by Alexis Gold
Chapter6
Mia had texted her friends the morning after her wild and passionate night with Alexander, and they had all agreed to an emergency cocktail that night. Mia was particularly pleased with herself and her accomplishment, and more than that, she was thrilled that she was going to be heading to Italy.
She was the first one there, and though she didn’t mind waiting for her friends, she was anxious to see them, anticipating all that they would share and discuss, including her win.
Liam was the first of the group to arrive. He greeted her with a strong hug and a broad smile. “You did it! I’m so proud of you. I can’t wait to hear all of the juicy details!” he teased her with a laugh and a kiss on the cheek, and then he took a seat beside her and filled her in on his latest fun and flings.
They didn’t have to wait long for Maddie and Ava; both of them showed up within minutes of Liam, and within minutes of each other. They weren’t seated but a few moments when they urged Mia to tell them the news in detail. None of them wanted to wait to hear it.
Mia laughed and drew nearer to them, her voice low in a confidential tone. “Well, I finally spent the night with him, and I have got to tell you… that rumor is crazy true! Oh… my… god… is that man huge. He was worried about hurting me, and he could have if he hadn’t been so careful. It was easily one of the most incredible nights of my life.”
Ava clapped her hands together excitedly. “Well? Details! What happened?!” she asked with a wide grin.
“Well, I spent some quality time at the salon and spa getting ready for our date. I’ll tell you what, I was not about to let another date go by without him sleeping with me. I looked so damn good last night! I bought a super sexy red dress just for last night, and he loved it. He picked me up and took me to his home. You’ll never believe it when I tell you.” She looked around at them and shook her head, still amazed herself at the beauty of it, even just in her memories.
“He’s in a penthouse on Fifth Avenue, and it’s gorgeous! I’ve never seen a place like that before. I didn’t even know anyone lived like that! Anyway, get this. He bought the penthouse so that he could have the rooftop to make a garden.” She sat back a moment to let that concept sink in to her friends’ minds.
They looked stunned and she was pleased that they were as impressed as she had been with it. “So, he tells me he is taking me out for dinner, but what he means is out on the rooftop. We get up there and I discover that he as this incredible garden that he built pretty much on his own. It’s got everything; trees, bushes, flowers, and even a glass gazebo! He had a table all set up in the gazebo and there was a waiter who served us a five course meal.” She let her mind go back to the night she had shared with him, and as she did, her face softened and she could see it all in her mind as she spoke about it to her friends around her.
“We drank champagne, and there was candlelight… he hired a violinist for the evening, so there was live music playing just for us, and then we danced…” She trailed off quietly and was silent long enough that Liam cleared his throat and she came back to the conversation.
“I’ve never known a man like him. His taste is impeccable. He’s such a true gentleman. Every thought he has is about so much more than what he is going to get; it’s about what he can do, and about what the effects of what he does will have on other people. It’s amazing to spend time with him, to talk to him and see how he looks at the world. I’ve never even known anyone like him, let alone had a lover who was so thoughtful and respectful. What a lover. My god. I thought I was going to come to pieces in his arms. He was so concerned with being careful with me, pleasing me, doing whatever I wanted him to do with me, and yet he was still so turned on by me that he did everything he wanted to do—at least everything that he knew I would be all right with.” She sighed and smiled blissfully, thinking back on it.
Liam eyed her curiously, but remained silent.
“Then, this morning, I was going to leave and he pulled me back into bed. I thought he was sleeping, but I guess he wasn’t I guess I must have woken him up, but he was so fast. I had one leg out of the bed and he grabbed me and dragged me back into his arms before I even knew what he was doing. I’m telling you, it’s a wonder he’s not married. I can’t believe no one has nailed him down yet. He’s… really something else. He is everything a smart and romantic woman could want.” She laughed to herself. “Everything.” She shook her head and grinned shamelessly.
Liam bent toward her and looked her squarely in the eyes. “So… you like him. Are you going to keep seeing him?”
Mia was caught completely off guard. She blinked in surprise and everything in her told her to argue, at least a little. She wasn’t falling for him or making any plans. She had toyed with thoughts in her mind about what might happen, but that was all, and nothing was going to come of that, she was sure of it.
“Like him? Oh god no… no…” she said as casually as she could without sounding defensive. “I mean, don’t get me wrong, he’s amazing, but this was just a one night stand, right? It was just a challenge for the plane ticket and that was it.” She shook her head adamantly. “No… there’s nothing else with him after this.” She waved her hand almost dismissively.
She wasn’t exactly sure that she believed herself or that her friends believed her either, especially Liam, but she was determined to keep it just what it was. She didn’t even know if there could be any chance of anything else happening between them, but she was fairly certain that the best thing to do would be to just let it all go. She had done what she needed to do; she had fulfilled her part of the challenge and it was over. There was nothing more to go after. She was an independent single woman in the city that never sleeps and she wasn’t in the market for forever.
Liam frowned slightly and looked away from her, poking at his martini with the olive and plastic sword that had come with it.
