Falling for the Boss (14 page)

Thomas hesitated for only a moment before taking the offered
handshake.  “Good to meet you,”
he said.  “Thomas Attracelli.  Thanks for giving up your fiancé for so many weeks at a time.  She’s a great asset to the team,” he said, looking down at Barry. 

Barry stiffened slightly at the mention of fiancé so
Victoria
quickly stepped in.  “I’ve told him nothing has been formalized,” to Barry.  Her words seemed to make
him relax but there was still a
wariness about him. 

“She has,” Thomas reiterated.  “Several times.  I just don’t seem to be able to grasp how a man could leave her
to travel the world
without that kind of commitment.
  She’s a beautiful woman.  I’d be afraid someone would steal her away while you were waiting to pop the question.
” 

“Victoria and I have an understanding,” Barry said.  “We’ll get married.  It’s just a matter of time and opportunity.”

Bob laughed.  “Man, you might want to make the time and create the opportunity,” and walked towards the bar.

Mike looked between the three other members of the group and knew that something was going on.  “
Victoria
, you really look lovely.  Can you believe we’ve gotten two weekends off in one month?  Thomas must be getting old,” he joked, punching Thomas’s arm.

Thomas
ignored Mike and he
didn’t take his eyes off Barry, sizing up the man and adding to the tension in the group. 
Victoria
didn’t know how to handle that and didn’t understand the dynamics that were happening. 

“I think I’d like to dance,”
Victoria
said, turning to Barry. 

Barry looked down at her and shook his head.  “I think we should eat something first.”

Victoria
tried to hide her disappointment but Mike immediately caught on to it. 
He turned to Barry and suggested,
“Why don’t you get dinner for the two of you and I’ll dance with
Victoria
.”  Mike’s diplomacy was amazing,
Victoria
thought. 

Without waiting for an answer, he handed his drink to
Barry
, then took
Victoria
’s out of her hand and handed it to Barry
as well,
who took it without realizing what was happening. 

“Come on, let’s trip the lights fantastic,” Mike said to
Victoria
, grabbing her hand and pulling her out onto the dance floor where a loud swing song was in progress.

Victoria
loved to dance and she was grateful to Mike for taking her out of the odd situation back there.  She glanced at Barry once and noticed that he was moving off towards an empty table near the wall.  She was glad that he was ret
r
eating from the group but thought it was unfortunate that he hadn’t liked her co-workers. 

Well, in reality, he hadn’t even noticed Mike or Bob, understanding somehow that Thomas was the real threat. 
Victoria
shook her head, admonishing herself for even thinking like that. Thomas was no threat to Barry.  Thomas was only her boss and nothing would come of her silly infatuation with him, she reminded herself. 

“He feels it too,” Mike said. 

Victoria
turned back to face him, guilty of ignoring him while she watched Thomas and Bob laugh about something. 
Now that Barry was out of their immediate area, the two seemed to have visibly relaxed. 
“I’m sorry?”
she said, turning to Mike who was staring down at her. 

Mike shook his head, a smile on his face.  “You can hide it from Bob and Thomas, but don’t try to hide it from me,” Mike said, twirling her under his arm.

Victoria
stumbled slightly, then caught herself just in time.  “What do you mean?  What am I trying to hide?”

“You’re interest in Thomas.”

Victoria
blushed.  “I’m not interested in him in any way other than as my boss.”

Mike let out an inelegant snort.  “Sure,” he said, nodding but his look told her he knew she was lying.

“I’m with Barry.”

“You’re physically with Barry.  But you’re emotionally with Thomas.”

“No.  He’s my boss.  I don’t think of him in any other way.
  Why
d
o
n’t you and Bob have dates?  It seems like you two are always out scouring the bars and clubs for women.”

Mike shook his head but followed her conversational lead, understanding that she needed to change the subject.  “We decided to be gentlemen tonight.”

Victoria
laughed. “
Y
ou mean you couldn’t find dates.”

Mike nodded sheepishly.  “That about sums it up.”

“Well, there appear to be many damsels here tonight.  Why are you dancing with me?
 

“Because you really are the most beautiful woman here tonight.”

Victoria
rolled her eyes. 

“Ok, well maybe both
Bob and I are
waiting for Antonia to show up and realize how wonderful one of us is and
hope
we
can
sweep her off her feet.”

Victoria
laughed, despite the dull ache that formed
in the pit of her stomach.  “Isn
’
t
that a bit dicey?”

“Because of her relationship with the boss?”

Victoria
nodded, not liking that statement. 

“I guess so.  But she’s worth it,” he leered, wriggling his eyebrows.

“I’m go
ing to tell Thomas if you don’t
act like a gentl
e
man.”

