Mia looked straight at him and with her left hand, she closed the financial folder. He blinked and looked at the file for a moment and then looked up at her with a grin of anticipation.
“You ready to make some things happen?” he asked, confidence dripping from his lascivious smile at her.
She stood up and turned to walk away from him. “Yes, I’m going back to my office, and the next time I have a look at that file, I hope I see you’ve made the changes I've suggested for you to make. Show some follow through, Mr. Carter. Don’t waste my time and yours.”
He stood up swiftly and took a few steps after her. “Wait! I… uh… I wanted to ask you to come to dinner with me tonight!” he seemed as if he was grasping for possibilities.
“I don’t date clients, Mr. Carter,” she reminded him for the umpteenth time as she turned to walk to the door of the office. He caught up to her and reached his arm out over her shoulder as he looked down at her and lowered his voice.
“What if I hire someone else to do my financial consulting for me, and then you could come out with me anytime you want to?” he breathed huskily, staring at her eyes and her mouth.
“I don’t date former clients, Mr. Carter. You’d just be losing the one person who has done the most for your financial portfolio.” She didn’t bother to give him the small, curt smile she saved for moments like that.
He was not to be deterred. Instead, he leaned closer and lifted his other hand to her shoulder, running his fingertips slowly down the sleeve of her blouse to her elbow. “You know better than most how well off I am, Mia, and you know that I could do a lot for you. I could be so good to you, if you’d let me. We could have a good time, and I could spoil you and take you out… buy you things…” he leaned even closer, pausing inches from her face. “I could treat you so good that you forget other men even exist.”
“I’m not interested in you on a personal level,” she said pointedly. She had wanted to avoid being blunt with him, but it seemed as though there was no other way that he was going to take a hint and back off of her.
He didn’t take the hint. “Yeah, but… if you give it a chance, you could be interested. You just don’t know how good it would be with me yet, that’s all. Give me a chance to show you how much you’d like it. You could be… so special to me.” He moved to kiss her and she ducked beneath his arm and he launched himself forward too far, too fast, and hit his face on the door.
“Goodbye, Mr. Carter,” she said coolly as he pushed back from the door and his hands went to his face. She reached for the doorknob and yanked it open, giving him an icy glance over her shoulder as she walked out and headed for the elevator.
There was nothing that men like him could do to impress her, though many had tried before him, and she was confident that many after him would try as well. She stepped into the elevator and as she turned, the doors slid closed and she could see him staring after her.
Mia glanced at herself in the mirror on the back wall of the elevator. She gave herself a critical review and decided she did look good, so she couldn’t blame him for being interested, but she was irritated he kept trying to change her mind even after she told him she wasn’t interested. Some men found that to be a challenge, and they didn’t listen. It was those men that annoyed her the most.
She glanced at her watch. She was right on time. She would be meeting her friends at their favorite restaurant after her meeting, and she couldn’t wait to dish on the latest tycoon to be turned down.
Mia had the doorman hail a cab for her, and as it cruised down the street, she gazed out of the window and took in the beautiful spring evening. The shifting season had changed the look of her beloved Manhattan from the cold grey of winter into brilliant colorful hues of new life everywhere around her, and she loved soaking it all in.
The taxi dropped her in front of Carly’s, an upscale restaurant and bar on 5th Avenue, where she and her best friends loved to meet regularly to share cocktails, dinner, and gossip. She walked in the front door and the maître d’ looked up and smiled at her. She smiled back at him.
“Good evening Miss James.” He greeted her with a nod.
“Hello Henry!” she answered back with a genuine smile.
He was pristine as always in his black suit with a white kerchief and a red rose in his lapel. The top of his bald head shone in the soft light, and the white hair around his temples was combed back neatly.
“Your friends are here already,” he said lightly as he walked her back to their usual table.
She rounded the corner, taking in the familiar, dark red carpet and fabric used for the furniture and draperies, the mahogany wood, and all the brass fixtures and chandeliers. It had rich, comfortable feel to it, and she and her friends had been going there for the ambiance, the food, and the cocktails, for a long time. Her gaze shifted from the décor to their usual table and three people looked up and smiled widely when they saw her, standing up to greet her with hugs and kisses on her cheeks as she reached them.