Ava shrugged and waved her hand in the air. “Well, it’s done now, and we know, and you certainly did your part to earn that plane ticket, so sister, it’s yours. We’ll get it this week.” She lifted her daiquiri to her lips and sipped at it before setting it down and looking back at Mia.
“We’ve all been so focused on Mr. Big that I didn’t get a chance to tell you that I hooked up with Will Carter!” she winked and flashed a naughty smile.
“You did? How did it go?” Mia was surprised and glad to hear that Will was giving his attention to anyone else.
Ava tilted her head a little to the side. “Well, it’s good… you can tell the man has had a lot of experience, and he knows his way around the bed, and around a woman’s body, but he’s a little kinky. He likes to push boundaries and limits and even just the norm. Last time he wanted me to wear something that he could literally rip off of me. It was kind of wild and fun, but… he’s a little different. I don’t think he’s good enough in bed to justify keeping him around for much longer, but he’s been fun in the meantime. I think it’s time that I moved on.”
Mia listened to her and was thankful yet again that she had never been with Will. The man was a little too creepy for her; too insistent, too aggressive even in the office, and after hearing what her friend had just told her, she realized that his aggression during their business meetings was only a precursor to what really lay beneath, and that was something that she wanted no part of.
“I think that’s a wise idea, Ava,” Mia told her with a small smile. Then she turned her attention to Maddie who was tipping back her second cosmopolitan. “What about you, Maddie? Who have you been with lately?”
Maddie grinned like a Cheshire Cat and set her glass down on the table, running her fingers down it and laughing softly. “Well, I met this stock broker last week and sparks flew, so we’ve been pretty hot and heavy lately. His name is Dylan Jackson. He’s a very clean cut and well-dressed sort of man, and he has funny little quirks too, but nothing as kinky as Will.” She shot a dark look at Ava. Maddie was a self-proclaimed feminist, and she didn’t like any man being too
aggressive with any woman.
Liam began to laugh a little as he looked intently at Maddie. “Dylan Jackson? Red hair… brown eyes… Capricorn?” He asked with a wink. She nodded.
“Yeah, how did you know that?” she asked curiously, looking at him with a lowered brow.
He chuckled to himself. “I had a hot fast run of an affair with him about six months ago. It was short lived; just three weeks, and you’re right about his quirks, but he is hot.” Liam laughed and Maddie’s mouth fell open.
“Oh my god! You’re serious!” she gasped, splaying her hand on the table between them.
Liam nodded. “Oh yes, very serious. I didn’t realize that he was bi.”
Maddie blinked in utter shock and took a deep breath as she reached for her drink. “Neither did I!” she said in a low voice. Then she looked up at Liam. “This is weird.”
He shrugged casually and gave her hand a pat. “Not in my world it isn’t. It’s fine, as long as you use protection, I guess, and I know you and I always do, but it is a little weird, isn’t it? I mean… the two of us here and him in the back of our minds.”
She shook her head. “It’s weird. It’s almost like sleeping with you, just off by one degree.” She spoke low as she wrinkled her nose. “I love you, Liam, but that’s just…” she trailed off a moment, “…wrong.”
He agreed. “It is.” Then the two of them were quiet for a moment. Liam looked at her and raised one brow. “Isn’t it strange how he absolutely has to be the last one to do and say everything? I mean, it’s fine, and I think other people might not even notice it, but I noticed it, and I think it was a little weird. He has to be the last one to email or text or talk or kiss or walk through a door. He has to be the last one out of the house or into the car. It’s just a little weird.”
Maddie’s eyes widened as she looked at him. “Right? I noticed that too! It is weird! He waits if he has to, no matter how long it is, just so he can be last! What is that? Who keeps track of stuff like that? It’s bizarre. He’s cute and he’s fun in bed, and he’s really polite and sweet, but he is just a little bit on the strange side.”
Liam laughed. “Yes, he certainly is.” He reached over and squeezed Maddie’s hand. “Don’t worry too much about us both being with him; he’s careful too. Let’s just agree that he has good taste in lovers and leave it at that.”
She laughed and nodded, and they gave each other a wink.
The friends talked through another hour and another round of drinks before going home. Mia was tired and happy when she stepped through her front door that night, but there was a thought nagging at the back of her mind; the thought that Liam had picked up on her uncertainty about what was going on with Alexander and how she was feeling about him, and if Liam could pick it up, it was more obvious than she had cared to admit, even to herself, and that was not good. It meant that she was not in control of it, and that worried her a little.
She went to bed tired and happy, doing her best to keep Alexander from her mind because the task was done, the challenge was met, and she needed to look forward without him as a distraction. She laid her head down into her pillow and began thinking about the places in Italy that she wanted to go while she was there, but somehow when she fell asleep, Italy faded away from her mind, and the only thing she dreamed about was Alexander making love with her in his rooftop garden underneath the stars far above.
When she woke up the next morning, he was still in her thoughts, and as she sat alone in the mounds of pillows and thick blankets in her bed, she finally admitted to herself that she might very well want more with him than just winning the challenge.
