Ch. 8
“Who was that guy you left the party with last night?” Lizzie demanded as soon as Laura answered her phone the next morning at work. Laura sighed and pushed her chair away from the desk.
“He was, just an old employee of my father’s-“
“Just an old employee? Laura Amilia Santos, do not even try that on me. The way you were dancing with him, your father was no where in that equation.”
“We were just dancing!” Laura defended, but Lizzie argued her down.
“You were doing a lot more than dancing, and everyone could see that.”
“You’re being ridiculous-“ Laura began, but Lizzie cut her off.
“You looked like lovers,” She said bluntly. “You both looked ready to rip the others clothes off and make love right there on the dance floor.”
Laura gasped. “Did we really? Oh god,” She groaned, rubbing her temples.
“Mmhmm, and Marco wasn’t too happy about it either. He was livid, quite honestly.” Lizzie admitted, and Laura groaned again.
“Oh god, I completely forgot about Marco!”
“Forgot? Laura, how could you forget about your boyfriend of seven months? You guys are practically engaged!”
“We are not,” Laura said, wrinkling her brow. “We haven’t agreed to anything, nor have we even talked about it.”
“Well, in the eyes of society, you two are as good as hitched. And now you’re out with this guy, what’s his name?”
“Alexi Giovanni,” Laura said, rubbing her eyes now. Lizzie was right, she’d behaved disgustingly, and had probably embarrassed Marco to no avail.
“Yes, this Giovanni guy.” Lizzie was silent for a moment. “Now that I’ve gotten the rational argument out of the way, that man is yummy, why in the hell have you been hiding him from me?” She demanded.
“I haven’t been hiding him! I haven’t seen him in years.” Laura admitted. “He used to work for my dad but one day he just….quit.”
“Hmm, do you know why he quit?” Lizzie probed.
“I have a pretty good idea.” Laura mused. There was a knock on the door and Laura looked up to see Becca, a girl who worked in the office with her who had only just started, standing there. She’d only been at her job for a little less than a year, but Laura was having the time of her life studying and working with architecture. One more year and she’d have her masters, then she could open her own agency and make the most gorgeous buildings in the world.
“Sorry, but there’s someone at the front for you.” Becca said apologetically, and Laura looked at her watch. It was already a quarter to one, and she quickly got off the phone with Lizzie, promising to call her later, and wondering who was there for her. It was probably Marco, and Laura sighed, knowing she would have to face him eventually. With a look at the small in office mirror, Laura ran a hand over her white dress pants and slipped her feet back into their flats. Smoothing the light blue, green, and purple small printed floral camisole, Laura hurried to the front, her stomach in knots.
She saw him immediately, studying a the framed blue prints for the lay out of the building by the front window. His highly muscular body was encased in a light grey Italian suit, and his hair wasn’t brushed back and gelled, but fell how it used to, in black silken curls and waves. Laura stopped, shocked to see Alexi there, and she found herself watching him. Alexi turned then, his eyes landing on her. The light blue dress shirt he wore with his suit set off his bronze skin and his eyes, which were hard and blank as they looked at her, not at all like the ones that had looked at her last night. Shaking off the chill that ran up her spine, Laura watched him walk towards her. Good lord, he really was a large man. He stood nearly a foot taller than her without her heels on, and Laura had to look up at him when he stood in front of her.
“What are you doing here?” Laura managed to breathe, and Alexi was gripping her elbow as he looked around.
“We have things to discuss.”
It wasn’t a request, as Laura soon found out when he gripped her by her elbow and all but shoved her out of her building and into a waiting car. Laura protested as he slid in after her, slamming the door behind her.
“What in the world do you think you’re doing-“
“That boy you were with last night, he is a Maloney?” Alexi demanded, and Laura frowned, confused.
“Wait, why are we talking about him-“
“Answer the question, Signorina Santos!” Alexi snapped at her again, and laura snapped back this time, her golden eyes turning the color of liquid gold as her temper rose.
“Yes, he’s a Maloney! What does that have to do with anything?”
Alexi swore fiercely and turned away from her. Fuming, Laura huffed and turned away as well, looking at the driver’s seat in front of her, highly irritated.
“Are you going to tell me what is so-“
“Do you have any idea who Marco Maloney is?” Alexi demanded, cutting her off.
“Of course I know who he is-“ Laura began, but he cut her off again.
“Non, Marco Maloney Senior, the Signor, do you have any idea who he is?”
Impatiently, Laura answered. “Yes, I know how he is, he’s a stock broker genius, Marco, the son, learned almost everything from his father, so what?”
Alexi was shaking his head now. “Marco Maloney is much more than just a stock broker, and now you have made him angry.”
“Me?!” Laura said, astonished. “I’ve only met the man three times, what could I have possibly-“
“Enough to anger him,” Alexi said, cutting her off again, and Laura exploded this time.
“STOP INTERRUPTING ME!” She screamed at him, hitting her fists on the leather of the car. Alexi looked at her, an amused look on his face, and Laura snapped at him again as the car came to a gentle stop.
