Mr. Big(14)

“Well, I don’t want to keep you; I know you’re busy, but if you have some time in a while, there are some things that we can go over when you find yourself out in the office today,” Liam said in a friendly way.

Alexander nodded. “I’ll be out soon. I have some work to finish here. It was very nice to meet you, Miss James,” he said, his eyes locked on hers for a brief moment before he turned them to Liam and nodded at him.

“It was so nice to meet you as well, Alexander.” She gave him her sweetest smile and for the briefest of moments, she looked up at him through her thick dark eyelashes and saw a curious look in his eye.

He sat down as they turned to leave and Mia felt sure that the worst of it was over. She reminded herself to add a little sashay to her walk as she headed to the door. She knew what her body looked like in the sweater dress, and she knew there was a good chance that Alexander Daniels was watching her walk away.

Once out in the hall, she exhaled a deep breath she had been holding in her lungs, and Liam reached for her hand and gave it a squeeze. “You did it honey; that was the hard part. He saw you, he likes you, now all you have to do is ask him out and flirt. You’ll get him. You’re much closer than you were before you walked down this hallway, and you’re a lot stronger than you think, too.”

He gave her a wink and she sighed in relief and smiled. Maybe she would be able to do it after all. She followed Liam through the office and met several other people as they went along. She helped him do what she could that morning so that her presence there with him was not wasted. She tried her best not to constantly look over her shoulder to see if Alexander was anywhere around them, and just about the time she made herself stop looking, she heard his deep soft voice almost directly over her shoulder. She turned with a start and found him standing directly behind her, looking down at her with the hint of a smile.

“I hope I’m not interrupting,” he said as his eyes took in her face, seeming to gaze into depths of her that she didn’t let anyone into.

Her heart began to thud against her chest and she felt transparent as if there was nothing inside of her heart or mind that wasn’t his to know, and panic coursed through her, but she smiled and shook her head. “Oh, not at all. We’re just going over some of the changes that Liam wants to make here in the office. I’m trying to be helpful for him.” She paused there and watched him, giving him one of her sweet smiles.

He nodded and regarded her quietly for a moment. “I’m ordering lunch for the office. I was thinking Japanese and Chinese delivery. There’s a menu in the kitchen that everyone is ordering off of if you would like to have a look; I’d be glad to buy you lunch to thank you for the work that you’re doing here today.”

There was a lilt to her laugh and she nodded. “I’ll look at it. Thank you, that’s very thoughtful,” she replied. “So it looks like you haven’t been here long. When did you move in?”

Alexander looked around the room they were standing in. “No, I haven’t been here long. I just moved in a week before Liam was able to come start the redesign. It’s a good location and everything about the place had great potential, although it doesn’t really look like it at first glance, but with some hard work and a little time, this place will really shine. It’s a good investment for me to make.”

She listened as he explained and her mind wrapped around the concept that he was sharing with her, and it told her a good deal about what kind of person he was. “Do you do that often? See things that others might pass by and pick them up, dust them off, and make them shine again?”

He smiled quietly at her, his eyes searching hers in surprise for a moment before he gave a small nod. “Yes. I do that now and then. It’s almost a form of treasure hunting, I think. Things aren’t always what they seem on the outside, and it takes the right person to look at something and see the treasure on the inside. This place is like that, and Liam is helping me dust it off and make it what it could be.”

She grinned at him. “Liam is going to help you make this an incredible place. You couldn’t have found anyone better to help you.”

He nodded and chuckled. “I agree. I researched several people before I decided on hiring him for the job. He’s the best at what he does, and I want the best. I would rather have it done right the first time than have someone have to come and fix mistakes and problems afterward. I’m a fairly busy man, and I don’t have time for situations like that. Besides, I really like Liam. He’s a good man who does excellent work, and you can’t really ask for much more than that.”