Business by day, Romance by flight

Chapter 9

Cains POV

Wednesday - 4th December 2025, Sydney.

Sitting in the back of the hired limo, I looked at my watch. I thought about it last night, what if I waited at the plane and Tiffany never showed up. What if she thought about it last night and decided to stand me up. I haven’t slept much thats for sure. So first thing this morning, I booked a limo and am two hours early.

The driver lowers the block out window between the cab and the back seats.

“Sir, we are approaching the destination now”. I smirk.

“Fantastic, pull up out the front and I will go and get the madam”. He nodded and said ‘yes, sir’. Before rolling the window back up. I felt the car branch over into a park. Once stopped I opened the door and stepped out right in front of the entrance to her apartment building. The street seemed busy, but it didn’t faze me. I closed the door and walked straight through the front doors and up to the service counter. A pretty bobble headed brunette was working. She seemed tired.

“Yes sir, how may I help you”. I looked at the girls name tag. Ivy. Nice name.

“Yes thank you Ivy, I’m looking for Tiffany Barana’s apartment”. The girls eyes lit up with curiosity. A smirk played at my lip, this girl must be close to Tiffany.

“Ok sir, I will let her know that you are here. Unfortunately I can’t just let you go straight up”. She said it apologetically, but there was a tad bit of excitement in her tone. I nodded stepping away from the bench. I ended up eavesdropping as discreetly as I could.

After a short wait, Tiffany must have answered the phone.

“Tiffany, there is a very hot Greek god at the front counter for you and I’m pretty sure he has a limo. Who is the heart throb, I really can’t wait to tell Ray”. There was a pause, I was pretending to look at some pamphlets.

“He has asked to come up and see you, maybe he wants to help carry your bags. Either way, who cares! he is hot.” She made a fan with her hand and waved it infront of her face. I fought hard, not to grin and indicate that I was listening in on the one sided conversation.

Tiffany must have been describing parts of my appearance because I noticed Ivy glance my way a couple of times, then saying ‘yer’. Then she says a little to loudly.

“What? He’s your boss”. She looks my way apologetically before turning her back to me. Like that was going to muffle the conversation.

I watched the back of her head bobbing up and down, she reminded me of one of those bobbing headed ornaments. Then the conversation must have come to an end. She turned back to me and cleared her throat.

“Miss. Barana said if you must you can come up to her apartment, otherwise she will be down in about fifteen minutes”. She looked nervous as she recited the last of the message.

“Um, she said the latter option is preferred”. She had an apologetic look on her face. She didn’t want to offend me. I smirked, Tiff was still playing this game.

“Thats fine Sweetheart, I’m eager to give her a hand, would you care to point me in the right direction”. She looked worried, but nodded. Hitting a button on her ear piece she advised one of her co-workers that she was leaving her post. She must have waited for a quick reply, which she nodded too with a quick ‘yep’. Then with a directional wave of her hand, we walked towards the elevator. The doors opened automatically. She pushed the number twenty-three and tapped a card to the panel. The doors closed and the elevator ascended. The young girl beside me fidgeted uncomfortably, and with sneaky glances in my direction, I got the feeling that she wanted to say something to me.

“If you have something to say, you are free to say it. I will not hold you accountable”. Nothing this girl said could affect me anyways, seriously what could this little thing do to me.

She nodded, turning to me and taking a deep breath.

“Please, Tiffany is my friend. So please, don’t hurt her. She’s kind, smart and loyal, even if the j**ks she ends up with aren’t, she doesn’t need anymore of that heartache. Please…”

I was looking at the girl, she was shaking. Her head was lowered but I could see unshed tears, she really was scared of my reaction. I gave her a warm smile.

“I will do everything in my power to protect her, I have no intentions of hurting her again, I was one of those j**ks at the beginning, this is my redemption”. She looked up at me with a thankful smile, and nodded.

“Thank you, and please I hope you both have a safe journey”. I gave her a small smile just as the elevator reached its floor. The doors opened and who was standing there. Ivy jumped slightly giving Tiffany an awkward smile, Tiff just shook her head and gave the girl a smile.

