Chapter 3
Lia
“Ah, there you are, Amelia. What kept you?” Derrick turned up the authoritative tone and motioned me forward. Perspiration trickled from his temple toward his ticking jaw. The faintest glint of crazy sparkled in his beady eyes.
Somehow, I managed to get the coffee tray onto the table without spilling anything. The sexual pull Mr. Teresse had overwhelmed my senses. I could feel him looking me up and down even before he lifted his sunglasses. It sent curls of heat spiraling through me, and my knees threatened to give out.
Mr. Teresse’s immaculate, well-tailored charcoal suit hugged his tapered frame with precision I’d never seen. Broad shouldered. Slim. Well-put-together. Cheeks hollowed beneath high cheekbones above a square, oh so masculine jaw. Dark brown curls flopped onto his forehead, lending him a softening boyishness he needed for the sake of humanity. I could hardly think straight for his perfection.
How would his stubble feel, scratching the delicate skin of my breasts, my belly? How would it be to have those full lips latched onto my neck? Would he be gentle with me, or more demanding?
Would I be able to keep myself from salivating right now?
I wouldn’t look him in the eyes. I couldn’t, or he would know how affected I was. I could feel the heat of it on my cheeks.
“Would you enjoy coffee, Mr. Teresse?” Derrick picked up a cup after adding an unhealthy amount of cream from the pitcher.
“No. Miss, are you a designer here?” Mr. Teresse turned his attention to me, snubbing Derrick.
Fear shot through me at Derrick’s glowering, warning down-turned mouth. Throwing caution to the wind, I mustered my courage and opened my mouth, willing the words to come. I straightened my spine and looked at Mr. Teresse with purposeful determination.
“I am, actually. Yes. I work with some of our online clients. All to Derrick’s specifications, of course.”
I glanced at Derrick again, then down to the floor with flaming cheeks. This was way outside protocol. I only hoped the casual conversation wouldn’t cost me my job.
“Ah.”
The disappointment was unmistakable.
My nerves gained their ground quickly, threatening and pulling me back. Ordinarily, business situations didn’t faze me, but there was something about this man that knocked me off my game. The thing was, I had something I could show him. All I needed to do was get my throat working and push the words free.
Easier said than done.
But this beautiful man’s disappointment bothered me enough to take a chance. He wanted something from me, and I needed to know if I had it. In my infinite boredom with the lackluster workload I received, I developed a habit of putting together a pitch for every new client who walked into Design Everything. They were great additions to my portfolio even if they never saw the light of day.
I slid a lock of wayward hair behind my ear and cleared my throat. Mr. Teresse’s attention wandered back to me, assessing.
“Actually, I have a design concept for Experience. It’s not as polished as Derrick’s presentation, but I could show it to you if you’re looking for some options.”
I dared to look up from the floor, and my heart leapt into my mouth when my eyes met Mr. Teresse’s for the second time.
He had two different eyes. One the same color as my own, the other one hazel. I had only seen one other person who looked like that… The air between us sizzles as our gazes remained locked.
“Yes, I’d love to see something else. Can you arrange this, please?”
Mr. Teresse turned back to a shaking, red in the face Derrick, but the words came from underwater.
Was I imagining things? This had to be a hallucination brought on by my time in the shower this morning. Maybe not enough coffee. Yeah, that had to be it. My heart remembered to beat and did so in overdrive.
Too much stimulus all at one time left me woozy. I gulped in a ragged breath. Mystery Guy, in the conference room. Oh, and this presentation could take my career from banal to meaningful in one fell swoop. No big deal.
I forced my attention back to the room around me as Derrick keyed a lengthy password into his laptop and pulled up the Home Screen for my work computer. He motioned me over to the laptop with a death glare. Yeah, well. I had to step up sometime, or I would never be more than his coffee-fetching sweetheart. I put too much work in for that to be the end of the line for me and design. Nothing made me come alive like bringing a project to life, and this was a golden opportunity to do just that.
“Don’t you dare mess this up,” Derrick mumbled through gritted teeth, quiet enough for the words to stay between us.
I smiled at Derrick and turned away. “Mr. Teresse. As you can see, this is your floor plan here.” I motioned to the image I pulled up on the projected screen. The lack of flair had nerves dancing in my belly.
Mr. Teresse smiled and that megawatt grin had me moments from a blackout.
“Please, call me Raphael. Raph. We’re friends, here, right? Do you have specifics for the individual spaces? The layout is excellent and would work well with the existing plumbing. I’m looking into the specifics. It needs to encompass the right mood and depth.” Raph looked up, leaned forward, and tented long fingers idly on the tabletop.
Was he interested? He gave me his undivided attention, and I felt as if I could burst into flames.
His eyes hypnotized.
I swallowed the lump in my throat. “Raph, then. I’m Amelia. You can call me Lia. We’ll work from the customer lounge and seating area into the acts. Then, the staff and personnel spaces, and, finally, the kitchen.” I clicked around, opening a few more files.
I went through my plan room by room, explaining the choices for color, location placements, and the space’s overall function. Raph pulled his phone from his pocket while I still spoke, and my heart sank to the floor. He stopped paying attention to my pitch, and it didn’t bode well for the future of my employ. Mentally, I packed up my desk.
