” She winked at Mia and Mia laughed softly at her.
“So,” Maddie looked around at them with an anticipatory light in her eyes and smile on her face, “I’m up for a promotion. My boss is considering making me a VP. There are two other people up for the spot, but I have it on good authority that it will be me. Here’s hoping!” she said, raising her glass, and the other three lifted their glasses to meet hers and encourage her onward.
“Good luck!” they chorused happily.
Liam leaned toward her slightly. “How long until you know? I can’t stand waiting. I’m so bad about being patient. I love instant gratification, and having to wait can be delicious, but it just drives me crazy.” He laughed. “I can’t imagine how hard it would be to have to be you and waiting, Maddie.”
Madeline laughed back a bit. “I know… it’s difficult for me to wait as well, but I’m going to have to. I think they’re making the decision in a month.”
Liam’s mouth fell open, as did Mia’s. “A month?” they exclaimed. Ava was smiling at an older gentleman who was seated a few tables away from them, giving her a friendly eye. She turned back to her friends suddenly and grinned.
“What are we waiting a month for?” she asked with wide eyes.
Maddie tipped her head to the side and sighed. “I’m waiting a month to see if I will be promoted to VP, you’re all waiting a month to hear whether or not it happens.”
“Well good luck!” Ava said, lifting her chin happily. “I know you’ll get it. You’re the smartest woman I know, and that’s saying something!”
Maddie blushed a little and smiled, looking down at her martini. “Thanks, Ava.”
Mia looked at Liam. “So what about you, Liam, what or who have you been up to this week?”
Liam grinned and looked around at them as if he was hiding a national secret that he was about to share with them. “Well, I’ve been up to a little mischief. You remember that designer I met at the spring fashion fling party I went to?” he asked with a gleam in his eye.
Ava leaned in closer to the table, her eyes locked on him. She loved fashion as much as he did, though their tastes and styles varied somewhat. “Wait, was this the guy from London?”
Liam nodded knowingly. “Yes,” he gushed happily and looked up at the ceiling, grinning and breathing deeply for a moment to calm himself before he looked back at the ladies around him. “Well, you know how I thought he was indifferent to me, and how I was just sure that he wasn’t going to even remember me?”
The ladies nodded back. “Yes!” they said almost in unison.
“Well, it turns out that he’s just very shy, and he liked me quite a bit. He said I have ‘exquisite taste’ and he had his assistant move heaven and earth to find me so he could ask me out for cocktails. We met up last Tuesday night.” He blushed a little and swooned, and the ladies laughed. “We had a very good night… My god, the man is built like a Greek god, and he almost burned my sheets off of the bed, he’s such a good lover. Then we had a good time last night, and he stayed over again… Woo! Honies… I just can’t even begin to tell you. I thought it wouldn’t be as good the second time. It was so much better!”
He looked at each of them pointedly. “Word to the wise with a shy lover, you have to break them in. Once they get comfortable with you, the sky is the limit. My god. I don’t think I’m ever going to be the same again!” he blushed and giggled, and all three of the ladies giggled at his naughtiness again with him as Mia reached an arm around his shoulders and hugged him from the side.
“That’s our Liam. Hot and lucky!” she winked at him and he nodded and winked back.
He turned to look at Ava. “Here’s hoping our blondie gets hot and lucky with Mr. Carter.” Then he turned to look at Maddie. “What about you? Who have you been after this week, you little vamp?”
Maddie smiled slyly and winked at him. “You know me so well.” She was straight laced when it came to business, but outside of her career she was hotter than a volcano, and she had almost no inhibitions or barriers to speak of.
She leaned in close to them all, her gaze meeting each of theirs in turn. “I was meeting one of my clients for business and he had another meeting going on when I showed up. The hottie in th
e other meeting stayed around to meet me and we wound up going out for cocktails, and then we wound up going to his place. He was the most fun I’ve had in weeks. You might have heard of him. Ryan Browning? He was a handful, but he was a hot, good time.”
Ava stared at her. “Wait, doesn’t he own Browning, Keller, and Mason?”
Maddie grinned slowly and nodded. “Yes. We went over his briefs with meticulous attention. The man has got a tongue that will take you to another world. I may have to go out with him a few more times before I let him go.”
All of them giggled and she raised her eyebrows at them naughtily and popped the olive from her martini into her mouth.
They talked a while longer, their conversation moving from men and sex to business, fashion, and family. After enjoying a light dinner, they said goodbye to each other and went on their ways. Mia caught a cab again, and took it to her apartment several floors up in a high rise that overlooked Central Park.
Closing her front door behind her, she leaned against it for a moment and sighed, leaving the day behind her as she looked around her living room and felt her body relax in the sanctuary of her home. A long sigh escaped her and she pushed herself from the door and stepped forward into the room. Mia strode the length of the living room and pulled her heels off along the way, sinking down into the sofa beside the floor to ceiling window that overlooked the teeming city below. She looked up at the shelf beside the window, her gaze drifting over the series of framed photographs there. They were all different sizes and shapes, each one of them holding a memory or a person precious to her.
She paused at the image of her older sister sitting in the grass at a park, holding her younger daughter while her two-year-old son played happily beside her. Serena was happy living in the country with her husband and two children. She loved a simple life, focused on family and peace.
She was so different from Mia. Mia craved the fast paced beat of the city and a life centered in the thriving heart of near chaos. She loved all the buildings, the stores, the business that she did, and the knowledge that at any time she could walk out of her door and something would be going on somewhere. It was never a dull moment. No quiet family life for her, and she preferred it that way. Serena and she had come to terms with their differences years before, and had cherished those differences in each other, staying close as their shared days of childhood faded away and they grew into adulthood.
