REFINED ROMANCE

First time meeting.

2079 Word Update date:2023-08-11 10:15:18

well…" I shrugged without realizing no one could see me.

"Don't be…" and he sniffed. I was a very observant person, and from the time he did that, I realized that if he wasn't down with the cold then there was one other alternative.

He was either tired, had been crying or was seriously coming down with the cold.

"I'm trying not to", I said and half laughed. The same reaction wasn't returned.

There was a long silence but I knew he was still on the line so I held my end up, waiting. Still shaking, my knees weak, I cradled the phone between my ear and shoulder then wiped my sweaty palms on my pants.

"Alright, I'm trying his cell but the fool's not picking up", he said and I realized what his silence meant now. Stupid me had other thoughts as the time had passed. "I'll see you tomorrow, Sophie."

"Are you…" my eyes were wide, "are you coming in tomorrow?"

"Yes", he said. "I'm at the airport. Daniel is my driver and he's…well…" there was silence and he sighed, "he's not here. I've been waiting for five minutes."

Five minutes wasn't that long but he said it as if it was like forever. Anyway, typical boss fidgeting: they hated to wait. The airport was just half an hour away and Thomas hadn't called yet. Maybe I could ask him.

"Do you want me to come pick you up?" I asked bravely, "maybe he's caught up in rush hour traffic somewhere."

"It's okay, sophie" , he said calmly, "I wouldn't want to intrude. I'll wait."

"No, it's okay. I can come get you."

Silence again.

"Fine, f**k Daniel ,Drive safely but quickly because I hate waiting and…" I snatched my keys, then picked up my red leather bag, "be careful."

"If anyone tries to attack, take off your shoe and beat them with it", I said quickly.

"I'm wearing boots…"

Epic fail moment.

I swallowed. "Leaving now."

"Okay." And I returned the phone back on the cradle.

I rushed through the traffic, driving fast but safely as he had told me, cutting through lanes and beating the light by seconds. My foot was resting snugly on the accelerator, eyes were focused and mind alert as I tried not to hit anyone. My black bmw was all I had, and dad would kill me if I managed to wreck it before graduating.

The boss…

He was here, and I was actually on my way to pick him up from the airport. I suddenly realized that f**k…I had no idea how he looked. From his voice I pictured a man in his early thirties, probably handsome and well built. Black hair. Yeah I remembered that back view. Slightly taller than me. Honey colored skin, because I had seen a slice of skin beneath his right ear that day. And he was probably wearing a suit of some kind, always on his cellphone like most bosses. They always were glued to their mobiles. Then he'd be wearing those shoes. Whatever kind of shoes they were, they were shoes. And I'd find him .

I beat the thirty minute drive, arriving in twenty minutes. Parking the car as close as I could to the entrance and exit, the sliding automatic doors, my eyes scanned the sea of faces. Geez, this was going to be something. I decided to get out and search for him . I walked down the gravel pavement, making my way through people and towards the sliding doors. A man dressed to weaken knees, standing there with a right boot lifted up to rest on the wall behind, he raised his dark eyes to meet mine. And something passed between us.

With a small smile upturning his pink lips, he scrutinized me slowly as I slowed my pace, knees suddenly growing weak.

For Most people always talk about love at first sight, as if you can lock eyes with a person and know in that moment that there's a connection between the two of you. For just a few seconds I felt a pull between us. And I smiled shyly, moving past where he stood to enter the terminal. I believed shaking my head in amazement didn't work for me. It was like boom.

I was close to twenty three, had some dry years behind me with short flirts, none with a older man and the moment actually happened. But should I have like, stopped and done something about it? Nah, I figured not. So I stood there looking around and saw no one. For like five minutes my mind was lost in confusion and I kept looking around everywhere but there was no Liam looking person around, no boss like figure. f**k, I didn't even know what to expect!

My boots padded softly on the tiles as I exited the main doors again and stood there glancing around, eyes bewildered. From the moment I inhaled, trying to calm myself, I felt his eyes on me. And I knew without second guessing it this time that he had been there all along. Above the grinding of gravel under tires as the vehicles arrived to pick up, the screeching of the planes taking off and landing, I laughed inwardly.

"Sophie …?" a hoarse voice that literally melted my knees. Woah!

I turned around slowly, palms pressed on my pants front as our eyes met and he was smiling. Well maybe he wasn't but his face was seriously gorgeous enough to be graced with a smile.

My eyes met his knee high brown leather boots, the kind that had small buckles at the sides. And his million dollar suit, blue with a long sleeved black jacket. Wearing brown scarf to match that outfit. And his hair was just a part of his handsome. He was so handsome probably the most handsome man I had ever seen with his smoky eyes and honey colored skin and that incredibly slim figure.

