My Mafia Madness

Chapter 7 - Meeting Mr. Romano

As the elevator doors closed and he was alone once more, Dante could not ignore the feeling he was getting; a feeling which was causing his heart to pound and his skin to warm merely at the lingering memory of young Alexa.

Her scent, those legs… her intoxicating eyes.

The ‘ping’ sound alerted him to the arrival of the thirty-first floor and as the elevator doors opened he was met by Gary Harworth himself, as well as a handful of others.

Each of the men were dressed in business suits and smiled as he stepped out of the elevator and hesitantly reached out to shake Gary’s outstretched hand.

“Mr. Romano, it’s a pleasure to have you here in person sir.”

Gary sure was laying it on pretty thick, though Dante seemed to ignore it for now as he went on shaking the other men’s hands one by one.

“Good morning sir.” one greeted him.

“It’s good to see you.”

“Mr. Romano, good morning.”

Once Dante had shaken each of the men’s hands in greeting, Gary took the reins once more and began to lead Dante across the foyer, towards the boardroom where their meeting would take place.

“If you’ll follow me gentlemen.” he ushered with a smile.

“We have organised for this meeting to be fully catered and if you need anything at all feel free to simply ask. I am of course at your disposal.”

Once the board members had been seated around the large conference desk, Dante pulled Gary aside to have a quick word before the meeting would begin.

“You look flustered Gary, what’s the matter?” Dante questioned him softly.

“Oh, it’s nothing sir. Just my assistant being over an hour late. I’m afraid I haven’t yet had my morning coffee and, well, it’s putting me rather on edge.” Gary explained honestly.

“I swear, as soon as she arrives I’ll fire her on the spot!”

Dante knew more than he was saying, but he chose to play along.

“Your assistant, is she young, pretty, tall with blonde hair and glasses?” Dante queried innocently.

Gary seemed bewildered by this.

“Uh… yes. But how did you know?”

Dante chuckled, placing his hands into his jacket pocket as he began to fabricate his lie.

“She’s not late, Gary. In fact, she’s been here the entire time I’m afraid...”

Gary frowned, clearly confused, “Sir?”

“She and I were both stuck in the elevator together.”

Gary’s expressions showed his concern now as he swallowed nervously as Dante went on.

“Yes, it appeared that the elevator malfunctioned and the two of us were unlucky enough to have been trapped inside for quite some time. She even had a tray of coffee with her, as I recall.” Dante explained with a smirk.

“Your belated coffee order perhaps?”

“I’m so sorry Mr. Romano.” Gary apologised.

“I’ll have maintenance take a look at the elevator immediately.”

“Don’t be…”

Dante placed his hand onto Gary’s shoulder and smiled.

“I’m not sorry.”

-

At that exact moment Alexa had everything organised downstairs and was headed on her way up to the thirty-first floor to hand-deliver the presentation folders to each of the board members for the presentation.

As she stood waiting in the elevator she stared at herself in the mirror-like reflection of the elevator doors.

She looked appropriately dressed for the meeting.

Then she noticed her black-rimmed glasses and before she knew what she was doing, her hand reached up and slid them off her face, quickly pocketing them before the elevator ‘dinged’ and the doors opened.

Taking a deep inhale, Alexa stepped out into the lobby and headed for the boardroom as her heels clicked along the tiled marble floor beneath her.

As she walked her long blonde ponytail swayed from one side to the other and she licked the red lipstick on her lips to help moisten them.

Upon reaching the door, she took a moment and prepared herself for an immediate dismissal upon entry.

She could feel her heart thudding loudly in her head as her slender fingers reached out to open the door.

Pushing the door open Alexa stepped into the room silently, right in the middle of the beginning of the presentation.

Everyone’s attention was focused at the front of the room where the projector was currently showing a slideshow of various data and graphs.

Getting straight into work-mode, Alexa began to silently move around the table and hand out the presentation folders one by one for each of the board members.

Some smiled at her with a nod of appreciation, others ignored her entirely; not that she cared.

As she came to the next board member she paused at the all-too familiar scent and expensive grey suit.

Swallowing away her nerves, she lifted her gaze upwards to meet his eyes. Those piercing emerald-green eyes which were now staring back at her with intrigue and something else she couldn’t quite identify.

All the air was sucked from her lungs, and she simply stood staring for a moment, as if entranced by his gaze alone.

It was the mystery man she ran into in the elevator earlier on…

He was a member of the board!

His smile widened as he reached his hand out and she slowly handed the folder to him, almost cautiously, before continuing on with handing out the rest of them.

Dante’s eyes remained on the presentation, though they did continue to wander from time to time across to where Alexa sat alone at the end of the table in silence.

At times their gazes would meet, but each time that happened she would shy away and lower her gaze, choosing to instead focus on her work of taking notes.

This made him grin with delight.

It appeared that she was playing hard to get…

His favourite game.

-

After what felt like the longest two hours of her life, the board meeting finally came to a close and the lights were switched back on, allowing the board members to all rise from their seats and stretch their legs.

The food had been brought in during the presentation for the members to snack on throughout and apparently her choices were each a huge hit.

As she stared at the empty plates and the smiling board members, Alexa had to admit to herself that she had done very well.

The meeting was a success.

She stood and began to collect the presentation folders one by one from the desk as the members filed out one by one.

As they left the board room, they were each able to bid farewell and thank their gracious host, Mr. Harwell who stood at the doorway.

And standing right beside him was… the mystery man from the elevator?

Alexa couldn’t quite put two and two together in the moment but decided to stay focused on her current task rather than wonder why her mystery man was standing with her boss.

Just who was this mystery man anyway?

As she finally had all of the folders in a neat pile, she heard her name being called out and turned around to see her boss, Mr. Harworth signalling her over with a wave of his hand.

“Miss Myers, a moment of your time?”

Placing the folders down onto the desk, Alexa made her way across the room and stopped before both him and the mystery man who stood beside him with a growing smirk.

“Yes Mr. Harworth, do you need something?” she enquired, trying her hardest not to look her mystery man in the eye.

“No, I’m fine. I would however like you to meet someone.”

Gary began his introduction as he gestured with a sideways glance towards Dante as he continued to explain.

“Alexa Myers, meet Dante Romano. CEO and Co-owner of Romano Enterprises.”

‘No...fucking...way!’ she thought to herself.