“I figured”. She said. She had a small bag in her hand, that she handed to the girl, as I stepped out. Ivy looked puzzled as she looked in it.

“It’s nothing much, but they are yours and Rays Christmas presents. Since I won’t be home for Christmas” She shot a glare in my direction that basically stated ‘thanks to him’, then turned back to Ivy. The young girl was grinning as she threw her hands around Tiffany’s neck. The two girls embraced and I held my hand against one side of the elevator door to try and stop them closing.

“Please, please have a safe trip. Try to have fun, but please come back safe”. The girl was failing in holding her tears back. I had to admit it was pulling at my heart strings and making me wonder if I had made the right decision with my stubbornness. She was well loved and here I wanted to sweep her away from the people she cares about and those that love her for my own ego, all with the hope of getting her to love me. To reunite. I really am a j**k.

Tiffany gave one final squeeze before tapping the girl’s shoulder and she released her, swiping at stray tears.

“I’ll be fine, I want you both to be safe and you can contact me whenever ok, if I can’t answer just leave a message and I’ll call back. I promise, just have a great Christmas and New Year”. The girl nodded.

“Now we better let this elevator go before the alarm gets set off or they start wondering where you are. I’ll call often and check on you, I’ll even let you know wherever we go, alright”. She grinned and nodded.

“I’m looking forward to it. I hope you both have a great Christmas and New Year. And Tiff….. let things work themselves out, you can’t always control everything, just relax and go with the flow”. Tiffany smiled and nodded.

“Promise”. Tiffany stepped out of the elevator, and Ivy stepped back in. Removing my hand the door closed and the digital display read ground floor.

Tiffany turned. I could see the slight tear trails that had run down and dried on Tiffanys cheeks from the moment with her friend. I tried to pretend not to notice.

“I see you couldn’t stay away. Thought I might decide to ditch you”. She had an amused smirk on her face. Yet there was no surprise, like she knew I would do it. I turned my face away and coughed slightly. She was making me feel like I was being predictable, when I was actually trying to aim for a spontaneous and romantic moment.

“I just figured you could use a ride, I wouldn’t expect you to leave your car at the airport now, would I”. She crossed her arms over her chest, pushing her breasts higher. That was enough to make me take notice of her attire. She was dressed in a light khaki brown suit pants and white V-neck blouse, and matching vest to the pants, and black high heels. It hugged her figure beautifully and I hoped that I was hiding the fact that her attire and confidence was seriously taking my breath away. I bet she had the matching jacket…

She looked fantastic and down to business. It was kind of annoying to think that she did go for full business attire, but I guess this is a business trip. I just couldn’t wrap my head around it though. The shy young girl that loved to wear baggy clothing so people didn’t notice her, could be seriously standing here in-front of me looking like she was running this business, not me. I wanted to laugh. I could feel the corners of my lip twitching into a grin. I fought to contain it otherwise.

I watched her eyebrow raise. She must have noticed. So I just grinned. Averting my eyes to look around. This skyscraper was full of apartments, it looked to be only two maybe four apartments per level. They must be a good size.

“If your that interested to be here, you could possibly help me with my things, there isn’t that much though”. She shrugged, walking past me to one of the doors only a few feet from me. Typing in a code on the keypad, the door opened. I followed Tiff in, closing the door behind me. I was actually surprised, the room looked a lot bigger than I thought. She was a girl of luxury. From the doorway I could see the beautiful walk through open kitchen, dining and lounge room. I was itching to check out the rest of the apartment. Tiff must have caught on, cos she sighed. She didn’t appear fully annoyed, maybe just slightly.

“If you must, follow me. I have to grab my suitcase anyways”. She walked towards what must have been the bedroom door. I spotted another open door, that lead to the bathroom. The white tiles had green flecks on walls. While the floor tiles were a more grey and white marble. There was a large glass sided shower with a square rainfall shower head, and a smaller rectangle hand held, attached to the wall. On the back corner was a large full length bath with a wooden bath board across the end of it. With of cause, the toilet, and attached bidet. It had a hose version on the side but with the amount of buttons available I was guessing there would be a sprayer inside the toilet for business, this one might have been more for cleaning purposes. A two person sink and full length mirror filled the last of the wall to the door. With black and white marbled benches and built in sink. It was nicely designed.

