Meeting Mr. Mogul: A Billionaire Contemporary Romance (19 page)

Terry chuckled, making me sigh in relief. By then, I knew he had already forgiven me. The boy doesn’t hold grudges like I do.

For a few minutes, we talked. Well, more appropriately, I was telling him the gist of how I got to my current situation. As to why I was having lunch with Mr. Mogul and his future brother-in-law? Even I don’t know the answer to that. We haven’t really gotten down to it yet. With that, I bid my farewell and returned to my seat.

When I got back, William and Michael were talking about something that was beyond my pay grade. My plan on asking them outright why I was here was pushed back. By the time they stopped talking, our food arrived, making me lose another chance to ask them. So I waited until we were done eating, but Michael beat me to it.

“Oh, Andy, here is what Alex wanted to give you,” he said as he pushed a bulky brown envelope towards me.

“What is this?” I asked, picking up the envelope from the table.

“They are for your other work, from what she told me,” Michael replied nonchalantly as he grabbed his glass of wine, taking a small sip from it. “She wanted you to file and finalize it,” he added as he placed the glass back down. “You can check those when you get back.”

I was about to open the envelope but stopped myself. I looked up at him and nodded in understanding. This only made me curious as to what was inside it.

William and I headed back to work and Michael decided to go to the airport for his flight back to Italy. I was itching to know what was inside the mysterious envelope. But I wasn’t as aggravated by it as William.

“You know you can open it now that he’s not here,” William pointed out after a few minutes as he drove us back to the office.

I turned to look at him, eyeing him with suspicion. He wasn’t looking at me. His eyes were fixed on the road in front of us. “I’m not falling for that trick,” I snorted and kept the envelope secure on my lap, putting my bag on top of it.

“I know,” he smiled.

I remained silent after that, not knowing how to come up with a new topic. I was too confused right now. It was much better when he and I were bickering instead of having this awkward friendly charade. How I miss the bickering.

When we reached the office, he parked the car in front of the building instead of the parking lot. I was about to scold him until I saw a familiar man dressed in a black suit come around William’s door. The guy actually has a personal valet. This shouldn’t have surprised me, knowing who he was.

I hopped out of the SUV as William got out of the driver’s seat. I didn’t wait as I entered the building ahead of him. Once I reached the entrance of the lobby, I looked up at the reception desk out of habit and gave Danny a short wave of greeting. She looked up at me and gave me a brief wave before getting back to work. She was talking to someone on the phone.

I quickly made my way to the elevator, pressing the call button. I waited for a few seconds until it opened. I was about to get in when I felt a hand grasping my arm. I looked up just in time for William to walk past me. He dragged me toward the empty elevator and pressed the close button, not letting anyone in but us.

When the door closed, I turned to him with my eyebrows scrunched together. “That was really rude, you know,” I stated in annoyance.

“Now, can you open the envelope?” he asked, ignoring my mood.

“Why are you obsessed about the damn envelope? For all I know, it might be something about the art work for the gallery,” I stated, grasping the said envelope in a protective hug.

“What gallery?” he asked, his eyes wide in surprise.

I mentally slapped myself in realization. If Michael didn’t want me to open the envelope in front of him, it means Alexandra didn’t want William to know. God, why am I such a dunce?

I sighed and turned away from him, pretending like I didn’t slip. But he wasn’t letting it go easily. I could feel his eyes on me. And then, without warning, he pressed against my side, pushing me in one swift move towards the metal wall. I flinched in surprise.

“I’m not moving if you don’t tell me,” he threatened, his warm breath caressing my cheeks.

I kept my eyes closed and stood still as he said those words. A different kind of feeling shot through my body, which made me shudder. Releasing a ragged breath and closing my eyes, I tried to move away from him but it was useless. He really had me cornered. Now, I could really feel his breath on my face.

“There is a camera here, Mr. Maxwell. You can’t do anything to me with a witness,” I stated back as harshly as I can, but my voice sounded husky.

