Mr. Big(17)

By the end of the week, it had been six days and there was no word from him. Liam had texted her twice to ask if she had heard from him, and she’d had to tell him no. She asked Liam if Alexander had said anything about her around the office and he had had to tell her no. Alexander hadn’t said one word to him about her.

Mia sank into the thick cushion of her sofa with a glass of Merlot, watching the sun sink lower over New Jersey. She sipped her wine and felt grateful that she was able to live like she did, in the city that never sleeps. Her phone rang and she reached over and picked it up, answering it without much more than a glance at it. It was a number she didn’t know.

“Hello?” she said casually.

“Hi, Mia? This is Alexander Daniels.” His voice was that same deep soft voice that had drifted over her shoulder in the office. Everything in her tightened sharply and she sat up spilled a few drops of wine on the table before her as she moved to set her glass down hurriedly.

Her heart jumpstarted and she tried to draw in a shaky breath to steady herself as she answered in as calm a voice as she could muster.

“Oh yes! Hello Alexander. How nice to hear from you. How are you doing?” she sat up straight and took another deep breath, trying to convince herself that the best thing to do was to relax.

“I’m fine, thank you, and how are you doing?” he returned pleasantly.

She was slightly miffed that he didn’t sound at all nervous. She felt that he should at least have the decency to sound a little nervous. He was as calm as a still water.

“I’m good,” she rushed out swiftly. “I’m… just…. here drinking some wine. In my apartment….” She fumbled through her response and clenched her eyes and her hands tightly, wondering when she had lost her super cool ability to speak to men.

No man made her uncomfortable or nervous. It was always the opposite with her; she was the one making them freeze up and forget how to speak and think and move, but here was one man who seemed to make her feel like a school girl on the first day.

She took another breath and tried to recover quickly, changing the subject. “How are things going over at the office? Have you been able to move ahead with any of the plans and changes?” she asked hopefully.

There was a tired sigh in his voice. “It’s coming along slowly. I wish there was more that I could do to speed it up, but unfortunately, there isn’t. Thank you for asking.” He paused and sounded thoughtful.

“I’m calling because there’s an event that I need to go to next week; there’s not really any way out of it for me, although I wish there was. It’s a formal event, a dinner. I thought you might like to come with me as my guest.”

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.