I started to follow Tiff towards the bedroom. I found that as you walked through the other open door, it actually lead to a small hall. The first door on my right led to another bedroom. It looked like it was being used as a spare bedroom, or a bedroom for Brownie. Since he had a ‘toy box’ or open top plastic bucket with toys and a dog box with a bed, and open verandah on it. It kind of reminded me of a little cubby-house only pet sized. It even had some stairs that went onto the roof, which conveniently gave a view out the window. There was a cupboard against the wall that almost looked like a pulldown bed. With a walk-in on the opposite wall.

Moving on from there the door at the end opened into a large master bedroom. A small bathroom was off to one side, but I followed after Tiffany while admiring the decorum, she was heading towards what looked to be a large walk-in. There was a king sized four poster wooden bed, with grey tulle curtains. Again the room was a white with a greenie-blue turquoise carpet that ran into the walk-in. The doors and frames were all wooden finishes. It surprised me with the design. What I could see of the bathroom as I slowly turned around, looked like it had a toilet and a shower with adjacent sink. It was a small ensuite.

The walk-in robe was like another room. Tiff had hangers of clothes, dresses, suits, and different day sets. What surprised me the most was the organisation. Each set was set up, she could basically just grab and go. Everything matched. There wasn’t much in the way of draws, there was two rows of five in the whole room. She opened one now, and grabbed a couple of pairs of sunglasses, adding them to a small hexagon shaped organiser. Looking closer while it was open, she had a couple of pairs of glasses, cleaners and some hair ties and small individual bags with some jewellery in them. I couldn't tell exactly what was in them but she fitted a few in it. She closed it, walking over to a small seat in the corner, where a backpack sat. A pretty large sized suitcase already stood on the floor, its handle up. She placed the case inside the bag. I could see a laptop, possibly an ipad and some other things in it. Was that a set of clothes. I moved closer to her.

“Having fun checking everything out”. I chuckled. I was caught.

“Actually I am. It’s a nice place you have here. But is this seriously all your taking. One suitcase and a carry-on. She looked back at the suitcase and then to the bag, just shrugging.

“If I really need anything else I’ll buy what I need. I actually have a spare suitcase inside that one with my packing inside of it, just in case I do get a few extra things”. She said it in a matter-of-factly tone. She continued her check of her bag. Opening a lower compartment of the bag, she had a pair of shoes hidden inside, possibly to change out of the high heels later. They brought her height to almost my nose.

The main compartment at the front when she opened it, had what looked like her phone, wallet and passport. Plus other little things. Pens, notepad, that type of stuff.

Talk about OCD, she seems very organised. When she was happy, she zipped it up and slid it over the handle of her case, stabilising it, then turned to me.

“See I could have managed myself”.

“I can see that, but if I hadn’t come up here I wouldn’t have gotten to admire your beautiful abode”. She smiled, then looked like she was chewing on the inside of her lip.

“So you did just come to sticky-beak”. Grabbing her case, she started towards the wardrobe exit. I stopped her, taking the case from her and pulling it towards the exit. I watched Tiff out of the corner of my eye, she was looking around thoughtfully. She walked over to some plants with little bird shaped glass things filled with water, they must be self waterers. She touched each one of them lovingly before following me towards the exit.

I watched as Tiff gave the room one final sweeping look, sighing and then walking over to a device at the corner of the kitchen. At least it was closer to the door.

“Hey google. Goodbye”. She said. I could here the sadness in those words. I was intrigued though, as she stepped towards me. All the lights turned of and the curtains started closing in the lounge. All the while the ‘google’ was saying ‘Goodbye Tiffany have a safe and fun filled trip. All the lights are turned off and the lounge curtains are closed, bedroom curtains opened until seven pm tonight, alarm system activating’.

With one last look, Tiff closed the door. The keypad locked instantly. Wow, she has really gone tech mad. I know mum mentioned it, but I didn’t quite understand it. She looked at me and I raised a brow. She just shrugged, passing me and going to the elevator. Well, this adventure is just about to begin.