“Uh, Mr…. Raph? Is everything all right? Have you seen enough?”
If this didn’t go my way, my ass was as good as fired. Derrick’s anger was palpable, radiating off of him. I’d been unsure, but took the chance anyway. I couldn’t continue to roll over and let the opportunity pass by. And if that meant dealing with Derrick’s wrath, then so be it.
Raph glanced up and smiled. “I think I found what I was looking for, Lia.”
My eyes went wide, then I realized he meant my work, and they went wide again. He likes my presentation!
Right?
The suspense was agonizing. I bit my lip, anxiety winning out over professionalism.
“I know if you hire us, you won’t be disappointed,” I said, speaking more confidently than I felt.
Raphael shook his head and chuckled. A deep, delicious sound that sent shivers up and down my spine. This man couldn’t be any more appealing. It didn’t hurt that he was the embodiment of my Mystery Guy, the man I’d been fantasizing about for more than a decade. It seemed impossible.
“I’m certain if I hired Design Everything, I would find myself disappointed. The designs I saw were generic, bland… useless to me. I am not a boring or generic man, Lia,” Raph said with a quick twitch of his brows.
I quirked a smile. Was I imagining the flirtation? The look in his eye, the shadow of a smile? Was he saying he liked my design, or me? The latter had to be wishful thinking. I needed to screw my professional head on straight once and for all.
“What are you saying, then?” I asked, careful not to reveal the heat I felt.
“I’m saying that you, Lia, would head this project. I want your designs and expertise for Experience. If you’re interested in accepting, you’ll be with me the next several weeks. Starting immediately. Tonight. We’ll have dinner downtown to discuss my timeline and the finer details. You can reach me here. I’ll need an answer within the hour, though.”
Mr. Teresse slid a card across the conference room table, smiled cordially at Derrick, and let himself out, the door clicking shut behind him.
Both Derrick and I were speechless. Raphael Teresse obviously went after what he wanted. And by the looks of it, he got it. Though his words were professional, the look in his eyes left me with more questions than answers. Did he want my designs, or me along with them?
What’s with me today?
“You’d be a fool, an unemployed one, not to accept this contract. Raphael Teresse is offering this firm a lot of money. A lot. But don’t think I won’t need constant progress updated, and a copy of the contract sent directly to me. I am still Head of Design. Just because it’s you at the helm doesn’t change a damn thing.”
Derrick spat the words with disdain as I collected the tray with the coffee, cream, and sugar.
“Of course, Mr. Kane. Anything you need.”
Derrick motioned me away from him with a flick of his meaty wrist. I slipped from the room and scurried to my desk. He was right about one thing; I would be a fool not to accept at least the meeting with Mr. Teresse. I typed up a quick email letting him know I accepted the offer for dinner, and looked forward to hearing from him. After I hit ‘send’, I didn’t know what to do with myself. Letting out an excited, hysterical squeak released only a fraction of my pent-up adrenaline.
This kind of thing didn’t happen to me. Ever.
I decided to take the cups, cream, and sugar back to the break room. I tugged on my coat, swung my purse over my shoulder, and headed down the hall. I pulled my phone from my bag and typed out a quick text to Shell.
Lia: 911. Early lunch. Like N O W!!
I wandered into the break room and set in the tray in the sink. I sank into a white acrylic chair while I wanted for my roommate and bestie to come to my nervous rescue. This day was mind-boggling and overwhelming, and it was only eleven. My toe tapped an anxious tempo on the tiled floor.
“Hey! Everything okay?” Shell asked as she burst into the room.
“I don’t even know where to start,” I said, dropping my head onto the table between us.
As I filled her in on the meeting, her jaw dropped.
“Wait. So there’s a chance that Mr. Sexy-As-Hell Teresse is your Mystery Guy? The Mystery Guy? That’s amazing! What are the odds?” Shell’s eyes sparkled.
“That’s what you’re taking from this?” I asked, giggling. “Not the big moment? Dream career? Putting Derrick in his place?”
“Of course, that, too! Especially, even! But come on. What are the chances you actually ran into the man you’ve been comparing everyone to for, like, forever? What if he turns out to be the way you’ve always pictured him? Are you going to make a move at dinner tonight?” Shell rested her chin on laced fingers and sighed. Romance suckered her in. But that wasn’t what this was supposed to be about.
“It’s a business dinner, not a date.” I glanced down as my phone vibrated. An incoming alert flashed over the screen.
“Business or date, it’s still you and the sexiest man in the universe sitting across a table from one another. I can’t believe he’s actually real. And you haven’t been out since Russel in college. This is a real, live, hot-blooded male. I don’t know how you live like this.” Shell paused and sipped from her coffee. “I’m gonna make sure you’re irresistible! Then we’ll see whether he thinks it’s a date or just dinner. I’m taking the rest of the day off. This is an emergency. We need to go shopping.”
I looked back at my phone, opening a message from a new number.
Unknown: I’ll send a car for you. Be ready by 5.
I looked up and met Shell’s eyes. “Okay. We have til five.”