Mr. Big: A Billionaire Romance (6 page)

Excitement raced through her and she held back every bit of it, as she forced her voice to sound calm and collected. “Oh, that sounds like it would be a really nice evening with you. I’d be glad to join you. Thank you so much for thinking of me.” She smiled as she spoke, knowing that he would be able to hear it through the phone.

What he didn’t hear was her jumping up from the sofa and bouncing on the balls of her feet just a little as the excitement that she held in grew exponentially. She stopped bouncing and stood still, laying her hand on her heart and feeling it pound inside of her.

“Well that’s wonderful. Thank you, I appreciate it. I have your email here on your business card, so I’ll email the details to you. Mia…” he paused and she held her breath as her eyes grew wide and everything in her seemed to be right on the edge of a cliff.

“Yes?” she answered a little more breathlessly than she had intended to.

“I’m really glad that you’re able to come with me. I think it will be a fun night for both of us,” he told her quietly. She could see his brown eyes, his dark hair, and that smile of his in her mind.

“I’m sure that we will. I’m looking forward to it,” she said a little more easily.

He bade her good night and she hung up the phone and squealed loudly, holding the cell tightly in her hands as she looked up at the ceiling in utter joy, a grin gracing her face. He was going out with her. He had finally called her after six long days. She was going to have the night of her life with him, and then she was going to go to Rome, and everything was finally going the way that she wanted it to.

For a moment, she considered texting Liam to tell him, but then as she was pulling up his name on her phone, she bit her lip and shook her head once, just a little, turning the phone off. She wanted to tell him, but she thought she would wait until she saw the friends at cocktails the next afternoon at Carly’s. Then she could share her good news with all of them, and they could celebrate together, and start preparing to buy her airplane ticket to Italy.

***

The next afternoon, she was the first one at Carly’s, and when the others walked in, she could hardly contain herself. Liam took one look at her face and mouthed silently to her, “He called?” and she nodded subtly and grinned at him, and he grinned back and clapped his hands once in excitement.

Liam, Eva, and Maddie sat with her and ordered their drinks. The moment their waiter left, she looked at all of them and let out a little squeal as she announced happily, “I have news on the Mr. Big project!”

Every one of them was interested, and Liam held up his hand with a wink and a smile and said calmly, “Before you let them in on your update, we need to catch them up on what happened at the office.”

She tipped her head to the side a little and smirked some, lowering her lashes for a moment and then looking at him in acquiescence. “I know. You’re right. They do need to know that part first.”

Liam winked at her and then looked at Ava and Maddie who were watching him expectantly.

“So!” he began, moving his hand through the air as if he was setting the scene. “I took Mia to work with me so she could meet Alexander Daniels… aka Mr. Big.”

His eyes wide and sparkling with delight, he shared a grin with Mia and continued, “Well, to begin with, Mia looked absolutely stunning in this almost eggshell cream colored sweater dress.” He leaned forward as if he was sharing a secret with them, “…just stunning. It hugged her like a lover and when I introduced her to Alexander, he definitely noticed.”

Mia giggled and her cheeks grew warm. Liam kept going. “I’ll let her tell you the rest, but I’m going to say that I was so proud of our girl. Mark my words; she’s going to win that ticket to Rome, you wait and see.”

She laughed and reached for his hand, bringing it to her lips and kissing the back of it softly before letting it go. Mia looked at Maddie and Ava. “Well, to begin with, he really does look like the guy on the show. So much! It’s incredible! I tried not to stare when I went in, but it’s seriously so uncanny. You wouldn’t believe it. Anyway, I was a little nervous—”

Ava stared at her and cut her off. “You were nervous? You’re never nervous. You have more courage than all of us! How could you ever be nervous?” She looked astounded.

Mia raised her eyebrows and shrugged. “I have no idea. It’s true that I’m never nervous, but this time I was. Maybe it’s because the three of you put me up to it and it wasn’t my idea or someone I was already going after. Maybe it’s more pressure? I don’t know. What I know is, I was a little nervous.”

Liam patted her hand. “Well, it didn’t show honey, you were as cool as a cucumber.” He looked at her proudly.