“Am I making you uncomfortable?” he asked after a beat of silence. He ignored my feeble attempt at a threat.

Who was I kidding? I sounded like someone who was turned on rather than angry. And for that, I think I need one pack of beer. I tried to calm my breathing and my heart before opening my eyes.

The first thing I saw was his lip, which made me think that I made the wrong decision by looking up. His lips slightly parted, which made me gulp. I can’t believe this was affecting me. I tore my eyes away from his lips to his eyes, which I thought was an even worse decision. His eyes were soft but blazing. His blue eyes looked like the Mediterranean Sea. The last time I’ve seen that look was actually, on television. I saw an episode on a television series where this incredibly hot man was about to sweep this girl he had been eyeing on.

              But with just a snap, I lost those stunning dreamy-like eyes as William stepped away from me and moved towards the open door. Did I just imagine that look and those dazzling eyes? I can’t believe I zoned out and didn’t realize that we had reached our floor. What the hell did he do to me?

By the time I was able to pull myself back together, the elevator door almost closed on me. I had to put my hand on the edge to stop it from closing. Letting out a huge breath of relief, I walked out of the elevator towards my desk.

Maggie noticed me sit down and turned to me with a worried expression. “Are you okay, Andy? You look flushed,” she asked.

I turned to her with a small smile and fanned myself a little. “I’m fine. I just feel a little warm, that’s all,” I replied softly.

She eyed me for a second and nodded slowly before turning back to her work as I sat down on my chair. I dropped my bag on the floor and placed the envelope on my desk. I hoped this was enough to take my mind off what just happened. I don’t think that I would look at an elevator the same way again after what happened.

With another sigh, I straightened myself in my chair before opening the mystery envelope. The contents were exactly what I thought that they’d be. They were files and pictures of artwork for Alexandra’s gallery. Why did Alexandra keep William in the dark? I didn’t ponder much on that and went back to work.

By seven thirty, I had finished filing and cataloguing the artwork for the gallery. I even managed to squeeze in my report for the day. I wanted to type in and ask Alexandra about William’s non-involvement on the gallery. Why didn’t he know about it? But, I don’t want to cross that business relationship and make it personal
. Was it even personal?

I sent in my report and quickly gathered my things before William decided to go home early. I didn’t want to look at him again today after the incident in the elevator. So I made my exit before the clock on my computer indicated that it was seven thirty.

When I reached home, I felt a sudden sense of relief sweeping over me. I made myself a sandwich for dinner and munched down on it with a can of beer as I switched on the television. Before nine, I was already in my bed, curled up into a ball under my sheets. With nothing to think about, my mind went back to the elevator scene again.

I closed my eyes in the dark room and pictured that moment. I could literally feel his warm breath on my cheek. The lingering scent of his cologne and body wash seemed to have drenched my comforter. I opened my eyes and pushed everything away from me. What have I gotten myself into?

The next morning, I was half dead as I lay down on my front. Somewhere in the distance, I could hear my alarm going off. But I was too tired since I couldn’t sleep properly last night. My mind kept on drifting to the image of his lips and his blue eyes. I just couldn’t get him out of my head. I had to do something to change this or I’m going to be in deep trouble.

When I reached the office building an hour later, I stood outside for a second like a statue. I was hesitant to go in and was contemplating whether I should go in or not. The truth was I didn’t know why I debated in the first place. I didn’t feel good about the fact he physically affected me. I didn’t even dare make a coffee trip today. If they wanted it, I can just take my time to go and get it.

With a huge breath, I straightened myself up and marched on. As I reached the lobby, I gave Danny a short wave of good morning, which she returned with her fingers pointing at me and gesturing it to go to her. I looked at her for a second, puzzled. But I followed through and walked up to her.

“Hey, is there something you need?” I asked as I reached the counter.

Without a reply, she placed a glossy magazine on the counter in front of me. “Have you seen this already?” she asked, her voice almost a whisper.

