Mr. Big(16)

Mia raised one brow. “Then I can get a ticket to Rome,” she said confidently. “I’m going to do it. I have commitments the next two days in a row, but I can certainly come back after that, and I will make sure the next time I see him he says yes to spending some time with me outside of here. I don’t feel bad about him saying no; he just met me. It will happen.” She narrowed her eyes and smiled, and Liam laughed at her.

“I don’t doubt it. Now, let’s get into the kitchen and have a look at that lunch menu.” He nudged her with his elbow and she followed him out of the room.

Lunch was delivered to the office and when Liam and Mia had finished eating, she knew that it was time to go. She had been there, she had met Alexander, she’d talked with him and she had even asked him to go out with her. She knew that there was nothing more that she could do that day and that there was no reason to stay longer than she already was.

Mia did want to do one last thing before she left the office, however. She took a deep breath and lifted her chin and walked down the hallway toward Alexander’s office. She knocked on the door softly and heard him bid entrance. Pushing the door open, she stepped inside and he looked up from his computer. As she walked toward him, she could feel his eyes on her and though he was subtle, she knew he was watching her.

“Mia, what can I do for you?” he asked with a polite smile as his eyes met hers.

She stopped just before his desk, and curled her mouth into a wide grin. “I just wanted to thank you for lunch. That was sweet. Also, I’m leaving for the day, and I won’t be back right away, so I wanted to leave my number with you. I know you said that you have a lot to work on getting this place ready and the business up and running here, but if you happen to find yourself with some free time, I would love to visit with you.”

She slid her business card across the desk and he stared at it a moment and then raised his eyes to meet hers. She wasn’t waiting for any kind of answers. She was just there to give him her number. He nodded and slipped it into his pocket.

“Thank you, I appreciate the gesture,” he said lightly. He turned from her just a little, but his eyes stayed on her and he watched her as she turned to go.

“My pleasure. Have a good afternoon Alexander,” she said smoothly, and then she turned and headed toward the door, remembering her little sashay as she walked. When she reached the door, she looked over her shoulder at him and found him still gazing at her. She smiled and winked at him and then closed the door behind her. As it clicked shut, she let out a huge sigh of relief and looked down the hallway to see Liam leaning against the wall at the end of it, watching her.

She walked toward him and he grinned almost ear-to-ear at her. She felt her cheeks warm and she bit her lower lip, holding his gaze as she approached him.

“Come with me,” he said quietly as he slid his hand through her arm. “I’ll walk with you to the elevator and go down with you.”

They entered the elevator and when the doors slid closed, he turned to look at her. “So? How did it go? What did you say?”

She giggled a little and looked at him with a sidelong glance. “Oh not much. He couldn’t take his eyes off of me, and when I gave him my number, he put it in his pocket instead of in his desk.” She laughed out loud then and Liam gave her a scandalous look as he winked.

“Good girl! Just give him some time. I bet he’ll call and you’ll wind up with your ticket to Italy!” he reached an arm around her and hugged her close as the elevator came to a stop. She hugged him back and thanked him, waving as she walked out and the silver doors closed between them.

***

The day after she met Alexander, Mia looked at her phone twice during the day with Alexander on her mind, checking for messages. There were no messages. The second day, she checked it more frequently, but not to excess. By the third day after she’d met him, she was checking it even more often, wondering if she should message him or go back into the office. She was less busy, she told herself, and she had said that she would be back in to work with Liam, but she didn’t want to seem desperate at all. She was quickly becoming impatient with Alexander, waiting to hear from him.

Mia had told herself and Liam that he would call her. She had been sure of it. She had seen him watch her as she walked. She had seen him put her card into his wallet. She knew that he was single and she was beautiful and coming on to him, and by the fourth day she was incensed with his lack of communication, and she didn’t look at her phone once, although she did think of him often. Every time he crossed her mind, she pushed him out of it and focused on what she was supposed to be doing. She couldn’t fall behind in her work because of some man who was becoming more ever present in her thoughts.