“You don’t get to just come back into my life, ordering me around, telling me what to do, and drive me crazy! You don’t get to come in here, asking me questions when you won’t even answer mine! So I’m going to ask you, one more time, why the hell doesn’t my father want me around you?”
Alexi studied her for a moment. “Do you really want to know-“
“YES!” She hissed at him, and he looked away from her. He readjusted his watch on his wrist as he spoke.
“Your father and I are now in competition with each other. I am his number one competitor,”
“Why does he think you are a danger to me.” Laura asked, her voice returning back to normal as she calmed down.
Alexi looked at her then, his voice mocking. “Come on, signorina, surely you can figure that one out for yourself.”
Laura was silent, her face going pale. Her father couldn’t know, how could he know how she felt about Alexi? She had masked her heartbreak when he wasn’t working for her father anymore, and he was too busy with work to notice her. He couldn’t know about the kiss, no one else was there, no one else knew but them.
Laura stole a glance at Alexi. He didn’t know how she felt about him, he couldn’t know how crushed she had been when he had left.
“I don’t know what you mean,” Laura said firmly, and Alexi turned his eyes on her, no longer mocking, but glittering with amusement.
“You are going to deny this?” He gestured between them, and Laura swallowed, not wanting to show him how much she cared.
“There is no, ‘this’,” She said, gesturing between them as well. “There’s nothing there.”
“You call this nothing?” Alexi said, before grabbing her by the nape of her neck and pulling her face to his. He kissed her hard, firmly, as his other hand went to her waist, and Laura found her walls crumbling under his passion filled kisses. His tongue swept past her lips, exploring her mouth so thoroughly she didn’t know where she ended and he began. Losing herself in his kiss, Laura wound her arms around his strong neck, giving herself over to his onslaught of desire, only to have him pull away and put her away from him. Laura found she was breathing heavily, her eyes were heavy lidded, and she was halfway sprawled across him in the backseat of his car. Frantically, Laura scrambled over to her side, shame dying her cheeks a bright pink under her tan. Alexi’s breathing was labored too, and his voice was thick with want as he spoke to her.
“That, is nothing to you?”
“I’m not the one who ran away!” Laura burst out, and Alexi broke from the spell. The fire died from his eyes quickly, and was replaced by that blank, expressionless gaze he had used so often. His breathing back to normal, Alexi opened his door and stepped out onto the sidewalk. It was then that Laura realized they had been parked outside a restaurant for a large portion of their argument. Trying to bring her hormones under control, Laura refused the hand Alexi offered as she got out of the car, and walked too far ahead for him to be able to touch her as they walked into the café.
“Stop looking at me like that.” Alexi said, his voice husky, snapping Laura from her daze. She had been staring at him, again, and she was worried it was becoming a habit. She had been studying the hard angles of his face, the sharp line of his nose, and the curling lips beneath. Laura tore her gaze away, her cheeks flushing. He had caught her staring at him, and she couldn’t have been more embarrassed. But she just couldn’t help herself. Laura remembered how those lips had caressed hers, so softly, but with such passion, such desire. No one had kissed her like that but Alexi, no one had made her feel as alive as she felt when she was kissing Alexi, when she was even sitting with him.
“If you continue to look at me like that, Laura, I will reach across this table and finish what we started in the car. Now eat your salad,” Alexi growled faintly, and Laura’s eyes went wide with surprise before falling onto her salad as she gripped her fork in hand.
* * * *
Alexi Giovanni watched Laura Santos as she emerged from the taxi she’d taken home from work, and walked into her apartment building. He knew it took her exactly 15 steps until she reached the elevator, and knew it took exactly 45 seconds to reach the floor her apartment was on once inside. It took seven steps to make it to her door, and she locked it immediately behind her. He knew this because he had been watching her go to and from work ever since that night at the fund raiser a month ago. He called her once every two days, and he took her out once a week.
She was certainly exquisite, with her almond shaped eyes, delicate bone structure, tender smile, and that perfectly sinful body. She had always been beautiful, but she had become more than that now. She had lost the softness of adolescence, and her beauty had sharpened to that of a sophisticated woman. She was gracious, delicate; lovely. That was the word, Laura was lovely. And she was off limits, he fiercely reminded himself. Something he had forgotten four years ago. He reminded himself of that every time he found himself making an excuse to touch her while they were out, every time he found himself fantasizing about her while he should be working, and every time those golden eyes looked up at him. Back then, he had let her get under his skin, had let her timid smile warm his cold exterior, and in the end he had paid the price. God, he couldn’t stop thinking about her. Even over the years, his mind had wandered to her every so often, and now he feared she would never leave his thoughts. Not after what had happened in the car. He could kick himself for being so naïve, so stupid as to kiss her again. It had done nothing but fan the flames of desire that had been smoldering for her.
With a growing empire at his disposal, Alexi had everything he needed, and got anything he wanted. His car pulled up to his apartment complex, and one of his body guards opened his door for him as he climbed out and started his way inside. With a nod toward the overly friendly and slightly annoying receptionist, he made his way to his flat and stripped off his suit jacket as he came into his study. With a sigh, Alexi sat down and gazed out the window, his thoughts quickly slipping back to Laura.