Chapter7
Two days after her conquest had been won, Mia was sitting in her office working; her desk faced the windows that looked down from her second story space. Her office was one of several professional offices situated in an old brick building that had been updated and was nestled into a charming little neighborhood. The grandfather trees on the street below reached their budding leafy branches up past her windows, giving her shade and color while still affording her a view of the bustling city below when she paused in her work to look out of the windows at it.
Her office had a waiting area in the foyer, complete with a coffee and water station, two chairs and a sofa, and then the doorway to the wide open area where she worked. She had loved the view from her windows so much that she had turned her desk to it on the first day, and she kept her office door open so that she could hear anyone who happened to come in, as she had her back to the door. It was so rare that she saw anyone in her office that she was used to working in peace and quiet there with no interruptions.
As she was sitting there in the early morning afternoon working away at her computer, she heard a knock on the opened door to her office and she turned to look over her shoulder and smiled wide when she did. Maddie was standing in the doorway, her red hair pulled up on top of her head, her sunglasses in one hand, and her designer bag on her arm. She gave Mia a grin and stepped into the room.
“Look at you working away in here! It’s such a pretty day outside! Have you been out yet? You should. It’s gorgeous. The weather report is calling for rain next week; you ought to take at least a few minutes and go out to walk around in the sunshine. It’s good for you.” Maddie walked over to Mia’s desk and passed it, going to the windows and looking down onto the street.
“This is a nice view, and the fresh air through the window is good for you, but it isn’t the same thing,” she said, looking at Mia as Mia rose from her desk and walked over to stand beside Maddie at the window.
“I know it isn’t. I just have a lot to do before I can get out to enjoy any of that, but I will.” Mia reached her arms up and hugged Maddie tightly. She looked at her curiously when she let go and slid her hands to her hips.
“So what brings you over here to my neighborhood?” she asked. Maddie worked on Wall Street, and was not often outside of the area, although SoHo wasn’t really far away at all.
Maddie grinned at her. “Well, business with you brings me over here, but after having seen some of the men in your neighborhood and in this building, I think I might have to start coming over here to have lunch with you! You never told me there were so many hot guys over here. Have you been keeping them all to yourself?” Maddie winked and then waved her hand and pulled her purse from her shoulder and set it on Mia’s desk.
Mia watched as she pulled an envelope out of it and held it in front of her by the edges as if she was presenting an Oscar award. Maddie lifted her chin and raised her voice, giving it an authoritative sound.
“Mia James, as one of your best friends, it is my honor to present you with this reward for going above and beyond the call in the line of sexual duty in the endeavor that we challenged you with. You were given the task of meeting one Alexander Daniels, with the sole intent of seducing him into bed to discern whether or not the rumors were true that his nickname is Mr. Big because he is much more amply endowed than most men. You accepted the challenge, and you gave it your best, which is what you do in everything that you undertake. Your third try with him was a charm and you bedded him successfully. You came back to the group and reported your findings, telling us that he is indeed a man of big, big means, and that report fully satisfied the requirements of the challenge set forth to you by the group.”
Maddie paused dramatically and grinned, handing the envelope to Mia, who was trying to withhold a laugh and listen to her friend’s dramatic presentation with some semblance of austerity.
“In recognition for work very well done, and for all of your efforts, it is our happy delight to present you with this round trip ticket to Italy, as well as funds for hotels, meals, and half the wine in the country. Challenge well met!” she said proudly, and Mia took the envelope into her hands and laughed as she looked at Maddie.
Her laugh was interrupted however, by a deep voice that startled both of the ladies. They turned sharply and looked at the doorway behind them, and Maddie raised one
eyebrow and smiled, while Mia’s mouth fell full open and she gasped. The envelope in her hand slipped from her fingers and dropped to the floor, making a sharp noise that seemed to echo around all of them.
“A challenge?” Alexander said in amazement as his normally warm eyes locked on Mia like cold steel. “This was a game to you?” he gasped, walking into the room toward them both. “I was a game? You planned the whole thing? You came to my office and met me so you could try to get me into bed to find out how big of an erection I can get?”
The red in his face was darkening by the moment. He shook his head in disbelief. Mia felt as if she had somehow been hit by lightning and everything in her froze. Her stomach tightened into a hard knot and she wished that there was some way her lungs would let her breathe, because they were beginning to hurt.
Maddie, who had begun to realize just who it was that had been standing in the doorway, gaped and stared in horror.
Alexander stepped closer to them both, but his eyes never left Mia. His voice was strong and unforgiving and she could see the whole truth forming in his mind as comprehension shed light on all of it for him. “This whole time? Everything between us from the very first day was so that you could… you could… win a trip to Italy? Is that right? Did I just hear all of that right?”
She wished that she didn’t feel frozen to the spot. She wished with everything in her that she could think or speak, and she opened her mouth to try to respond to him, but nothing came out. Nothing at all.
His brows furrowed and his eyes grew ice cold. “I believed you, Mia. I believed everything about you, about us, and about what was happening between us, because for me there was something very good and special happening between us, and I actually thought that it was going to go somewhere. I thought that you were one of the best women I had ever met in my life.” He shook his head, never looking away from her as her heart threatened to thud right out of her chest.