Mike threw back his head and laughed.  “Don’t worry.  There’s no way we’d be anything else around Antonia.
  We know that our lives would be in danger if we acted otherwise.  Besides, she’s a lady and wouldn’t accept anything less.
”

Victoria
didn’t want to hear about the other woman.  She hated her already, despite the fact that she’d never met her.  She didn’t have a witty reply to Mike’s comment so she just danced. 

The song ended and they made their way towards the table where Thomas and Mike were sitting with several other men
Victoria
didn’t know. 

Thomas stood up as she approached, as did the other gentl
e
men at the table, including Bob wh
ich almost made
Victoria
laugh
since the man rarely treated her with anything other than sisterly affection. 

“
Victoria
, I’d like to introduce you to my brothers,” Thomas said.  The first man, who was just as tall as Thomas, extended his hand and raised hers to his lips.  “This is my oldest brother, Salvatore A
t
tracelli,” Thomas said
. 

“It’s a pleasure to meet you,”
Victoria
replied, embarrassed by the handsome man’s attention. 

“The one over there is Guiseppe, we call him Gus
.  The others are Michael and Carlo.  Both of whom are reprehensible womanizers so stay away from all of them.”

“It’s nice to meet all of you.”

Carlo immediately pulled out a chair for her to sit in.  Once she was seated, the five men, Thomas’s brothers as well as Mike and Bob sat down as well. 
Mike and Bob asked the question at the same time, “Where’s Antonia?”

Thomas scow
led at them.  “Down, boys.  She’s sick and won’t be her
e
tonight.”

Their crestfallen expressions made
Victoria
smother a laugh.  But she knew what would come next.  “Well, in that case, I think I’ll go find a drink
,
”
Mike said.  Bob quickly followed his lead. 

Carlo laughed.  “Not very good about hiding their feelings, are they?” he said to the table in general once the two younger men had departed. 

Victoria
shook her head.  “I can’t imagine what Thomas thinks of them.”

“Oh, it’s almost a game by now,’
Gus
said and
grabbed another glass of champagne for
Victoria
.  “And just ignore Sal
’s scowling after Mike and Bob.  H
e tries to intimidate everyone since he’s the boss of the company.  But we all know he’s a softy,”
he
said, winking at the tall, elegant man sitting two seats away from
Victoria
.

Sal
laughed
then smiled at
Victoria
.  “Don’t listen to them.  I am terrifying.”  Everyone at the table laughed and that’s when Barry walked up to the table. 

“What’s going on?” he said and sat down in the only empty chair, which happened to be a few seats away from
Victoria
.  “I think we need to leave,
Victoria
,” he said, rubbing his forehead. 

She could tell by the defensive way he was sitting that he felt outclassed.  And he was right.  Barry in a tuxedo couldn’t compare to these five, amazingly attractive and obviously fit men.  He was at least a head shorter than all of them and his tuxedo was filled out with padding.  Whereas, the men sitting around the table all had broad shoulders and appeared very muscular. 

Victoria
eyed him carefully.  She estimated that he’d already had several drinks and was heading towards trouble.  She sighed and started to stand up, ready to move him out of the party.  But a gentle hand on her arm stopped her.  “Would you dance with me?”  Thomas asked, already standing and
taking her hand in his strong one. 

“
Victoria
,” Barry started, only to be interrupted by Carlo, who patted him on the shoulder and engaged him in conversation. 

Thomas led her onto the dance floor and, thankfully, they were swallowed up by the large crowd already dancing. 

“Thank you,” she said, staring at the buttons on his shirt. 

“For what?” he asked.

“For rescuing me from an obviously irate boyfriend,” she replied and glanced back to the table, only to be spun around so she was facing the opposite direction.  She smiled, “Is he doing something else to embarrass me?”

“No, but when you’re dancing with me, I don’t want you thinking about another man, regardless of the circumstances.”

Victoria
loved the way he dance
d
.  He was
s
o smooth and elegant.  She felt like she was gliding across the floor. He knew exactly how to spin her and move her. 
Following his lead was easy and s
he never bumped into anyone else on the floor.
Automatically, she compared dancing with Thomas to dancing with Barry and, except for the fact that there was music, there was no comparison.  Barry was hesitant and only knew a few moves, enough to think he was able to impress the other dancers.  Whereas Thomas didn’t seem to care if anyone was watching him.  He was there to dance, not to impress anyone else.  The difference was dramatic. 

She looked at her hand in his and started shaking. 
His large hand seemed to swallow her smaller one. 
He was so strong and handsome!  She worried that he would notice her shaking and forced herself to talk to him.  “So those are all your brothers?”