She winked at him. “Thanks, Liam.” Turning back to Ava and Maddie, she took a breath. “Well, he seemed a little cool too, and it didn’t help the way that I was already feeling. He was really friendly, don’t get me wrong, but he was definitely cool. So I met him in Liam’s office and then Liam and I went to work down the hall, and a little while later I hear this gorgeous voice over my shoulder and I turn around and it’s Alexander. We talked a little bit and then I asked him to go to dinner with me and he turned me down. He said that he was really busy with his new office and he had a lot to do to get the building ready and the office up and going, and he just didn’t have time, but he was really nice about it.”

Maddie frowned and narrowed her eyes and Ava pouted and looked at Mia with sincere disappointment. Mia gave them a sly grin.

“So he went back to his office and before I left, I went to see him and thank him for buying all of us lunch, and when I did, I slipped him my business card and told him to call me. He put my card in his pocket and I left.” She paused a moment as they all looked at her expectantly.

“Did he call you?” Ava asked excitedly, clasping her fingers together tightly.

Mia grinned. “He did,” she answered. She didn’t mention that she had to wait six days for him to call. “He asked me to go with him to a formal event. It’s a dinner. I have a feeling that I’ll definitely be able to win this challenge after that event.”

She left it at that, and her three friends looked at her with thrilled anticipation. By being invited to the dinner with him, she had been given a chance to make him want to spend the night with her, and she was going to do her best to make sure that Alexander Daniels wanted her so much that he couldn’t tell her no. He would be her lover that night, if she had anything to say about it. She would come back to her friends with the information they wanted, and she would have that hot ticket to Rome in her hands in no time.

Chapter3

The day of the dinner, Mia took half the afternoon off from work getting ready for it. She went to the salon and had her hair colored and styled, she had a manicure and pedicure done, she was waxed, peeled, and massaged. She had everything done that could be done, and when she walked out of the building, she looked beautiful.

She had bought a new formal dress for the occasion. It was satin in burnt orange; it made her dark skin glow and she felt that the rich fiery color of it was a subtle invitation to what was beneath the material. It was strapless with a sweetheart neckline that offered a generous view of her deep cleavage, as well as the soft smooth curves of her breasts. From there it tapered closely to her waist, gathered as it descended, hugging her body closely. It was form-fitting over the curve of her hips and there was a thigh-high slit in the dress over one leg that gave more than a glimpse of her long, toned leg. Paired with sparkling fire opals in her necklace and earrings, she gave herself one last spray of perfume before she nodded her head at the finished reflection of herself in the mirror.

Mia had asked Alexander to pick her up so that he would know where she lived and would be more comfortable going back to her place with her at the end of the night. She was just giving herself a last turn before the mirror when she heard her front bell ring and everything in her stopped and her breath caught in her lungs.

She glanced in surprise at the clock and frowned slightly. He was fifteen minutes early. She was relieved that she had taken the extra time that day to be ready for their date. Mia closed her eyes a moment as she stood before her front door, taking in a deep slow breath before she reached for the handle and opened it to see him standing there.

He was in a black tuxedo with a black tie, and a white shirt with black buttons down the front of it. In one arm, he held a bouquet of white roses, long stemmed, with a thick white ribbon tied around them. His hair was styled, perfectly in place. He gave her a smile and a nod when she looked up at him. Everything in her stopped again at that moment. It was rare that any man took her breath away, but Alexander Daniels, standing in her doorway looking like a James Bond hero, was riveting to her, and it was all she could do not to show it.

“Hello! Come in!” she said with an airy smile, stepping back so he could enter her apartment.

He stepped in and handed the flowers to her. “For you,” he said as he placed them in her hands. “You look breathtaking,” he said as his eyes met hers and she lowered her eyelashes a little and smiled up at him coyly.

“Thank you. The flowers are very sweet, and I appreciate the compliment. You look dashing and debonair in your tux.” She gave him a light wink and then went to the kitchen to put the roses into a vase of water. “I’ll just be a minute,” she said as she disappeared through the kitchen doorway.

When she returned, he was standing before her shelves, looking at the photographs that she had there. “Are these your family?” he asked interestedly as he looked at all of them.

She walked up beside him and raised her hand toward them as she spoke. “This one is my sister, those are her children, and those are my parents. These are my best friends.”

“There’s Liam.” He smiled at her and she smiled back and nodded.