I looked at her in confusion and glanced down at the magazine. At first, I didn’t know what I should be looking at. But then Danny’s finger pointed at the photos below the headline. It was a photo of William walking into the restaurant from yesterday afternoon. And beside him was me, but it only showed my side profile.

I grabbed the magazine, putting the image closer to my face. “What the...?” I hissed in shock as I continued to look at the photos.

“You should be glad about this, Andy. At least, the paparazzi didn’t capture your full face,” Danny stated in comfort, like this wasn’t really something major.

“Are you kidding me? That’s obviously me!” I exclaimed in outrage, slamming the magazine back to the counter.

“Shh! People might hear you,” Danny hissed frantically, putting a finger in front of her mouth to tell me to keep quiet.

“What do you expect? This is very major for me. For him, this is nothing,” I countered back heatedly in a whisper.

“You don’t have to worry. I’ve already called Maggie. She’ll help you out,” she stated confidently, like she had handled stuff like this before. Well, maybe she had.

“You must think I’m like one of those girls...” I mumbled angrily, annoyed at myself.

“You aren’t those girls, Andy. Now, stop moping and head on upstairs. Maggie is waiting for you,” she commanded, grabbing the magazine out of my view and pointing at the elevator.

“This is really bothersome,” I mumbled again and walked towards the elevator, giving Danny a curt wave of goodbye.

When I reached my floor, I hesitated a little when I thought of William being there. What were his thoughts on the magazine? Is he just as pissed as I am? Well, maybe not as pissed, since the man was used to it.

With a sigh, I walked out of the elevator and up to my desk. Maggie noticed and greeted me with a face breaking into a smile as she held up the same magazine that Danny had shown me.

“So, what do you think?” she asked, her voice held a teasing edge to it.

“As you can see, I’m not happy about it,” I replied, pointing at the frown on my face.

Maggie chuckled at my reply and placed the magazine back down on her desk. “Don’t worry. I already told the press that it was a misunderstanding. You were just an associate there for lunch,” she stated nonchalantly, like this was how she always handled the situation.

“Is that the same excuse you used to all the girls he slept with?” I asked bitterly, dropping my bag down on the floor underneath my desk and I sat down.

“No. Not really,” she replied, sounding unsure of herself.

I turned towards her, my eyes blazing in annoyance. She noticed my stare and chuckled. I can’t believe that she found this situation amusing.

“This really isn’t funny, Maggie.”

“Oh, come on, Andy. It isn’t that bad. You aren’t really sleeping with him, are you?” she asked, her amusement clearly showing as her eyebrows wiggled playfully.

“What? No! That won’t happen. Ever!” I fumed as I almost screamed the words out.

“I was just playing with you. I know you don’t like him,” Maggie replied softly, looking slightly guilty at what she said.

“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to yell at you,” I countered calmly, giving her a weak smile.

“Well, at least I already know it would be hopeless for me,” a familiar voice suddenly interjected and startled us both.

Maggie and I turned towards William, who was silently standing by the elevator, looking like the Mogul man he is. But today, he looked even more gorgeous as he was wearing something light—a grey three-piece suit with a navy tie—instead of his usual dark suits. His hair was slicked back with a few strands out of place. It made him looked effortless.

I blinked a few times and then felt my face heat up for no reason as his blue eyes darted at me. I froze on my seat, not able to look away from him. Slowly, he walked towards me with a smile playing at the edge of his lips.

“You look lovely today,” he commented as he reached my desk, pausing for a second.

When I didn’t directly give him a reply, he smiled at my lack of words and turned to Maggie and greeted her with a good morning. As he did that, the short second gave me the chance to snap myself back to reality. I wouldn’t let him sweet talk me.

“Mr. Maxwell. Good morning,” I finally said before he made his way to his office.

He turned towards me, slightly stunned for a second before he gathered himself and grinned.