My Mafia Madness

Chapter 6 - The Elevator Ride

Dante’s voice was deep and smooth as silk as he suddenly spoke, breaking through the awkward silence both he and Alexa were now sharing.

“Which floor?” he asked, leaning in toward the control panel.

“Oh, um thirty please.” Alexa replied hesitantly, adjusting her black-rimmed glasses nervously and unable to meet his gaze.

A couple of moments passed by before she heard his voice again.

“Running late?”

Turning her head to face him, she couldn’t help a smile that escaped.

“Terribly late… I’m afraid my boss is gonna have an aneurism the next time I see him…” she joked, turning away from him shyly.

“That is, if he hasn’t already.”

“I see you at least got his coffee…” Dante pointed with a finger toward the tray she held in her hand.

“That’s gotta count for something, right?”

“You clearly don’t know my boss.” she replied rolling her eyes.

“You’d think so… I mean, after everything I’ve done for him.”

He seemed intrigued by her.

“If you don’t mind me asking, who is your boss?”

“Gary Harworth, he’s the C.O.O here...” she replied, leaning in a little towards him.

“…and just between you and me, the man is as pretentious as they come. But shh… you didn’t hear that from me.”

Dante couldn’t help but grin widely at her comment.

He couldn’t say it right then and there, but he too happened to feel the exact same way about Gary Harworth.

The only reason that the weasel-of-a-man was still working at his family’s company was that Gary was too damn good at his job.

Alexa went on, as is speaking her mind aloud.

“Three years I’ve worked for that self-absorbed excuse of a man, and this is the first time I’ve ever seen him so stressed and anxious about something. It’s actually rather… strange.”

“Why do you think he’s anxious?” Dante queried casually, crossing his arms over his chest.

Alexa shook her head and sighed.

“I don’t know, something about some owner of the company coming to visit us this morning. One of the Romano brothers I believe...” she admitted unknowingly.

“I mean, I don’t get what all the fuss is about, right? He’s just a man, like any other man walking this Earth. Sure, he may have billions of dollars to his name and go on expensive trips around the world on his private planes and yachts with beautiful women practically throwing themselves at his feet…”

She paused before going on.

“But does being rich really make that person more important than anyone else in the world? More important than say… you or me?”

She met his gaze, suddenly feeling lost in his dreamy emerald eyes as they stared back at her.

‘f**k he smells incredible!’ she thought to herself, suddenly averting his gaze.

“I guess not...” Dante’s brows both rose and a smirk pulled at the corner of his mouth.

He had to admit, he was finding this conversation quite enlightening. This woman was for some reason speaking her mind to him and he felt entranced by the way she thought. By her innocence and humble nature.

“No… exactly, thank you.” Alexa turned away again, having vented some of her apparent frustration and only now realising it, began to blush slightly.

She clearly had no idea of who Dante actually was. And he had to admit, it felt nice being treated like a normal person for a change instead of his trademark infamous billionaire persona.

As Alexa had just suggested, most women would in fact throw themselves at his feet at his very command, but this situation was different…

She was different, or so it seemed.

“So… why work for him then, if he’s such a terrible boss?” Dante enquired, raising his left brow.

“Why not look elsewhere?”

“Hey, a girl’s gotta eat.” she chuckled, then blushing with embarrassment for admitting her deepest thoughts vocally just now.

“Sorry, that sounded really rude.” she found herself apologising now.

“It’s just, I’ve worked really hard here, to get where I am now. I don’t want to lose it all, you know?”

Dante couldn’t help but smile at her honesty and was about to ask for her name when suddenly there was a loud ‘crunch’ sound coming from above them.

The elevator’s walls shook quite violently from side to side.

Whatever had happened caused the elevator to suddenly come to an abrupt halt with both Dante and Alexa still inside of it.

“What the hell was that?” Alexa asked.

Looking across, she watched as Dante casually pushed off the wall and strolled across towards the buttons lit up on the panel.

“Looks like the elevator’s stalled.”

“What? Why?” she asked, stepping up to join him by his side and peering down at the buttons.

“What floor are we on?”

“I’m not sure. Maybe there’s a problem with the wiring or something…” he explained calmly.

He continued pushing at buttons randomly, waiting for something to happen but nothing did.

“It’s not displaying our current floor on the panel.”

“So, what do we do now?” concern evident in her tone.

Pursing his lips into a thin line Dante reached out and pressed the ‘help’ button with a symbol of a small bell on it.

He then reached into his jacket pocket and pulled out a slimline black phone and began typing away as he replied to her query as calmly as possible, keeping his eyes glued to the screen.

“Now we wait.”

Alexa started to panic at this unforeseen hiccup in her already horrible day.

“I can’t believe this. I’ve lost my job for sure.”

She began pacing up and down at the back of the elevator with the coffee tray still balanced in her hands.

“He’s gonna fire me and I’ll never work in this city again.”

“Relax, no one’s losing their job.”

Dante spoke to assure her, keeping his eyes locked on his phone’s screen as he busily typed a text message.

Once he had finished Dante looked up at Alexa, immediately noticing that she was beginning to hyperventilate as she paced back and forth.