He needed to get her out of his system, and the best way to do that was to get her into his bed as soon as possible. But she wasn’t like the other women who have come and gone in his life, she didn’t know the rules of being intimacy, and he doubted she would take too kindly to it anyway. He needed to figure out how to get her out from under his skin, so he could focus on his work.
After a long day of doing intern grunt work and hanging around the office working, Laura was happy to kick off her shoes and flop onto her couch. Deciding whether to move a wall 3/4th of an inch over or 3/8th over was much easier than trying to analyze her new found relationship with Alexi Giovanni. He was charming, intelligent, and most of all passionate. Frankly, he gave Laura goose bumps, and she didn’t know what to do about it. He quite obviously wanted to keep their relationship strictly friendly, but her heart couldn’t help but hope his mind would change. Pushing him from her mind, Laura firmly decided to have herself a nice soak in the tub and just forget about men of all kinds. On her way to the bathroom, there was a knock on her door and Laura groaned inwardly. Sighing, she went to the door and opened it to see Marco standing there. Surprised because she hadn’t seen much of Marco lately, she tried to hide her disappointment with a smile.
“Marco! What are you doing here?”
“Is that anyway to greet me?” He said with a smile, kissing her cheek and coming into her apartment uninvited. Reluctantly, Laura closed the door behind him and tucked a strand of hair behind her ear as he disappeared into the kitchen. That had always bothered her, how familiar Marco liked to be with her apartment. He made himself right at home, but when he left it was always up to Laura to clean up his mess. She found him in the kitchen, peeling the foil off a bottle of champagne.
“Congratulate me,” Marco demanded, grinning at her as he grabbed two glasses from the drying rack by the sink.
“For what?” Laura asked, leaning against her counter and yawning. She was tired, and frankly not in the mood for Marco.
“You are looking at the new Executive of the Stocks wing at Burnal and Cooke,” He announced with a flourish, waving the glasses in the air.
“That’s wonderful, I’m so happy for you,” Laura admitted. He had been working on that promotion for about a month, and he was very adamant that he deserved it. Laura wasn’t so sure if he got it more for his name or his skills, but she didn’t press. He popped the cork on the bottle and poured the frothy liquid into two glasses, smiling smugly at her as he handed her a glass.
“To us, I think.”
“Alright,” Laura said, taking the glass.
“And our new life together, as husband and wife.” Marco announced, drinking his champagne. Laura froze, staring at Marco. Had he really just said that? Husband and wife? He had to be mistaken.
“I’m sorry?” Laura asked, perplexed. Marco was smiling wider now, still smug.
“I called your father in the middle of the night, woke him up and asked him if I could have your hand in marriage. He seemed thrilled about it, said yes right away. He loves the idea of you marrying me.”
“But, you haven’t asked me,” Laura insisted,. “You haven’t asked me if I want to marry you.”
Marco frowned. “Well of course you would want to marry me, your father has no objections-“
“This is not about my father’s opinion,” Laura said, her voice low and piercing. “this is about my opinion, and you haven’t asked it.”
Marco sighed heavily, rolling his eyes. “Fine, even though I know your answer, I will still ask you.” He pulled a ring out of his pocket and held it out to her, the light catching the huge diamond and sparkling about the room. “Laura, will you marry me?”
Staring at that perfectly clear diamond, all Laura saw were flaws. Flaws within Marco, within their relationship. She would have to be a fool to marry the kind of man who assumed she would say yes to him just because of who he is.
“I’m sorry Marco.” Laura said softly. Marco stared at her for a second, then he smiled faintly and took a step away from her.
“Alright, very funny, Laura.” He shook his head, reaching for her hand. Laura pulled her hands out of reach, folding her arms across her chest. Marco’s brow furrowed now. “Come on, Laura, you wanted me to ask you and I did, now take the ring.”
Laura didn’t move, just looked at Marco, then at the floor. “I can’t believe this. You’re serious? You’re actually serious?” Marco paced for a second, before his eyes narrowed and his voice was low as he spoke. “This is about that Giovanni guy.”
“This has nothing to do with Alexi.” Laura protested, but Marco waved her away.
“This has everything to do with him! Before he showed up, you were practically eating out of the palm of my hand! And now, you’re so busy going out with him, I barely see you!”
“You’ve been busy with work!” Laura spoke up. “You didn’t have time to see me anyway!”
“well, I’ll have lots of time once I get the job, Laura, if that’s what you’re-“
“No, Marco, no!” Laura nearly screamed. It was silent, and she wretched her hand through her hair. “I just….can’t marry you.” She moved silently to the front door, waiting for him to follow. Marco slowly walked to the door, and he looked at her, looked her up and down.
“You’re a good girl, Laura. But you haven’t got an ounce of passion in your whole body.” He shook his head. “You’ll come around. You’ll be a Maloney.”
“I’m a Santos,” Laura said strongly. “And that’s what I want.”