***
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.