Mia looked up at him and gave him a smile, and he asked her to have a seat on the sofa against the far wall. She took the seat and he gave her bottled water from the small refrigerator in his mini bar.
Pulling out her tablet and set it on the table before them, opening the file she had created for him. She turned the tablet toward him as he sat beside her. “If you look here, you will see some of the current placements for your investments.” She let him take a cursory glance at the page and then she swiped it to the next one. “These are some of my immediate recommendations for you, and we can go over why I recommending each of them for you,” she began.
She explained her suggestions to him in detail, and she knew that he was immersed in their discussion; he was asking pertinent questions and watching everything she did, but he was also watching her, now and then out of the corner of his eye, and she knew that he wasn’t looking at her entirely with a business perspective.
He kept their conversation business-centered and was polite and thorough in his discussions with her. When she was finished with her presentation and offering him her suggestions, he turned to her with a pleasant and warm smile.
“I like everything you advised me to look into, and I’m going to go with all of your suggestions,” he told her earnestly. “You have a clever and quick mind, and I can see that nothing really gets by you. I feel confident that my money and my investments would be well-managed in your hands.”
She grinned and as he stood up, she followed suit, reaching for his hand to shake it. “I appreciate that! Thank you so much. I will take excellent care of your investments for you,” she answered. He nodded and shook her hand, and he held it a moment longer before letting it go and giving her a sweet smile that had nothing at all to do with business.
“Miss James…” he began, his gaze holding her eyes. She shook her head slightly at him.
“Please, feel free to call me Mia,” she said kindly.
He nodded. “Thank you. Mia,” he said, hesitating only for the span of a few breaths. “I wonder if you would like to have dinner with me.” He watched her face carefully and continued, “I do want to keep business and pleasure separate, of course, but I find you charming and irresistible, and I’m enormously curious about you, outside of your professional capacity with me. Have dinner with me tonight, please?” he asked confidently.
She felt pleased at his invitation and the way he had asked her. It wasn’t a typical come-on, and it made her want to do something she rarely did, and that was mix her business with a little pleasure. She lowered her lashes just a little, giving him a bit of a flirtatious smile.
“I think I’d like that,” she answered him.
He nodded back to her. “Very good. Shall I pick you up or would you like to meet me at the restaurant? I was thinking Bella Italia north of here on 5th Ave. Do you like Italian?” he asked hopefully.
She laughed a little Bella Italia was four blocks from Carly’s where she and her friends always met. She loved the neighborhood. “I’ve actually been there before. I really like that restaurant. I’ll meet you there tonight.” She told him, picking up her bag and turning toward the door just a little way. “What time would you like me to be there?”
He grinned at her. “Let’s say six?” he asked, his eyebrows raising slightly in the asking.
“Six it is. I’ll see you then. Thank you, Logan.” She gave him another big smile and walked down the hall from his office, wondering if he was watching her. When she got to the end of the hall, she turned and glanced over her shoulder and saw that he was watching her, and she lifted her hand and gave him a small wave.
Feeling sexy and empowered, she looked straight ahead as the elevator doors closed in front of her and she felt a bubble of triumph growing inside of her. She had landed an enormous account, as well as a hot date. The day had gotten off to an excellent start.
The rest of her time that day was spent in her office in SoHo, going over files and making changes to various investments for her clients and for herself. She had lunch in Chinatown, and then at the end of day, she sent an email off to Ava, Maddie, and Liam, double-checking that they were all still available for cocktails the next night at Carly’s. They each responded a short while later that they were, and they agreed to meet the following evening.
She didn’t say anything about Logan. She wanted to save that gossip for their visit. Instead, she left her office a little early and went home to change and ready for her date. She slipped into a skin-tight black dress and black heels, letting her hair down and adding a matching set of gold earrings and a gold necklace. She looked elegant and refined, she decided, as she walked out of her apartment and headed to Bella Italia to meet Logan.