Her skin had become much paler than it was only minutes earlier.

He’d seen this many times before, usually in people he was having killed.

She was having a panic attack.

“Hey, are you alright?”

“I… I don’t know.” she panted uncontrollably.

“I think… I can’t… breathe…”

Instinctively he moved in closer and grabbed the coffee tray out of her hand, placing it down onto the floor of the elevator beside them.

He then firmly grasped both of her shoulders, turning her body to face him as he peered down through her lenses and into her warm chocolate brown eyes.

Dante could see that her heaving chest was rising and falling beneath her white cotton blouse at an incredible rate and his large warm hands squeezed her gently to offer some reassurance.

As his hands began to slowly slide down from her shoulders he spoke to her in a calming tone, while maintaining eye contact with her.

“Relax, everything’s going to be alright. I won’t let anything happen to you, ok?”

Words were swimming in her head, so many words and replies she could have voiced in that heated moment with him standing so close to her, but not one of them would escape her open lips.

She simply stood there staring into his mesmerising eyes and inhaling his intoxicating scent.

In that moment Alexa wondered to herself if this was her last moment alive.

Would she die here trapped in this elevator with this incredibly handsome stranger?

Would she never again feel the comforting sensation of a man’s embrace, of his tender kiss?

“Are we gonna die?” she asked.

He smiled.

“Not today.”

As her mind began to wander, she wondered what the stranger’s lips tasted like; what his body looked like beneath his suit; what his massive fingers could do to please her…

“Just breathe…” she heard his voice almost echoing in her ears as he spoke to her softly, comfortingly.

Strangely enough, this handsome stranger simply holding onto her and talking to her like this seemed to calm her heartrate down enough and her apparent panic began to subside.

She felt as though she were in some sort of a trance as she stood before him, close enough to smell his fresh minty breath as he too exhaled slowly along with her.

“There, that’s better.” he spoke softly with a smile.

“Now, tell me your name.”

As if entranced she replied instantly, “Alexa.”

“Alexa…”

Dante repeated it and she watched his lips moving as he did so. As if tasting the word for the first time.

He looked her up and down with a slight smile.

“Alexa… I like it. It suits you.”

Before she could say anything else he reached up with his right hand and grabbed onto the side frame of her glasses, slowly and ever-so-carefully taking them off to reveal her face to him in her most vulnerable state.

She blinked her thick lashes together softly as her eyes met his properly for the first time.

As he found himself staring deeply into her gaze, Dante noticed that her eyes were even more enticing than he had initially thought. They had tiny flecks of orange and gold buried deep within the cocoa brown colour.

He had never seen eyes quite like them before.

Without realising she had, Alexa lifted her right hand up to rest against the freshly-shaven stubble on the side of his face as she began to lean in closer towards him, closing the gap between them as if they were about to kiss.

Surprised at her forwardness Dante did not fight against her obvious intentions and instead reciprocated, closing his eyes and leaning in towards her.

Suddenly just as the pair’s lips lightly began to touch the elevator violently shook and a loud ‘clunk’ sound had alerted them to their apparent change in situation.

As if nothing had ever happened the elevator continued on with its trip on up to the 30th floor of the building as both Dante and Alexa stepped back from one another, clearing their throats awkwardly.

“Er, sorry about that.” she stuttered in embarrassment.

“Think nothing of it.” he replied coyly.

Alexa felt like a foolish high school student all over again.

With the rush of emotions and hormones controlling her usually logical and rational mind.

Had she really almost kissed this complete stranger just now?

What the hell was she thinking?

Dante reached out to hand back her glasses and she smiled as she reached out to take them.

“Thanks.” she announced shyly.

Putting them back on and then bending down to pick up the tray of coffee from the floor of the elevator, she could feel the flush in her cheeks.

Dante merely stood watching, getting a good look at her curvaceous figure as she bent over in those stockings and heels.

How he wished he could have bent her over right then and there, in the middle of the elevator.

The things he would do to her...

Seconds later the elevator’s ‘ping’ sound alerted them both to their arrival at the 30th floor and they watched as the doors opened for Alexa to exit.

“Well, this is me…” she announced with a coy smile.

“It was lovely to meet you, I guess.”

“The pleasure was all mine, Alexa.” Dante replied smoothly.

As her cheeks flushed a tint of pink Alexa stepped out of the elevator and began to walk off, suddenly finding herself pausing at the sound of his voice once more.

“Do you wear those all the time?”

Turning back around to face him, Alexa watched as Dante returned to his earlier pose of leaning casually back against the wall of the elevator.

“The glasses I mean.” he added casually.

“No, not all of the time.” she replied with a nervous frown as she began to fidget with them,

“Why do you ask?”

“I’m afraid they hide your greatest asset, bella...” (beautiful...) he announced confidently as the doors to the elevator began to slowly close.

Before they had, he added to his comment.

“Your eyes are incredible.”

With that the doors clicked closed and Alexa was left standing alone with nothing but the compliment she had just received, given by a handsome stranger as her heart thudded loudly inside of her chest.

A smile pulled at both sides of her lips as she turned around and began making her way towards her boss’ office.

Unfortunately for her, it was time for some serious explaining.