Maybe I turned back to a sixteen year old wide eyed girl in that moment as my eyes swept over him. And then I caught myself, snapping back into focus, I hurried forward, heart racing.

"I'm Sophia …" I said in a nervous voice.

"Twenty minutes", he said, lifting a hand gracefully to slide the sleeve of his jacket upwards, checking an expensive watch. Then his eyes met mine, "you made it before time."

"I did", and I felt pride swell my head.

A man obviously a taxi driver tried to hassle the boss for the need of a fare. Immediately I watched the change in Liam's as he glared back and tugged his bag out of his grip.

"Touch my luggage one more time and I will rip your arm off." Brown eyes remained so fiery, I literally burnt up inside by looking at him.So did the man. Immediately his bag was released and he scoffed. "New York is such a chaotic arena filled with imbeciles who have no respect."

The man stepped back and swallowed hard. "Look, man i was just trying to get my job done here, so -"

"Have you not removed yourself as yet?" eyebrows were raised. "Must I kick you between your legs to flip on the GO AWAY switch?"

I snortedthe first time in my life, I believed that it had happened.Ass ",he muttered and turned away.

A wary glance was cast his way. "Is your car in one piece?" He asked, his eyes still on me.

"Yeah, it is."

"Impressive." His eyes swept over me from my hair all the way down to my boots and I felt conscious of my appearance. Those same brown eyes lingered on my lips and I stopped breathing.

He waited, still staring at me.

"s**t…right", and I made a move, helping him with the other bag on the ground as I snatched it up into my arms. Glad that my hair was tied up in a ponytail, I felt my glasses move just a little down my nose and tried to scrunch up my face to keep in place. It remained intact until we got to my car.

Liam stood watching me from behind as I unlocked the door, then pulling open the back door, I reached in to rest the bag on the back seat. Turning around, I caught the same eye roam thing again on me. I smiled inwardly because I liked it. Stepping towards him, I gestured to the other bag and he nodded quickly, wheeling it to the front. When I reached out to take the handle, our fingers brushed and I felt it. He did too but he wasn't quick enough to hide it because I saw his chest heave. The flutter of his eyes as she blinked at me. Something stirred within, like deep down

Shit…I thought internally, not the boss, not the boss. Don't do this Sophia.

Anyway, I thought he would have had objections to my car. I kept the insides clean, because recently I had become a neat freak ever since I started to work for his firm. Things had to be kept in order for me to focus, like the coins remained in the small pocket draw under the A.C controls, just so I could reach in there in the mornings to get direct change when buying coffee. The mat that his boots were resting on now as we drove, those were rubber and since it was the rainy season in New York, well, I had to keep those clean as well.

Most of my life I had been a messy girl, but everyone needs a wakeup call.

We drove in silence. And I found it hard to keep my eyes on the road ahead especially with him sitting beside me so close. With one elbow resting on the car door, he held his face on the palm of his hand as brown eyes gazed into the fiery lights of the traffic. God, did he know how handsome he was? Even his perfume was so intoxicating, so distracting and choking me. I had crushes before, small crushes but never one so instantaneously, and so strong. He had this impact on me and it was tremendous.

To be honest, I remember once there was a brief crush on a teacher. But it was kind of like one of the weirdest crushes of all crushes because the man was a nerd. Glasses as thick as the cover of a hard copy of Harry Potter. Well...thicker. But you get the idea. And these sexy plaid shirts and remained tucked inside tailored pants. He came across as gay. So I spent most of my Accounts classes staring at a curvy behind instead of the paying attention to the numbers.

"So, I've been working for you for eight months now and never have I seen you before", I said, small move to make conversation. "You're the boss. I get that you're busy. But you're hardly in."

"I've been in Las Vegas, Sophie", he said in his husky voice, gaze directed out the window.

"Wow, Vegas…" and I inhaled deeply. "I bet that's something."

"Well, traveling there to legalize my divorce from my wife that's…something."

I turned to glance at her, "I'm sorry." So he was married. Now he was divorced. Heartbroken or happy to be free again?

Why Sophie? why are you jumping to conclusions here?

"By tomorrow, my face will be on Extra and whatever else announcing my f****d up life. Married to a thief. God only knows how I would like to set fire to her expensive suits and all her cars. The amount of times Kate has cheated, the media has labeled me a fool for sticking around."

I didn't know what to say in return so I kept my mouth shut whilst I accelerated on the green light. To be honest, I had a feeling that he was famous, because Scandal was one of the hottest fashion magazines in the world. But the CEO of the place, the man who ran the whole set up, yeah Sophie, of course he'd be bait for the paparazzi. But this Kate woman. Suddenly I wanted to find her and have my fist pay a visit to his jaw, several times.

"Look, just ignore them."