Love Love (8 page)

Fran grabs us champagne and hors
d'oeuvres and I introduce her to several of my colleagues and a
couple of our clients. She’s a bit disappointed that none of them
are single, as her main goal of every outing is to find a
man.

When we move away to find
our table assignment, I fix her with a stern look and raise a
finger. “Fran, you can’t, and I repeat
can
not,
flirt with any of my clients.” That
could get me in trouble. Trouble is Fran’s middle name.

She grins. “Who, me? I wouldn’t do
anything like that.”

Soon I’m feeling good and slightly
buzzed. The guys are making the rounds to see my cleavage tonight,
so I must’ve done something right. It’s nice for a change, and boy,
would it piss off my mom. I can’t help but smile at the
thought.

There are some pretty cute guys at
work, but I remember Fran telling me she got involved with someone
in her office and it ended terribly. That’s a whole ball of shit
I’m not interested in rolling in.

We’re having a great time, eating
lobster stuffed pastries, sautéed mushrooms, and other delights
that waiters are bringing around on silver trays. The champagne is
flowing freely. Fran hands me a glass and we link arms to begin our
first round of the room. I trip over something invisible and nearly
spill my drink all over my new dress. My face pales, my heart rate
spikes, and my legs suddenly feel like jello. There he is
again.

Fran looks worried. “Gabby, what is
it?”

“
Well…oh shit.” It’s
pointless. My mouth goes limp as I watch him move gracefully
towards us.

Fran scans the room frantically to
find the source of my unease. It doesn’t take her long to find the
long legs, attached to the broad shoulders, attached to the fine
hips, attached to the gorgeous face with the emerald green
eyes.

“
Holy crap! You weren’t
kidding. He is super hot! Gabby, he’s headed this way.”

Just great. Unable to speak, I can
only pray that drool isn’t running down the corners of my painted
lips.

He reaches us in long, quick strides.
“I thought I recognized you from across the room, and I realized we
were never formally introduced the other day. I’m Dane
Rhodes.”

His voice is smooth, like the finest
of silks. After nothing but silence for several seconds, Fran
elbows me and I realize I’d better open my mouth and say something.
Like maybe proposition him for sex.

“
I’m Gabrielle Willis, and
this is my friend, Fran Heller.” I feel his eyes cut through me
like shards of glass and a thrill courses through my body.
Suddenly, I’m grateful for Fran’s sense of style. A definite
improvement over the yellow sundress and bushy ponytail he caught
me in during our awkward encounter at The Brew House.

After endless mutual staring, the
smooth voice speaks. “So, what brings you two here?”

“
I work for Landon &
Castell, and Fran is my date for the evening.” Oh my God, did I
seriously just say that?

“
That’s hard to believe. I
can’t imagine a gorgeous woman like you wouldn’t be able to find a
date.” Okay, so he’s definitely flirting.

Fran saves the moment and finally
says, “So Dane, what brings you to this event?”

“
I’ve just signed on as a
client with Landon & Castell. They’re going to be decorating my
apartment on the Upper East Side. Now that I know you work for
them, I’ll know where to find you.” Then, with a cock of his
eyebrow, he says, “well, I’m going to mingle a bit. Nice meeting
you both.”

When he walks away, Fran and I use the
moment to admire his extraordinary ass. I don’t know that I’ve ever
called an ass extraordinary before, but well, it just
is.

Fran can hardly contain herself.
“Gabby, he’s…he’s…well, he’s amazing! You weren’t exaggerating one
bit. The images my mind is conjuring up right now. Oh, the things
I’d like him to do to me...”

“
Okay, Fran. I get it. But
remember, I saw him first.”

Fran shakes her head and wrinkles her
nose. “Screw you. What are we, in high school?”

My mind drifts from Fran over to Dane
for a moment. He’s a client with the firm. What are the chances of
that? Does this mean I can’t go for him? I certainly didn’t pay
enough attention in our employee orientation to know if this kind
of thing would be against company rules.

Fran and I make our way across the
crowded room to one of the buffet tables and grab some more
champagne. “Fran, don’t you think it’s odd that Dane was here? I
mean, especially after our run in at the coffee shop. Doesn’t that
seem a bit too coincidental?”

She stops slurping and her eyes meet
mine. “Does it really matter, Gabby? This is your chance. Look at
it as a gift.”

We’re having a great time laughing,
drinking, and ogling. I’m so glad I brought Fran. When I look over
at her, she tosses her hair back.

“
Check out our man at three
o’clock. Plaid tie, checkered pants, hungry look. He wants
you.”

I howl with laughter. “Fran, in this
case, you can have first dibs. He’s all yours.”

***

For
some reason, I wake up very early the next day. In fact, when I
look at the clock it’s only five a.m., which means I have two extra
hours to stay in bed and daydream. Hmmm…a Dane Rhodes daydream
perhaps. I wonder when I’ll see him again. Now that I know he’s a
client of the firm, maybe I can make it happen. Determination is
one quality I’m not lacking.

