was trying to keep a straight face.
‘Is this from you?’
‘No.’ She carefully lowered the box on to the nearest table.
I read the label. Nothing about who sent it. ‘Geoffrey and Giles did it again.’ They always liked to be mysterious and surprise me. After the last presentation they sent me an unlabelled parcel with a three-pound box of Max Brenner chocolates.
‘I’ll get scissors,’ Leila said. We kept them in the office.
‘Takes too long.’ I tore at the box, broke a nail but got it open. ‘Wow!’ This beat the chocolates by a mile.
Leila peeked in. ‘Now we can really celebrate.’
Six bottles of Dom Perignon were staring up at me. A small envelope peeked between two of them. Leila took one bottle out, removed the foil, unwound the metal wire.
I left the note where it was. I was getting a funny feeling. Geoffrey and Giles were both in AA. ‘What are you doing?’
‘What does it look like? Opening it up.’
‘It’s warm.’
‘First two bottles are ice cold. Very thoughtful of them. Aren’t you going to read the note?’ Her eyes were gleaming with a mischievous light.
‘What do you know about this?’
‘That at a hundred and fifty dollars a bottle I can’t afford even one.’ Leila reached in the box, extracted the small envelope, opened it, handed me the note.
I noticed that you had run out of champagne. You deserve to celebrate. The other six bottles are with me, waiting for you. Well, five bottles. Tonight I’m emptying one to celebrate you.
Archer
He’d written his cellphone number in one corner. I showed Leila the note. ‘How does he know I celebrate with champagne?’
Leila threw her hands up in exasperation. ‘I can’t believe you! Everyone celebrates with champagne.’
‘How did he know we’d run out?’
‘Come on, Nicole. Relax. Enjoy the attention. He’s obviously smitten.’
‘He’s just showing off how rich he is.’
‘Cut it out. Have fun with him. Since when have you been so resistant to getting laid? I bet he’s a fantastic sex machine.’
I would have liked that, but there was something about him that scared me. He’d gotten to me in a way I hadn’t experienced before. I felt him on my skin. All over. The soft liquid feeling I got after a great massage. ‘This man is going to be trouble.’
‘And I’m going to have fun watching.’ Leila popped the cork, poured the white foam into our empty vodka glasses. She raised her glass. ‘Here’s to success in more ways than one.’ She clinked glasses. ‘Love you even if I can’t have you.’
‘Love you back.’
As I said, it was an important night.
The next morning, a bleary-eyed me was trying to pick something to wear for the seven o’clock interview with Aileen Gerber. I’d gotten as far as putting on bra and panties when I thought I heard the buzzer. I wasn’t sure as I sleep at the very back of the loft, far from the front door. I stuck my head out of the bedroom. Sure enough, the buzzer. Stubborn Leila, as usual disregarding my insistence she sleep late. She’d worked hard enough, first straightening up what the caterer had missed, then running down on unsteady feet to Starbucks two blocks away to get Aileen’s Frappuccino. I wanted her to get some rest. I could handle the interview by myself. She did like to think she was indispensable. Which she was, but sometimes her hovering got to me.
Leila had her own set of keys, but last night, after downing vodka and polishing off a bottle of Dom Perignon, we’d both been high. On my way to bed, I noticed she’d dropped the keys to my place on the couch.
‘Coming,’ I yelled out, even though she couldn’t hear me. I padded barefoot to the door and let her in. I left the door open and went back to my room. Scrambling through my jammed closet, I picked a pair of black jeans and a boat-necked celadon jersey top.
I kept the clothes on their hangers to show Leila. ‘What do you think?’ I asked, walking out into the showroom.
‘You’re even more beautiful than last night.’ Thorne was standing in the middle of the room, looking like the king of men in his navy suit, pale-blue shirt and yellow tie with a face so incredibly handsome it could launch a thousand missiles.
I just stood there, my heart doing bungee jumps. ‘What are you doing here?’ I forgot I was half naked.
He walked up to me. ‘I couldn’t start my day without kissing you.’ He took my head in his hands, tilted it to meet his. ‘Nicole Wenders, I haven’t stopped thinking of you for one second.’
My insides started trembling. I felt caught, powerless, pinned like a butterfly against a wall I couldn’t kick down. That scared me. I grabbed his head, pulled it towards me and kissed him, my tongue reaching to every corner of his mouth. An electric surge ran through me. I was in control again. I loved his thick lips pressed against mine, his tongue trying to outdo mine. He grabbed my ass, pressed me tight against him so I could feel how hard he was. I wanted to pull him down on the floor and eat him until he groaned for mercy.
I pushed him away. ‘You’ve had your kiss. Now get out of here.’
He grinned, not in the least put out. ‘I’ve got an important meeting this morning. If it goes through, it’s going to do a lot of good things.’
‘To you, of course.’ I had enough sense now to pull the top over my head which left only my panties showing. Let him get his eyeful down there. He wasn’t going to have me. At least not on his terms. I walked to the door, opened it.
He took the hint and followed me. He stopped on the threshold and gave me a sweet smile that threw me. The arrogance was gone. ‘Woman of my dreams, you’ve got the wrong idea about me. I do have a heart. By the way, good choice of clothes and I don’t mean your skimpy underthings. It’s the colour of your top. Brings out the green in your eyes. And wear your hair up and show off that swanlike neck.’ He kissed my forehead and then he was gone. I stood there for a moment, trying to figure out what I was feeling. I was wet, which was perfectly normal under the circumstances, but I stood on that threshold half-dressed and stared down at the stairs. The picture of his disappearing back kept playing in my mind like a YouTube video gone beserk.
I want him back. Not just for sex. I want to listen to him. I want to know who he is.
No, I’m hung over. Confused. Tired. I don’t care if I ever see him again. He’s got me all wrong. My eyes are more blue than green and wearing my hair up makes me look older. In fact, I never want to see him again.
Shit! I forgot