“That’s him. We’ve been friends for a long time. I wouldn’t trade him for the world,” she said with a happy and wistful gaze at his image smiling back at her.

Alexander nodded and gazed at her face for a moment. “Those are the friends to keep. There’s no doubt about that.”

He turned and began to walk toward the door. “Do you have friends like that?” she asked curiously, walking behind him. She stopped at the closet and pulled her coat out and he took it from her hands immediately and helped her into it.

“I do. I have some friends from college that I will always keep, and I have a younger brother who I’m quite close with.” He reached for the door and held it open for her. “Shall we?” he asked with an inviting smile, and she nodded and followed him out.

They rode in a stretched black limousine to the event, which was held at a towering and luxurious hotel downtown in the city. When they walked into the hotel, several people stopped Alexander along the way and shook his hand or clapped him on the shoulder. Several ladies eyed him and smiled at him and though he smiled back at them, he did not give them the same sort of smile in return, and Mia watched him closely.

It was like he was a royal coming home to his own castle and everyone wanted to greet him, to shake his hand, to catch his eye, or hear him speak to them as he passed. He seemed like the big man on campus, and Mia laughed silently to herself, big in the societal way as well. She wondered whether the rumor about his body was true, and she thought with a heated blush about the end of the night when she would find out. He turned to her just then and her breath caught. She panicked that he would be able to see through her and know what she had been thinking.

They were standing in a lavishly appointed ballroom where several tables were set up for dinner, with a stage facing the room and a dance floor off to one side. There were six bars set up around the room, and he indicated the one nearest them.

“Would you like a drink?” he asked, leaning closer to her so she could hear him well in the hum of conversation that surrounded them.

As he neared her, she could smell his cologne and it made her close her eyes and breathe him in, losing herself for a moment in the scent. It was subtle and yet wrapped itself around her, making her want to be closer to him to smell it on his skin.

“Mia?” he asked in a soft voice, looking at her curiously.

She blinked and smiled. “I’m sorry… yes. I’d love a glass of wine thank you. Riesling if they have it, Chardonnay if they don’t.”

He nodded and gave her a wink back, and she felt butterflies in her stomach come to life and begin to move around as he left her. She watched him as he walked away, until he reached the bar, and then she turned and gazed around the room. There were massive centerpieces on all of the tables, all the finest crystal and china were laid out, and there were musicians playing classical music from the corner of the room. There were swags of sheer white material hung about the room and colored lights set into them and against them made them glow in varying hues.

Hanging from the ceiling was a massive chandelier that glittered and sparkled in the dim lights around it. She was admiring all of it when she felt a hand on her shoulder and heard a familiar voice in her ear. She turned with a start and found herself looking at Will Carter, standing there close to her in a tuxedo.

“Well, what a lucky surprise! How are you, Mia?” he asked with a grin as his hand moved from her shoulder to the bare skin on her back.

She turned just enough that she could step back and be just out of reach, removing his hand from her without obviously pulling away.

“I’m fine, thank you, Will; how are you doing?” she asked with a polite nod and a small smile.

“Well, I’m much better now. I thought this was going to be a long boring night that I would have to sit through, but now that I see you’re here, things are definitely looking like they could get a lot more… exciting…” he hinted heavily. His eyes traveled slowly over her body and found their way finally back up to her face.

“You are so hot in that dress,” he said casually, making no effort to hide his lascivious appreciation.

She blinked at him. She supposed that it was good that she had gotten the compliment, but considering what it meant and from whom it came, she wished that she could have ignored it. “Thanks,” she said simply. She felt her stomach tighten and she wondered where Alexander was, but just as Will was about to say something else to her, leaning in and wrapping his arm around her shoulder, she saw his eyes look behind her instead of at her, and he looked up in surprise.

Alexander came up directly behind Mia and wrapped his arm around her, placing his hand on her waist. “Mia, my dear, I didn’t know you knew Will.”

Will blinked and his mouth fell open slightly as he looked from Alexander to Mia, and then back to Alexander. “Oh… I uh… I guess I didn’t realize that you were here with anyone, Mia,” he fumbled and let go of her, stepping backward a pace. He frowned slightly and looked at Alexander.

