Roses & Ruin

Chapter 27 (Anthony)

I'm not sure why the thought crossed my mind out of nowhere, but I thought about Lexi and what she might be doing right now. I decided to cut the texting bullshit short and just call the girl.

        "Hello?" Lexi's voice is sexy without trying. I paused outside the coffee shop and pressed the phone against my ear. "Hello beautiful, what're you up to?" I asked her. Yeah, maybe I did use my deeper voice. I know what a woman likes and she likes my deep gritty voice when I'm calling on her.

"I was just being harassed by my agent. What're you up to?" She stated so casually. It made me chuckle.

"Well, I was also being harassed at work. Now I'm looking for a fix. Ended up at a coffee shop. Care to join?" I asked her, but I didn't mean to ask her that.

I mean, I know I called her to see what she was doing, but I originally planned to ask her into my bed. It just came out though. I just asked her to meet me at a damn cafe for whatever reason. I cringed at myself.

        "Which one?" She asked me. It honestly sounded like she was walking down a street. I know New York background noise very well. The horns in the distance, the passing voices, the occasional yell or loud noise coming from somewhere.

I told her the name of the place and the street it's on. I heard her laugh a little.

"I'm not far from there at all," she told me. I couldn't help the twitch in my lip.

"Well look at that," I said to her. She told me she'd meet me in five. I asked her coffee order and told her there was a line. I might as well wait in it while I wait on her.

        Six minutes later I saw that glowy blonder than blonde hair and those pink pouty lips. She had a slight pink tint to her cheeks from walking here. No make up, plain top, and yet when she walked through the door every man and even some women broke their necks to get a good look at her. She didn't seem to notice. She bumped past a couple of blocking bodies and touched my elbow when she reached me.

"You look damn good in a suit" she said first thing. It made me chuckle and it made me wanna kiss her. So I did.

I cupped her face and dipped my head enough to plant a simple kiss on her lips. I almost thought her cheeks looked more pink for a second.

        "Anthony" my name was being called at the pickup counter. I tipped my head for Lexi to follow me. It was a little busy in here, but most people were ordering to go, so we did find a table in the back corner, which I preferred. I caught Lexi's eyes checking me out as we both took our seats.

I'm in a blue suit, crisp white shirt, and darker blue tie. I have a white pocket square in my breast pocket and I know the suit's well tailored to me. You can't be a boss in the Italian mob and not have custom Italian suits.

You have to be sharp to be a Made man. My hair is a little more combed than she usually sees it. I keep my stubble neat but there on my face. And by the way Lexi's run her hand down my stubbled face before, I think she likes it over a clean shave.

        "Why was your agent harassing you?" I decided to ask first. I watched her snap out of her trance of looking at me and I couldn't help the troublemaker's smirk that came to my lips. She looked at that too.

"Oh, ya know, model stuff" she said. I took a careful sip of my hot drink before waving my hand in a motion for her to elaborate on that.

"It'll sound so trivial" she told me. Again I waved my hand for her to elaborate anyway.

"Have you heard of New York Fashion Week?" She asked me. I nodded yes. "I think everyone's heard of that one, Lex" I chuckled at her.

"My agent, Alyona Kuzmin, talk about a serious Russian. She wants me to try and get into one of the shows. It's big for a model's career if she snags that type of work. The amount of coverage the shows get you're bound to be seen and discovered by bigger brands, bigger agency's and all that," she told me.