I don’t realize I’ve fallen back
asleep until I hear the annoying buzzer go off on my alarm clock.
Pushing the hair out of my face, I will my legs over the side of
the bed and take a moment to fully wake up. My head doesn’t feel
too bad, given the amount Fran and I had to drink last night.
Making my way out to the kitchen, I pull out a jug of Poland
Spring, reach up for a glass from the cabinet, then listen to the
glug, glug, glug of the water filling the glass. Maybe I am still a
little drunk. I gulp it down and set the glass in the sink,
dragging my ass to the bathroom and into a hot shower. My thoughts
wander to Dane and I suds my body a little bit too much.

When I get in the subway car, my mind
continues to be consumed with all thoughts Dane. That is, until the
wonderful odor of sweaty human bodies flies under my nose. Ugh. I
take a seat, try not to touch anything, and basically shrink into
myself to make sure no one comes near me. This is the only thing I
don’t like about Manhattan. The daily dose of railings that are
laden with fresh boogers, seats stained with God knows what, and
strangers with bad breath hovering over me. Crap, I forgot my
Purell!

Arriving at the coffee shop for my
much needed caffeine, Brad smiles at me from behind the counter.
“Good morning, Gabby. Are you here to use the bathroom, or did you
want coffee?”

I can’t help but smile. “I didn’t
realize you also moonlighted as a comedian. No to the first
question, and yes to the second.” Since I’ve got some time this
morning, I take a seat at one of the tables to review my to-do list
for Robby.

Brad brings my coffee over to the
table. “You look especially cheerful this morning, Gabby. Does it
have anything to do with that guy from the other day? Are you
dating him or something?”

"What makes you think my mood has
anything to do with that?”

"Just an educated guess.”

"Okay, this is incredibly scary. Are
you doing a mind meld on me?"

"A mind meld? No, but the way you were
looking at him the other day like you wanted to…” He stops and a
tiny smile turns up one corner of his mouth. “Lick chocolate off
his stomach or something. It was a dead giveaway."

"Like I wanted to do what?"

"You know...lick..."

"Yeah, I heard you, no need for an
echo."

He stands up straighter and looks me
square in the eye. "Well, I know how much you love
chocolate."

"And how did your brain conjure up
that little deduction?"

"You told me the first day I met you.
Remember, when you were racked with indecision and clumsily spilled
coffee all over my new cash register." He’s trying to hide his
smile.

The red creeps from my ears to my
cheeks. "Thank you for the reminder of my most embarrassing moment.
Oh wait, I forgot about the clogged toilet. That trumps
it.”

"Well, if that's your most
embarrassing moment, I'd say you're doing pretty well."

My eyebrows perk up. "Why, what's your
most embarrassing moment?"

"I'm not sure I can trust you with
that information."

A giant puff of air leaves my mouth.
"Why not? I’m extremely trustworthy."

He taps his long index finger against
his full lips; a detail I just noticed. "Hmmm...I don't know,
actually. This is pretty serious stuff. If anyone ever found
out…"

"Okay, you're killing me here,
Brad...just spill it." I wave him into the chair across from me. “I
won’t tell anyone. Cross my heart.”

He shrugs his shoulders and sits down
before continuing. "Okay…so I was about twelve at the time and
waiting for my brother, Matt, to get home from school to go play
basketball. I was pretty bored so I turned on the radio and the
sound of Bob Seger's “Old Time Rock n Roll” filled the living room
speakers. Something in me came alive, and I couldn't resist the
temptation to strip down to my underwear and do my best Tom Cruise
impression. Just when I started getting into it with the pretzel
rod that came to life as my microphone, the door burst open and in
walked my brother with his girlfriend, two of his friends, and a
girl from school that I had a crush on at the time. Needless to
say, hysterical laughter ensued and I ran up to my room, never to
be heard from again.”

Laughter bubbles up to the surface,
but I try and force it down.

"You can laugh. It's okay. Even though
it was the most humiliating experience in my life, there's no
disputing the humor in it."

My face crinkles in laughter. "Okay,
Brad, you got me. That totally beats the toilet incident. By a long
shot."

His eyes shine and that dimple pops
right out. "Yup, it's hard to top that one." He laughs with me for
a moment. He sounds even more relaxed and carefree when he does.
“My brother reminds me of it. Often.”

"What happened with that girl you
liked?"

"Absolutely nothing. It was a wash
after that. Every time she saw me she broke into fits of laughter,
and all her friends starting calling me Tommy."

My lips turn down in a pout. "Oh,
that's awful. Well, if it's any consolation, I would’ve thought you
were cute. Definitely strange, but cute."

His face breaks out into a huge smile.
Holy cow, he's got a great one. Right out of a freaking Colgate
commercial.

***

Wednesdays are always ridiculously crazy. Happy Hump Day to
me! Well, now that I think about it, it’s hump day for everyone
else…except me. I definitely need to work on that. In addition to
my regular assistant responsibilities, Robby has me picking up
design plans and going out on a couple of client visits with him.
This is one of the great things about my job. It gives me a change
of pace from sitting in my creaky desk chair all day staring at the
lovely four walls of my cubicle.