“How’d you get her to say yes to you? I can’t ever get her to agree to see me outside of work,” Will said with a shake of his head and an almost sarcastic laugh.

Alexander watched him and spoke with a firm yet congenial voice. “I’m just very lucky, I suppose. She has excellent taste in men,” he added, giving Will a subtle nod, and Will nodded back and smiled until he worked out in his mind that it wasn’t a compliment. He was not one of the men that Mia had chosen, and Alexander was; her taste excluded him. He frowned slightly and lifted his glass to his mouth for a drink.

“Well, you two have a good night,” he said shortly, looking at them in dejection as he turned slightly. He gave one last glance to Mia. “I’ll call you soon. Come by and see me,” he said directly to her, and she did not miss the meaning in his comment; he wanted her for much more than business still, and though she was there with Alexander, he was not giving up on her.

She lifted one corner of her mouth slightly in a near smile, giving him a nod, and then she turned toward Alexander. He looked down at her and chuckled as he handed her a glass of wine.

“So Will Carter is interested in you, is he? I’m not surprised at all,” he said simply, sipping his martini.

She tipped her head to the side a little. “Why aren’t you surprised?” she asked curiously.

“Well,” he said looking down at her face, “you’re a beautiful woman, and he loves beautiful women. You’re also independent, and that makes you a challenge to get, and he likes a challenge.”

She smiled widely at his words. “How do you know him?” Mia tipped her wine glass back and sipped the light honeyed liquid in it. It was sweet. She’d gotten Riesling.

“Oh, just from different business connections here in the city. We know some of the same people and we have worked in overlapping circles before. He’s all right, I guess, but he’s not anyone I would do business with personally, and he’s not anyone I’d ever call a friend,” he admitted honestly.

She was surprised at his bluntness. “Why wouldn’t you do business with him personally?”

He was quiet a moment, taking another sip of his drink. He looked down at the olive in it, and then looked up at her. “I don’t like his character. He isn’t as good a man as he could be, and that’s a conscious choice that he makes.”

Mia heard his words and was amazed again at the deep integrity of the man with her. There was so much more depth to him than she was accustomed to seeing in the many men she spoke with day in and day out. Something about him made her want to know more, and she knew when she discovered more, she would still be hungry to learn everything about him that she didn’t know. It was a strange realization for her.

He gave laugh and squeezed her hand. “I’m glad to hear that he can’t get you to go out with him though. That makes me think even more of you.” He winked at her and she felt a warmth spread throughout her from her core, and she couldn’t resist grinning back at him.

They talked through dinner, with each other and the other guests at the table they shared. They watched the speakers for the event and when the formalities of the evening were over, he turned to her and held out his hand.

“Would you care to dance?” he asked with a twinkle in his eye.

She was completely charmed and delighted as she slipped her hand into his and stood up with him. “I’d love to!”

He walked her out to the dance floor and took her into his arms, drawing her close to him. She placed her hand on his shoulder and breathed in his scent. As he moved her around in the dim light, with the live orchestral music playing and wrapping itself around them like the evening’s cloak, she found herself wishing that time could stand still so that she would be able to be there with him that way for much longer.

Alexander didn’t speak as they danced, rather, he held her close to him and rested his cheek on the side of her head, and they swayed and turned to the music. Mia felt like she was moving through a dream and she didn’t want to wake up, but at some point in the middle of her living reverie, the music paused, and he stepped back from her and smiled down at her.

He took both of her hands in his and brought them slowly to his lips, and gazing into her eyes, he kissed the back of each of her hands slowly and softly, sending shivers of electricity straight to her and making her gasp as her smile spread again. He turned then, letting one of her hands go and tucking the other into the crook of his arm, and he walked her off of the dance floor. It was like waking from the best dream she could remember having in a long time, and she didn’t want it to end. She thought forward toward the minutes and hours to come in their night together, and it was almost the only thing that helped her to leave the serene warmth of his strong and gentle embrace around her on the dance floor.

They were again met by several people as they walked out of the hotel, all of them wanting some of his time, his attention, his regard, his handshake, and she smiled to herself at how personable he was with each one, never passing any of them as if they didn’t matter. It occurred to her at one point that his demeanor with them might very well be the reason why so many people respected and liked him and sought him out.